It sounded pretty cut and dried at the Broward School Board’s December 11 audit committee meeting. Audit committee member and veteran activist Charlotte Greenbarg asked the board’s chief building officer, Ronald Morgan, about the status of his state license.Morgan, who oversees a $3 billion construction budget, has never passed the…

Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter’s involvement with a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme should finally wise Barack Obama up about his supporter, friend, and possible White House hire (that’s the two of them pictured above at an Obama rally at the BankAtlantic Center last year). It’s already an embarassment for the new Administration here in South…

You want to know how you would have been living if you’d hooked up with Bernie Madoff and started illegally raising for him right at the swindler’s start in the 1960s? You have to look at how Fort Lauderdale’s Michael Bienes lived. I’ve written a lot about the philanthropist who…

While serving as a state representative in 2004, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter voted on legislation that benefited the fraudulent company that paid her husband $20,000 a month, renovated her Parkland home at a cost of $100,000, docked her family’s boat, and provided a house in Maine for vacations. Records show that Ritter voted yes on…

One thing about the $1 billion Ponzi scheme that was Mutual Benefits Corp.: It loved to throw money at politicians. And boy did our fearless leaders lap up the cash. It gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to elected officials, but nobody benefitted more from Mutual’s generosity than state…

Scott Wyman writes this morning of a lawsuit filed against lobbyist Russ Klenet, the husband of Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter, by a former vice president of viatical company Mutual Benefits Corp. You might remember the name of the company — it is, after all, accused of ripping off investors of about $1…

Millionaire philanthropist Michael Bienes has been the toast of South Florida, a man who threw lavish parties and fundraisers at his $7 million estate on the Intracoastal, where he seemed to be a cross between Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim. Now sources say he is a ruined man in that same…

When it comes to $50 billion swindler Bernie Madoff’s cronies in Broward County, we know about Michael Bienes and Frank Avellino. Now we can add the name Michael D. Sullivan to the list. Sullivan for years has been running a feeder fund for Madoff in his office on Federal Highway…

The church that D. James Kennedy built is waving the white flag in the culture war — just in time for Barack Obama’s inauguration. By hiring 36-year-old Tullian Tchividjian — Billy Graham’s grandson — Coral Ridge Presbyterian has all but surrendered its right-wing, homophobic agenda. Oh sure, it’ll still flare up from time to time, but…

Bienes Knighted By Catholic Church Well, the Sun-Sentinel, apparently in a panic over the New York Times beating it to the story, finally reported on the connection between Fort Lauderdale philanthropist Michael Bienes and his partner, Frank Avellino, to Bernie Madoff, the $50 billion Ponzi schemer. I’ve rarely seen one newspaper so…

The Minneapolis Star Tribune followed the Tribune Co. and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Remember, Miami Herald parent McClatchy, in the only good move it has made in several years, sold the Strib, as it is called, for $530 million back in 2006. The newspaper’s story includes some interesting numbers:…

I’ve always thought of Broward Commission newcomer Ken Keechl, who now holds the position of Vice Mayor, as a benign force. Sure, he’s subject to the wiles and temptations of Broward’s ruling class like anyone else, and he’s fallen prey at times to special interests. But he’s sort of a goofy fun…

It’s time for both the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald to be sold. The future of the Fourth Estate in South Florida may depend on it. Before you listen to why, listen to elected officials talk about the state of journalism in Broward County. You know it’s bad when politicians…

Newspaper veteran Pedro Abigantus died today from complications during heart surgery at Broward General Medical Center. Abigantus retired from his job as community news editor for the Miami Herald’s Broward edition in 2000 due to heart problems. He was 44. Abigantus began working for the now-defunct Hollywood Sun-Tattler in 1983…

As the economy goes further into the tank, there’s at least one guy in Broward County whose business appears to be thriving like never before: David Bogenschutz, the go-to defense attorney for ethically challenged judges, indicted politicians, and just about anyone else with a high profile.   Corruption is a growth business right…

Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams begins his latest think piece, titled “Cutting Through Crisis,” this way: “When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters: On represents danger, the other opportunity. I’m not sure if that’s the literal translation, but pretty well said.” Well said,…

In an Orlando Sentinel report published this morning, Howard Greenberg, the publisher of both that paper and the Sun-Sentinel, made an astonishing claim: That the bankruptcy and mounting corporate debt of the newspapers’ parent, Tribune Co., are “totally independent of the health” of the Orlando Sentinel (and by extension, the…

A helictopter rattled folks out of bed in Fort Lauderdale this morning at about 6:30 a.m. and hovered overhead for thirty minutes. Among those affected was Cal Deal, graphics designer and former newspaperman. Deal investigated and found that the copter was from WPLG-Channel 10 and was responding to a smash and grab burglary…

Jennifer Gollan had a nice little scoop about elected officials’ travel that centered on mayors Richard Kaplan, Joy Cooper, and Frank Ortis billing hundreds of dollars to stay at a hotel for a convention in Miami — all of about 30 miles away. Nothing earth-shattering, but a sweet daily story. Then on the…

Fort Lauderdale developer Sean Michaels is implicated in a corruption scandal in sleepy southern Levy County, Florida that has already led to several indictments, including W.S. “Sammy” Yearty, the dean of the county commission. A federal indictment shows that Michaels, who managed a Broward County company called Gideon Development at the palindromic address of 15751 Sheridan Street, was involved…

I bet on Florida (-3) in the national championship game. That’s right, I actually sort of like the Gators now that Spurrier long gone, and I’ve always been partial to the SEC. It was just a friendly wager with a friend, though, and by the middle of the game I…

Michael Bienes, the fabulously wealthy Fort Lauderdale benefactor, abruptly resigned from the Performing Arts Center Authority board Wednesday with a one-sentence letter, according to a center spokeswoman.   “We received the letter yesterday which said he was resigning, effective immediately,” said Broward Center of The Arts spokeswoman Jan Goodheart. There’s very…