Friday, June 14, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state’s deeply controversial anti-“sanctuary city” bill, SB 168, into law. He did so in the blood-red Florida Panhandle, and there were so many fans who showed up that DeSantis reportedly had to find a larger venue.
On May 30, a Palm Beach home forfeited by convicted money launderer and former national treasurer of Venezuela Alejandro Andrade was quietly auctioned off by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The home was purchased by Matthew Womble, cofounder of the Connecticut-based investment management firm EverWatch Capital.
June is Pride Month. The 2016 attack on the Pulse nightclub, which occurred three years ago today, killed 49 people at an event held for gay Latino men. Yet Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — or someone in his administration — decided it was necessary this year to scrub mentions of the LGBTQ community from the state’s yearly Pulse Memorial Day proclamation.
Politician-shaped asshole Walter “Mike” Hill is a bizarre and upsetting dude. The state representative is from an extremely right-wing section of Florida — District 1 of the House, AKA the part of the Panhandle that borders Alabama on two sides.
Last month, Miami Beach’s internal auditing department completed a report vetting the city’s two major towing companies: Beach Towing and Tremont. The audit should be of great interest to residents and visitors, because the local towing industry has long been accused of malfeasance and general clownery. But the public might never see it.
Last month, the perennially dysfunctional North Miami Beach government was forced to expend time and resources to formally tell its mayor, Tony DeFillipo, not to insult Haitian people. On May 23, the other members of the city commission, including three Haitian-American politicians, voted to censure DeFillipo after he wrote on Facebook that he believed North Miami Beach had fired its former city clerk so the city’s Haitian lawmakers could “put in a person of there [sic] own heritage and do what they want!!!”
In 2016, vlogging duo Diamond and Silk became famous by making pro-Trump YouTube videos — and, coincidentally, accepted money from the Trump campaign while doing so. Now they appear to be paying back the Trump Organization by driving business to his allegedly foundering Miami-Dade County golf resort.
The federal government today announced that it’s canceling the kids’ recreation time, English classes, and even access to legal aid. Immigrant advocates warn the decision likely violates multiple federal laws. Other critics have noted that even American prisoners are afforded recreational and educational time.
This is no laughing matter. In the coming weeks, political pundits and dark-money activist groups will soon start debating drink-control regulations, licensing requirements for slushie dispensers, or added legal penalties for drink throwers — all framed as so-called “common-sense beverage-safety legislation.”
Almost immediately, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called for Hill to apologize. But instead of simply admitting he’d callously made light of anti-gay violence, Hill dug his heels in and repeatedly refused to say he was sorry.
Florida state senator and Confederate Elmer Fudd impersonator Dennis Baxley has said some mind-bendingly dumb stuff during his unfortunately long political career. He has horrible angry-grandpa opinions, except he also happens to have the power to write Florida’s laws.
Baxley, an Ocala Republican, is in hot water again this month — not for the numerous times he’s defended the Confederate States of America or for all the absolutely horrible bills he’s proposed in the past, but for comments he made on WLRN, Miami’s NPR station, last week.
Last week, New Times published images from a leaked, 150-page WhatsApp chat that included volunteers with then-Miami-Dade County Commission candidate Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s campaign District 5discussing stealing and destroying ballots during the 2018 District 5 County Commission race. Diaz de la Portilla — who paid thousands of dollars to the political…
Public records show Messam and his wife, Angela, have a lengthy history of financial problems, from tax liens, to a home foreclosure, to a lawsuit from a former employee at Messam’s construction business who says he wasn’t paid for his work. Together, the documents paint the clearest picture yet of the candidate’s money problems.
After two hours of public comment, commissioners ultimately voted five to two against even entertaining a conversation with Ultra’s leadership team. But more importantly, the discussion revealed Miami Beach’s own worst impulses when it comes to tourism, class, and race. Multiple hoteliers and commissioners spoke in favor of attracting elite, moneyed visitors — supposedly the “right” kind of tourist.
Earlier this week, Miami New Times obtained a 150-page WhatsApp chat that appears to include volunteers working with the 2018 campaign of Miami-Dade County Commission candidate (and former Republican state Sen.) Alex Diaz de la Portilla. They discuss stealing and shredding absentee ballots taken from voters that year. The workers…
Fair warning: This article about American foreign policy and potential acts of war contains spoilers for the fantasy HBO TV show Game of Thrones, because we live in the bleakest and most hellish political timeline imaginable.
If you’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, you’re not allowed to endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns of any kind. So it sure was bizarre to see Farm Share — a charitable organization that gives food to the needy — allegedly holding a campaign event with former state Sen. Daphne Campbell.
Baxley went on WLRN to talk about abortion, but for some bizarre and entirely in-character reason, he justified his anti-abortion stance by echoing straight-up white-supremacist talking points about Western European birthrates.
An explosive, 150-page WhatsApp chat leaked to Miami New Times appears to show members of Miami-Dade County Commission District 5 candidate Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s 2018 campaign team discussing destroying or stealing absentee ballots from voters who selected one of Diaz de la Portilla’s opponents, Zoraida Barreiro.
In a bizarre, cryptic announcement, Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen said this afternoon the Trump administration plans to begin shipping migrants from the U.S./Mexico border to Broward and Palm Beach Counties “on a weekly basis without designated shelters or funding to house them, feed them, and keep them safe.”
According to a story today in the Washington Post, revenue at Trump National Doral Miami is plummeting — and has been since 2015.
