Another police controversy, another case of cop unaccountability. North Miami Beach officials apologized Tuesday for city police using mug shots of black men for target practice. In what seems to be a national trend, however, no cops were held accountable for the incident. “It’s real sad,” said Lisa Kelly, the…
The dead birds are back. A year after a slew of brown pelicans were found in the Keys with their pouches slashed, the bizarre bird mutilations have resumed. In recent weeks, more than a dozen pelicans have been found with their gullets fatally cut. “It’s a mystery,” Maya Totman, director…
Krishna Maharaj, the British millionaire imprisoned since 1986 for a double murder, won’t be getting out any time soon. Despite dramatic courtroom testimony from crooked cops and retired drug runners, circuit judge William Thomas shot down Maharaj’s motion to overturn his conviction for killing two businessmen in a downtown hotel…
Last week we published an investigation into Taser misuse by Miami police officers. The article unearthed dozens of instances of questionable Taser use, including 11 recent cases in which subjects died after being tasered. Sadly, there is now another name to add to that list. Key Largo teenager Roberto Ornelas…
Sunday-afternoon visitors to Graceland Memorial Park were greeted by an unusually macabre scene. A small fire smoldered under a tree next to the cemetery’s stony entrance on Calle Ocho at SW 44th Avenue. Passing motorists who slowed long enough to look could just make out an all-too-familiar form: a charred…
This morning, New Times published a yearlong investigation into Taser abuse committed by local cops. Among our findings: Miami’s three major police departments have tasered more than 3,000 people in less than eight years. Eleven men — including teenager Israel “Reefa” Hernandez — have died after being stunned. Local cops…
Richard Rosengarten walked into Publix at 4:20 p.m. November 15, 2013. Normally, not even Rosengarten, a brilliant and bespectacled University of Miami law student, would remember the exact date and time he went grocery shopping. But it’s not every day you see cops electrify an innocent man. The supermarket’s automatic…
When Miami Beach installed Tempest in Collins Park in 2010, the city’s website gushed that Brian Tolle’s giant sculpture was “a shimmering blue-green expanse which appears to have been carved from the sea, frozen in space and time, in the form of a swirling celestial maze.” The website even encouraged…
SkyRise Miami is happening, and its developer isn’t shy about it. The 1,000-foot entertainment tower on Biscayne Bay has been billed as the “Eiffel Tower of Miami.” After county commissioners approved the project yesterday, however, developer Jeff Berkowitz said SkyRise will surpass its Parisian competitor. “I think it’s better looking…
Update: The White House confirms it plans to normalize trade and travel to Cuba, saying, “It is clear that decades of U.S. isolation of Cuba have failed.” In Little Havana, the news has yet to stir any real protests as TV crews far outnumber a handful of sign-waving protesters. American…
Thanksgiving morning began sweetly for Cesar Baldelomar. No work. Beautiful weather. And good tunes thumping from his car stereo. As the 26-year-old cruised through Hialeah toward his parents’ house, he could practically smell his mother’s cooking wafting down 24th Avenue. But when Baldelomar pulled up to the stoplight at West…
On Tuesday night, 21-year-old street artist Delbert “Demz” Rodriguez died from a brain injury caused by a collision with a Miami cop car. Demz had been tagging a wall in Wynwood during Art Basel when an undercover detective chased him down. Hours after Demz’s death, a strange video was uploaded…
On Sunday, avant-garde NYC subway performer Kalan Sherrard and partner Maria Valenzuela were arrested after protesting inside Art Basel. Most of the media headlines centered on Sherrard’s suspiciously large package. The 27-year-old had a dildo stuffed down his pants and when he removed it, Miami Beach police officers apparently mistook…
Update: Performance artist Kalan Sherrard spoke to New Times about his arrest and the meaning behind his antics. If Art Basel organizers thought they could keep the political statements on the walls and the protests outside on the streets, they were wrong. This afternoon at around 4 p.m., two protesters…
Has there ever been a stranger moment to be in Miami? As grand juries across the country refuse to indict white cops for killing innocent black men, all Miami can talk about is Miley’s killer concert. In New York, people are flocking to the streets and shutting down bridges. Here,…
Rick Scott’s obsessive quest to drug test every man, woman and child in the state of Florida appears to be at an end. Seven months after the Supreme Court declined to hear his administration’s argument for drug testing state employees, the governor lost again yesterday when a federal appeals resoundingly…
It’s a busy week in Miami. Art Basel is upon us, of course. Design Miami as well. Then there are all the satellite fairs and the associated parties, concerts, and openings. Right now, Miami looks and feels like one giant, frantic party. Amid the frivolity, however, at least 700 people…
Daniel Dowd has lived with HIV for fifteen years. He has overcome the shock of diagnosis, the fear of death, and the mountains of pills. But it wasn’t until he applied for a job with a Miami-based cruise ship contractor that Dowd says he faced open discrimination. Dowd was poised…
Another Major League Soccer season edges toward a close this weekend as four teams fight for a spot in the final. Tomorrow could be Thierry Henry’s last game. Sunday could be the same for U.S. legend Landon Donovan. No matter which teams make the final, however, the biggest loser could…
If you live in Miami Beach, the past year has been a steady descent into driving madness. First, it was impossible to travel south on Alton Road. Then random cross streets were also closed. Lanes began to magically merge and disappear like an M.C. Escher drawing. Buying organic kale at…
In this week’s Miami New Times, we profile 30 of the most interesting characters in town, with portraits of each from photographer Stian Roenning. See the entire Miami New Times People Issue here. When Sofy Encanto was a child in Tegucigalpa, her babysitter forbade her to go out. Trapped inside…
In this week’s Miami New Times, we profile 30 of the most interesting characters in town, with portraits of each from photographer Stian Roenning. See the entire Miami New Times People Issue here. A conversation with Rebekah Monson is like that moment in The Matrix when Neo sees everything in…
