What are the odds that Miller Dawkins and Cesar Odio will be bunkmates in prison? And if they are, will Dawkins continue to order Odio around the way he did when he was a Miami commissioner and Odio was the city manager? Or will the big house instill a new…
The morose expression on Julie Romero’s face spoke of vanishing hope, of a woman betrayed. Along with more than two dozen other Homestead residents, she had made the 100-mile haul up to West Palm Beach in the hope that the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District would…
As the scandal at the Port of Miami deepens, it’s reassuring to see a new voice emerge as an advocate for honest government. “Allegations of misconduct, though allegations, raise many concerns that must be addressed,” Dade County Commissioner Miriam Alonso announced last week. “Undoubtedly the criminal probe from the United…
I owe Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson an apology. Several weeks ago I wrote a column about a group of developers known by the acronym HABDI, and an internal feud that raised doubts about their ability to turn nearly 2000 acres of Homestead Air Reserve Base into a commercial airport…
There is an old Irish toast: May you be in Heaven an hour before the devil even knows you’re dead. Former Miami mayor Steve Clark was a great fan of Irish toasts — as well as Scandinavian toasts, Italian toasts, Russian toasts, Cuban toasts, and pretty much any toast that…
When Sal Magluta goes on trial later this year for bail jumping, it’s too bad he won’t be able to plead temporary insanity. He’d get off for sure. After all, what jury wouldn’t believe that Magluta was just a few ounces short of a kilo when he walked away from…
During HABDI’s regular monthly board of directors meeting in March, Augustine Ajagbe announced his desire to add to the seven-member panel Dick Judy, the controversial former aviation director for Dade County. Although it looked like Ajagbe’s proposal, several other board members suspected it was really the handiwork of HABDI’s president,…
The Miami Heat is in the midst of its finest season ever. The team, under the leadership of coach Pat Riley, has secured a spot in the playoffs and is on the verge of winning the Atlantic Division for the first time in the franchise’s nine-year history. Attendance for Miami’s…
Thirteen years ago, when it was revealed that the Pentagon had spent $640 on a toilet seat and $435 for a hammer, the public was outraged. Congress immediately launched an investigation, hearings were held on Capitol Hill, and red-faced military leaders stood by helplessly as their careers came to an…
On January 23, New Times published a cover story entitled “You Call This a Fairway?” revealing that, for nearly two years, Dade County Manager Armando Vidal had accepted dozens of free rounds of golf from the company hired to manage the county-owned Golf Club of Miami. The story also established…
It’s not always easy being Miriam Alonso’s son-in-law. Just ask Kevin Miles: While Alonso was a Miami city commissioner, Miles was appointed director of the city’s International Trade Board. But after Alonso failed in her bid to become the city’s mayor in November 1993, Miles found himself out on the…
Standing above the tiny coffin containing five-year-old Rickia Isaac’s body, Mayor Alex Penelas searched for meaning in the tragedy of the child’s death. “This is a day of grief,” he declared during her funeral earlier this month. “We are all grieving.” But that sorrow should not be directed toward Rickia,…
Mayor Alex Penelas flew to New York two weeks ago to tell anyone on Wall Street who would listen that Dade County is being led by ethical people whose honesty is beyond reproach. Hoping to distance himself and the county from the negative publicity swirling around the City of Miami,…
Standing before U.S. District Court Judge Norman Roettger last Friday, Miller Dawkins appeared sullen and repentant. Three months ago Dawkins resigned from the Miami City Commission after pleading guilty to federal charges that he had traded votes for bribes during an FBI sting dubbed Operation Greenpalm. Now it was time…
For the past two years, County Manager Armando Vidal has accepted dozens of rounds of free golf from the company hired to operate the county-owned Golf Club of Miami. During this same period of time, the county manager recommended changes to the company’s contract that financially benefited the firm, the…
Ever wonder what the initials J.L. stand for in Miami City Commissioner J.L. Plummer’s name? For the longest time, I thought it stood for Just Loquacious. Attend any city commission meeting and you will soon realize that Plummer loves the sound of his own voice. He’s a redneck Chatty Cathy…
A week before Thanksgiving, on Thursday, November 21, the Miami Herald ran a rather laudatory story on the front page of its business section. “BRANDSMART EXPANDING” the headline blared above a large picture of the company’s smiling president Michael Perlman. Below the picture was a secondary headline: “Thriving chain outgrows…
Seven years ago, while working at a daily newspaper in Spokane, Washington, I met Damon Chapple. He stood only five feet nine inches tall but he weighed 200 pounds — all of it muscle. Chapple was a fighting machine, as perfect a creature of destruction as either Heaven or Hell…
Less than three months ago, on a dazzlingly bright Sunday afternoon, Donald Manning and I stood outside a church in Liberty City discussing the bribery scandal enveloping his long-time friend County Commissioner James Burke. The just-concluded religious service had turned into a rally of sorts for the embattled commissioner, and…
Howard Gary couldn’t believe what was happening. Here it was the second day of July, the middle of a glorious summer, a summer in which he was supposed to have landed a series of lucrative bond deals. But instead of savoring the day, he found himself surrounded by federal agents…
The arena war is over. No more obnoxious commercials. No more slick brochures in the mail. No more annoying telephone calls asking for your support. A surprise pact between Miami Heat owner Micky Arison and Dade Mayor Alex Penelas goosed up voter confidence enough that the project enjoyed an overwhelming…
The Miami Heat has placed me on waivers. In their eyes I am the Rex Chapman of writers. The Rony Seikaly of columnists. The Alan Ogg of newsmen. Juwan Howard showed more loyalty to this team than I have, and as a result, I am about as welcome in their…
