There’s been a war brewing on Ocean Drive for months now. On one side, residents and boutique hotel owners who argue that the iconic strip has devolved into a drunken, tacky mess. On the other, late-night restaurants and bars who say the strip is just catering to what tourists want…
Meet Andrew Korge. He really, really wants to become a politician. He first signaled his political ambitions last year by publicly discussing a long-term plan that would see him run for a Florida Senate seat that included Miami Beach and much of coastal Miami in 2020. Then redistricting happened. Korge…
Roberto Verdaguer doesn’t think Donald Trump needs his money. That’s one of the main things he likes about the real estate magnate. But that didn’t stop him from sending $250 to Trump’s campaign. “I like the fact that he wants to finance this campaign with his own money,” says Verdaguer,…
Marco Rubio’s decision to run for reelection was highly orchestrated. He wanted to make it seem like other Republicans politicians were basically begging him to get into the race. According to one report, he even tried to get Sen. Ted Cruz to send out an e-mail blast publicly asking for…
The poll numbers for Donald Trump among Hispanic voters are dire. Just last week, ABC found that 90 percent of Latin voters nationwide have a negative view of the Donald. Among Florida Hispanics, Hillary’s lead has polled as high as 51 percent. So as Miami’s own Latinas for Trump group…
Today, a committee in Tallahassee will meet to decide the winner among three finalists for a new statue to represent Florida in the U.S. Capitol Building. Those finalists — who are all perfectly respectable choices — were picked by ordinary Floridians in a monthlong online survey. But we know…
Floridians often joke about Publix being our one shared pride as a state. Whether Republican or Democrat, North Floridians or South, white, black, Latina or otherwise, it seems the one thing that the vast majority of Floridians can completely agree upon is that we love a good Publix supermarket. Shopping there…
Marco Rubio announced this morning that he’s running for Senate after more than a year of not only swearing he wouldn’t run for reelection but openly decrying the work of the legislative body itself. It’s a flip-flop so big that Shaquille O’Neal could happily wear it to the beach. Though,…
Donald Trump’s growing Florida problem isn’t complicated. The Sunshine State is the most diverse of the big swing states up for grabs in November’s election. More than a quarter of residents here are of Hispanic descent, and another 15 percent or so are black. Over the last month, Trump practically…
Just over a week after the most deadly mass shooting by a lone perpetrator in American history occurred in Florida, a state politician has decided to bring attention to his congressional campaign by giving away a version of the weapon used in the attack. State Sen. Greg Evers, who…
Rep. David Jolly, who had a nominal lead among announced candidates in polls for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, has dropped his bid for the higher house. Instead, he’ll try to keep his seat in the House of Representatives. The move comes as anticipation grows that Marco Rubio will announce his…
Marco Rubio is spending this weekend pondering his future, possibly cruising around Miami’s waterways in his “luxury yacht” as he decides whether to make another run for Senate. All signs are that he will. The GOP leadership is begging him to do it. And now his good buddy Lt. Gov…
In another sign of just odd this election is, Floridians, by and large, do not have a favorable view of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Both are seen negatively by well over 50 percent of the states. Here’s where things get even odder: compared to the vast majority of the…
It was exactly one year ago today when Jeb Bush strolled across the stage of the auditorium of Miami Dade College’s Kendall campus to confirm the years of speculation. Yes, he would run for president, and yes he was in it to win it. “We need a president willing to…
Even as he’s promised to deport millions, vowed to build a massive new border wall and slammed a federal judge repeatedly over his Mexican heritage, Donald Trump has insisted that Hispanic voters “love him.” An odd echo of that message found national resonance in Miami last week, when a “Latinas…
A tense showdown played out on CNN earlier today as openly gay journalist Anderson Cooper grilled Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi about her past defense of Florida’s ban on gay marriage. Unlike Governor Rick Scott, Bondi was quick to acknowledge that shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando was an attack…
Fifty people dead at a gay club in Orlando. Another 53 injured. By all accounts, they were targeted specifically as members or allies of the LGBT community. The month is a nation-wide celebration of gay pride, timed to remember the Stonewall Riots when LGBT people fought for their rights, including…
Frank Hammar, a student originally from Sweden, was expecting to graduate from the Miami Ad School next week. His parents were in town, and the family went out to eat at the trendy Wynwood Diner. After finishing up at around 11:30, Hammar separated from his family and headed back to…
In terms of their stated underlying political ideologies Donald Trump and deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez don’t have much in common. For starters, Trump loves capitalism. He happens to think he’s one of the best capitalists of all time. Chávez has such a disdain for capitalism that he once wondered…
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s political headache is getting worse. Calls for an independent investigation into a $25,000 donation made by Donald Trump to Bondi’s PAC continue to grow, and the AG has now been hit with three separate ethics complaints filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics, Florida Elections Commission, and…
A rough guide to getting the national press’ attention during a heated presidential election: Paradoxically back a candidate who has repeatedly denigrated your ethnic heritage. Print bright T-shirts. Invite the TV crews. That was the game plan this week for a small Miami group calling themselves Latinas for Trump and…
The City of Miami Beach Commission unanimously approved an ordinance today that will raise the minimum wage in the city to $13.31 an hour by 2021. Miami Beach will be the first municipality in Florida to hike its minimum wage above the state level, and the new law falls in…
