Toward the end of Mitt Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa last month, the newly crowned candidate displayed in a single sentence his talent for sarcasm. “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet,” he said, then followed with a smirk…
Last September, 26-year-old Aaron Stinson sat around a friend’s apartment in upstate New York drinking some beer and smoking Relaxinol, a brand of so-called “herbal incense.” Manufacturers would usually stamp warning labels on these products to indicate that they were “not for human consumption,” but users knew that smoking them…
Today’s morning post requires a bit of reader participation. Go to Google and type in “Fort Lauderdale.” Results will vary based on browser, search history, location, and a host of other factors Google’s all-knowing algorithm accounts for. But you’ll most likely see that somehow, a long-ago-abandoned and now-defunct URL for the city’s…
When Jeff Littlejohn walked into the number-two post at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in March 2011, there was no way he could have foreseen the PR crapfest that was coming. And no group has been as relentless in exposing his industry-first approach to environmental protection and fueling the…
Piled on a table in a quiet conference room at the central terminal of Miami International Airport is a dazzling collection of items that could be used to bludgeon and stab one’s way through a crowded airplane. There’s a pair of metal telescopic nunchucks, a silver Rambo knife sharp enough…
Loaded guns, nunchucks, and a weed grinder that looks like a grenade — these are just a few of the items TSA screeners have uncovered passing through security checkpoints at airports in South Florida.See also- TSA at MIA and FLL: 35 Guns, a chainsaw and cannonballFortunately, the agency keeps a…
Want to see a guy get bit by a relatively huge and very pissed-off Burmese python?If so, keep reading, because esteemed broadcast journalist Dan Rather has you covered.See Also:- Feds Likely to Face Legal Battle Over Python Ban- JAVMA Probes Whether Burmese Pythons Are Mere Hype or Destructive Force…
See also “Urban Sprawl Kills Endangered Florida Panther”Some lawsuits make you want to punch mankind’s collective crotch and pray to the gods that the Mayans were right about the whole 2012 thing.Case in point: Kenneth Nolan filed a suit in Broward County Court seeking $15,000 from the Florida Department of…
See also “Fake-Pot Industry Comes Down From A Three-Year High”The effects of synthetic cannabinoids on the human brain are not well understood. Yet people routinely smoke this stuff, sometimes called “synthetic pot.”This week’s cover story on the subject describes the phenomenon, but a recently published article in the Cleveland Clinic…
A federal lawsuit filed this week claims that U.S. marshals acted recklessly when they opened fire in a Boynton Beach parking lot last year and shot an innocent woman five times. Attorney Ronald Guralnick tells New Times that he’s seeking $10 million in compensation for his client, Janira Calderin. According to court documents,…
For months, Lila Steinhoff wondered what was going on in the middle bay of the peach-colored warehouse across from her home. When the wind came out of the north or northeast, the pungent stench of nail-polish remover wafted from the small commercial site onto her quiet side street in West…
See also “The Fake Pot Industry Is Coming Down From a Three-Year High”At the end of July, a slew of federal agents and local cops stormed across a small industrial complex in West Palm Beach. The target was a small office at the back of the parking lot with black…
See also “EPA Wants to Know if DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard Lied on His Résumé” and “PEER Blasts Herschel Vinyard for Trying to Water Down Pollution Permit Process” After nearly four months of waiting, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection finally responded to a federal inquiry into whether Secretary Herschel Vinyard lied on his…
See also “Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Glow Red and Self-Destruct; Can They Keep Away Disease?” and “Petition Against GM Mosquitoes in Key West Has Nearly 100,000 Signatures” Opposition to the potential release of Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquitoes in Key West caught a head of steam this summer. A petition against the experiment garnered more than…
See also “Bahamian Men Sink Boat While Smuggling Six People Into Florida, Including A Drug Dealer”Speeding through a manatee zone is no joke, especially if your boat is stuffed with weed and illegal aliens.At the end of August, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stopped a 24′ boat operated by…
Scientists tend to frame the consequences of overfishing in esoteric ecological terms that seem frightening but are difficult to comprehend. A new study commissioned by the Pew Environment Group, however, translates the consequences into dollars and cents, making it all too clear that South Florida has lost millions in revenue due to depleted…
Banking on the Disabled: Serial Filer of Lawsuits Saves the Disabled… and Makes Some Bucks
“The urinal is too high,” says Douglas Schapiro, a pudgy lawyer dressed casually in a red polo shirt. He’s squished into the men’s room of Mi Fondita Mexicana y Café in Hollywood fiddling with a measuring tape. “It has to be 17 inches from the floor. This is 24 inches.”…
See also “Fort Lauderdale Proposes 2013 Budget; City Hall’s $300,000 Paint Job”Fort Lauderdale released its 2013-17 Community Investment Plan, a hulking document chock-full of expensive proposals. There are some noble and seemingly necessary ideas that could improve life in the city and give a much-needed boost to antiquated infrastructure. Then there are the…
“The urinal is too high,” says Douglas Schapiro, a pudgy lawyer dressed casually in a red polo shirt. He’s squished into the men’s room of Mi Fondita Mexicana Y Café in Hollywood fiddling with a measuring tape. “It has to be 17 inches from the floor. This is 24 inches.”From…
See also “Florida Sponges Rebounding; What Killed Them Remains a Mystery” and “Mystery Sponge-Killing Disease Now Seen From Palm Beach to Florida Keys”Earlier this year, giant red barrel sponges off the coast of Florida started dying. Scientists became concerned as reports of the disintegrating marine life rolled in from Palm…
See also “Urban Sprawl Kills Endangered Florida Panthers”The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this week recovered a “heavily scavenged” panther carcass, marking the 16th dead panther recorded by state officials this year. The endangered predator was found on a piece of private land in Hendry County, east of the Okaloacoochee Slough State…
There’s more than meets the eye on the pristine grounds of Key Largo Hammock Botanical Park. Newly released documents from 2006 show that levels of lead and arsenic in soil samples taken from parts of the park exceeded the allowed residential and industrial limits. The documents were obtained through a public records request by Public…
