Post Pulls Reporter Off Crist Beat — UPDATED

Veteran Tallahassee reporter S.V. Dáte has been taken off the Florida governor’s beat. Palm Beach Post Managing Editor Bill Rose told me this afternoon that the decision was made yesterday to reassign Dáte to the legislature and other reporting tasks after the reporter’s wife, Mary Beth, was recently hired as…

Pulp Football Picks

To hell with the news. I’m going football today. Last week, I bet six games and won four, a moderate success at best. This week, I’m gonna pick six games, based on a mix of the best games and what I think are sure winners. Take my lead at your…

The Liberal Media Favors Right-Wing Columnists

You may have already seen this, but it just popped up in the Pulp email from a progressive watchdog group Media Matters: Washington, D.C. – Media Matters for America today released Florida data for its new report “Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed…

Galanter Gets TV Time

I wanted to post about Yale Galanter, O.J. Simpson’s South Florida-based attorney. I’ve had lunch with Galanter in the past and knew he was a bit of an egotist (hey, what good lawyer isn’t?), but he seemed to go a bit far yesterday with the national cameras rolling. But Rick…

Wayne Huizenga: I Should Have Waited A Year To Stiff Fans

Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga regrets doubling, and in some cases tripling, the price of club level seats this year. And I’m sure hearing that is going to make seat holders, who are now paying $400 a game (Is that true?), feel much better about having to pay such exorbitant sums…

It’s True: People Are Stupid

It’s not like there’s nothing going on at all around here (apartment buildings are exploding in fireballs, for one) but I thought I’d steer you over to an interesting civics test which the majority of college seniors in this country fail miserably. It’s called the American Civic Literacy Test and…

Video Lies

The Truth Can Set You Free On dark nights, when your own mortality seems to feed on you like the rust on Tailpipe’s flank, think of Donald Baker and know that things could be worse. The ‘Pipe has never met Baker, but sometimes he thinks about him, sitting for the…

Rx for Plunder

On a crisp February morning in 2003, Dr. Evan Zimmer, dressed in jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, rolled up to work at the Oakland Community Health Center in Fort Lauderdale. “I see this guy in Dockers hanging around the back door,” Zimmer recalls. The man seemed to be guarding the…

Dumpster Diving

Pembroke Park seems too small for scandal. A south Broward County town with fewer than 6,000 inhabitants and a median income around $25,000, it has few things worth stealing. This tends to ward off corruption. At the monthly commission meetings — held in a Town Hall chamber that Pembroke Park…

Where It’s Always Ladies Night

There’s been a Sapphic convergence in Palm Beach County. Two new, hip spots there now cater to ladies who love ladies. On a Thursday night, I hit both Les Beans, a coffee shop, and Lipstick Lounge, a club night, for variations on a theme. One thing was bothering me: how…

Sun-Sentinel Not Proud Of Its Pup Reporter

Andrew “Don’t Tase Me, Bro” Meyer is an aspiring journalist. At one point in journalism history, right around August 4, 1974, Meyer’s gonads alone might have helped him get a job at some newspapers. But in this day and age, it ain’t gonna help him. More like make them turn…

Straight Outta Weston

Andrew Meyer — the guy who was tasered at the John Kerry event in Gainesville — gives hope to Weston. Who knew such political passion could come from anyone raised in that wealthy, separatist, plastic place? I’m not saying Meyer is a hero. He was a little too spastic to…

Bring Out The Stretcher

Well, it goes from Pulp promise to fact: Trent Green was a bad idea. I had written that Green probably wouldn’t last half the season and that all fans can hope from him is “that he stewards the offense without a complete meltdown” until John Beck is ready. Well the…

Black Electeds, JAABlog Commenters, and SPJ Haters

— The Broward Times’ Elgin Jones learns that the Broward Black Elected Officials club was being run by Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Levoyd Williams at city hall with the help of city employees on the city’s dime. Levoyd’s longtime friend, Commissioner Hazelle Rogers, was also involved. This isn’t good news for…

All You To Need Know About D. James Kennedy

The Amway-loving reverend, who was funeralized yesterday, left behind some great quotes, too. Among my favorites: “Biblically justified.” (On George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003) “If homosexuals win the right to ‘marry,’ expect further similarly argued claims challenging legal barriers to polygamy, bestiality, and child marriage.” “To…

After Jenne: What Needs To Be Done

Ken Jenne’s old pal John DeGroot gives a heads-up on what he believes needs to be done in the wake of our own Napoleon’s fall. Included are his thoughts on interim Sheriff Al Lamberti, the idea of appointing the sheriff position, and a proposed $70 million jail. Interesting stuff. Big…

Note From The State Attorney’s Office

I asked State Attorney spokesman Ron Ishoy about the last time an elected official went to trial on corruption charges in Broward County (John Lomelo, acquitted) and here’s what he sent me. Interesting for historical perspective and surely will be a blast from the past for some of you old-time,…

Miami Herald Does It Again

The Sun-Sentinel covered the hell out of the Wasserstrom verdict today, with a front-page piece by John Holland, a story about the jury’s decision by Ihosvani Rodriguez, and a perspective-inducing column by Michael Mayo. The Miami Herald? Well, I could spend a lot of time dissecting the horrendous coverage by…

No Pain, No Gain

Training Day It’s hard being a police officer in Hollywood, and Tailpipe’s not even talking about the shaking down of pimps or the pocketing of bribes from FBI agents posing as drug smugglers or any of the other questionable deeds with which the department has recently been linked. No, the…

High Seas

When Heather’s friend calls her on Friday morning, she answers the phone groggy. The night before, she had been partying at Hard Rock or Mansion or somewhere. “Pack your shit,” the voice on the line says. “We’re going on a two-day, two-night cruise to the Bahamas.” “When?” Today. “For free?”…

Ghost Busted

Shea’s Corner Pub is imbued with spirits, some say, and not just the drinkable kind. Yet Shea’s, which is in a soulless Boynton Beach strip mall by a Domino’s and a Dunkin’ Donuts, doesn’t feel spooky. It’s homey, thanks to touches such as dark-green walls with pastoral pictures and comfy…

Judge and Jury

Joel T. Lazarus is a powerful guy. He isn’t just a Broward Circuit judge; he’s also a jury. And on Monday, he single-handedly did more to damage anticorruption efforts in his county than just about any man ever has. Lazarus is the judge in the corruption trial against Keith Wasserstrom,…