El dictador Today’s Associated Press poll regarding Fidel Castro that was printed nationwide and in the Miami Herald wasn’t particularly newsworthy. Sixty-four percent of Americans have a “very or somewhat unfavorable” opinion of the island’s dictator. Yawn. What was really interesting, though, is how young Americans view Castro. According to…
“You’re tired!” Why the urge to label everything? Why can a vacation no longer be just a vacation? Things are just getting silly. Case in point: the vacation-moon phenomenon. First we had the basic honeymoon. Fine. But then some Hallmark brown-noser came up with anniversarymoons (repeat honeymoons). The divorcemoon was…
The Hilliard’s Alive … Filed under: News Gabrielle Nash Tessler is on a mission to rid North Bay Village of the devilish influence of the Conch Republic’s Beelzebub. For the past year, the 85-year-old activist has railed against her town’s agreement to pay a guy named Randy Hilliard $2000 per…
It’s Sunday evening, and Scorpico gaming center at Sunset Place in South Miami is quiet. Six or seven lanky preteen boys sit huddled in a corner, swearing, deeply involved in a PC fantasy game. Dianne Bonfiglio walks in late for practice. The pretty thirtysomething settles at an Xbox 360 in…
John Connolly didn’t look dangerous sitting there in Room 7-3 of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse alongside the carjackers, rapists, and robbers. No, Connolly looked exactly like what he was: a short, stocky 66-year-old guy in handcuffs. His wide face was puffy and red, as if his blood pressure were a…
In Brazil it’s called o jeitinho and it means “the little way.” When you are a tourist who gets caught smoking pot on a beach in Rio, you employ o jeitinho and offer a courtesy tip to the police. They accept your offering and you avoid languishing in jail a…
Blow wind, blow! At approximately noon today, a tornado spilled onto Biscayne Boulevard at NE 28th Street. There were a dozen City of Miami cop cars, two Florida Highway Patrol cruisers, a pair of K-9 patrols and a helicopter. They were chasing a suspect who had slipped away from officers…
Nowak, in better times As Valentine’s Day approaches, we’re all left to wonder: are we really, truly in love? Do we still get that warm, fuzzy feeling when we snuggle up close to our partner? Do we still take joy in the little things, like a shared laugh, or an…
G. Murillo/Univision Online The contestants hoping to win a spot on Our Latin Beauty — the new Spanish-language counterpart to America’s Next Top Model — sat on metal bleachers under a canopy outside of Univision’s studios in Doral last Saturday morning. Dressed in a dazzling array of animal prints, lace,…
(Insert joke here.) I recently attended a sausage party. Literally. Guests were encouraged to bring over all manner of meats and spices —anything they would like to see in sausage form. The event mainly involved staring intently at a pink output of ground meat, and making poorly timed jokes. The…
Watch out, he’s got a gun! I was grilling zucchini in my backyard, of a Saturday night, and having a damned fine time doing it. But then, the silhouette of a black rat rustled out of the bushes. “I think I’m going to shoot it,” I told my cousin, reaching…
As you might expect, the Super Bowl brought a wide cast of characters to town. Some were looking to score tickets, get drunk or get lucky. Some are looking for redemption. In town to work a private security detail at Dolphin Stadium over the weekend, Ed Figueroa spent a weekday…
Come back, Jeffrey! “It was a small dog, a Japanese breed. His name was Lulu. He was allowed to sleep in the Emperor’s great bed. During various ceremonies, he would run away from the Emperor’s lap and pee on dignitaries’ shoes. The august gentlemen were not allowed to flinch or…
The enlightened mind Seven monks. Five days. Millions of grains of sand. In the end, there was nothing to show for the 40-plus hours of work. The monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastic College of South India are on a U.S. tour to promote peace and raise money for their…
At the moment the bomb was attached to the undercarriage of his canary-yellow Toyota Land Cruiser, Danilo Anderson was one building away, studying criminalistics at a nearby police academy. The unguarded lot where he had parked was outside the coroner’s office in the Caracas neighborhood of Bello Monte. It was…
Super Brawls Filed under: Flotsam Last week they outlawed tailgating at Dolphin Stadium. The reason might be all of this past year’s fun and frolicking in the parking lot. In 2006 the Dolphin Stadium precinct of the Miami-Dade Police Department received hundreds of calls for lost property, vandalism, theft, narcotics,…
Hey, Super Bowl tourists. The only topic the sports pages, TV, and Internet want to discuss before the February 4 Super Bowl is Peyton and Rex. The unstoppable offense versus the brick wall defense. Chi-Town versus that other pueblo next door. But forget about that stuff. Down here we have…
Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas earns $52,499 a year as vice president of public policy and government/community relations for the YMCA of Greater Miami. That’s a handsome salary and a lengthy title for someone who doesn’t have to put in a 40-hour work week. In fact Seijas’s duties and responsibilities are…
Varela at work Jose Varela, the disgruntled and former El Nuevo Herald cartoonist, won’t serve any jail time for his brazen takeover of One Herald Plaza this past November 24. During his three-and-half hour standoff with Miami Police, Varela demanded the resignations of El Nuevo editor Humberto Castello and Miami…
On March 1, 56 activists for gay rights will gather in Minneapolis and board two buses, one destined for the East Coast and the other for the West. In the bus traveling toward the Pacific will be Delfin Bautista, a 25-year-old social worker born and raised in Miami . Inspired…
Lessee him get out of this one It’s been just over two weeks since Key West escape artist Michael Patrick left the slammer. He’d served 60 days after being found guilty of a second-degree misdemeanor, following his greatest escape to date: Announcing it was the 80th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s…
“Botero, do you know that guy?” During the commission’s regular meeting this past January 25, Miami-Dade Commissioner Dorrin Rolle didn’t care much about a possible $16 million interest-ree loan to help defray the Carnival Center’s construction costs. No, Rolle had a bigger bone to pick with the center’s chief executive…
