Fort Lauderdale has over 200 miles of sea walls. During high tides and storms, sea walls protect properties from coastal flooding. Legally, a city ordinance dictates that sea walls be no higher than 5 and a half feet. As sea levels rise, especially during the really high tides in September,…
Former NFL Linebacker Clinton Session claims he can’t afford to pay what he owes in child support for his severely disabled daughter, even though in 2011 and 2012 he received $9.8 million playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yesterday, a judge gave Sessions ten days to pay, or go to jail. …
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew wiped out Six Flags Atlantis in Hollywood. There has been a giant, aching waterpark-shaped hole in Broward County ever since. But opening another Broward waterpark has been no trip down the lazy river for Schlitterbahn, one of the country’s leading water amusement corporations with outposts in…
Boynton Beach has long been regarded as the sleepy beach community wedged between West Palm Beach and Delray Beach. It’s where everyone’s grandma seems to live and, with a population of 70,000, the kind of place where you quickly run out of things to do after 10 p.m. But that’s…
For some major exhilaration, all you need is a thin sheet of plastic unrolled in the backyard, a garden hose, and bodily momentum. Slip n’ slides are the mainstay of summer. This summer, Broward county is getting its own — and much bigger than anything you ever slid down as…
In 2014, Fort Lauderdale commissioners passed a city ordinance that prohibited “personal property to be stored on public property.” The law states that “‘store’ means any action to place, leave, park, locate, or set an item upon the public property for a period of time in excess of twenty-four (24) hours…
During rush hour one February evening, analysts filmed 20 minutes of traffic on I-95’s northbound lanes from the Clyde Moore Overpass in Boca Raton. During that time, 2,151 cars passed through. Of those 2,151 drivers, it was later revealed that more than eight percent of drivers were driving distracted. That means…
Throughout the Broward courthouse, attorneys and defendants say that circuit court judge Matthew Destry is too harsh and random, as reported in a recent New Times investigation. This frustration motivated Fort Lauderdale attorney Brian Greenwald to challenge the incumbent Judge Destry, who was appointed to the bench in 2008. Greenwald…
For some of us, one fancy car is indistinguishable from the next. They all blend together in a giant blob of things-we-can’t-afford. Whether it costs $300,000 or $1 million, a sports car is just another item on this growing list — right after student loan debt and a new water…
Cities, like children, are sometimes named after important individuals (or old-timey developers); other times, they’re just given names that sound pleasant (better for marketing!). After a while, names are accepted but no longer questioned, so it’s totally possible to live your entire life with no idea how your hometown got…
Jesse Bailey is a real estate analyst for a Palm Beach apartment company, who also sits on the West Palm Beach Downtown Neighborhood Association and city’s Watershed Advisory Board. Since 2012, Bailey has also run the popular Walkable WPB blog, a site that discusses ways to improve transportation in Palm…
Marc Hennes is literally taking South Florida home buying to new heights. For the last year, the Fort Lauderdale-based realtor has been offering complimentary house hunting by helicopter. Hennes, who also holds a commercial helicopter license, tours property sites on foot like more traditional realtors, but says his more affluent…
A half-mile off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, 35 feet below the ocean’s surface, two battery-powered golden-yellow submarines the size of Volkswagen Beetles puttered around Barracuda Reef. In one submarine’s cabin — a transparent sphere that looks like a giant fishbowl — sat Rachel Silverstein, a dark-haired PhD who holds…
Abbe Rifkin says she has wanted to be a judge ever since she was sworn into the Florida Bar. That was in 1981, when she had just started working as a prosecutor with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. She has tried dozens of high profile murder cases and is active…
On March 27, Ivanka Trump gave birth to presidential candidate Donald Trump’s eighth grandchild, Theodore James Kushner. After marrying husband Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism. Donald Trump recently told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that his daughter had a “beautiful Jewish baby.” If the family sticks with…
As she explained last week, Catherine Uden was saddened by all the litter sprinkled across Fort Lauderdale Beach during spring break. As the Broward Chapter secretary of Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit grassroots environmental group made up of surfers and beach lovers, it was especially hard to see. For years, Uden…
On March 8, at news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was accused of grabbing Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields as she went to ask Trump a question. Fields said that her arm was yanked aggressively, she almost fell, and that she was definitely “shaken”…
When people think of startups, they might imagine a warehouse office in Silicon Valley, crowded with young software engineers who prefer T-shirts to suits. Think Google, Facebook, and billionaires under the age of 30. But could Broward County become the Silicon Valley of the East? Don’t laugh! The burgeoning startup…
On March 14, Fort Lauderdale Beach lifeguard Zoard Janko uploaded a photo onto Facebook. In it, a few lingering spring-breakers make their way off the beach. Their emptied plastic water bottles, crushed cans of Red Bull, and Styrofoam cooler, though, are left behind in the sand. “They laugh as they…
In February, scores of multimillion-dollar boats lined the Indian Creek Waterway for the Yachts Miami Beach boat show. A company called Show Management organizes the event and uses Styrofoam docks for people to access the boats on display. During the three-day event, little pieces and chunks of Styrofoam broke off…
The Deep Flight Dragon sports a raised back spoiler, aerodynamic design, propellers, and two enclosed cockpits. It’s small, sleek, and off-white, looking more like a toy fighter jet than a $1.5 million two-person submarine. Deep Flight’s Director of Tourism, James Doyle, explained earlier this week in Fort Lauderdale, “It’s a…
For the last week, residents along Florida’s Space Coast from Melbourne to Titusville have been reporting an alarming number of dead fish in the water. According to lifelong residents, like Captain Alex Gorichky, a conservationist who runs a small fishing tour company, it’s the worst fish kill in decades. “There…
