Law

FAU Investigates Student Protestors. Will the School Conduct Itself Fairly? UPDATED

Administrators at Florida Atlantic University didn't have the gumption to stand up to a propaganda assault from the Christian right and investigate communications instructor Deandre Poole's report of threats from a disgruntled student. They chose instead to hang Poole out to dry in the idiot wind. A ... More >>

Craigslist Ad Leads to Lantana Moonshine Arrest

Clean Plate Charlie usually doesn't give advice to criminals, but we consider this a public service. Attention would-be-bad-guys:Do not answer any Craigslist ads that start with "I am looking to purchase illegal drugs, guns, hootch, sex, or...anything."Got it?  Good. Because apparently 23 year- ... More >>

New Times Broward Palm Beach Sold; Looks a Lot Like the Old New Times Broward Palm Beach

A quarter century ago, my old, good buddy Mike Lacey came to Miami and decided to start a weekly paper. He wanted to move here, but a mugger and a prudent wife convinced him cocaine-fueled Miami wasn't the place to raise a family.Today, Lacey bowed out. Along with his partner -- and another guy I co ... More >>

Candy Corn Oreo Debuts on Monday: Five Other Oreo Flavors They Should Consider

Candy corn, adored only by compulsive sugar junkies and dentists looking to finance a new boat, has been cross-bred with everyone's favorite sugar-drenched cookie; the Oreo. Nabisco will debut the limited edition Candy Corn Oreo on Monday, selling it exclusively in Target stores for the 2012 fall se ... More >>

Dennis Rodman Writes a Children's Book

Fake Stripper Serves Octomom Lawsuit at Hallandale Strip Club

See also "Octomom to Be Sued for Keeping Her Clothes On"This past weekend, Nadya "Octomom" Suleman donned a schoolgirl outfit and paraded around stage at the Playhouse South, a Hallandale Beach strip joint.But according to Gossip Extra, a weird legal drama unfolded between Suleman's two performances ... More >>

Juvie Prison Operator Youth Services International Donates to Powerful GOP Lawmakers

If you're aiming to win multimillion-dollar contracts to run Florida's juvenile prisons, it helps to have friends in high places. Youth Services International, the for-profit company that runs Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines along with seven other juvie lockups in the state, has learned this less ... More >>

Minnesota Counties Stop Sending Kids to Youth Services International Juvie Lockup

For more than a year, New Times has been investigating Thompson Academy, a publicly funded, privately run juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines where teens have alleged they faced physical and sexual abuse. Most recently, the lockup's top administrator, Craig Ferguson, left his post while unde ... More >>

Craig Ferguson, Thompson Academy Administrator, Leaves Under Cloud of State Investigation

One year after Thompson Academy settled a federal lawsuit alleging a 14-year-old boy was twice sexually assaulted by a counselor at the lockup, the head of the Pembroke Pines juvenile detention center is facing scrutiny. Administrator Craig Ferguson has left his post amid allegations that he took re ... More >>

Allen West Turns Black History Month Into Attack on Democrats

​Last Wednesday, Congressman Allen West took to the House floor to commemorate Black History Month. As the first black congressman from Florida since Reconstruction, he was in a unique position to do so. West had hundreds of years of history he could have talked about, including 51 years of his ow ... More >>

Florida Power & Light Rebukes Report on "Corporate Tax Dodgers"

​NextEra Energy -- which owns Florida Power & Light Co. -- ain't too happy about being placed on a list of "corporate tax dodgers," which we wrote about earlier today.A group that calls itself Citizens for Tax Justice issued the report evaluating 280 companies nationwide, and named 78 of t ... More >>

Florida's Pee-Test-the-Poor Law Temporarily Blocked by Federal Judge

floppingaces.net​It looks like Gov. Rick Scott never met a constitution he couldn't violate.This time, it was likely the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a federal judge who temporarily blocked the state's new welfare drug-testing law the governor loves so much.The lawsuit o ... More >>

Marijuana Activists: Eric Perez Died Because of Weed Prohibition

​Duuuuuuuuude.There are some bong-ripping writers and opinion-givers out there who believe that Eric Perez -- the 18-year-old who died at a West Palm Beach juvie lockup last month -- died because of the prohibition of marijuana.Perez was on already on probation for a robbery when he was younger, a ... More >>

State Officials Cited Lack of Emergency Training at Palm Beach Juvie Jail Where Teen Died

Jail officials waited hours to call 911.​Some staffers at a West Palm Beach juvenile jail where a teenager died this month were not trained to know the facility's safety, security, and emergency plans, according to a state quality assurance report written in February. Meanwhile, "management accoun ... More >>

Florida Teachers Union Hops on the "Sue Rick Scott" Train

menwithfoilhats.com​In the fourth recent lawsuit targeted at policies of Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Education Association is now suing over a 3 percent pay cut to the salaries of teachers and other school workers.According to a news release from the union, the lawsuit was entered today in circui ... More >>

Ryan Lipner, Self-Promoting "Hallmark Kid," Is Suing His Parents for Adult Child Support

Courtesy of Ryan Lipner (of course)Ryan Lipner​Ryan Lipner -- the charismatic, bipolar 27-year-old who ran a Hallmark store at age 10 and once took girls out in a Hummer limousine with a wad of hundred-dollar bills in his fist -- is suing his parents in an attempt to force them to pay child suppor ... More >>

Dalia Dippolito Guilty Verdict Comes After a Reality-TV Defense Not Based on Actual Reality

When Dalia Dippolito's trial began on charges that she tried to have her husband killed, her defense attorney dropped a bombshell. Attorney Michael Salnick claimed in opening statements that Dalia's husband, Michael, had planned the whole thing in an attempt to get on reality TV. It was a crazy defe ... 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 >>

Donald Trump's Foreign Policy: Kill the Iraqis, Take Their Oil

Photo by Liz DzuroWe want you to willingly give up your oil!​The foreign policy of a Donald Trump presidency began to take shape last weekend in Boca, where "The Donald" addressed a massed throng of Tea Partiers celebrating (celebrating?) tax day. Here's a slide show from the Tax Day Rally. T ... More >>

In Alleged Sex Assault at Thompson Academy, Polygraph Results Are Murky

​This week's New Times cover story explores allegations of abuse and violence at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines. One of the most disturbing allegations, outlined in a federal class-action lawsuit, involves a 15-year-old boy who says he was twice forced to have ora ... More >>

Did Riviera Cop's Alleged Forgeries Jeopardize Any Criminal Cases?

PBSOSchneider has pleaded not guilty to all charges.​One of the central questions in the criminal case against Riviera Beach Detective Lee Ann Schneider is whether her dozens of alleged forgeries on official documents jeopardized any of the cases she was handling. Was she acting maliciously, or ju ... More >>

Immigration Raid Included Eight Broward Residents, But Details Are Hard to Come By

ICE​"Criminal Alien." That's the phrase that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses for anyone who has come into the country illegally and committed a crime, be it a DUI or aggravated murder. ICE makes it a top priority to remove "those who come to the United States to prey upon o ... More >>

Melissa Lewis Complained of Stress, Heart Problems Before She Died

Melissa Lewis (right) had complained of heart pain.​Melissa Britt Lewis was a cautious woman. The 39-year-old, newly divorced attorney at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler carried Mace in her purse, had two dogs and an alarm system at her Plantation home, and always kept her garage door locked to prevent ... More >>

Mark of the Beast: Miami Herald Plagiarized by Manhattan Website

Flickr: HAEIN​Manhattan news source and media aggregator The Daily Beast appears to have committed a major media no-no. It's investigative reporter, Gerald Posner, has admitted to plagiarizing the Miami Herald.We know this thanks to some investigative reporting by Slate.com. (Little known secret: ... More >>

UPDATED: Boca Woman Alleges Michael Dippolito Fathered Her Child

Florida Department of CorrectionsToday is Dippolito's deadline to submit his DNA.​Eleven years before he married the woman who allegedly tried to have him killed, Michael Dippolito admits he "may have" fathered a son with another woman who lives west of Boca Raton.According to a paternity suit fil ... More >>

PB Historian Fights to Save Haley Mickens House

Somebody really important slept here​If you happened to be a highly prominent person of color visiting West Palm Beach in the first half of this century, chances are you would have stayed at Haley Mickens's house at 801 4th Street. Mickens and his wife Dr. Alice Frederick Mickens, a well known ci ... More >>

A South Florida Muslim Leader Refused to Be a Snitch, so the Feds Tried to Destroy Him

Letters From the Issue of August 13, 2009

Double Fault: High Finance Hot Shot Loses Wife to Boca Tennis Pro

Photo: Theo de Carvalho​Seems a certain Master of the Universe is no longer Master of His Domain. Marc Leder, one of the founders of Boca Raton-based Sun Capital Partners, is trying to put the pieces together after his wife Lisa left with the couple's three children and is now demanding half of Su ... More >>

Miami Herald Columnist Maligned For Wrong Reason

Jackie Bueno Sousa is the new lying propagandist -- oh shit, I mean "conservative voice" -- for the Miami Herald and right off the bat some yahoo is claiming she basically committed plagiarism in herer first column . A little-known blog is calling for Sousa to leave journalism after ... More >>

Letters from the issue of November 27, 2008

Go Ahead, Make Her Day

Angelina Jolie takes on a serial killer and the system in Clint Eastwood's latest

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Preview

Gretsas' New Jihad: Newsracks

Benefit For Arrested Photog Saturday

Seminole Hold 'Em

It's a Hard Rock life. Flush with American dollars, the tribe either plays by U.S. rules — or risks losing it all

Pulp Person of The Year: John Kent Cooke Jr.

Key West Citizen Strikes Back

It's Hard To Be A Pimp

The Naked Truth

While the grunts take the heat, Sheriff Jenne and the rest of the BSO brass remain unscathed by Powertrac.

Magazine Copy Rights

It's no big deal when a local reporter gets ripped off, apparently

Best Upscale Chain Restaurant

Mark's Restaurants

Undercurrents

Saving Private Smith

Hoop Nightmares

Local homeowners say they don't want basketball played at night in Jefferson Park because it disturbs the peace. The players say the real reason is even uglier: race.

Caught in a Web of His Own Design

The story of a freedom-loving teen who posted a screed by one of the Littleton killers on his Website. The authorities were not amused.

Let the Party Begin

Letters

Leading by Example

King Con Speaks

Escape artist Steven Russell fills in the details about how he bluffed his way out of prison and plotted his next big score

Letters