We have some more details about crimes allegedly committed last month by Charles Harper, the foster child turned stalker turned sex-abuse accuser whose life has been unfortunately entwined with that of Broward Circuit Judge John Bowman.According to incident reports from PBSO, one day in June was a burglary bonanza for…
It is a universal condition among the alumni of private schools and colleges, perhaps more prevalent among those whose families have invested substantial time, money, and faith in the school, that everything that happens after the moment one graduates appears misguided, tragic, and symbolic of the institution’s unstoppable decline.But recently,…
On the day Hank Battle came to town in January, possibility was in the air at Pine Crest School. Construction crews jackhammered away at a new upper-school wing on the Fort Lauderdale campus; lower-schoolers at a second campus in Boca Raton walked in green-and-white uniforms through a building less than…
Damn. JAABlog, an early source for our story on Charles Harper that devolved into a mess of sexual-abuse allegations against a sitting judge, has an update on his whereabouts.Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office records show that Harper was arrested at the end of June for unarmed burglary in an unoccupied…
Rick Scott held a news conference today at the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association in which said organization presented him with a model of the ship he served on from 1972-74.According to the Herald’s Naked Politics blog, Scott waxed nostalgic about supplementing his government paycheck by hoarding sodas on land…
When it comes to cooking meat like a goldang man, it’s worth taking a look back to the middle of the past century, when chauvinism and functioning alcoholism hung in the air like aerosolized fat and vegetarianism was confined to parts of town where not even Deano himself would venture…
Ever since Scott Rothstein’s billion-dollar Ponzi empire crumbled in late 2009, there’s been a load of loot from his extravagant lifestyle sitting around. In a 2008 story, New Times visited his law offices and described his material wealth, including a bevy of luxury cars in an air-conditioned garage.Also, a lot…
Local conservative provocateur Ann Coulter appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher last night, sparring with the Hollywood-elite comedian at every opportunity. The two are “friends” in real life (Maher introduced Coulter as “my first wife,” and the two reportedly meet for lunch from time to time). But on the…
Today is the deadline for the City of Fort Lauderdale to respond to a lawsuit by area journalists over signs illegally prohibiting photography near the downtown set of Rock of Ages.Norm Kent, a lawyer and the publisher of South Florida Gay News, filed the suit last month, then met with…
The three Florida men charged with reverse-mortgage fraud on Wednesday were Palm Beach County residents who worked for 1st Continental Mortgage, with offices in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. A reverse mortgage allows a bank to purchase the homes of seniors 62 and above, then provide monthly mortgage payments to…
Last month, longtime Hollywood City Manager Cameron Benson caught heat in public from Mayor Peter Bober, who had made sport of publicly shaming his chief bean counters since a May revelation that the city was millions of dollars further in debt than it had disclosed.Benson also faces an ethics investigation…
Since last month’s arrest of Food Not Bombs founder Keith McHenry in Orlando for violating that city’s ordinance against holding mass feedings in public parks, the free-food group has been organizing protest events around the state and country. Yesterday afternoon around a dozen Food Not Bombs activists, mostly young people, gathered…
We’re fully aware of the journalistic rule that says if a headline ends in a question mark, the answer is “no.” But humor this venture into the lands of political possibility, driven by desperate flight from the backward policies and reckless attitudes of Rick Scott, Florida’s 45th governor.Earlier today, we…
A few minutes before I met Pembroke Pines Detective Donna Velazquez for the first time, she sent me a text message: “I have asked the victim’s mother, Judy Carlson, to join us.” We were meeting to discuss the murder of David Jackson, which eventually became the center of a feature…
Bluejays Cafe may be sadly and mysteriously closed, but just across Himmarshee Street, there’s a new restaurant taking shape in a historic 1925 building.The Old Fort Lauderdale Breakfast House, inexplicably abbreviated as O-B/House (website), will serve an all-day breakfast menu of the usual suspects: specialty omelets, breakfast sandwiches, soups, and…
This week’s feature story tells the staggering, sprawling tale of a young father who was allegedly lured to a hotel and murdered in 1988 before his body was dumped in a shallow grave at the edge of Pembroke Pines. We’d recommend you give it a read before continuing here if…
John Henry Wolfe went to the Pembroke Pines police station every Wednesday evening for its Police Explorer program. He took courses and shadowed detectives on the job to prepare for a career in law enforcement. By July 9, 2003, when he was 19 years old, he had attained the highest…
But if this world keeps right on turnin’ for the better or the worseAnd all he ever gets is older and aroundFrom the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of the hearseThe goin’ up was worth the comin’ down.Prophet/picker/poet/liar Kris Kristofferson turns 75 today. He’s still trucking through a successful acting…
Fort Lauderdale’s recent bumbling over an unlawful ban on photography by the producers of Rock of Ages took a weird turn in court yesterday. Hibernatory City Attorney Harry Stewart and cane-wielding lawyer-provocateur Norm Kent stood off in the courtroom like two Southern grandpas rocking on a porch somewhere, refusing to…
Rick Scott, apparently desperate to appeal to the thin slice of voters who (a) might consider supporting him and (b) still read newspapers, has orchestrated a fake-letter-writing campaign to ambush Florida’s newspapers with unspecific praise of his time as governor.This is the governor who has never sat down with a…
The feds say that Mark Phillips, a 62-year-old West Palm resident, helped the Black Tuna gang smuggle pot into the United States when he ran a Fort Lauderdale yacht outfit in the 1970s. In 1979, they put out a warrant for his arrest, but he had fled the country. He…
Fort Lauderdale has a lawsuit on its hands after letting a movie production company put up bogus no-trespassing signs, which attempted to prohibit photography by citing a random city ordinance.The Hollywood film Rock of Ages is being filmed around the Himmarshee Village area. Several journalists and photographers were told they’re…
