Incarcerated reggae star Buju Banton has switched attorneys and hired Chokwe Lumumba to continue his fight against federal drug and gun charges. A Tampa jury found Buju guilty last year of two drug-related charges and a gun charge. The trial judge, however, tossed the gun charge and sentenced the musician to…
The sugar-cane fields of Belle Glade have long been a stopover for migrant workers who earn measly wages in exchange for weeks of backbreaking labor in oppressive conditions.A new lawsuit filed against Cape Coral-based Sunrise Labor Corp. provides a detailed portrait of physical and psychological abuse of migrant workers, from allegations of sexual abuse to a…
Lord have mercy.A lawsuit filed against the Haitian Christian Church in Palm Beach claims that its band director, James Prophete, sexually assaulted a minor.According to the suit, the pastor of the church, Etienne Prophete, appointed his son to lead the band even though he knew his son “had proclivities to…
Jeff Littlejohn, the No. 2 man at Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, is in violation of conflict-of-interest clauses contained within the federal Clean Water Act, according to a complaint filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.The complaint, submitted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, is the latest in a string of…
Go long, Mittens. Miami Dolphin’s owner Stephen Ross has thrown down $133,000 in donations to support the Romney campaign. A $100,000 of that has gone to the Restore Our Future super pac, while the remainder was divvied up among Romney, the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Congressional Committee, and the Free and Strong America…
On Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Fort Lauderdale to rile up the masses and push the campaign’s newly minted “It Takes One” voter registration strategy. She’s slated to speak at the War Memorial Museum on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. It’s a free event, but you’ll need to get tickets from Organizing…
Updated at 3:10 p.m.: Judge James Moody has denied the request detailed below.Buju Banton’s legal team on Thursday filed a motion requesting that Judge James Moody reconsider his recent decision to deny the reggae star a new trial on a gun charge. It’s the latest development in a complicated tussle…
It’s been a rough year for the cruise ship industry. From a showboating captain who jumped ship after crashing off the coast of Italy to passengers falling down steps and dying to outbreaks of norovirus and other diarrhea-inducing ailments, the industry has seen its fair share of woe.Now, a woman…
Marc Criffield clutches a small receiver in his hand and peers through the window of a single-engine Cessna. Suddenly, the device lets out an electric chirp. A second later, another chirp, and then another. Criffield has pinpointed FP197, a burly 4-and-a-half-year-old panther in the prime of its life. But something…
Michael Sorrentino, the pervy loudmouth of MTV’s Jersey Shore, has filed a lawsuit against Headrush Brand Apparel, a purveyor of hideous clothing.Sorrentino, who dubbed himself “The Situation” because of his abs or something, claims in the lawsuit that he’s an “internationally known TV star” and that Headrush owes him a…
See also “Feds Likely to Face Face Legal Battle Over Burmese Python Ban” and “Are Burmese Pythons Slithering, Destructive Force?”The University of Florida announced a startling discovery Monday: A 17-foot-7-inch Burmese python had been pulled from the Everglades. The record-setting reptile weighed 165 pounds and was “about a foot wide.”Worst…
See also “Hector Picard, Double-Arm Amputee Is Riding His Bike From Fort Lauderdale to New York”Ironman Triathlons are insane. Competitors swim more than two miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a full 26.2-mile marathon.People have died, pooped themselves, and gone totally bonkers trying to complete a single Ironman. Hometown…
See also “Mystery-Sponge Killing Disease Now Seen From Palm Beach to Keys” and “Sponges in Palm Beach Hit By Disease”Earlier this year, a mystery ailment ravaged sponges off the coast of Florida, from the Keys up to Palm Beach. Scientists became alarmed as reports rolled in of massive barrel sponges…
Getting pulled over for rolling through a stop sign is whack. But getting pulled over, having a gun pointed in your face, and then being strip searched on the side of the road in front of your two children for rolling through a stop sign is, well, really whack and…
Picture this: A flight with passengers from Uganda just touched down at Miami International Airport. As the visitors inch toward the terminal, one pauses in the aisle and wipes a speck of blood from his earlobe. Suddenly sweat runs down his cheeks; his eyes are inky red. He lets out…
Federal Judge James Moody on Tuesday denied Buju Banton’s request for a new trial. In his decision, the judge wrote that there is no need for a new trial in light of an Atlanta appeals court’s ruling that there was sufficient evidence to convict the reggae star on a gun…
Picture this: A flight with passengers from Uganda just touched down at Miami International Airport. As the visitors inch toward the terminal, one pauses in the aisle and wipes a speck of blood from his earlobe. Suddenly sweat runs down his cheeks; his eyes are inky red. He lets out…
On Friday, Rico Jerome Miller and Wardell Hall, both of the Bahamas, pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle six people into Florida.One would think that the craziest part of the story is that Miller and Wardell managed to sink the 22-foot vessel and had to be rescued by the U.S…
Updated Sunday, August 5: The National Immigrant Youth Alliance announced that Viridiana Martinez, Marco Saavedra, Ally Ruiz, and Daniel Alvarado — all DREAM activists — were arrested on Sunday. Martinez and Saavedra had just been released on Friday. “ICE wasn’t taking us serious so we needed to show them that this community is no longer…
Palm Beach County Health Department on Friday warned that an employee accessed patient files and stole dozens of names and social security numbers as part of an identify theft scam. Officers confiscated a list that included 86 names and social security numbers of former patients, but it seems the scam may have hit dozens more…
On Wednesday, Viridiana Martinez picked up a phone at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and called Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. Martinez, a 26-year-old DREAM activist working with the National Youth Immigrant Alliance, calmly explained that she intentionally got her self detained a few weeks ago so she…
Back in 2006, researchers from the University of Florida described for the first time a cryptic phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, through which massive amounts of worker bees vanished.The problem has since been documented around the world. Everyone from esteemed entomologists to armchair scientists to crazy conspiracy theorists have…
