Reader Mail: Ban Tasers Already

Smashing Perceptions Way to be: Bravo! Your piece about Máximo Caminero, the local artist arrested for smashing an Ai Weiwei piece at Pérez Art Museum Miami, is really interesting (“Breaking Point,” Michael E. Miller, March 20) and brings to light the many perspectives of this event that until now have…

The NFL Should Not Censor the N-Word

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke doesn’t think professional football should police players’ language. NFL referees will likely penalize teams for players’ use of…

Mugshots Friday: Magnetic Facial Hair

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

Ban Cops From Using Tasers Before Another Young Man Dies

The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner recently issued a landmark ruling: Israel “Reefa” Hernandez, who was shot with a Miami Beach Police Taser last August, died of heart failure because of an “electric device discharge.” It was the first time in Florida that a medical examiner had made such a finding, and…

Reader Mail: Sex Offenders Deserve to Live in a Parking Lot

Hanging by a Thread Not a shaman: There are many things I’d like to clear up about your story on the suspension scene (“Suspended Reality,” Allie Conti, March 13). First and foremost, I am not a “shaman” as you describe me, nor do I claim to be one. I studied…

Police Must Stop Using Tasers

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke calls for an investigation into police taser use. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner recently issued a landmark ruling: Israel…

Semilla Eatery & Bar: A Strong Seedling With Room to Grow

The first thing you experience when entering Semilla Eatery & Bar is the sweet aroma emanating from a wall of potted herbs. They’re a welcome respite from the construction craziness on Alton Road. You’ll also be relieved to hear “Wrecking Ball” sung by someone other than Miley Cyrus and see…

Mugshot Fridays: Where There’s Smoke…

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

Alberto Carvalho Cares About Black Schools

A group of parents and alumni representing predominantly African-American inner-city public schools recently accused Miami-Dade schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho of being a “slick operator.” In a six-page manifesto, they alleged Carvalho has turned his back on black schools and broken promises made to the African-American community. They are wrong. Carvalho…

Reader Mail: Alberto Carvalho “Is the Ultimate Political Illusionist”

Super Struggles The super’s the problem: Alberto Carvalho is a special case (“Carvalho Criticized,” Chuck Strouse, March 6). He sits imperially impervious, camouflaged in a fancy suit, with neatly groomed hair, articulate, paranoid, well-scripted, self-absorbed, intelligent, cunning, calculated, and always looking ahead. He is the ultimate political illusionist with a…

Superfood Bars: Goji, Spirulina, Cacao Snacks Made by Hand in Miami

Think packaged food prep, and you’ll likely envision a sterile assembly line manned by dead-eyed factory workers. Or not manned at all. Such is the general reality of our tech-heavy, mass-produced food system. But Eat4Life, a Miami-based company and creator of the Superfood bar, is just the opposite. Even with…

Marky’s Gourmet: A Wonderland of Caviar, Cheese, and Foie Gras

Everyone has their special place. Mine includes champagne, imported cheese, caviar, and foie gras. Marky’s Gourmet has it all and so much more. For more than 30 years, Marky’s has provided Miami with top-of-the-line caviar, truffles, and other gourmet items, including lobes of foie gras. For someone who comes from…

Alberto Carvalho Cares About Black Schools

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke gives Miami-Dade’s top educator a passing grade. A group of parents and alumni representing predominantly African-American inner-city public…

Mugshots Friday: FTW and Trust No Man

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

Why Do Miamians Hate Eating Whole Fish?

Few things are more enjoyable than eating a whole fish. Cooked on the bone, its flesh stays flavorful and succulent — a far cry from most dry, overcooked fillets. All a whole fish needs is a bit of lemon. All you need alongside it is a cold beer. Sure, not…

Alberto Carvalho Ignores Black Schools

The confetti wafted onto his impossibly square shoulders. The Nashville audience stood and roared. Then a medal on a royal-blue ribbon was draped around Miami-Dade schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s neck. Last month, after more than five years of agonizingly hard work, the self-proclaimed son of “pretty dramatic poverty” who grew…

Spike Lee Is a Hypocrite

It took an incident close to home for Spike Lee, the Do the Right Thing director, to see the reality facing African-American neighborhoods across the country. During a Black History Month lecture recently, he grumbled about his dad being harassed by new white neighbors for playing music too loudly. “He…

Reader Mail: Venezuelan Prez Wears Tacky Tracksuits

Cuban Downfall Us against them: Uncle Luke is right to slam Miami-Dade Commissioner Javier Souto for giving Cubans too much credit for building the Magic City (“Last Gasp,” Luther Campbell, February 27). Souto is part of the old guard, old politics, old thinking, and old reasoning. I am Cuban, and…