18 June 2010, 5:38 am
Gus Boulis
- Anthony Moscatiello, top, Anthony Ferrari, left, and James Fiorillo
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
It was Fort Lauderdale’s murder of the decade: the 2001 gangland-style slaying of day-cruise casino cruise ship kingpin Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis.
On Oct. 1, it’s coming to a movie theater near you.
The three men charged in 2005 with conspiring to kill Boulis have yet to go to trial in Broward Circuit Court. The one who’s out on bond – Anthony “Big Tony” Moscatiello – will have the opportunity of watching both the murder and himself portrayed on the silver screen.
Bagman is about hotshot Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the nation’s biggest political scandal since Watergate. Actor Kevin Spacey plays Abramoff. Continue reading ‘Nine-year-old Boulis murder coming to big screen in Abramoff saga before trio of alleged killers stand trial’ »
11 June 2010, 5:15 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
A whistleblower’s allegations about possible corruption and wasted public funds at Broward County Transit (BCT) have sparked a quiet internal county investigation that’s already led to the suspension of one ranking transit official.
The unidentified county employee’s accusations are in a 12-page whistleblower complaint filed with the county’s Office of Professional Standards in March.
Broward Bulldog has obtained a copy of the complaint that does not name the whistleblower, whose name is also protected under state law.
The most serious claim in the complaint: Two top transit officials appear to have “misled” the county commission into wrongly awarding a $13.3 million, no-bid contract last year to a North Carolina company that sells digital communications equipment for buses. Continue reading ‘Whistleblower triggers corruption probe at Broward County Transit; one official suspended’ »
9 June 2010, 5:41 am
The First Presbyterian Church is in the foreground. Behind are the proposed Family Center and parking garage/office buildings.
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
First Presbyterian Church’s $20-million plan to build a big new family center and a parking garage off Las Olas Boulevard finally returns to Fort Lauderdale City Hall next week for a zoning board showdown with irate neighbors in historic Colee Hammock.
After several delays, the board is expected to approve or reject construction on June 16 following final arguments from supporters and opponents. But with both sides vowing to appeal, the five-member city commission will likely make the final decision amid political fireworks this summer.
The row is a classic power struggle involving some of the biggest names in town. It could shape the size and style of development for years to come on the lesser eastern stretch of Fort Lauderdale’s swankiest boulevard. Continue reading ‘Classic power struggle over church expansion pits big names in Fort Lauderdale’ »
3 June 2010, 4:37 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Charles T. Wells
Retiring Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Wells knew he faced a conflict of interest in his relationship with his future employer at Orlando’s GrayRobinson when he disqualified himself from cases involving the law firm on Dec. 30, 2008.
But that did not stop him 30 days later from participating in a ruling that, in effect, backed a statewide political fight led by prominent members of his soon-to-be employer.
The group that lost the ruling – Florida Hometown Democracy – now wonders if Justice Wells’ vote was unduly influenced by his employment opportunity at GrayRobinson.
“It doesn’t smell good,” said Palm Beach environmental attorney Lesley Blackner, Florida Hometown Democracy’s president. “When I found out he was going to work for GrayRobinson it seemed like there was a high potential for conflicts of interest.” Continue reading ‘Conflicting interests and questions about a Florida Supreme Court justice’s vote’ »
26 May 2010, 4:21 pm
UPDATE: Fort Lauderdale’s planning and zoning board will meet June 16 at 6:30 p.m. to decide whether to approve First Presbyterian’s proposed expansion plans.
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Fort Lauderdale City Hall
Fort Lauderdale’s planning and zoning board can’t get its act together to take a vote on First Presbyterian Church’s controversial building plans in historic Colee Hammock.
The board announced Wednesday that it had canceled Thursday’s special meeting to consider the church’s rezoning request because it couldn’t get enough members to show up.
It was the second time this month the nine-member board has said it couldn’t muster a quorum.
The board will nevertheless convene at 6:30 p.m. in the city commission chambers at City Hall to set a new date to hear the matter. Continue reading ‘Fort Lauderdale zoning vote on church’s expansion plans delayed again’ »
25 May 2010, 5:55 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Wheelabrator's North Broward Waste-to-Energy plant
The first shot was fired last week at Oakland Park City Hall in a brewing rebellion among Broward cities over the high cost of garbage disposal.
County officials have offered a proposal they say will save the cities nearly $49 million a year over what they now pay to get rid of their trash – plus get them a share of a $12 million bonus that giant Waste Management is willing to pay if they sign up early for another 10 years.
But some outraged city leaders say those contract renewal savings are not nearly enough.
They contend that Waste Management has used its local trash monopoly to make enormous profits on the backs of Broward customers and they fault the county’s Resource Recovery Board – and RRB chair and Broward Commissioner Ilene Lieberman – for not moving to end that monopoly by putting the $1.5 billion deal out for competitive bids. Continue reading ‘Broward’s $1.5 billion no-bid trash deal under fire by cities’ »
10 May 2010, 6:00 am
UPDATE: May 19: Fort Lauderdale’s zoning board voted this evening to hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. on May 27 to decide whether to approve First Presbyterian Church’s controversial expansion plans.
UPDATE, MAY 18: Wednesday’s expected vote by the Fort Lauderdale zoning board on First Presbyterian Church’s controversial expansion plans has been delayed. The reason: city officials have learned there won’t be enough board members on hand to make a quorum. The board’s next regular meeting is June 16, but a special meeting could be convened before then, said city spokesman Chaz Adams. Broward Bulldog will post the date and time when it’s announced.
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Romney Rogers has been on the job little more than a year, but today he’s the man to watch in a high-profile zoning fight between expansion-minded First Presbyterian Church and its angry neighbors.
Romney Rogers
Rogers’s district includes historic Colee Hammock – home to the church and hundreds of nearby homeowners.
Church leaders argue $20 million in new buildings are desperately needed to fulfill the church’s ministry. The Colee Hammock Homeowners Association says the buildings are too massive and will disrupt the neighborhood and depress property values. They also fear that the church wants to use the buildings to open a school – something the church has denied.
The zoning board is expected to decide whether to recommend the project to the commission at its May 19 meeting. The board postponed a decision last month when an overflow crowd of speakers for and against caused a meeting to run past 1 a.m.
People on both sides want to know whose side Rogers is on. That’s because he’ll likely account for two of the five votes that will ultimately decide who wins — his own and Mayor Jack Seiler’s. Seiler’s general policy is to follow the lead of district commissioners on votes in their backyard. Continue reading ‘All eyes on Romney Rogers in church’s zoning fight with neighbors’ »
3 May 2010, 5:28 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
NASA
As oil continues to gush from a severed pipeline on the Gulf of Mexico seabed, a consortium of law firms stretching from Fort Lauderdale to Texas is preparing for its own kind of cleanup.
The first wave of more than a half-dozen lawsuits landed in federal court in New Orleans last week – one week after the disaster began with an explosion and fire aboard the oil rig Deepwater Horizon 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The rig sank two days later.
“I suspect there will be thousands of lawsuits,” said Broward lawyer Walter G. “Skip” Campbell, who plans to file suit this week in New Orleans on behalf of gulf shrimp and oyster farmers.
To date, authorities have said they can’t choke off the flow of an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day that’s pouring from the damaged pipe and rising nearly a mile to the surface. An enormous, still-growing oil slick threatens economic interests and wildlife habitat for hundreds of miles of coastline from Louisiana to Florida. Continue reading ‘It’s Forrest Gump vs. BP as Fort Lauderdale law firm looks to clean up on giant gulf spill’ »
30 April 2010, 5:14 am
Charles T. Wells
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
When former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Wells retired in March 2009 he did not file final financial disclosure forms required by state law and judicial canons.
He belatedly did so this week after Broward Bulldog inquired about that omission.
Supreme Court justices, like lower court judges and other officeholders, must annually disclose for public inspection their sources of income, business interests, assets, liabilities and net worth.
Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct, the ethical standard for the state’s judges, says judges “shall file a final disclosure statement within 60 days after leaving office.” Continue reading ‘Former Chief Justice Wells failed to file required financial disclosure forms’ »
28 April 2010, 5:15 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Charles T. Wells
Weeks after casting the deciding vote to approve a controversial ballot petition in December 2008, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Wells joined a law firm aligned with the petition’s sponsor.
The high court’s 4-3 ruling gave life to a push by developers and statewide business interests – led by the Florida Chamber of Commerce – to blunt a possible change in the state constitution to greatly expand citizen powers over local development.
Wells landed a senior job at GrayRobinson, an influential Orlando-based corporate firm allied with the petition’s sponsor, a political action committee called Floridians for Smarter Growth. He says he got the job because of his six decade old friendship with the firm’s co-founder, J. Charles Gray.
GrayRobinson announced Wells’ hiring on March 3, 2009. But in an interview with Broward Bulldog, Wells said he might have accepted the job in January 2009, while the case was still before the court for a possible rehearing.
“I don’t really remember. I may have,” Wells said. “As I say, I was wrapping things up at this point.”
Gray did not respond to a request for comment. Continue reading ‘Ex-Supreme Court chief justice approves ballot petition, gets hired by firm allied with its sponsor’ »
