Even a board specifically appointed to promote harmony and mediate opposing viewpoints has a rough time getting residents — or themselves, for that matter — to see eye-to-eye in Lake Worth. Harsh words were exchanged Monday night when the Lake Worth Community Relations Board heard from activists about local hate…
Joy Cooper is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most erratic political figures in South Florida, and now the Hallandale Beach mayor has picked a fight with Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom.Rodstrom was one of the commissioners who two weeks ago voted against a controversial $500 million proposal…
Warning to School Boards and principals across the country: yes, we are in the middle of a recssion, but you miiiight not want to cut that funding for the drama department. Otherwise, you will have to contend with Fort Lauderdale High School junior Tatiana Rose-Becker and her ilk. Beware: They…
Things are getting dramatic with a capital “middle school” between the Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene campaigns for the Democrat Senate nomination. This weekend, the he-said, he-said jumped from catty campaign emails to my cell phone, when I got word from Greene’s campaign that the lawsuit against Greene for defrauding…
Try tho’ he might, Bill McCollum can’t shake the scandal over the $120,000 his Attorney General’s Office paid to George Alan Rekers, the antigay activist who was outed by New Times writers Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp last week.McCollum tried to pin it on the Florida Department of Children…
Retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was a former Navy man — the lone former serviceman on the high court — and so some observers expected President Barack Obama to nominate a justice with a military background. Or at least, that appears to be the expectation of one Allen…
This weekend there was another passionate protest in front of Puppy Palace on Hollywood Boulevard. Animal rights activists held signs insisting the store patronizes puppy mills and sells sick puppies and by doing so encourages the death of more shelter dogs. Counterprotesters decried PETA, mocked vegetarianism, advocated for the right…
In remarks made during an appearance this weekend on MSNBC, congressional candidate Allen West had sharp criticism for the chairman of his party, Michael Steele, over Steele’s response to a question about the Republicans’ appeal to black voters.After hearing a quote from Steele about the party having not given black…
A Miami-based nonprofit corporation called Housing and Assistive Technology appears to have played a role in what a forensic auditor called a pattern of “suspected fraud” in the Deerfield Beach’s spending of low-income housing funds from the federal government.Judging by its tax filings, the nonprofit is a one-woman operation: specifically,…
It’s been about one year since Jeb Bush teamed with Rep. Eric Cantor and Mitt Romney to throw a pizza party with the hope of bringing the Republican Party back from its extremist brink. How’d that go for you, Jeb?Not good, according to this article in Congressional Quarterly, which reports…
In a U.S. Senate race that has already had so many spectacular plot twists, can anyone blame me for hoping that the biggest shocker is yet to come? But for the Crist Comes Outta the Closet meme to take hold, it will take some brave pundits besides me to give…
The small crowd gathered outside the West Palm Beach courthouse at noon today was sweaty and subdued. Holding signs urging people to “Stand With the President: Support Wall Street Reform!” the ten protesters — polite, mostly middle-aged, in shorts and sneakers — drew mixed reactions.”Yes We Can bankrupt America,” one…
NPR commentator and Fox News talking head Juan Williams has been all over the media lately dissecting the Tea Party movement. In an April 2 Wall Street Journal editorial, Williams decried the liberal stereotype of Tea Party activists as fringe racists, saying that in fact, Tea Partiers represented mainstream Americans…
She’s the single African American commissioner and she rules a district with a large African-American population, but Sylvia Poitier’s recent ethical problems don’t appear to have a racial component — at least not until she announces that race is a factor.And there are subtle signs that Poitier may do just…
It’s a bad day to be Mike Good. The longtime Hallandale Beach city manager is facing termination following a vote this afternoon by city commissioners. At today’s meeting, those commissioners complained about his being absent from City Hall and his spotty record for communicating with city staff and commissioners. Ultimately,…
For the third straight year, Sen. Nan Rich of Sunrise has lost her bid to make sex with animals illegal in Florida. The bill died Friday in the Florida House, leaving Rich and her Senate staff thoroughly bewildered.”For whatever reason, the House decided not to take it up,” says an…
One year after a small group of Broward tattooists launched a statewide effort to defeat what it believed to be deeply flawed legislation reforming the industry, a new bill — drafted in concert with those same activists — is close to becoming law. It may even be signed today during…
Slowly, the county’s darkest, most ethically challenged corridors are allowing the light in. The Broward County Commission’s giving grudging support Tuesday to an ethics reform package may have the most far-reaching impact on Broward residents. But right now, the city that’s a shining example of how to root out corruption…
For the past five months, Deerfield Beach has been trying to find out what happened to the $30,000 it gave to a charity, Arlington Park Family, which promised to provide senior services. A series of letters to the charity’s president, Mae Frances Feagin, went unanswered, and on April 15, City…
Apparently, Sen. Mike Bennett’s friends send him nudie pictures, which are to be opened only on the floor of the Florida Senate, while Dan Gelber is talking about an abortion bill. Bennett, a Republican from Bradenton, clicked off the image immediately.Then he turned on some dog porn, it appears. Or…
Brian Reilly has talked tough during the early part of his 2010 congressional campaign, launching the slogan “Fire Debbie Wasserman Schultz.” But the April 30 candidate filing deadline came and went with nary a sign of Reilly’s campaign finance report. Judging by the Federal Elections Commission website, Reilly hasn’t qualified…
The same forensic auditor who told the Deerfield Beach Commission last month that he found “suspected fraud” in the way city doles out state and federal housing dollars appears destined to turn his investigative eye toward other city programs. At tonight’s meeting, City Manager Burgess Hanson is likely to broach…
