Connie Mack Won’t Take Senate Gig, But Clay Shaw Jr. Will

The Florida Political blogosphere has exploded with Mel Martinez Madness, and the main symptom is wildly wondering who will replace him. We already put in our two cents, but here’s the latest updates. Charlie Crist further confirms he won’t appoint himself, but will have someone picked out by the time the…

Miami Barber Lost a Game of Pool and Ended up Serving in Iraq

Next time you lose 20 bucks in a drunken bet with a friend, remember the name “Teo Garcia” before you feel too bad for yourself.”I had a unique way of getting back into the service, no doubt,” Garcia says by satellite phone from a base in Baghdad. Here’s how he…

305 Photo of the Day: Before the High-Rises

You’re really going to need to click on today’s photo, taken October 1, 1925, for the larger size. It’s a view of the Miami business district looking east. I wish I had a recent image to compare it to, but it goes without saying the new photo would show quite a different…

NBC6 Dropping Creative Services Staff

NBC Universal is dropping the creative services staff at all of it’s owned and operated stations reports Gawker. That includes WTVJ. The Creative Services staff is responsible for on-air promos, and other in-house marketing services. The cuts will begin September 16th, with another station facing lay-offs every two weeks. Now all promo duties for…

Who Will Charlie Crist Appoint to Replace Mel Martinez?

As long as I live, I don’t think Florida will see a more chaotic election cycle than 2010. Now, Mel Martinez has thrown in another twist by resigning early, leaving the decision to pick his appointment to Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running to replace Martinez himself. Let’s take a…

Mayor Manny’s Legacy Crumbles Before His Eyes

Manny Diaz wasn’t arrested for throwing a box of tea at his wife. He never showed up mad as hell, in his pajamas, at a constituent’s house at 5 a.m. He never lead the city’s budget into complete shambles. So, really, by those standards, he should leave office this fall as the best mayor…

Charles Perez Too Gay for Television? Probably Not

Even national cable TV channel Fox News jumped on the firing of Local 10 news anchor Charles Perez, using the headline banner “Too Gay for Television?” But can that sensational story really be true in a TV market filled with openly gay anchors (consider Channel 7) and even WPLG’s own…

Mel Martinez Will Resign

Woah, boy. Grumpy Sen. Mel Martinez has apparently had enough of this “serving the people” stuff. Several sources report he will resign, possibly as early as today. His term would expire in early 2011, and he had previously promised to serve the rest of it. But the race to replace…

News Roundup

The Miami 21 zoning plan surprisingly was defeated last night, probably because Joe Sanchez wants to send a message he is not Manny Diaz’s mini-me. [Herald]The suspect in the Sean Taylor murder case had previously pleaded guilty, but he’s expected to try to withdraw that plea. [AP]Pictures have surfaced of children playing…

Charles Perez Fired by Local 10

Steve Rothaus is reporting WPLG has fired Charles Perez. Earlier this year, the former weeknight anchor was demoted to the weekends, and in the past few weeks, he’s pretty much disappeared from Local 10 completely.  Perez filed a complaint with Miami-Dade’s Equality Opportunity Board claiming his demotion was spurred by his sexuality and a nasty legal…

United States Will Officially Have Its First Hispanic Justice

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate today. No big surprise there.  Every member of the Democratic caucus, save for Ted Kennedy who remains ill and could not attend, voted for Sotomayor. That would include, of course, Bill Nelson. While only nine republicans offered their “yays,” including Mel Martinez.  She’ll…

T-Pain Hopes to Become FSU’s First Auto-Tuned President

He’s T-Pain. You know him. And he wants to be the next president of Florida State Univeristy. Seriously, the headline “Campaign under way for T-Pain to be Florida State University’s next president,” with the subhead, “T. K. Wetherell: ‘I don’t even know what a T-Pain is,'” actually appeared today in the Tallahassee Democrat, not The…

Former Obama Campaign Bigwig Parts Ways with Kendrick Meek

Kendrick Meek’s hiring of Steve Hildebrand to run his Senate campaign was supposed to be a message that his candidacy was to be taken seriously. Hildebrand was deputy national campaign director for a little campaign you might have heard of — Barack Obama’s run for president. Hildebrand spent the closing days in…

News Roundup

A man stole handbags from Macy’s in Aventura Mall and then, during the getaway, hit and killed a woman. [Herald]Police are still searching for a woman involved in the handbag heist. Meanwhile, witnesses say the crash could have been prevented if police weren’t so aggressive in their pursuit. [NBCMiami]The school…

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Is Personal for This Miami Guy

Remember Keith Meinhold? Yeah, Riptide didn’t either — mostly because we were more into reading Goosebumps books back when the gay Navy officer made headlines in all the big newspapers. It was the summer of 1992. And even the paragon of media integrity The Rush Limbaugh Show followed his story.   It was…

Magic City Kitty: Poo-Poo Paranoia

Hello, Kitty: I’m always begging my boyfriend to spend a couple of nights at my house, but when he finally obliges, I can’t wait for him to leave. Not for good, just for 20 to 30 minutes so I can have time to shit and clear the air in my…