Two-Sport Star Makes Career Choice: Netball!

Carla Borrego was a netball prodigy in Jamaica, but she left the sport and moved to Fort Lauderdale, where she tried to play a game similar to netball — except with a backboard. That is, basketball. At 6-foot-4, she dominated the opposition at Broward Community College, leading to a berth…

We Got Issues: New Times in Print

Drive slowly through this week’s New Times feature lest your propeller slice the mountainous flesh of the Manatees. Gus Garcia-Roberts gets close to the men whose jiggling performance art captivates Florida Marlins’ fans during the sixth-inning stretch.For those also inclined to forge a career from an expanding waistline, New Times…

Weis Man to Visit the Manger

Used to be, the young people would flock to Fort Lauderdale and clash with the old. It was called “spring break,” and the mighty beast was slew in the ’80s, according to the carbon dating of fossil remains. Now the old flock to Fort Lauderdale for the young. We know…

Sympathy for Beverly? Maybe in 2006; Not in 2007

Suspended Broward County School District member Beverly Gallagher was a deeply flawed but still sympathetic figure three years ago when she gave New Times’ Bob Norman the amazing interview that was the centerpiece for this article.Norman had busted her cold, finding that Gallagher had landed a job with the Community…

Morning Juice: Through Failure, Valuable Lessons in Managing Bad Publicity

It was Corruption Wednesday in Broward County. Thursday’s got a tough act to follow.Lacking celebrities in Broward, the paparazzi must chase corrupt politicians, leading to scenes like the one that occurred yesterday afternoon with the Family Gallagher. [Sun-Sentinel]The corruption charges should not be allowed to drown out a far lesser…

Did Salesman Violate Campaign Finance Laws Too?

I suppose it’s a deck chair on the Titanic, but check out this page of then-Miramar Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman’s campaign finance treasurer’s report from 2005. In the two boxes on the top, in the column that requires the name and address of the campaign contributor, Salesman wrote, “Fund Raiser” and…

In Miramar, Beware of Gazebos

One of the puzzling parts of the criminal complaint against former Miramar Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman is why Salesman, if he was truly bent on helping crooked contractors get city work, didn’t shoot for the moon. Why not reel in a contract for more than a million dollars? After all, Salesman…

Broward Corruption Probe: How Did It Start?

That was the $64,000 question at this afternoon’s press conference. Based on the affidavits filed in the criminal complaints, we know that the investigation — nicknamed Operation Flat Screen by agents — began in approximately April 2005. And it started with then-Miramar Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman, who has much to regret…

[UPDATED] Chickens Coming Home to Roost in Broward Corruption Probe?

Over on Pulp, Bob Norman’s reporting that Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion was arrested this morning and that former Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman may be next. UPDATED: Pulp confirmed the Salesman arrest. And now the FBI’s accusing Broward County School Board Member Beverly Gallagher, according to the Sun-Sentinel. More…

Nude and Elderly: Fine Lines Between Hero, Villain

After a nude, 91-year-old Lake Worth man stopped a thief Saturday morning, he was cheered. Maybe it wasn’t the ticker tape parade Robert E. Thompson recalls from when he returned from World War II, but his deed was celebrated in all the Florida papers, and the tale even reached New…

Blue Van Connected With Robbery, Shooting in Dania Beach

The blue van above is thought to have been used in the robbery of a Brink’s Security office in Dania Beach this afternoon. According to Broward Sheriff’s Office, a Brink’s employee sustained a gunshot wound in the robbery, which occurred at the Merrill Industrial Center. The thieves must have had…

Plaxico Burress Begins Two-Year Prison Term

Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress is the latest victim in the government’s campaign to lock up successful Floridians. Today the Lighthouse Point resident began serving a two-year prison sentence for shooting himself in the thigh at a New York City club. The incident occurred in November 2008,…

To Understand Health-Care Crisis, Watch Mad Men

It’s been one of the talking points in the battle for major health-care reform — for all our medical technology, Americans have a lower life expectancy than that of other developed countries. Like Europe, where people smoke like chimneys. Far more than Americans do. So what gives?Today’s New York Times…

Bodies Found in Small Plane Crash; Identities Still Unconfirmed

The bodies of all four passengers thought to be aboard the plane that crashed Sunday in the Everglades have been recovered, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office release.BSO still isn’t identifying the victims of the crash, though it’s evident that it’s a Fort Lauderdale money manager and his wife, son,…

Bespectacled Bank Robber Returns to Boca

Never has there been a bank robber so mild-mannered, so sloppy about revealing his face, and so strangely uncatchable. And he just struck again in Boca Raton, where the camera caught his face square. How is it that we’ve not caught this guy yet?…

Is West Palm Unfairly Maligned for Palm Beach County Violence?

Just posted to Youtube, that’s the first of a six-part History Channel Gangland episode that aired in July about Top 6, the gang-slash-record label thought to have a role in violent clashes in Lake Worth and Boynton Beach, where its conflict with gang rivals has been the bloodiest. It’s a…