Miami casino deal could have a benefit
In polite company, we would talk about the shabby streets north of downtown Miami in terms of poverty and disrepair and official neglect.
About the columnist
Fred Grimm joined the Herald in 1976. Since 1991 he has written a column about crime, politics and life in Broward.
E-mail Fred at fgrimm@herald.com
BLOG:
THE GRIMM TRUTH
Disparate thoughts and random opinions of longtime Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm
Top Story
Economic downturn more effective than border fence
B runo Ferretti, peering out through inch-thick, bullet-proof glass, could see this coming months ago. Two national studies on immigration only put numbers to what Ferretti already knew in his gut. ``I saw it. Definitely. I told my friends. They didn't want to hear it.''
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The economy's toast, thanks to timid Congress
Such a fine day for an apocalypse. Gray skies. Rainstorms roiling across South Florida. Thunder claps that sent my dog cowering under the desk.
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New ballot system as iffy as the last
M ardi Anne Levey, the lawyer formerly known as Mardi Anne Levey Cohen, will have a new alias on the Nov. 4 ballot. Call her Pedro E. Dijols.
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Paying off her home may lead to poorhouse
Myrna Mosnowitz was not among the fools and scoundrels who created the mortgage mess. She wasn't one of the Wall Street bankers who dreamed up nefarious loan schemes. She wasn't some broker peddling subprime mortgages to any unqualified buyer who could make his mark.
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Bring bailout back home to save the Cajun
As long as we're bailing out institutions integral to America's way of life, there's a jambalaya joint over in Himmarshee Village worth saving.
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Youth rock the vote -- but will they cast it?
T hey were loud and excited. As adoring as rock fans. They filled the basketball arena at the University of Miami and lent Barack Obama's rally the exuberance political organizers covet.
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Mortgage meltdown hits the innocent
Remember our millionaire days? You know: back when my little cottage had been magically transformed into a golden palace encrusted with Tiffany diamonds.
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Opinion | Maybe Rudy wasn't board's real problem
Rudy Crew, blamed for so much of the Miami-Dade County School Board's discord, was history. But it was as if he had never left. It was late on the night of a tumultuous day. Earlier, after considerable squabbling, the school superintendent had been jettisoned with a $368,000 buyout. Then came the strange and inscrutable process to appoint Crew's successor.
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Crist leasing Alligatory Alley sells us short for decades
I n the cloistered offices of a Washington think tank, it might make sense, this notion of Charlie Crist putting Alligator Alley out to bid as if he were offering up Aunt Nelly's antique crockery on eBay.
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Not homeless, but victim was far from home
Norris Gaynor had parents. I suppose that was something I knew intellectually. Still, it was startling to see Sam and Georgia Gaynor at the trial of their son's killer. Before meeting them Wednesday, I had been able to reduce Gaynor to a kind of one-dimensional character.
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Board can't escape cost of firing Rudy Crew
Murray Greenberg might as well have stood before the school board and yodeled Dixie. Greenberg's pricey legal advice had no discernible effect on Rudy Crew's three most fervent enemies on the school board. They clung to the illusion that they could send Crew packing without paying off the last two years of his contract.
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Funding storm research could save cash, lives
FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com T he cost of Ike -- and storms of Ike's ilk -- are calculated by the damage and ruination left after hurricanes crash ashore.
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No escape for teen killer Michael Hernandez in a warped world
FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com Everyone pretended Michael Hernandez was all grown up. Michael said no to the plea deal, and the judge and prosecutor pretended that a mentally disturbed teenager had just rendered the rational decision of a competent adult.
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Jail time makes Jenne see facts more clearly
FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com I n 2004, the accusation was rejected as crass media conjecture. No, the sheriff insisted. The killing of Deputy Todd Fatta had nothing to do with institutional failures. No policies were violated when BSO dispatched a motley bunch of deputies to arrest gun-wielding, cop-hating, crazy-angry Kenneth Paul Wilk.
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TV brings out worst of Miami-Dade School Board
Okay. I'll admit it. I'm a fan. I know. Pathetic. A waste of time better spent in pursuit of great reading (though I do get tired reading my old columns) or training my dog Jasper to bark at the UPS truck. I could be helping Charlie Crist plan his wedding. (I'm thinking morning suits with flip-flops.)
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Tax swap gaps make paranoia rational
So many raving paranoid conspiracy theories flow into my e-mail basket, some days it's like I've got a direct Internet connection with an asylum.
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Fred Grimm: Smuggler of orchids is a rare species
Whisper the word ''smuggler,'' and words like cocaine, guns, heroin and human cargo cascade through a South Floridian's imagination.
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Medicare scams seem weirder here
M ost places, when the president of a wildly prosperous medical clinic comes under investigation for defrauding Medicare, we first hear about him in the dry text of a federal indictment.
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When cops are gunned down, it's different
A cabbie was killed in Hollywood. He was robbed, shot, left face down to die next to his blue and white Friendly Checker taxi. His assailants escaped on foot.
