'Up the River' Archives

Top

blog

Stories

Rick Scott Kills Florida Wildflower Bill

By Chris Joseph
Expert and Public Defender Locked in "Death Match"

By Kyle Swenson
Missing Boca Attorney Owes $600K

By Terrence McCoy
Will Chris Bosh Be Let Go from Miami Heat?

By Dennis Bovell
Scott Signs Bill Banning Paid Sick Leave

By Chris Joseph
IKEA Hosts Flash Mob Proposal

By Dennis Bovell
Spurs Torch Heat Again, Take 3-2 Lead

By Chris Joseph
Taylor Chapman Fired at 2 A.M.

By Terrence McCoy
Father's Day: Florida's Worst Dads

By Chris Joseph
BroCo Commission Candidate Worked In Gay Porn

By Terrence McCoy

Law & Order

Supreme Court Justices Hear Lozman v. Riviera Beach, Ponder Floating Styrofoam Sofas

By Stefan Kamph Wed., Oct. 3 2012 at 6:00 AM

Categories: Law & Order, Up the River

fanelozman.com

Fane Lozman

A kooky South Florida story made the big time in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, as justices heard arguments in a case that will decide whether Fane Lozman's floating home -- targeted for removal from a marina by Riviera Beach and towed away by U.S. marshals -- was a building or a boat.

See also:

- Lozman Files Supreme Court Brief

- Supreme Court to Hear Lozman's Case

- Bob Norman: Targeting Citizen Lozman

The court's decision will have wide-ranging effects. From SCOTUSblog:

While the Justices were having boatloads of fun with the Lozman case, they knew that the outcome of it will shape maritime commerce in a very important way... it would be quite important if the Court could say -- once and for all -- what the word "vessel" means.

At times, though, the justices sounded like they were playing in a bathtub, deciding whether their rubber ducky was a duck or a boat.

Email to Friend

Write to Editor

Print Article

Law

Fane Lozman Files Legal Brief; Supreme Court to Decide if His House Was a Boat

By Stefan Kamph Thu., May 10 2012 at 7:17 AM

Categories: Law, Up the River

He's been busy.

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken on some of the most compelling debates in history: the struggle for civil rights, the power of corporations to influence political campaigns, a woman's right to get an abortion. Now, thanks to a South Florida activist, they'll be taking on another subject for our divided times:

What is a boat?

That's the basic question raised by a suit filed by Fane Lozman against the City of Riviera Beach, which has now made it to the Supreme Court and will be heard in October. (See our previous coverage.) Lozman used to live in a floating home in a Riviera Beach marina; after a nasty dispute with city honchos, the feds towed away his home and destroyed it.

More »

Tags:

boats, Fane Lozman, Riviera Beach, US Supreme Court

Email to Friend

Write to Editor

Print Article

Up the River

Florida Corrections Officer Gives Some Interwebs Insight About State Prisons

By Matthew Hendley Sun., Oct. 16 2011 at 7:34 AM

Categories: Up the River

zazzle.com

We don't even know who this hat belongs to.

Being a corrections officer is one of the strangest jobs imaginable -- you're stuck in a big concrete and iron box for eight-plus hours per day, surrounded by some of society's most loathed humans, who are likely armed with rusty shanks and contempt for authority.

One anonymous corrections officer who works at one of Florida's state-run prisons has taken his stories from inside the big house to the internet, hosting a thread in the "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) section of the online community Reddit.

He's offered his insight on the working conditions, prison privatization attempts, how a murder suspect saved his life when he worked at a county jail, and, of course, prison rape.

More »