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​This year's legislative session has issued its first blow to Florida gambling, roundly rejecting the proposed "destination casinos" like the one Malaysian company Genting wanted to build on Biscayne Bay.

So we're left with the current situation: Indian casinos like the Seminole Hard Rock, and the pari-mutuels: strange old bastions of jai alai, dog racing, and harness racing, where slots and poker rooms are also allowed. Every night, these old games proceed with minimal spectators while the slots and cards rake in the money.

But a few weeks ago, a proposal drew attention: Developer Ron Bergeron submitted a proposal to build a jai-alai casino on his own residence at the swamp's edge in Weston. What gives?
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Hasner, the Jewish Allen West.

​U.S. Rep. Allen West's departure from his Broward-Palm Beach district to run for a more Republican-leaning seat up north is undeniably good news for local Muslims. Finally, South Florida will be rid of a congressman who calls Islam "a totalitarian, theocratic, political ideology."

But don't start celebrating yet. Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach) is seeking to replace West and has already received the congressman's ringing endorsement. Small wonder, because the two men share similar political tactics -- namely, getting ahead by spouting fear-mongering, anti-Islam rhetoric. (To read about how local Muslims are coping with such bigotry, see this week's New Times cover story.)

In 2009, Hasner invited anti-Islam nutbag Geert Wilders, a member of the DutchMore >>

"Hey, you take your giant casino drawings and you GET OUT OF TOWN, MISTER."

​The Florida House bill that would grant three licenses to developers looking to build South Florida resorts has been killed, at least for the time being. The House Business and Consumer Affairs committee postponed a vote rather than voting it down, which theoretically keeps the bill alive but makes it extremely unlikely it will go anywhere this legislative session.More >>

Photos by Eric Barton

Tina has ocean views as she feeds her pigeons.

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Tina has been feeding the pigeons on Fort Lauderdale beach long enough to know them by sight. There's the silver one with a white crown who's the alpha male, mating with all the females and getting the best crumbs. There's also the diva, a khaki-colored bird who stays to herself.

"I'll go down the beach and find her later," says Tina, who lives nearby and didn't want her last name used. "She's a picky one."

Cops sometimes give Tina a hard time if she feeds the birds, as she does daily along A1A. Tourists don't like to be crapped on, Tina knows, so she came up with a fine spot to feed her flock. Every morning, she heads to the Trump International Hotel & Tower. The unfinished skyscraper sits on the beach like an obelisk to the great recession.

Developers defaulted on a $139 million loan that they acquired in December 2006, just as
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The Super Bowl apparently doesn't increase the likelihood of this.

​If you're a regular reader of this site -- and yeah, we hope you are -- then you might have seen our lead story this week about the urban myth that the Super Bowl host city gets inundated with prostitutes.

If you read that article and then picked up the Sun-Sentinel today, you might have been surprised to see the lead story: "Child sex rings target S. Florida." The story begins: "As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, police are sounding the alarms about the problem of children being sold to partiers for sex."

But here's the thing: Nobody quoted in the story, including top law enforcement officials, backs that theory. The story uses no statistics to support the claim -- because there aren't any. And it ignores continued reports, like the one we published this week, that debunk the
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Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office

I swear I saw it blink.

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​Update, 2/2: Added comment from Baugh's lawyer.
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Gage Skidmore

Gingrich, spotting some spare delegates someone had dropped under a dinner table last week.

"​Andy Bernard does not lose contests. He wins them, or he quits them because they are unfair."More >>