White Power Leader in West Palm Denies Link to Pittsburgh Cop Killer

It seemed an awfully big coincidence: Richard Poplawski, who harbored suspicion toward a government he believed to be controlled by Jews and intent on snatching his guns, moved from his hometown Pittsburgh to Wellington in 2006, not far from the West Palm Beach home base of Stormfront.org, the white nationalist…

Kosher Pet Food Flying Out of Boca Shop

With Passover beginning with last evening’s sunset, South Florida’s Jewish population is gettin’ all kosher — and for the real hardcore the rules apply even to their pets. “Sales definitely go up around the holidays and the Sabbath,” says Barbara Ratner, of Holistic Pet Cuisine in Boca Raton, which has…

Who Is Nancy Nord?

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida wants Obama to fire Nancy Nord, chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. agency that he says ought to have been monitoring the quality of drywall being shipped here from China, the same drywall presently destroying the value of a slew of South…

Sunrise Commissioner Not Qualified to Give Lectures on Waste

It’s terrific that seemingly every level of government has been infected with vigilance toward waste, but you can have too much of a good thing. Prudence with trimming budgets can quickly turn to hysteria, especially when politics is involved. There’s a risk of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.Consider a scene from…

Still No Clarity for Senseless Death in Dania

Of all the violent episodes that have occurred in Broward County in the past few weeks, the one that most defied explanation was the Dania Beach murder of Matthew Lennon, of Miami, by his friend Joseph Blanco, who then committed suicide.Last we heard, the incident started when another friend had…

John Patrick Fravel’s Con Artistry

South Florida papers refer to John Patrick Fravel (pictured) as a “Coral Springs man,” while to upstate New York papers, he’s a “Salina man.” In fact, the real Fravel appears to be a modern version of the carpetbagger: According to police, he finds a mark, fleeces him, then leaves town…

Interview With a “Zoo” — Part 2

With a local legislator, Sen. Nan Rich, touting a bill that would make it a felony to have sex with an animal, I’ve recently interviewed a self-described “zoo” from the upper Midwest, “James.” Part one of that interview is here. I asked James whether zoophilia was the product of life…

Interview With a “Zoo” — Part 1

There is no organized opposition to the legislation being brought by Florida Sen. Nan Rich, or Sunrise, that would make it a third-degree felony to have “sexual contact” with an animal. As Rich put it a few weeks ago, “Who thinks it’s OK to have sex with animals?”Perhaps no group…

Murder Rate Jinx Strikes Again

You can’t help but cringe when you see a headline like the one that appeared in the Sun-Sentinel last week — “Broward County Homicide Rate Is Slowing.” That was last Monday, when through the year’s first quarter the county had seen only 17 murders, compared to an average of 21…

Pittsburgh Cop-Killer Was Recent West Palm Resident

The national media is piecing together the biography of Richard Andrew Poplawski, the Pittsburgh man who shot three cops dead Saturday. The incident, of course, started with an argument between Poplawski and his mother over a dog that pissed in the house. Today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has what looks like the…

Wasserman Schultz Tames Fox News

In her capacity as a leading Democratic surrogate, West Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had some tense moments while appearing on the allegedly “Fair and Balanced” news network. But two weeks after revealing that in the past year she had seven surgeries to defeat breast cancer, Fox News yesterday…

Expert Schmexpert! Hollywood Commissioners Will Design Future Downtown

Bernard Zyscovich is the Miami-based urban designer who has the unenviable task of crafting a modern, architecturally vibrant downtown Hollywood. Thanks to the Hollywood City Commission’s habit of preempting his plan by green-lighting huge condo projects, Zyscovich must hit a moving target.I talked with Zyscovich last month in connection with…

Florida’s 2010 Races Taking Shape; Meek Looking Strong

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Kendrick Meek, of Miami,continues to tear up the fund-raising circuit — an article in today’s Roll Call says Meek will report $1.5 million in campaign dollars in the year’s first quarter, which ended March 31. His primary competition for that nomination, Florida Sen. Dan Gelber…

Legislative Champion for Tattooists Perplexed by Desire for Tattoos

Florida Rep. Mary Brandenburg, the Democrat from Lake Worth, is what passes for a champion of tattooists. You see, in a Republican-dominated legislature, tattoos are like Satan’s graffiti on God’s aluminum siding. But, oh well. Tattooists have learned to be pragmatic in their political forays, and they are glad at…

Broward Hoops Legend Dismissed from Team

Alvin Mitchell, the Cardinal Gibbons High School star who rode national accolades to a scholarship at the University of Cincinnati, was dismissed from his team, Ohio papers are reporting. The Bearcats coach, Mick Cronin, has not said what led him to that decision — just that Mitchell had broken team…