Lead Stories *In May the Russian press reported that 76 top aviation officials flying to the U.S. declined to take the national airline Aeroflot because of safety concerns, flying Finnair instead. And in March a rusty Stavropol Airlines passenger jet literally fell apart in the air and crashed, killing 50…
Brilliant New Plan for Thinning the Crowds on South Beach Regarding the “Stallonegate” article by Paula Park (“Good Fences, Bad Neighbors,” June 26), I agree with [open-gate proponent] Joe Beasley for this reason: If everyone in Dade who didn’t feel secure could put up fences, all neighborhoods would be enclosed…
Lead Story *In March, armed with evidence that a drug dealer had been killed with a single gunshot during a robbery by two men, Torrance, California, prosecutor Todd D. Rubenstein obtained separate convictions for both men for firing the fatal shot. Both robbers’ guns had fired, but one missed; a…
The Long and the Short of It Your story about the yacht Lone Ranger (“Mystery Cruise,” June 19) was interesting and informative, but there were a couple of small errors. She is 255 feet long, and the overhaul has been going on since early March. It has been our pleasure…
Lead Stories *The Federal Emergency Management Agency reported in May that only 946 of more than 10,000 households in Grand Forks, North Dakota, were covered by flood insurance when the recent floods hit. Four months earlier FEMA had begun issuing numerous advisories about imminent flood danger and spent $300,000 on…
Blumner’s ACLU: In Good Hands Without Me Paula Park’s story about the ACLU’s Robyn Blumner (“Free to Speak Her Mind,” June 12) left out some of the things I said, thereby possibly conveying a somewhat distorted impression of my views. I continue to support the ACLU, which has done a…
Myths: The Kids Got It Right After being torn apart by the pain permeating Lynda Edwards’s story “Myths Over Miami” (June 5), I had second thoughts. Ms. Edwards seems to think that the homeless children she wrote about are imagining a world of demons, angels, and war. But I think…
What are the odds that Miller Dawkins and Cesar Odio will be bunkmates in prison? And if they are, will Dawkins continue to order Odio around the way he did when he was a Miami commissioner and Odio was the city manager? Or will the big house instill a new…
You can’t blame Carmen Lunetta for being a cocky bastard. For years he got away with one of the most audacious scams in local history. According to Lunetta, the Port of Miami, which he has ruled like a Third World despot, was an economic powerhouse. From the cruise industry to…
Lead Stories *A German television station reported in January that as many as 50,000 former Nazi soldiers (including more than 3000 who live in the U.S.) might be receiving up to $600 a month in German government pensions for World War II injuries, while no comparable government benefit exists for…
This Week’s Wisdom: Life Is like a Box of Compromises I read with great interest Jim DeFede’s column in reference to County Commissioner Katy Sorenson and HABDI, developers of the Homestead Air Reserve Base (“HABDI to Sorenson: Get Lost!” May 29). Having been in the banking business for 40 years…
Lead Stories *Ms. Courtney Mann, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, was rebuffed in an attempt to join a Ku Klux Klan-sponsored march in Pittsburgh in April, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Though she has been in the NAAWP for at…
I owe Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson an apology. Several weeks ago I wrote a column about a group of developers known by the acronym HABDI, and an internal feud that raised doubts about their ability to turn nearly 2000 acres of Homestead Air Reserve Base into a commercial airport…
Best Drain-Hole Avoidance I just got back in town a couple of days back and found a wonderful surprise: Once again Reggae Beat was chosen by New Times as Best Reggae Radio Program. Many thanks. This year has found me rather busy, and there has been many a Saturday I…
As the scandal at the Port of Miami deepens, it’s reassuring to see a new voice emerge as an advocate for honest government. “Allegations of misconduct, though allegations, raise many concerns that must be addressed,” Dade County Commissioner Miriam Alonso announced last week. “Undoubtedly the criminal probe from the United…
Lead Stories *In May in Santa Fe, New Mexico, schoolteacher Roger Katz, age 50, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for having sex with a fourteen-year-old student. He was convicted despite his compelling explanation that he had fallen in love with her after she saved his neck in a…
Lead Stories *The New York Times, describing several civil disturbances now raging in Zaire as President Mobutu’s 30-year reign ends, reported in April about the “quixotic on-and-off conflict waged by Mai-Mai guerrillas, who hide in the jungle and smoke large quantities of marijuana.” People fear the Mai-Mai because it is…
Best Deliberately Offensive Falsehoods On behalf of our family of on-air jazz personnel, I would like to congratulate Steve Malagodi and his Modern School of Modern Jazz and More program on WLRN-FM (91.3) for once again winning the Best Jazz Radio Program category in the latest “Best of Miami” issue…
One For the Money, Two for the Beards In his article about ZZ Top’s apparently accidental success (“Accidents Will Happen,” May 8), Rob O’Connor touched on but failed to grasp the real attraction of this group. It’s the beards. Say what you will about “other rock bands of similar caliber,”…
Lead Stories *In February Michael Knowles, awaiting trial in Virginia for killing his wife, filed a $100 million lawsuit against advice columnist Ann Landers, charging that she had defamed him by publishing his letter on how tough the Internet can be on marriages. Wrote Knowles: “Today is my wife’s 44th…
Lead Stories *In April the town council of Cambre, Spain, conferred legal, marriagelike status on nontraditional unions, but controversy still raged over a couple that was not even of the same sex. The precipitating event was the recent nuptials of Daniel Pena and his sister Rosa Moya Pena, who have…
Political Consultants and Other Villains In Robert Andrew Powell’s story regarding Miami Beach City Manager Jose Garcia-Pedrosa (“The Autocrat,” May 1), you referred to me both in the text of the story and in the caption to my photograph as a “political consultant.” Quite frankly, I deem this attribution libelous,…
