So the Miami Herald and St. Pete Times have officially combined their Tallahassee bureaus, a move that has been rumored for months. It follows a whole lot of other strange combinations of the daily newspapers. The consolidation is a way to cut costs and, ultimately, jobs (not that any of…
Understand that this is primarily a form of delayed self-flagellation, as I know full-well that these prognostications will most likely make me look foolish tomorrow morning. But here’s what I’m thinking: — Scott Israel will be the new Broward County sheriff, but he’s only barely going to squeak by appointed…
Alu quits State Attorney’s Office I’m hearing that Sunrise City Commissioner Sheila Alu abruptly quit her job as prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office today. Alu, who blew the whistle on Judge Ana Gardiner, isn’t talking about it, but she has complained in the past about what she claimed were…
A “Ren Giovanni” just put this comment on a (very) old blog post: Our absentee ballots had our party affiliation written on the mailing envelope. Isn’t this an invitation to electoral fraud? What’s to keep some mailhandler from the opposite party from chucking our ballots? Short answer: yes. Read this…
Below is one of the toughest mind teasers I’ve seen in some time. Check it out. On the link, you’ll find two pictures that are exactly the same — or so they seem. There are actually three differences and if you can find all three then you’re lucky; a group…
A memorial service will be held for Fred Pettijohn at 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Pettijohn, who died on October 1 at the age of 91, was the former editor for the Fort Lauderdale News and the Sun-Sentinel at the time of its founding…
Crystal Dranetz stands out in a crowd. Through the serpentine parade of Obama supporters wrapping around the Bank Atlantic’s parking lot Wednesday afternoon, her tiara bobs up and down. Unless her corresponding sash is wrong (it isn’t), the tiara was bestowed upon her with the title: Miss Miramar Tropic. Unlike…
Three years ago, Hurricane Wilma clobbered the 46th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, not only putting show sites through a brutally destructive storm blender but sweeping away millions in lost business for exhibitors. Now, as a flotilla of yachts and superyachts churns down the Intracoastal for the 49th annual…
Distrust Everybody Tailpipe’s recent column (Privacy Schmivacy, Tailpipe, October 23) really shocked me. The fact that party affiliations are listed in plain sight on absentee ballot envelopes that go through the U.S. Postal Service raises the possibility that, as you put it, a unscrupulous postal handler could manipulate the vote. I…
Brian Sprinkle dismounts from a blue ten-speed with a warm smile on his face. The 24-year-old environmental activist has just biked 15 miles, from Fort Lauderdale to Coconut Creek, on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon. Streaks of sweat on a green T-shirt serve as the only evidence of his…
Dave Willis is not exactly a household name, but his shows certainly are. As a writer, producer, and animator for Cartoon Network’s genre-defining, late-night programming block, Adult Swim, Willis has been responsible for some of the biggest animated programs in the last 10 years. In 2000, he and fellow writer/producer…
There’s something fishy about Sarah Roman, a Green Party candidate for state representative. Accusations of voter fraud began shortly after Roman filed on June 19 as a Green Party candidate in the State House District 44, which represents Brooksville and other small towns north of Tampa. Things looked suspicious when…
He exits the Starbucks at Federal Highway and Broward Boulevard on a warm Wednesday afternoon. Traffic slows, and drivers stretch their necks to get a better view. A woman in a red Toyota Camry slams on her brakes and rolls down her window. “Oh my God! Is that — “…
Click on the photo for a slideshow. Does that dog look folksy to you? Maybe a little bitchy and ignorant, but still sort of irresistible? Like an evangelical secessionist who knows the real America, hates elitists (like that horrible Katie Couric) and enjoys shopping, right? Now you too can give…
It was three weeks ago when I first heard rumblings that Barack Obama was being labeled a terrorist supporter. John McCain and his fellow conservatives were giving him that label for his friendship with Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground member and current professor at the University of Illinois at…
The loss of news is almost imperceptible; there’s really no way to know what stories we might be missing when there’s no one there to report it. It’s clear, though, that one story South Florida’s three big dailies — the Palm Beach Post, Sun-Sentinel, and Miami Herald — have largely…
The Supervisor of Elections Office has been falsely telling newly registered voters with clerical errors involving their drivers licenses that they aren’t allowed to vote in the presidential election. It’s some of the first negative fallout from the controversial “No match, no vote” law passed by the Republican Florida Legislature…
A friend mentioned that FoxNews.com had devolved during these last days before the election into the purest form of itself: unadulterated propaganda. So I took a look at the home page and this is what I found last night and this morning: — “What’s LA Times hiding? Newspaper refuses to…
The Sun-Sentinel’s front page story this morning is both important and provocative. Reporter Jennifer Gollan found that Broward’s cities face a $1.1 billion shortfall in their pension programs. The in-depth story’s headline: “Were City Workers Nest Eggs Too Generous?” Leading the Metro section is a story by Jon Burstein and…
Just wanted to catch you up with some reading, in case you’re not busy enough: — Wayne Huizenga is banking on an Obama victory in the sale of the Miami Dolphins, according to the Sun-Sentinel’s Sarah Talalay. And man does that filthy rich SOB hate paying taxes. — JAABlog’s take…
Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti’s campaign has taken a contribution from a storied drug smuggling figure who was investigated by the Broward Sheriff’s Office at a time that Lamberti helped run its narcotics unit. On September 26, a company called World Jet Inc. gave Lamberti the maximum $500 allowed under…
So I got a challenge in a post below to put up gaffes from the Obama campaign like I do with McCain and Palin. I said I hadn’t seen one worthy of posting but promised to do so if one came my way. Well, a commenter named Stephen hit me…
