Coral Gables Election Day Arrives

Today, voters in Coral Gables will either give Don Slesnick a third term or elect a new mayor. Two city commission seats are also up for grabs in a city election that has seen all the candidates raise close to one million dollars combined.And unlike previous election seasons, this cycle…

Lien Times: Meet Some Local Tax Cheats

As the tax season draws to a close this week, some of our more recognizable citizens are probably wondering if Uncle Sam will catch them cheating on their taxes again. Take Lil Wayne, who was just popped by the Internal Revenue Service for not paying his fair share in 2008…

Khalilah Camacho-Ali Was Once Married To The Greatest Boxer

When Muhammad Ali defied the Vietnam War draft and was stripped of his license to box, he met a young African American girl whose life revolved around the Nation of Islam and the sect’s controversial leader Elijah Muhammad.He married Belinda Boyd when she was only 17-years-old. Today, she goes by…

Luther Campbell Starts Meeting Voters And Other Candidates

This past Wednesday night, a couple dozen Miami-Dade voters gathered inside a back dining room of Town Kitchen & Bar in South Miami to hear New Times columnist Luther Campbell, county Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, and former state Rep. Marcelo Llorente talk about their platforms for Miami-Dade mayor.It was an intimate…

County Commissioners Deny Ron Book’s Waiver

Maybe Ron Book is losing his touch. On Monday, Miami-Dade County commissioners denied Book’s request to lobby on behalf of a private client pushing a state bill the county is against. The ultra influential lobbyist represents Miami-Dade before the Florida Legislature. But he also works for the Florida Apartment Association,…

Miami Northwestern Students Get Shaft From Education Bureaucrats

An assistant principal’s mistake led Miami Northwestern High to get graded a D instead of a C last year. But the state’s education commissioner won’t grant Miami-Dade Public Schools’ request to give Northwestern the higher grade. As a result, the students at the storied African-American school are being punished for…

Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina’s Discreet Spending

As Julio Robaina courts voters in his quest to become Miami-Dade County mayor, he’s promising to do away with the county commission’s discretionary funds: a chest of taxpayer money the 13 members may dole out to whomever and for whatever they want. How noble of Hialeah’s mayor — and hypocritical.During…

Coral Gables Candidates Raise More Than Half-A-Million Dollars

The election season in the City Beautiful is entering the home stretch. Coral Gables voters will be casting their ballots for mayor and two city commissioners on April 12. The latest quarterly campaign finance reports show the candidates have raised a total of more than $685,000. City residents can meet…

Cuban Government Attacks Coral Gables Candidate For Mayor

Cuba’s communist government is looking to disrupt James Cason’s run for Coral Gables mayor, bringing some Cold War era spookiness to the City Beautiful’s election season. Earlier this month, the American ex-diplomat, whom Fidel Castro nicknamed “El Cabo Cason,” was accused by the country’s state-run newspaper Granma of “pocketing money…

Miami CFO Larry Spring’s House Of Disorder

No wonder the City of Miami’s finances are in the crapper. The man in charge of its purse strings, Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring, lost his mother’s house in a foreclosure sale last year. If he couldn’t keep up with his mortgage payments, how can anyone expect Spring, who receives…

Luther Campbell Makes His Case on Spanish-Language Radio

Yesterday, Luther Campbell went on Spanish-language radio to talk about his campaign for Miami-Dade County mayor. The Miami New Times columnist was a guest of Ricardo Brown and Lourdes Ubieta, who host the 12 to 3 p.m. slot on Actualidad 1020 AM.Campbell discussed his First Amendment tussle with former Broward…

What Will We Do Without Natacha Seijas?

Knowing that tomorrow will be Natacha Seijas’s last day as a county commissioner has us all queasy like a twelfth grader on the last day of school. It’s like Banana Republican is entering the unknown unknown, a surreal world without the poster lady for bad local government. Her departure had…