Before Pansy Clayton, 60, emigrated from Jamaica years ago, she spent some time caring for her sick mother. “I realized I had a passion for it,” she tells New Times. “When I came to this country, my first job was to take care of children. After that, I said, ‘Let me…
Throughout the Broward courthouse, attorneys and defendants say that circuit court judge Matthew Destry is too harsh and random, as reported in a recent New Times investigation. This frustration motivated Fort Lauderdale attorney Brian Greenwald to challenge the incumbent Judge Destry, who was appointed to the bench in 2008. Greenwald…
It’s NHL Playoff time! (Imagine a red goal light wildly rotating to the sounds of sirens blaring.) A few months back, as the Florida Panthers were improbably becoming a white-hot team after years of lukewarm performances, we provided an explainer about the team’s customs for bandwagon fans, So, no excuses — you…
In 1989, Milton Bradley created Trump: the Game. This copy is a vintage version; a later one was released after Trump started appearing on The Apprentice. Everything about a Trump presidential candidacy could have been predicted from this game: The thirst for power: The game was designed to be somewhat similar…
For some of us, one fancy car is indistinguishable from the next. They all blend together in a giant blob of things-we-can’t-afford. Whether it costs $300,000 or $1 million, a sports car is just another item on this growing list — right after student loan debt and a new water…
Tax issues aren’t exactly “sexy,” but bear with us here, because Boca Raton voted to give an anonymous company called “Project P2P” $6 million in taxpayer money last night. According to county documents, the company is looking to expand massively, and create more than 800 new jobs. But thanks to…
Last December, when Deerfield Beach tried to crack down on “puppy mills” — massive, commercial dog-breeding facilities that churn out animals with no regard for their welfare — a rash of people complained. The ordinance banned pet stores from selling any “commercially bred” dogs or cats, and Petland, a national chain…
Todd Glaser steps onto the Sea Tabby, a wood-trimmed 1938 Mathis Trumpy yacht docked off Allison Island, a spit of land in Biscayne Bay just north of the Fontainebleau hotel. As he sits at a table toward the back, he calls out for a Johnnie Walker. An older, fully uniformed…
Waffling, flip-flopping, failing to deliver… These are common problems among politicians. So, once a year, churchgoers from about 20 Broward congregations come together to put those leaders on the spot. Typically they choose one issue of importance, devise a solution, and then ask the leaders publicly: Are you going to…
After raising a flabbergasting amount of money — more than a half million dollars — in his first three months of campaigning, Tim Canova can now call himself the first bona-fide primary challenger in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s career. To prove that point, Canova, who is challenging the Democrat for her seat…
Cities, like children, are sometimes named after important individuals (or old-timey developers); other times, they’re just given names that sound pleasant (better for marketing!). After a while, names are accepted but no longer questioned, so it’s totally possible to live your entire life with no idea how your hometown got…
Fighting for political rights in Florida is a Sisyphean task, sort of like trying to dam the Atlantic Ocean. It takes a certain kind of spunk to try and stand up to politicians in South Florida — a land founded on the idea that condominiums have more inherent value than…
On Tuesday, Cara Jennings called Florida governor Rick Scott an “asshole” to his face in a Gainesville Starbucks. His immediate reaction was to calmly walk away, as he should have. And that should have been the end of things. But it wasn’t. Rather than letting the criticism wash off his back,…
Poker players and former pro athletes will play in a tournament benefiting the Jason Taylor Foundation Wednesday, April 13, and you can join them. The event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is part of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown series. Half of each $300 buy-in will…
Jesse Bailey is a real estate analyst for a Palm Beach apartment company, who also sits on the West Palm Beach Downtown Neighborhood Association and city’s Watershed Advisory Board. Since 2012, Bailey has also run the popular Walkable WPB blog, a site that discusses ways to improve transportation in Palm…
An ad for a gay hookup site has been deemed too risqué — even for some of the gayest cities in America. Ads for Squirt — a company that advertises “hot n horny hookups” — went up on waste bins and phone kiosks around Wilton Manors on March 2. But…
A few years ago, a teenager approached Mari Frankel, a local documentarian, saying she’d been abused at Pembroke Pines’ Center for Adolescent Treatment Services, which houses boys and girls aged 14-18 who have emotional, behavioral, or mental health issues. The girl, Frankel said, claimed she’d been drugged there. But Frankel…
It’s long been suspected that laundered money, shady deals, bejeweled Russian oligarchs, and various ne’er-do-wells have been propping up South Florida’s real estate market since the 2008 financial crash. The South Florida coastline — from South Beach all the way up to the Treasure Coast — has undergone such a…
Last month, animal lover Steve Rosen offered a reward of $20,000, for his seven missing cats. Although one of his the felines, named Bandit, has since returned unharmed, six remain at large — and to find them, Rosen has raised the reward to a whopping $30,000. He hopes the increase…
On Monday, New Times reported that the family of Michael Saphir, a mentally disabled alumnus of Cypress Bay High School, is suing the Broward County Public School District, claiming a district employee “masturbated” their son and continually sexually harassed him. That suit accused the district of hiding the Saphirs’ claims from…
In a Gainesville Starbucks yesterday, former Lake Worth commissioner, activist, and all around straight talker Cara Jennings took on Governor Rick Scott. “You are an asshole Rick Scott,” she said as Scott bared an uncomfortable smile. . “Rich people like you don’t know what to do when poor people like…
Marc Hennes is literally taking South Florida home buying to new heights. For the last year, the Fort Lauderdale-based realtor has been offering complimentary house hunting by helicopter. Hennes, who also holds a commercial helicopter license, tours property sites on foot like more traditional realtors, but says his more affluent…
