Time was, Rusty McKeithan could load up a truck with four or five dogs, grab his rifle, and set out into northern Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest to kill a black bear. McKeithan, 54, and his pals would drive along until the dogs caught scent and started barking. Then they’d set…
The Sun-Sentinel has a piece today about how local business leaders and yuppies are aspiring to make Broward a high-tech destination to lure young people and their families from across the nation. It quotes a few successful professionals who found nice office space, to support the thesis that “Broward aims…
Time was, Rusty McKeithan could load up a truck with four or five dogs, grab his rifle, and set out into northern Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest to crawl on his hands and knees after black bears. McKeithan, 54, and his pals would drive along until the dogs caught scent of…
We got several reports around 2:30 this afternoon of a gunman on Broward College’s Davie Campus. A spokesman for the school said he had been told of an “armed intruder somewhere on campus.”Turns out it was somebody pulling a gun during an argument in the parking lot.According to Davie PD…
While we’re talking about old people doing whatever the fuck they want…The news stories were everywhere last summer: Harry Miller, a 103-year-old veteran with sparkling eyes and a warm smile, wanted nothing more than to be back onboard a Coast Guard ship for his birthday. The Coast Guard gave him…
See also: Voter purge havoc, good luck voting in FloridaRemember all those pesky voter-ID laws that state officials have been trying to enact? The embattled plan of Gov. Rick Scott to go through voter rolls with a fine-toothed chainsaw and excise anyone named Manuel Lopez*? All that was done in…
See also, Abuse Allegation Against John Bowman, and Charles Harper Pleads Guilty to Stalking,More than a year and a half ago, delinquent foster child Charles Harper came forward with allegations that an ex-foster dad whom he was stalking had sexually abused him.That foster dad just happened to be John Bowman, a sitting…
In a room festooned with zebra-print wallpaper, a purple curtain, and a bed with neon throw pillows, a tall brunette sits at a makeup table. Gazing into the mirror, she tells her pretty, pigtailed, 11-year-old daughter that she’s not thin enough. “Look at yourself… oooh, you look so pudgy,” Mom…
Pro tip: if you’re hosting a party, avoid chucking oranges at the neighbors after they complain about how much noise you’re making. You might end up with BSO deputies screaming and throwing you into the ficus hedge.That’s what Eric Spalding of Cooper City says happened, in a lawsuit filed in…
See our cover story on South Florida preppers.Chris Petrovich has been prepping for more than a quarter-century. He has plenty of guns, plenty of single-malt scotch, and enough supplies hidden in an undisclosed storage locker somewhere, plus caches on roadways leading out of the state, to let him ride out…
See also: Israel’s bail buddies; Lamberti won’t talkIf you can tell a lot about a man from where he gets his money, then Sheriff Al Lamberti is a friend of the working man: recently, he’s been both shootin’ and bowlin’ to collect contributions for his reelection campaign.He also handed out…
See also: Herald Reporters Remember Hurricane AndrewExactly 20 years ago this morning, Jorge Villa opened the rollup door of his warehouse in Kendall and stared out at devastation. The traumatic experience led him to start U.S. Bunkers, which still sells massive concrete pods in which you can outlive almost anything, for…
Our neck of the woods will be a little more lawless than usual this weekend, thanks to the Republicans over in Tampa.At 10:30 this morning, nearly 100 deputies from the Broward Sheriff’s Office will gather at a substation in Weston before piling in for the drive across Alligator Alley. They,…
I did not set out writing last week’s feature — about pastor O’Neal Dozier’s connection to a plan hatched by the successor to Desmond Tutu, which just might save Africa — with the intention of getting Dozier fired.All I did was try to find out what was going on, and…
Bob Butterworth is something of an avuncular elder statesman of Florida politics, brought in to mend fences and rout corruption when something’s amiss. The former attorney general and Broward sheriff served a stint as Sunrise mayor after that city was plagued by scandal in the ’80s; after the head of…
“We are here today to reorder your thinking,” said Robert Beatty, his careful pronunciation banishing doubt with every word. The meticulously dressed, gray-haired publisher of the South Florida Times, an African-American newspaper, stood behind the lectern of the Worldwide Christian Center Church in Pompano Beach. Behind him sat an unlikely…
Previously: Voting in Florida today? Good luck!Banyan Creek Elementary School in Delray Beach is a polling place that’s open for voting in today’s primary. But when voters from a couple of precincts get there, they’re greeted by this sign, turning them away:Notice anything funny in the picture above?…
Does your heart thrum with excitement when you fill in a little bubble? Do you feel your most beautiful when adorned with an “I Voted” sticker? Do you believe in the power of representative democracy to make sure your wishes are voiced by those with the power to effect change?No,…
Previously: Israel vs. Granteed in fundraising.Scott Israel’s campaign for sheriff this year has taken heavy contributions from some of the least glamorous enforcers in the chain of justice: bail bondsmen from Miami to Jacksonville. Thirty-eight of them, to be exact, shelling out $13,700 for the primary election alone.Chumming around with…
From the uncharted universe next door that is government on the Seminole reservation, comes a likely first for Native Americans: a former tribal leader is going to prison on tax evasion charges.David Cypress, a member of the Seminole tribal council until 2010, was convicted of filing a false tax return,…
Cover story: Kids claim abuse at juvenile lockupIt’s hard to tell what goes on behind the walls of Thompson Academy, a Pembroke Pines “residential facility” for boys who are criminal offenders, but there sure have been a lot of nasty 911 calls coming out of the facility since the beginning…
If you vote in next week’s Broward primary election, you’ll be able to pick from a number of judges who are up for election. One of them is Ilene Lieberman, a Broward County commissioner who nearly fell to corruption charges before testifying against her friends for prosecutorial immunity.She’s also the…
