Colombians turned out to the polls yesterday — well, a few of them did at least — to choose a new president.Despite all the early promise shown by Green Party surprise Antanas Mockus — he of the 700,000 Facebook fans and 52,000 Twitter followers and reams of enthusiastic street-art supporters…
Whew. So how exactly is a U.S. soccer fan to feel after this morning’s nail-biter against Slovenia? Pissed that the defense slept through the first half to give the Slovenes a 2-0 halftime lead? Exhilerated that the Yanks pulled off a stunning second half comeback to walk out with a…
Long before Marco Rubio and David Rivera became two of the highest profile Republican candidates in Florida, the Miami politicos shared a nice shady suburban house in Tallahassee, a few miles from the state capitol, just off the Apalachee Parkway.Presumably, the scene inside Real World GOP Tally included plenty of…
Miami native Ben Greenman has never been shy about toying with convention. The New Yorker editor and novelist — and let’s not forget, Miami New Times alum — has won acclaim for his McSweeney’s-approved approach to writing, as in his last novel, 2009’s Please Step Back. The book tells the tale of a fictional ’60s-era…
On Sunday, voters in Colombia will close out one of the most interesting free elections ever held in South America. Last month, thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and a huge push from young voters, a quirky Green Party candidate named Antanas Mockus came from nowhere to force the establishment ticket into…
Tomas Regalado gets revenge
In 1987, weeks after a 7-year-old girl barely survived a brutal attack by a neighbor’s pit bull, Miami-Dade became the one of the first counties in the nation to ban the entire breed of dog. The law remains on the books today, even as it’s earned the scorn of everyone…
Fidel Castro may indeed be 83 percent dead, based on our crack team of unpaid but enthusiastic scientists’ latest calculations, but that 17 percent still kickin’ can spin a better conspiracy theory than Rush Limbaugh.(On second thought, isn’t Castro basically Cuba’s Rush at this point? He spends his days spouting…
In early April, Mayor Tomas Regalado stood before a packed room of reporters and politicos at the Miami Police Department to praise the results of a sweeping corruption probe. “This is not another black eye for the city,” Regalado promised. “This is something we promised the people of Miami to…
In 1987, weeks after a 7-year-old girl barely survived a brutal attack by a neighbor’s pit bull, Miami-Dade became the one of the first counties in the nation to ban the entire breed of dog.The law remains on the books today, even as it’s earned the scorn of everyone from…
A little tip for the would-be Indiana Jones profiteers out there: Don’t sell your illegally plundered ancient artifacts on eBay. One seller learned that lesson the hard way last April, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Miami spotted protected Peruvian artifacts on the site and launched an investigation. Turns out…
A Miami native nicknamed “The Grinder” won the biggest trophy in professional poker early this morning, outlasting a Russian pro in a marathon 14-hour battle at the Poker Player’s Championship at the World Series of Poker. Michael Mizrachi, a 29-year-old from North Miami Beach, finished off Vladimir Schmelev just before…
Millions of Colombians turned out to the polls yesterday to elect a new president, and the environment, Facebook, and free-thinking lost out to security, money and familiarity.That’s oversimplifying, of course, but for the last couple weeks it looked like Colombians might throw a wrench into the system by backing a…
Gerald Posner has apparently landed a TV deal for Miami Babylon, a book that New Times has proved includes dozens of plagiarized passages. Cary Woods, a producer and Plum TV cofounder, tells the New York Post he plans to turn Babylon into a “tropical” version of The Wire. The Post reports…
As we reported in a January investigation, toxic Chinese drywall is forcing thousands around Florida to make an impossible choice between abandoning brand new homes or exposing their families to dangerous fumes. The state continues to drag its feet, protecting politically connected builders. The federal government still hasn’t decided how…
Supreme Court gives rapist Dewayne Pinacle another chance
Nothing makes a bleary, rain-drenched Wednesday afternoon a little more bearable quite like some good ol’ schadenfreude. So Riptide is grateful to 77-year-old Mauricio Cohen Assor and his 46-year-old son, Leon Cohen Levy, for stepping up to the plate. Assor and Levy — French nationals born in Algeria and Morocco,…
When Samer Shehada read the news this morning, he started shaking with anger: The former Miami Beach cop who shot and killed his brother last summer had just been arrested for running a marijuana grow house. Samer was with his brother, Husien, that night, walking down Washington Ave., just after…
Adam Tavss, a former Miami Beach Police Department officer under investigation for gunning down two men in four days last summer, was arrested last night after police found a “fully operational” marijuana grow lab in his house with dozens of plants.Acting on a tip, Miami Dade police raided Tavss’ house…
Last November, we wrote about Dewayne Pinacle, one of the 77 juveniles in Florida serving a life term in prison for a crime other than murder. His crimes, we wrote, “make the case that some young defendants deserve a life behind bars.” So what happens to Pinacle now that the…
From anti-Castro bromides beamed for decades into Cuban airspace to Everglades training camps for squads of never-used, would-be invaders, Miami has a long, mostly futile history of trying to spark change in Cuba from afar. That’s why it’s so refreshing when someone comes up with a common-sense idea that could…
Andres Torres was dozing on a couch with the blinds drawn when he heard a chorus of boots pounding the stairs. The pudgy retiree with a fringe of white hair hobbled toward the door just as quiet settled over the yellow building of one-bedroom condos. In the distance, cars hummed…
