Well, now's not the time or place for that. The point is that in the letter Buddy denied that lobbyist Ali Waldman was the source of the Busey article or had any influence on the writing of it. Well, I have to take him at his word for that, at least for now. And the fact is that I was beginning to have
New look. Couldn't post earlier during the transition period. Can't post now because I'm working my ass off.
More later.
That thing they call progress -- or, if your prefer, ever denser sprawl and crowded city life -- moves north in South Florida. And critical mass in recent years has subtly shifted from Miami to ... Plantation.
A sign of that: Last week CNN moved its bureau from Miami to Fort Lauderdale's first western suburb town last week. Why Plantation? Well, think about it: It's the geographical center of South Florida (which essentially consists of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties). Huge news stories have been breaking in Broward at least as much as in Miami, most recently the Anna Nicole Smith death and ensuing legal saga. And now when something breaks in Palm Beach, CNN is a whole lot closer, too.
A CNN rep named Megan Mahoney notified the Pulp of the move yesterday and sent along a couple of pictures. The first one here shows Plantation Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong chumming it up with CNN assignment editor Cristy Lenz (center) and senior producer Kim Segal.
After the jump: CNN's Rick Sanchez's Role In This Post
The Sentinel's Jerome Burdi tells us about Anthony Thompson, a 26-year-old man who picked up his brand new crotch rocket, a Yamaha YZF-R1 (pictured), last evening at about 7:15 p.m. On his first ride on the motorcycle, he lost control on North Federal Highway in Boynton Beach, slammed into a utility pole, and died.
This page on the Yamaha site can give you a decent idea of the power of the motorcycle and inform you of its special features, which include the YCC-T fly-by-wire throttle system that provides "flawless response under all conditions," the ever-popular slipper-type back torque-limiting clutch, and six-piston radial-mount front brake calipers and 310mm discs.
The machine also comes with a one-year warranty. Unfortunately, its less-cautious riders don't.
After the jump: Lake Worth Massacre
Assistant Hollywood Police Chief Louis Granteed contacted me to rebut the post below. I told him that I'd take down what he said and print it straight from his mouth. In a nutshell, he defended both himself and the department in light of the recent FBI's mafia sting operation that took down four veteran officers whom he considered good friends.
"Remember, this was an investigation that was put together by the FBI," he told the Pulp. "We didn't have corruption in our department. The FBI seeked out an individual. Their investigation started -- and I'm not putting down their investigation at all -- but I'm saying we didn't have corruption here until they came in and started their investigation."
Now let's break down the allegations that were mentioned in the post, starting with those concerning Granteed himself and then moving on to larger issues:
1. That he was named in lawsuit from a female officer alleging that he sexually harassed her.
Granteed: "That woman released me from
I'm getting new information on the smear of former Davie town council candidate Philip Busey -- namely that another political player, or set of players, might have been involved in giving Buddy Nevins the now infamous porn story. While nothing is conclusive, and I doubt anyone will ever take responsibility for providing the info to the reporter, I've taken the liberty of removing previous posts about this matter down until my investigation is completed.
I had never heard of Doris Mansour before this morning, but thanks to an excellent obituary by John Dorschner in this morning's Miami Herald, I feel like I've met her. Mansour, who died Tuesday at the age of 68, was the office manager and copy editor for the Herald's defunct Tropic Magazine. Dorschner contacted former Tropic writers far and wide to paint a picture of both Mansour and Tropic, quoting Madeleine Blais, Gene Weingarten, Dave Barry, and Meg Laughlin, among others.
All had insightful observations, with Weingarten providing a bit about how Mansour, who had only a high school education, came up with a great headline on a story about a fishing tournament -- "Bass Hysteria" -- when a roomful of Ivy Leaguers and Pulitzer winners couldn't muster a thing. But it was Laughlin, who now works at the St. Petersburg Times, who supplied the most memorable -- and heartbreaking -- lines of
Another Miami Herald guy is heading to the Broward County's top black newspaper. Brad Bennett, an daytime assignment editor in Broward, has given his notice at the newspaper. His last day will be April 13, according to sources. The former Fort Lauderdale city beat reporter's new job: Editor-in-Chief of the Broward Times.
Wow. This on the heels of the news that former Miami Herald VP and general counsel Robert Beatty is buying the newspaper. Things are happening over there. I called columnist Elgin Jones to get the scoop and all he would say was to wait, more news coming. To quote our fine and upstanding commander-in-chief, bring it on.
Congratulations, Mr. Bennett.
There is an insane standoff around a bank on Miami Beach happening right now. Apparently, robbers hit the Commercial Bank of Florida on 41st Street. Then they got separated and police nabbed one man. Now the others are threatening to shoot people if they don't release him. A SWAT team is searching a building across the street from the bank for the other robbers. It was on CNN but isn't to be found yet at the Miami Herald website.
(I take that back: There is a little piece about the bank situation on the site. They just haven't put a package together for the home page yet.)
Speaking of the Herald web site, what follows is a little blurb about Herald columnist Claire Mitchel. They're going to have a reception for the 85-year-old writer at the Broward headquarters in Pembroke Pines. She apparently hasn't missed a day in 22 years, but almost failed
You've got to watch this Jon Stewart take on our own Rick Sanchez, the Channel 7 wonder who now works at CNN. Hey, it's a living. (To supplement the Sanchez experience and for more laughs read this).
Looks like ALM (American Lawyer Media) -- the company that owns the Daily Business Reviews -- is going up on the chopping block. The company, which caters mostly to the legal crowd and is known to produce outstanding journalism, consists of 19 magazines, including flagship The American Lawyer, and 14 newspapers, including three DBR editions in South Florida.
Here's the full press release from the firm that owns ALM:
New Times staff writer and former music editor Jeff Stratton is off to unchartered territory, almost literally. He left the NT last week to move to Roatan, a small island off the coast of Honduras. Think South Florida, circa 1922, only with "jungle-covered hills." There he will live in his unbelievably inexpensive house near the beach, snorkel, and shamelessly market the island to the world with his brother, who is already nested there. We're going to miss Stratton, who has a knack for finding strange and unpredictable cultural stories and on whose couch several of us have woken up on with horrific hangovers, but mostly we're just going to hate him. See photograph to understand why.
The inimitable Whitey Fraud alerted us below to this news, but it certainly deserves its own post. Robert Beatty, former V.P. and general counsel for the Miami Herald, is buying the Broward Times from publisher and erstwhile political candidate Keith Clayborne, according to Herald business briefs. This is a fascinating development -- and the deal is expected to close this week.
Former Hollywood Police Chief Richard Witt should be enjoying a semblance of vindication right now. He tried to clean up the PD during his tenure and was fired for his efforts. Now some of the officers he tried to expunge are part of a scandal involving an FBI mafia sting. His whistleblower's lawsuit with the city, which by all rights he should win, is expected to go to trial in July. But Witt, who lives in north Florida, has been hit with some very bad news. He was diagnosed last week with a particulary virulent form of lung cancer.
The news will probably be in the newspapers tomorrow. The Pulp obtained a copy of the e-mail he sent to his friends and family. It speaks for itself:
-- The Sun-Sentinel had an interesting and important report by reporter Scott Wyman and database guru John Maines about the way rich people -- like Dan Marino, Austin Forman, Jim Moran, Rick Case, Bill "Bag Man" Scherer, and Preston Henn -- benefit mightily from the increasingly controversial Save our Homes property tax cap. Sound familiar? That's because Jeff Ostrowski did the same thing for the Palm Beach Post last year. (Here's the list of rich benefiteers the newspaper put together). Doesn't make the Sentinel story less worthy, but thought it was worth mentioning.
-- Reporter Elgin Jones has been writing in the Broward Times about an egregious case of police abuse in Plantation for a few weeks now. Seems the Plantation cops tasered a teenager after handcuffing him on a marijuana possession charge (due to a miniscule amount of pot found on his friend's shirt). The teen, Fredrick Cuyler, was later taken to the hospital by his mother and found to have an accellerated heart rate. Well, his reporting may have done some good: The State Attorney's Office has dropped the charges. My question: Where's the Sun-Sentinel on this one?
-- Top of the front page of the Palm Beach has a story that begins: "They came. They blinged."
And we
