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The South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists covers all of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. It’s the largest local SPJ organization geographically speaking, covers a population of about 5.5 million people, and includes three daily newspapers — the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, and Palm Beach Post –…

How surprising. The Steve Kane Show — which featured controversial pastor and Jeb Bush dumpee O’Neal Dozier — devolved into a hate fest this morning. First Kane played an old tape featuring Rafiq Mahdi, a local imam who leans radical and who I wrote about (and criticized) in 2002. There,…

Irey Let me introduce you to Diana Irey, the flag-waving Republican challenger to Jack Murtha in a fairly bitter U.S. Congressional race in Pennsylvania. Check out this page on her campaign Web site. It’s all about the Sun-Sentinel’s botched story on Murtha last month that caused a huge stir in…

Two summers ago in Hollywood, helicopter cameras broadcast a snapshot of hell: a van in flames, vomiting smoke into the sky like a burning oil well as paramedics nearby loaded a man into an ambulance. Naked but for his shorts, he was strapped to a stretcher, immobilized except for his…

On the first page of her recently released HarperCollins book, Miami Psychic, self-proclaimed clairvoyant Regina Milbourne writes: “Because I believe I got the gift directly from God, I felt I had to do something with it. For more than fifteen years, I dedicated my life to helping anyone who needed…

Sometimes you get so gol-darned mad, you just go blind. The rage overtakes you, and there’s nothing you can do except key somebody’s car. Hey, we’ve all been there. Except that you probably wouldn’t consider it wise to scratch up someone’s automobile in front of the plate-glass window of a…

Mayor Al’s Buddy Take that, thugs: Great work, and I am sure Mayor Al is steaming (“Mayor Al’s Shady Pal,” Bob Norman, July 6). I am sending a copy to Scott Lassar in Chicago, who was with the U.S. Attorney’s Office during “Operation Greylord” and is familiar with the thugs…

West Dania Beach Boulevard dead-ends at a weedy canal, making for a perfect out-of-the-way dumping ground. Even after the rest of the town’s fertile tomato fields turned into working-class neighborhoods over the years, the plot housed little more than trees, trash, and dirt. But between 2002 and 2004, when the…

Bogus Book You might have thought you’d heard the last of “Regina Milbourne” and her “non-fiction” book Miami Psychic. But you just aren’t that lucky. I wrote about the book in this earlier post, but to refresh your memory, here’s the way HarperCollins is promoting the book and its authors…

JT and Katina You’ve probably seen the little reports in the three Big Papers about NFL All-Pro defensive end Jason Taylor’s marriage split. And you haven’t really gotten a clue as to what prompted his wife, Katina Taylor, to file for divorce in Broward County court. Well it seems the…

Slow day so I thought I’d share a picture for you taken by NT photographer Colby Katz. It’s Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini at a recent city hall meeting. The gentleman in the blue shirt with outstetched hand at right is your peaceable Pulp host. I wonder why Cap doesn’t…

Josh Ritchie/Sun-Sentinel Rev. O’Neal Dozier’s ouster from the Judicial Nominating Commission proves one thing: In Bush World, you can sling all the slurs and prejudices at gays that you want, but when you start messing with Muslims, watch out. Dozier has been bashing gays for years. He openly preaches that…

Okay, about that “Pat” story in the Miami Herald: It’s pretty clear that reporter Roberto Santiago should have credited the original New Times story. In fact, it’s verging on a journalistic crime that the Herald didn’t cite Julia Reischel’s article. From Santiago’s story: “The soon-to-be kindergartner looks quite feminine, cartwheeling…

The Miami Herald’s Roberto Santiago does a decent job on the story of the five-year-old boy who is enrolling in Broward County schools as a girl. But if you really want to read about him, check out this story by NT’s Julia Reischel (if you haven’t already). She takes you…

Dozier, center, with Crist On the Steve Kane Show this morning, Rev. O’Neal Dozier, a black pastor who has advised President George W. Bush at the White House and is a political appointee of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, went off on Islam. Talking about his efforts to keep a mosque…

I’m flying here because I’m on deadline and have family errands to run, but very quickly: Anthony Man is taking over as political writer at the Sun-Sentinel. He’s packed up his bags in Palm Beach County and moved down to Broward. I’ve known about it for a while, but haven’t…

Pitts I spoke with Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. about the Lucius Gantt rant. From his home in Bowie, Maryland, where he lives with his wife and five children, he said that he’s used to being attacked, from within the black community and outside of it. “This is not…

Lay Off Hobo’s! Steven LaBiner is a great guy, damn it! I was curious to find out where Gail Shepherd went to culinary school. In fact, I am curious to find out where she went to school for journalism. Does she not have an editor at your paper? She should…

VVho is Sam? That was the tantalizing question that emerged in the continuing investigation of Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini. For several weeks, New Times has been examining the business dealings of Capellini, leader of the seaside town of 67,000 people that has been in the grip of a raucous…

A couple of years ago, Leah was virtually a straight-A student at Lyons Creek Middle School in Coconut Creek. The then-13-year-old Trinidadian was captain of her dance team and one of the most popular girls in school. School counselors considered her college-bound. Her life today is a distressing negative image…