American Civil Liberties Union

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw: Report Your Neighbor to Police If He Says He Hates the Government

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's counter-terror tattletale program C-PAT (Community Partners Against Terrorism) first drew widespread attention in late April, with news of a $1 million grant of state money for "Prevention Intervention" units to act preemptively on tips gathered from the prog ... More >>

FAU Drops Disciplinary Proceedings Against Students Who Contested GEO Stadium Deal

In what can only be described as a rare bout of good sense, FAU administrators have decided to forgo disciplinary proceedings against seven students involved in a March 22 demonstration on the school's Jupiter campus. The seven were protesting the school's naming rights deal with global private pris ... More >>

Puerto Rico's Wave of Drugs and Brazen Murders Reverberates to Florida

For a slideshow, click here.

Inside the FAU Protest: Students Occupy President's Office, Win Town Hall Meeting Over GEO Group Stadium Naming Deal

It was hard not to feel sorry for FAU President Mary Jane Saunders on Monday afternoon, confronted in her office with an impromptu occupation by some 40 students protesting the school's decision to grant naming rights for the FAU football stadium to the notorious private prison operator GEO Group.Se ... More >>

FAU Students Stage Protest Over GEO Naming Rights (UPDATED)

Last week, we told you about how Florida Atlantic University sold the naming rights for its football stadium to the GEO Group -- a company that not only happens to be one of the world's largest for-profit operators of detention centers, prisons, and correctional facilities but also has a long trail ... More >>

Rick Scott's Best Political Miscalculations

Staring down the barrel of what's sure to be a brutal campaign to stay in the governor's mansion beyond 2014, Rick Scott is pushing out a variety of campaigns that seem aimed at scoring points with weary voters. On Wednesday Scott announced he's planning to give every public school teacher in Flor ... More >>

A Festivus Pole Arises Next to Jesus' Manger in Deerfield Beach

How an 8.5-Foot-Tall Festivus Pole Made Out of Beer Cans Ended Up Next to Baby Jesus in Deerfield

Out in Deerfield Beach, on a piece of government-owned property, an 8.5-foot-tall tower of beer cans is looming over baby Jesus. No, this isn't some rogue Art Basel installation that crossed the county line. It's Chaz Stevens' salute to the holiday season. Since the end of November, Steven ... More >>

Cuban Radio Is Dying Because of Aging Hardliners and Miami's Changing Market

New Laws in Dozens of States Could Take Out Barack Obama This Fall

Days of Rage: The U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama Leave the Undocumented and Their Allies No Choice but to Escalate Civil Disobedience

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Faces Increased Scrutiny on Immigration Jail Support

There's been a bunch of news about the proposed immigration detention center in Southwest Ranches over the past week or so, but none of it has been substantive information about, say, whether the contract is actually going through after ICE's weird about-face last month.As a reminder, that's when IC ... More >>

Broward Commission Rejects One Proposal Requiring Permits for "Expressive Activities"

​The Broward Commission unanimously voted down a draft ordinance proposed by County Administrator Bertha Henry to require people to apply for and obtain permits to engage in "expressive activities" at county facilities -- a mandate that many members of the public see as a stab at the First Ame ... More >>

A Heartwarming Update on Rick Scott's Dirtiest Deeds

Scott can't even get his dirty deeds enforced.​Four months ago, we brought you a sobering catalog of Rick Scott's dirtiest deeds as chief executive of this fair state. There were a dozen items on the list --  gems like outsourcing prisons to political donors, slashing funding for public educa ... More >>

First Amendment Right to Blast Music to Be Considered by Florida Supreme Court

inquisitr.comThe Florida Supreme Court will decide whether this is your First Amendment right.​The issue of whether it's the First Amendment right of Florida drivers to blast obnoxious music from their cars way louder than anyone needs to will be heard before the Florida Supreme Court.The court sc ... More >>

Occupy Fort Lauderdale Gathering Momentum; ACLU Sends Out Pamphlet of Protesting Rights

​UPDATE: As of 10:20 a.m., there are now 250 people who say they're showing up on Saturday.Occupy Fort Lauderdale appears to be picking up steam -- when we wrote Monday evening that the group announced its first meeting would be held on Saturday, there were about 20 or so people who confirmed on F ... More >>

We Get Letters: The Sheriff and Sexism and AK-47s

ACLU Asks Rick Scott to Stop the State From Profiting Off of Driver's License Information

mclovinidmaker.com​Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, has sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott asking that the state end the practice of selling driver's license information, saying that the sales violate Floridians' expectations of privacy.The sales of the information -- which i ... More >>

A Tour of Gov. Rick Scott's Dirtiest Deeds

Bill Nelson Warns Rick Scott to Veto Election Bill or Face a Federal Investigation

State lawmakers want to keep people from having sex with animals. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants to keep lawmakers from screwing voters.​Although it seems like Gov. Rick Scott will make the bold and progressive move of banning bestiality, he still plans to screw voters. The election overhaul bill, wh ... More >>

Voter Suppression Back in Style; Let's Party Like It's 1869

Screw the 15th Amendment. This is Florida.​Florida's legislative attack on voter rights easily passed the House last week and looks like it will surely sail through the Senate to become law. We're not alone, though. Our state's attempt to disenfranchise a massive amount of its citizens is actuall ... More >>

Ilene Lieberman Is Back in the Building!

Lieberman is second from left ​Ilene Lieberman, after months of no-shows and call-ins to Broward County Commission meetings, has finally returned to public service. She's on the dais now -- after fellow Commissioner Chip LaMarca made it an issue last week and m ... More >>

College Student Defends Facebook First Amendment Rights and Settles With Former Principal

via Chris KasurakCartoon of cyberbullying, free speech's evil tug-of-war partner.​Where is the line between cyberbullying and free speech? If one exists, it's wide, gray, and quite cloudy, and Katherine Evans walked it for two years as she sued her former Pembroke Pines Charter High School princip ... More >>

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

God-Fearing Entrepreneur or Cold-Hearted Con Man? Either Way, Dushaun Smith Is Motivated

Stefan KamphDushaun Smith in his favorite place, Mickel Field in Wilton Manors.Dushaun Smith doesn't want you to think he's a criminal."You don't feed milk to a stray cat," says the longtime Fort Lauderdale resident. "I'm careful how I feed the media milk. They keep coming back for more."It started ... More >>

Ten Things You Should Say to the TSA Employees Who Want to Touch You

flickr.com​This week the Transportation Security Administration announced that travelers who don't want strangers to see their naked form in a full-body scanner and also don't want a stranger groping them will not be fined $11,000 for their refusal to cooperate. (If you decline the searches and th ... More >>

The Dark Side

A bizarre, disputed, cocaine-fueled mania is killing Floridians, especially when they're jolted with a Taser.

Red-Light Cameras Come to a South Florida Intersection Near You

Miami Beach's Troubled Police Force Pays Officers in the Six Figures

Death Penalty Case: Man Will Die August 19 for Dania Beach Murder

John Marek​On August 19, 48-year-old John Marek will be put to death by the State of Florida unless there is a major last-minute intervention by the governor or the courts. In 1983, Marek and a friend, Raymond Wigley, drove to Florida from Texas. On June 16 of that year, the two men encountered t ... More >>

Barack Obama wins -- and So Does South Florida

It's a victory just to have an election pass without a local embarrassment

Not To Be

Full of itself and not half as funny as it thinks it is, Hamlet 2 is simply tragic

Tow Job

It's like magic. In the blink of an eye, your car vanishes.

Not in My Bus Stop

The new fad cities can't seem to resist — keeping sex offenders out of every nook and cranny.

You Have The Right To Remain Absolutely Fabulous

Letters for March 24-30, 2005

Letters August 12-18, 2004

Aftershock

The music industry's ongoing problems continue to affect the local dance community

Dem Blues

The left, turning right, was plain wrong

Political Therapy

Talking war with dissident Jim Mullins is good for a battle-scarred psyche

Letters for January 9, 2003

Remove the Bars

Best Radio Commercial

Ed Kaplan

Letters for November 15, 2001

Crabbing About Jen

Et Tu, Dolphins?

The members of Broward's backstabbing political club are at it again, and this time Democratic honcho Mitch Ceasar had to break it up

The Camera Loves Them

A Southern Belle in Black and White

The City of Belle Glade may be forced to annex the Okeechobee Center and put an end to alleged discrimination against its mostly black residents

To Protect and Flatten

The weapon du jour of South Florida cops is the Sage SL-6, a gun that shoots big rubber bullets that hurt like hell but don't kill. They hope.

The Straight Dope

Letters