Last week, activists around the country celebrated the news that the Department of Justice would stop contracting with private prison companies. Not to rain on that entirely well-deserved parade, but this doesn’t mean private prisons are going away altogether. The ruling won’t affect the four private prisons here in Broward…
After hearing about $43 million, 75-foot parking garage proposed for a spot in front of her building, C. Ann Lanese attended the Fort Lauderdale city commission meeting last Tuesday night in opposition. But there were many items on the agenda, and residents commented on each one. The meeting lasted seven hours…
At 6:30 p.m. on a recent Monday, six folks from across the tri-county area met at a Delray Beach condominium to talk about death. It is believed to be the first gathering of its type in South Florida, and hosted by Suzy Anand Garfinkle, a kind Jewish mother of three…
Gerry Wengert doesn’t have the best track record. In 2010, the Broward Sheriff’s deputy allegedly fractured a man’s face after he pulled him over for playing his radio too loudly. In 2012, he was arrested after he was accused of punched a teenager who had annoyed his girlfriend by grabbing a parking…
Earlier this summer, chief assistant public defender Gordon Weekes commented that dealing with the Broward Juvenile Detention Center was “like Whack-a-Mole: you get them to address one problem, and four other problems come up.” The latest problem to pop up is particularly disturbing: a 17-year-old boy says that he was…
We’ve stepped into a brave new world in which cars drive themselves, Pokemon is real, and you can order everything from a Pub Sub to a helicopter on your phone. As we venture further into the future, human progress – and our kids’ ability to move out of the house…
Dear Stoner: I just got some pot brownies, and I’m not planning to ingest them for two weeks. Do you think the potency will still be the same, and if they’ll be okay to eat? Can I heat them up if they go hard?Tasnim Dear Tasnim: We’ve talked to multiple…
The next time your parents offer you sex advice, you just might want to take it, because according to a recent study by Florida Atlantic University, they are probably having a lot more sex than you are. Today’s perceived “hookup culture” is embodied by a wide array of dating apps…
On a recent Thursday at 10:30 a.m., one mother holds a plank position as her pig-tailed toddler breastfeeds from the yoga mat beneath her. Five other mothers (some pregnant) exercise beside her. Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Baby, Ice” blasts from the speakers. Five toddlers scurry around the gym, chasing each other…
Not every child who walks into Maria Sanabria’s first-grade classroom at Orange Brook Elementary in Hollywood can read well. The kids are mostly from poor families, and roughly half of Orange Brook’s students don’t pass state standardized tests. Even at age 6, many have fallen behind. So Sanabria was excited…
For decades animal rights activists have claimed that Lolita, the orca at the Miami Seaquarium, is living in substandard conditions at the marine mammal park. They contend her tank is legally too small for an animal of her size due to a concrete work island at the center that limits…
Florida’s Congressional districts were redrawn last year after the Florida Supreme Court sided with plaintiffs who claimed that districts were gerrymandered to favor Republicans and incumbents. But as early voting starts today for the August 30 primary, one Broward woman wants to expose the struggle to find a District 23…
“They’re already labeling me ‘Mr. Education,’” Pitbull, aka Mr. Worldwide, told NPR when his first charter school opened in Little Havana in 2013. It was a bit of a stretch—the Miami Herald made that joke in one article, and it hasn’t exactly caught on. But the rapper, born Armando Perez,…
“Great news!” Rica Danastor told New Times yesterday “I can’t wait to call everyone and tell them. We’re so happy.” Though Danastor’s brother, Maxime Cherilus, was sentenced to 10 years in prison—more than six times the prosecution’s recommendation for selling 1 gram of crack cocaine for $50, that ruling was reversed by…
On October 11, 1987 42-0 the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first ever game played at Joe Robbie Stadium, since that day the team has had; eleven different head coaches, a 237-233 win-loss record, just six playoff victories, and zero Super Bowl appearances. Compared to the…
Theova Milfort has one request for Barack Obama during his last 153 days in office: visit Haiti. “Haiti is the first independent black country in the world, and the first country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery,” he explains. “Mr. Barack Obama is the beneficiary of that.” The 48-year-old…
The last time most of America thought of jai-alai was during the opening credits of Miami Vice, in which a player slings a ball toward a large green wall. Like the colors and vibe from the 1980s show, jai-alai has dwindled to near-extinction, as detailed in a documentary released earlier this…
Riverland Road is known for its quiet streets and veil of tree canopy. When one owner wanted to dissect his 5.19-acre property into 13 parcels of land to make way for a new road, sidewalk, and 13 new homes, the residents of Riverland worried about the fate of the more…
Tiniko Thompson, who is facing life in prison for fatally shooting her boyfriend, Miami police officer Carl Patrick, has been getting a lot of attention lately. It represents everything that’s wrong with how our criminal justice system treats the victims of domestic violence, particularly women of color. But the local…
A few weeks ago, Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Peter Peraza was cleared of manslaughter charges in the shooting of Jermaine McBean. That much wasn’t surprising. As we’ve seen in the cases of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and many others, it happens all the time. But what was surprising…
Last night, city commissioners agreed to allow a new four-story parking garage on the Intracoastal lot north of the Las Olas Bridge. They also agreed to conversion of the beach parking lot at A1A and Las Olas to an entertainment venue with a drop-off/pick-up lane. But residents fear the $43…
Last week, DJ Khaled went on Snapchat wearing a Free Kodak Black t-shirt. Either he has god-like powers, or Atlantic Records has some really good lawyers, because yesterday, Kodak Black was released from jail. The 19-year-old Pompano Beach rapper, whose real name is Dieuson Octave, pleaded no contest to a…
