Despite years of alleged misconduct, Frank Pichel somehow still works in Miami politics. In 2000, he was suspended from his job as a City of Miami Police sergeant after being caught allegedly writing a fake incident report to cover for a buddy who beat a handcuffed detainee to death. In 2006…
The NCAA Tournament field was announced last night, and to the surprise of no one Miami’s 14-18 record wasn’t good enough to punch a ticket to the dance. It’s the second year in a row the Hurricanes will miss the tournament, which, if we’re honest, few will notice. Miami…
In December, 38-year-old Mabel Perez-Ordonez received good news. A letter from Miami-Dade Police stated she’d been the victim of indecent exposure. That meant the Nicaraguan native would be eligible for a U visa — a path to legal status for undocumented crime victims who cooperate with cops. The Hialeah mother…
The City of Miami currently operates a Civilian Investigative Panel, a group of everyday citizens who investigate complaints against Miami Police Department officers. The panel provides basic levels of accountability for the department, which has been regularly accused of committing civil-rights violations for decades. Naturally, the city’s police union has fought…
A Florida jury today acquitted North Miami SWAT Officer Jonathan Aledda on one count of culpable negligence after he shot a behavioral therapist, Charles Kinsey, in the leg in 2016. Kinsey was trying to help an unarmed man with autism, Arnaldo Rios Soto, out of an intersection. Rios Soto was holding a silver toy truck…
Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who has been a cornerstone of the team since 2012, was traded to the Tennessee Titans Friday. The Dolphins will get a fourth-round pick in 2020 as well as a 2019 seventh-round pick, while the Titans receive Tannehill and a sixth-round pick in 2019, according…
Ever since Miami city commissioners approved Ultra Music Festival’s move from downtown to Virginia Key, environmentalists have worried about the impact on the island’s federally protected wildlife. Festival organizers conducted wildlife surveys and put together an environmental plan — but now one leading environmental nonprofit is blasting those efforts as…
Former Miami Police union chief Capt. Javier Ortiz has an uncanny knack for worming his way out of trouble. During his 14 years with MPD, Ortiz has been hit with 38 citizen complaints — but only six have been sustained by Internal Affairs. He’s proud of this and has openly bragged about his IA file on Facebook.
One year ago, in this very space, we pleaded with the Miami Dolphins to sign Miami native and former Miami Northwestern High School and Louisville star Teddy Bridgewater. It made sense heading into last season, knowing full well that Ryan Tannehill might miss games (he did) due to…
It was as if the bridge appeared out of nowhere. Carlos Badillo had driven past Florida International University before, but on March 15, 2018, he noticed something he hadn’t seen just a week earlier. It was a little before 2 p.m., and he was driving east on Tamiami Trail with his wife, Martha Plaza Cevallos. Up ahead, a 174-foot bridge had been erected in front of the Modesto A. Maidique Campus.
For months, one of the most explosive court cases in the world has been playing out in Miami’s federal courthouse. Aleksej Gubarev, a tech entrepreneur from Cyprus, sued BuzzFeed News for defamation after the news outlet published the infamous “Steele Dossier” outlining alleged Russian government efforts to sway the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump…
“He made me feel like nothing,” Loving says. “I don’t feel safe anymore. I cry every day. I have kids, and I wonder, Who will protect them if something would happen to them? I could never call the police again.”
Tasers have been promoted to police departments in recent years as a safe way to de-escalate dangerous situations. Yet in reality, the devices are far from nonlethal — a 2017 Reuters investigation turned up 1,081 cases in which someone died after being shocked. Miami’s three largest police departments have also routinely misused Tasers: In 2014, New Times reported that local cops were tasing mentally ill people, the homeless, and children as young as 6.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi attack on Yemen has sparked the single-worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now. Children are starving to death, cities lay in ruins, and a horrible cholera outbreak is ravaging the poverty-stricken nation. Innocent people live in constant fear they will be vaporized by…
On Tuesday, Miami developer Robert Zangrillo was charged with crimes as part of a sprawling, national FBI investigation into rich Americans who bribe colleges into admitting their spoiled, less-than-intelligent kids. Zangrillo allegedly paid an intermediary to make it look as if his daughter, who’d failed an art history class among…
A disturbing video shared on social media last night shows several Miami-Dade Police officers violently arresting a black woman who had called for help after someone pulled a gun on her and her daughter. Juan Perez, a spokesperson for the department, said on Twitter that the officer involved has been relieved of duty and the incident is being investigated.
The Florida House of Representatives this afternoon agreed to allow smokable medical marijuana in the state, opening the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to seal the deal and make it law. Since Florida voters approved medical marijuana by more than 70 percent and Gov. Rick Scott’s Legislature banned the smokable stuff…
In the wake of the FBI’s Operation Varsity Blues, one of the most sweeping probes into college-entrance bribery and corruption in American history, U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala today called for an investigation into nationwide corruption at top-flight schools.
Joe Gruters, the Florida senator, ex-Trump campaign chair in the Sunshine State, and current state Republican Party leader, has a pretty transparent message to undocumented immigrants: Don’t bother driving. As part of the deeply racist and controversial “anti-sanctuary city” bill he’s proposing, SB 168,…
Last month, Key West became the second locale in the country to ban sunscreens containing chemicals believed to harm coral reefs. Now, officials in Miami Beach and Surfside are considering passing bans of their own. During their meeting today, Beach commissioners will consider prohibiting the sale of sunscreens…
When Twitter suspended multiple members of the Proud Boys for violating the site’s policy on “violent extremist groups” last fall, Enrique Tarrio, the Miami-based chairman of the right-wing group, was among those removed. But since Twitter doesn’t have a good way to stop a suspended user from simply making a new account, Tarrio was back on the platform in no time under a new name.
After years of the Dolphins trying and failing to make it work, it’s clear Ryan Tannehill’s seven-year tenure with the Miami Dolphins is about to come to an end. And following the Denver Broncos’ trade of Case Keenum to the quarterback-needy Washington Redskins, there are officially zero NFL teams…
