Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

I'm gonna bury you!




"I'm Gonna' Bury You!" is a fast moving, hard hitting, true life, story of a Miami Vice jet setter, fast lane, high roller organized crime lawyer, caught up in the exhilarating wealth and power of the international organized crime cartels. No names are changed to protect the innocent; there weren't any innocents in Neill's world. A former top professional race car driver, combat trained United States Marine, honor law school graduate, Gene Neill's only goal in life, his only god, was to claw his way right to the very top of organized crime, no matter what the cost along the way. And he made it. In spades. If you were involved in organized crime in America, and if you got caught big-time, Gene could get you off - for enough cash, machineguns, drugs, jewels or whatever.

Higher and higher his successes spiraled him, until in the dizzying heights of ultimate fortune and fame, some of his lifetime friends betrayed him, and he came crashing down. Crashing clear down under the ground.

"Maximum Maximum Security" is a term coined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to describe the closest existence where a man can still stay alive in prison just this side of death. Convicts across America only whispered the words "double max" with tears in their eyes. It is not something of which they speak openly. And Cellblock 10D in the federal penitentiary in Springfield, Missouri, was the tightest of all double max facilities. Neill's cell was underground in 10D. He had been convicted of 24 federal felonies, and was sentenced to 50 years on only one of them. Judge C. Clyde Adkins said he'd sentence Neill later on the other convictions. No exercise privileges, no visiting privileges, you were never allowed out of your cell - until your 50 years was over. No eating utensils, you tie with your fingers, the tasteless gruel the guards slid under your steel door. There were no bars on your door. Solid steel. No windows, you couldn't see out. You were not allowed! any reading materials, no watch, no toothbrush, no soap. There was a narrow steel shelf you slept on, a dirty little toilet, a greasy old pillow, a greasy old army blanket, a roll of toilet paper were your only possessions. You were not allowed any shoes, socks or belt; only a prison shirt and prison trousers.

Sunday, December 28, 2025

Indicted Democrat Editing Diamond Ring Out of Photo Raises Eyebrows

PUBLISHED
DEC 26, 2025, AT 03:28 PM EST

UPDATED
DEC 26, 2025, AT 03:29 PM EST

Florida Democrat Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has come under fire for allegedly editing out her diamond ring in a new holiday photo post shared on X.

Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, was indicted in November for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA coronavirus relief funds. The new post appears to have airbrushed out a $109,000 yellow diamond ring she’s accused of buying with the allegedly stolen cash.

Newsweek reached out to Cherfilus-McCormick for comment via email.

Why It Matters

A federal grand jury in Miami indicted Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants in November, charging them with stealing roughly $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster-relief funds. They are also accused of funneling the money into Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cherfilus-McCormick represents Florida’s 20th District. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, also was charged after allegedly diverting an overpayment from a COVID-19 vaccination-staffing contract to the family’s home health care business. Both have pleaded not guilty.


From left: Representative Ilhan Omar, then-first lady Jill Biden and Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick attend the Women of Impact Celebration hosted by ELLE at Ciel Social Club on April 28, 2023, in Washington. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for ELLE).

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Inter-America Division Embarks on Mission to Seek Former Church Members








Intentional outreach initiative was launched territory-wide through an online program.
3 Min Read


Published on: 2 days ago

It’s no secret that people leave the church. This fact has Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Inter-America focused on a major initiative to seek and reconcile thousands of former members across the more than 22,000 churches and congregations in the territory.

Coined as the Inter-American Division (IAD) “Ministry of Reclaiming and Discipleship of Former Members,” the initiative was officially launched through an online program on January 12, 2019, from Miami, Florida, United States.

Seeking Missing Members

“This is a very important moment in the life of the church in Inter-America,” said IAD president Elie Henry as thousands watched in churches and offices online. “We must change the course of our actions and consider a new way of reaching [former] members and ensure to have a loving and friendlier church community.” 

Thursday, June 18, 2015

He Was Born Republican Royalty, But 'Jebcito' Is From Miami



JUNE 15, 2015 5:00 AM ET



MARA LIASSON



Listen to the Story

Morning Edition

7:16

Playlist





Former Gov. Jeb Bush (left) serves helpings of paella to guests attending the Miami-Dade Day festivities in 2002, with former state Rep. Gary Siplin (center) and former U.S. Sen. Kendrick Meek.Phil Coale/AP



This story is part of NPR's series Journey Home. We're going to the places presidential candidates call home and finding out what those places tell us about how they see the world.

There are three Republican candidates who ran Spanish-language ads when they announced their presidential intentions — but only one was an Anglo.

Jeb Bush not only speaks fluent Spanish, he has made his home by completely embracing Latino culture and putting down roots in South Florida.

Ana Navarro, his former aide, tells a little story that shows just how much he's adopted the culture: One day, she suggested something to Bush that he rejected because it was too expensive. Then, she said, he touched his elbow with his hand.

"That's a very Hispanic gesture for meaning: 'Because I'm cheap, because I'm frugal,' " Navarro said. "It means 'I walk with my elbows so as not to wear out my shoes.' In Spanish, it would say, Yo camino con los codos. And it's that kind of nuance that he fully understands."

To understand why Bush only half-jokingly adopted the Twitter hashtag #honorarylatino, you have to understand the path he took to his current home in South Florida. Bush grew up in Midland, Texas, he summered in Maine and went to prep school in Andover, Mass. And it was in high school that his path home really began. He met his wife, Columba, on a high school exchange trip to Mexico. In college, he majored in Latin American Studies. He converted to Catholicism, and he worked briefly in Venezuala. But the place he chose to put down roots was Miami.

"It certainly did shape him," said Tom Fiedler, the former political editor of the Miami Herald. "The story of Miami since the Cuban exiles began coming has been one of being the new immigrant city."




Former President George H.W. Bush embraces his son, Jeb, as Barbara Bush applauds during a rally in downtown Orlando, Fla., in 1994.Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Landov


Bush first came to Florida to organize his father's campaign in the state for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination. Then he and Columba decided to stay. Jeb went into business — real estate — and the family business, party politics. At the same time, the Mariel boatlift brought thousands of new Cuban immigrants to Florida. As Fiedler remembers, the leaders of the Cuban community in Miami decided they needed to become active in U.S. politics — and the Republican party was their natural home "because of the passion for President Reagan," he said. "They flocked to the Republican party, and Jeb was there to take advantage of that."

By then, Bush had three children — whom his father, George H.W. Bush, once referred to as "little brown ones." The young family settled into their new home near Miami, and in 1983 he became the chairman of the Dade County Republican Party. At that time, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans in Dade County 3 to 2. Bush set out to change that, and he started with the Cubans.

Local Cuban radio host Ninoska Perez watched as Bush became deeply connected to the Cuban community. Perez is a host at Radio Mambi in Coral Gables, where the Bushes now live. She met Bush early on and has interviewed him many times on her show.

"The problems of the Cuban community were like part of his own problems," Perez says. "If we were protesting for something, he was there."

By the mid-1980s, newspaper profiles in Miami referred to Bush as one of the most prominent members of the Hispanic community. So Perez isn't surprised that Bush once mistakenly listed his ethnicity as Hispanic on a Florida voter registration form.


i

Radio Mambi in Coral Gables, Fla., where the Bush family now lives.Mara Liasson/NPR



"Probably in his mind he's thinking, 'Yes, I am,' " she says, "because that's how he was perceived. A lot of people were calling him 'Jebcito,' like someone that was dear to them."

And it wasn't just Cubans. Miami in the '80s was also receiving waves of Nicaraguans fleeing upheaval in Central America. Navarro said that's another way the melting pot of South Florida shaped Bush. It made him understand pan-Hispanic culture.

"Jeb knows what chilaquiles is the same way he knows what Cuban picadillo is and can move effortlessly through the different Hispanic nationalities because of living in Miami," Navarro said.

Just a mile away from Radio Mambi's offices in Coral Gables is Talavera, an upscale Mexican restaurant where Bush and his family like to eat. That's where I meet Marina de la Milera. She was on the executive committee of the Dade County Republican Party when Jeb was the chairman.



Marina de la Milera outside Talavera, an upscale Mexican restaurant where Bush and his family like to eat.Mara Liasson/NPR


"He had a plan for the party, and he carried it," she said.

Back when de la Milera met him, Jeb Bush was Republican royalty — the son of the man who rode on Air Force Two. but what impressed her most about Bush was his drive and work ethic. Bush has said that his father saw politics as public service, but he sees it as a mission, like a religion. Milera remembers that Bush's goal as the Dade County GOP chairman was to register every newly naturalized Hispanic as a Republican.

"We did in one year 54,000 applications. We filled out 54,000 applications for citizens," she said.

As Bush and his family found their place in South Florida — with its vibrant mix of Latin American immigrants — Bush was building the vehicle for his own political ambitions. It paid off. Bush won the Hispanic vote twice in his races for governor. He once called himself the first "Latino governor of the state of Florida."

Al Cardenas, who was the state GOP chairman in the '80s, says that Bush's connection to the Hispanic community is now his biggest asset as a presidential candidate.

"In our party, no one else seems to give the community the time share in their schedule that Democrats do," he said. "And so here comes Jeb Bush — his schedule is representative of the Hispanic community's role in our country. That should be the rule, except that our party's been slow to learn it."

Bush's schedule has put him before Hispanic audiences in Puerto Rico and Texas, neither of which play much of a role in the GOP primary. But Bush has his sights firmly fixed on the general election, which he knows Republicans must do much better with Hispanics to win.

"I live in Miami. Trust me, I know the power of the immigrant experience, because I live it each and every day," Bush said earlier this year on a trip to Puerto Rico. "I know the immigrant experience, because I married a beautiful girl from Mexico. My children are bicultural and bilingual."

Bush even manages to slip in a reference to his hometown in South Florida when he campaigned in New Hampshire recently and answered a question about country of origin labeling for food imports.

"When I go to Publix in Coral Gables," he said, "after church to go prepare for Sunday Funday in my house ... and I'll probably make a really good guacamole and I want to know where that avocado is from and I want to know where the onions are from and the cilantro and all the secret stuff I put in it."

John Ellis Bush — son and brother of U.S. presidents, grandson of Connecticut Sen. Prescott Bush — can make a mean guacamole, if he does say so himself.


Source
.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Same-sex couples file for repeal of gay marriage ban in Florida


Jan 21, 2014

By Daniel Lastra




Left to Right: Don Johnston and Jorge Isaias Diaz, Jeff and Todd Delmay, Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price, Vanessa and Melanie Alenier, Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber – These are part of the six couples who filed a lawsuit against Florida’s gay marriage ban in the Miami-Dade County Courthouse. (Photo Courtesy of Equality Florida)

In 2008 Florida voters approved a law that banned any type of civil union, including marriage, between couples of the same sex, but now several gay couples in Miami are filing a civil rights lawsuit to repeal the law they argue violates the protections that the United States Constitutions affords all Americans.

Several Latinos are among the couples that are part of the lawsuit being filed by the gay rights advocacy group Equality Florida, with the help of several prominent LGBT attorneys who work in the state. The lawsuit was filed in the 11th Judicial Court of Florida in Downtown Miami, but the historic announcement was made in front of the LGBT Visitor Center located in South Beach. This is the first time a legal challenge of the gay marriage ban is brought up in a Florida court.

Among the couples are Catherina Pareto and Karla Arguello, who are raising children together.


“Florida is our home, it is where we are raising our children, and where we want to get married,” said Pareto. “Karla and I wish for our family the same things that other families want.

“We want to build our lives together, provide a safe and caring home for our child, and share in the responsibilities and protections of marriage.”

After a statewide petition drive managed to Amendment 2, also known as the “Florida Marriage Protection Amendment,” referendum on the ballot, voters passed the proposal into law. Despite many supporters of the law agreeing with the legal recognition of some civil unions–but not with the legalization of gay marriage itself–the amendment banned the recognition and benefits for unmarried couples, straight or gay. This means the legal protections that civil unions and domestic partnerships could give couples would are voided.




FILE-Brooke Gardner, of Indiana, top right, and Jesse Brown-Bosch, of Panama City, Fla., bottom right, listen to a speaker during a rally in support of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Defense of Marriage Act at the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Miami Beach, Fla., Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Florida has had a ban on gay marriage for years. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)


Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a pulmonologist, and his partner David Price have been together for almost 18 years. Price is the office manager for his partner’s medical office. They too have children together, but they say working in a medical practice together has made them witness first-hand the difficulties, such as being denied visitation rights, that gay couples can experience because of lacking legal protections.


“Being a doctor, I see people and families in crisis all the time,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “In those situations, family and the legal protections that come with it are critical. It pains David and me to be denied a basic safety net of legal protections.”

In 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling wiping out part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal anti-gay marriage law that had kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving tax, health and pension benefits. However, the issue of recognizing or allowing gay marriage is still left up to the states. A total of six couples are part of the lawsuit, and four of them have children together. They are being represented by the law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, attorney Elizabeth Schwartz and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).


Source
.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

BREAKING: Deck collapses at Shuckers Restaurant during Miami Heat game



Posted on Thursday, 06.13.13





An unidentified woman is taken away in an ambulance following the collapse of a deck at Shuckers Bar & Grill in North Bay Village Thursday night. FERNANDO PEINADO / MIAMI HERALD STAFF


MIAMI HERALD STAFF REPORT




A deck behind the popular Shuckers sports bar in North Bay Village collapsed Thursday night, spilling scores of customers watching the Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs game into Biscayne Bay.

Dozens of police and fire-rescue units rushed to the scene after the sudden collapse, which happened about 9:45 [p.m., minutes before the game’s halftime. WSVN-Fox 7 reported that one person was taken to a hospital in critical condition and that four were listed in serious condition.

As helicopters circled over the scene, rescuers carried people from the scene on stretchers, one after another.

Chris Volz, 39, said he was sitting at the western end of the bar, about 10 feet from where the deck gave way. “Everybody’s watching the game. It sounded like a freight train, then everyone was gone. The deck went down like a V.” He said it happened in a split second and that no one had a chance to get away.

He said bartenders were diving into the water to help rescue the patrons. Fire trucks pulled to the water’s edge and extended their ladders over the water to help the patrons climb to safety.

Shuckers, at 1819 79th Street Causeway, lost power when the collapse happened, casting victims and rescuers alike into the dark.

Hernan Reyes, 21, and friend Crystal Infante, 23, were eating and watching then game when the deck, about five feet over the water, collapsed. Infante said the water was shallow enough for them to stand, but it was difficult for them to get out because wood, umbrellas, tables, chairs and other debris currounded them.

“There was a crack, and then we were in the water,” Infante said. “There was just a crack, and then we were in the water....It was really hard to get out, and you coudln’t find anyone.”

By 11 p.m., a triage unit had been set up in the parking lot, and victims were still being removed from the water.. Traffic on the 79th Street Causeway was closed off in both directions.

Police and rescue units from North Bay Village, Miami-Dade County, Miami, Miami Beach and El Portal were on the scene within minutes.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.


.
.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/13/3450248/breaking-deck-collapses-at-shuckers.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Exclusive Look At Urban Beach Week Security Measures


May 21, 2013 11:27 PM




Extra security, including cameras, are all set for 2013′s Urban Beach Week (Source: CBS4)



Reporting Lauren Pastrana



MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – Sun, sand, music and heightened security pretty much sums up Memorial Day Weekend on South Beach.

The Miami Beach Police Department is currently preparing for the annual holiday weekend party, commonly referred to as Urban Beach Week, by beefing up security as much as possible.

“Prevention is key,” said Detective Vivian Hernandez.

Prevention takes a lot of planning, which started not long after last year’s festivities ended... . .


. . 


Read more 
. . .

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Military black hawks fly over Miami Florida firing blanks





WeaponsCache


Published on Jan 29, 2013


Strange events over the skys of Miami as military black hawk helicopters fire blanks through the city. This is surprising to me because the police are involved yet no civilians were told about this. What about mass panic?!

What do you think this is all about?


.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Path to citizenship best way to reform immigration





Posted on Wed, Jan. 16, 2013

BY THOMAS WENSKI



Now that the elections are over, perhaps a new bipartisan consensus can be forged to finally fix our broken immigration system.

Both Democrats and Republicans can read the demographic tea leaves — in the last election the president’s perceived support for immigration reform gained for him wide support from both Hispanic and Asian voters. Lawmakers in both parties have made strong statements about “fixing” immigration in 2013.

This is good news. Of course, any immigration reform legislation would  need to address the legal status of the 11 million undocumented in our nation. But instead of providing this population a chance to earn their citizenship, some in Washington are suggesting that these immigrants should receive legal status but not an opportunity to become citizens.

They propose something like President Obama’s administrative action to grant “deferred departure” to the “Dreamers” — those who were brought here without legal status by their parents. In other words, these policy makers would extend protection from deportation and perhaps work authorization, but would not provide this population an earned path to citizenship.

An earned path to citizenship for the undocumented, supported by the U.S. Catholic bishops and a strong majority of the American people, does not have to mean an “amnesty”. Reasonable requirements for permanent legal status and a chance at citizenship — such as paying a fine and any back taxes still owed or learning English — would in fact be gladly embraced by these immigrants who remain in illegal status not because they want to but because legal remedies are not available to them.

A bill introduced in the last Congress by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Kay Hutchinson, R-Texas, modeled somewhat after the DREAM Act would not provide a path to citizenship for young immigrants. A similar proposal from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida never put in bill form, would have done the same thing. Both proposals essentially addressed a situation that was already partially addressed by President Obama’s deferred action last year.

And like President Obama’s measure their proposal still leaves this population in limbo — with a quasi-legal status but no chance to upgrade to citizenship.

Even President Obama has given credence to the idea of legal status but not citizenship. In his first press conference after the election, he used the term “path to legal status” to describe a potential legalization program for the 11 million. It might have been a slip of the tongue, but words matter in Washington.

While perhaps better than no status, such an arrangement risks creating in our country a permanent underclass of persons who would never enjoy the rights of U.S. citizens. The lingering social costs of another era’s Jim Crow legislation show us that this is not the way to go. A path to citizenship is the best way to ensure that immigrants integrate fully into American society by allowing their civic participation and assuring them of access to full due process rights. It is, after all, the American way.

If the administration and Congress are serious about fixing our broken immigration system, they should fix it correctly, and not create more problems. A path to citizenship for the undocumented should be the centerpiece of any immigration reform effort this year. A path to citizenship offers immigrants the opportunities and freedom that are the essential components of the American dream. Both the party of Jefferson as well as the party of Lincoln should be able to embrace that.

Thomas Wenski is Archbishop of Miami


Source
.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/16/v-print/3185886/path-to-citizenship-best-way-to.html#storylink=cpy

Monday, May 28, 2012

Miami hardware store swears off the penny


Miami Herald reporter Douglas Hanks on why a hardware store has decided to get rid of the penny.

Tess Vigeland: Everyone loves money, right? But not so with the humble penny. Canada has recently banned their 1-cent currency. The penny debate has been raging in this country for a while. And one stateside store have taken matters into it own hands. The Miami Herald's Doug Hanks has written about Shell Lumber, a hardware store in Florida, that decided a penny saved is a penny that's not worth the effort. Doug joins us now. Welcome to the program.

Doug Hanks: Thanks for having me.

Vigeland: So you found this one hardware store in the Miami area that has actually banned the penny. Tell us why.

Hanks: Well, they decided that it just really wasn't worth the trouble counting pennies any more. The spending power is so low that this hardware store said, 'We're counting like a thousand pennies a day by the time it's all over and what do we get out of it?' They said let's just stop it. And they put up big signs with pennies and big slash marks through and said to customers no more pennies, we're going to round in your favor. So if the change says that you should get three pennies back, they'll just give you the nickel and they eat the two-cent loss.

Vigeland: Yeah, 'cause I guess you could certainly change your prices, but you always have sales tax. Right?

Hanks: Right. And that's the thing. They tried to work it out and the accountants weren't happy about it, but they really got sick of bookkeepers saying, 'Hey, your drawer is off by three cents.' And their answer basically was why do we care? They're not the only ones in researching this story. For instance, overseas military bases, they stopped using pennies in the '80s.

Vigeland: What happens if, say, a customer comes in and wants to pay with five pennies instead of a nickel. They'll take the pennies, right? It's currency.

Hanks: There are a few things that you could actually use pennies to pay for. Like, there's a little washer that sells for three cents. But basically when someone tries to make out the exact change, they just say keep your pennies, keep your pennies, we don't need it. Now, I think you could really screw 'em up by bringing in 100 pennies, maybe they'd have to take it. So far it looks like it's fairly popular. Some people thought that they were getting ripped off, but once they were told no no, we're saving you money, they're very happy about it.

Vigeland: So Shell Lumber has been doing this for a month now. How has it been for them?

Hanks: It's been popular. This is a store that likes to have the brand of the old-fashioned neighborhood hardware store. They give away snow cones on Saturdays, they have a popcorn machine. So they saw this as just another way to make it easier to shop at Shell Lumber than say, Home Depot, which is their big cross-town rival. So they say it's been well-received and it's just one more interesting thing they do.

Vigeland: What about, say, the gumball machine? What happens there?

Hanks: Yeah, gumball machines have stopped taking pennies. It's really hard to find anything that's still taking pennies -- toll booths don't take them. The vending machine industry, they want dollar coins to catch on, but they're done with pennies. So it has very little use. Even the Federal Reserve, they used to -- when the banks would deposit pennies, they would weigh them to make sure the deposit was right. They stopped doing that about 10 years ago. Now they essentially say, we trust you. It's not worth counting all these pennies.

Vigeland: I know that there is this big movement in this country to get rid of the penny, so presumably this has caused celeb for them.

Hanks: It is. When Barack Obama was running for president, he actually sort of off-handedly endorsed getting rid of the penny as long as -- this is the senator from Illinois at the time -- they could find a coin for Abraham Lincoln.

Vigeland: For Abraham Lincoln, right?

Hanks: Yeah. That's the big stumbling block -- Abraham Lincoln.

Vigeland: All right. Well Doug Hanks, reporter for The Miami Herald, I would thank you for giving us a penny for your thoughts, but I'll round it up to a nickel.

Hanks: Thank you very much.

About the author

Tess Vigeland is the host of Marketplace Money, where she takes a deep dive into why we do what we do with our money.



Source

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Hackers target U.S. security think tank

LONDON (AP) – Hackers on Sunday claimed to have stolen a raft of e-mails and credit card data from U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor, promising it was just the start of a weeklong Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets. 


One alleged hacker said the goal was to use the credit data to steal a million dollars and give it away as Christmas donations, and images posted online claimed to show the receipts.

Members of the loose-knit hacking movement known as "Anonymous" posted a link on Twitter to what they said was Stratfor's tightly-guarded, confidential client list. Among those on the list: The U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and the Miami Police Department.

The rest of the list, which Anonymous said was a small slice of its 200 gigabytes worth of plunder, included banks, law enforcement agencies, defense contractors and technology firms such as Apple and Microsoft.

"Not so private and secret anymore?" the group taunted in a message on the microblogging site.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, public affairs officer for the Air Force, said that "for obvious reasons" the Air Force doesn't discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats or responses to them.

"The Air Force will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, take apporpriate action as necessary to protect Air Force networks and information," he said in an e-mail.

Miami Police Department spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz Jr. said that he could not confirm that the agency was a client of Stratfor, and he said he had not received any information about any security breach involving the police department.

Anonymous said it was able to get the credit details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them — an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.

Hours after publishing what it claimed was Stratfor's client list, Anonymous posted images online that it suggested were receipts for charitable donations made by the group manipulating the credit card data it stole.

"Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency," read the text above one image that appeared to show a transaction summary indicating that an agency employee's information was used to donate $250 to a non-profit.

Stratfor said in an e-mail to members that it had suspended its servers and e-mail after learning that its website had been hacked.

"We have reason to believe that the names of our corporate subscribers have been posted on other web sites," said the e-mail, passed on to The Associated Press by subscribers. "We are diligently investigating the extent to which subscriber information may have been obtained."

The e-mail, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman, said the company is "working closely with law enforcement to identify who is behind the breach."

"Stratfor's relationship with its members and, in particular, the confidentiality of their subscriber information, are very important to Stratfor and me," Friedman wrote.

Stratfor's website was down midday Sunday, with a banner saying "site is currently undergoing maintenance."

Wishing everyone a "Merry LulzXMas" — a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security — Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the e-mail, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee.

The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted.

"They took money I did not have," he told The Associated Press in a series of e-mails, which did not specify the amount taken. "I think why me? I am not rich."

One member of the hacking group, who uses the handle AnonymousAbu on Twitter, claimed that more than 90,000 credit cards from law enforcement, the intelligence community and journalists — "corporate/exec accounts of people like Fox" news — had been hacked and used to "steal a million dollars" and make donations.

It was impossible to verify where credit card details were used. Fox News was not on the excerpted list of Stratfor members posted online, but other media organizations including MSNBC and Al Jazeera English appeared in the file.

Anonymous warned it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."

The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on companies such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, as well as others in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.


Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Teachers Allegedly Fired for Reporting Abuse



Saintanthonyschoolfl.org
Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman are suing the Archdiocese of Miami after they say they were fired from their Catholic school teaching jobs for reporting alleged child abuse.




By ALYSSA NEWCOMB
Nov. 9, 2011


Two teachers, including a former teacher of the year, are suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, claiming they were fired for reporting suspected sex abuse involving the principal and a seventh grade girl.

Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman immediately contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Miami Archdiocese after the student made Morello aware of an incident allegedly involving St. Anthony Catholic School principal Norma Kramer.

The principal lifted the student's skirt, "exposing her bare buttocks and genital area to a school employee and another student," according to the complaint.

The suit is in contrast to the turmoil at Penn State University, where two officials face criminal charges and football coach Joe Paterno has resigned for not reporting suspected acts of sex abuse against boys to police. The university president will also be ousted, sources told ABC News.

"This is all about protecting kids," said Jeff Herman, a lawyer for the two dismissed teachers. "These women did just that, even though it cost them their jobs."

The Catholic school student allegedly victimized went to Morello last year "crying and shaking" and told her what happened immediately after incident, according to the complaint.

Morello, who had been teaching for five years, consulted veteran teacher Lynn Hoffman, a former nun, about the girl's claim.

"I felt as if I could be sick to my stomach," Hoffman said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Hoffman confronted Kramer, who she said admitted to the incident.

"She told us she was probably going to be taken out in handcuffs," Hoffman said.

Despite contacting the archdiocese, nothing was done to address the incident, the women said.

"They were told during the year that if they didn't keep quiet, they'd have a problem," said Herman, who has dealt with previous lawsuits against the archdiocese.

The Miami Archdiocese sent ABCNews.com a statement saying it has not seen the lawsuit and is unable to comment, but stressed that the diocese requires "mandatory reporting of inappropriate behavior."

Mark Riordan, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said, "We had full cooperation of the archdiocese in our investigation. However, the findings can not be released without a court order. Our investigation was closed within a 60-day period."

At the end of the school year, the two teachers were given pink slips, something Herman said never would have happened if they hadn't reported the alleged abuse.

"Lynn Hoffman is a former teacher of the year and just before the incident, Chanell Morello was given a glowing review," said Herman. "These are two teachers who were dedicated and cared deeply about their students."

Both women have been unable to find teaching jobs since being let go from their positions.

St. Anthony Catholic School declined ABCNews.com's request for comment, but confirmed that Kramer was no longer working at the school.

Morello and Hoffman are seeking damages in excess of $15,000.




Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Rev Run, will appear live at the church’s Miami campus as part of a teaching series called Run to the House


Pastor Ed Young Welcomes Rev Run, of Run DMC and Star of MTV’s “Run’s House” as a Guest Speaker at the Fellowship Church Miami Campus—Live October 23

Rev Run will join Pastor Ed Young in a live interview as part of a teaching series titled Run to the House.


Grapevine, Texas (PRWEB) October 13, 2011

Fellowship Church has announced that Rev Run, will appear live at the church’s Miami campus as part of a teaching series called Run to the House. Rev Run is best known as being a founding member of hip hop group Run DMC, and reality TV star of MTV’s “Run’s House.” Rev has helped break down walls and build bridges between races and cultures through music and fashion.

For Pastor Ed Young, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Church, bringing in Rev Run to share a message of strength, direction and wisdom at Fellowship Church seemed a perfect fit. Rev Run’s humorous outlook on life is something that appeals to everyone.

"There’s no question that Rev Run is a huge influence and phenomenal example to the world. His creativity, boldness and unwillingness to compromise his faith are lessons to everyone. We’re excited to welcome him to Fellowship Church!” – Ed Young

That weekend, like all weekends, Fellowship Church will be open to the public. Anyone in the community interested may attend one of two identical experiences—at 5:30 and 7:00 pm. Doors will open at 5:15 and 6:45, respectively. Childcare will be available.

About Fellowship Church
Fellowship Church is more than just one dynamic church in five diverse locations. Fellowship Church, led by Pastor Ed Young, is a community of people led by Christ to bring hope, strength, and change to the world.

To learn more about Fellowship Church visit:
http://www.Facebook.com/pastor.ed.young
http://www.twitter.com/edyoung
http://www.youtube.com/edyoung

Press Contacts:
Andy Boyd
Fellowship Church
andy(dot)boyd(at)fellowshipchurch(dot)com
972-471-5700

Casey McCann
Fellowship Church
casey(dot)mccann(at)fellowshipchurch(dot)com
972-471-5700

# # #

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Lifehouse Skit (North Miami Seventh Day Adventist Spanish Church)



Uploaded by keka1985 on Sep 7, 2009

Lifehouse Skit hecho en la Iglesia Adventista del Septimo Dia Hispana de North Miami para Sabado Joven por Kathy, Celvin, Alexis, Javy, Kimberly, Kristal y Julio Cesar para la honra y gloria de nuestro Diosito. (Jovenes de la celula C.S.I. Christians Saving Innocents)

Friday, December 03, 2010

Take 6 Concert Benefits Domestic Violence Ministry

By: Jondra Grier
Date: 12/02/10

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and to promote its domestic violence ministry, Mt. Pisgah Church, Miami Gardens, Fla., hosted a benefit concert that featured multiple Grammy Award winning gospel A cappella group, Take 6, on October 30, 2010.

In an effort to bring more awareness to this long-standing issue, Carmen Hope-Thomas and Sandra Brown decided to start a ministry that both educates and assists women caught in a domestic violence situation.

According to the National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
Multiple Grammy Award winning gospel A cappella group, Take 6, performed a benefit concert at Mt. Pisgah Church on October 30, 2010: Alvin Chea (left), David Thomas, Cedric Dent, Claude McKnight III, Mark Kibble, and Joey Kibble.


The Adventist church is not immune to domestic violence, in fact it is a major issue in the Church. “Incidents of abuse follow trends documented in non-Adventist populations,” said a spokesperson for ‘enditnow,’ the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s global initiative to end domestic violence.

The mission and goal of the domestic violence program is to provide support and referrals to those who are and have been victims of domestic violence.

More than 450 people attended the concert, which was opened by Mt. Pisgah’s praise team — The Levities.

“I have been familiar with their ministry, and so it was just expected. It was a thrilling experience to see them live, and also to interact with the group,” said Kelvin Trocard.
.
.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Man Who Knew Fidel Best

Fr. Armando Llorente, S.J. (1918-2010)
Photo (Courtesy) http://somehavehats.typepad.com/some_wear_clerics/2010/05/fr-armando-llorente-sj-rip.html



The Man Who Knew Fidel Best


There is probably no one alive today who knew the young Fidel Castro better than Father Amando Llorente, his Jesuit confidant during the mid 1940s. Father Llorente, who I first interviewed in Miami in February, 1986, shared penetrating insights with me about the teenage Castro he had known so well. Recently, I visited Father Llorente again to discuss the favorite student he remembered so well.

Father Llorente is now a vigorous 87 year old. He is as keen and articulate as I remembered him from twenty years earlier. He stands and strides like a man many years younger, exuding a charming sense of humor. He wore a black beret as he greeted me and a mutual friend in the courtyard of the Agrupacion Catolica retreat house, on Biscayne Bay in north Miami. He has lived there, doing many types of pastoral work, for a number of years, although he still manages to visit his native Leon, in northern Spain, with some frequency.

I included a remark of Llorente’s about Leon in my new book, After Fidel. He told me during our first meeting about the young Castro’s strangely distorted relationship with his Father, Angel Castro. Llorente explained then that he was still puzzled about why he had never met Angel. He could not recall Fidel’s father ever visiting Belen, the elite Jesuit preparatory school in Havana, where Llorente taught and where the young Castro spent the four happiest years of his life. The priest told me in 1986 that he could not understand Angel’s absence, and especially why he had failed to attend his son’s graduation in 1948.

“I would often say, Fidel, let me meet your father. We are both Spaniards. I am from Leon and he is a gallego. But he would always change the subject.”

When Llorente and I had that first discussion twenty years ago, neither of us was able to understand why Angel treated his son with such indifference. But in our second meeting this past March 30, we had both come to appreciate the powerful emotional disturbances that had strained the relationship between father and son in the mid-1940s. What has become clear just in the last few years is that Fidel was not legally recognized by his father until 1947, when he was seventeen years old. Although Angel was by then generously supporting his son, officially he was still illegitimate.

The young Fidel’s relationship with his father was psychologically labyrinthine and traumatic, one of key factors that shaped his adult character and personality. Growing up as a boy and teenager he bitterly resented Angel, feeling rejected and even abandoned, most painfully so during the time he lived in a foster home in Santiago de Cuba in the care of a poor Haitian family. Fidel was taunted and bullied. During those early formative years he was known by his mother’s surname; he was Fidel Ruz Gonzalez. And as the illegitimate son of a servant girl in Angel Castro’s household, he feared, and with good reason, that he might be consigned to the life of a peasant laborer.

Although his circumstances improved as Angel supported his education in a succession of elite Catholic schools, first in Santiago and then Havana, Fidel remained unsure of his prospects, and with scant contact with his father. It was at Belen that he first found emotional solace.

Father Llorente told me during our recent conversation that the fourteen or fifteen year old Castro told him:

“I have no family other than you,” meaning the Jesuit priests at Belen. But it was Llorente he drew closest to.

“I camped with him more than fifty-five times,” the priest remembered. It was during those group excursions into the Cuban countryside, when they were alone at night, gazing at the stars, that Fidel was most likely to confide in the priest and to reveal how emotionally tormented he was.

In 1986 Llorente told me that the young Castro, “often spoke of family problems, of not really having a family. He rarely spoke of his parents, but suffered considerably as a child... I gave him a lot of reassurance, I counseled him about trauma.”

I doubt that Castro has ever confided in anyone else as he did sixty years ago with Father Llorente, baring some of the psychological demons that he has otherwise always been at great pains to conceal. A search of the entire record of Castro’s oratory and interviews since 1959 may only reveal one acknowledgment that he suffered childhood traumas of the kind he described to Llorente. The lone exception was in a speech to students at the University of Havana last November.

During our second conversation, Father Llorente shared a story he had not felt free to discuss during our initial visit. He described his trip up into the Sierra Maestra in December 1958 to visit Castro, when it was evident that the Batista dictatorship could not survive much longer.

“I went because the Vatican needed to know what was happening. Was the revolution Fidel was leading nationalist, or Marxist, or what?”

At the time Llorente shared the fears of some of his superiors in Rome that Castro might persecute the Church, because, as he said of Castro, “I recognized that he would want all power in his own hands.”

“So I went to the Sierra Maestra on horseback, disguised as a guajiro (a Cuban peasant). I spent four days at Fidel’s headquarters. I asked him about Cuba’s future, especially regarding the Catholic Church. He professed to have no problem and said, for example, that he would need to keep the Catholic Saint Thomas University so that it could train the engineers that Cuba required so badly.”

With the sun low in the late afternoon on that recent day in Miami, casting long shadows in the courtyard where we sat around a simple metal table, Father Llorente concluded poignantly about the young Fidel:

“He used to always lie to me and make up elaborate stories to get away with things.

“It is my second nature,” the priest remembered Castro telling him.

And then Father Llorente added, “From childhood he needed to lie in order to survive.”


Source: http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/Latell_Web/3The%20Latell%20Report%20April%202006.htm

.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Police: Fla. Gunman Kills Wife and 3 Others, Then Self

Crime
Police: Fla. Gunman Kills Wife and 3 Others, Then Self




David Lohr
Contributor

AOL News (June 7) -- A 38-year-old man reported to be the half brother of a former Major League Baseball star went on a shooting rampage in Florida late Sunday night, killing his wife and three other women, police say.

Police have identified the man, who was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound near the scene, as Gerardo Regalado of Coral Gables. According to The Miami Herald, he is the half-brother of pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.

Regalado was seen arguing with his wife, 24-year-old Liazan Molina, in a parking lot outside the Yoyito Restaurant in Hialeah around 10:15 Sunday night, The Associated Press reported.

"It was some sort of domestic dispute," said Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez.

Police say the dispute turned violent when Regalado pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and shot his wife dead, then entered the restaurant and shot six women inside, killing three.

Regalado ignored two male bystanders and "went straight for the women," Rodriguez said.

The women killed inside the restaurant have been identified as Maysel Figueroa, 32, Lavina M. Fonseca, 47, and Zaida Castillo, 56. All were residents of Hialeah.

The three survivors have been hospitalized in critical condition. According to the online media outlet American Chronicle, they are Mayra Delacaridad, 55, of Hialeah Gardens; Ivet Coronado Fernandez, 36, of Miami; and Yasmine Dominguez.

Police say Regalado drove off after the shooting in an SUV owned by one of the victims. That vehicle was later found parked several blocks away, with Regalado's body inside.

Hernandez was unavailable for comment today, but NBC Miami did print a statement from him.

"On behalf of the Hernandez family we would like to offer our deepest sympathy to all of the families involved in this terrible tragedy," the statement read. "It is with great pain that we reach out to everyone affected and offer our prayers in this time of sorrow."

Police say a motive in the killing spree is not yet known.
.

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/police-florida-gunman-gerardo-regalado-kills-wife-and-3-others-then-self/19506655

.