Sarasota

Fourteen Florida Restaurants Make OpenTable's Top 100 Outdoor Dining Spots

We love lists. We like making our own lists and being on other people's lists. We especially love "top this" or "best that" lists. Most of all, we love when Florida restaurants top those top lists. OpenTable announced its 2013 Top 100 Outdoor Dining Spots and Florida managed to hold down 14 spots ... More >>

First Look: Over 100 Small Plates at Ceviche in Delray Beach

When you think of ceviche, think of Ceviche in Delray Beach. The restaurant recently opened its doors with a quiet grand opening last October, and we at Clean Plate Charlie think it's a crying shame we didn't know about them sooner. The family of Florida establishments has branded itself as an upsc ... More >>

Razorbills, Our Wayward Penguins, Are Dying, and No One Knows Why

Last month, seemingly overnight, thousands of razorbills arrived all along the Florida peninsula in what appeared to be a sweeping abandonment of the Northern tundra for something a little nicer. They flocked along Fort Lauderdale's beaches, swimming in the waters of Boynton Beach, delighting bird w ... More >>

Homeowner in Dispute With Neighbor Spray-Paints Own Home

A couple of Sarasota homeowners got into a neighborhood dispute. So one of the parties involved in the ballyhoo decided to take things up a notch and got some spray paint and covered one of the homes with bright, neon-colored graffiti. Of course, the home covered in spray paint was the person's o ... More >>

Kratom Comes to Florida: Is the Next Big Drug Craze Dangerous?

Bill Nelson and Connie Mack Television Debate Is Set

The Bill Nelson-Connie Mack race is pretty much America's most closely watched Senate race. And now incumbent Nelson -- the Democrat -- and Mack -- the Republican -- have agreed to the only confirmed statewide televised debate on October 17. The showdown will take place at Nova Southeastern Univers ... More >>

Watching as a Whole Hog Becomes Bacon and Ribs and Everything Else

Just before entering the boning room, I was handed a lab coat and a hairnet. I was about to see the next step of the transformation from pig to pork chop. Yesterday, I watched them die. Today, the carcasses are going to be butchered and packed -- a much less gruesome task. It was chilly as I en ... More >>

Following the Money Part 2: Juvie Prison Operator Has Ten Tallahassee Lobbyists

Ever wonder why Florida has outsourced the care of hundreds of troubled kids to private companies? Yesterday, we reported that prison operator Youth Services International donated $88,000 to Florida politicians in the past five years. The Sarasota company's donations have greased the wheels for roug ... 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 >>

Reggae Great Buju Banton Is Locked Up on Drug Charges. Was He Entrapped?

The "Mother of All Peppers" Might Be Growing in Your Yard

​Have you seen these peppers in bushes outside? The tiny tepin or chiltepin is the only wild chili native to the U.S. and is believed to be the oldest and hottest species of wild pepper.I first saw it in Tarpon River at a friend's house, a spindly shrub my friend had fenced off for protection. Whe ... More >>

Le Macaron French Cafe: Still Cute, But Less Annoying Than Cupcakes

Melissa McCart​Macarons are the new cupcakes in case you hadn't yet made the switch. About a year ago, even nerdy NPR declared,  "Move over cupcakes: make way for macarons."   Turns out --so I learned from the comments in this blog post -- Fort Lauderdale just scored its very own ma ... More >>

Birther Looking for Joe Arpaio Treatment From Florida Sheriff Over Obama's Birth Certificate

cynical-c.comI found it, guys. We can all go home now.​Birther-ism apparently isn't dead, as Jerome Corsi -- head bullshitter of the Obama "fake birth certificate" movement -- has still found enough brain-dead people to believe that the president is a Muslim from Indonesia.In Arizona, Stephen Lemo ... More >>

David Rivera, Vern Buchanan Among 2011's "Most Corrupt Members of Congress"

Rep. Vern Buchanan (left) and Rep. David Rivera were named a couple of the most corrupt congressmen.​In the seventh edition of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's listing of the most corrupt members of Congress, two Florida congressmen managed to earn a spot on the list.Those tw ... More >>

Florida Company Offering Free AK-47s for People Opening New Accounts With Them

gunslot.com​Do you happen to need an AK-47, as well as a company to process your credit card transactions?If so, that would make today your lucky day, strangely enough.MerchantService.com -- a Sarasota-based company that provides the equipment and processing for credit-card transactions in busines ... More >>

How Broward Bulldog's Dan Christensen Broke a 9/11 Conspiracy That's Actually True

Wikimedia Commons​Dan Christensen lost his job in the Miami Herald's Broward bureau in 2009, a casualty of rampant cost-cutting in daily journalism. Rather than throw in the towel, Christensen started his own local news site, Broward Bulldog, and vowed to continue breaking stories. "This website w ... More >>

State Legislator Proposes Bill to Regulate 411-PAIN and Other Referral Services

www.kriseman.comKriseman wants the doctors and lawyers to reveal their financial relationships.​One of the great mysteries about businesses such as the 1-800-411-PAIN Referral Service is whether the lawyers and doctors involved in the network have a financial incentive to refer car accident victim ... More >>

Rick Scott Throws an Anti-Abortion Party at the Governor's Mansion

Gov. Rick Scott: Party boy.​Add this to the list of awkward party themes: anti-abortion bills.Apparently it wasn't a costume party, but Gov. Rick Scott held a celebration at the governor's mansion this weekend in honor of the four anti-abortion bills he signed into law.Partygoers celebrated the ne ... More >>

Five-Point Spring Break Survival Guide (Wooo!)

via www.floridausaimages.com​Yes, the Fort Lauderdale gets progressively more upscale every season, and  yes, the classy set tries to downplay the annually resurfacing celebration of Fort Liquordale's past, but it seems that as long as there are fraternities and the Elbo Room, there will be s ... More >>

"Like" Boar's Head on Facebook and Feed a Family

Flickr/James J. YuBig Sandwich​Lunch meat sometimes gets a bad rap -- it's often the brunt of jokes, is served in drunk tanks, and is used in food fights. But lunch meat is so much more -- it can feed hungry families, raise money for people in need, and is just darned tasty.Boar's Head, the Cadill ... More >>

Thompson Academy's Owner Faced Similar Abuse Allegations in Other States

Youth Services InternationalA snapshot from a recent morale-boosting event at Thompson.​Allegations that teenaged inmates were sexually assaulted, malnourished, and physically abused at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines echo similar accusations the center's owner ha ... More >>

George W. Bush's Book Fair Appearance Won't Be His First Florida Book Reading

My Pet Goat is apparently that good.​When George W. Bush reads from his memoir at the Miami Book Fair Int'l on November 14, it will not be his Floridian literary debut. So profound is George W.'s love of literature that he actually took time during his presidency to take part in a reading in Flori ... More >>

Owner of Pembroke Pines Juvie Lockup Has Checkered History

Flickr user: Mark CogginsThe company has a checkered history in Florida.​A recent lawsuit alleging sexual assault and physical abuse of inmates at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines is the latest in a string of abuse accusations lodged against the facility's owner.For ... More >>

Anti-Vaccination Advocates Propose Florida Autism Study Based on "Junk Science"

Dr. Mark Geier​This week, Miami New Times has a story about Gary Kompothecras, the Sarasota chiropractor and close friend of Gov. Charlie Crist who's been pressuring the Florida Department of Health to hand over sealed immunization records to a father-son team of anti-vaccination advocates.There a ... More >>

Gary Kompothecras, Crist Supporter, Tries to Bully Health Officials

Gary Kompothecras, a chiropractor based out of Sarasota, has been pressuring Department of Health official to turn over sealed immunization records. "Dr. Gary," as he's called, wants those  records turned over to father-son duo, Dr. Mark and David Geier, crusaders for the "vaccinations cause au ... More >>

Chill Out at Chillounge Night

Photo by Silvia Feuerbach​Take six truckloads of South Beach-style lounge furniture and custom lighting, food and booze booths, live music, a fashion show and samba parade, dump them all on the Great Lawn in downtown Delray, charge everybody $15 to get in ($20 at the door, $75 for VIP tickets) and ... More >>

The Simple Life, Served a la Mode, in Sarasota

Lisa Rab​Just up the road from the Mennonite Tourist Church, on a street where women in white bonnets and blue dresses pedal their bikes to the store, is a time capsule of a restaurant.Inside, the abundantly cheerful waitresses wear flowered aprons with frilly white trim. Checkered cloths adorn si ... More >>

Morning Juice: Let's Try a News Round-Up Sans Rothstein

​Well, it's worth a try anyway. Here's what's going on in Broward and Palm Beach counties:The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the state for its failure to provide Floridian family with a quality education -- a point for which the Palm Beach County School District drop-out rat ... More >>

A Serious Fan Recalls Meeting Gregg Allman

A Love Story With Bologna Sandwiches

Photo by Flickr user dtredinnick13​There's an episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse in which Pee-wee is talking about how much he loves fruit salad, and Miss Yvonne says that if he loves it so much, maybe he should marry it. So he does. Now, I like a guy with the courage of his convictions, but for me, w ... More >>

Floridian High Culture

Technical Difficulties: Elderly Senate Candidate Adjusts Antennae on His YouTube

Here's a quandary: What do you do if you announce your candidacy for higher office, but nobody reports it? (Or at least nobody besides Juice?) If you're Bob Smith, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire now semi-retired in Sarasota, you sorta pretend you never made the first announcement, then... ma ... More >>

Busted! PBSO Arrests Happy Ending Suspect

Palm Beach Sheriff's OfficeThere he is, folks, the guy that PBSO says forced a West Palm Beach masseuse to perform oral sex on him. His name is Gerald Hansen -- spelled just like the surname of the host of the Dateline show To Catch a Predator. Coincidence? U.S. Marshals nabbed G ... More >>

Slow Foods Glades to Coast Dinner at Cafe Boulud

(sturgeon: It's what's for dinner)The Slow Foods Glades to Coast Chapter, which covers roughly the Palm Beach and Broward areas, is hosting a 5-course Growers' Discovery gourmet dinner at Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach this Thursday, December 11, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The dinner, overseen by chef Zach Bell ... More >>

30 Days and 30 Nights With Timb

After years of grinding in the underground, Timb veers even further from the mainstream

Metal on Metal

Sunrise's Salerno Shunted By Sarasota

Foley's Priest Unmasked

Newspaper Editor Slattery Dies At 46

Your Film Is Fired!

The Palm Beach Film Festival opens, Trump style.

Dead in the Water

To Be a Reef

Asphalt Artsy

On Las Olas, paintings and sculptures compete for space with the café crowd

Crazy from the Heat

Florida artists sweat it out

Letters for June 5, 2003

They're off!

Show and Tell

One-night stand at The Hotel Biba offers artistic orgy in11 rooms

Bandwidth

Slymenstra and the family GWAR ain’t exactly everyday people

Sound Check

Cleared for Takeoff

If Fort Lauderdale wants to keep the Baltimore Orioles in town for spring training, it just needs to come up with $36 million

Travis McGee, Fictional Castaway

The detective's houseboat was once Fort Lauderdale's best-known literary landmark. That was before Huizenga took over Bahia Mar.