In a town infamous for apathetic sports fans, Critical Mass is the exception. Almost no one is neutral when it comes to the monthly bike rides. You either love the last Friday of the month, or you hate it with the passion of a thousand burning South Florida suns. Whatever…
FIU Suspends Frat After Facebook Posts Reveal Drug Deals, Hazing, and Creep Shots
In 2011, New Times wrote about Ave Maria University, a $500 million Catholic catastrophe in the middle of the Corkscrew Swamp. Lawsuits, scandals, and a federal investigation threatened to ruin the pious project just four years into billionaire pizza mogul Tom Monaghan’s plans. Two years later, one of Ave Maria’s…
Just after midnight this morning, a stolen car was speeding through Liberty City when it clipped a light post and careened into a Miami Dade College building. The car exploded into flames, killing one person. Four survivors are in custody at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Incredibly, the entire episode was caught…
The family of Israel Hernandez, the teenager fatally Tasered by Miami Beach cops August 6, intends to sue the police department. According to the Miami Herald, the family will announce its lawsuit at 2:30 p.m. today on the steps of the Miami-Dade courthouse downtown. The suit is yet another sign…
How’d you like to be a Pi K A, to bear the Shield and Diamond every day? Wear our colors, the Garnet and Gold, which all with Honor holds since chivalrous days of knighthood old. So goes an old Pi Kappa Alpha song. But now that a sex and drug-filled…
Yesterday, Florida International University suspended its Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity over Facebook posts showing drug deals, hazing, and creep shots of naked women — at least one of them allegedly underage. But the incriminating posts go beyond that unholy trio of offenses to include insulting professors, taunting rival frats, and…
When FIU suspended fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha for Facebook posts showing drug dealing, hazing, and creep shots, not everyone was surprised. “Pike has always had a bad reputation for being meatheads,” says one FIU fraternity insider. “Now it looks like that stereotypical reputation is pretty spot-on.” In fact, Pi Kappa…
On the second Saturday night in August, Wynwood was a blur of booze and beats. Thousands had descended upon the district for the neighborhood’s monthly Art Walk. Drinks in hand, they moved en masse from one gallery to the next. But the piece drawing the biggest buzz wasn’t behind glass…
Florida International University announced today it was suspending its Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity over Facebook posts apparently showing rampant drug dealing by frat brothers on campus. The posts, obtained by Riptide, also show evidence of hazing, cheating on exams, and creep shots of naked women shared among the “Pike” frat…
A soldier wrongly beaten and arrested by Jorge Mercado — the Miami Beach Police officer who Tasered teenage tagger Israel Hernandez before he died — says he and another service member were forced to quash their complaint in order to save their families and careers. Luis Maldonado says he and…
His milkshakes might bring all the boys to the yard, but they don’t draw cops to court. Local chef AJ Constantin is in the clear after Miami Police officers failed to attend a 9:45 court hearing this morning. Judge Andrea Wolfson promptly dismissed the charges against Constantin. He was arrested…
Remember Occupy Miami? The movement has mostly petered out, but some of its members are keeping its shit-stirring spirit alive. On Friday night, veteran protester Kevin Young was arrested for allegedly defacing one of Francis Suarez’s ubiquitous campaign posters. Young apparently changed the mayoral candidate’s name to read “Fraud” Suarez…
On the second Saturday night in August, Wynwood was a blur of booze and beats. Thousands had descended upon the district for the neighborhood’s monthly Art Walk. Drinks in hand, they moved in mass from one gallery to the next. But the piece drawing the biggest buzz wasn’t behind glass,…
New Times has obtained the IA files for Jorge Mercado, the Miami Beach cop who fatally Tasered teenage tagger Israel Hernandez last week, and they ain’t pretty. The files show that Mercado arrested an old woman last year as she tried to navigate Memorial Day weekend traffic. In 2007, he…
Chad Johnson is a complicated man. The NFL’s most infamous loudmouth is actually an introvert. He has 4 million Twitter followers, but mostly hangs out alone. He’s a ladies’ man, but now claims to be celibate. He listens to Andrea Bocelli and is addicted to ChapStick. He is an enigma,…
If Miami Beach Police Chief Ray Martinez was thinking of a way to regain public trust after a string of embarrassing incidents involving his officers, this was not it: a dead teenager, a cop under investigation, and a community up in arms. It all began last Wednesday morning, when New…
Chad Johnson is damaged. But as he sits on the patio of the Pelican Hotel on a Thursday afternoon, the holes in his life are hidden. It’s been nearly two years since Johnson last suited up for the National Football League, but he still looks the part. His muscles bulge…
A week after fatally Tasering Israel Hernandez, Miami Beach Police have released the 911 tape of the teenager’s arrest. The 14-minute-long tape begins on August 6 at 5:13 with a westbound foot-chase on 74th Street near Collins Avenue. Multiple cops then call in sightings of Hernandez, who is described as…
There goes the neighborhood. The City of Miami has approved Walmart’s controversial plans for a 156,000-square-foot store in Midtown. After nearly two years of heated debate, planning director Francisco Garcia officially approved the mega chain store’s architectural plans yesterday. Walmart must still obtain a building permit before starting construction, but…
Anger continues to grow over the killing of Israel Hernandez, who died Tuesday morning after a Miami Beach police cop Tasered the 18-year-old. In the last 24 hours, the cop who electrocuted Hernandez has been put on leave, while the teenager’s father has called the incident an “assassination of a…
Israel Hernandez’s last moments were panicked and painful. That’s what can be gathered from Miami Beach Police’s report about their pursuit of the 18-year-old skater and artist. Hernandez, whose nickname was “Reefa,” led cops on a chase through several blocks of North Beach, frantically scrambling over fences and falling onto…
