As jury selection continues in the bribery and grand theft trial of suspended Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, the prosecution’s main witness, prominent developer Armando Codina, gave new testimony that pokes holes in the state’s case. Trial is set to begin next week.In a deposition taken this past February 16,…
Looking to avoid getting accosted by reporters like she was a few weeks ago during a Hialeah clinic opening, Natacha Seijas brought in some heavy muscle to her court hearing yesterday. The county commissioner, who is seeking to block a recall vote against her, showed up at Judge Amy Steele…
Veldora Arthur, a $184,336-a-year Miami assistant fire chief, is facing federal criminal charges for her alleged involvement in a $10 million mortgage fraud scam. Arthur, along with two other people, was recruited by a man named Neil Fagan to act as straw buyers who purchased six separate units in an…
The Michelle Spence-Jones public corruption saga is entering its final act. Her trial on grand theft and bribery charges begins today.Since her initial arrest in November 2009, days following her reelection to the Miami City Commission, Spence-Jones has maintained she will be exonerated. By the end of the week, we’ll…
Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff sure knows how to alienate people. We’ve made our case before why this guy should get recalled. The man is unfit for public office. He is absolutely clueless when it comes to dealing with the poor and the disenfranchised.On February 18, Sarnoff provided more reason…
David Anderson and his family have been serving breakfast and lunch to migrant workers and farmers from a tin-roof shack for more than half a century. But Miami-Dade County’s bureaucratic environmental red tape is threatening to shut down his Redland Grocery at 26400 SW 187th Ave., Anderson says. “We’ve been…
Bad enough The Miami Herald poaches New Times stories without giving us credit, but now they want to co-opt our mayoral candidate. Yesterday, the city’s only major daily newspaper published a column by local African American blogger Joy-Ann Reid essentially endorsing Luther Campbell for county mayor. The 726-word opinion piece…
Fresh off his media tour addressing his desire to run for Miami-Dade County mayor, Luther Campbell is dropping his knowledge about the music industry and professional sports at Nova Southeastern University on Saturday.The school’s Shepard Broad Law Center enlisted Uncle Luke to give the keynote address at its sports and…
Pablo Marquez pumps his fists toward the rafters of Coral Springs Gymnasium. Sweat races off his forehead, dripping onto the soft cotton fabric of his royal blue leotard. His wide, brown eyes gaze menacingly at Ricky Young, a wrestler packing a chiseled 254-pound body into a six-foot-four frame. Marquez’s black-and-white…
Fourteen years after New Times chronicled her free fall out of public office and into the slammer, Vicki Lukis has won her redemption. On Monday, federal Judge John Steele of the U.S. District Court in Lee County vacated her 1997 conviction on honest services fraud. Her case was a fascinating…
In the ultra competitive, bruising world of professional wrestling, a viciously creative signature move is what separates the stars from the understudies.Joey “The Portrait of American Horror” Saint, clocking in at 400 pounds, and Brian “The Beast” Brody, who packs 200 pounds, combine to form a fiendishly diabolical human smash…
Fifty seconds. That’s how quick Dhafir Harris, aka Dada 5000, dispatched Timothy Papp Jr., an Oklahoma MMA fighter with more experience than the Perrine Spartan. Prior to stepping into the ring with Papp, Harris told New Times, “I need to inflict pain on him real quick so people know I…
Dhafir Harris, aka Dada 5000, is back in the MMA ring this Saturday night. The Perrine Spartan is the second headline match for the Mixed Fighting Alliance’s event at the U.S. Century Bank Arena located in the south campus of Florida International University. For the past two weeks, Harris has…
On yesterday’s Dan LeBatard show on 790 The Ticket, sometime New Times strip club expert Disco Rick provided intimate details about Rick Ross’ infamous birthday party earlier this month at King Of Diamonds. Using the tenacious reporting chops that helped him break the University of Miami Pell grant scandal in…
County Commissioners Pepe Diaz and Natacha Seijas sure know how to dish out the bullshit when they are trying to help a friend hold on to a lucrative county contract. Two days ago, during the Internal Management & Fiscal Responsibility committee meeting, the pair chided Procurement Director Miriam Singer for…
You know Uncle Luke is the true front runner when even the New Yorkers are telling Miami-Dade voters to elect him county mayor. New York magazine officially joined the movement today. Writer Amos Barshad notes “it doesn’t take a friggin’ expert to know that former 2 Live Crew svengali Luther…
We don’t know about all of you, but we’re pretty sick and tired of certain Miami-Dade politicians who keep resorting to their legal attack strategies to stop the will of the people. It’s damn time we get ourselves a true leader, a champion of the first amendment, who’s gonna come…
Nine more individuals have been criminally charged in the ongoing federal investigation into a $40 million ponzi scheme in Hialeah. The arrests come in the wake of news reports that the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina for alleged loan sharking, mortgage fraud and…
Luther Campbell wants to be Miami-Dade County’s new mayor. The Miami New Times columnist and former 2 Live Crew frontman is looking ahead to the March 15 vote on recalling present Mayor Carlos Alvarez. In an extended column this week, he reveals his game plan for a campaign that should…
Banana Republican just got an exclusive video from North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre responding to the outrage from Councilman Scott Galvin and city residents over his ordering 43 police-style badges for his three full-time staffers and his “volunteers.” The Haitian American politician wants to make it perfectly clear to everybody…
Natacha Seijas should just get on her broom and fly off whenever a pesky journalist confronts her for comment about the recall against her. As we write this, the Wicked Witch of Northwest Miami-Dade is probably brewing up some diabolical potion for her latest media nemesis, GenTV reporter Claudia DoCampo,…
Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his wife Raiza Villacis-Robaina gave out high interest loans to individuals other than accused ponzi schemer Luis Felipe Perez. And Hialeah Councilwoman Vivian Casals-Muñoz prepared the mortgage documents that secured the loans the Robainas provided to Perez, former Councilman Guillermo Zuñiga, and Hialeah business owners…
