Lead Stories *Catholic officials in Brazil attribute the recent 250 percent increase in church attendance to the popularity of priest Marcelo Rossi, age 31, a singer and former aerobics instructor described by his young female parishioners as a “hunk” and whose high-energy stadium masses regularly draw 20,000 worshipers. According to…
Virginia Key: Keep It Open, Keep It Public I was appalled when I read Jim Mullin’s article “Saviors of Virginia Key” (April 1) and became aware of Miami’s plans to lease the old county park for private development. I would like to get involved with the groups that are trying…
Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko may be gone, but he is not forgotten. On January 12 a group of prosecutors and U.S. Customs agents gathered in Miami to discuss the mysterious West African millionaire, suspected of embezzling nearly $250 million from a Middle Eastern bank. Federal officials flew in from New…
Lead Stories *The Times of London reported in March that a convicted rapist in his thirties has been recommended for British government-provided Viagra to treat the depression he has been suffering since his release from prison a year ago. Doctors at St. George’s Hospital in south London say his main…
His Four-Year-Old Must Have Some John Hancock Regarding Tristram Korten’s “damn good question” of why the authorities are “going after Miami’s finest street artists?” in “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Suspect” (March 25), I have a better query: How is scribbling your name on signs, overpasses, and palm…
The moment Athalie Range approached the podium and began to speak, it was all over. Anyone at Miami City Hall who had been hoping for an uneventful meeting and a quick vote was about to be sorely disappointed. The 83-year-old matriarch, who in 1965 became Miami’s first black commissioner, returned…
Crocodile Tears for Cowboys in Gatorland I almost cried reading Jacob Bernstein’s romantic and touching drivel about the 8 1-2 Square Mile Area’s cowboys (“Home on the Glades,” March 18). But I wish to clarify a few points. First things first. To my knowledge nothing sinister or underhanded or vengeful…
Lead Stories *In March Alan and Christine Davies of Rhondda, Wales, were awarded about $200,000 from the driver who caused the collision that, according to doctors, left Alan with a rare brain condition. Alan developed Capgras’s syndrome, a separation of connections between visual perception and emotion that causes the victim…
A week after his release from the Krome detention center, Jorge de Cardenas is sitting at home recalling the events of the past two years — his indictment and conviction on corruption charges, the year he spent at a federal prison in Kentucky, and his three months in the Kafkaesque…
Lead Stories *In January North Dakota legislators decided against a proposal to crack down on impatient motorists who relieve themselves while driving and then toss their urine- (and even feces-) filled plastic containers to the side of the road. The containers create hazards when clean-up crews accidentally smash them with…
One for the Money, Two for the Show … Some research into past rock concerts at Gulfstream Park would have added a welcome historical perspective to Robert Andrew Powell’s article “Rock Me Like a Thoroughbred” (March 11). On December 28-30, 1968, Gulfstream hosted the Miami Pop Festival, post-Monterey and pre-Woodstock…
I wanted to be supportive. I tried to like it. But I’m sorry, I think all the hoopla surrounding the Miami Circle is just asinine. How in the world did a hunk of limestone with a giant septic tank in the middle of it become the most important issue in…
The Town That Was Big Enough for Two Dictators Regarding Tristram Korten’s “A Brotherly Imbroglio” (March 4), I am glad to see that someone is finally trying to take the dictator and his sons to task. Hialeah Police Chief Rolando Bolanos, Sr., has ruled with an iron hand, along with…
Lead Stories *In February Eastern Illinois University officials declined to refund $364 in tuition to April Hixson for the course “Nonwestern Music,” which Hixson said was little music and much pornography, seemingly designed to draw reactions from female students. According to professor Douglas Di-Bianco: “You have to understand the extremes…
Lead Stories *According to a January report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the percentage of gay men who engage in risky sex without condoms (“barebacking”) is growing, and a tiny minority of those men have taken their passion a step further, in the form of Russian roulette parties that are…
Send Clarke Packing and Don’t Pay Him! Regarding Jim Mullin’s column, “Brainteaser” (February 18), please keep the pressure on former Miami Northwestern High School principal William Clarke. His conduct and his superiors’ lack of guts have cost Miami-Dade taxpayers enough. I called Superintendent Roger Cuevas’s office today, only to discover…
Cuban Farmers: Workin’ for the Man Kudos to David Abel for his excellent article “Cuba’s Second Revolution” (February 18), and to Diosmel Rodriguez Vega for his courageous struggle to offer Cuban farmers a way out of their de facto status as serfs under the Cuban regime, an action that led…
Lead Stories *Only the Falcons Were More Disappointed: On Super Bowl Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times profiled local resident Joffre Leggett, age 80, as he prepared for the Publishers Clearing House prize patrol, which he claimed would be arriving at his house later that day with $31 million. He proudly…
Lead Stories *The Denny’s restaurant chain, which paid $45 million in 1994 to settle a lawsuit by black customers who claimed they were denied service, launched a two-million-dollar corporate anti-racism campaign January 12. On the same day, seventeen Hispanics sued a San Jose, California, Denny’s, claiming they were refused service…
Readers of tomorrow, welcome to Scholastic Bowl, the program that showcases student ingenuity. Our gracious sponsor today is the Miami-Dade County Public Schools from South Florida, the fourth largest school district in the nation. Special thanks to Superintendent Roger C. Cuevas and school board chairman Solomon Stinson for providing us…
Jarvis Deserved Better Tristram Korten’s “Death of a Warrior” (February 11) was a heartfelt story. What is even more depressing is that these tragic incidents take place every day, predominately affecting the children of the black community. One can clearly see a vicious cycle, but no one is there to…
Lead Stories *Joe Firmage, age 28, multimillionaire founder of the high-profile Internet consulting firm USWeb, resigned in January out of fear that the company’s reputation was being hurt by his public announcement that extraterrestrials are responsible for many high-tech inventions, such as semiconductors and lasers. According to his autobiography, which…
