In early February, about three months after she’d been hired as editor for the Boca Raton-based luxury magazine Cravings Palm Beach, Rosalie Farnsworth began to lose faith in her boss’ willingness to pay her. After all, Howard Needle, who was the magazine’s publisher, wasn’t paying the others who worked for…
A Fort Lauderdale Police Officer on the scene said officers were using helicopters and K9 units to search for robbery suspects on the loose near Fort Lauderdale High School. Police cars have blocked off the area between Andrews and NE 4th Avenue, just north of Sunrise. There are at least…
Yesterday, the Florida Governor’s Office posted this press release on Gov. Charlie Crist’s “Kids Only” town hall meeting. It contained the following statement:”It is important that our leaders hear what Florida’s youth have to say and consider their ideas to make our state better for future generations,” said Governor Crist…
State Republicans are accusing Florida CFO and likely gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink of placing politics before the safety of children who’d be victimized by sexual predators.Last week, Sink demanded that Attorney General Bill McCollum explain why he gave a no-bid contract to his own political consultant to produce public service…
Former state Sen. Steven Geller is currently running for a seat on the Broward County Commission against incumbent Sue Gunzburger. I just want to tell him to save his breath. He should quietly exit local politics stage left. Now. If he doesn’t, the county should file a restraining order to keep…
Democrats unveiled the anti-Rush Limbaugh traveling billboard in West Palm Beach yesterday, showing that party leaders never learned that you’re supposed to ignore a bully to make him go away.The billboard, plastered on the side of a truck, reads: “Americans didn’t vote for a Rush to failure.” As soon as…
Admittedly, it’s one hell of a challenge: how to transform Hollywood’s hardscrabble downtown into something architecturally iconic, timeless in its appeal and vibrant where today it’s stagnant. Well, nuclear physics is tough too, but there are experts who can do it for you.Hollywood has no objection to hiring these experts…
Last night, angry parents faced off with school officials at Sunrise Middle School. The meeting was spurred by the case of Paula Johnson, an embattled teacher who was removed from her classroom after allegations of misconduct. A close friend of Johnson’s, Wendy Frank, claims the teacher has not been told…
The answer, apparently, is to exploit Terri Schiavo one more time, as Ave Maria is doing today. The Catholic city, which lies in the swamps east of Naples and was bankrolled by a pizza delivery baron, is staging a mass in Schiavo’s honor. Because Schiavo was — before she slipped…
There’s a strange link on the Miami Herald home page today. It’s the top left-hand corner of the site and says, “Herald Publisher: Herald remains strong, stable, and vital.” It leads to a large photograph of Publisher David Landsberg with a “message to Miami Herald readers and advertisers.” Some excerpts: I…
Freshly arrived election data, suggests that Barack Obama’s defeat of John McCain in Florida was not the product of an energized Democratic base:Updated election data shows that Florida Republicans actually turned out at a greater rate than Democrats — nearly 80 percent of Republicans voted, compared to 76 percent of…
Why didn’t the financial press adequately inform the American public that its national economy was a colossal scam? Maybe because this meltdown has given the financial press the Story of a Lifetime. They’re positively basking in it. CNBC’s enjoying record ratings — the financial news channel now out-draws MSNBC and…
[jump] It wasn’t enough. And I know it’s not fair to blame the jersey, but it’s seriously bigger than the 2006 NBA Championship banner and Dwyane Wade’s Olympic banner combined. The half-time ceremony was touching though. I’m not even kidding when I say it started with a letter from Barack…
We all know how well it worked out when MoveOn.org took out an ad in the New York Times in 2007 calling General Petraeus “General Betray Us.” (President Bush called the ad “disgusting,” polls indicated a majority of America found it distasteful, and the Senate even passed a resolution to…
In yet another symbol of the fall of American newspapers, the man billed as the “only U.S. reporter based in Havana” is leaving Cuba. Sun-Sentinel Executive Editor Earl Maucker told staff during a meeting on Friday that the newspaper is shutting down its bureau in Havana and bringing reporter Ray Sanchez, whose…
I’m speaking of the Deferred Retirement Option Program that made such a lucrative payout to Hallandale Beach City Manager Mike Good. He’s not the only public official getting rich from this excessively generous policy. In editorials yesterday and last Sunday, the Orlando Sentinel lists officials who stand to be paid…
(Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the movie The Prestige, stop reading this post now, because I’m going to give away a crucial plot twist.)Remember that seemingly impossible trick in The Prestige by Christian Bale’s character? On one side of the stage, he closes a door behind himself while in…
Last year, Hallandale Beach City Manager Mike Good officially, and briefly, retired — a move that allowed him to cash in some 25 years of accumulated sick and vacation time. This, according to Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper, is how in 2008 Good’s gross income reached the astonishingly high figure…
We’re living in a bizarro world where Republican state legislators are willing to defy loyal lobbyists and increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco, plus give serious consideration to a compact that would let the Seminoles gamble Vegas-style. And now there are increasing signs that another favorite policy of state conservatives…
After eight years of watching Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Michael Moore crack wise over the dunderheadedness of a Republican president, the arrival of a Democrat in the Oval Office means the Republican humorists get their turn.But this campaign got off to a rocky, racist start. There was the Rush…
Former New Times writing fellow P.J. Tobia went to the last place most people would think of spending their Thanksgiving: to an Army base in Afghanistan. The result was “Afghaniscrewed,” which ran this week in New Times. Now Tobia’s headed back to Afghanistan for, well, who knows what? So I…
Last November when Caryn Stumpfl accepted a job writing for a luxury goods magazine called Cravings Palm Beach, it never occurred to her that her new boss, the publisher, might have a felonious past. No, that realization came only after it became clear that she would not be getting paid…
