For an athlete beating around the lower rungs of professional play, it doesn’t get any sweeter than that first big-league appearance. Mom invites the girls from canasta over to watch the game. Dad brags it up to the guys at work. Grandma makes some T-shirts with your high school varsity…
When Murat Jean-Charles motored into the Yellow Cab holding yard on a Wednesday morning last month, the cabbie didn’t know his fellow drivers were about to uncork some civil disobedience. But the all-points call was already out among the fleet: Assemble at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Jean-Charles joined the…
At 5:30 sharp on a Monday afternoon in August 2011, a University of Miami athletic staffer rode an elevator to the top floor of a midrise building on South Dixie Highway directly across from the campus in Coral Gables. Tall, with a gawky smile and wide ears, he was ushered…
Closing in on 80,000 followers, @_FloridaMan has been doing God’s work over there on Twitter. Since the account went live a few month’s back, it’s become the world’s one-stop shop for all your weird headlines featuring Sunshine state debauchery. But let’s be real, it’s lonely out there on the internet…
It’s hard to rob any of the sweet out of yesterday for the UM basketball team. Ringed by a stadium of hostile UNC fans in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Hurricanes knocked off the Tar Heels 87-77 in the ACC tournament championship — UM’s first time hoisting the trophy. But Sunday was…
Although it’s been quiet recently, the fight pitting Boca Raton against gay-rights activists is about to crank back up. Rand Hoch — president and founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council — says his group is tired of waiting.Since last fall, activists have been trying to nudge the…
If you squint your eyes a certain way, Florida begins to look like some holdover from the Triassic period, and we’re not talking about the residents of Century Village. The center of the state is overrun with huge pythons. Sharks coast the waters. The mammals on hand seem inclined to…
Today the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the Coach of the Year award, and the laurels went to a familiar name: UM’s Jim Larranaga. The honor comes after the coach piloted the Hurricanes to a standout season, with a program record 24-6 run and its first ACC regular-season championship. By coaxing…
One of the more made-for-TV courtroom dramas to roll out of Broward recently involves Rose Marks. The matriarch of a Fort Lauderdale family of fortunetellers, Marks schemed $25 million from a best-selling romance novelist and other victims, or so say federal prosecutors. The psychic herself has been proclaiming innocence since…
Last week, we gave you a heads-up about some new legislation in Tallahassee that might throw up roadblocks for recreational smokers. Rep. Darryl Rouson has put up a bill that will ban the sale of bongs and glass smoking pieces throughout the Sunshine State. Florida’s Legislature has come down hard…
The local personalities, egos, and public figures who swung through the news cycle this week, ranked by New Times’ crack research department using a highly scientific algorithm. …
The epic partisan clusterfrick in Washington known as sequestration is sure to put the squeeze on government budgets down the line. But an immediate impact on Uncle Sam’s spending is already registering in military circles — specifically, deployment. What does that mean? Basically it means the neighborhood drug dealer is…
Better be careful with those glass pieces, because if one state rep has his way, you won’t be able to pick up a replacement anywhere in Florida. A new bill floating through the Legislature seeks to ban pipes and bongs from retail outlets. The legislation was filed last December. Right…
At tip-off, Jim Larranaga is on his feet, watching the first ugly minutes unroll from the sideline. It’s a Wednesday night in Tallahassee, the stage for a Rivalry Week hoops battle between Florida State and the University of Miami. Turnout is good. Red-faced frat boys war-whoop as ESPN2 cameras pan…
If you’re seeing a bunch of news-media types on a beeline for Weston, there’s good reason: Hugo Chavez, the charismatic and controversial president of Venezuela, passed away today. The death occurred at 4:25 p.m., according to CNN. As well known for his U.S.-bashing and flamboyant behavior as his dictatorial strong…
Last month, we told you about New Times regular Robert Platshorn’s latest effort to spread the word on medical marijuana. Since late 2012, the former drug smuggler turned activist has been buying up TV time on local stations for an infomercial. Provocatively titled “Should Grandma Smoke Pot?,” the spot aims…
After dogging it out with Duke in a tough 76-79 loss on Saturday night, the University of Miami basketball team was ripe for a dip in this week’s polls. It happened — but the damage was minimal to the Hurricanes. According to the latest reports, UM has fallen from fifth…
Better be careful with those glass pieces, because if one state rep has his way, you won’t be able to pick up a replacement anywhere in Florida. A new bill floating through the Legislature seeks to ban pipes and bongs from retail outlets. The legislation was filed last December. Right…
The local personalities, egos, and public figures who swung through the news cycle this week, ranked by New Times’ crack research department using a highly scientific algorithm (i.e., calculating the mean number of these you can look at before getting misty)…
The student organizers behind the protests at Florida Atlantic University are currently prepping for a high-noon showdown Q&A Friday with school President Mary Jane Saunders. The topic on the table is the administration’s decision to sell off the Owls’ stadium naming rights to the GEO Group, one of the largest…
Up north this weekend, they did that thing with the cars, a whole lot of them, going vroom vroom, around and around and around and around, in the big wide circle, and everyone cheering for five minutes and then they drink MGD, and country music and America and white people…
It was probably going to happen, but it’s still rough to see: after going 14-games without falling to competition, the University of Miami’s basketball team lost this weekend. The Hurricanes’ first lost in 2013 didn’t come from Duke, UNC or any other ACC heavies predicted to take down the squad…
