When Merrett Stierheim announced his interest in seeking the interim post at the helm of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, all hell broke loose behind the scenes. “Stierheim!” gasped a collection of lobbyists and political insiders who had enjoyed years of lucrative relationships with the district under former superintendent Roger…
The intermittent morning drizzle slicking the City of Miami’s palm fronds against its glass and concrete buildings is burnt out of the air by a strengthening sun as a deep yellow cab rounds the curve of the MacArthur Causeway, heading toward Watson Island. A Flamingo taxi, still sporting an “Aristide…
The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago was just putting onto the green of the tenth hole at the Doral Country Club when the fever Secret Service agent Patrick Cruise had been fighting all day finally overtook him. He felt chills, then the sweats soaked his dark suit as he…
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds it receives each year to feed its 365,000 mostly poor students. Gross mismanagement and cronyism have rotted the core of what once was an award-winning program — resulting in wasted food and an exodus of experienced…
Dr. Steven Scott’s medicine show has parked its wagon outside the offices of the Miami-Dade County School Board, and it ain’t movin’ until somebody buys a health tonic. United Teachers of Dade union boss Pat Tornillo, a steely-eyed fireplug of a senior (he’s 76 years old), surveys the uneasy rabble…
José F. Gonzalez spent twenty years as a cop for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he rose through the ranks to become assistant chief of the 180-officer department. Until recently he was poised to be a contender for the top spot. But Gonzalez’s career as a police officer –…
Less than a year ago, architect Jacqueline Pepper was known publicly only to a small circle of zoning enthusiasts who attended meetings of the Redland Community Council, on which she sat. Then she joined the race with six other contenders for the District 7 school board seat. There she passed…
In the midmorning sunshine outside one of Miami-Dade County’s most impenetrable bureaucratic fortresses, a tightly packed crowd of journalists forms a small arc three rows deep around a podium. Behind the podium a well-dressed man in his late fifties stands under the shadow of the Metrorail line that runs between…
When Sonnfred Baptiste emptied a round of bullets into the playground of an Upper Eastside charter school in January 2000, he opened more than just a hole in fourteen-year-old Antonio Hill’s leg. Those shots were the first to pierce the fragile bubble of a dream that had spawned the high…
It was one of those perfect Miami nights when the weather respected the pomp and circumstance surrounding a very special event. In this case it was a dinner at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens honoring the king and queen of Spain. The flowers were fresh, the food delectable, the dignitaries gracious…
The Cozy Corner in Miami Springs is buzzing this Wednesday morning with what seems like half the town. Strong coffee washes down decadent piles of eggs, bacon, and French toast, seasoned with the latest conspiracy theory racing through the city shortly before an election that just might change everything. Or…
“You’re sniffing up the wrong tree,” sighs an annoyed Ted Eldredge, station manager at WLRN-FM (91.3), Miami’s National Public Radio affiliate. “There’s nothing going on.” Well, a few might argue that something in fact did go on this past February 28, when radio program manager and 26-year WLRN veteran Joseph…
On December 10, 1999, at 2:47 p.m., a call came into the Miami-Dade County 911 dispatcher: “Yeah, I got an emergency over at Mays Middle School,” the deep, sonorous voice of a black man crackled from the mouthpiece of a gas station pay phone. “My name is Mr. Bradley.” “What’s…
Keith Ivory has some advice for Roger Cuevas, superintendent of Miami-Dade County public schools: “You know when you see a black and a Latin together, you’d better run.” Ivory is one of a hundred or so black and Hispanic parents from Overtown and East Little Havana who are organizing to…
There comes a point in every Miami-Dade school board meeting when its nine members are free to depart from the agenda and hold forth on just about any subject. They can lavish praise on a particular school, program, or individual. They can raise substantive issues. They can, and often do,…
Southside Elementary is one of those little neighborhood schools that used to be common in Miami. Situated on less than two acres and with an enrollment of fewer than 420 students, it is tiny by today’s standards. But that’s what parents, students, and teachers like about Southside. The school, which…
Just a few hours before his avuncular mug would appear on national television as an expert commentator on the judiciary’s role in the presidential election, retired Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan made an offer to the Miami-Dade County school board: He would draw up ground rules for a…
Temporarily blinded by the blizzard of chad that has smothered South Florida, many people have forgotten that the November 7 ballot contained numerous other contests and issues. North Bay Village bravely vowed to clean up the “linguistic errors” that sullied its city charter. Hialeah embraced professional baseball without any help…
When he decided this past Monday to allow ballot recounts by hand, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks ensured that the political madness engulfing South Florida would rage on. For a few days at least, the future would be known: Lots of people would be examining lots of ballots. One…
If you’re the type of public official who likes to prowl Biscayne Boulevard looking for the illicit thrill that comes with paying for sex with hookers, and if you like to do it with impunity, here are a couple of helpful tips: (1) Learn to tell the difference between a…
