Morning Kibble

— Ralph de la Cruz does his obligatory “Life As A Movie Extra” column this morning, which contained one interesting piece of news: The film crew kicked Sun-Sentinel Managing Editor Sharon Rosenhause out of her office by the film crew, pissing her off. — Shaq threw down criticism on former…

Trailer Trashed

Serge Leon sits on a step in his recently renovated mobile home. He has clear plastic tubes running into his nose and a rather dazed, faraway look in his eyes. Then it changes to something like defiance. “I love my house,” says the 64-year-old Haitian immigrant before slapping his hand…

Newspaper Story Sends Juror Home

A juror in former Deerfield Beach High football star Jarvis Hicks’ first-degree attempted murder trial was removed Monday after he recalled that he’d read about the case in the area’s top weekly newspaper. “I was sitting there listening to the evidence and it dawned on me that I read the…

Maucker Basks In Tinsel-Town Glow

The poor Sun-Sentinel. It hosts a big Hollywood movie based on a columnist’s dog and all it gets is scooped over and over about it. People.com broke the story of Owen Wilson’s recent visit to the newsroom. The Miami Herald broke the story about the filming going on at Nick’s…

Action! Hollywood Stymies Newsroom

After a few weeks of redecoration of the Sun-Sentinel newsroom to give it an 80s feel for the set of the movie Marley and Me, actual filming began today. The venerable Alan Arkin is playing the role of Sentinel Executive Editor Earl Maucker. Owen Wilson, who is playing the role…

Sam Zell Isn’t Pretending Anymore

Here’s what the owner of Tribune Co./Sun-Sentinel recently told the Baltimore Sun: “The news business is something worse than horrible. If that’s the future, we don’t have much of a future.” How far we’ve come from a few months ago, when Zell was all excited about the vast potential in…

Free John Rodstrom!

The Sun-Sentinel’s Scott Wyman has an interesting story this morning about the black newspaper Westside Gazette supposedly excluding white candidates from its political forum. Seems white commissioner John Rodstrom is all atitter about being excluded. Oh, poor John. The troubles he’s seen! When are the discrimination laws in this country…

A Star Is Born

The Miami Hurricanes are now officially on the map, thanks to Jack McClinton, a bona fide star. You hardcore Hurricane fans already know that, but his incredible performance in today’s victory over St. Mary’s put him on the national stage. He scored 38 in brilliant fashion against the tougher-than-you-might-expect St…

This Seals It For Me

The Melissa Britt Lewis murder case may still have some holes in it, but the email sent by the victim regarding the suspect in the case, Tony Villegas, pretty much seals it for me. The email, which was included in the arrest affadavit, was first reported (I believe) by NBC6…

Questions Linger About Sentinel, WSFL

March Madness has me looking … fair. Big loss was Kentucky, an upset pick (and my team) that played Marquette strong. I only had UK going to the 16, but Tom Crean’s team is better than I thought, which has me wishing I’d played the Big East a little stronger…

The Mind-Boggling Lewis Murder Case

The Melissa Britt Lewis murder investigation is about as confusing a case as I’ve seen. Start with a dearth of information from Plantation police and throw in contradictory accounts in the newspapers and you’re left with a lot more questions than answers. The evidence (a cell phone and a Google…

Rejected!

Sun-Sentinel Chan Lowe is posting cartoons on his blog “that never ran in the paper due to narrow thinking or lack of imagination on the part of some editor.” The sketch above is one that editorial page editor Antonio Fins vetoed. Lowe explains: In this particular case, I showed the…

Palm Beach Post Cuts Coffee, Pages

So they’ve cut off free coffee at the Palm Beach Post now? That’s the word from Pulp sources. It’s only the least substantial (but perhaps most symbolic and short-sighted) cut happening at the newspaper, including about a dozen pages a week from the printed product. Call it the Other Incredible…

America’s Economy Is A Sinking Cesspool

… And, with condolences to other leading villains like Angelo Mozillo and George W. Bush, this guy is the new poster boy for the financial disaster coming our way. His name is Alan Schwartz and he’s president and CEO of the once-giant investment bank Bear Stearns. Last week rumors spread…

They Can’t Be Beat

The loan application for a Honda minivan showed that Jeannette Dorestin pulled in a salary of $2,600 a month from a company called Interealty. The problem was, there was no company called Interealty, and the pay stubs that accompanied the loan application at Maroone Honda of Hollywood were fraudulent. In…

Hurry Up And Spit!

I usually don’t point out typos and such in the local papers (regular Pulp readers have an idea why). Unless it’s funny. On page 13B of today’s Sun-Sentinel, there’s an AP story about the hallucinogenic plant salvia divinorum. The Sentinel’s subhead on the story: “Bill makes possession of Saliva a…

Black Journalists Association Workshop In Miami

I’m going to be on this panel, too — just confirmed too late to get on the press release. It’s tomorrow evening. Hello, You are invited to SFBJA’s free public media workshop on Wednesday, March 12, starting at 6 p.m. at the Joseph Caleb Center, 5400 NW 22nd Ave. in…

Plantation Police: Slain Lawyer Wasn’t Sexually Assaulted

With the dearth of information coming from the Plantation Police Department regarding the murder of attorney Melissa Lewis, I figure that even clarifying what did not happen is worth reporting here. And one thing that did not happen, according to police spokesman Phil Toman, is a sexual assault. I called…

Sun-Sentinel Monkey Business

Here’s the latest missive from Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell to the troops at the Sun-Sentinel: March 10, 2008 Why? Partners, I received an email from Bill Oakes at Chicago Magazine recently that included a memorable story, and he was kind enough to let me share it with you. Picture…

Why Was Melissa Britt Lewis Killed?

The murder of attorney Melissa Britt Lewis in Plantation is both monstrous and mysterious. The facts are scant, as they should be this early in an investigation, but early speculation from police is that this was a random attack with robbery as the motive. While that’s certainly possible, I think…

Owen Wilson, Hat Visit FTL

Owen Wilson did a little prep work Friday at the Sun-Sentinel building for the upcoming “Marley and Me” flick, part of which will be filmed at the newspaper. National Law Journal reporter and newly minted SPJ president Julie Kay freelanced news of the trip to People. The balding fellow Wilson…