Lisa “Noodles” Hayden-Gorden’s light-blue 2003 Hyundai Elantra was covered in muddy water, the ink-black detritus caked the windshield and windows, hiding her lifeless body inside. A tow truck dragged the Hyundai up a launch that led straight into the murky water, off the boating slip in Cooley’s Landing, the marina located…
At midnight on April 23, 2011, Colin Johnson, a prisoner at the Fulham Correctional Centre in Sale, Australia, was found in his cell, naked and bent over on his knees, surrounded by blood and vomit. A closer look found his head had been bashed in and the right side of…
In the 1950s, the only way for Beatrice Miller to get home from her after-school job picking peppers at her father’s farm was to cut through the cemetery — when it was getting dark. For the teenage girl, few things were more frightening. “I ran so fast my feet never…
It’s been two seasons since the Dolphins became the NFL’s most vilified franchise thanks to a locker-room scandal involving team bullying. But now a former team trainer has filed a lawsuit against the franchise. Kevin O’Neill is now claiming that he was served up as a sacrificial lamb in order to…
Early in the morning of August 4, 2013, Steven Sotloff walked across the border from southern Turkey into Syria. He passed through three security checkpoints, then a no man’s land between the two countries, on a road surrounded by olive groves, yellow flowers, and leftover mines. Sotloff, a stocky, bearded…
In the wake of the public exposure of a racist video and racist text messages between four ex-Fort Lauderdale cops, the Fort Lauderdale/Broward NAACP, backed by Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, announced Friday that it is digging deep to root out racism in the police force. “With information we’ve received and…
Jason Swanson was found in the middle of the street on 56th avenue, his body was on fire. Pieces of a vehicle were strewn across the road not far from where Swanson lay. The Hollywood Police officers responding to the scene tried to extinguish the flames from Swanson’s body, and…
A controversial bill that would have made kratom a Schedule I controlled substance, classifying it as a drug that has a high potential for abuse and no medical benefit, has been amended. The amendment includes having the state’s attorney general, as well as the Department of Children and Families, and the…
Tax Day is a mere two weeks away, and there’s a good chance you haven’t done them yet. Sure, Florida remains one of the tax friendliest states, actually doing taxes remains a tedious pain in the neck. Fact is, you’d probably rather spend a few extra bucks to have an…
The statewide push to get a solar power proposal on the 2016 ballot recently hit a milestone. Backers of the proposal announced last week that they’d secured enough initial signatures to send the proposal to the Florida Supreme Court. It’s an important first step for backers of the proposal, which…
The Lake Worth-based Human Rights Defense Center is urging the federal government to adopt rules that would regulate the practice of issuing debit cards instead of cash or check to prisoners just getting out of captivity. Third-party companies that issue the cards charge exorbitant fees, HRDC says, which heavily impacts…
With more than 1,800 miles of coastline in Florida, debris washes onshore up daily — everything from plastic bottles to discarded diapers. But Rudy Socha, who says he’s a veteran of the US Marine Corps, is worried about treated wood from piers and docks. The Ohio-bred, South Carolina-inhabiting Socha has…
(Note: on reports, investigators have alternately spelled his name Ahziya and Ahizya) Someone, or something, struck Ahziya Osceola in the abdomen so hard,the injuries eventually killed him. According to the Broward Medical Examiner’s findings, detailed in Analiz and Nelson Osceola’s arrest warrants, their three-year-old son died from “blunt impact abdominal…
Ex-Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Alex Alvarez, the racist cop sitting center-stage in the scandal that’s engulfed the department, once broke a suspect’s arm while taking him into custody. Despite the incident, an Internal Affairs review of the use of force found there was “no apparent violation” of department policy, according…
The state has decided not to press criminal charges on three Pembroke Pines minors who posted nude photos of other minors onto an Instagram account. Instead, the three, a 13-year-old girl, and two 12-year-old boys, will do community service and go to therapy. The three were arrested and charged…
Florida is already home to dozens of invasive species that have been damaging our environment. But things are about to get really insane now because the two most destructive termite species on the planet have decided to join forces and make baby super termites — in Florida. According to University…
On Thursday night in Deerfield Beach, residents of the city gathered to hear the case of Rob Kassab, a Boca Raton businessman who wants to build townhouses on land that was once home to a black cemetery. The topic is an emotional one for people here and several expressed their…
Both the biological mother and father of Ahziya Osceola (note: on reports, investigators have alternately spelled his name Ahziya and Ahizya) have extensive criminal records, according to a review of court filings and police reports. Those charges range all over the spectrum, from possession of cocaine and organized fraud to criminal…
In the legal world, it’s forbidden for a judge to discuss a case with one of the parties in the case without the other party’s knowledge. Doing so is called ex parte communication, and because it could unfairly favor one party over the other, judges who have been found to…
“No child should ever endure what little Ahizya had to endure during his life,” Hollywood Police Chief Frank Fernandez told a gaggle of reporters as he announced the arrest of the father and stepmother in connection to the death of three-year-old Ahizya Osceola Wednesday afternoon. Police say when Ahizya’s body…
Big Time in Hollywood, FL, Comedy Central’s latest sitcom, is neither big time, nor Hollywood, FL. The show, which premiered its first episode Wednesday night, is funny, if you’re into dick jokes, ultra-violent gags, and slacker humor. It’s a sort of mix between It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Workaholics. What it…
It has been less than a week since the Fort Lauderdale Police Department pulled back the curtain on a racism scandal among its own ranks. Last Friday four officers — James Wells, Christopher Sousa, Jason Holding, and Alex Alvarez — lost their jobs with the department after racist texts and…
