In October 2011, an undercover officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arrived at David Feltenberger’s “Big Lake Fish Farm” in Okeechobee. Feltenberger was sentenced last week for conspiring to export turtles. He had a license to keep hundreds or thousands of softshell turtles, snapping turtles, chicken turtles, striped mud…
Edward Crisante Jr. was, by his parents’ account, struggling with depression at the age of 32 in July 2010. He was a Fort Lauderdale barber with multiple felony counts in his past, including many drug charges, but it was a traffic ticket that led him to his death.After failing to…
The state has decided not to renew its contract to house juvenile convicts at the privately run Thompson Academy. But officials from the Department of Juvenile Justice insist the move has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Thompson has seen abuse complaints, shifts in administration, judicial review, lawsuits,…
Plantation mom and triathlete Molli Serrano survived pancreatic cancer but never stopped riding her bike. She once participated in a 62-mile race with a portable chemotherapy pump. But she really started making headlines in May, when a Weston cop pulled her out of a group ride and gave her a…
Looks like the scrutiny and tales of abuse were too much for Youth Services International’s Thompson Academy, a private boys’ jail under contract with Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice. After a New Times cover story, the departure of an embattled administrator, and an unprecedented review by a judicial panel, the DJJ…
It was a fine vision, and a simple one.Someday, you’d be able to walk or bike from the Pond Apple Slough in Fort Lauderdale all the way west, along the New River Canal, out to Weston and the Glades. See also: How to Bike to the Everglades Without DyingShould have been…
It’s high-octane campaign season, and Democratic sheriff candidate Scott Israel is hammering the incumbent, Al Lamberti, for his and his underlings’ close association with convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. That’s only a little hypocritical, seeing as Rothstein firm money was directed toward Israel as well. But Israel is also criticizing…
Plantation mom and triathlete Molli Serrano survived pancreatic cancer but never stopped riding her bike. She once participated in a 62-mile race with a portable chemotherapy pump. But she really started making headlines in May, when a Weston cop pulled her out of a group ride and gave her a…
Anderson Cooper spoke at Hard Rock Live last night, not representing CNN or his new daytime talk show in particular but just him as a guy, telling stories, making perfectly timed self-deprecating jokes, and winning over everybody. But at some point, it went deeper than that. I realized: I want…
This week’s cover story is about the disappearance of Guma Aguiar, a wealthy Brazilian-born convert to Judaism who used his oil and gas fortune to buy many properties in Israel.Among the properties Guma Aguiar purchased in Israel are several homes in the Yemin Moshe quarter of Jerusalem, just west of…
This week’s cover story is about Guma Aguiar, a driven, self-critical millionaire who disappeared at sea one night in June. Just before he struck it rich in the Texas oilfields, he converted to Judaism and met Moishe Meir Lipszyc, rabbi at Chabad Lubavitch of Fort Lauderdale. After getting rich, Aguiar…
Just after midnight on the summer solstice, a white Jupiter powerboat drifted toward Fort Lauderdale beach. Employees at the beachfront bar Elbo Room spotted the gleam of fiberglass in the darkness and realized nobody was onboard. It was a windswept Tuesday night. The seas were rough, and the city’s most…
The Broward Commission has passed an ordinance to require gas station signs to advertise the highest prices they charge, not the lower, cash-only prices. The commission passed the amended ordinance, introduced by Lois Wexler, last week, and announced it in a press release. See also:Margate persecutes sign spinners That reminded…
How big must a man’s sandwich board be before the strong arm of the state comes down to crush his minimum-wage shenanigans? How long is too long for a giant arrow pointing to a mattress store where everything is always 75 percent off?Yeah, uh, six square feet, says the Margate…
Our brethren in Miami showed how you can kayak to Marlins Park or take the Metrorail to nowhere. But what if you just want a nice leisurely, relaxed, death-defying 17-mile bike ride from Fort Lauderdale to the Everglades and back? YOU’RE IN LUCK! We’ll show you how! On the way,…
Momma always told you to be careful at ATMs, so you hide your PIN from strangers and use the machines in a well-lighted area. But what if the machine itself is stealing your information?A gang of high-tech thieves has allegedly been traveling up and down Florida’s east coast, hacking those…
Broward has been out in front of the rest of the state, maybe the country, in terms of preparing for climate change and rising sea levels. The county commissioned a report showing that large parts of Lauderdale could be underwater 50 years from now. Over and over, experts say our…
Chicago teachers are entering the third day of their labor strike, leaving kids without classes after only four active days in the school year. “I’ve been picketing for four hours, from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30, and we have a rally downtown at 2:30 p.m.,” said Laura G., a teacher on…
You’ve seen the pattern in Broward: Bad people come here to plot their schemes, nobody cares, and they operate with impunity for years until some journalist finally stumbles upon them. Then everyone is outraged. This isn’t true just of Ponzi schemers and fraudsters. Terrorists do it too. Bob Norman revealed in…
Also: Woman sues Riviera Beach for police harassment; Drug testing is a wasteMike Hunter, a man who used to work for Riviera Beach running the public-access TV channel, is suing the city over a drug test. He took the test, was told the results were negative, then decided it had been…
Broward State Attorney Mike Satz, who has held the office for 837 years and counting, has rarely faced a serious challenger in his reelection bids. This November, he’ll be running against Republican Jim Lewis, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who most recently ran (unsuccessfully) for attorney general.The main talking point of…
A handful of middle-aged alleged fraudsters in northern Broward has been charged with a whole bunch of fraud and money laundering, accused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of raising more than $20 million for a fake investment scheme.More than 700 folks were allegedly told they could invest in a company…
