Rev. Al Sharpton was midway through his Haitian/Refugee/Solidarity speech on the steps of the Torch of Friendship at Bayside Marketplace during last Thursday’s downtown protest rally, when he began rambling on about “Little Efrain.” At first people looked at each other and scratched their heads: “What can the ninny be…
Philip John Clapp should be smiling. He’s the star and producer behind Jackass the Movie, one of the hottest films in America right now. In just the past two years Clapp has transformed himself from a struggling Hollywood actor whose career peak was a Bud Ice commercial into Johnny Knoxville,…
Almost forgotten in the post-November 5th victory celebration by Jeb Bush and the Republican Party was one stinging election day defeat for the GOP: the passage of Amendment 11, which could throw a monkey wrench into the governor’s plan to turn universities into corporate academies run by politically connected boards…
It’s true, accidents happen in other places. I could have been making that same left turn into my own driveway back in Ohio, say. Some impatient fool could have ignored my blinker and tried to pass me on the left up there too. He still would have plowed into my…
After a brutal year, Miami Police Chief Raul Martinez announced his resignation last week. He’ll leave on New Year’s Day. And while the announcement caught many off-guard, including the mayor, it was not unexpected. His decision had been in the works for a while, and the consequence of not resigning…
It’s not clear what propelled Gregory Poyser to seek a career in law enforcement. Maybe he had a strong desire to help others. Maybe he wanted to strap on a gun and be near the action. And maybe, just maybe, he had an unconscious desire to turn himself in. By…
Judy Johnson, ex-general president of American Postal Workers’ Union Local 172 (representing 3500 employees), was pacing the floor of the Scoreboard Bar & Grille in Doral, talking intently on her cell phone. Two weeks had elapsed since she and her colleague, Warren Pearlman, were suspended pending a hearing — she…
Thugs known to bust on sight God bless my crazy life, La vida loca homie Livin that thug life. — Tupac Shakur, “M.O.B.” Loss of Innocence Nineteen-year-old Watson Chery knew the Eastside boys wanted to take him out. One Tuesday last spring he came home, fell into his favorite chair…
Back in 1976, Alan “Ollie” Gelfand — a nervous, fast-talking kid with bulging eyes, long brown hair, and heat-inviting corduroy pants — was flying with buddies Kevin Peterson and Jeff Duer in a chartered plane, their eyes hungrily scanning the landscape below. The fourteen-year-old friends had pooled their allowances and…
It didn’t take long for Gov. Jeb Bush and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to hightail it out of Aventura Station 8 last week, after spending just fifteen minutes glad-handing dozens of Miami-Dade County firemen wearing bright red “Jeb!” T-shirts (supplied by their union, Local 1403 of the International…
Cheryl Little was halfway through a strategic meeting with her staff at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) Tuesday afternoon, October 29, when her assistant broke in with the news: A large boatload of Haitians had run aground near Key Biscayne. People were jumping into the water, running down the…
Los Piojos Origin: Argentina Sound and influences: A mix of Rolling Stones-tinged R&B, Argentine tango, and Uruguayan candombe. Stature: One of the few consistent stadium rock acts in today’s Argentina, with legions of die-hard followers. They have released six albums independently, four of them distributed in the United States. Musical…
When you hear “T … O … K …” echoing through the scene, that’s a warning that the vibrant dancehall quartet is about to lace you up with sheer niceness! TOK’s talent for finding new harmonics and new DJ styles is unsurpassed. The upbeat DJ patterns of cheeky Craig “Craigy-T”…
It used to be that challenging the Cuba embargo establishment in this town could get you spit on, fired, ostracized, bombed, or even shot. Now, in these more civilized times, it only gets you accused of being a one-issue candidate, at least in the race for Florida’s new U.S. House…
Betancourt has accused Diaz-Balart of being an “enabler of corporate greed.” Greedy or not, a phalanx of corporate executives, industry associations, and Republican political action committees enabled Diaz-Balart to raise almost a million dollars, about seven times as much as Betancourt. As of press time Diaz-Balart’s biggest financers were: National…
The first stop on the McBride for Governor campaign’s early-October tour of Miami-Dade’s influential black churches is Mt. Tabor Baptist in Model City. This is legendary Congresswoman Carrie Meek’s home church, and she is here, clad in a light peach suit and clutching a tan Gucci purse, to deliver the…
On July 29, 1999, Miami-Dade County residents dealt Alex Penelas a political ass-whuppin’ he would never forget. An angry 234,309 people, a resounding 30 percent of registered voters, turned out on a special election day to overwhelmingly defeat, by a 2-1 margin, the Penelas-led “Transit Not Tolls” campaign to raise…
On August 6, at 2:12 p.m., a fire broke out in the Special Management Unit (SMU) South of the MetroWest Detention Center, one of the county’s jails located in the marshy swamplands of west Miami-Dade. The SMU is an extra-secure wing in the jail that holds security-risk inmates: They may…
Eladio Irala arrived in Miami in early October with a simple plan: He wanted to ship his motorcycle to Haiti, take a boat or plane there himself, and island-hop all the way home to South America. He had no idea exactly how to do this, and he didn’t know anyone…
The kitchen counter is covered in green. Two pounds of neon-bright, high-grade reefer next to its equivalent in cash, stacks of twenties totaling $8000. But three young men and one young lady, all white-Hispanic college students, are growing a bit apprehensive. The bud counts twenty grams short. “Razzmatazz,” the dealer,…
Mexican crooner Cristian Castro is the son of über-Mexican-crooner Luis Miguel as much as he is of his biological mother, the ever-surgically-young-starlet Verónica Castro. Look at his overstyled suits and his overly dramatic walks across the stage. Listen to the way he pronounces his s’s. That’s all imitation Luismi. But…
Two weeks before the recent general election, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Stan Hills is on his cell phone talking to political consultant Armando Gutierrez. The conversation is about last-minute changes to a radio ad asking voters to abolish the Miami-Dade Fire Board, which had run afoul of International Firefighters Association…
