Wanted: Challenger to Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz

Wanted: Challenger to Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz

Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz may have a challenge to his re-election this year, after all: At least one group has been actively recruiting for a candidate to run against the former Sweetwater mayor. Pet’s Trust Miami — the organization that was able to get a majority of the public to vote on funding improved […]

Miami Dade College tax battle still brews after big fight

Miami Dade College tax battle still brews after big fight

Fight, fight! But Ladra bets the ugly, public brawl between a group of Republican legislators and the beloved president of Miami Dade College isn’t really over yet and that the former doesn’t know what they have gotten themselves into. Jaws dropped all over the county last week when the typically staid and methodically elegant MDC […]

Jean Monestime raises whopping $77k in one month

Jean Monestime raises whopping $77k in one month

Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime raised a whopping $77,000 in contributions in March — more than he has in any other single month since he started raising funds in March of last year — bringing his total to nearly $300,000 for his re-election bid. Monestime’s monthly take was the biggest of all the incumbent commissioners up […]

Doral Councilwoman in the hospital for ‘obstruction’

Doral Councilwoman in the hospital for ‘obstruction’

No, she’s not getting a nose job. Doral Councilwoman Bettina Rodriguez-Aguilera missed the half of the council meeting Wednesday night because she was at Baptist Hospital with an intestinal obstruction. “I do not know how many days I will be here. But I am well taken care off,” she told her Facebook friends Friday morning. […]

Julio Robaina witness list holes: mistress, Carlos Hernandez

Julio Robaina witness list holes: mistress, Carlos Hernandez

Opening statements began today in the federal tax evasion and fraud trial against former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his wife Raiza, in what is likely to become one of the closest watched local political trials lately — and that’s saying something in this atmosphere. According to documents from the U.S. Attorney’s office, witnesses include […]

Eugene Flinn wants his job back as Palmetto Bay mayor

Eugene Flinn wants his job back as Palmetto Bay mayor

We’ve seen some local political comebacks, lately. Founding Miami Lakes Mayor Wayne Slaton returned to office last year after the former mayor was arrested on bribery charges. Former Homestead Councilman Jeff Porter was elected mayor in that southern city last year after that mayor was arrested on other public corruption charges. In 2011, former Miami […]

Candidate Daniella Levine Cava submits petitions to qualify

Candidate Daniella Levine Cava submits petitions to qualify

County commission candidate Daniella Levine Cava submitted just over 1,200 signed petitions Thursday to qualify for the race in District 10 against Commission Vice Chair Lynda Bell — more than the 1,100 she needed to get her name on the ballot. She also announced Thursday that she had raised an additional $54,000 in March, bringing its total raised […]

Gables Manager Pat Salerno felled by lie to commissioner

Gables Manager Pat Salerno felled by lie to commissioner

The morale at Coral Gables City Hall and among municipal employees made a 180 degree turn Tuesday after City Manager Pat Salerno — who was basically, and finally, caught in a lie — resigned abruptly during a commission meeting. “A lot of people are very happy,” said one woman who works at City Hall. But […]

In District 8 race, challenger Levine Cava has the momentum

In District 8 race, challenger Levine Cava has the momentum

Daniella Levine Cava is on fire. The social services leader challenging Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell has been endorsed by the county cops, the firefighters, SAVE Dade, Equality Florida, Emily’s List and Ruth’s List, which Levine Cava announced Monday. Last week, she released her first web video and on Saturday she opened her campaign office in […]

Miami-Dade employee gets 30 months for $13K in bribes

Miami-Dade employee gets 30 months for $13K in bribes

In yet another sign that the federal authorities ought to be looking into all the shenanigans down here, a former Miami-Dade Public Works employee was sentenced Friday to 30 months after he accepted more than $13,000 in bribes — which included an oven and a fridge — from a county contractor in 2011 and 2012. […]