Earlier today WFTV in Orlando reported that a case of the dreaded swine flu has been reported in Florida. Turns out they may have jumped the gun in a major way. WFTV? More like WTF, uh V. An official at Florida Hospital in Orlando sent an email to a reporter…
Yesterday, a veteran Miami-Dade prosecutor told New Times he thinks a story by CBS4’s Jim DeFede that aired last week triggered a drive-by shooting in Liberty City on Sunday that left five young men wounded.Today, the video report in question appears to have disappeared from CBS4’s website, although a written…
The Venetian Causeway is scheduled to be closed for most of May while it undergoes maintenance. While this is an inconvenience for motorists who regularly use the bridge, it could pose major safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists who rely on the causeway as a safer means of traveling between…
Woah, Washington DC! Big news! Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is switching parties to the Democrats. Once Minnesota gets it together, and they seat Al Franken the Democrats will have their 60 seat super majority, and the Republican party will officially be irrelevant on the national stage. Well, as irrelevant…
Florida is behind the times when it comes to gay rights, (Remember Amendment 2? And that whole adoption thing?) But at least the rest of the country is catching on. Back in 2004, New York Times/CBS conducted a poll in which they asked people, “Do you support gay marriage?” Only…
Jesus Christ on a cross. That was the image Sen. Gary Siplin (D-Orlando) wanted to see on a proposed license plate. Needless to say, it caused a bit of controversy, so now he’s rethinking the image and might replace it with a pic representing the Holy Trinity. But what about…
Swine flu is absolutely terrorizing! I barely want to leave my house! I mean how many people has it killed in this country so far? Zero? Really? From all the news coverage I swear it must have been more than that. Well, come on surely about a million people in…
We were on the top of the world, and getting everybody’s attention. Regis Philbin inserted the Marlins into his daily Senile Round-up. Philadelphia sportswriters were warning fans that the Phillies had more than the Mets to worry about. “They’re not a mirage and they’re not going away,” wrote the Daily…
LocalThe Miami Marine Stadium is listed as one of 11 most endangered historic sites in America. [Herald]Top officials from the State Department met with a Cuba representative yesterday, though the American official stressed that it doesn’t actually mean anything, yet. [CBS4]Been spending most of our lives living in the renter’s…
Texas Monthly has a new feature story out about disgraced accused Ponzi schemer and frequent reporter threatener ‘Sir’ Allen Stanford. It’s good, although … cough, cough … your very own New Times had a pretty good read on the same guy last month, if we don’t say so ourselves. And…
Words such as “Public Health Emergency” and “Global Pandemic” can awaken the dormant hypochondriac in the best of us. So when newspapers started using scary words to describe the swine flu yesterday, it occurred to Riptide that Florida has the second biggest wild hog population in the country. And then…
Here’s is my personal take on officially lead prayer in public areas like legislative chambers, schools, and other government functions: If I had it my way, it wouldn’t happen. Now, a bit of personal prayer is fine. Back in my school days I prayed to Jesus before many a test,…
Just before 5 p.m. this past Sunday, a Chevy Monte Carlo rolled up before a squat, one-story house in Liberty City. Someone inside the car pulled out an AK-47 and opened fire on a group of young men in the front yard, wounding five. The drive-by was especially significant because…
I think we should coin a term here on Riptide for when we blog about the miseries facing The Miami Herald. “Herald in a Barrel”? You know, how like in the great depression days people got so poor they had to wear barrels to hide their nudity? Ok, no. Heraldpocalypse?…
Think of America’s foreign relations as an AOL Instant Messenger buddy list. We’ve got roughly 190 buddies, dived up into “BFF,” “Frenemies,” “Casual Acquaintances,” etc. But for about 50 years, the screen name “Fidel4Lyfe” (AKA Cuba) has been blocked. Well, the New York Times reports today that the Obama administration is…
Some futurists have looked into their crystal balls and dubbed Miami a “City of the Future.”Does that mean we’ll get jet packs and phones implanted directly into our heads before everyone else? Uh, no, but it means in the future we’ll have great “economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, quality…
Just a couple of weeks into his new gig as Florida International University basketball coach, Isiah Thomas is already beginning to exhibit his world-famous people-person charm.High school forward and Jacksonville native Chris Rozier had been offered a b-ball scholarship to FIU before Thomas got there. But apparently the new coach…
The humidity stayed away all weekend, so the weather was as perfect as it gets in Miami, so let’s hope all the swine flu hysteria didn’t keep you indoors. But in case you spent the weekend spraying disinfectant on all the pork products in your refrigerator, here is what you…
Annette Soler would make a kick-ass comic book character. The librarian by day/bodybuilder by night makes you wonder if she’s sporting a Superwoman costume under her white collared shirt. Though she’s not the largest of the oiled-up figure competitors, the formerly obese 32-year-old has overcome the most to produce her…
Do Florida’s public universities have a reluctance to put women on top? On one side, you could point out that only two of the 11 schools in the system have a female president. On the other hand, you could brandish the fact that both the chair and vice chair of…
Wednesday will mark the culmination of President Obama’s first 100 days in office, and he’s done a lot: passed a massive stimulus package, ordered the closure of Gitmo, made a momentous change in travel policy to Cuba, had some pirates shot, and got a dog named Bo. Though, one area…
LocalYet another publication takes a crack at understanding the reaction to President Obama’s changes in Cuba policy amongst Cuban Americans in Miami. This time it’s the Washington Post, and they find, quite poetically, that the hard lines have softened. I think honestly though, the pieces on the matter that have…
