-- U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ordering us to pay $600,000 to a pain pill-pushing doctor is a small outrage. If the prosecutors did wrong in this case with the secret recordings, sanction the U.S. Attorney's Office, not the taxpayers. Suspend the prosecutors and their supervisors, or, if it's warranted, fire them. Hell, prosecute them if you think it's the thing to do. But don't hit us with a huge bill to pay off Dr. Ali Shaygan's lawyers. You know Bill up there at Florida Masochist likes to give out a "Knucklehead of the Day" award. Gold just set himself up as the honorary Knucklehead of the Year.
-- It doesn't bother me so much that the Miami Herald didn't cite the fact that I had broken the Judge Ana Gardiner story when it wrote about it this morning. The paper was advancing the story of Gardiner's alleged improper contact with former prosecutor Howard Scheinberg with news (albeit old news) about an upcoming evidenciary hearing ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. What slightly irritated me is that the Herald mischaracterized how the story came to be.
"Last year, prosecutor and Sunrise City Commissioner Sheila Alu came forward saying she had heard Gardiner and Scheinberg joking about the murder trial while at dinner, while the trial was ongoing," reporter Diana Moskovitz writes. "The allegations arose during Loureiro's appeal, which has reached the Florida Supreme Court."
No it didn't. It arose in the pages of the New Times, not in a court case. So the Herald not only failed to cite a fellow publication but also incorrectly reported on the origins of the "allegations." It's one step forward and two steps back with these guys.
