Tara Nieuwesteeg

Photos From This Week's Puppy Palace Protest

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Many of the same people who protested cargo shipping company Amerijet until that company announced it would no longer ship monkeys are hoping the Hollywood dog seller Puppy Palace will stop selling commercially bred dogs. And though they've shown up regularly at Puppy Palace for m ... More >>

Animal Rights Activists Protest at Amerijet Executive's Home

Tara NieuwesteegActivists outside the home of an Amerijet executive.​About 30 animal-rights activists gathered on the sidewalk outside the Plantation home of an Amerijet executive last night to protest the company's policy of transporting monkeys for animal research and the fact that they do busin ... More >>

Scenes From the Recent Puppy Palace Protests

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Less than an hour into this weekend's protest of Puppy Palace in Hollywood, there were already four Hollywood PD squad cars on the scene. And before the three-hour protest was over, the police would be called at least two more times. Store employees out counter-protesting said the ... More >>

Thanksgiving Day Parlor Trick: How to Swallow a Tablespoon of Cinnamon

Michael J. MooneyWeapons of mass destruction.​You and your family have just finished the first of four courses on Thanksgiving Day. You can smell the rest of the food, but it's not time yet. So you're stuck in a warm room with the people you love, but may not get to see too often. It could be one ... More >>

Animal-Rights Activist Says Elderly Circus Employees Assaulted Him During Protest (Video)

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Last week, we told you about the animal-rights activists protesting the Cole Bros. Circus. They've followed the circus around South Florida, explaining with signs and megaphones that circus employees and patrons alike "support animal cruelty."Last weekend, though, the protest in M ... More >>

Scenes From the Cole Bros. Circus Protest This Weekend

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Animal-rights activists have long decried circuses as one of most blatant and correctable violators of animals rights. (Stampeding and screaming elephants have long agreed.)   And the Cole Bros. Circus, which was in Boca Raton this weekend and will travel around South Florida ... More >>

UPDATE: Pembroke Pines Cop Caught Mooning Animal Rights Protesters?

​Animal-rights advocates gathered outside the Pembroke Pines subdivision of the president of a controversial South Florida research facility Sunday afternoon. They waved signs and told passersby about the disturbing photos leaked from Primate Products, the embattled facility run by Donald Bradford ... More >>

Scenes From the Bloody Protest at the Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Women wore mangled fur and prom gowns covered in (fake) blood. People wrapped themselves in yellow caution tape. One woman dressed as the Grim Reaper. They held signs telling teenaged girls and their families as they entered the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant that they had blood on ... More >>

Top Ten Most Disturbing Competitive-Eating Records

Tara NieuwesteegPickle eating in Pompano​Several of the world's top competitive eaters descended upon the Isle of Capri in Pompano Beach last weekend to see who could eat the most sour dill pickles. Before the event, the record was 2.99 pounds of pickles in six minutes. At least six people bested ... More >>

Competitive Eaters Destroy Pickle-Eating World Record in Pompano

Tara NieuwesteegPat Bertoletti put down nearly six pounds of pickles for the win.​On Sunday morning, the world record for pickle eating was 2.99 pounds in six minutes. By about 11:30 a.m., that record had been demolished. Held at the Isle of Capri at Pompano Park, the event was part of the officia ... More >>

Animal Rights Group Asks Miss Florida USA Contestants to Donate Fur "Prizes"

C. Stiles​We live in South Florida, one of the warmest climates in the country. And on top of that, this one of the hottest summers we've had in years. So why would anyone ever need a fur coat down here?That's what the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida was thinking when members emailed more than ... More >>

It's Always 5 O'Clock: A Definitive Guide to the Top 50 Broward and Palm Beach Happy Hours

Father's Day Puppy Protest is One-Sided

Tara Nieuwesteeg​ Yesterday's episode in the on-going protest-counter protest drama centered at Puppy Palace in Hollywood was quieter and more peaceful than usual. The surreal battle, which started with regular animal-rights protests outside the store earlier this year, has included adults dressed ... More >>

Miss Florida USA Event Gets Protested for Fur "Prizes"

Tara NieuwesteegAnimal rights activists of all ages turned out to tell would-be beauty queens not to support the fur industry.​The Miss Florida USA program held a preliminary event in Hollywood over the weekend. And along with dozens of young women hoping to compete in the Donald Trump-owned Miss ... More >>

Most Recent Hollywood Puppy Protest Gets Crapped On

Tara NieuwesteegThis week there was poop.​ There were no protesters standing outside the Puppy Palace in Hollywood this weekend. Most of the animals-rights activists who frequent the scene were telling the organizers of the Miss Florida USA that they shouldn't support the fur industry.But a few da ... More >>

Greyhound Racing Ends in New England, Opponents Focus On Florida

Tara NieuwesteegJailamony enjoying her new backyard.​This time last year we had a cover story about Jailamony, a greyhound with a broken leg, and the national fight over greyhound racing. While Florida, with 13 tracks, remains the mecca of dog racing in this country, other states continue banning ... More >>

More Photos From the Hollywood Puppy Protest

Tara Nieuwesteeg​ This weekend there was another passionate protest in front of Puppy Palace on Hollywood Boulevard. Animal rights activists held signs insisting the store patronizes puppy mills and sells sick puppies and by doing so encourages the death of more shelter dogs. Counterprotesters dec ... More >>

Puppy Protest Gets Personal in Hollywood

Tara Nieuwesteeg​Over the past couple of months, the protests and counterprotests in front of Puppy Palace in Hollywood have been increasingly heated. In addition to signs and chanting, there have been fake dead dogs, people wearing dog suits, a death toll, sarcastic welcome signs, an impromptu pe ... More >>

We Got Issues: New Times in Print

​This week's New Times feature about Scott Storch, a music mogul from Plantation, has a little bit of everything: money, cocaine, and hip-hop backdrops. Gus Garcia-Roberts looks into what made a lucrative career go horribly wrong.Sean Pamphilon, friend of Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Wil ... More >>

Another Round of Puppy Protests Scheduled for This Weekend

Tara Nieuwesteeg​A few weeks ago, Puppy Palace in Hollywood was the site of a large animal rights demonstration and a simultaneous counterprotest. One side decried puppy mills and held signs that attempted to explain how many dogs go unadopted and die when people purchase expensive, commercially b ... More >>

More Photos From This Weekend's Puppy Palace Protest in Hollywood

Tara NieuwesteegPassionate puppy protesters.​On Saturday, animal rights advocates took to Hollywood Boulevard, protesting Puppy Palace, a freestanding building that sells purebred puppies for between $300 and $1,500 each. The protesters say nobody should be purchasing a commercially bred puppy whe ... More >>

Hollywood Animal Rights Protesters Get Protested

Tara Nieuwesteeg​ Many people were very confused as they drove down Hollywood Boulevard on Saturday. There was a full-on protest on both sides of the street, replete with colorful signs, matching T-shirts, chanting, music, and adults wearing large, heavy dog costumes. Some drivers thought it was a ... More >>

We Got Issues: New Times in Print

​Traffic safety hazards have never been quite as sexy as the Stripper Mobile, the subject of this week's New Times feature. Natalie O'Neill gets to know the pole-dancers and their promoters, looking to make a scene amid a South Florida swamped with Super Bowl-sized sensory overload.That appears to ... More >>

Would You Kill Someone For a Chicken Sandwich?

Michael J. MooneyHe's not dead, just dead tired.​ At noon on Tuesday, there was one man waiting, seated quietly on the curb outside the new Chick-Fil-A on US-1 in Pompano Beach. By 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday there were already 20 more people. By 6:00 a.m. there were nearly 200 people waiting in line j ... More >>

Letters From the Issue of August 27, 2009

Letters From the Issue of June 18, 2009

Palm City Mom Rocks Supercon

Photo by Tara Nieuwesteeg There were people dressed up like characters from videogames, horror movies, animes, and all sorts of other things. They came from as far away Europe to worship at the altar of all things videogame, meet B-movie legend Bruce Campbell, and compete in this y ... More >>

Thompson Job With BSO Totally Scandal-Less

New Times photo by Tara NieuwesteegWiley ThompsonIt sure sounds like a troubling bit of news: Former Broward Sheriff candidate Wiley Thompson has landed a sweet job with victorious Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti -- the same candidate Thompson had crossed party lines to endorse after he lost in the Augu ... More >>

Letters From the Issue of April 9, 2009

Magic Rain on Zo's Retirement Parade

Tara Nieuwesteeg Last night was special for the Miami Heat. For the first time in franchise history, the team retired the number of a player. During an extended half-time, a few dozen chairs and a podium were set up in the middle of the court and the world played "This is Your Life" with Alo ... More >>

Letters from the Issue of January 15, 2009

Letters from the issue of January 1, 2009

Letters for May 15-21, 2008

Letters for April 10-16, 2008

Last Night: Nightwish at the Culture Room