All the racial tension simmering beneath North Miami’s political surface — where the Haitian-born mayor has faced corruption probes and blamed the accusations in part on white enmity — came to a head on Tuesday night in the city council. Mayor Andre Pierre exploded at Commissioner Michael Blynn, calling Blynn’s…
George W. Bush has remained relatively quiet throughout the Republican primary race. That’s not unusual for former presidents, and, perhaps, most candidates may not have been rushing for his support anyway. But it seems that none of the current candidates were Bush’s favorites. He much would have preferred that his…
If you ask some of your more ill-informed Republican friends they’ll probably tell you that Barack Obama and Fidel Castro are like totally BFF4eva, but Cuba’s ailing retired dictator isn’t a big fan of Obama. Nor does he like the Republican candidates much either, or so he seems to think…
For the second time in the row, Florida politicians decided to ignore the rules of the Republican National Committee and moved ahead with their plan for an early primary. Like 2008, this means that Florida Republicans will lose half of their delegates at the national convention, but this time around…
The Occupy movement made its debut at last night’s opening of the legislative season in Tallahassee with a move carefully calibrated to resonate with ordinary Floridians — they yelled some stuff at widely loathed Gov. Rick Scott.As Scott made his way into the House, protesters lined the hallway yelled “We…
A political action committee opposing Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich just bought $3.6 million in Florida TV advertisements, according to the New York Times, and it appears the best response Gingrich can muster is something along the lines of, “Hey guys, knock it off. That’s not nice.”The group, called “Restore Our Future,”…
A day after a Senate committee approved Florida’s controversial gambling that would bring Las Vegas-style casinos to South Florida, Quinnipiac University is out with a poll that shows Floridians narrowly support the idea. Forty-eight percent support the idea of bringing full-service casinos to Florida, while 43 percent oppose the idea…
Miami-area State Sen. Larcenia Bullard has fired up a big ol’ blunt of legislative reform this morning, as her proposal to give Florida voters a chance to legalize medical marijuana was introduced in the Senate. Bullard’s bill joins a similar proposal by Lake Worth Rep. Jeff Clemens in the House…
After a brief spell where Florida Republicans seemed to favor Newt Ginrgrich as their GOP flavor of the month, Mitt Romney is firmly back on top in the Sunshine State after his Iowa caucus victory. Gingrich remains second, while Rick Santorum has seen his fortunes rise somewhat but is still…
UPDATE: Turns out Rep. Ron Paul is dumping us — though it looks like he has mailers going out to voters, Politico reports his campaign is skipping the Florida primary to concentrate on caucuses in February, a decision likely informed by Paul polling horribly in this state. No word on whether he’ll be at the Florida debate.As Florida’s…
Rep. Connie Mack’s late entrance into the GOP primary for the right to take on incumbent senator Bill Nelson later this year has resulted in a quick jump to the front of the pack over other candidates like George LeMieux and Adam Hasner. The fact that Mack shares his name…
Turns out Xavier Suarez and Joe Carollo can actually agree on something: they like Newt Gingrich. They’ve both been announced as members of Gingrich’s Florida Steering Committee. Then again, it only makes sense that two guys who saw their political careers take embarrassing stumbles in the ’90s would line up…
It’s not often you see Republican politicians filing bills to raise taxes, but that’s exactly what Rep. Fred Costello of Ormond Beach has done. He has introduced a bill that would add a 3 percent surtax to Florida’s sales tax. The bill also supports the idea of added taxes to…
After a thorough beatdown in the Iowa caucuses last night, Newt Gingrich turned this morning to Miami, announcing a new gala fundraiser at the Biltmore that he hopes will re-energize his presidential campaign. Too bad Newt can’t ring up legendary Miami arms merchant Sarkis Soghanalian, who died in October.Turns out Gingrich and…
If we showed up late or not at all for one of every three workdays, we’d be writing for the Winn-Dixie coupon book by next week. But Bruno Barreiro — one of the 13 Miami-Dade commissioners charged with keeping this rickety skiff of a county afloat — has somehow held…
2011 is over in 31 hours. It would be really nice, actually, if those last 31 hours weren’t your last on earth. (Remember, the world doesn’t end for another 12 months.) Of course, this is Miami, and New Year’s Eve can be quite dangerous. Frankly, Riptide really wants to make…
The story of the 2012 presidential primary seems to be one of surging candidates quickly falling down to earth, with one, Mitt Romney, remaining consistently stable. It’s beginning to look like Newt Gingrich might join Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain as a discarded frontrunner. After taking an astronomic…
Lunch might be the favorite school subject of many children across the state, and a new bill filed by a Boca Raton Democrat would allow corporations to capitalize on that by letting them buy the naming rights to public school cafeterias…
Richard Nixon’s best friend was a sharp dressing and charming Cuban-American businessman named Bebe Rebozo. Rebozo lived alone for much of his life in a well-decorated Key Biscayne home (Nixon eventually moved next door), once worked as a flight attendant, enjoyed show tunes, and after an early marriage that was,…
Muckraking site OpenSecrets.org decided to throw some fire on the Occupy Movement this week by estimating the net worth of every single member of Congress, from mighty Darrell Issa with his $700 million to Florida pauper Alcee Hastings, who owes nearly $5 million in unpaid legal fees.Here in Miami, the…
About a month after the hazing-linked death of FAMU band member Robert Champion, Miami-area U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson has announced plans to introduce a bill that would clamp down on hazing on a federal level…
Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed an NRA-backed law that required all municipal governments to abolish their local gun control laws. Problem is, the state of Florida doesn’t exactly have that many gun control laws, so now licensed gun owners across the state are free to carry their…
