Before he was tapped to serve as a bodyguard for then Miami Beach mayoral candidate Philip Levine in 2013, Eric Kolbinsky was a longtime police detective and special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was based in Atlanta, according to an online bio, and led a team “that traveled…
Mercifully, the Heat’s regular season came to an end Wednesday night with a 100-87 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Heat loss means Miami finishes the season with a 54-28 record, 12 games worse than last season’s franchise record 66-win campaign. With the second seed in the East locked up…
Inside the Colonial-style monolith that houses Beggs & Lane, Pensacola’s oldest law firm, sits Sonya Dobbs, a thin-lipped paralegal from Birmingham, Alabama, with a button nose and long black hair. The perfectly coifed, 52-year-old mother of three pastes user name after user name and password after password into an array…
The police station burned bright as a bonfire. As cars hissed past on the Caracas highway, flames consumed the roadside structure as if it were kindling. Black smoke belched into the night sky. By the time dawn broke over the Venezuelan capital April 1, nothing was left of the building…
When the City of Miami unveiled its highly anticipated trolley system two years ago this month, city officials were clearly satisfied with themselves. Mayor Tomás Regalado — who had championed the idea for years — grinned as he snipped the ribbon from the sleek orange-and-green machines in Mary Brickell Village…
Like most librarians in Miami-Dade County, Julio Granda Jr. was worried about the financial future of his institution. Under County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, the system had lost $30 million in funding over several years and, in the summer of 2013, was staring down an additional $20 million cut. But when…
Last month, Ashton Kutcher made an unplanned cameo during a Florida Senate Transportation Committee meeting, when lobbyists played a clip of the Two and Half Men star and Uber investor on Jimmy Kimmel Live blasting Miami for not changing long-standing laws to accommodate the upstart car service. “Basically, it’s like…
We’re sure that after yesterday, the last thing you want to hear about is more taxes. But you’d better get ready to pay a lot more of them if you’re a frequent online shopper. Amazon will begin charging Floridians a sales tax May 1, just like any brick-and-mortar store…
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The meat of downtown Miami is separated from the waterfront parks and attractions by an eight-lane highway complete with median surface parking. It works, but it’s not exactly the most aesthetically pleasing setup. Well, the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has finally picked a plan to redevelop a stretch of Biscayne…
The old rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t pay more than 30 percent of your income on rent and utilities, but in Miami that’s becoming a near-impossible guideline to stick to. A new Zillow analysis shows that the median rent (not including utilities) in Miami is equal to about…
Ever since he earned a midsummer promotion to the Dodgers last year, Cuban defector Yasiel Puig has been the most electrifying man in Major League Baseball — flying heedlessly into walls, smacking absurd home runs, and annoying columnists by showing up late to games and speeding in his sports car…
For more than two decades on the tip of Virginia Key, Rickenbacker Marina has run its business providing boat storage, a rare longtime Miami operator during a period marked by rapid development and soaring property values. But now the marina is claiming the city is pushing it out to make…
The police station burned bright as a bonfire. As cars hissed past on the Caracas highway, flames consumed the roadside structure as if it were kindling. Black smoke belched into the night sky. By the time dawn broke over the Venezuelan capital April 1, nothing was left of the building…
Former governor Charlie Crist addressed the non-partisan Forum Club of the Palm Beaches on his plans to unseat current governor Rick Scott. The Scott campaign responded by sending Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera to give an instant response to the media. Crist, apparently channeling his inner Frank Underwood, pulled a major…
Today’s photo comes from James Livingston’s Flickr. If you’d like to see your photo here join our Flickr group. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes…
The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded roughly $110 million worth of cocaine in Miami Beach this morning, which actually carried a rough street value of about $330 million. The more than 3,300 kilos of llello were interdicted during two separate incidents as part of the Coast Guard’s Operation Martillo, an operation…
The Marlins surprising 5-1 start had us feeling positively optimistic. Maybe this season wouldn’t be a slow, painful march to MLB irrelevance. Maybe, just maybe, this would be the first season the team actually lost a playoff series! Sadly, reality has set back in. The team is in the midst…
Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to randomly drug test every single state employee in Florida — from department heads to minimum wage DMV janitors — has already failed the common-sense test and an appeals court ruling. A trial run of the program found that almost no state employees were failing, while…
When we decided to tally up the most popular Twitter users in Miami, we weren’t sure what we were going to get. Real fame or local fame doesn’t necessarily equate to Twitter fame. After all, Dan Marino barely made the list at 50, and LeBron James came in second. To…
We’re number two! We’re number two! The Miami Heat clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference with last night’s 114-93 loss to the Washington Wizards, a terrific feat for most teams, but not so much a reason to celebrate for your defending back-to-back NBA champions. If resting LeBron James…
Pundits, Republican insiders, and pollsters all seem to think former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is planning on making a presidential run in 2016, but you’re not a real presidential contender until you’re properly parodied on Saturday Night Live. Well, on Saturday the show brought out new cast member Beck Bennett…
