An airport shuttle collided with a Sunny Isles Beach Police car, killing a shuttle passenger early this morning in Miami Beach, police said.The intersection of 71st Street and Abbott Avenue was closed from the time of the crash at 3:50 a.m. until rescue crews cleared up the wreckage at 10…
Rick Outzen of the Daily Beast is reporting the tragic slaying of Byrd and Melanie Billings, a wealthy North Florida couple who had 17 children, many adopted, might have been a contract hit. The suspect said that the contract price was between $20,000 and $50,000, according to the sources — who requested anonymity,…
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez has picked a real joker to run the housing agency. Seriously, he’s a part-time stand-up comedian, but he used to do the same job in San Fran, so he’s qualified to run a housing agency. [Herald]Another weird FCAT tale: A school that specializes in teaching critically ill…
News reports last week shot around the world — from the Chicago Tribune to MSNBC to El Mercurio of Santiago, Chile. A spurned boyfriend had plowed his motorcycle through the doorway of a Little Havana jewelry shop, barricaded himself inside, and stuffed a flaming rag into the gas tank. After…
View Larger Map Riptide is a nonviolent blog, but we’re all for self-preservation. And there really is no activity more South Floridian than pulling a gun and blasting on the schlub who just pulled a gun on you. So this evening, we propose a toast to the yet unnamed clerk at La…
An email alert from North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin bears more bad news for a troubled residential and commercial development in his city.Galvin informs North Miami residents not to bother showing up for a town hall meeting scheduled for tonight to discuss what the heck is gonna happen with Biscayne…
What does it say about Miami Beach Fashion Week when some of the biggest celebrities in town for the festivities were from Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise? Jessie Luttman had the rundown on the celebs in attendance earlier, and it left her wondering “where the real celebrities were.” As per a Lesley Abravanel source, frustratingly…
Here are the charred remains of the Miami Beach “castle” that mysteriously caught fire last Friday. The picture is from Miamism’s flickr. By the way, Miamism has a new (to us, anyway) cell phone photoblog spinoff called Miamism Pix, which is definitely worth an addition to your RSS reader…
It’s kind of weird to think that before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the last soil their feet touched was Floridian. Today marks the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing. The moon walk happened the following the day. Meanwhile, here on Earth, we still haven’t…
Today is the first day in Florida that it is illegal to hunt freshwater turtles for commercial purposes. Truly the end of the era. The turtle-hunting industry has apparently been relatively booming lately thanks to demands by the South American and Asian markets, and also owing to many of our neighboring…
Jeffrey Donovan, who’s filming the third season of his hit cable drama, Burn Notice, was arrested last weekend for suspicion of DUI, according to TMZ. The arrest happened July 12 in Miami. The 41-year-old actor was taken into custody, posed for this lovely mug shot, and was then released. No more details beyond…
Mustached Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp will file paperwork today to kick off his bid for attorney general, becoming the first high-profile Republican to do so. It seems likely, like many of the state races in 2010, the Republican establishment will rally around him, giving him a clear path through the primaries. The…
Police this morning released the first details of a Saturday-night murder in Allapattah — including a sketch of the prime suspect in the killing.Around 11:45 p.m. Saturday, someone shot a man named Hector Belgrade near 2261 NW 28th St. and then ran off, says Det. Juan D’Elia of the Miami…
Ground for the Marlins’ new stadium was broken. [AP]Meanwhile, Jackson Health System is bleeding money, with a broken financial support system. [Herald]Meet Randy Young, landlord of the sex offenders. [NBCMiami]The teenage son of a Miami district fire chief drowned in a Central Florida lake. [Herald]NASA has chosen its first Cuban-American…
Criminals love Michael Rodriguez. This past June, the thin and naive 18-year-old Cash-a-Check employee was duped into giving away a bag filled with $26,000. Con artists promised the money would go to his boss’s wife. It went into their pockets instead. “They were so smart and slick,” he told Riptide back then…
The Republican Party of Florida is hosting a big shindig for the youngins next month in Orlando called Drive the Discussion ’09, and they have concocted one of the most spectacular three ring circus of speakers ever to grace a political stage. Olympian turned Village People musical co-star turned plastic surgery victim turned…
Sorry Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comittee, but your latest little video project kind of fails. The plan is to attack two Republican candidates for Senate, our own Charlie Crist and New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (who?), by comparing them to Sarah Palin. Reason: They’re all resigning. It’s a really clumsy…
Current FAU President Frank Brogan has bagged the unanimous recommendation of the search committee to be named the net Chancellor of Florida’s University System. His appointment is expected to be confirmed by the end of the afternoon.Brogan has headed Florida Atlantic since 2003. He served four years as lieutenant governor…
Today’s photo comes from Alex de Carvalho’s flickr…
With Kendrick Meek resigning to seek a Senate seat, Florida’s 17th congressional district will have its first non-Meek representative since 1993. District 17, with a Cook pvi of D+34, is one of the most Democratic leaning districts in the entire nation, so the real race is poised to take place in the Democratic primary. State Sen. Frederica…
The Senate’s lone Hispanic Republican, Florida’s Mel Martinez, says he’ll vote for the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic nominee. Martinez is the second Republican senator to announce his intent to vote for Sonia Sotomayor. (Olympia Snowe quickly become the third after Martinez’s announcement.)Here’s his statement: “Given her judicial record, and her testimony this week,…
It was close to 1:45 and the Florida Room’s lights were dimmed to twice their usual glow. Having closed out the place more than a few times, I knew that it meant the club would soon close, but so early? Then from the corner of my eye, I see — a camera crew…
