Jan 31 2011

Miami-Dade State Attorney Rundle and Miami Police Chief Exposito in public spat

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 12:16 pm

Source: The Miami Herald

Like sparring boxers, Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle are trading jabs in the most unusual of places: the public arena.

In one corner: A seasoned cop — but rookie police chief — already suffering public relations challenges while duking it out with Mayor Tomás Regalado, Commissioner Richard Dunn and community activists.

In the other corner: An entrenched and politically savvy state attorney re-elected four times and not facing the ballot again until 2012.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/30/2042710/law-and-order-in-public-spat.html


Jan 30 2011

Armed gangs free Muslim militants in Egypt

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 12:10 pm

Source: The Miami Herald


Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn Sunday, helping to free hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates as police vanished from the streets of Cairo and other cities.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo told its citizens in Egypt to consider leaving the country as soon as possible, and said it had authorized the voluntary departure of dependents and non-emergency employees, a display of Washington’s escalating concern about the stability of its closest Arab ally.

The army sent hundreds more troops and armored vehicles onto the streets of Cairo and other cities but appeared to be taking little action against gangs of young men with guns and large sticks who were smashing cars and robbing people.

At least one Nile-side shopping mall in Cairo was on fire after being looted the previous day.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/29/2040592/officials-38-dead-in-egypt-protests.html


Jan 29 2011

Egypt’s Mubarak names vice president for 1st time

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 12:00 pm


Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named a vice president Saturday for the first time since coming to power nearly 30 years ago. It was a clear step toward setting up a successor in the midst of the biggest challenge ever to his rule from tens of thousands of anti-government protesters.

Mubarak named his intelligence chief and close confidant Omar Suleiman, state television reported.

Mubarak was widely seen as grooming his son Gamal to succeed him, possibly even as soon as in presidential elections planned for later this year. However, there was significant public opposition to the hereditary succession.

Suleiman has been in charge of some of Egypt’s most sensitive foreign policy issues, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and inter-Palestinian divisions.

His appointment as vice president answers one of the most intriguing and most enduring political questions in Egypt: who would succeed the 82-year-old Mubarak?

Like Mubarak, Suleiman has a military background. The powerful military has provided Egypt with its four presidents since the monarchy was toppled nearly 60 years ago.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/29/2040592/officials-38-dead-in-egypt-protests.html


Jan 28 2011

Amid massive protests, Egypt leader fires Cabinet

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 11:53 pm


Facing a popular uprising, Egypt’s president fired his Cabinet early Saturday after protesters engulfed his country in chaos – battling police with stones and firebombs, burning down the ruling party headquarters and defying a night curfew enforced by the army.

In a nationally televised address at midnight, President Hosni Mubarak made vague promises of social reform but did not offer to step down himself. He also defended his security forces – outraging protesters calling for an end to his nearly 30-year regime.

“We want Mubarak to go and instead he is digging in further,” protester Kamal Mohammad said. “He thinks it is calming down the situation but he is just angering people more.”

Pouring onto the streets after Friday noon prayers, protesters ignored extreme government measures that included cutting off the Internet and mobile-phone services in Cairo and other areas, calling the army into the streets and imposing a nationwide nighttime curfew.

Egypt’s crackdown on demonstrators drew harsh criticism from the Obama administration and even a threat Friday to reduce a $1.5 billion foreign aid program if Washington’s

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/28/2038826/police-use-water-cannons-on-egypt.html


Jan 28 2011

Egypt imposes night curfew after day of riots

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 11:51 am


Egyptian state TV says President Hosni Mubarak has ordered a night curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. in Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and the flashpoint city of Suez east of the capital. It said the military will work in tandem with the police to enforce the ban.

It was the most drastic measure so far to quell riots and protests that spiraled into chaos on Friday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) – Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters poured into the streets of Egypt Friday, stoning and confronting police who fired back with rubber bullets and tear gas in the most violent and chaotic scenes yet in the challenge to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. One protester was killed and even a Nobel Peace laureate was placed under house arrest after joining demonstrations.

Groups of thousands of protesters, some chanting “out, out, out,” defied a ban on any gatherings and turned out at different venues across Cairo, a city of

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/28/2038826/police-use-water-cannons-on-egypt.html


Jan 27 2011

31-year fugitive from Black Tuna drug gang arrested

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 11:39 pm

A key member of the infamous Miami-based Black Tuna Gang, the biggest U.S. marijuana-smuggling operation of its time, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Thursday morning in West Palm Beach — more than 31 years after he skipped out of a federal trial.

Mark Steven Phillips, 62, was captured in his rented apartment at Century Village, a senior living community where he had been living in recent months, law enforcement officers said.

“The judge wants to see you, Mark,” a deputy U.S. marshal told Phillips after rousting him out of bed.

“The judge wants to see me from 30 years ago,” Phillips responded, according to the Marshals Service.

Phillips was charged in May 1979 along with 13 others in what was then the nation’s biggest pot importation prosecution in history — before the dawn of the Cocaine Cowboy era in Miami. The trial was before U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, who is still on the bench. Phillips was convicted in absentia on racketeering, possession and distribution charges in February 1980.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/27/2037655/31-year-fugitive-from-black-tuna.html


Jan 27 2011

Piano mystery solved: Movie prop burned, put in Biscayne Bay after party

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 11:21 am

Like many grand ideas, this one started out when many were drunk.

And that’s how a burned baby grand piano found its way onto a mud flat in Biscayne Bay and, ultimately, worldwide fame.

The solution to the mystery involves a guy with a bagpipe, a rollicking New Year’s Eve party and a teenager looking to make a splash on his college admissions. Oh, and flammable liquid applied to a movie prop that was stored in Grandma’s garage for four years.

“We were peer-pressured into burning it,” said 16-year-old Nicholas Harrington, a MAST Academy junior hoping to study art or engineering at Manhattan’s Cooper Union college.

The saga of the baby grand sitting peacefully atop the highest point of a tiny Biscayne Bay sandbar a few hundred yards east of Miami Shores actually began four years ago. That’s when, after being used as a prop in a movie no one seems to remember, it went into storage in the garage of the mother of Burn Notice production designer J.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/26/2036256/piano-mystery-solved-movie-prop.html


Jan 26 2011

Pre-K student brings gun to class

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 10:55 pm


A pre-kindergarten student has been suspended from school after authorities say he brought a loaded gun into a north Florida classroom.

Palatka police say they’re investigating how the 5-year-old obtained the weapon. A teacher at Moseley Elementary School was giving a music lesson when the 22-caliber pistol fell out of the child’s pocket.

The child told authorities he found the gun in a vehicle belonging to his stepfather.

No injuries were reported.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/25/2033893/pre-k-student-brings-gun-to-class.html


Jan 26 2011

Storms hit central Fla., tornado warnings issued

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 10:50 am


Strong storms hit central Florida, damaging homes, knocking out power to thousands and prompting tornado warnings.

The worst of the damage reported Tuesday evening was in Groveland, where the National Weather Service says 12 to 20 homes were damaged. It was unclear if a tornado caused the damage.

Tommy Carpenter, acting spokesman for the Emergency Operations Center in Lake County, says authorities received reports that winds in Groveland knocked down trees and power lines. However, late Tuesday evening he said it appeared the damage wasn’t as bad an officials initially feared.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne reported possible tornadoes in Ocoee, Edgewater, The Villages and Lake Apopka. It was not clear if any of those actually touched down.

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/26/2034554/storms-hit-central-fla-tornado.html


Jan 25 2011

Thousands honor 2 slain Miami-Dade officers

Tag: NEWSAndrew @ 10:42 pm

The “last call” came long after darkness had fallen over a Miami Lakes cemetery on Monday.

A dispatcher announced over the police radio: “All units stand by for a moment of silence.”

She then called out their names and badge numbers: Amanda Haworth, 2700. Roger Castillo, 1725.

Children and parents, a wife and a partner, siblings, grandparents, friends and fellow cops sobbed, ending the daylong rite of remembrance for the two Miami-Dade detectives who had lost their lives in the line of duty.

The two detectives were assigned to the career criminal unit of the department’s Warrants Bureau. Thursday, the murder suspect they were trying to arrest shot and killed them.

Earlier in the day, as many as 9,000 mourners came to pay their respects at AmericanAirlines Arena, including the governor, a U.S. Senator, the county mayor, a Catholic archbishop, and law enforcement personnel from as far away as Chicago and Canada.

With church-like solemnity and military precision, with tears, prayers and the occasional chuckle — and a dab

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Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/24/2032397/thousands-turn-out-to-honor-2.html


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