For years, an argument in favor of building a CCA-run prison on a plot owned by Southwest Ranches (see our massive feature on the project in last week’s issue) has been that it was already sandwiched between a county dump and a women’s prison.Now, due to budget constraints, the state…
Welcome to our new blog series “Holy Crap, That’s Big,” where we write about humongous things going up in South Florida and the people behind them. Today’s item: a proposed fossil-fuel power plant in the middle of the Everglades.It’s a quiet, open hunting preserve right now, but if power demand…
Call it a match made in heaven.Rick Santorum is best-known (among 20-something alt-weekly types, at least) as the evangelical homophobe who likened gay relationships to “man-on-dog” sex and consequently suffered the wrath of Dan Savage’s revolting Google bomb.Jim Naugle is known locally as the former mayor who wasn’t afraid to…
There’s a town next to the Everglades, 30 minutes up the expressway from Miami. It’s a strange, meandering place occupying ten square miles of homes, horse meadows, and pine trees. Except for part of a big-box mall that falls within its borders, there are no shops. There’s no road department…
If you’ve flown recently, you probably have some dim memories of loose change rattling around in a plastic bin at the security checkpoint. If you’re careful, you pour all those coins back into your bag or pocket before heading to the gate.If you don’t, the Transportation Security Administration keeps the…
The Transportation Security Administration has some complicated rules about bringing food on airplanes. For example, you can’t bring jam, but a pumpkin pie is okay.But what about a nice, precious cupcake? Surely that shouldn’t raise alarms.In a recent uproar dubbed “Cupcakegate,” the TSA stopped a traveler flying out of Las…
It’s $9.99 on Amazon; you can get it on your Kindle in seconds. What better way to read a self-published book about alleged corruption in the Broward Sheriff’s Office, including manipulation by everybody’s favorite Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein?A new anonymous e-book being hawked on the web retailer, and available in…
We put out the call for people we missed in our roundup of 2011’s most devilish people and were informed of one overlooked former judge who certainly qualifies.With all the foreclosures and mortgage-related tragedies that have occurred since the collapse of the collateralized-debt market, it’s easy to find people who…
Happy new year! You may remember one of the more original social phenomena of 2011. It was called “the Occupy movement.” A couple of guys got together and put out a call through Adbusters magazine for disenfranchised folks to sit around and draw attention to the highfalutin few who systematically…
As it’s a holiday week, and you probably want to play games with your loved ones, we’re taking a break from our usual substantive blogging to offer you a fun quiz.Many Broward County municipalities have lofty mottos that seem a little too grand for the general apathy and lack of…
Earlier this morning, we posted the hundreds of pages of transcripts that were released following Scott Rothstein’s first day of depositions in Miami federal court.As his responses are examined, more revelations about the former Fort Lauderdale Ponzi schemer’s conduct are sure to come to light. Rothstein is serving a 50-year…
This year’s list of our Dirty Dozen covers a gamut of South Florida marauders, bent on making your life miserable — or at least more mediocre — in pursuit of personal gain. Rick Scott and Allen West are old standbys, but we have several newcomers to the list: Pain bros…
Put down your margarita for a second and imagine a South Florida without bad guys. No scumbags, hucksters, shysters, megalomaniacs, sleazeballs, or assholes. Nothing but peaceful existence, marked by occasional strong weather. Rolling tides and the buzz of insects and not a dollar to be made. Almost paradise. That place…
Pine Crest School has made a valiant effort to move forward ever since the abrupt termination of former President Hank Battle, who reportedly sealed an enormous contract with the school and instituted controversial changes during his tumultuous 99-day tenure.Dr. Dana Markham, the school’s vice president of academics under Battle, took…
It’s been an eventful few months for the Southwest Ranches and Pines residents who decided they didn’t want a prison going up in their neighborhood. An immigration-centered protest in September led to an angry town hall meeting in November, and we’re sure the Southwest Ranches town council is tired of…
If Florida’s rivers were to fill with molten gold tomorrow and a rainbow of cotton candy stretched from Key West to Gainesville over herds of running unicorns, we’d probably all think Tim Tebow did it. At least, that’s what one could deduce from the wild cheers the Denver Broncos quarterback…
Last night, Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, died at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He was 62. To the bitter end, he refused the taunts of god-fearing critics that he should convert and pray before the final hour.”I feel my personality…
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are about 370 million barrels of undiscovered oil under South Florida — and State Representative Mark Hudson (R-Naples) wants to go looking for it.Specifically, he wants to go back to old plugged or dry wells and give ’em another shake using advanced drilling…
Say you’re a defense lawyer. How do you prepare to try a case in which your client signed away his Miranda rights and confessed to a crime?In the case of Toussain Puddie, the TSA screener who took home Rick Case’s pen (detailed in our most recent cover story), denying guilt…
Udonis Haslem, a power forward for the Miami Heat who bought a $3.2 million home in Southwest Ranches in 2007, has come forward in opposition to a planned detention facility that would place at least 1,400 incarcerated immigrants near his home, according to local activists.He’s the most prominent Southwest Ranches…
Our cover story this week deals with a subject on which pretty much everyone has a strong opinion: the Transportation Security Administration, tasked with frisking, scanning, and searching you before you get on a plane.It was about this time last year when the “Don’t touch my junk” guy, John Tyner,…
Rick Case, who once sold more Hondas in a month than any other human being, entered the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport this June. Then a computer determined the level of inconvenience he would encounter. The Smiths 02PN20 metal detector shows a visual readout each time a passenger walks through, indicating…
