The U.S. government says Pedro Luis Martin Olivares is an international drug trafficker who exploited his position in the Venezuelan government to move narcotics through his country. According to U.S. officials, he “facilitated the movement of cocaine,” “accepted bribes from drug traffickers,” “bribed other Venezuelan officials,” and “worked closely with other…
When Tricia Fowley’s great-uncle moved to Surfside almost 70 years ago, he built three homes for his family on the corner of Harding Avenue and 93rd Street. Two of them were eventually knocked down to build a parking lot; Fowley grew up in and eventually inherited the third house — a two-bedroom, two-bath with a brick façade only one block from the beach.
On November 27, 2016, Naples resident John O’Brien, his adult children, and his two young grandchildren slid into their seats at Hard Rock Stadium for a Miami Dolphins game. A huge San Francisco fan, O’Brien, decked out in a red 49ers shirt, was ready to watch his team take on Miami.
On May 1, detectives with the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children were assigned a case involving a 14-year-old girl. After downloading the contents of the girl’s iPhone 8, the investigators found what they were looking for: a series of explicit text messages sent to her by Kevin Kerlin, a 45-year-old Miami-Dade firefighter.
South Florida entrepreneur Carla Berkowitz was flipping through the Miami Herald’s Tropic magazine one morning in 1997 when she came across an article about teenage chess players. The story, written by John Dorschner, chronicled the lives of students at Miami Jackson Senior High School as they competed in statewide and national chess tournaments…
We’ve all been there: It’s 8 a.m. Monday morning, and you’re sitting in standstill traffic on I-95 or the Turnpike or the Dolphin Expressway, wishing you were still asleep. Some jagweed cuts you off at the exit ramp, you hit every red light thereafter, and you get to work at least ten minutes late.
At universities across the nation, female professors have long complained about being paid less than their male colleagues. Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows their concerns are justified: As of 2015, male professors made an average of $18,200 more annually than female professors.
Last June, Juan Rivero’s family moved him to Victoria Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a highly rated nursing home in Little Havana. At 80 years old, Rivero had severe dementia, renal disease, and acute respiratory problems requiring oxygen treatment. His son Cecilio wanted to make sure Rivero would be given the proper care and attention.
At last count, 28.2 million Americans don’t have health insurance. That staggering number doesn’t include people who technically have insurance but are too cash-strapped to pay their deductibles, out-of-network charges, and copays. Thanks to the United States’ inefficient and ultra-expensive health-care system, that means public hospitals are often on the hook when patients can’t pay or insurance companies refuse to cover medical bills.
According to the feds, Harlem Suarez was a radical, an extremist, and an imminent danger to the public. In the summer of 2015, a confidential informant recorded the 23-year-old plotting to bomb a public beach in the Florida Keys, and investigators found an arsenal of explosive materials inside his apartment. After a three-month investigation, FBI agents swarmed Key West and charged him with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
If you’ve driven through Coral Gables anytime in the past three years, it’s almost 100 percent certain police have a photo of your license plate and the ability to pinpoint your vehicle as it traveled within city limits. Despite having just 50,000 residents, the Gables is on track to capture 30 million license plates this year — more than 26 other police agencies in South Florida.
In 2005, the Florida Legislature passed arguably the state’s most controversial law, Stand Your Ground. Now, whether or not cops can use that defense comes down to how the state’s highest court defines the word “person.”
After gunning down two unarmed black men outside a Miami strip club in 2012, security guard Lukace Kendle claimed the shooting was justified under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. During the trial, where Kendle chose to act as his own attorney, he compared himself to George Zimmerman and claimed the evidence was fabricated “because I’m white.”
Hot tip for what could be the coolest, most profitable Airbnb ever: Miami Beach is auctioning off five of its iconic, brightly colored lifeguard towers, and they’re going for as little as $405 apiece.
During his career at South Miami Senior High School, Armando Alejo got rave reviews from students for being a laid-back guy who taught difficult concepts in a way that was easy to understand.
The last time a giant protest turned into a chaotic state of civil unrest in Hialeah was — well, it’s hard to point to a recent example. The city’s police stay busy chasing crotch-grabbing car dealers, fake veterinarians, and mail thieves, but a mob of angry rioters has yet to descend upon the “City of Progress.”
Last Friday, Miami Beach City Attorney Raul Aguila schooled the town’s mayor and commissioners in how to avoid getting in trouble during election season. He sent all the officials a three-page memo, written by the county’s Commission on Ethics & Public Trust, spelling out some clear ground rules…
In 2016, Miami Beach became one of the hardest places in America to book a short-term vacation rental. Thanks to laws enacted over the past two years, the city now levies fines as high as $100,000 on property owners with illegal rentals and has plans to target platforms such as Airbnb.
From the beginning of June until early July, an algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee grew and grew until it covered 90 percent of the lake’s surface. Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released water from the lake, letting the algae migrate to both coasts of Florida. The nasty, toxic…
On March 7, Lighthouse Point Police Officers Christopher Thompson and Joseph Valdes knocked on the door of a third-floor condo with a brick façade and waited for Dominic Signorile. The cops in the small coastal town in Broward County wanted to check on Signorile after someone reported seeing him clutching…
Earlier this year, Ida Smart and a handful of her coworkers at Miami Beach Parks and Recreation went public with their claims of racial discrimination within the department. Smart, a bus driver at the North Shore Youth Center, complained of black workers being passed over for promotions and overtime opportunities. Two top department leaders made similar complaints, saying the director and assistant director had referred to black employees as “animals” and “criminals.” Five months later, the city has now reassigned Smart to a public works job filling potholes — a move she believes was made in retaliation for speaking out.
After learning her brother hadn’t shown up for work at the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department for several days, Kathy Kavalin called Miami Police to report him missing. She didn’t know he’d been dead for more than a week.
