As midnight approached this past Monday, Radio Mambí host Ninoska Pérez Castellón cautioned against speculation of Fidel Castro’s death. But on Calle Ocho, no one seemed to be listening. Block after block teemed with revelers waving Cuban flags, leaning on car horns, dancing on SUV roofs. From the sidewalks, onlookers…

If you are a black female officer on the Miami police force, standing by your man can get you fired. Take Ofcr. April Hardemon. The 42-year-old has known Gregory Barnes since the two were teenagers attending Miami Northwestern Senior High. They became reacquainted in October 2003 after running into each…

This past January 26, inside the Miami-Dade County Commission chamber in downtown Miami, Dorrin Rolle played MC for an early-morning ceremony honoring several government employees celebrating 30 years or more of county service. As usual, the “Ghetto Governor” — as the county commissioner is affectionately known by his family, friends,…

Not long after noon on June 11 at the Playwright Irish Pub in South Beach, the predominantly pro-American crowd was silent. It had nothing to root for in this opening round of World Cup action. A flat-footed Team USA was unraveling against the Czech Republic, down two-zip entering the second…

So Israel is killing civilians — by mistake, of course. Palestinians are feuding among themselves on the West Bank. And Hamas has called an end to a long-held truce with the Jewish state. Call it a meltdown in the Middle East. But shortly before tip-off of Game 1 of the…

On a recent spring evening, after a day of knocking on doors, Ben Stevens and Clinton Dowse settle in for a Haitian dinner at the North Miami Beach apartment of 49-year-old Flora Rulles. The two young, fresh-faced Anglos, at first glance, seem to share few traits with their host. Yet…

Former U.S. Congresswoman Carrie Meek, the first African American from Florida elected to Congress since Reconstruction, retired from political office four years ago, saying she no longer had the physical stamina to keep up with the doings on Capitol Hill. Last year she jokingly told reporters she was enjoying her…

Iván Dominguez was bound to offend el exilio when he pitched his tent at the foot the Monument of Martyrs at SW Eighth Street and Thirteenth Avenue. In Cuban Miami, the area around the obelisk is hallowed ground. The six-sided marble edifice, topped with a lit torch, is a memorial…

One day this past October, filmmaker Aaron Salgado found inspiration while shacking up in a motel room on SW Eighth Street. “I was hosting a female friend,” the 24-year-old son of Peruvian parents recollects, “when the seed was planted: Do a movie about the motels on Calle Ocho.” Within a…

Things couldn’t get worse for the Coconut Grove Playhouse. Instead of celebrating 50 years staging plays, the historic theater is on the verge of shuttering for good. Two weeks ago, the board of directors had to suspend performances after discovering the debt had reached four million dollars. Employees complained about…

Daniel Fernandez and Joe Losada would normally show up at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on NW Twelfth Street to testify against the criminals they routinely put behind bars. But on the morning of February 14, the Miami-Dade County Police detectives found themselves on the flipside of criminal court…

In Hialeah it may now be a crime to publicly oppose Natacha Seijas. For the past six weeks, paid canvassers for the Committee to Recall Miami-Dade Commissioners have been collecting signatures from Hialeah’s registered voters to recall Seijas, whose district includes the county’s second-largest municipality. Apparently this does not sit…

On a recent Sunday morning, the two rebels positioned themselves outside the entrance of the Publix on Miami Lakes Drive. There was Patricia Wade, the Redland Community Council’s spunky chairwoman, dressed in a linen jumpsuit and floral print sun visor. Next to her was Kendall Community Councilwoman Millie Herrera, sporting…

Fresh from a four-day weekend trip to Paris celebrating his 38th wedding anniversary, a jovial Joe Arriola assures his department directors his job is not in jeopardy. “I’m going to be here for a long time,” Miami’s embattled city manager promises his senior staff during a January 31 meeting at…

Melissa Thomas and Renee O’Brien are twentysomething professionals, just the kind of people Miami developers and city leaders hope to attract to the scads of new high-rise condos downtown. So on the evening of February 7, the pair was invited to a soiree hosted by the developer of One Brickell…

Miami Police can’t get enough of you. Really. In January, the Magic City’s PD had to extend the deadline for accepting applications because not enough men and women had registered to join the 1024-member force. Every year the city holds three 30-day sign-up periods, each drawing about 500 would-be cops…

Tal Priel had wanted to own a classic American automobile since he was a teenager. In June 1999, the then-44-year-old New Yorker fulfilled his dream by traveling to Lexington, Kentucky, and purchasing a 1975 gold two-door Buick LeSabre custom convertible for $3000 from its original owner. He spent another $5000…

On Wednesday, January 25, after deliberating less than 30 minutes, a Miami-Dade County jury acquitted 27-year-old Mario Barcia of attempted second-degree murder of a police officer. Miami New Times, which published three articles about the case, was a regular subject of discussion at the trial. Shortly after midnight October 24,…

Donna Halpern sits on a beach chair outside her three-bedroom house, surrounded by a menagerie of cats. The 43-year-old founder of Fairy Tails Inc., a nonprofit animal rescue organization, spends the afternoon this past January 19 awaiting the arrival of a Miami-Dade County Animal Services enforcement officer, who is responding…

Cowboy had everything a dog could ever want. His doting owner, Anays Rodriguez-Porras, dressed him up in whimsical costumes on Halloween and took him on family vacations to Fort Myers Beach and the Keys. “Wherever dogs were allowed, I would take him there,” Rodriguez-Porras recalls during a recent interview in…

This past May 1, Donna Halpern arrived at the Miami-Dade County Animal Services shelter to rescue a Persian cat that had been surrendered by its owner. She arrived at the shelter, walked into the sick ward where the Persian was being held, and was flummoxed by the scene. Two three-by-three-foot…

For the past six years, Alexandria Clayton has patrolled the streets of Hialeah Gardens, a town of about 20,000 wedged between Hialeah on the east and Okeechobee Road on the west. Clayton is in the unique position of being not only black but also the only woman to serve as…