Nobody really knows what to expect from Sam Zell when he takes the reins at Tribune Co., but I think it’s safe to say that, good or horrendous, it’s going to be a hell of a lot more interesting than anything the button-downed and oh-so-corporate entity that owns the Sun-Sentinel…
On a recent Sunday afternoon, biologist Miguel Fernandes stands on a five-foot-wide oceanfront sand dune in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, stroking a slender stalk of sea oats and cursing. “Look at this shit,” he says, yanking his head back toward the never-ending line of hotels and condos that hugs the coast. “Who’s gonna…
It was the mouth that struck a chord. Everything else about her, the rouge on her cheeks, the long brown hair, the dark-tanned skin, was common enough, especially in Fort Lauderdale. But the mouth? That was special. Giant and audacious. Glorious and monstrous. A mere instrument, a maestro, a mauve-lipsticked…
Manatees are everywhere now, slow-moving, bovine, as graceless as hippos in ballet slippers. So prevalent have they become that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the American Watercraft Association lobbied to get manatees downgraded to “threatened” from “endangered.” There are an estimated 3,000 manatees roaming Florida waterways, they…
More Cubans, Fewer Haitians Go back or stick around, that is the question: It is a stark contrast to read yet another horror story about Haitians treated like dogs by our racist government (Janine Zeitlin and Amy Guthrie, “Washed Up,” November 29) and then hear Mitt Romney pander to the…
For regulars at the Sunday service of Fort Lauderdale’s New Mount Olive Baptist Church, the spiritual journey of Pastor Mack King Carter is as familiar as that of any biblical figure. It begins in Ocala, Florida, in 1953, when, at the age of five, Carter says he became “a slave…
This came into the New Times about this morning’s Sun-Sentinel story on cop killer Michael Mazza: DATE/TIME: December 18, 2007, 3:12 am MST SUBJECT: Sentinel LETTER: As a former S-S staffer, I would love to read DeGroot’s take on the miserable story in today’s paper about Michael Mazza discussing why…
Dennis FitzSimons, CEO of the Sun Sentinel-owned Tribune Co., is checking out on the day that Sam Zell checks in to buy the company. Don’t worry about FitzSimons, though, his landing will be very soft, cushioned by the $40 million in cash he’s taking with him. In other big media…
The first is basically just a brief by Breanne Gilpatrick in the Miami Herald, but it’s essential to understanding government in Broward County. It’s so short I’ll include it here: Potential Broward county commissioners who lobby other local governments won’t need to worry about giving up their side jobs, after…
Back from out of town and saw that Stuck on the Palmetto closed shop Sunday night. My initial reaction was disappointment. But just in case you’re confused, I didn’t kill that blog, Rick did. His overreaction speaks volumes. Not only did Rick spike the blog over a vague comment, he…
In what many reporters believe to be a troubling move, Sun-Sentinel Publisher Howard Greenberg announced to staff Thursday that the newspaper’s Internet site — including news content — is being taken over by a marketing director, according to a memo that made its way to the Pulp. “Vice President and…
After a joke of a federal trial, a beleaguered federal jury acquitted one member of the Liberty City Seven and failed to reach a verdict on the others (here’s the Sentinel version and Herald story). Now Judge Joan Lenard has called for a new trial on January 7. Seriously, we’re…
I don’t use the word “outrage” very often, but this is an outrage. Lawyer Sean Conway exposed a horrendous practice by Judge Cheryl Aleman — a piss-poor judge by any standard — and for performing that public service the Florida Bar might take his law license away. The Bar’s repulsive…
So a bigshot financial analyst at Credit Suisse named John E. Klim says the newspaper business is going to come back strong as soon as the housing market does (most people seem to think that’s going to happen early 2009). He says the downturn — which has seen the worth…
Hang ’em High Think about what you do, teacher man: I sympathize mostly for these kids (“High School Sexical,” Deirdra Funcheon, December 6). Andrew Foster overstepped his bounds and abused his position of power [as a teacher]. That’s it — bottom line. As a drama teacher myself, I know there…
A couple of weeks ago, Tailpipe got mental flashbacks to those famous pictures from Tiananmen Square where a lone man stood in the street defying four Chinese Army tanks. That’s kind of what it looked like on Fort Lauderdale Beach on the evening of November 30, when bicyclist John Bochino…
The Mai-Kai calls itself “Polynesian,” but my friend Ike has a different take on the 51-year-old club. “It’s a piece of Americana, the velvet Elvis of globalization, exotic cultures made safe for White America,” he said, sipping his sunset-colored rum drink from its gigantic snifter. “I don’t think you could…
After police dogged him for months, after the city tried to kick him out of his home, and after he was arrested for simply speaking at a commission meeting, local activist Fane Lozman thought the City of Riviera Beach just might be out to get him. Now, thanks to the…
It was a humid late-summer Saturday evening in South Florida in 1992, a few days before Hurricane Andrew barreled through. A group of teens gathered around a keg in a Coral Springs apartment. They played the drinking game Quarters and tried to hook up with the opposite sex. There were…
The Stuck on the Palmetto controversy keeps churning over at SotP. Now that Rick’s quit, his sidekick Alex is fighting for him: We embark sometimes in heated arguments which we should be able to keep them confined to opinions and ideas. You don’t like somehing you read, attack the idea,…
Bad news: The Miami web newspaper Category305 is gone. Rebecca Wakefield and Celeste Fraser Delgado gave it a valiant effort, with at least one house second-mortgaged. It just never really took, which is a shame since it was a quality pub. Here’s the death notice, written by Delgado: From: Celeste…
Well damn. Rick over at Stuck on the Palmetto took a minor ball-busting of mine a too seriously and quit blogging. (He also accused Critical Miami of “piling on”). I think Carlos Miller’s comment, the brunt of which is reproduced below, on Rick’s (final?) post sums up my reaction: But…
