2007

Poverty peddlers

The Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust squandered millions on insider deals, pet projects and bad loans.

2006

House of lies

The Miami Herald revealed waste, favoritism and lack of oversight at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency.

Airport firm feeds Dade's political machine

Miami-Dade politicians and lobbyists regularly asked the company managing Miami International Airport's massive expansion to contribute to a raft of political campaigns and pet charities, funneling money to causes of little or no benefit to the airport and its passengers. For $15 million a year, Dade Aviation Consultants is supposed to help transform county-owned MIA from crowded and dim disarray into a spacious showpiece, with wide passenger concourses and new brand-name retail shops.

Shootings by police put lives in danger

In dozens of shootings since 1990, city of Miami police officers have shot unarmed people in the back, fired wildly at fleeing cars, and shot indiscriminately even when it put innocent lives at risk, a Herald review of every bullet fired by officers shows.

UNHEEDED WARNINGS

DCF lapses proved fatal for 37 kids

David Nieves Jr. is buried in the Garden of Promise, under a gravestone emblazoned with a teddy bear, clad with a bow. "He was the sweetest little boy. He couldn't defend himself," recalled Jocelyn Pridemore, a registered nurse who warned the Department of Children & Families that David, developmentally disabled, might be in danger. "I feared he would end up dead."

Crumbling Schools

Miami-Dade Public Schools squandered tens of millions of dollars on a mangled construction program, delayed crucial projects by months or even years, and trapped children in schools that are not only crowded, but obsolete, poorly maintained and in some cases downright unsafe, a Herald investigation has found.

Union paid private bills for Tornillo

Murray Sisselman, who served as UTD president for 27 years, wanted to come clean in his final days. He directed Angleton to a file cabinet packed with records showing that longtime union chief Pat Tornillo and his wife were apparently reimbursed for at least $155,000 in personal expenses in less than three years.

Fields of despair

The recruiters come rolling through in roomy vans, searching for a fresh crop of farmworkers from the homeless shelters, haggard parks and soup kitchens dotting North Florida's urban hubs.

Charity used for leader's private benefit

The executive director of Camillus House used his employees and homeless clients to renovate his own homes with thousands of dollars in labor and materials bought on the charity's credit cards, a Herald investigation has found.

How developers cash in on farmland

Forget bucolic barns and lush pastures. Here's what passes for farmland in South Florida: rocky, trash-strewn fields, lots crammed with melaleuca trees, even fledgling construction sites.

How reform turned into curse for sheriff

With the power of a new crime-tracking computer system, the Broward Sheriff's Office wanted to launch a new policy to ensure the agency was properly clearing thousands of burglary cases.

After boy's death, a call to shut down juvenile boot camps

The sudden death of an apparently healthy Panama City teen at a military-style youth lockup prompted a prominent South Florida lawmaker to demand Tuesday that the controversial programs be shut down, while state officials say they will reexamine the policies that allow the use of physical force against children in state care.

Broward court cases hidden from the public

More than 100 lawsuits are being hidden from the public on a secret docket in Broward Circuit Court, The Miami Herald has found.

MONEY TO BURN | PART 1

A job that only firefighters do

A fire-safety program turns Miami-Dade firefighters into human smoke detectors - making millions in extra pay.