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  • BORROWERS BETRAYED

    Florida's top mortgage regulator steps down

    Embattled state mortgage regulator Don Saxon, whose agency allowed thousands of former criminals to sell loans in Florida, abruptly resigned Tuesday as the state Cabinet debated his fate.


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  • Pulitzer Prize Winning Investigative Series

    2006
    House of lies

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

    1998
    Voter fraud

    The Miami Herald revealed voter fraud in a city mayoral election, which was later overturned.

    1990
    Yahweh sect

    The Miami Herald profiled a local cult leader, his followers and their links to several area murders.

    1986
    Iran-contra

    Miami Herald reporters won a Pulitzer for their coverage of the U.S.-Iran-Contra connection.

    1976
    Freeing Pitts and Lee

    Miami Herald investigation led to the release of two men wrongfully convicted of murder twice and sentenced to death.

    1967
    2 on Death Row freed

    Miami Herald investigation helped free two persons wrongfully convicted of murder.

  • 2000s

    Featured Investigative Series

    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.

    Other Notable Series in this Decade

    House of lies

    Miami's affordable housing crisis

    While local leaders try to clean up Miami-Dade county's scandal-ridden housing agency, the city's program is steeped in its own crisis, with botched projects and bad deals that have stranded thousands in decrepit homes.

    Money to burn

    A job that ony firefighters do

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

    Secret court documents

    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 found.

    Boot camp beating

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

    The sudden death of an apparently healthy Panama City teen at a military-style youth lockup prompted many to demand that the controversial programs be shut down.

    Predators among us

    Flaws in the program put public at risk

    A special state program to treat Florida's worst sexual predators is not only failing, but backfiring. Some of the most violent rapists and pedophiles are allowed to walk away with no treatment, monitoring or supervision.

    BSO Scandal

    How reform turned into curse for sheriff

    Both the FDLE and Broward State Attorney's Office launched investigations into whether BSO sheriff's deputies falsified clearances of thousands of unsolved casses.

    Tax cows

    Developers cash in on farmland

    Florida's "greenbelt" law is one of the weakest in the country, largely unsuccessful in preserving farmland and easily exploited by developers.

    Camillus House abuses

    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.

    Fields of despair

    Abuse an unseen element in Florida's No. 2 industry

    Florida is America's second-richest agricultural state. But for the farmhands who labor along the lowest rung of the food chain, the riches are a mirage.

    Tornillo scandal

    Union paid private bills for Tornillo

    An investigation found that longtime union boss Pat Tornillo spent teachers' dues on personal luxuries.

    Crumbling schools

    Missteps fuel school crisis

    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 found.

    Neglect, death and DCF

    DCF lapses proved fatal for 37 kids

    A Miami Herald investigation found that at least 37 Florida children died of abuse or neglect in the last five years after prior warnings to the DCF went unresolved - a fatal breakdown that has left thousands of other children at risk.

    Miami Police

    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.

    MIA probe

    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.

  • 1990s

    Featured Investigative Series

    1998
    Voter fraud

    The Miami Herald revealed voter fraud in a city mayoral election, which was later overturned.

    1990
    Yahweh sect

    The Miami Herald profiled a local cult leader, his followers and their links to several area murders.

    Other Notable Series in this Decade

    The airport mess

    Insiders profit, travelers suffer

    Miami's tourism industry is threatened by politicians who run the airport for the benefit of cronies - not millions of passengers.

    Collars for dollars

    Police cheating on overtime costs us millions

    Cops call it "Collars for Dollars." It's how they turn arrests on the streets into money in their pockets. Until now, it has been a courthouse secret.

    Shrinking palms

    How a politically connected farmer overcharged the government

    A prominent South Dade farmer, paid millions by Metro to landscape county roadways, charged taxpayers for towering royal palms while planting shorter, cheaper trees, a survey by The Herald shows.

    Shattered trust

    Who watches the watchdog for the elderly?

    Records show that the court system supposed to protect vulnerable wards and to police South Florida's burgeoning private guardianship industry has failed.

    A state of neglect

    Abused adults: Silent casualties

    A Miami Herald review of hundreds of Florida abuse and autopsy reports shows that in the past five years, dozens of frail and disabled adults have died sick, starved, ridden with bedsores, bruises and broken bones -- the silent casualties of abuse, neglect and a welfare system that did little to protect them.

    BSO sting

    Undercover operation put public in danger

    Hundreds of police records and interviews with law enforcement officers show that an undercover operation fueled a string of robberies and endangered the public. Now, investigators want to know if Broward Sheriff's Office deputies siphoned off stolen goods purchased with tax money.

    Friends of the court

    Lawyers tap into public piggy bank

    A group of private lawyers has run up six-figure incomes by repeatedly billing Dade County taxpayers for hours they did not work. Many times, the attorneys billed for more than 24 hours of legal work in a single day.

    Troubles at JESCA

    Agency executives wrote checks to themselves

    At a time when Miami's oldest inner-city social service agency could not make its payroll, two top executives cashed more than $100,000 in agency checks they wrote to themselves.

    Public giveaways

    Florida lawmakers generous to a fault

    The Florida Legislature gave away more than $100 million this past year -- public giveaways with little oversight and virtually no accountability for how the money was spent.

    Judge Gale

    Living a lavish lifestyle

    A lengthy Miami Herald investigation reveals that Gale -- a judge since 1972, head of the bustling civil division since 1977 -- has doled out lucrative court appointments to friends, issued favorable rulings to select attorneys and declined to remove himself when his impartiality could be questioned. He enjoys a life style well beyond his public salary.

  • 1980s

    Featured Investigative Series

    1989
    Invisible children

    Florida's child-welfare system is a system that too often fails the 8,000 neglected and abused children it is entrusted to protect.

    1986
    Iran-contra

    Miami Herald reporters won a Pulitzer for their coverage of the U.S.-Iran-Contra connection.

    Other Notable Series in this Decade

    Port Everglades scandal

    Public wrath startles port commission

    The port announced a $300 million expansion and said it would need taxpayers' cash to pay for it. Suddenly, the spotlight was on Port Everglades. Taxpayers, county officials and business groups wanted to know how the port was spending its money.

  • 1970s

    Featured Investigative Series

    1976
    Freeing Pitts and Lee

    Miami Herald investigation led to the release of two men wrongfully convicted of murder twice and sentenced to death.



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