Veteran Miami-Dade Clerk Harvey Ruvin dies; opens seat up to politiqueria

Veteran Miami-Dade Clerk Harvey Ruvin dies; opens seat up to politiqueria

Funeral Thursday is open to the public at Miami-Dade Auditorium Was he the last of the good ones? Longtime Miami-Dade County Clerk Harvey Ruvin, who served in the role for three decades after being a county commissioner for two decades, died Saturday. He was 85. “Tonight, we are heartbroken to learn of Harvey Ruvin’s death […]

Corrections officers may have carried COVID19 into Miami-Dade courtrooms

Corrections officers may have carried COVID19 into Miami-Dade courtrooms

All Miami-Dade Courts are going to remain closed except for the most critical cases at least through mid-April due to the coronavirus outbreak and community spread of COVID19. The criminal courthouse needs a deep cleaning anyway after it was determined this week that two of the three county corrections officers who tested positive for COVID19 had […]

Miami-Dade Courts close after positive test, amid more COVID-19 shutdowns

Miami-Dade Courts close after positive test, amid more COVID-19 shutdowns

Updated: Less than 24 hours after the city of Miami shut down all restaurants, clubs, bars, gyms and other locations where people congregate and could, possibly, transmit the coronavirus COVID-19 disease, Miami-Dade County followed with the same kind of emergency order, closing all those establishments and allowing kitchens to stay open for curbside or drive-through take-out […]

New Miami-Dade courthouse is back on the drawing board

New Miami-Dade courthouse is back on the drawing board

The construction of a new Miami-Dade civil courthouse — such an “emergency” in 2014, that leaders, lawyers and lobbyists rushed a ballot question for a courthouse tax that was soundly defeated at the polls (64%-36%) — is back on the horizon. More than two years later, county commissioners Thursday again looked to address the deterioration […]

Miami-Dade Policy Council’s first meeting: transit, courts, jails

Miami-Dade Policy Council’s first meeting: transit, courts, jails

After Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo became the board’s chairman in December, he created the Chairman’s Policy Council, a new sort of super committee to take up the most important issues the county faces in the next two to four years — including the renovation of the historic downtown civil courthouse, which was once a $400-million […]

Commission approves courthouse fixes, P3 task force

Commission approves courthouse fixes, P3 task force

Miami-Dade Commissioners passed a measure Tuesday that redirects $30 million in general obligation bond monies toward urgent repairs at the historic but falling apart civil courthouse in downtown Miami known as Cielito Lindo. They also approved a request for qualifications from firms to build a new civil courthouse in what would be the first P3 […]

Courthouse clean bill of health begs questions, investigation

Courthouse clean bill of health begs questions, investigation

Well, well, well. It appears that there is no huge, life-endangering emergency at the downtown Miami-Dade Civil Courthouse after all. You know… the health and safety hazards like mold and crumbling columns that lawyers and judges told us were killing them slowly day by day or quickly any day now. They lied. The county’s assessment […]

Busy county commission considers courthouse, cameras, gifts

Busy county commission considers courthouse, cameras, gifts

Ladra hopes Miami-Dade Commissioners packed a lunch and a snack for what looks like a marathon meeting Tuesday that brings back several controversial issues — including transgender rights, the $65 million consolation prize to Oderbrecht for taking away their Airport City hotel, body cameras for cops, the crumbling civil courthouse and millions of dollars in […]

Courthouse debate continues, becomes a blame game

Courthouse debate continues, becomes a blame game

The crumbling courthouse crisis has now become a blame game. Echoing lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez — who said on the radio during the campaign for the bond tax for a new courthouse that Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado was at fault for letting the building deteriorate so much — Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman pointed the finger […]

Commissioner Juan Zapata: Close courthouse if there’s a risk

Commissioner Juan Zapata: Close courthouse if there’s a risk

The bond referendum for the Miami-Dade Courthouse tax failed miserably last week, but Cielito Lindo is still in deplorable conditions and there are still health and safety hazards that need to be addressed. Maybe it just needs to be shut down. That’s what Commissioner Juan “El Zorro” Zapata is going to suggest at Wednesday’s public […]