As I’ve said before, I don’t like Charlie Crist’s compact with the Seminoles. It gives an unfair advantage to the tribe, which has historically thumbed its nose at the state while making a fortune on a gambling monopoly. Giving the Seminoles sole control over the blackjack and baccarat market isn’t…
Justice served, cold and late. Below is the memo from Assistant State Attorney Maggie Gerson. She tells it like it is, creating an almost surreal effect. The insanity is that it had to be written in the U.S.A. My favorite line: “(T)he arrest may have been lawful had there been…
I lifted this mosaic of Iraq War casualties from JAABlog. Found it, compelling, disturbing, and fitting…
Let me begin this post with an apology to Earl Maucker. In the original version of the story on the Gulfstream Park criminal investigation, I wrote that the Sun-Sentinel’s executive editor instructed a reporter to contact the racino’s advertising director. It was actually Deputy Managing Editor Phil Ward. Not that…
Well, if you’re bored and want to see the Pulp make an ass out of himself in person, rather than here on this prime piece of Internet real estate, come out to the Miami Book Fair Sunday. I’ll be pimping my book, Florida Pulp Nonfiction, there (sales have been a…
Sometimes I should thank the Sun-Sentinel for being lame. After all, their very lameness occasionally helps me and other New Times writers break major stories. Like this one about a state investigation into an alleged slots theft ring — that might have risen all the way up to a gaming…
Whenever a deputy goes down, we wonder how it could have been prevented. We want to learn from it, so that it doesn’t happen again, so that the deputy’s death wasn’t in vain. In the case of Dep. Paul Rein, we can debate forever about whether, at 76, he was…
It’s not easy being David Rhodes. He hears that people have called him “Public Enemy No. 1.” People hush up when he walks into work meetings. He’s a pariah in his own workplace. Rhodes is an auditor for the Broward County School Board. “They beat me up on a daily…
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating an alleged slot-machine theft ring by employees at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino. This is the first potential scandal for the fledgling industry, which is both heavily regulated and heavily taxed by the state. And I’m the one bringing you the news…
The Palm Beach Post is heavily pimping its newest blog, Sonja Isger’s “The Morning Brew.” I noticed it this morning, thanks to a giant ad for it on the newspaper’s homepage. The blog’s logo is a Palm Beach Post newspaper and a cup of coffee. Oh yeah, morning brew. Get…
A few notes on the local blogosphere: — John DeGroot has begun his own blog that focuses on the public health system (if there is such a thing). It’s titled “Broward Health — Not” and can be seen here. The first indication that this could be a must-read for the…
Have any of you received this photo in you email, accompanied by a line about how Barack Hussein Obama (anytime they include the middle name, you know they’re going to play on xenophobic fears) refused to put his hand on his heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance? I got…
Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo. The video above gives you an idea of the kind of lunacy that’s coming to Miami. John Hagee and his “Christians United for Israel” tour will be here tomorrow night. Hagee and his followers are calling for…
You’ve probably read about the vote to choose Hilton over Marriott to build the 1000-room hotel next to the Broward Convention Center. But you didn’t get the whole story. The vote, in some ways, was a referendum on the power of Judy Stern, who is the lobbyist du jour in…
Last week we had the Boynton Beach Police Department asking reporters to shave their heads for a cause, now we have the Palm Beach School District offering journos a chance to “portray themselves” in a movie. School board spokesman Nat Harrington tells reporters of a school safety video that is…
It gives the Pulp no joy to bring you this news from Editor and Publisher. Circulation keeps declining — and we’re starting to grow wary of the “third-party paper” excuse, which has been used for other steep losses. Here’s the key graph, local-wise: “E&P has learned that several major papers…
When the man in the City of Hollywood golf shirt walked into Harrison’s Wine Bar late last year, the place already had some experience with sexual peccadilloes. That August, a group of swingers got a little out of hand during a private birthday party at the downtown bar. Hollywood detectives…
Why am I publishing the Broward County lobbyist registration list? Because I can. And it should be online anyway, so I’m just doing a service. It includes all the lobbyists registered to work at the Broward County Commission, their phone numbers, email addresses, and all their clients. It also proves…
John DeGroot gives us the background facts on the University of Miami’s purchase of Cedar’s Medical Center. In short, he suggests, based on the numbers, that UM is buying itself a right big boondoggle. And this time he tees off on another newspaper instead of the old punching bag down…
We’ve now gotten two comments regarding an alleged State Attorney’s Office investigation into JAABlog’s posting of the Levenson-Reidy transcript in which the name of the 16-year-old sex crime victim appeared. In Florida, it’s a second-degree misdemeanor to publish the name of the victim of a sex offense (I include the…
Remember that Gulfstream II jet that left Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and wound up crashed in Mexico with four tons of cocaine aboard? Remember that the jet was previously associated with the federal government and runs to Guantanamo? Remember it had allegedly been recently purchased by a mysterious local airman…
The Miami Herald’s Joan Fleischman reports that there’s a low-budget by University of Miami students (Sam Rega and Josh Miller) in the works. Below is the rather kick-ass trailer, which includes snippets with journalists Jim DeFede and Francisco Alvarado. (Via Stuck on the Palmetto)…
