Florida is undergoing a radical conservative transformation under Gov. Rick Scott, but one of his top proposals seems to be a bridge too far and too soon even for the Republican supermajorities in the state House and Senate.Even at a time when billion-dollar deficits have become the norm for Florida’s…
Rick Scott wants to run Florida like a business, but he seems ideologically driven to make sure the state isn’t in the business of much. Fresh off a Pulitzer win for investigative reporting, Paige St. John of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune yesterday filed a shocker claiming Scott aims to kill Citizens Property Insurance,…
Every night, hundreds of unlucky partiers stumble out of South Beach clubs to find their cars gone, hauled to a grim storage lot on Bay Road and held for ransom. Towing is big business for the Beach’s only two licensed companies — Tremont and Beach Towing — and since their…
We cannot fathom a world where former SNL star and proud Miami native Victoria Jackson didn’t go on her weird rants about her strange political beliefs. I mean, we don’t agree with anything she squeaks, but we will fight to the death for her right to squeak it (and, of…
Rick Scott apparently hates alligators. He hates them so much he’s had them skinned and made into his really tacky, gold embossed, custom “governor” boots. He hates them so much that he doesn’t want to even be near a live one, unless he had a gun and is shooting at…
Forty-five percent of Republican voters say they believe President Obama was born oversees despite not a single fact pointing to that possibility. Surprisingly, though, Republican politicians from South Florida are lining up to knock the theory down. Echoing statements made by Marco Rubio, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart dismisses the conspiracy theory…
Floridians have seen the controversy that’s erupted in Arizona over their controversial immigrations bill: the economic boycotts, the worries of racial profiling and charges of racism, and the arguments that it violates the US Constitution. Yet, a majority of Floridians have said, “We’d like what they’re having,” despite the fact…
Asked to name a senator he’d like to pattern his own career after, Marco Rubio told the National Review that he really admires Jesse Helms. Yes, Helms, the late North Carolina Republican senator with notorious and well-documented racist and homophobic views. He once called the landmark Civil Rights Act of…
Florida law isn’t murky when it comes to residency requirements for state representatives: “Upon taking office” you must be living and voting in your district. Pretty simple, right?Well, five months after getting sworn to represent a district in West Kendall, Republican Frank Artiles is still living in his $300,000 Palmetto…
Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen want to make sure everyone in Miami is counted. The two are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau recount the number of City of Miami residents it tallied in 2010. The feds say only 399,457 residents live in the city, which…
Republicans are eager to claim incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson’s political scalp in the 2012 election, but no clear Republican candidate has emerged yet. State Rep. Adam Hasner, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, has begun an exploratory committee but is little known around the state.The young and…
Florida’s government is apparently “for the corporations, by the corporation.” Gov. Rick Scott promised to run Florida like a business, and his fellow Republicans in the legislature are pushing through many “pro-business” reforms.They also happen to be taking in tons of cash from corporations. For example, a company that deals…
Miami-Dade politics is a complicated beast, and the recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez has set off a lot of dominoes. Commissioner Carlos Gimenez’s decision to resign from his county commission seat to run for mayor means it’s now up for grabs. And guess who’s running? Former City of Miami…
Perhaps Rick Scott’s biggest action during his first 100 days in office was the killing of Florida’s federally funded high-speed rail project. It would have revolutionized our transit system and had an effect on the economy like no other project in recent Florida history. So, you would have hoped he…
When North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre’s wife spotted a man stealing campaign signs off their front lawn this weekend, she hopped into her car and followed him. A few blocks later, when Bernadette Pierre pulled alongside his Jeep, 65-year-old David Leven hollered racist, sexist slurs at her — apparently not…
Everyone in Florida knows that Gov. Rick Scott has long opposed the state legislature-approved prescription pill database like a grumpy 2-year-old refusing to eat his vegetables. Of course, he also killed the Office of Drug Control because he thought it was a waste of money.But that didn’t stop him from…
Smoke ’em if you got ’em.Possessing less than 28 grams of marijuana could soon be legal in Miami-Dade County if Luther Campbell gets elected.Thanks, dude.His other proposals include countywide gambling (to fund education), a tax on strippers’ assets (OK, actually a license fee), and construction job sites that reflect a…
“I’m signing my life away in the church,” Uncle Luke said as he prepared his election documents for notarization. The reality candidate sat in the headquarters of WMBM radio studios in the New Birth Baptist Church close to his Liberty City birthplace.”I’m gonna need God on my side. I’m gonna need all…
Jesse Walters has joined the small but growing ranks of openly gay elected officeholders in Miami-Dade. Walters edged out incumbent Prospero G. Herrera II in yesterday’s election and joins the likes of North Miami councilman Scott Galvin and Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora as an openly gay officeholder in a…
Candidates running for Miami-Dade mayor in the special May 24 election to replace recalled Carlos Alvarez had to register by 5 p.m. today. There are very few surprises in the list of candidates (read: no last-minute Alex Penelas filing), but here’s a look at your choices on the ballot in…
Yesterday, it seemed both sides had come to a pretty amiable resolution in the lawsuit between former Gov. Charlie Crist and the Talking Heads’ David Byrne. The exact settlement details weren’t released, but apparently they involve Crist issuing a video statement supporting artists’ intellectual rights and talking about how awesome…
During his failed Senate bid, Charlie Crist ironically used the Talking Heads’ song “Road to Nowhere” in an online ad attacking Marco Rubio. Problem was Crist didn’t get permission from Heads frontman and songwriter David Byrne to use the tune, and Byrne promptly sued Crist for $1 million. Well, unlike…
