New Times cover stories usually need no introduction. They are often straightforward profiles of the insane characters cluttering South Florida: a murderous male porn star, an internet Lolita, or a washed up professional football player now obsessed with orca whales. This week’s feature is a bit different, however. Yes, there…
Let’s play trivia. Today’s topic: laughably inept local governments. Can you name the Miami-Dade village that mysteriously suspended its top three cops March 27? No, not Sweetwater. That was then-mayor Manny Maroño, who was busted for taking bribes. No, not Homestead. There, it was Mayor Steve Bateman arrested for unlawful…
DecoBike is booming. The Miami Beach bike-share program now boasts around 100 kiosks with 1,000 bikes. Locals and tourists used the company’s cruisers more than 1.5 million times last year, earning DecoBike roughly $3 million. By most measures, it is the most successful bike-share program in the nation. DecoBike’s deal…
After weeks of posturing by Mayor Tomás Regalado and Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and a bizarre commission meeting — surely the first in history that included video of a woman humping a tree — the votes are in. And by a 4-1 margin, Ultra Music Festival will return to Bayfront Park…
Ron English spent two years creating his brightly colored mural and deer sculptures at Wynwood Walls. It took thieves less than four minutes to steal them. Last month, three young men stole English’s last remaining deer sculpture. Now the street artist is asking for them to return it. “It’s fine…
Still rocked by controversy over the near-fatal trampling of a security guard last month, Ultra Music Festival is turning to Miami Beach Police Chief Ray Martinez to save its standing in downtown Miami. The festival is seeking to assuage the City of Miami, where Mayor Tomás Regalado and Commissioner Marc…
T.R. Liberti is not the type of man to mince words. His full name — Theodore Roosevelt Liberti — “sounds like a black football player,” he jokes. His Costa Rican wife, Elizabeth, “is not like an immigrant. She comes from a wealthy family and is well-educated.” As for his line…
According to the T-shirts on display at Ultra this year, many concertgoers were looking for someone named “molly.” Apparently, it wasn’t very difficult to find her. Miami Police arrested 20 people at the music festival for selling or possessing MDMA, commonly known as molly. That’s according to a summary of…
T.R. Liberti is not the type of man to mince words. His full name — Theodore Roosevelt Liberti — “sounds like a black football player,” he jokes. His Costa Rican wife, Elizabeth, “is not like an immigrant. She comes from a wealthy family and is well educated.” As for his…
Ultra Music Festival has announced that its new security director will be none other than current Miami Beach police chief Ray Martinez. The move makes sense. Martinez already announced that he’s stepping down at the end of this month. Meanwhile, Ultra is seeking to assuage the City of Miami after…
For the second time this month, a woman has been arrested in Miami for participating in “crush porn.” Stephanie Hird, 29, was busted yesterday while trying to board a flight at Miami International Airport. Her arrest comes two weeks after another woman, Sara Zamora, was also arrested for animal cruelty…
When the City of Miami unveiled its highly anticipated trolley system two years ago this month, city officials were clearly satisfied with themselves. Mayor Tomás Regalado — who had championed the idea for years — grinned as he snipped the ribbon from the sleek orange-and-green machines in Mary Brickell Village…
The police station burned bright as a bonfire. As cars hissed past on the Caracas highway, flames consumed the roadside structure as if it were kindling. Black smoke belched into the night sky. By the time dawn broke over the Venezuelan capital April 1, nothing was left of the building…
The police station burned bright as a bonfire. As cars hissed past on the Caracas highway, flames consumed the roadside structure as if it were kindling. Black smoke belched into the night sky. By the time dawn broke over the Venezuelan capital April 1, nothing was left of the building…
When the City of Miami unveiled its highly anticipated trolley system two years ago this month, city officials were clearly satisfied with themselves. Mayor Tomás Regalado — who had championed the idea for years — grinned as he snipped the ribbon from the sleek orange-and-green machines in Mary Brickell Village…
The decision over Ultra Music Festival’s fate was delayed yesterday, but the debate rages on. Even as city commissioners consider banning Ultra, thousands of people per day are signing a petition to keep UMF in downtown Miami. Ultra opponents accuse the event of descending into drugs and violence. Its defenders…
It has been an interesting few months for Ultra. In late March, the mega music festival once again drew nearly 200,000 people to Bayfront Park, making untold millions of dollars, and firmly establishing itself as America’s premier EDM event. But a concertgoer’s death and a stampede that nearly killed a…
Last year, Kevin Sutherland led his Mosaic Miami Church congregation through a sermon about sight and spirituality. “God begins to wash away” our blindness, the charismatic pastor said. “God begins to let us see.” Yet it was Sutherland’s foresight that would fail him. The 46-year-old preacher was charged last week…
Ultra Music Festival’s latest edition last weekend was marred by a trampling and a death, leading to political fallout and blowback from police. The first incident came Friday, when a crowd of people without tickets rushed a fence and pushed a gate onto a security guard. The guard, 28-year-old Erica…
It is too early to tell what, exactly, killed Adonis Escoto, the 21-year-old Ultra-goer found dead inside a car parked near the music festival on Saturday night. But the tragedy was a reminder of a similar incident from last year, when Anthony Cassano — a boy of almost the exact…
Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa was defiant during a news conference on Monday, saying his department warned Ultra about the weak spot in the event’s fence where a security guard would later be trampled. He went so far as to suggest that Ultra organizers could face criminal charges over the…
UPDATE: Medical examiner report showed that Adonis Peña Escoto passed away due to “acute alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PVP) toxicity.” Alpha-PVP is a type of synthetic bath salt sometimes sold as “gravel.” A young Ultra attendee has died under mysterious circumstances. Adonis Escoto, 21, passed away in a car parked near the music…
