The freshman 15: South Florida’s newest lawmakers

TALLAHASSEE -- The youngest is 28, the oldest 66. They are teachers, real estate agents, attorneys, entrepreneurs and farmers. And in their spare time, they fly planes, play guitar, raise sheep, write screenplays and go to their kids’ ball games.These are the faces of the 59 new members of the Florida Legislature (15 from South Florida), which begins its regular session on...

Read More..

High-flying executive Claudio Osorio pleads guilty to fraud, money-laundering conspiracies

Claudio Osorio, the former globe-trotting executive who had headed a Fortune 500 company, faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing millions of dollars from investors in his ill-fated venture to build low-cost housing in Haiti and other developing countries. Osorio, a Venezuelan native who once held fund-raisers for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and...

Read More..

Driver gets 6 years for hit-run death of 11-year-old

A Miami-Dade County judge on Thursday sentenced a driver for the 2009 hit-and-run death of an 11-year-old girl to six years in prison, plus eight years of probation. Harvey Abraham, 37, was convicted in November of fleeing the scene where he struck and killed Ashley Nicole Valdes as she crossed a West Kendall street on Jan. 8, 2009. He was arrested after a citizen who had...

Read More..

Crime Watch: Monitor your kids’ credit reports to catch fraud early

Several of you have emailed me with some horrific stories regarding your child having their Social Security number taken by identity thieves. The crooks then open up credit card accounts, which they don’t pay, thereby trashing the youngster’s credit score.Therefore I am going to share the information again with you. According to the Federal Trade Commission, child identity...

Read More..

Handcuffed suspect eludes Hollywood cops

Hollywood Police are looking for a man who escaped policy custody Tuesday afternoon in front of a doctor’s office.The man, identified as Marc Vega, was placed under arrest for a domestic dispute in front of Pediatric Associates at 4500 Sheridan St. about 2 p.m., said Sgt. Lester Cochenour.The female victim suffered injuries to her face and other areas of her body including...

Read More..

Poll: 7 in 10 back FL medical-marijuana plan, could affect governor’s race

As many as seven in 10 Florida voters support a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana – more than enough to ensure passage and possibly affect the governor’s race — according to a new poll from a group trying to put the measure on the 2104 ballot. Medical pot’s sky-high approval cuts across party and demographic lines, with Republican support the lowest...

Read More..

Cessna crashes into Biscayne Bay; four people rescued near Homestead

A Cessna carrying four people crashed into the waters of Biscayne Bay Sunday afternoon within Bayfront Park in Homestead.The crash occurred at around noon. Four people onboard were rescued from the water by Miami-Dade fire rescue workers,” said U. S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios.The plane was headed to the Florida Keys at the time of the accident. ...

Read More..

Wish Book donations brighten the lives of more than 800 people

Payton Petty, a vivacious 4-year-old boy who lives in Fort Lauderdale with his father, a disabled block mason, and grandmother, was born with the rare condition keratitis, a disorder that scars the corneas. Sometimes he can make out shapes and colors. But his eyes can be so inflamed, he often keeps them closed to ward off the pain that arrives with even the tiniest bit of...

Read More..

New witness comes forward in South Beach ‘party princess’ hit-and-run case

About a week after self-described “party princess” Karlie Tomica, 20, was charged with DUI manslaughter in a hit-and-run that killed a South Beach chef, another witness has come forward to offer gruesome details about what happened on them morning of the tragedy. And he encourages the other witnesses who were there — and there were others, he said — to do the same.Security...

Read More..

Jackson Health System earns $5.5 million in January

Jackson Health System reported strong financial results in January, with a surplus of $5.5 million due to an influx of patients, rigid cost controls and good cash collections, Chief Financial Officer Mark Knight told the board on Thursday.Days of cash on hand remained at a low 14.5 days, far below the benchmark of 175 days of cash that financially successful hospitals are...

Read More..

No mistrial after surprise evidence surfaces in trial of Miami cop-killing suspect

A judge won’t grant a mistrial, for now, in the case of cop-killing suspect Dennis Escobar after a startling police audiotape surfaced that could taint the man’s confession.Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Leon Firtel made the decision against the backdrop of history: In 1997, the Florida Supreme Court threw out Escobar’s original conviction and death sentence. It took until last...

Read More..

Tough gals: Roller derby players enjoy contact sport

For Danielle Shaffner, 33, raising three children with another on the way and having her husband patrol the streets on his police vehicle could be stressful.That’s why she counts on a sport on wheels for relief: women’s roller derby. “I let loose and become a little maniac on the rink,” said Shaffner, who is four month pregnant and goes by the name of Pree-T-Manik. ...

Read More..

Hawkins withdraws his name from Jackson Health System board post

In a kerfuffle with echoes from political battles almost two decades ago, former Miami-Dade commissioner and state legislator Larry Hawkins announced Monday he was withdrawing his name from nomination to the Jackson Health System board.Hawkins, 68, who had been nominated to be the unions’ representative on the seven-member board, sent a letter to the clerk of courts saying...

Read More..

President Obama, Tiger Woods play golf in Florida

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — That was a big-time ringer in President Barack Obama's golfing group Sunday in Florida. Famous pro golfer Tiger Woods joined the president at the Floridian, a secluded yacht and golf club on the state's Treasure Coast. The White House says the group also included Jim Crane, the Houston businessman who owns the resort and baseball's Houston Astros and...

Read More..

1,600 hunters net 68 pythons in month-long hunt

Bolstered by a harrowing tale of wrestling with a 14-footer, three Fort Myers buddies have won the top general categories in the heavily publicized Python Challenge.Dubbing their team “Is That a Snake In Your Pants?,” Paul Shannon, Jake Carner and Brian Barrows spent six days on the challenge, going to Conservation Area 3A west of Weston — a four-hour round drive from their...

Read More..

Opa-locka’s Sherbondy seniors have fun ‘on the move’

With Valentine’s Day approaching, Commissioner Luis B. Santiago bestowed ‘lots of love’ to over 150 of Opa-locka’s most valued residents when he hosted the ‘Seniors on the Move’ Extravaganza on Saturday, Feb. 9, at Sherbondy Village, 215 Perviz Ave. in Opa-locka, sponsored by the mayor and commission in partnership with the Parks and Recreations Department. The guests of...

Read More..

Cooking classes at Miami Beach temple nourish the body and soul

Enjoying a meal without counting calories and doing diets has been a source of tension for most of Wendy Shanker’s life.It was always that extra 10 to 20 pounds that consumed her.Her wake up-call came after she spent $10,000 to stay a month in a spa and lost only two pounds. “For my whole life food was an enemy, and it was a problem. Now I understand that...

Read More..

Mystery shrouds failure of Internet video link between Pakistani hotel, Miami terrorism trial

The mystery of who pulled the plug on the Internet connection linking witnesses testifying in Pakistan to a Miami terrorism trial remained unsolved Wednesday, stalling the high-profile proceeding until next Tuesday as the defense scrambles for an alternate solution.A defense attorney for Miami imam Hafiz Khan, standing trial on charges of financially supporting the Pakistani...

Read More..

Gov. Rick Scott needs Democrats to pass business tax cut

TALLAHASSEE For the first time in his brief and turbulent political career, Gov. Rick Scott needs a little help from Florida’s Democrats to turn one of his wishes into law.Scott’s top legislative priority this year — a $141 million tax cut for manufacturers — comes with an asterisk: It has to garner ‘Yes’ votes from two-thirds of the Legislature to pass.That means Democrats...

Read More..

Carnival ship fire quickly extinguished as ship wallows in Gulf awaiting tug

The Carnival Triumph, a Galveston, Texas-based passenger cruise ship with the theme “Great Cities Around the World,” might have been better off sitting at port, as a court initially ordered. As of Monday morning the 14-year old ship was going nowhere, operating on emergency generator power after a fire Sunday in one of the diesel generators killed its propulsion. The fire...

Read More..