The Pulp Curse is on the Marlins. It was a mere four days ago that I wrote about how exciting the young team has been and predicted they’d make a strong run for the wild card. Since then, they’ve been swept by Dodgers and the management has publicly imploded. Kevin…
In light of all the recent NT losses, there’s a silver lining. A proven and seasoned investigative reporter is coming to town — Tom Francis, an NT veteran who spent a while at The Stranger in Seattle before realizing that he needed to be in a real place, aka one…
The Sun-Sentinel poll over the weekend: Broward County may give teachers a 6.45% pay raise, hiking salaries to $37,000 a year for beginners and $70,000 for the most experienced. What do you think of the pay scale for teachers? 57.8% Teachers are grossly underpaid, considering the importance of their work…
It’s a big headline on the Local front of the Sun-Sentinel: “BEATING ADVERSITY TO BE FIRST IN LINE.” Bad headline (who knew that beating adversity could move up to the front of the line so quickly?) over a story written by Nicole T. Lesson, Community News diva. It’s about a…
I don’t have much to say today for a change. The only thing I feel like writing about, in fact, is the Marlins, and not much about that. The Mets series was as good of baseball as you’re ever going to see. Josh Willingham’s walk-off home run in the ninth…
The Broward-based newspaper has followed the Miami Herald in putting a no-holds-barred comment system on it’s web site. The difference is that people can comment on every story in the Sun-Sentinel, instead of just a select few on the Herald. It’s good fun, though you wonder just how lonely someone…
Florida Atlantic University’s student government is slipping off the deep end. After banning candidate Tony Texiera from campaigning before the election (yeah, it’s true), the Student Government politburo is considering a punishment for one of Texiera’s supporters. That student’s crime: Distributing a University Press report to students on campus. “I…
Here’s to Ray McKinney. Who is Ray? He’s just a retired fellow in Fort Lauderdale who doesn’t like corruption. He called me after I wrote stories about Southwest Ranches last year and said he was going to do something about it. Based on the stuff I’d dug up, he filed…
The woman wanted advice to help bring up sales at her realty firm, but she wound up losing more than $3,000, terrified that her daughter and husband were in mortal danger. The 43-year-old mother and native of Colombia, who asked that she not be named because of a combination of…
Who knew Amazon.com was this susceptible to shenanigans? I told you on Friday about the slime job on my little book, Florida Pulp Nonfiction, on the Amazon site. A half-dozen fake customer reviews were posted slamming and misrepresenting my book (as a novel rather than the true crime book that…
Okay, the Miami Herald I understand. They need to play this story huge, because it’s a huge story in their circulation area. So it’s okay that they run another giant headline on the front page about Fidel. Hell, he is a god in Miami, an evil god perhaps (certainly to…
Have you ever wanted to measure the effect the Cuban dictator has on South Florida? Tried to gauge its unique impact on the three separate counties? Well, today the difference can be seen in the size of the type. We’re talking, of course, about the transfer of power from Fidel…
Okay, there’s a saboteur in the house. He or she or they posted a bunch of “reviews” of my little book, Florida Pulp Nonfiction, on Amazon.com. Check it out here. It’s clearly a slime job — and what really hurts is that it’s obvious they didn’t even bother to read…
Not much time this morning, so just a few South Florida media news gems to pass along: — Scott Hiaasen’s report on the continuing fallout of Arthur Teele Jr. A co-defendant in a criminal case is expected to go on trial soon and his lawyer, Richard Sharpstein, promises: “Even in…
Here’s El Nuevo Herald’s response to the Miami New Times piece about its manipulation of photographs. Once again, I find wishing I really knew Spanish. I think it says, basically, that the newspaper did a no-no but that somehow it wasn’t intended and it had nothing to do with “una…
I got this in my NT e-mail box today: Dear Editor: Should publishers treat authors according to their race? Or according to the content of their work? Floridian writer Millenia Black, a debut author with New York publisher Penguin Putnam, is currently experiencing one of the most horrendous depravities of…
The carnage of Mideast crisis gave way on the front page of the Sun-Sentinel to the killing caused by lobster season. Three people did die in the rush to eat the succulent flesh of crustaceans roaming the ocean floor, but I’m not sure it’s quite time to relegate the new…
The Miami Herald’s Gary Fineout reports that Sergio Pino, a fundraiser for Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial campaign, has stepped down from his post. It’s another example of a strong, expansive press in South Florida getting rid of a bad clam in public life. The trophy belongs on the wall of the…
Rep. Robert Wexler’s fake admission on the Colbert Report that he loves cocaine and hookers has apparently gotten a lot of attention on both Good Morning America and Today. On those shows, former journalist Jake Tapper and other light and chirpy TV personalities basically warned politicians not to appear on…
Don’t have much time this morning, but thought I’d toss a few good ones at you: — We must start with the Florida Atlanta University newspaper. It may have a ridiculously bland name (the University Press), but today’s on-line version is anything but that. Reporter Jason Parsley tells us that…
Miami Herald Investigations Editor Michael Sallah gives an interview to PRWeek (thanks Romenesko). It’s not exactly a stellar Q & A; in fact, it’s short and pretty lame, especially when Sallah — who is undoubtedly a great journalistic talent — gives a nod to “savvy PR pros” (which I suppose…
— I know this story from the Palm Beach Post’s Brian E. Crowley is old, but Robert Wexler is such a boob. Stephen Colbert’s interviews with congressional members are consistently the best part of the show and the Boca Democrat didn’t disappoint him. Hey, he’s a veteran politician. He knows…
