Near midnight off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, a pulsing white beacon on the black water signals the captain of the supertanker Chevron Arizona that the ship’s 800-mile journey is fast approaching the most dangerous mile of all: the last one. The wind is blowing briskly from the south as…
Leave it to the City of Sunrise to violate all kinds of human rights when it was supposed to help celebrate freedom on the Fourth of July. Rights like the one to bear an umbrella. The freedom of photography. And the inalienable right to wear wheels on your feet, no…
The Invention of Dick (And Other Topics) I couldn’t pass this one up. A point made in the article on prostitution in Fort Lauderdale (“Importing Miami’s Vice,” Dan Lovely, June 25) is a joke. To wish one’s problem on someone else is not community activism, it’s called not-in-my-back-yardism. Pushing the…
Tycho Brahe, the astronomer, is buried here in Prague in a church. That’s not so unusual. What is rather strange is the persistent rumor that he had a silver nose, something to do with a duel. Did it tie on around his face with silk strings? Was it surgically attached?…
Shabber, a 31-year-old businessman, arrives at his Boca Raton bachelor digs after a long day’s work. He switches on the computer in his bedroom and then does something prosecutors insist is illegal. He brings up the home page of intercasino.com, which depicts the portico of an elegant Monte Carlo-style casino…
There are at least 155 gambling Websites on the Internet. Some offer casino games, others provide sports betting, still others have both. Among them: Planet Poker (planetpoker.com): At a poker table are players from all over the globe — Hong Kong, Katmandu, Kendall — and you can chat with them…
Gone are the days of dull commission meetings in the City of Hollywood. The days of short commission meetings have vanished, too. Since the ascension of New-Age populist John Coleman a month ago, the five-member commission in Broward’s second-largest city is split between commissioners Coleman and Sal Oliveri on the…
The City of Coconut Creek has battled the Seminole Tribe of Florida for months now, trying to gain some semblance of control over the tribe’s planned gambling house before it’s built in the fair and tidy little suburb. But if the politicians of Coconut Creek really fear poorly regulated gambling,…
In your book The Straight Dope, you were asked whether John Wayne had ever served in the military. You said no — that though Wayne as a youth had wanted to become a naval officer, “during World War II he was rejected for military service.” However, it may be more…
Dougherty’s Reviews: Better Than Xanax! Robin Dougherty needs to be replaced or educated in the art of reviewing. I realize every critic is entitled to her own subjective opinion, but when her reviews differ so drastically from every other critic in the southeast region, it gives one pause. Her reviews…
Depictions of the next monument to beach redevelopment are filed away in the city’s planning and zoning department, but the towering resort, which resembles a giant staircase, doesn’t actually exist yet. The city commission recently took it a step closer to reality when they approved it, by a four to…
While government agencies spend $4 million each year in a maddening effort to eradicate the melaleuca tree from South Florida, the great granddaddy of regional plant pests lives in forgotten splendor in a tiny park in Southwest Broward. There, near the corner of Davie and Griffin roads, Big Boy holds…
It has the feel of a tacky double feature bill at the drive-in. The Ooze That Came From the Wall paired with Too Many Women Behind Bars. The scene opens with a slimy substance slipping from cracks in the ceiling and creeping down the walls of the jail cell. Cut…
Whatever Floats Your Boat This in regard to the June 18 article (“With Election, Casino Boat Foes Cry, ‘Chips Away!'” Michael Freedman) dealing with casino cruises to nowhere foes in Hollywood. While Joe Schneider and Steve Welsch and their handful of North Hollywood Beach supporters are whining about the two…
What is the deal with the millennium? I understand that people think years ending in zeros are significant, so it follows that a year ending in three zeros is really significant. But for years I have heard people talking about the “arrival of the millennium,” meaning either that we’re going…
Soaring in a universe far removed from Miami is an elite constellation of media moguls. Ted Turner is a member. So are Michael Eisner, Rupert Murdoch, and a select few others. We all see their faces on the news, maybe catch a tuxedoed photo-shoot in Vanity Fair. Sometimes we skim…
The Devil of Davie does deli: In last week’s New Times cover story (“Her High Horse,” Dan Lovely), fearsome lobbyist Judy Stern was accused by new Davie Councilwoman Judy Paul of exerting powerful influence over Town Hall, in part by supplying luncheon sandwiches for a council goals-setting workshop (a ploy…
Along Federal Highway and stretches of Sunrise Boulevard near Holiday Park, Fort Lauderdale cops are noticing high-fashion hookers with business savvy and a faraway look — or at least an over-the-county-line look. “They dress like you wouldn’t believe,” explains community policing officer Mike DiMaggio: “Super-high-cut shorts and skirts, high heels,…
In cartoons bulls are always depicted with rings through their noses. Being a city kid whose idea of farm life mostly comes from watching Green Acres, I have never had the opportunity to inspect a bull up close. Do they really have nose rings? If so, why? I have a…
Reader Decides Not to Schwing His Hammer in a Group Setting After reading Sean Rowe’s article about swingers in the suburbs (“Swingers Redux,” June 11), I was struck by the fact that he was so objective. I do not believe most people, after seeing the scenes described in the article,…
On an ominous night in May, as thunder grumbled and growled outside, the Devil of Davie arrived wearing turquoise. Into the council chambers she strode, plopping down third row from the back, in front of the rodeo posters and between the portraits of the bucking bulls, one with the cowboy…
The “political ego of the week” award goes to Sandra B. Mortham, Florida’s Republican secretary of state, who finds unique ways of getting her name in the newspapers. Mortham, of course, was dumped as Jeb Bush’s running mate after various scandals, among them spending state-related money for expensive gifts, including…
