In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: In the long run, ‘maquinitas’ didn’t beat the odds

Miami’s maquinitas are suddenly illegal. It’s official. The mayor said so.

In My Opinion | Fred Grimm

Fred Grimm: Everything’s just dandy here in gun-crazed Florida

Almost. Almost a massacre. Almost a college campus horror. But last week’s thwarted killing spree had no discernible effect on Tallahassee’s gun fetish. Almost mattered almost not at all.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: Too many deaths in war we allowed to fester

Someone left a SpongeBob SquarePants snow globe on Elizabeth Jacobson’s grave. A fuzzy yellow Easter Bunny. A sand dollar adorned with the yellow SpongeBob character.

In My Opinion | Fred Grimm

Fred Grimm: An Internet cafe epiphany for cash-collecting legislators

It was a stampede of the disingenuous last week, as our astonished state legislators discovered what was at the crux of Internet cafes. Suddenly, like Captain Renault in Casablanca, they were shocked, shocked to find out that there was something hinky about Florida’s storefront casinos.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: Build it, and the strip malls will come – to Krome Avenue

Swept along in traffic — too many cars driving too fast on two lanes — I caught a momentary glimpse of a farm cart rolling along the roadside.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: Of dog drool and other pleasures of working from home

Two dogs, with beseeching and mournful stares, plus a little drool for extra emphasis, have come to tell me that deadline is imminent.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: The NCAA had big plans for slick-talking Nevin Shapiro

Now we know. There was more to the NCAA’s collusion with a convicted Ponzi schemer than an overzealous and ethically bent campaign to nail the University of Miami.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: We all pay the cost of sports “non-profits”

The term “non-profit” fits the NFL about as snuggly as a Randy Stark jersey draped across my wimpy shoulders.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: What Cuba needs: Spring break

For those of us who survived the invasion of ’85, forgetting is not so easy.

In My Opinion | Fred Grimm

Fred Grimm: Our disasters should be subsidized

The high living, free spending, hard partying gang running Citizens Property Insurance Corp. must rank as the least-loved outfit in Florida. Other than the Miami Marlins.

In My Opinion

Fred Grimm: Billboards trump trees when you have powerful pals

Flout the law, you pay the price. Unless the transgressor happens to be a politically connected outdoor-advertising enterprise, happy to splash the mug of an influential state legislator across 32 billboards in his district. Then the price for ignoring state law comes with a very big discount.

Fred Grimm: Thuggin’ rep may hurt tow firm in court

Don’t know much about civil suits or liability law or wrongful death claims. I do know something about the public’s estimation of tow truck operators.

In My Opinion

State Republicans find fraud close to home

For the better part of two years now, Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Republican Party have been scouring the state like a sheriff and his posse, hot on the trail of election bandits.

OPINION

While tuition soars, dirt gets a break

College students may think of themselves as dirt poor, but in Florida they're regarded as less than dirt.

Blessed are the poor, but do we care?

I look at the House of Lies scandals, I see sleazy deals and political patronage and well-connected insiders who regard affordable housing as just another way to game the system.