Everybody knows climate change is a threat – but is it a threat your house? And if so, exactly how much of a threat? Albert Slap had an idea: compiling data into a program so that individual South Florida homeowners could go online and search their property’s risk of sea-level…
A young black man was shot in the head during a traffic stop at 11 a.m. Saturday at Southwest Ninth Street and Avenue D in Belle Glade, a working class city in western Palm Beach County. . Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw spoke at scene this afternoon and stated that…
Edward Mercer, a bearded wildlife technician with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, cracked open a series of thick, black boxes, each made of plastic and filled with lumpy, dirty pillowcases. I stood in a crowd of 14 people who surrounded him in a semi-circle. Mercer grabbed one of the…
The thwack of a jai-alai pelota smacking the wall is back, but this time there’s plenty of ding-ding-ding from nearby slot machines, too. Officials from the Casino at Dania Beach unveiled their massive $64 million renovation of the casino and jai-alai facility Wednesday, with the softest of soft openings: They…
Stakeholders concerned about Florida’s coral reefs have quietly spent the last several years meeting under the umbrella working group known as Our Florida Reefs (OFR) . Now, there are 68 (68!!!) suggested regulations on the table that could affect what Floridians can and cannot do in, on, and under the ocean in…
For the last three years, executives for All Aboard Florida, now known as Brightline — the private railroad line that will connect Miami and Orlando — have been trying to secure funding, conducting studies, and holding meetings. Although the project remains controversial — it’s had trouble attracting investors, critics have…
Gary Kollin is an accomplished civil rights attorney from Fort Lauderdale who once argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was also, handcuffed shirtless and shoeless by a Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy in 2013, and on December 31 sued the department and Sheriff Scott Israel in federal court…
Yesterday, the National Rifle Association warned that a shady organization is trying to scam Florida gun owners. A mass e-mail alert was sent out via the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, its lobbying arm. Marion P. Hammer, a past president of the NRA and current president of the Unified Sportsmen…
It’s been three years since CNN anchor Anderson Cooper called ex-Florida Atlantic University professor James Tracy’s theories about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School “beyond crazy.” But Tracy has not forgotten, and said on his blog this week that he’d make a better news anchor than Cooper. He…
Last week, we here at New Times helped get bandwagon Florida Panthers fans up to speed on the team’s affairs so that they could properly root on the hottest team in sports. This week, you’re on your own. While it’s nice to welcome aboard new Panthers fans, it’s also equally as…
As a standoff continues in Oregon between armed protesters and federal authorities, right-wing sympathizers around the country continue to watch how the situation plays out. Yesterday, protesters tore down a $100,000 fence to let their cows graze on federal land, but said they would reveal an exit strategy this Friday. …
Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr is sponsoring an ordinance that will ban fracking in Broward County. The county’s water utilities “rely entirely upon groundwater sources, including the Biscayne and Floridan Aquifers, for potable water supplies,” a proposed draft of the ordinance reads. Additionally, “there have been more than one thousand…
Feral cats are everywhere — but no one can seem to agree on what to do about them. Left free on the streets, they spread disease, kill birds and small animals, and reproduce like crazy. Put in shelters, they become a burden to taxpayers. Only a fraction are adopted, and…
Some anthropologists might compare sororities to cults. They involve strange chants, private ceremonies, induction rituals, weird insignia, and hand motions. Members obsess over a doctrine— sororities call theirs “standards” —and create a false sense of family by calling members “sisters” and assigning a “big sister” to each new recruit. To…
Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh made more field goals than any other kicker in the National Football League this year. He will not be remembered for this. Instead, Walsh will now live in Bill Buckner-esque infamy as the guy who, with one swing of his foot, blew the entire Vikings…
Theresa Caputo, also known as “the Long Island Medium” on her TV show of the same name, might be moving to Fort Lauderdale, as she revealed on an episode last night. With her children in college but her husband Larry in tow, Theresa Caputo — a gregarious, platinum blonde with…
On Thursday, a shrill screech, like a buzz saw cutting into metal, screamed through the Gulfstream Park parking lot every few minutes. Gulfstream’s patrons seemed to have difficulty tracing the source of the noise. They squinted until some noticed that the massive, 110-foot-tall sculpture in front of them — which…
For years, Jane Velez Mitchell was a cable news mainstay, having hosted her own show on HLN. After more than three decades in the business, she followed her heart and today runs a blog, JaneUnchained.com, which focuses on animal rights issues. Today she’ll be flying in from Los Angeles to protest…
Manatees need you. Federal authorities from the Fish & Wildlife Service say that with an estimated 6,300 West Indian manatees in Florida, and 13,000 worldwide, the critters are well-off enough to be removed from the endangered species list and considered “threatened” instead. They had been listed as endangered since…
Maxime Cherilus, a bulky, soft-spoken 22-year-old, had only $1.13 in his bank account. It was October 2012 and his $500 rent payment was due. Two years earlier, Cherilus had to drop out of college because he needed money. He was now balancing two jobs as a cashier at a smoke…
No person exemplifies Broward County’s raging clash of cultures better than the county’s top public defender, Howard Finkelstein. He is, at once, an unabashed proponent for human rights; a diminutive loudmouth; a champion for the poor and mentally ill; a tanned, ponytailed, ex-party monster; a grateful man of God; a…
The end for South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz could come this August, in a Democratic congressional primary, at the hands of a 62-year-old mail carrier who once landed a tiny helicopter on the U.S. Capitol building’s lawn. The mail carrier, 62-year-old Douglas Hughes, who lives just outside Tampa, announced…
