MiamiHerald.com: Fred Grimm

Paranoia is justified on charter-school bill

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00 EST

In their despair, people who care deeply about public education in Florida sometimes get a little carried away.

Snake vendors hiss at Glades study

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:02 EST

Oh my…. Rabbits. You really don’t want to see bunny rabbits at a reptile show.

Gambling war may be over, but skirmishes linger

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:17 EST

Ever read a history of the confounding relationships, intricate strategies, shifting coalitions, mighty egos and stunning miscalculations that led to the First World War?

When voters speak with forked tongue

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:34 EST

Good government got lost in the rhetoric.

Will Miami-Dade voters finally give commissioners a raise?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:48 EST

The last official Census put Lafayette as the least populated county in Florida, with 7,021 residents, a tenuous ranking that could have changed with a one-night stand, given that Liberty County only managed to muster 7,022.

Maybe Florida’s governor needs glasses

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:42 EST

Normally the grand opening of an eyeglass store at a suburban mall on Kendall Drive would not be so very grand.

What Florida needs: Driverless cars

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:48 EST

Driverless cars are hardly a new concept on South Florida freeways, where the oblivious, drunk and distracted swerve in and out of lanes. If they’re not kamikaze, they’ve got to be comatose.

Tattoos and other privatization fantasies

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:36 EST

First off, after my new company wheedles a contract to privatize a state prison, I intend to do away with traditional prison tattoos. Instead of tear drops or daggers or skulls or spider webs or barbed wire, none of which enhance an inmate’s commercial value, only corporate logos and slogans will be permissible.

Online drivers’ ed makes sense for course vendors

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00 EST

Last semester, 1,619 Miami-Dade public school kids exploited the satirical potential of a new state law that adds an online class to their mandatory curriculum.

Broward towns try to slither out from under strict ethics rules

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:49 EST

Slick move. Ask the voters in your little city to approve an ethics amendment “consistent with and limited to the requirements of Florida law.”

Cockfighting just needs a good lobbyist

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:17 EST

There it was, a veritable gambling paradise, smack dab in the Snake Creek Basin.

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.: Safe icon or radical organizer?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:24 EST

It’s a case of mistaken identity.

Poitier: Still crooked after all these years

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:53 EST

Remorse for an ethical transgression was not much on display as Sylvia Poitier left her sentencing hearing in the Broward County Courthouse Wednesday. “I want the whole world to know that I’m not guilty.”

Florida’s budget solution: Ban the kids

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:13 EST

Pondering the budget Gov. Scott sent to the Legislature, I’m overcome with something similar to the sentiment suffered by adults in the lobby of Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

How Scott Rothstein became the toast of Fort Lauderdale

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00 EST

My town. My tawdry, wannabe town. And Scott Rothstein knew what we wannabe. He called it a “rock star lifestyle.”

Why pythons should eat politicians

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:09 EST

Job-killing government regulators are at it again. Now they want to take away our beloved pythons.

This year, anyone coulda been a contenda

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:16 EST

If nothing else, the presidential candidates who dominated the news in 2011 brought an old guy a new revelation. Made me feel like Brando. Made me feel like shouting from the waterfront, “I coulda been somebody.” (“Instead of a bum, which is what I am.”)

Miramar cops won’t fess up in Caravella case

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:03 EST

It wasn’t much, considering what the Miramar cops did to Anthony Caravella, but last year Circuit Judge Thomas M. Lynch offered an apology on behalf of “the criminal justice system of the state of Florida.”

Law turns kids into commodities

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00 EST

Compared to modern school kids, I was a downright worthless student.

Charter school mess is no surprise

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:25 EST

Unrestrained conflicts of interest. Little accountability. Slip-shod ethics. Lax oversight. Add landlords and developers and for-profit management companies to the formula. Tempt them with $400 million dollars of public money.