Yesterday, Riptide broke the story of 18-year-old skateboarder Israel Hernandez getting fatally Tasered by Miami Beach cops for tagging an abandoned building. Afterward, our article was flooded with more than 500 comments. Many expressed sadness. Others, outrage. But some labeled Hernandez a “vandal” who “got what he deserved.” So we…
Drivers headed west toward downtown on the MacArthur Causeway have been greeted by two strange sights lately. To the north, the old Miami Herald office has already begun to decay, its once grand signage replaced by the flickering neon of what looks like a dive bar named Brown Mackie College…
An 18-year-old skater died yesterday after Miami Beach Police officers caught him tagging a building and then Tasered him. Details about the death are still murky, but what is clear is that Israel Hernandez died before dawn Tuesday morning after cops caught him spray painting near 71st Street and Collins…
Drivers headed west toward downtown on the MacArthur Causeway have been greeted by two strange sights lately. To the north, the old Miami Herald office has already begun to decay, its once grand signage replaced by the flickering neon of what looks like a dive bar named Brown Mackie College…
If you build it, they will come. That was the message from Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria back in 2009 when he convinced Miami-Dade commissioners to vote for the massive pimple that now protrudes from the forehead of Little Havana. It worked for a season. And then came Loria’s $2…
Last night was a bit of a turd in the punchbowl for Major League Soccer, as the MLS All Stars lost to Roma 3-1 in Kansas City. But the silver lining to that turd (let’s leave the metaphor there) is that MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced at halftime that the…
Miami Mercenaries: International Security Business Is Booming in South Florida
It sounds like a rare victory for common sense in Miami: After hours of debate, city commissioners voted last week to declare that a 66-year-old church surrounded by Brickell skyscrapers is a historic structure. What kind of a monster wouldn’t want to save a tiny old church? Well, for starters,…
As the light leaks out of the sky over downtown last Friday, mechanical gears squeak in the distance. Slowly, small groups begin to gather at Government Center. Before long, the groups swell into a crowd, then a swarm. By 7:15 p.m., 4,000 people line NW First Street as if it’s…
This week’s news story about Critical Mass argues that Miami cops and motorists need to get over their anger and support the monthly cycling event. Many readers, um, disagreed, to put it politely. Some said they’d share the road when bikers stopped breaking the law. One swore he would pimp…
As the light leaks out of the sky over downtown last Friday, mechanical gears squeak in the distance. Slowly, small groups begin to gather at Government Center. Before long, the groups swell into a crowd, then a swarm. By 7:15 p.m., 4,000 people line NW First Street as if it’s…
Consider it a coup de grâce. After suffering through 15 hours of Marc Sarnoff yesterday, members of St. Jude Melkite Church were finally put out of their misery at 3 o’clock this morning when city commissioners voted 4-0 to designate the small Brickell chapel as historic. The vast majority of…
On Monday, the Cuban hard rock band Hipnosis arrived in Miami on the way to a Castro-approved gig in Oakland, California. But as the band members were waiting in line, they decided to ditch their government minder and declare political asylum. The decision has upended the Cuban music scene. It’s…
Miami-Dade Cop Moonlights as Brain-Programming “Neuroscientist” on South Beach
Tomorrow afternoon, Miami commissioners will vote whether to declare historic a 66-year-old church surrounded by skyscrapers in Brickell. For the past year, a small group of parishioners has drummed up support for officially protecting St. Jude Melkite Catholic Church. At first, the petition sounded like something you’d be asked to…
Yesterday the Orlando Sentinel wrote an explosive story about how a soccer team from Miami had allegedly instigated a vicious on-field brawl during a tournament at Disney World. “Parents who witnessed the Saturday afternoon altercation painted a particularly vivid picture of parents and players from a Miami team storming the…
Living in South Beach is like getting gonorrhea: it’s all fun and easy until suddenly everything comes to a painful stop. Lately, SoBe residents have woken up to find a foot of foul-smelling water inside their cars. When they bail out their rides, they still face insane traffic jams to…
For years, Ultra Music Festival avoided the deadly drug overdoses that had done in many other mega electronica events. In April, however, Riptide revealed that 24 people were taken to the hospital during this year’s edition of Ultra. One of them, a 20-year-old New Jersey native named Anthony Cassano, died…
After 20 years of escaping justice, a Miami doctor who allegedly sexually abused his vulnerable HIV-positive patients has finally been convicted. Homer L. Kirkpatrick, Jr., whose brand of bad medicine earned him the moniker “Doctor Scumbag” in South Beach during the mid 1990s, pleaded guilty earlier this month to forcible…
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice slammed City of Miami cops for a string of unjustified shootings. But Miami has new competition for the title of the state’s worst police department. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently investigating cops in Lakeland for having copious amounts of sex,…
For years, Ultra Music Festival avoided the deadly drug overdoses that had done in many other mega-events. This year, however, Riptide revealed 24 people were taken to the hospital during Ultra. One of them, a 20-year-old New Jersey native named Anthony Cassano, died from a suspected drug overdose. But even…
Critical Mass Tensions With Cops Grow After Arrest, Hit-and-Run
