Crist's tuition 'narcotic' may be needed fix

C harlie Crist, the self-proclaimed ''People's Governor,'' says tacking on $370 to the price of a university education in Florida will open the door ``to endless opportunities for every Floridian.''

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST

Obama's win challenges Castro ideals

T he Obama conundrum threatens the Castro brothers' dysfunctional dynasty. Democracy and capitalism, the duo's argument goes, is only good for the white and the comfortable preying on the black and poor.

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST

Federal jobs could help get cities buzzing

Sarah Palin could learn a thing from Charlie Crist during the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami this week. It's not just good policy that makes good politics. It's also good press, and Crist is a master at public relations. Poor Palin became a victim of bad press, much of it generated by insiders in her own party and by her handlers' attempts to keep her away from reporters.

Door open for CANF to help shape policy

W ith Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, the Cuban American National Foundation is sitting pretty after wandering the political wilderness for eight years.

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST

Cuba issue vs. the power of incumbency

Standing in front of the big screen in the Kendall sports bar, Democrat Joe Garcia congratulated U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart for a hard-fought win, as the image of Republican John McCain giving his concession speech flickered behind him.

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST

Whoever wins Tuesday faces one tough task

C ome Wednesday we can leave behind all the nasty campaign ads and ''gotcha'' moments about extravagant wardrobes, spreading the wealth around, one dude associating with a Vietnmam-era terrorist or the other palling around with a savings-and-loan slimeball 20 years ago.

Pursuing justice in 1958 hijacking outweighs passage of time

We chase after Nazi war criminals living for decades with false identities in the United States, and our government brings them to justice. Killing with impunity can never be tolerated.

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | COLUMNIST

Lengthening poll hours does Crist proud

Gov. Charlie Crist proved his mettle as the People's Governor when he moved Tuesday to expand hours at jammed early-voting sites across Florida -- even at the risk that Democrats could benefit more than candidates in his own Republican Party.

Florida can't afford to cut ESOL training

L earning a foreign language can be daunting. In Florida, there are almost a quarter-million public-school students learning English for the first time. They're expected to pass the FCAT in a year.

Voters should look past the scare tactics

T he mariachis had the ladies at the Little Havana senior center up on their feet -- one swinging her cane in the air -- as they danced Thursday to the tunes of their youth, courtesy of the three Democratic Hispanics running for Congress. The theme: retirement security.

Education ballot measure deserves voters' approval

We all know Joe the Plumber's pick for president. But closer to home there are two ballot proposals that should matter to any working Joe and Josefina.

Amendment could hurt all unwed couples

H elene and Wayne have become the poster adults for what's wrong with Amendment 2. The Sunrise couple, captured on a YouTube.com video, are part of the campaign to derail the amendment, which seeks to define government-sanctioned marriage as ``the legal union of only one man and one woman.''

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | OPINION

Opinion | McCain should court all Latinos, not just Cubans

If Little Havana is the heart and soul of the Cuban exile experience, then Florida International University captures the journey -- from exile to U.S. citizen to college-educated voter.

Halting registration fraud will clean up elections

Early voting starts Monday. Absentee ballots are also an option. We're less than three weeks from the Nov. 4 presidential election and already the partisan charges and counter-attacks are swirling about suspected voter fraud, no-match/no-vote rules and dead people pulling a Weekend at Bernie's and voting.

New superintendent starts off with bad example

A ny teacher will tell you that students don't learn only academics. They are taught to take responsibility for their actions. If you misbehave, be prepared to be accountable.

Ex-political prisoner sends Cubans word of freedom, one book at a time

In his tiny Miami apartment, Nelson Rodríguez Dieguez collects books for Cuba's underground network of democratic independent libraries. A former political prisoner, Rodríguez has made it his mission now to set history straight until Cuba is free.

Granting protected status to Haitians is a moral duty

Marleine Bastien calls it post-traumatic stress syndrome. Without gun or bomb, nature pulled a shocker on Haiti. With one million homeless and more than 1,000 dead or missing after four back-to-back storms, Haitians everywhere are struggling to hope. It all seems so overwhelming, whole towns under water, broken bridges to nowhere.

S. Fla. Cuban women could sway state's presidential vote

T his presidential election will rest on young people energized by Barack Obama, moms wowed by Sarah Palin, blue-collar folks swayed by Joseph Biden and veterans saluting John McCain.

Joe Cool jurors' doubts undermine justice for dead

He could be a model. Tall, clean cut, well built. In fact, he served as an extra on a telenovela shot in South Florida -- dressed as a cop.

MYRIAM MARQUEZ | OPINION

Marquez: Sadly, McCain ignored better choices for V.P.

It should have been Linda Lingle. Now in her second term as Hawaii's governor, Lingle is the first Republican elected to that job in 40 years. She delivered a record state budget surplus, has gone to Iraq to size up the war on terror and set Hawaii on a course of foreign-oil independence.

Does stripper deserve our sympathy?

Hanging next to Yessenia Cabello's little coffin was a green tulle ballerina dress with sparkles and cream-colored butterfly wings, a symbol of a sweet girl's dreams snuffed out in a misdirected jealous rage.

Too much on the line to rush Wall Street fix

Wall Street and Main Street collided in Doral amid honking horns and a smattering of protesters Tuesday outside the Federal Reserve Bank.

Obama needs women voters, lipstick or not

D AYTONA BEACH -- At his second stop in his ''women for the change we need'' blitz through Florida, Barack Obama was feisty and loose. Who wouldn't be? A charged-up audience of university students, women and blacks energized the place.

THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY

Miami nuns put politics aside to help Cubans

A Miami Catholic order ignores political differences to help storm victims in Cuba.