The sun was still hanging above the mansions to the west as I cruised beach-rimmed South Ocean Drive on my way to Amici for its weekly Wednesday celebrity bartending fundraiser, this time for the SPCA Wildlife Care Center. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the Palm…
Condition of Unconditional Love Hold back the weight of society’s judgment: Parenting is incredibly demanding and scary. You are responsible for the care and welfare of a child who will hopefully someday grow to be a caring and responsible adult. I am lucky to have three healthy children, and our…
Close readers might have noticed that I wrestled yesterday with the post about the death of Diann Slattery, the former Sun-Sentinel and Miami Today editor who died Monday at 46. I rewrote a specific part of it about six times — publishing a different version here each time. It gnawed…
While Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler has been relentlessly preaching the wonders of newspapers’ convergence onto radio, TV, and, most importantly, the Internet, the Palm Beach Post got the attention this week. Editor & Publisher’s Steve Outing wrote about the Post’s web-feedin’, bloggin’, multi-taskin’ reporters in his recent column. He…
Veteran South Florida newspaper editor Diann Slattery died Monday, following a sudden collapse at a public library. Slattery, who was 46 years-old, last held the position of managing editor at Miami Today. Prior to that, she spent 12 years at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, where she worked as graphics editor,…
Headline from a Clark Spencer story in the Miami Herald: “Marlins can’t seem to find their place.” Thought they found their place during the first week of the season: last. And this from a crime brief in the Palm Beach Post: “Quarrel leaves homeless man in critical condition.” A quarrel…
Back on the Help Team real quick. Yes, as a whole it’s an abomination, but the reporters in it are alright. Take Bob LaMendola. He’s a darn fine reporter. More than one of you has asked that I throw a shout out to his death doctor story. It is, indeed,…
Before looking at the weekend highlights from the morning papers, let’s quickly address the Help Team/Sun-Sentinel Watch. You know, where the so-called Help Team tries to fix little neighborhood problems like dim streetlights, debris, and, today, missing signs on Pompano “roundabouts.” What, is Prince Charles doing a fucking guest editor’s…
The Herald has been accepting comments on its web site for stories that appear in the newspaper for about a month now — and it has the feel of a bold experiment. There seem to be few controls. The editors allow commenting on a handful of potentially controversial stories each…
Brownie In Action Good newspapers today. Damn good, really, but I only have time for the cream of the crop. Sally Kestin had a wet dream of a story regarding the FEMA coverage she led. FEMA released e-mails showing the feds freaked out over the Sun-Sentinel’s stories about the agency’s…
It’s a spring break morning, and by 11 a.m. at the Anderson home, chaos is erupting. School is out for the week, and the twin boys are throwing a ball inside the spacious, two-story house. Upstairs, the preteen daughter pretends not to hear her mother calling. Lauren Anderson, a tanned…
The waiting room in Mitch Ceasar’s law office is stocked with fancy magazines. There’s Golf Connoisseur, Kiplinger’s, Wine Spectator, and, in a prominent position on top of the table, an issue of Cigar Aficionado with a grinning Gen. Tommy Franks on the cover. Not exactly the kind of publications you’d…
Davie is one of Tailpipe’s favorite places, a horsey berg with a penchant for civic scandal and embarrassing revelations. A former mayor who allegedly turned up on a list of a prostitute’s johns, a parks employee fired for groping women, a list of financial shenanigans culminating in Town Administrator Chris…
Not long after the SunFest stages had gone dark on a Saturday night, the 500 block of Clematis Street in West Palm Beach began rocking. My longtime favorite nightlife destinations, O’Shea’s Irish Pub and Respectable Street, were hosting a lineup of local bands to attract the post-SunFest crowds. As usual,…
Need Viagra? There are more spammers waiting in the wings: As a veteran of the “spam wars” since 1997, I’ve participated in and read hundreds of articles about unsolicited e-mail marketing. Trevor Aaronson’s May 11 article about James McCalla and other spammers in Florida (“The $11 Billion Man”) is one…
I’ve been wanting to get in here that my favorite Da Vinci Code article written in the United States to date came this Sunday in the Sun-Sentinel. Chauncey Mabe did it. I like Mabe. You’d think that a book editor with a name like that would be insufferable. But Mabe…
Jerry Berrios has a story in the Herald today about what she deemed “gatormania” in the light of the recent attacks. She included a line or two about a fatal attack on a mutt in West Palm Beach yesterday. “An alligator eating a dog is a common occurence,” Berrios writes,…
In the lead of his expansive story on Hawaii in the travel section of the Sunday Times, NYT editorial writer Lawrence Downes includes this little observation: “Hawaii’s blandly sunny face hides a turbulent history, an extra dimension of sadness and beauty. This is what separates Hawaii from the beach-and-beer nowheres…
Winton In an apparent game of one-upmanship, Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton has outdone Deerfield Beach City Manager Larry Deetjen in airport tirades. The Miami Herald’s David Ovalle and Michael Vasquez do a bang-up job on deadline of telling us about Winton’s apparently drunken scuffle with cops last night at…
On January 3 of last year, Office Depot scored a home run with the Sun-Sentinel. Advertising and marketing columnist Jeff Zbar led his story this way: Office Depot is taking care of business again. The office supply retailer has reached back to refresh its long-time “Taking Care of Business” marketing…
Deetjen (far left) with Jeb Bush In light of Deerfield Beach City Manager Larry Deetjen’s racist blowup at the Palm Beach County Airport, I feel it is incumbent upon the Pulp to allow Deetjen a full airing of his defense. It comes in the form of a memo he wrote…
Gator That Killed Jimenez Some newspapers — I’m looking north here — are starting to take these memorial guestbook things way too far. When the Miami Herald did one for Gene Miller, it proved that these things can transcend the coverage of an event. But at the Palm Beach Post…
