Many people who packed the Pembroke Pines City Commission chambers for a budget hearing last night were angry at political leaders they believed had failed them. Despite laying off 84 employees and outsourcing major city services, the city still faces a $27 million budget shortfall, and commissioners are considering raising…
Fred and Ceil Feldman sat down for coffee and toast inside their snug beachside condo just before 8 one morning. From their kitchen table, on the sixth floor, the elderly couple gazed in comfortable silence at the ocean. Life hadn’t yet begun to buzz at Sands Pointe Condominium. Only white…
As the Pembroke Pines City Commission prepares to vote tonight on more budget cuts for the cash-strapped suburb, city employees have reached a boiling point. “Our people have suffered enough,” says Jim Silvernale, spokesman for the local Federation of Public Employees.Already, at least 84 Pines workers have been laid off…
Last week’s New Times cover story features William Staubs, AKA “Cobra,” a Fort Lauderdale bail bondsman with a Forrest Gump-like knack for getting involved in high-profile cases. One of his best jobs was a stint shadowing O.J. Simpson after the football star was arrested for attempting to steal sports memorabilia…
The Palm Beach Sheriff’s office has just announced it’s searching for a violent rapist with a strange penchant for beating and biting his victims. Investigators believe the man has attacked two women since April, a 21-year-old and a 53-year-old, both in Palm Beach County.Here’s what they know so far, from…
It’s not exactly prime time, but local bail bondsman William Staubs, AKA “Cobra” — the star of this week’s New Times cover story — has already received coverage from Discovery’s Investigation Channel.The Criminal Report Daily, David Lohr’s blog on the channel’s website, chronicles the troubles Cobra encountered when he began…
Bail bondsman William Staubs, AKA “Cobra,” pushed open the window to a condo. Inside, Cobra, a large man with stringy blond hair, a meaty face, and an unmistakable hillbilly twang, discovered a kitchen filled with pieces of PVC pipe, a handsaw, and grenades. A shooting target was set up in…
Aside from their eerily similar first names, there are compelling parallels among the missing-child cases of Jaycee Dugard, Caylee Anthony, and Haleigh Cummings. Each time, investigators have focused on the child’s parents. And each time, they’ve had wildly different results.Jaycee Dugard’s stepfather came under police scrutiny when the 11-year-old went…
In this week’s New Times cover story, “Cobra’s Last Stand,” Fort Lauderdale bail bondsman William Staubs, AKA “Cobra,” gets arrested for false imprisonment during his search for missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings. The confrontation that caused all the trouble was caught on video by independent, Atlanta-based journalist Art Harris.In the video,…
This week’s New Times cover story chronicles the adventures of a Fort Lauderdale bail bondsman, William Staubs, AKA “Cobra,” who fell into a world of trouble when he started searching for a missing 5-year-old from Putnam County, Haleigh Cummings. But before he began looking for Haleigh, Cobra briefly searched for…
“Anne M. Gannon, Tax Collector, Palm Beach County, Welcomes you to the Un-Government Experience,” read the numbered ticket I received at the beginning of my car-registration ordeal this morning. Oh, the irony.I was standing in line with at least 50 other beleaguered citizens, all sweltering in the packed Delray branch…
Standing next to Gov. Charlie Crist’s famously tanned mug, George LeMieux looks positively pasty, like a British-transfer student on the first day of spring break. But no one cared this afternoon at Fort Lauderdale City Hall, where Crist anointed LeMieux the state’s new U.S. Senator. For what he lacked in…
Pembroke Pines City Manager Charles Dodge has a sweet gig. For his hard work running the 150,000-resident Broward suburb, his company earns $755,000 a year, thanks to a special deal that makes him and Deputy City Manager Martin Gayeski private contractors, not city employees.Dodge has managed to maintain this arrangement…
Members of the dragon boat team fighting to keep practicing in West Lake Park finally made their pitch to the Broward County Commission this week. But they were met with resounding… silence. The commissioners, who allowed the Blazing Paddles to make a presentation at Tuesday’s meeting, listened and smiled while…
Many unusual objects wash in with the tides on Delray Beach: a dirty sneaker, a mangled flip-flop, a bright-blue shampoo bottle. But last night, I noticed one that simply didn’t belong: a small sailboat, careening on its side, looking like a forgotten bath toy. It was floating close to shore…
You have to hand it to the Related Group. No matter how bad the economy gets or how many ghost towers dot the skyline, the Miami real estate giant keeps looking for ways to make a buck. Here’s the current philosophy: We can’t pay our own bills. But hey, let’s…
Alex Taylor, publisher of the Palm Beach Post, announced his departure today just as the newsroom braces for more layoffs. Taylor has been on the job for just over eight months. He replaced Doug Franklin, the publisher who oversaw the axing of about 300 people from the paper last year…
Nothing feels better than donating to a good cause, especially when such altruism rewards you with free stuff. That’s why you should become a friend of John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. Over the years, New Times has shown a lot of love to this Juno Beach gem. We’ve rated…
Fort Lauderdale police are investigating a possible suicide on the beach near Sunrise Boulevard and A1A this morning. Details are extremely scarce at this point, but here’s what Sgt. Patrick Hart says they know:Police got a call reporting that a person had been found on the beach. When officers arrived,…
The long-awaited computer conversion that allows South Florida Chase and Washington Mutual customers to become one happy family — and not rely on snail-mail to make deposits — has finally occurred. Former WaMu branches all over Delray Beach and Boca Raton have been hoisting that familiar blue octagon logo over…
He’s got Wilford Brimley’s jowls, a roly-poly stomach, worried eyes, and a slight snarl that could be mistaken for an under-bite. Meet the Palm Beach Post’s latest mascot, a bulldog that appeared in a full-page ad in Tuesday’s paper above the headline: “The Palm Beach Post, Your Community Watchdog.”The pooch’s…
Governments all over the country are slashing their budgets to survive the New Depression. Last month, the city of Pembroke Pines took the drastic step of axing its entire building department — laying off at least 33 employees, and outsourcing building inspection duties to a private firm. City leaders said…
