It all depends on what your definition of free is. A decade ago, just as CityPlace was planning its grand opening in downtown West Palm Beach, lawyers and developers were debating just how much democracy, in the form of public speech, the new live/work/shop development could tolerate. “Profit Relegates Free…
A city commissioner has a buddy who wants a meeting about getting a city contract: Is there a city manager who hasn’t been there, as Miramar’s Robert Payton was?There’s no evidence that Payton knew the agent posing as a contractor had bribed Salesman. But the most frustrating aspect of this…
A 36-year-old man from Boynton Beach was charged today with forcing a 14-year-old girl to have sex.The incest allegations against the man, Martin Baugh, suggest that he was related to the victim, though the probable cause affidavit redacts that information to protect the victim’s identity.The affidavit says that Baugh confessed…
In their investigation of the fatal shooting of Robert Rashard Tomlin last year, Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives made a clear distinction from the start. Yes, this was a homicide. Tomlin, 22, was shot by Heath Miller, a former band teacher at H.L. Watkins Middle School.But because Tomlin died after…
A bus that belonged to X-Centric Club in Deerfield Beach was robbed on January 2 — and Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives are still looking for the thief, who made off with $20,000 in cash and three handguns.The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m., while the bus was parked at the Wal-Mart…
When Antonio Balta saw his 9-month-old daughter, Veronika, her eyes were rolled back in her head. Her body was limp. When he lifted her up, a thick, milky substance seeped from the baby’s mouth.Balta had been inside Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, waiting for his girlfriend to get off work…
Lately, somebody has been posting comments about Broward County Judge John “Jay” Hurley on this blog and others, whether the items have anything to do with the judge or not. They claim what a great guy he is. They claim he volunteers at a soup kitchen. They boast about his…
Back in May 1991, witnesses saw a Pennsylvania tourist, 32-year-old Lorraine Barrett, talking with a man at the Elbo Room on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Another witness saw Barrett and the man board an elevator at the Days Inn on Seabreeze Boulevard. Barrett was strangled to death, and there was evidence…
When is a city not a city? When it’s a shopping center disguised as something “reminiscent of an Italian town center.” Note that word reminiscent. As West Palm artist Bruce Kevin Bates found out, you may be able to set up your easel at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli or…
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was another far-flung politician to ride the Scott Rothstein gravy train, to the tune of at least $4,200. This morning, Specter’s reelection campaign is reporting that it plans to make a donation of that amount to a charity. How fitting; Rothstein loved charities!But this is no…
Keith Sloane is the man whom Fort Lauderdale Police arrested yesterday as a suspect in the broad-daylight murder of Oscar Battle. According to a news release by the FLPD, the 21-year-old Sloane got into a verbal argument with Battle, 20, on Wednesday afternoon on the sidewalk of NW 15th Terrace…
Scary reports from both Broward and Palm Beach counties today involving kids with access to firearms. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies just arrested three suspects — including two 13-year-olds — in the disappearance of five guns in Lauderdale Lakes. Meanwhile, in Boca Raton, police have arrested a 16-year-old for firing an…
At around 8:15 on a Saturday night late last month, Detective Alex Marino Moreno of the Boynton Beach Police Department responded to a call. Two men were lying dead on SW 2nd Ave., both of gunshot wounds. One of the victims was 23-year-old Stephen Ocean. The other, 25-year-old Tite Sufra…
Broward Sheriff’s Office made a major arrest Friday, nabbing accused sex offender Robert Speights, who was recently featured on America’s Most Wanted as a prolific sex offender and fugitive. Deputies arrested Speights early Friday morning in an apartment at 707 NW 9th Street in Dania Beach. According to the BSO…
Less than two years before band teacher Heath Miller was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting four students at H.L. Watkins Middle School in Palm Beach Gardens, his best friend and fellow band supporter was arrested for allegedly molesting a teenage girl.Franklin King, 42, was president of the band booster committee…
Even the irony of it has become a cliche: Reality television is the best place to deceive the world. Ross Mandell’s looking to convince the public that he’s not the boiler-room-based white collar crook he appears to be in the U.S. government’s criminal complaint; rather, that he’s a honest, funny,…
A couple of days ago we asked Vice Mayor George Brummer about the City of Pompano Beach’s official opposition to the controversial Amendment 4. The “Hometown Democracy” movement is sweeping across Florida, revving up its engines for a vote this November 2010 that would put growth back in the hands…
Lt. Mike Wallace, who heads the Violent Crimes Task Force for Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, is a “big picture” kind of guy. When it comes to fighting gang activity in Palm Beach County, Wallace looks at not just crime statistics and not just kids as young as fourth grade…
Everything that makes South Florida the vice capital of the country — the drugs, the sex, the gambling — is amplified during the week of the Super Bowl. But nothing ruins the perfect party week like someone dying or going to jail. So this week, we’ll be presenting The Juice…
When a masked man broke into his bedroom wielding a gun early one morning last February, Heath Miller was prepared. He told Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives that he kept a .38-caliber revolver in his nightstand, and a .22-caliber rifle in his closet.Miller grabbed the revolver first, shooting until his…
Everything that makes South Florida the Vice capital of the country — the drugs, the sex, the gambling — is amplified during the week of the Super Bowl. But nothing ruins the perfect party week like someone dying or going to jail. So this week we’ll be presenting The Juice…
The first criminal trial in the Stanford Financial Group fraud is under way, and it ain’t pretty for the local branch. In opening remarks of a trial that began Monday in Miami, prosecutors told the jury that Thomas Raffanello and Bruce Perraud ordered a massive shredding of Stanford documents one…
