Friday, Nov. 20 2009 @ 8:06AM
Here's what's churning in Friday's local news cycle:
- Parents of students at Pioneer Middle School in Cooper City are furious over proposals by the Broward County School District to bus students out of that school to relieve overcrowding. But what are they complaining about? Local 10's Janine Stanwood managed to the walk between various middle schools in mere seconds. Or was that clever video editing? [WPLG]
- After responding to a call of a domestic disturbance in Greenacres, cops shot and killed a man after who tried to stab a Palm Beach Sheriff's deputy. [Palm Beach Post]
- Check out Ricky Williams! In Ronnie Brown's absence, the old war horse galloped for 122 yards, leading the Dolphins to a road victory over the Carolina Panthers. Must have been Turn Back the Clock Day, because Joey Porter also shined, sacking the Panther QB twice. [NFL.com]
Thursday, Nov. 19 2009 @ 7:36AM
Today's news in Broward and Palm Beach:
- In a three-part series, a Rothstein investor describes to New Times' Bob Norman exactly how the attorney made his treacherous pitch. [Daily Pulp]
- Teachers in Palm Beach County say that a new academic program in the district demands much more work within the hours for which they're paid, so they may stop working extra hours until the district changes its program. [Palm Beach Post]
- Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bruce Roberts, who as police chief worked under City Manager George Gretsas, pilloried his former boss in the Tuesday meeting (video provided), which may have persuaded Mayor Jack Seiler to side with the two votes against keeping Gretsas in that position. [Sun-Sentinel]
Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 7:49AM
Let's check out local news on this Tuesday:
- Which boat of Bernie's floats your boat? The whole "flotilla" is to be auctioned today in Fort Lauderdale, with proceeds going toward a good cause: the scores of cheated investors. But mostly, attorney fees. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Dalia Dippolito, the Boynton Beach woman who's accused of plotting to kill her husband, is said to have hatched two murderous schemes before the third one, which involved hiring an undercover officer to do the deed. [Palm Beach Post]
- The Justice Department has concerns about entrusting the role of chief restructuring officer to someone who is under the thumb of Stuart Rosenfeldt, CEO of Scott Rothstein's law firm, who retained the right to fire that officer. Rather, the feds want an independent agent in that job who is free to point a finger back at the firm itself, if it turns out to have a role in Rothstein's massive fraud. [Miami Herald]
Monday, Nov. 16 2009 @ 6:57AM
A peek at the local stories people are talking about on this Monday:
- Three Coral Springs teenagers are dead following a strange accident early Sunday morning, which started with a fender bender. For some reason, the car accelerated away from the scene, then flipped into the canal. [WPLG]
- Bob Norman got his hands on emails sent by Scott Rothstein detailing the power that Debra Villegas, the chief operating officer of his law firm, had in his business affairs. Looks like she was close enough to worry about an indictment. [Daily Pulp]
- Judging by the turnout among protesters at Al Gore's climate change speech in Boca Raton Saturday, there are at least a couple hundred people in this state who are smarter than the scores of scientists who believe that global warming is a threat to human life. [WPBF]
Friday, Nov. 13 2009 @ 7:55AM
On this chilly, spooky Friday the 13th, let's see what's in the news:
- Scott Rothstein alleged fraud may have been in the neighborhood of $1 billion. Special Agent in Charge John Gillies says there are "tentacles" and wants our help identifying them. So keep your eyes out for that. [WPLG]
- Eww. Hallandale Beach's Cheetah strip club, which was raided and shut down in March amid charges of prostitution, apparently taped sexual encounters between its patrons and strippers. Any Juice sleuths willing to volunteer finding them on the 'net? Didn't think so. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Charlie Crist, who recently claimed on national television that he didn't endorse the federal stimulus package, even though he did, is now inching back toward that position, saying in Jupiter yesterday that he supported the stimulus -- by taking the federal money. If this Senate thing doesn't work out, Charlie would be great on Dancing With the Stars. [Palm Beach Post]
Thursday, Nov. 12 2009 @ 7:49AM
Your daily dose of news from around Palm Beach and Broward:
- The FBI's due to hold a news conference this morning to ask for public assistance in agents' ongoing investigation of Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein. [Miami Herald]
- Curious about how Rothstein tricked Ed Morse into doling out $57 million? Brittany Wallman got her hands on the phony documents and posted them online. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Florida scored high in rankings in a study by the Pew Center of states that could have California-like economic collapses. [Palm Beach Post]
Wednesday, Nov. 11 2009 @ 7:18AM
A glance at what's in the news this Wednesday.
- A source told the Herald that Rothstein cheated his friend Ed Morse by faking a victorious lawsuit, then inventing a pretext through which Morse had to wire more than twice the amount of the judgment in order to get the funds out of a bank account in the Cayman Islands. [Miami Herald]
- The family of the tree trimmer slain by stickup men on Monday in Lake Worth was a Haitian immigrant with a wife, a child, and another on the way. His coworker remains in critical condition. Just disgusting that a couple of guys can't trim trees at 3 in the afternoon without being mugged. [Palm Beach Post]
- The mother of Matthew Bent, one of three boys charged as an adult in the torching of Michael Brewer, broke her silence and defended her son against media portrayals of being a monster. [Miami Herald]
- The Broward County School Board, with one member facing corruption charges and another who's still being investigated for the same, is moving toward more restrictions in members' contact with lobbyists. [Sun-Sentinel]
Tuesday, Nov. 10 2009 @ 7:42AM
Here's a look at what's happening in South Florida this Tuesday morning:
- Derek Hayward of WSVN-7 delivered a methodical, metaphor-rich report of Monday at the Scott Rothstein estate, where boats and luxury cars were seized by federal agents. "I'm alone now," intoned Rothstein. "I have very few friends." [WSVN]
- Three of the five boys accused of being involved in the burning of 15-year-old Michael Brewer are being charged as adults. [Miami Herald]
- Swastikas were found on the walls of a Jewish community center in Coral Springs, possibly to mark the anniversary of a 1938 pogrom in Nazi Germany. [Sun-Sentinel]
Friday, Nov. 6 2009 @ 7:39AM
Well, it's worth a try anyway. Here's what's going on in Broward and Palm Beach counties:
- The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the state for its failure to provide Floridian family with a quality education -- a point for which the Palm Beach County School District drop-out rates will help to illustrate. [Palm Beach Post]
- A love triangle soap opera in the Pembroke Pines Police Department, where Capt. Dan Rakofsky allegedly sent nude photos of a woman he had an affair with while she was still married to an officer under Rakofsky's supervision. That officer complained and says Rakofsky then engineered his firing. [Sun-Sentinel]
- The Broward County Public Defender's Office is troubled by the number of suicides that have occurred at the jail -- seven in the last 15 months. Are inmates not being properly evaluated for mental illness? [Sun-Sentinel]
Thursday, Nov. 5 2009 @ 7:09AM
Let's see what's in the news this morning.
- All these political scandals lately and none involving Hollywood? Well, the City Commission wasn't going to stand for that! Yesterday commissioners fired Gil Martinez, director of their beach community redevelopment agency, after accumulating evidence he was a reckless spender. [Miami Herald]
- The Broward Sheriff's Office joined with state regulators on a sting that nabbed 16 unlicensed construction contractors. [Sun-Sentinel]
- FBI agents swarmed the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler offices on Las Olas yesterday while Scott Rothstein himself huddled with federal prosecutors looking into his alleged Ponzi scheme. [WPLG]
Wednesday, Nov. 4 2009 @ 7:00AM
It's Wednesday. Here's the local news:
- A bruising campaign for mayor of Lake Worth will go a few more rounds as Rene Varela didn't quite win enough votes to avoid a runoff with Laurence McNamara. In the Commission races, conservative Scott Maxwell beat Ron Exline and Jo-Ann Golden won reelection. [Palm Beach Post]
- Text messages from disgraced attorney Scott Rothstein suggest he contemplated suicide before returning from Casablance to Fort Lauderdale, where he's to face criminal charges related to misleading investors. Stay tuned to Pulp, where Norman will be posting his interview with former Rothstein employee, Roger Stone, excerpts of which are here. [Daily Pulp]
- Remember that political scandal from September? It's still cruising along, as two businessmen have been indicted for their roles in the alleged money laundering of Broward Vice Mayor Josephus Eggelletion. [Sun-Sentinel]
Tuesday, Nov. 3 2009 @ 7:42AM
What hideous things will we learn about Scott Rothstein today?
- Miami attorney Alan Sakowitz says he had meetings with the FBI in which he expressed suspicion that Rothstein was running a Ponzi scheme. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Kevin Gale, editor of the South Florida Business Journal, recounts a party at Rothstein's Fort Lauderdale home on Thursday for which Rothstein himself was absent -- supposedly, at the World Series in New York. [Biz Journal]
- The Boynton Beach Police SWAT team has been busy lately. Three days after raiding Platinum Showgirls, it was sent to a home on SW First Avenue, where a man was threatening suicide. Police managed to talk him out of it. [WPBF]
Monday, Nov. 2 2009 @ 4:52AM
Scariest Halloween weekend
ever -- especially if you invested with Scott Rothstein.
- The self-proclaimed Jewish Avenger is overseas while rumors swirl about whether he's cheated investors. Kudos to Bob Norman for working on Sunday to get the scoop. [Daily Pulp]
- Prostitution, drugs, and a slew of other charges at Platinum Showgirls in Boynton Beach, which was raided on Friday by police following a four-month investigative sting. Three owners posted bond, but they now face a tough criminal defense. [Palm Beach Post]
- They thought they'd caught the horse-slaughterers who terrorized South Florida, but not judging by the one that was carved up in Homestead. [NBC 6]
- The Dolphins own the Jets. What a game! Back-to-back kickoff returns for the suddenly electrifying Ted Ginn. [NFL.com]
Friday, Oct. 30 2009 @ 7:01AM
An extra-spooky, Halloween Eve edition of the MJ:
- Junior Cesar, the 30-year-old man who was shot dead Wednesday night at a basketball court in Boynton Beach's Pence Park, is the older brother of Jesse Cesar, who was 22 when he was murdered just before he could testify against a gang member accused in a Christmas Eve murder at the Boynton Beach Mall. Police say there's no evidence the two Cesar murders are related, but I'll venture a guess that this is the reason that the six basketball players who watched Cesar get blasted can't remember much about the shooter. [Palm Beach Post]
- Ewwww. A 64-year-old man from Broward is accused of traveling to the Phillipines to have sex with two underaged girls who were pimped by their mother. [Miami Herald]
Thursday, Oct. 29 2009 @ 7:05AM
Let's scan the headlines for this Thursday morning:
- If you challenged Miramar resident Joe Otano to name one exceptional quality of living next door to Ellie Boudreau, here's what he'd say: "What really makes it stand out is the throwing of feces over into my property -- human feces." [WPLG]
- The attorney for William Gorzynski, the 15-year-old from Coral Springs, charged with stabbong his 14-year-old brother to death, says it was self-defense. [Miami Herald]
- In Tallahassee, proponents of drilling for fossil fuels off the Florida coast dueled with environmentalists who for some reason don't trust lobbyist promises of oil derricks that set new standards for safety. [Sun-Sentinel]
Wednesday, Oct. 28 2009 @ 6:48AM
What's going on in South Florida? Well, this:
- As Juice insomniacs already know, our local obsession, the so-called Withdrawal Bandit, has finally been caught! Police believe it's Glenn Hooper, a 53-year-old Hollywood man who went to the well one too many times. Lantana police also busted Hooper's wife / getaway driver. Apparently, the robberies fed an addiction of some kind, meaning the couple is about to get a new appreciation of the term "withdrawal." (Crime fighters throw heads back and laugh... and roll credits.) [Palm Beach Post]
- Holocaust-denying author David Irving has issued a statement of regret
for the stabbings that occurred Monday night at his speech in a
conference room of the Ritz Carlton. [WFLX]
Tuesday, Oct. 27 2009 @ 8:13AM
For fresh material on the breaking news item of the moment, the stabbings in Manalapan, scroll down. Here's what else is happening in Broward and Palm Beach:
- That's not the day's only stabbing story. A 15-year-old in Coral Springs stabbed his 14-year-old brother to death during a fight over the volume of a computer. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Former Broward GOP chair Kevin Tynan has been appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace Beverly Gallagher on the Broward County School Board. Tynan's got zero background in education, zero familiarity with the district, and has never been elected to a public office, but he's still a bit more qualified than the guy whom Crist appointed to the U.S. Senate. [Miami Herald]
- Crist's primary opponent, Marco Rubio, gave a rousing speech to Broward's Republican Executive Committee last night, but he didn't mention the governor. [Miami Herald]
Monday, Oct. 26 2009 @ 7:22AM
Nothing like a server crash to start your week! Here's an abbreviated edition of MJ:
- Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dead after being found at the bottom of the pool in his Palm Beach home. Gatsby-esque, isn't it? [Palm Beach Post]
- A Davie man is in jail for beating the hell out of a man who he believed molested his son. [Sun-Sentinel]
- An apparent love triangle turned deadly in Coconut Creek, where a man stabbed his girlfriend, who escaped to phone police. Another man stayed in the home to fight, and he perished. [Miami Herald]
- The Dolphins had the Saints on the ropes early, but New Orleans blew past our boys in the second half. [NFL.com]
Friday, Oct. 23 2009 @ 8:27AM
A tour of South Florida headlines on this Friday morning:
- The state appears to be question the finances of the state's blood banks, including the local Community Blood Centers, where disgraced Broward County School Board member Beverly Gallagher landed work with the help of a lobbyist. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Gallagher is due in federal court this morning, where she's expected to file a motion that names her new attorney, David Bogenschutz. You knew it was a matter of time till he got in the thick of this. [Miami Herald]
- Bob Norman's mining another rich vein in the school board corruption controversy: the meteoric rise of Deputy Superintendent Michael Garretson's twentysomething nephew. [Daily Pulp]
- It appears a majority of the Palm Beach County School Board members are going to take the side of activists against schools superintendent Art Johnson, who also sounds like he's retreating from his tough stance on a controversial new curriculum. [Palm Beach Post]
Thursday, Oct. 22 2009 @ 7:37AM
The headlines in Broward and Palm Beach:
- Investigators are circling Bruce Chait of Prestige Homes -- and not just for the developer's hiring of Broward School Board member Stephanie Kraft's husband. Tamarac Mayor Joe Schreiber has alleged that Chait offered a $200,000 bribe in exchange for Mae Schreiber, Joe's wife, to drop out of the 2006 mayoral election. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Pat Foster is the name that the undercover FBI agent used in the Broward corruption sting, which also relied on the cover of an actual company -- Continental Glass of Hialeah -- which knew nothing of its role in the investigation and isn't thrilled to have itself linked to a corruption probe. [Miami Herald]
- Last night's meeting of the Palm Beach County School Board was mobbed by activists in orange garb, all upset over an academic program promoted by Superintendent Art Johnson. He pushed back against board members who opposed it on the activists' behalf. [Palm Beach Post]
Wednesday, Oct. 21 2009 @ 6:19AM
The news this morning in South Florida:
- At last night's Broward County School Board meeting, members discussed a refresher course on ethics. So... like that safety meeting the Soviets had after the meltdown at Chernobyl? [Miami Herald]
- Crist is going to demand the state review loopholes that allow felons to land jobs at nursing homes and day care centers. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Having taken flak from parents about the curriculum for their gifted students, the Palm Beach County School District made what figures to be a popular change in advance of today's board meeting. [Palm Beach Post]
Monday, Oct. 19 2009 @ 7:37AM
On a chilly Monday morning, here's what's in the news in South Florida:
- A family that lives in the Acreage, where experts have been seeking to explain a cancer cluster, report that three pets died of the same kind of cancer, hemangiosarcoma. [Palm Beach Post]
- Homicide detectives are investigating a body found in a pickup truck near Weston. [CBS4]
- Massive amounts of foreclosures have swamped South Florida civil courts, creating a bottleneck that's amplified the misery of struggling homeowners. [Miami Herald]
- In an affluent gated community in Wellington, Lance McClellan allegedly shot and killed his wife while his 9-year-old daughter was also in the home. He was also wounded from a self-inflicted gunshot. [WFLX]
Friday, Oct. 16 2009 @ 7:57AM
Let's look at what's in the news this morning:
- Big, big trouble for Broward County School Board member Stephanie Kraft. New Times' Bob Norman has confirmed that Kraft's husband, Mitch, took payments from Prestige Homes to negotiate a deal with the district for the mitigation fees associated with that company's development. [Daily Pulp]
- Art Johnson, superintendent of Palm Beach County schools, sincerely apologizes for your failure to understand the genius of its one-size-fits-all academic program. Apology accepted! [Palm Beach Post]
- Raymond Adams, a certified USA Gymnastics coach in Deerfield Beach, was arrested on charges of molesting a 10-year-old female pupil, and investigators believe there may be other victims. [Sun-Sentinel]
- The Broward Sheriff's Office now says that the two vicious beatings that occurred in Oakland Park in April may have been hate crimes against the gay male victims. This after ruling that out. [WPLG]
Thursday, Oct. 15 2009 @ 7:20AM
As we continue to watch for candidates in the race to replace Congressman Robert Wexler, let's see what else is brewing in Broward and Palm Beach:
- Prosecutors have scored guilty pleas from six men accused of racketeering for the Bonanno crime family, but the alleged ringleader is still holding out for a trial. [Miami Herald]
- Charlie Crist wants a statewide grand jury to examine corruption rampant in South Florida. But will it be free to go digging in your backyard, Governor? [Sun-Sentinel]
- In Lake Worth, Palm Beach sheriff's deputies are investigating a shooting last night near Homeland Road that left a woman dead and a man injured. [WPBF]
Wednesday, Oct. 14 2009 @ 8:48AM
The headlines in South Florida this Wednesday:
- The latest on the Michael Brewer story is that one of his attackers was angry about a videogame the 15-year-old had borrowed. Just sickening. [CBS4]
- U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is leaving Congress. [Miami Herald]
- Stacy Ritter is contemplating a run for Wexler's seat. Is this a joke? Let's go with joke, then. [Palm Beach Post]
- Broward County School Board Superintendent Jim Notter wants to set up a watchdog committee. I hereby nominate Neil Sterling as chairman! [Miami Herald]
Tuesday, Oct. 13 2009 @ 8:18AM
Your Tuesday morning in Broward and Palm Beach:
- The Wildcat is alive! Chad Henne can throw! Ronnie and Ricky can run! The Fins beat the Jets in dramatic fashion. [NFL.com]
- The state's investigation of improper communication between the Public Service Commission the utility it regulates, Florida Power & Light, hasn't found squat so far. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Pregnant women in Palm Beach County have first dibs on the H1N1 vaccine that arrived today. [Palm Beach Post]
- A bunch of fruit flies will be unleashed over Broward County for a very specific mission: "find a mate, have sex, and die." So... a trip to the Seminole Hard Rock? The hope is that they kill off the fruit flies wreaking havoc on South Florida crops.[Sun-Sentinel]
Monday, Oct. 12 2009 @ 7:58AM
Time to get your Monday on. But first, a look back on what made news this past weekend.
- Tamarac mayoral candidate Ed Portner gave a short interview to WPLG about why he went over to his daughter Stacy Ritter's home with a gun last week: "I wanted to scare the crap out of her." Mission accomplished. [WPLG]
- Tapes from the FBI investigation of Alan Mendelsohn show him trying to lure $400 grand from accused Ponzi schemer Joel Steinger in exchange for getting the state to ditch a criminal investigation. [Herald]
- A 9-year-old autistic boy found wandering the streets of West Palm alone has been reunited with his parents, but now the question is whether he stays with them. That's up to the child welfare agency. [Palm Beach Post]
Friday, Oct. 9 2009 @ 6:42AM
Ugh. A high of 92 today in Fort Lauderdale. Let's cool off with some news.
- Celebrated cluster crusader Erin Brockovich attracted a crowd of 2,000
for a meeting with activists concerned about the cancer cluster in The
Acreage. [CBS4]
- With Broward's Democratic Party reeling from recent scandals, Broward Republican leaders hit the gun range. And if / when the Democrats recover, the Republicans will still be at the gun range. Hey, it's more fun than campaigning! [Sun-Sentinel]
- The Broward Teachers Union won a $125,000 grant for crafting teacher pay based on student gains on standardized tests. See that, Bev? Sometimes, folks get money for doing stuff that's good. [Miami Herald]
Thursday, Oct. 8 2009 @ 6:57AM
The dawn brings a fresh batch of crazy to Broward and Palm Beach:
- At the risk of sounding like a broken record, more political figures have been arrested, including Ed Portner, running for mayor of
Coral Springs Tamarac, for pulling a gun on daughter Stacy Ritter, mayor of Broward County. In the future, maybe it would just be easier to report when Broward officials don't get arrested? [Sun-Sentinel] - The Super Bowl will be in South Florida again this year! But maybe never again, says the NFL, because Land Shark Stadium is a dump. [Miami Herald]
- The two landowners trying to sell Palm Beach County its next landfill basically tried to gouge them, so county commissioners are just going to wait till the state water district buys the U.S. Sugar land so they can have landfill space for free. [Palm Beach Post]
Wednesday, Oct. 7 2009 @ 7:16AM
The news from around South Florida:
- Following a winning, Fredi Gonzalez will stay as the Marlins manager, even though the team failed to make the playoffs. Other parts of the coaching staff will be reshuffled, though. [Miami Herald]
- Hospital officials are wrestling with the question of exactly why Broward General Medical Center nurse Qui Lan would have ignored very basic precautions against infecting patients by using contaminated fluids for IVs. [WSVN]
- Palm Beach County has to settle on a site for a new landfill. Any volunteers? [Palm Beach Post]
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