A month ago this blog reported that Fort Lauderdale Police officers who worked security for City Link’s Beerfest had their checks bounce — a consequence related to Sun-Sentinel parent Tribune Company’s bankruptcy proceedings.Now Lt. Mitch Vansant, who retired from the force Jan. 31, tells Juice that, “My personnel received their…
Not exactly vindication, but ole Fitzroy S. can give this a positive spin in advance of the March 10 election. The suspended Miramar commissioner is facing a felony charge of aggravated assault with a firearm after he whipped out a pistol in a Winn Dixie checkout line.This week a juror…
Head out to the sidewalk of Hollywood’s portion of Federal Highway in the wee hours of the morning, whip out $500, and ask one of the suggestively dressed young ladies what that gives you.You’re liable to get a response very similar to the one that Hallandale Beach Democrat Rep. Joe…
I caught bit of flak earlier in this local election cycle for focusing more on the background of Fort Lauderdale candidates than on the “issues.” But really! The candidates’ backgrounds are important factors in their fitness to govern, and they also happen to be the most clear-cut differences. That is,…
The Deerfield Beach Dispatch is a thinly veiled propaganda rag allegedly “published as a public service,” assuming that what’s good for ex-mayor Al Capellini is good for the public. It is not to be confused with another thinly veiled propaganda rag called the Deerfield Beach Observer, which last week presided…
Deerfield Beach’s ex-mayor, aspiring future mayor, and apparent master of suspense, Al Capellini, says he is marrying some woman. Who? That’s for him to know and us to find out. Let’s cobble together the clues, shall we?For starters, we can rule out the swimming instructor that Capellini was courting in…
You know what really pisses off Mardy Fish, winner of yesterday’s Delray Beach Championship final? When his opponent takes a 20-minute break before Fish’s serve. He believes this is “bush league” and “bullshit” and if anyone tries it, Fish will “beat his fucking ass.” Or so he said in a…
There are so, so many small churches that crave publicity, “And a little child shall lead them,” sayeth Isaiah (11:1-10). Fort Lauderdale’s 11-year-old wunderkind preacher, Terry Durham, who fishes for souls using an invisible pole and a hook baited with the blood of Jesus, has had several articles in the…
South Florida is getting a nice juicy cut of Washington’s favorite dish — pork! Specifically, $183 million in funding for Everglades restoration. It’s part of a $410 billion spending bill that will also loosen travel restrictions to Cuba and pay for expansion of the Museum of Discovery and Science in…
This is the Audi R8 V10, a car so cool it doesn’t actually exist. It’s a “spec-car.” And if you like it, too bad. It already sold for a half-mill at an auction in Boca Raton. A portion of the proceeds go to the Boys and Girls Club of Broward…
A state bill that aims to make the tattoo industry safer is certain to have the opposite effect, according to the local tattoo artists organizing quickly to oppose it. Senate Bill 1130, sponsored by Florida Sen. Eleanor Sobel, the Hallandale Beach Democrat, would make it tougher for tattoo artists to…
The U.S. Army has a recruitment problem. With Norris, Schwarzenegger and Stallone too old to slaughter faceless, incompetent soldiers, the commando’s life has lost some of its luster. The thousands of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan haven’t helped, either.So the pressure was on this week at…
Office supplies giant Office Depot, based in Boca Raton, is the latest major American corporation to get itself in trouble with federal regulators. The company, which claims $14.8 billion in annual sales, is being investigated for improper contact with business analysts. Specifically, representatives of the company allegedly phoned analysts, seeking…
Embattled Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter staged a not-for-media-consumption town hall-style meeting Wednesday at a Tamarac condo community, seeking to sway constituents toward believing her explanation of the Mutual Benefits scandal. Not the version in newspapers and blogs. And it actually seemed to work.As Bob Norman first reported in January…
UPDATED WITH VIDEO LINKA mayor hit with felony corruption charges; a commissioner booked for the same; a city manager suspended after ordering deputies to remove a commissioner during a public meeting. When it comes to dirty tricks and political theater, Deerfield Beach residents have seen it all. But even the…
Curmudgeons like Bob Norman may not want to admit it, but the Sun-Sentinel’s association with the Chicago-based Tribune Co. does have its perks. For instance, when some unknown driver kills a couple of British tourists with a tricked-out Porsche owned by a wealthy playboy with a history of driving luxury…
That’s the campaign flier (click to enlarge) that Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini’s operatives circulated in Century Village, the retirement community with some 30,000 condos that collectively may decide the city’s mayoral campaign. As you can see, the oxymoron “Mayor Capellini” appears in almost every single line. Capellini is not…
Oh, it is a great day to be a Florida wonk! State Sen. Dan Gelber, vying to become U.S. Sen. Dan Gelber in 2010, has announced via blog that he’ll be giving updates on the coming legislative session via Twitter, right here.Most of you know that transparency and an open…
At least the latest public-relations nightmare doesn’t involve another prison riot. The GEO Group of Boca Raton is now catching flak in the Pacific Northwest, where it began expanding a Tacoma, Wash., prison, allegedly without bothering to tell the state. A seemingly benign oversight, except for the fact that the…
width=330; height=280; wral_insert_video_player_4390406(width,height); Christopher Mignocchi, a 22-year-old U.S. Army sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., is among seven soldiers charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death last July of Pfc. Luke Brown, according to a North Carolina newspaper.Investigators say that Mignocchi and the other soldiers were trying to get Brown…
Maybe trusting somebody based on ethnic and religious associations ain’t such a swell idea. I’m not even talking about what Madoff did to his friends in the South Florida Jewish community. The South Florida Catholic community has a fraudster of its own — the Rev. Francis Guinan, who this afternoon…
Here’s part one from Friday’s ABC News series on Bernard Madoff, the Palm Beach playboy-turned-Hiroshima of the financial world. It opens with a rather creepy sniper’s view of Madoff working on a computer and fluffing his pillow in his Manhattan penthouse. (Not to defend Bernie, but so what if he’s…
