Professional Services Sector

Interim President of FAU Pushed Chick-fil-A Stadium Naming Deal, Former A.D. Says

"Can't anybody here play this game?" -- Baseball manager Casey Stengel, about the 1962 New York Mets, whose 120 losses are the most by any MLB team in one season in the 20th century. See also: - Chick-fil-A Stadium: FAU Considered Homophobic Firm Hapless Florida Atlantic University president Mary ... More >>

Allen West's Wife to FAU Kids: "That's Called Stalking"

Chick-fil-A Stadium: FAU Considered Homophobic Firm

There's the sublime. There's the ridiculous. And there's the sublimely ridiculous. If former FAU Athletics Director Craig Angelos is to believed, the last of those three is the realm inhabited by the school's leadership, as far as PR savvy. The school's tone-deaf ways have been infamous from coast ... More >>

FAU Trustee Angela Graham-West Explains Why She Felt Harassed; Students Call for Restraining Order Against Allen West

Today former U.S. Rep. Allen West posted threatening-sounding messages on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, suggesting that Florida Atlantic University students had harassed his wife, Angela Graham-West, a trustee at the school. This afternoon via phone, Graham-West explained what prompted his mess ... More >>

In Open Letters, FAU Faculty and Father of Hurt Student Ask President Saunders to Apologize

Ya gotta hate Mondays. Especially if you're FAU President Mary Jane Saunders and you come in and open your email and find two open letters "to the FAU community" raking the school over the coals for its handling of two recent scandals. One letter came from John Hiatt, of Wellington, whose daughter ... 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 >>

Transgender and Womyn's Action Camp GEO Group Protesters Released From Jail

The four women from Trans and Womyn's Action Camp (TWAC) who were arrested Tuesday morning after they chained themselves to the doors of the GEO Group corporate headquarters, were released from the Palm Beach County Jail Wednesday.See also:-Four Arrested in Protest at GEO Headquarters: Activists Fr ... More >>

Four Arrested in Protest at GEO Headquarters: Activists From Transgender and Womyn's Group Block Doors UPDATED

UPDATE 10:44 a.m. Boca Raton police spokesman Mark Economou said four people were arrested at GEO Group corporate headquarters this morning. "They chained themselves to the doors of the building," he said, but "the locking mechanism has been removed." Though activists Tweeted a photo showing at leas ... More >>

FAU Debacle: Internal Emails Reveal Faculty Revolt Against Administration

First, FAU tried to name its stadium after a private prison operator, GEO Group. Then, FAU President Mary Jane Saunders struck a student with her car in a panic-stricken reaction to the sight of a mere handful of youngsters in the vicinity of her 2010 silver Lexus. Amid these events, the univer ... More >>

FAU Really Does Cancel Sale of Naming Rights to GEO Group

[UPDATE 7:50 p.m. -- They did "levitate the Pentagon"! Though our initial post was about students playing an April Fools' joke, the GEO deal was indeed canceled, it was announced this evening. Details below.]  Students opposed to FAU's decision to sell naming rights to the school's footbal ... More >>

FAU Students Still Fighting GEO Group Naming Rights Deal

It's G-Day at FAU today, probably one of many to come, as the school's sale of its athletics field's naming rights to global private prison operator/serial human rights abuser GEO Group continues to draw fire from students and faculty opposed to the deal. See also:- FAU Students, Faculty and Al ... More >>

Students Claim FAU President Saunders Hit Student Protester With Car

Update, 4:24 p.m.: Lisa Metcalf, Director, Media Relations & University Spokesperson for FAU wrote in an e-mail "Police were on the scene at the time of the alleged incident. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete."The University Press tweeted an image of Saunders drivi ... More >>

Earth First! Activists With Puppets and Costumes Marching on Kolter Group to Protect Briger Forest

Spring this year begins with a multifront burst of activity by local lefties -- on the environment, on GE foods labeling, and against the moral corruption of academia by the GEO Group private prison corporation.See also: -GE Foods Labeling Faces Political Calculus-Arbor Day Protest in Palm Beac ... More >>

FAU Students, Faculty, and Allies Vow to Keep Fighting GEO Group Stadium Deal

Unappeased by Friday's charade of a "public forum" with FAU President Mary Jane Saunders, students opposed to the school's pimping out naming rights to its athletics stadium to private prison operator GEO Group are using spring break to plan a spring offensive.See also:-FAU Is a $6 Million WhoreIn a ... More >>

FAU President to Critics: GEO Group Stadium Name is a "Done Deal"

Speaking at a public forum today, in a twilight zone of denial, a meek and robotic FAU President Mary Jane Saunders stonewalled all questions of morality from critics of her school's stadium naming rights deal with GEO Group, the global private prison operator. "It's a done deal," she told the crowd ... More >>

FAU President Scared of Confrontation with Students? Sets Rules for Meeting Tomorrow over GEO Group Stadium Naming

FAU's tone-deaf decision to grant global private prison operator GEO Group naming rights to the school's athletics stadium has turned into a public relations disaster. But it may yet prove to be a teachable moment -- for school administrators as much as for students.See also:-FAU Is a $6 million Who ... More >>

FAU Student Organizer: Administrators "Expected People Not to Care" About GEO Group Stadium Naming Rights

The student organizers behind the protests at Florida Atlantic University are currently prepping for a high-noon showdown Q&A Friday with school President Mary Jane Saunders. The topic on the table is the administration's decision to sell off the Owls' stadium naming rights to the GEO Group, one ... More >>

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 >>

FAU Is a $6 Million Whore

Heads should be rolling in the offices of FAU's Board of Trustees, as the affront to decency of the school's climbing into bed with notorious private prison octopus GEO Group turns into a well-deserved public relations disaster. The Board doesn't surrender the pink on the cheap, at least. They score ... More >>

FAU's Football Stadium Sponsored by Prison

Florida Atlantic University has finally sold the naming rights to its football stadium. FAU and the GEO Group are set to finalize a deal on Tuesday to let the company have the naming rights. The GEO Group, which was founded by George Zoley, who received his bachelor's and master's at FAU and is a ... More >>

PolitiFact Rates Pembroke Pines Mayor's Claim of Hands Being Tied on ICE Jail "Mostly False"

Ortis faces off with Southwest Ranches Mayor Jeff Nelson.​We've just discovered the austere yet intriguing Twitter account of Southwest Ranches Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff -- perhaps the perfect 140-character medium for the man who stated, "the less we say, the better off we will be."His feed di ... More >>

Southwest Ranches Town Attorney on ICE Jail: "The Less We Say the Better Off We Will Be"

Poliakoff​On June 7, Southwest Ranches Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff sent an email to (now deceased) Town Administrator Charlie Lynn, town staffers, and his consulting and lobbying colleagues. The email urged town leaders to maintain a "cone of silence" about a proposed 1,800-bed immigrant detenti ... More >>

Florida Corrections Officer Gives Some Interwebs Insight About State Prisons

zazzle.comWe don't even know who this hat belongs to.​Being a corrections officer is one of the strangest jobs imaginable -- you're stuck in a big concrete and iron box for eight-plus hours per day, surrounded by some of society's most loathed humans, who are likely armed with rusty shanks and ... More >>

Private Prison Contractor, Homeland Security "Asked" Southwest Ranches Council Not to Talk

​Here in Florida, we have a broad array of sunshine laws designed to promote open government. Local governments routinely have to disclose information simply because citizens ask for it. But apparently there's one thing that can clamp the mouths of local officials for good: a private prison contra ... More >>

With Prison Privatization Plan on Hold, GEO Group Website Still Vying for Contract

​Poor GEO Group. The Boca Raton-based private prison operator, former known as Wackenhut Corrections, had planned to invest $3 million in its quest to win a contract to run most of the prisons in the southern part of Florida. But two weeks ago, a circuit court judge struck down the state Legi ... More >>

Sports Agency Headed by Howard Kusnick's Son Suing Local Attorney Darren Heitner for Libel

Left to right: Howard Kusnick, baseball player Taylor Green, and Joshua Kusnick.​A Tamarac-based sports agency headed by the son of convicted Scott Rothstein cohort Howard Kusnick is suing local attorney and sports agency owner Darren Heitner, alleging he made libelous comments on his blog about t ... More >>

Scott Rothstein Computer Nerds Sentenced to 37 Months in Prison

Scott Rothstein​Curtis Renie and William Corte, the information technology workers for Ponzi scheme mastermind Scott Rothstein's law firm, were each sentenced to 37 months in prison yesterday.Renie and Corte, both 38 years old, pleaded guilty in June to a single count each of conspiracy to commit ... More >>

Rick Scott and Private Prisons Engaging in "Pay to Play" Politics, Teamsters Complaint Alleges

​Florida politicians received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from two private prison corporations last election cycle -- GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America -- and an ethics complaint filed by the Teamsters union yesterday claims $30,000 of those contributions that went t ... More >>

A Tour of Gov. Rick Scott's Dirtiest Deeds

ICE Picks Southwest Ranches For New Immigrant Pen

voxrox.co​Some lucky folks in western Broward County are going to have a couple thousand possible illegal immigrants as new neighbors soon.Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has "tentatively selected" Southwest Ranches, along with a private prison company, to build one of the largest ... More >>

Will Privatizing Prisons Save Florida Money? Arizona Study Says Maybe Not

The GEO Group was a huge donor to political campaigns.​Last month, the Florida Legislature passed a landmark plan to privatize nearly all of the prisons in the southern part of the state, including those in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The bill was a thinly-veiled stimulus package for the priv ... More >>

Southwest Ranches and Private Prison Company Want Immigration Facility in Broward County

voxrox.co​Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking for somewhere in South Florida to be able to house as many as 2,000 alleged immigration-law offenders, and the town of Southwest Ranches has partnered with the private prison industry and entered a bid.ICE has taken in three proposals for th ... More >>

Scott Rothstein's Head Computer Nerd Turns Himself In

Scott Rothstein -- still 49 more years in the slammer​Curtis Renie, the 38-year-old information technology head of Ponzi scheme mastermind Scott Rothstein's law firm, turned himself in to the feds today.Renie, of Fort Lauderdale, is the third person to turn himself in to authorities to be indicted ... More >>

Interiors... Designed

Republican To Privatize $600,000,000 Worth of Florida's Prisons, Could Fatten Contributors' Pockets

Alexander.​As reported in today's Herald, the Florida Senate on Monday "quietly inserted language into its newly proposed budget ... that seeks to give corporations a chance to run correctional facilities in 16 counties." These corrections contracts are worth some $600,000,000.Though this "quiet i ... More >>

David J. Stern's Foreclosure Firm Closes This Month

The law offices of David J. Stern will close at the end of the month.​The law offices of David J. Stern, known as the "foreclosure king," are closing on March 31 after a highly publicized fall from grace and a state investigation of the firm's allegedly fraudulent foreclosure practices, according ... More >>

Foreclosure Firm Ben-Ezra & Katz Is Latest Addition to Attorney General's Investigation

via floridaforeclosurehelp.netThe state foreclosure fraud investigation expands.​Fort Lauderdale law firm Ben-Ezra & Katz is the most recent subject of the state attorney general's mortgage fraud investigation. The firm "appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading document ... More >>

LeMieux Back at Gunster After Brief Senatorial Stint; the Door Keeps on Revolvin'

​Now that President Obama has named Bill Daley, a JPMorgan Chase chairman whose loudest pronouncements over the past months have been to ridicule Obama's signature accomplishments -- as his chief of staff, it should be perfectly clear: Washington and big business go together like bread and butter. ... More >>

Happy Awkward Friday

Sun-Sentinel​It's just that kind of day. I've driven over a curb, showed up late, forgotten basic skills, had meetings canceled. Apparently I'm not alone. Behold the spate of awkward news:News 10 truck flips overWhen I entered the courthouse this morning, police cars and news trucks were gathered ... More >>

Tonino Lamborghini Caffe Corsa Closes in Gulfstream Park

​Tonino Lamborghini Caffe Corsa, the restaurant named after the son of auto industry icon Ferruccio Lamborghini, has closed its doors for good. The restaurant located in the new, outdoor shopping mall the Village at Gulfstream Park married authentic Italian food with the kind of sleek design the y ... More >>

Q&A With Jay Berkowitz, South Florida Techrepreneur

​The Boca Raton-based TenGoldenRules.com specializes in business to business (B2B) internet marketing between small, medium, and large businesses.Jay Berkowitz, its founder and CEO, is a true entrepreneur in the internet marketing field. He's promoted such companies as McDonald's and Coca-Cola. In ... More >>

Construction Workers Admit They Installed a Stink Bomb with Chinese Drywall

The only way to hang Chinese drywall.It's something of a cliché by now to think of Florida developers as the bad guys. But as homeowners start blaming them for the defective Chinese drywall rotting their homes, it is literally the stench that has led them to contractors.Not the developer's stench, ... More >>

Attorneys Gone Wild!

Egarc2 / Ed Garcia Today the Florida Bar released a list of 35 attorneys disciplined for violating rules of professional conduct. Of the 35, ten are from Broward and Palm Beach Counties.1. William Abramson, of West Palm Beach. Abramson's case goes back to 2005, when he was defending a female client ... More >>

Sun-Sentinel Pop Up Leads To Pop Off

Who Crowned Michael Brown?

Laws? The Riviera Beach mayor doesn't need laws.

Don't Hide the G-r-r-r

Who You Gonna Call?

A Potemkin Lawyer

With Jorge Fernandez as your courtroom advocate, you may as well surrender

A Lesson in Conflict of Interest

Meet Ron Greenstein, lobbyist. Or Ron Greenstein, state representative.