Let’s pop a thermometer into the Florida health care industry, shall we? For starters, here’s a recent study that finds that nearly half of the Floridians surveyed admitted to at least one recession-related health care cutback. The most common: putting off a health care visit, skipping medical treatment, and not…
In federal court testimony, Stephen C. Marcus, a direct-mail magnate from Philadelphia who kept a summer home in Boca Raton, has emerged as something of a sugar daddy to Vincent Fumo, the powerful Pennsylvania state senator currently being tried for corruption charges.According to today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, the two met on…
A leaked memo suggests that local attorney Romney Rogers is relying upon an omniscient, omnipotent Celestial Force to carry him to victory in the Fort Lauderdale City Commission race. Posted on the blog of former Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Tim Smith, the “campaign prayer” appears to be written by Barbara Moody…
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist faced off with David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press a few minutes ago. Crist started by stressing the importance of bipartisan support for President Obama’s stimulus package, then ended by… well… essentially withdrawing his own support for the package.Host Gregory began the interview by asking…
Rabbi Michael Resnick of Palm Beach’s biggest synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, told a national TV news magazine that Bernard Madoff’s fraud case has been a catalyst for wealthy anti-Semites in South Florida’s most exclusive Zip Code. Resnick’s interview looks to be the centerpiece in tonight’s edition of 20/20 (10 p.m. ET…
This Stanford Group case keeps getting uglier. Stanford employees gave over $31, 000 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and over $28,000 to Republican candidate Sen. John McCain.The only good news: FBI agents found alleged $8 billion fraudster Allen Stanford in Virginia yesterday and he turned in his U.S. passport.This morning,…
Democrats desperate to put some dents in Gov. Charlie Crist’s high approval ratings are chastising him for keeping a butler and a personal chef on the state payroll at a time when cops and teachers are being laid off. In a statement released today, Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman…
Buddy Nevins spots a flock of vultures circling the reelection campaign of Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Christine Teel.In the Feb. 10 muni elections, Teel scored more votes than her closest challenger, former Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Bruce Roberts. But the other challenger, Attorney Inger Garcia, has given her unequivocal endorsement to…
Maybe the worst days of this region’s housing crisis are finally behind us.A day after President Barack Obama outlined a plan to help as many as 9 million families avoid foreclosures comes news that the number of foreclosure filings in South Florida fell 12 percent in January…
Never, ever, ever turn your back on a duck. Sure, they look cute and harmless, but then so do Swiss bankers. WPLG tells the story of a sweet old lady in Wilton Manors who crossed the path of some pissed-off poultry.Carmela Dee, who is in her 80s, said she was…
By now, everybody knows about the $8 million Revenge of the Smoker’s Widow. But Philip Morris wasn’t the only international heavyweight to have a costly day at the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. Today’s New York Times leads with a story about the $780 million settlement struck between Swiss…
That’s the handsome reward for the widow of a Cooper City man killed by lung cancer. …
When Erin Barylski was about five years old, she discovered a rare talent. She could do the splits, then hop from that position, entirely on the strength of her inner thighs. She’d then land right on the, uh, bottom of her torso — before her thighs sent her upward again…
Behold, the future of robotic beverage delivery — Coca-Cola machines that may be able to serve up to 120 different drinks. The technology is being showcased this week at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference in Boca Raton. The machines would replace those 6-8 valve machines that mix…
The big punchline in Washington D.C. these days is “bipartisanship.” Barack Obama wants to be friends with Republicans but they don’t want to be friends with him. Of course, it’s all politics. The Republicans have nothing to gain from jumping on the Obama bandwagon and everything to gain if that…
One of the great joys of my otherwise joyless life is to stride through the front door of a certain local franchise of an Atlanta-based Mexican fast food restaurant chain and be showered with warm greetings: “Welcome to Moe’s!” they ring out in near-unison.And it’s not because I’m special. The…
The economy is so bad…Juice readers: How bad is it?So bad that even a filthy stinkin’ rich Republican fundraiser like Harry Sargeant III of Delray Beach can’t get a loan. The tight credit market is to blame, apparently, for the demise of Tampa Port Authority’s agreement to lease 43 acres…
Miami’s Doral Golf Resort & Spa certainly hopes so. There’s been speculation that Tiger Woods would return from his knee surgery at the course’s WGC-CA Championship March 12-15 — almost a month before the Masters is to begin. But at this weekend’s Allianz Championships in Boca Raton, golf buddy Mark…
A bit of controversy at a boxing match this past weekend at the BankAtlantic Center, which hosted a WBC Championship bout between two super welterweights — Sergio Martinez, the interim champ, and Kermit Citron, a former IBF champ who used to train in West Palm.HBO showed the fight, which was…
You’ve got college coaches like Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden whose longevity is equal parts genius and ego — they stay as coach in part because they can’t bear to give control to someone else. Then you have coaches like Rollie Massimino, who won a national championship at Villanova in…
Meet The Hurricanes. The pint-sized rockers from Palm Beach, ages 11 and 12, have the most lopsided industry advantage of any band since The Strokes. To wit: They practice next door to the Mar-a-Lago, a former Trump property. The drummer’s daddy owns a 10,000 foot, $6.5 million house on the…
We must, because according to a Miami Herald headline, the inmates are tightening them. Just ask D’Angelo from The Wire whether belts should be allowed in prison. Well…I guess we can’t ask him now, can we? Then again, maybe the Herald’s just being metaphorical. Florida is coping with the effects…
