In Florida, Cops Flout the Law and Continue Working

The call came in to police at 1:16 a.m. November 22, 2009: a burglary in progress at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, a former yacht club that had become a resort hotel perched on the Intracoastal Waterway just off the 17th Street Causeway. Kenneth Post, the burglar, was a 46-year-old,…

Miami’s Long, Silly History of Sex Crackdowns

Mention Miami today to an out-of-towner and a few images immediately pop to mind: Crockett and Tubbs in glorious pastel, white sand beaches and lots of extremely attractive people in scant clothing bathing in the sun. Miami is sexy. There is no denying it. But at heart the Magic City…

Miami Beach Police Are Getting Rid of Memorial Day DUI Checkpoints

Miami Beach police have finalized their plans for controlling crowds and traffic on Memorial Day weekend, with one major change: This year, cars coming onto the Beach won’t be subject to a DUI checkpoint. Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, the department’s spokesman, said the checkpoint, which has been used for several years,…

Colleges Should Stop Punishing Students Who Drink

It was 1 a.m. Saturday, January 16, when a pair of uniformed men shook Jaiema Pierre awake. The petite 18-year-old nursing major had fallen asleep in a friend’s dorm room at the Indian River Towers on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. “What year is it?” one of them asked…

Miami Judge Rules Florida Death Penalty Laws Unconstitutional

Six months after the Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s previous death penalty sentencing law was unconstitutional, a Miami circuit court judge has ruled that the new law approved by the legislature and Governor Rick Scott is also unconstitutional.  Eleventh District Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch struck the law down while considering the…