I keep hearing that people thought my last column, called The Last Transcript and supposedly including new Mark Foley IM exchanges with a page, was real. It wasn’t. Here are some clues that it was a goof: The story begins: “In an unprecedented journalistic coup …” Who starts a story…

I’m stupid busy this morning, so former Sun-Sentinel writing coach and dedicated public servant John DeGroot is filling in for me. Here’s his latest screed on the Sentinel’s Help Team and HT columnist Daniel Vasquez, who penned an undeniably ludicrous column this weekend about missing children. He opens the thing…

Well, I wanted to post something about last night’s Society of Professional Journalist panel on blogging, but since I’ve been hit with an unexpected wave of intense reporting, I simply don’t have the time. Until I can give my nickel’s worth, here’s what journalist Rebecca Wakefield, who was on the…

Correction: This is NOT Father Tony The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is reporting on its website that the photograph (at right) that it circulated of Father Anthony Mercieca — the accused molester of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley nearly 40 years ago — is actually an innocent librarian at the Gozo Cathedral Public…

Bertakis The Miami Herald’s Kathleen McGrory recounts the near-slaying of 81-year-old James Bertakis by a flying stingray: The spotted eagle stingray leaped out of the water, slid across the bow of the boat and collided with him in mid-air, family members said. A friend of the family, also on the…

Apparently the thugs and goons in outgoing Broward School Board Superintendent Frank Till’s unofficial and completely illegal death squads are targeting school board members for termination. Or something like that. School Board member Darla Carter says she just got off the phone with Sun-Sentinel reporter Jean-Paul “J.P.” Renaud, who asked…

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune busts the story on the priest who molested Mark Foley. And, in proper priestly style, it’s creepy as all living hell. The culprit is Father Anthony Mercieca, who admitted to Herald-Tribune reporters Matthew Doig and Maurice Tamman in a telephone interview from his home on an island…

A young rising star in the Republican Party has boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governor’s race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay. The GOP staffer, 21-year-old Jason Wetherington, told friends at separate social functions in August that he…

Candace Barbot/Miami Herald I wasn’t going to post this photograph, but since it haunts me, I must share it with you. The embrace between Supertintendent Frank Till and this man seems so intimate, so loving, yet so grotesque. And the weirdest part is that both the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald…

Evangelista Alright, I’ve made up my mind. To hell with Clay and Klein — they’re both stuffed-shirted buffoons. I’m going Evangelista. Who is Evangelista? He’s Neil Evangelista, a libertarian “purist” who is running against long-time Republican incumbent Clay Shaw and pandering Democratic challenger Ron Klein. I have no quarter for…

Sun-Sentinel/Andrew Innerarity The more I think of the firing of Frank Till, the more I think it stinks. Why make the school board a more rudderless ship than it already was? Instead of throwing the district into conflict and disarray — which is exactly what Stephanie Kraft, Robin Bartleman, Bob…

Till The board voted 5-4 to fire Supt. Frank Till. There’s not going to be a lot of tears shed over this. He didn’t do a great job, but he was semi-competent, anyway. The ostensible reason for his firing — that he allowed the board to buy $4.3 million worth…

Tomorrow, Hollywood is having its first city commission meeting since Keith Wasserstrom was charged in the Hollywood Sludge case and removed from office by Gov. Jeb Bush. Activist Howard Sher is urging a big turnout to ensure that voters get a chance to replace Wasserstrom rather than the Mara Machine…

Here’s a YouTube video of Lamar’s rant during the UM-FIU football brawl. I got it from the Sun-Sentinel site, where the story is the most viewed of the day. It’s also getting quite a few comments, where the hate-mongers have come out of the woodwork for this one. Here’s some…

Thomas Slow news day. They’re going to try to fire Frank Till, they’re looking for clues in the horrible murder of that family of four (John Lantigua tells us it looks like a — surprise — drug hit), two guys named Shaw and Klein are trying to win two years…

Via Romenesko, someone wonders at the Washington Post web site if the New York Times’ reporting on the “velvet mafia” in Republican politics is “gay bashing.” Uh, no. (And I believe a search might reveal that I, myself, am an offender on this one). Gay bashing involves bricks, sticks, and…

For all of you out there waiting for Mayor Mara Giulianti to get charged in the Hollwood sludge case with her buddy Keith Wasserstrom, well, you’re going to have a long wait. You know, like, eternity. According to a good source, prosecutors subpoenaed both Giulianti and her son, Stacey Giulianti,…

Sunday was a big day for Charlie Crist and Jim Davis stories. Both the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post had twin, front-pagep profiles on the gubernatorial candidates — and all of them were interesting. One of the more interesting comparisons was the way the Herald and Post handled…

Okay, Freddy Fender looks this———-> — — — — — — — — — — And Doonesbury doodler Garry Trudeau looks like this. In Sun-Sentinel’s Friday newspaper their photographs were unfortunately mixed up on page A4 in the “People” briefs (Fender, who was gravely ill with cancer [and, sadly, died…

Jeb Hiding From Protesters I haven’t written yet about Jeb Bush’s nightmare trip to the Steel City, but since I obtained this great piece of visual evidence (via Doomed Generation), I could ignore it no longer. The picture at right shows our esteemed governor fleeing into a dank supply closet…

Canada I have mixed emotions on this day. On the one hand, it’s great news that John Canada has been terminated as Southwest Ranches manager, as the council’s decision will bring an end to one of the most corrupt fiefdoms in recent South Florida history. And town councilman Jeff Nelson…

This medicated picture kills me. I got it via Smashed Frog, which is apparently aligned with Democratic state house candidate Martin Kiar. Also there was this quote from conservative Christian James Dobson, of the rabidly right-wing Focus On The Family, on the Mark Foley scandal: “As it turns out, Mr…