Unlike Miami Beach Mayor Levine, 94 Percent of South Floridians Want Legal Airbnb

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine might genuinely be the nation’s closest Democratic relative to Donald Trump. Levine can’t stop himself from tweeting out garbage: He spent last week calling the right-leaning Sunshine State News “#FakeJournalism,” for one. Then he spent Friday on an emoji-laden Twitter tirade against Airbnb, the home-sharing company that Levine is working hard to ban from the city.

FPL Wants to Pay Salary of County Employee in Charge of Approving Its Permits

In South Florida, the regulated monopoly of Florida Power & Light is the only game in town when it comes to keeping your lights on. That means that despite FPL’s history of jacking up rates, fighting to store radioactive waste beneath our aquifer, and spending $8 million on a deceitful anti-solar amendment, consumers basically have no other choice but to patronize the utility giant.

WPLG Local 10 Apologizes After Botching Rape Headline, Attacking Journalist Who Pointed It Out

Pro tip for any organization with a public social media page: Don’t fight with critics using the company account — especially people accusing you of furthering rape culture by apologizing for someone accused of sexual assault. That’s pretty much exactly what WPLG Local 10’s Twitter account did today. The station’s official account launched a petty fight against New Times staff writer Jessica Lipscomb…

No One Told YWCA Workers That All Aboard Florida Wants to Demolish Their Downtown Center

This week, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s office will release a report detailing how the county could sell or lease 2.8 million square feet of publicly owned downtown land to developers. The vague plan is already sparking outcry, but it turns out one concrete negotiation in the proposal is already underway: All Aboard Florida, the company behind the Gov. Rick Scott-tied Brightline train system, is already in talks with Dade to bulldoze part of the county hall complex.

Miami Police Still Aren’t Wearing Their Body Cameras

When an audit revealed in mid-December that many Miami Police officers weren’t wearing their department-issued body cameras or downloading the footage, Police Chief Rudy Llanes told New Times he was ready to get to the bottom of the issue. But, much like Marco Rubio, he said he needed more information first about why the $1.3 million equipment, paid for by taxpayers and a Department of Justice grant, wasn’t being used.

One Republican Florida State Senator Has Proposed Ten Insane Laws

Greg Steube is a nightmare. Steube, a lawyer and military veteran, represented Sarasota in the Florida House of Representatives for six years before earning a promotion to the Florida Senate in 2016. With larger shoes to fill, Steube now appears to be swinging for the fences. He’s chucked a remarkable number of bills against the wall in the hopes that some will stick — and nearly all of them are next-level bananas.

“Antiscience” Bill Would Force School Boards to Listen to Silly Complaints About Books

Two years ago, parents in Naples clashed over the books being taught at their kids’ schools. Members of a conservative group found fault with classics such as The Catcher in the Rye for including “homosexual themes” and The Great Gatsby for highlighting the “moral decay of the wealthy.” Those kinds of debates could now happen statewide if a bill by Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, of Naples, becomes law.

Judge Rules Mayor Gimenez’s Anti-Immigrant Rule Unconstitutional

After weeks of fiery protests and a contentious vote of support from the Miami-Dade County Commission, Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s move to back Donald Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities has been tossed out in court as unconstitutional. Miami-Dade Judge Milton Hirsch made the ruling Friday morning.

South Florida Town: Stop Photoshopping Our Logo or We’ll Sue You

Tamarac, a sprawling South Florida suburb, is not all that special. For starters, the city’s name doesn’t come from a special natural wonder like a lake or, as it was long rumored, a nearby Native American tribe. No, the city was simply named for a local car wash called Caramat. “Tamarac” is just “Caramat” spelled backward. Caramat’s owner, Ken Behring, founded the city.

Miami’s Clubgoers Are America’s Drunkest, Study Shows

It turns out the city where Diddy punched Drake in the face, Nicki Minaj made fun of a homeless person, Joaquin Phoenix fought a fake heckler, Pitbull built a thriving rap career, and Cuba Gooding Jr. ate a smartphone has something of a drinking problem when it goes clubbing. Who knew?

There’s Reportedly a Gigantic #FakeNews Operation Run From Miami (and It’s Not New Times!)

Things that are not true: Denzel Washington endorsed Donald Trump; Miley Cyrus is leaving the country now that Trump is president; Barack Obama is about to be charged with treason. Things that are true: According to a BuzzFeed News investigation, two dudes are cranking out totally false headlines from a house in Miami as part of a huge bipartisan #FakeNews operation.

Florida Highway Patrol Cop Arrested for Covering Up Miami Beach Hit-and-Run

On June 30, 2015, Miami dentist Jesus Enrique Del Valle’s Ranger Rover hit a landscape worker on the road in Miami Beach, reportedly leaving the victim with permanent brain damage. But police say Del Valle didn’t stop to see if the worker was OK. Instead, he drove to a body shop owned by his girlfriend’s cousin to hide the damage to his SUV, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office says. Del Valle apparently couldn’t cover the repairs in cash alone and needed an insurance quote, so he called Florida Highway Patrol Officer David Casillas to write a fake accident report.