Miami’s criminal courthouse is abuzz with talk of a mysterious, irreverent blogger called Rumpole, an anonymous watchdog — and also a public defender — who keeps tabs on the justice system from the inside. His blog Justice Building (www.justicebuilding.blogspot.com) chronicles everything from the broken courthouse escalator to poor decision-making on…
Ivan sits in the passenger seat of a dusty white SUV, fidgeting nervously. The trim Uruguayan shakes a Marlboro loose from the pack and stares out the window as if he’s searching for something. He has the rough hands of a carpenter but is dressed more like a J.Crew model…
A powwow of prostitutes and drug addicts is taking swigs from brown bags under the Metrorail in southeast Overtown when Big Red shows up. Tiny baggies and cigarette butts litter the patch of bleached grass, where the crew sits in lawn chairs, jabbering about the cops. Red, a hulking 52-year-old,…
News Orange Crush A Chinese pathogen has the citrus industry talking apocalypse. By Alexander Zaitchik On July 11, the U.S. Department of Agriculture delivered some much-needed good news to Florida’s recently battered citrus growers. In its final estimate for statewide citrus output in 2008, the agency expected the industry to…
News Unlucky Number A Miami Artist becomes an accidental witness to manslaughter. By Carlos Suarez De Jesus Last year, Miami Beach artist Steven Gagnon created a video installation on wheels, about the plight of illegal aliens, which patrolled local streets during Art Basel and earned a trip to Houston’s ArtCar…
News Shack Attack Grovites decry kiosks as empty vessels. By Tamara Lush Sometimes city leaders mean well. They spend money on a project thinking it will help residents, improve quality of life, and make the Magic City a little friendlier. Take the Coconut Grove kiosks. The city spent $201,000 to…
CULTURE The Sex Doll Diaries Artist brings her silicone twin to town for one last romp. By Janine Zeitlin On May 15, Amber Hawk Swanson spent her final day on South Beach with her sex doll. The 27-year-old multimedia artist lounged near Collins Avenue and 20th Street for one final…
Politics In Carlos, We Trust The boss pays you. time to pay him back. By Francisco Alvarado A couple dozen high-level, well-paid Miami-Dade County executives are investing in a little job security. Just more than $5,000 of the $719,860 contributed to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez’s re-election campaign in the first…
Just before dinner on a Sunday evening in January 2007, there was a knock at the door of Cynthia Cuevas’s small red townhouse on West Eighth Street. But the nine-months-pregnant 21-year-old didn’t open it. She had seen police lights flashing outside and was frightened. So she pushed on the door…
On a clear, warm August night, Dwayne Henry made a last-minute decision to pull into a Walgreens parking lot on South Pompano Parkway in Pompano Beach. Before turning, the handsome Jamaican-born 26-year-old bickered with his pregnant girlfriend, Francine, about whether to pick up her prenatal vitamins. It was 1 a.m…
News The Water’s Fine! Or is it? With the budget ax hovering, we might never know. On Saturday, April 12, in the name of journalism, science, and the American way — and a $75 gift card — Riptide donned a pair of flip-flops and prepared for the worst: to be…
News Easy on Rudy The newspaper of record plays softball with the schools chief. By Francisco Alvarado The Miami Herald does a fine job exposing waste and corruption at city and county halls. It’s too bad that enterprising tenacity doesn’t carry over to coverage of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS)…
