From high above Biscayne Boulevard, Frank Steslow peers down into what looks like the world’s largest punch bowl. Grown men crawl like insects inside the massive martini-glass-shaped structure. Rebar pokes out at odd angles. Construction cranes swirl. Concrete settles into place. Steslow is showing off his baby: the brand-new, half-built…
For years, Deep Dredge proponents have promised that the $220 million project wouldn’t kill off Biscayne Bay wildlife. Coral would be removed from harm’s way, they claimed, and water quality would be closely monitored. Like the massive dredge barges themselves, however, those promises appear to be full of crap. State…
A transformer has apparently exploded in the heart of South Beach, rattlings windows, shutting off power for blocks and partially closing nearby Española Way. Details are still sparse but the explosion happened around 6:30 p.m. and police have since surrounded the scene and shut down pedestrian access to the area…
Terrorists have just released a video that appears to show them beheading missing American journalist James Foley. The video, apparently released by insurgent group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also shows a man described as local freelance reporter Steven Sotloff. Sotloff is a University of Central Florida…
From high above Biscayne Boulevard, Frank Steslow peers down into what looks like the world’s largest punch bowl. Grown men crawl like insects inside the massive martini-glass-shaped structure. Rebar pokes out at odd angles. Construction cranes swirl. Concrete settles into place. Steslow is showing off his baby: the brand-new, half-built…
A miracle. A blessing. A prayer answered by God. That is what Miami Beach Community Church (MBCC) leaders call a $100 million plan to replace the congregation’s historic courtyard with a clothing store. But preservationists and even some parishioners say newly appointed church leaders have misled their flock and lied…
Máximo Caminero, the Miami painter who earlier this year deliberately smashed an expensive urn at Pérez Art Museum Miami, will not be headed to prison. Miami-Dade prosecutors announced today that Caminero pleaded guilty to criminal mischief for destroying an Ai Weiwei vase at PAMM February 16. Caminero will serve 18…
A divided Miami Beach Historical Preservation Board voted this morning to approve a controversial plan to convert a local church courtyard into a glitzy clothing store. In a 4-3 vote, the board reaffirmed its May 13 decision to allow the Miami Beach Community Church to lease its historic, 94-year-old courtyard…
Sometime this morning, the Miami Beach Historical Preservation Board will decide whether or not to grant a rehearing on the controversial plan to turn the Miami Beach Community Church courtyard into a clothing store. Church leaders claim the plan will save the struggling parish. Preservationists and some church members, meanwhile,…
A miracle. A blessing. A prayer answered by god. That is what Miami Beach Community Church leaders call a plan to replace the congregation’s historic courtyard with a clothing store. The $100 million deal will save the struggling church, they say, and help ensure it’s longterm future. But preservationists and…
To write for a newspaper nowadays is to compromise endlessly. Want to obscure my story on military veterans being mistreated with a cover-page ad? Fine! None of us is exactly in a place to complain about ad dollars coming in the front door. But there has to be some kind…
One year ago today, Miami Beach cops caught a tall, skinny teenager spray-painting the side of an abandoned McDonald’s. A phalanx of police officers chased the curly-haired kid for seven minutes: Israel “Reefa” Hernandez clambered over fences and atop cars until he finally found himself cornered in front of a…
The law office of Raúl Recoba is located on Calle Ocho across from a liquor store and above a discount beauty-supply store. Here, the sidewalks are stained dark with discarded gum and cortaditos. Recoba works inside a small, clean room down a long, white hallway. His window provides a sweeping…
Yesterday, New Times published the second part of our series Hell on the Home Front, a profile of Iraq War vet Nicholas Cutter and the poor treatment he received at the Miami Veterans Affairs hospital. The story of how Cutter’s death inside the VA was allegedly covered up has touched…
The man eating breakfast certainly looked like Nicholas Cutter. He had the same pale skin. The same shaved head. The same technicolor tattoos peeking from beneath his T-shirt like graffiti on a whitewashed wall. Yet, from across the kitchen table, his sister Rainy saw a stranger. Once an extroverted older…
Two years ago, environmentalists desperately tried to derail the Deep Dredge. They claimed the $2 billion plan to deepen the Port of Miami would kill wildlife in Biscayne Bay, so they sued to stop it. But when a bevy of state agencies lined up against them, the environmentalists were forced…
This morning, New Times published the second half of its two-part series on a soldier’s tragic death inside the Miami Veterans Affairs hospital. Hell On The Home Front follows Nicholas Cutter’s journey from heartbroken teenager to battle-hardened soldier to PTSD-suffering veteran to drug addict. According to extensive interviews and the…
The man eating breakfast certainly looked like Nicholas Cutter. He had the same pale skin. The same shaved head. The same technicolor tattoos peeking from beneath his T-shirt like graffiti on a whitewashed wall. Yet, from across the kitchen table, his sister Rainy saw a stranger. Once an extroverted older…
Two years ago, environmentalists desperately tried to derail the Deep Dredge. They claimed the $2 billion plan to deepen the Port of Miami would kill wildlife in Biscayne Bay, so they sued to stop it. But when a bevy of state agencies lined up against them — threatening dredge opponents…
Let’s be honest: July was a crappy month for Miami. Bizarrely, the bad news seemed to arrive every Friday in this, the sweltering summer suck-hole of the year. On Friday, July 4, a happy holiday became a horror show when four boaters died on Biscayne Bay. A week later, LeBron…
Rumors swirled online this morning after Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban president Raúl Castro and niece of Fidel, was listed on the passenger list of a plane that went missing earlier today in north Africa. The Air Algerie flight encountered rough weather and is believed to have crashed near the…
It’s been a chaotic summer for Colombians. First, they watched their national soccer team win four straight games at the World Cup. Then los cafeteros were cruelly denied a trip to the semifinals by Brazil and a bogus referee. While Colombia was uniting around its team, however, it was also…
