Maybe it was Sam Gentry’s idea of a spring cleaning. Or perhaps, given his recent appointment as executive director of the Miami-Dade Community College Foundation, it was Gentry’s attempt at making a memorable first impression. Whatever the motivation, the casualties piled up quickly on the afternoon of Friday, March 23,…
The stage, like a body of water, contains more than what appears on its surface. What rises from the depths of the theatrical ocean — memory, blood, hope, fear, desire — washes across the stage for those who wish to see it. The stage also is something we must cross…
The recent press conference announcing Miami as the site of this year’s Latin Grammys was a star-studded celebration of the community’s newfound respect for the First Amendment. Michael Greene, CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), led Latin-music-industry luminaries in calling on Miami “to be a…
In the summer of 1997, a Cuban government agent instructed one of his contacts in Miami to exploit a nascent division between two influential segments of the exile community: the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and the new directors of Radio and TV Martí, the U.S. government stations beamed at…
Ricardo Ramirez doesn’t seem like he would scare easily. A burly Mexican American with a barrel chest, forearms thick with ropelike muscle, and a full beard flecked with gray, he carries a .45-caliber semiautomatic Beretta pistol and speaks in quiet, measured tones. The 41-year-old Southwest Broward resident is a special…
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…
Eight years, 10,000 miles, and eleven time zones don’t seem to be enough to insulate former county Commissioner Joe Gersten from his notorious Miami past. Despite attempts to fashion a new life in Australia, the ghosts of his local infamy haunt his every move. In fact just a few weeks…
When Fidel Castro’s Revolutionary Armed Forces routed the U.S.-backed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs fiasco 40 years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy took full responsibility for the defeat. But the contrition of the young commander in chief, while popular with the American people, played poorly among…
County Manager Steve Shiver insists it’s simply not true that he has already made up his mind which company will receive his recommendation for a Miami International Airport construction contract worth a whopping $610 million. The project is the largest single piece left in a six-billion-dollar MIA expansion, and represents…
“I’m all for having a fair hearing before the execution,” Miami Commissioner Art Teele told New Times several days before he and his city hall colleagues were to consider the fate of the local billboard industry. Indeed when he tore into the Outdoor Advertising Review Board at the March 29…
They were born with HIV. But Dominique and Jonathan grew up ignorant about their diagnosis because their mother refused to tell them. And health care professionals who had been sporadically treating them at Jackson Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami would not disclose the information to the siblings without…
Monday night is a slow night at Club Madonna. As a dancer named Yvonne counts the tips in her garter, it dawns on her it might have been better to catch up on her sleep in her hotel room tonight. Having arrived from Australia by way of Japan less than…
Victor was arrested this past February for buying twelve dollars’ worth of crack cocaine from undercover Miami police officers. It was his second arrest in three months for the same crime. He was taken to jail — the Metro-West Detention Center — and because he’d violated the conditions of his…
Frank Stella’s design for a bandshell to be erected adjacent to the American Airlines Arena was inspired by a cheap beach hat the internationally acclaimed artist saw in Rio de Janeiro: a flat piece of foam with spirals cut into it, allowing it to expand when pulled down over the…
As Miami commissioners and concerned citizens contemplate new proposals to enhance the city’s billboard canopy, they may want to take into account three recent developments related to the Outdoor Advertising Review Board, the advisory committee created by the city commission last September. (Board members and city staffers are scheduled to…
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…
From the porch of Toby’s Market, Sweetcakes can all but see his neighborhood vanish like the swampland it once was. “That house right there,” he says pointing across a small municipal park. “A black family owned it for like 40 years. Now a Spanish couple’s buying it. This is going…
A criminal grand jury investigating Miami-Dade County Commissioner Pedro Reboredo and members of his staff has been weighing evidence regarding a shared bank account and unusual salary fluctuations involving at least two of the commissioner’s employees. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office will not comment on the case, which has been…
A real smoothie this guy is. Look at him up there on the dais of the Opa-locka City Commission. He’s not one to let a boring public meeting interfere with his Valentine’s Day message of love. No way, not Derrick Miller. The first time he gets the floor he stands…
I’ve outlived the story, Estrella Rubio declares. She’s already picked out the casket and ordered the flowers. Tulips will cover her coffin, along with dozens of red roses. The Miami burial plot she has selected is near her husband, two Cuban presidents, numerous ministers of state, and Cuban American National…
It’s morning in post-rave America — well, morning by South Beach standards — and Josh Kay is looking a little bleary-eyed, sitting outside a Lincoln Road café at 1:00 p.m. The main thoroughfare finally has sprung to life, and brunch is in full swing. In fairness to Kay, we’re seated…
Anthony Kennedy Shriver’s broad smile and Brahmin inflection are eerily familiar. The bushy hair, chiseled chin, and piercing eyes clearly identify him as kin to one of the world’s most famous and intriguing clans. And though for the past thirteen years he has immersed himself in the realm of nonprofit…
