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Remember the thrill of finding a gem while thumbing through stacks of vinyl? Or the clack of CD cases as you flipped impatiently in search of that one album that kept eluding you? If not, then you can’t possibly be a day older than 18, and you can’t possibly know…

You want to know how you would have been living if you’d hooked up with Bernie Madoff and started illegally raising for him right at the swindler’s start in the 1960s? You have to look at how Fort Lauderdale’s Michael Bienes lived. I’ve written a lot about the philanthropist who…

The president falls prey to the Vulcan mind meld. The newest teacher in Broward County schools is an 11-year-old child prodigy. Some might say that Adora Svitak is an inspiration to children everywhere because she has already taught college classes, appeared on CNN, published a book, taken over the Ukraine,…

While serving as a state representative in 2004, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter voted on legislation that benefited the fraudulent company that paid her husband $20,000 a month, renovated her Parkland home at a cost of $100,000, docked her family’s boat, and provided a house in Maine for vacations. Records show that Ritter voted yes on…

One thing about the $1 billion Ponzi scheme that was Mutual Benefits Corp.: It loved to throw money at politicians. And boy did our fearless leaders lap up the cash. It gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to elected officials, but nobody benefitted more from Mutual’s generosity than state…

Scott Wyman writes this morning of a lawsuit filed against lobbyist Russ Klenet, the husband of Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter, by a former vice president of viatical company Mutual Benefits Corp. You might remember the name of the company — it is, after all, accused of ripping off investors of about $1…

If there’s one thing you don’t hear enough about, it’s that Fort Lauderdale has the best panhandlers this side of Calcutta. I mean, Miami may have more guys with clever signs at busy intersections, but ours have that little aggressive something that makes them special, that lets you feel that…

At a smoky pub on Powerline Road in Pompano Beach called Greenbrier Restaurant, there’s a long-standing, much cherished tradition known only to the regulars and their servers: A patron stacks his cash tips in just such a way to cue the female bartender, who in a flash takes down her…

Since it was built in the 1960s, Floyd Hull Stadium, on SW Eighth Avenue just off State Road 84 behind the National Guard Armory, has been operated by volunteer members of the Federal Little League, a local nonprofit organization. During that period, it has enjoyed a harmonious relationship with Fort…

Hallandale may ban smokin’ bodies on its beach.The Hallandale Beach City Commission is considering an ordinance that would make smoking illegal on the city’s public beaches. “There are obviously anti-littering laws, but it’s easy to just stick a cigarette in the sand,” says Commissioner Keith London, who proposed a feasibility study…

Editor’s note: Gail Shepherd’s recent review of Smith & Jones (“What’s in a Name?” January 8) sparked a round of heated discussion on our website. Fans of the restaurant’s executive chef, Johnny Vinczencz, accused Shepherd of panning a star, while some said we were right to say Johnny V’s new…

Millionaire philanthropist Michael Bienes has been the toast of South Florida, a man who threw lavish parties and fundraisers at his $7 million estate on the Intracoastal, where he seemed to be a cross between Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim. Now sources say he is a ruined man in that same…

On a sun-blasted Tuesday morning in the last weeks of 2008, four people pedal camouflage-painted bikes toward NW 61st Street and 13th Place, one of the busiest intersections for Liberty City’s booming drug trade. Donald Vamper, a jovial 46-year-old wearing a camo bandanna Tupac-style; his cornrow-tressed wife, Sylvia; and Chris…

For decades Hollywood Beach has been the only one in South Florida that could offer tourists an array of small, independent hotels at low nightly rates. That gave the neighborhood a distinct slow-tempo style, and it gave the South Florida’s hospitality industry a bit of variety.But the small Hollywood hotels…