U.S. Court of Appeals

TSA Has Been Ordered to Listen to Your Complaints

It's bad enough that TSA workers have to look at your flabby fat ass through their full-body scanners, but now they're going to have to take a public scolding too. According to a 90-day court order by the U.S. Court of Appeals of D.C., the Transportation Security Administration will now have to rea ... More >>

Rick Scott Asks Court To Please Let Him Drug Test State Workers

Rick Scott really, really, still very much wants people to pee into a cup randomly if he's going to give them financial help or let government workers keep getting a paycheck. Last month, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta unanimously ruled that an earlier ruling by a lower court to stop ... More >>

Rick Scott Has His Drug Test Appeal Shot Down by Federal Court

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta unanimously ruled that a lower court's decision to halt the enforcement of Rick Scott's law that forced welfare recipients to take drug tests was good. Back in May 2011, Scott signed into law a bill requiring that Florida's TANF welfare recipients ... More >>

South Florida Bloggers Pick Their Favorite Posts of 2012, Part Two

The first installment of our highlight reel from the area blogosphere featured everything from legal scholarship to sex toys. Round two keeps the quality flowing, with a diverse selection from all over the ideological map. Here are laser-guided muckrakes and movement funeral oratory, community issue ... More >>

Appeals Court Hears Challenge to Florida Drug-Testing Law for Welfare Recipients

Arguments were heard in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta in Florida's appeal of a lower court Thursday on the decision halting enforcement of a 2011 state law mandating drug tests of applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Basically, the law says that those w ... 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 >>

Buju Banton's Appeal Struck Down

A panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Thursday shot down Grammy-winning reggae artist Buju Banton's appeal on federal drug charges. The judges also reversed the lower court's decision to throw out a gun charge. Now the same judge who decided there wasn't enough  ... More >>

Buju Banton's Attorney: "We Had Ten Really Good Issues for the Appeal"

​The Department of Justice should have filed a response to Buju Banton's appeal on Friday, but as has been the government's style throughout the more than two-year-long saga, it's dragging its heels. Now federal prosecutors have until February 10 to counter arguments made in the hulking, 17,000-wo ... More >>

Mavericks Schools Founded by Former Head of Controversial Ohio Charter Schools

maverickshigh.comMavericks High in Homestead​Mavericks in Education Florida, the Fort Lauderdale-based charter school chain promoted by Frank Biden, has ties to another for-profit charter school company that has been highly controversial in Ohio.Mark Thimmig, the founding CEO of Mavericks, is the ... More >>

Miramar Man Sentenced for DUI Manslaughter; Apparently Didn't Have the Cash to Avoid Prison

Broward Sheriff's OfficeRobert Jones​A 33-year-old Miramar man was sentenced today to ten years up the river for drunkenly mowing over and killing a motorcyclist in 2009.Robert Jones pleaded guilty a few weeks ago to killing 43-year-old Eric Maron while he was drunk-driving his fiancée's daughter ... More >>

Deaths at One of South Florida's Most Popular Plastic Surgery Centers Raise Questions About the Safety of Cheaper Nips and Tucks

U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Florida Law That Caps Medical Malpractice Damages

askmen.comFlorida law is very concerned about insurance premiums.​According to Florida law -- and now the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- doctors' sometimes-deadly mistakes have a financial limit: $500,000.The law was being challenged by Michelle McCall, who the Associated Press reports died afte ... More >>

Broward Judge Ilona Holmes Confronted BSO Deputies With Gun on Easter Sunday

​We've come face-to-face with Broward Circuit Court Judge Ilona Holmes, and she runs a tight ship over in the courthouse. She once directly addressed a New Times reporter sitting in the back row during a pretrial felony hearing, asking his name and intentions.Apparently she has a similar take-char ... More >>

Litigious Activist Jack Thompson Files State Complaint Against John Bowman

Jack Thompson​In more than two months since they took a statement from Charles Harper, 18, alleging past sexual abuse by Broward Circuit Judge John Bowman, the Plantation Police Department has been conducting an investigation and has been mum about its status or eventual completion.Many of the ano ... More >>

Felon Voting Laws, Racism, Rick Scott, and Pam Bondi, Part II

Florida Attorney GeneralYou really think justice is colorblind, Ms. Bondi?​The Florida Clemency Board's decision last week to reinstate an archaic felon voting ban has set off a storm of protest. The new rule, which requires nonviolent felons to wait five years after completing their sentences to ... More >>

Federal Court Upholds Florida's Bizarre Interior Designer Licensing Law

​An interior designer is not a medical doctor. An interior designer is not a lawyer, or a pharmacist, or a school teacher, or someone who transports hazardous chemicals that could kill large swaths of society.Interior designers help you decide which colors look good in a bedroom or office and wher ... More >>

Mark Guerette's Tenant, Cheryl Mann, Faced Criminal Charges and Struggled to Pay Rent

Michael McElroyMark Guerette​In this week's feature we tell the story of Mark Guerette, who saw a glut of empty houses and people with no place to go, and decided to take the matter into his own hands. After moving more than a dozen families into foreclosed houses and collecting rent for a few mon ... 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 >>

Car Accident? Doctors and Lawyers in the 411-PAIN Network Will Line Their Pockets With Your Insurance Money

Fantasy Voter Fraud

Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was dissed by Russell Pearce over Prop 200's dismissal.

Election or Not, These Campaign Operatives Have Hit the Jackpot

Shifrel​Take a bow Jack Shifrel. No matter what happens in tomorrow's election, you've already made over $15,000 across eight county and state judicial races. Of course, Shifrel won't be keeping all of that loot. Some of it surely goes to the condo commandos who make sure that a candidate's name a ... More >>

Deadline Day Dramatics in Broward Judicial Races

Noon today was the deadline for filing to be on Florida ballots, leading to some last-minute jockeying in the Broward judicial races. Broward Circuit Court Judge Lee Seidman -- facing three challengers in his reelection bid -- opted out of that race. But he didn't do so to run against Judge Susan Le ... More >>

Morning Juice: Gardiner Leaves Bench; Fins Trade Down, Take Penn State Lineman

​Here's what's happening in Broward and Palm Beach:Broward Circuit Court Judge Ana Gardiner has decided to resign her post rather than face allegations of misconduct that were first reported by Bob Norman in New Times two years ago. Gardiner was to be tried by the Judicial Qualifying Commission fo ... More >>

Is Judge Lee Seidman on Collision Course With Judge Susan Lebow?

Flickr: darrenjsylvester​There have been rumors in the local legal community that Broward County Judge Lee Seidman is considering a campaign to challenge Broward Circuit Court Judge Susan Lebow, who's been notorious since February, when she dismissed a death-penalty murder case over a scheduling c ... More >>

Convicted Murderer of Fort Lauderdale Tourist to Die by Lethal Injection

Photo: Arkansas Department of CorrectionsJack H. Jones​Back in May 1991, witnesses saw a Pennsylvania tourist, 32-year-old Lorraine Barrett, talking with a man at the Elbo Room on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Another witness saw Barrett and the man board an elevator at the Days Inn on Seabreeze Boulevar ... More >>

Cheers to the New Bulldog Blog in Town

Flickr user: sabianmaggyThere's a new bulldog in town.​After 30 years in the South Florida news business, Dan Christensen isn't about to let one small layoff stop him from mining the bottomless pit of Broward County corruption.The veteran Daily Business Review and Miami Herald reporter has launche ... More >>

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

Confirmed: Motion to Dismiss Felony Case Against Al Capellini Denied

Capellini​Broward Circuit Court Judge Dale Cohen has dismissed a motion by former Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini to dismiss the felony corruption charges against him, a spokesman for the prosecutor told Juice a moment ago.We reported on Cohen's order yesterday, based on hearing of it from a so ... More >>

Source: Capellini's Motion to Dismiss Denied

Flickr: daverm_98​That was quick. Here we expected to wait two weeks for Broward Circuit Court Judge Dale Cohen to rule on the motion to dismiss felony corruption charges against former Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini -- and now comes word from a well-placed source that Cohen will deny that mot ... More >>

Morning Juice: A Family Name in a Familiar Fix; a Widower Smokes Big Tobbaco

Flickr: chadborneGas masks: They cost less than nurses do​Just one more day of bearing the stress that comes with being a South Florida news consumer. Be strong!"How could Evan Jenne earn $60,000 last year from a company that didn't exist until January of this year?" asks Amy Sherman in the Miami ... More >>

In 1979 Fort Lauderdale, Legal Precedent That May Apply to Gates Case

I'm not as sure as letter-to-the-editor writer Richard Frisbie is that the case of Florida v. Brayman makes a fair comparison to the one between Cambridge police and Prof. William Gates. But it's worth mentioning if only to celebrate the verbosity of the late Broward Circuit Court Judge John J. King ... More >>

List of U.S. Attorney Applicants Is Out

Sixteen lawyers have applied for the job of being the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, responsible for prosecuting all federal crimes from Palm Beach County south. Here's the list, which was released this morning by the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission:David M. ... More >>

The Dirty Dozen of 2007

Rush, Naugle, Loria... and, hey, what's going on in the criminal justice system?

Going to Plan T

Obfuscation made things worse in North Broward hospitals, so the brass is trying the truth option

In the Clouds

FAU Tries to Get Real

Muscles, Murder, and a Messiah, Part 2

Gil Fernandez Jr. could be responsible for as many as nine murders. If he's truly repentant, his former prosecutor says, he needs to confess his sins.

Drunk on Power

Give the DUI Guy What He Deserves

Tailpipe

Baja Bye-bye

Tailpipe

PBA Putsch

Gamblin' Men

Big-ticket casino deals plus a messy internal power struggle equals even more legal woes for the Seminole tribe

The Whitest Greens

Augusta refugees will find everything they want -- and everyone they don't -- at many of South Florida's private clubs

Indian War

A Hollywood man has spent the past decade trying to pry open the Seminoles' accounting books -- without much success

Treed Off

A tree falls in the city and the Sentinel finally hears it

First Pledge

Out front on Michael Newdow's story, we become a target

Call Me Now! ...And Pay Me Later

With all the millions Miss Cleo brings in, her Broward-based bosses have little trouble paying their way out of those pesky lawsuits

Festive Debt

One of the most hallowed traditions in Broward's black community faces financial ruin

Undercurrents

As Gus Boulis’ murderer wanders free, the cops wait to talk to a key player

Dead Man Waiting

Billy Elledge brutally raped and murdered a woman in Hollywood 25 years ago. He has sat in prison since then, evidence that Florida's death penalty isn't working.

The Huizenga Hair Club For Litigants

Fired from a posh Boca beach club for her buzz cut, champion lifeguard Christine Leduc-McCrady is suing the owner, Huizenga Holdings

Witness for the Persecution

Kim Mascola's life reads like a made-for-TV movie script. In fact, it nearly became one. Then the lawsuits started to fly.