UCF suspends socials for fraternities, sororities

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when the University of Central Florida decided that the behavior of its Greek student organizations was out of control — after all, UCF fraternities and sororities have been caught breaking the rules on dozens of occasions in only the last couple of years.

A recent Sigma Chi photo posted on Facebook, however, sticks out as one of the tipping points. The picture showed a new frat member, or “pledge,” consuming alcohol as part of an alleged hazing incident, and included the caption, “Forcing a pledge to chug while two others puke in misery.” The two vomiting students were also pictured, with one holding his head above a trash can.

UCF administrators last month suspended that fraternity, and soon after made national headlines by suspending most Greek activities altogether. Under the suspension, Greek organizations’ charitable events can continue, but just about all else (socials, new member education efforts, and initiation ceremonies) is banned for now.

“We’re asking some hard questions,” said Maribeth Ehasz, vice president of student development and enrollment services. “We are very concerned about alcohol being central to many activities, especially new member activities.”

The university’s growing footprint is one reason its action is so significant: UCF now boasts nearly 60,000 students, making it the largest state university in Florida and the second-largest in the United States. More than 6,300 of its students come from Miami-Dade or Broward counties.

Other schools across the country have also moved to rein in Greek organizations. At Cornell (where a student died of alcohol poisoning), fraternities have been ordered to have live-in advisers. Yale strengthened its alcohol misuse penalties (and overhauled school sexual assault reporting policies) after a video surfaced on YouTube of fraternity brothers jokingly chanting “No means yes! and other crudities.

Of course, Greek student groups aren’t the only realm where hazing can occur. Florida A&M University is still recovering from the widely publicized hazing death of drum major Robert Champion in 2011. Champion’s bandmates in the prestigious Marching 100 took turns punching and striking the 26-year-old student as part of a hazing ritual.

A coroner determined that Champion died from medical complications associated with “blunt force trauma.” FAMU’s president and band director lost their jobs as a result of the tragedy, and other state institutions (including UCF) took notice.

Hazing expert Hank Nuwer, who has written four books on the issue, maintains a “Hazing Deaths” website that lists all the fatal cases occurring at U.S. colleges from year to year. Each year — for more than four decades — at least one student has died.

Hazing typically happens in Greek organizations or on college athletic teams, Nuwer said, with Greek student groups representing the majority of cases. Within Greek life, fraternities are more likely to haze than sororities.

In recent years, Nuwer said progress has been made in educating students on the risks of hazing, but there is still no easy way to stop it. Nuwer was skeptical of UCF’s strategy, which he said is vulnerable to a student lawsuit, and may simply drive Greek activities underground.

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UM, county clash with owner of mall over pedestrian overpass above U.S.-1

After several University of Miami students have been killed or seriously injured trying to cross busy U. S. 1 to get to popular retail spots on the other side, Miami-Dade County has finally approved building a Mediterranean-styled pedestrian bridge across the highway.

But the project has come to a standstill after the owner of the mall, University Centre, has refused to cooperate.

The county has offered the owner $1.85 million to compensate for the loss of five parking spaces needed to anchor the bridge across the street from the Metrorail station and the nearby UM. In addition, the county has offered the strip center owner 10 parking spaces at the Metrorail station across South Dixie Highway.

The mall owner has not budged.

Toby Brigham, an attorney representing the owner, said the placement of the overpass at that corner would block the mall’s visibility and its signage, hurting business.

“That’s a critical point where the driveways curve,” Brigham said. “Things like that in today’s economy, in competition with other shopping centers who are not similarly blighted, can make a huge difference.”

The mall’s stance has angered UM President Donna Shalala, who has taken her fight to the Coral Gables city commission and to the public.

“The county has made a fair offer in our judgment, the owner has basically rejected it and, as you can imagine, has hired a lawyer,’’ she said. “We have had students killed, seriously injured. Ponce de Leon [Middle School] uses that Metro stop and needs that bridge.… I’m now at the point this is unconscionable, we’ve got to get this done.”

Since 1989, eight UM students have been struck by vehicles while attempting to cross U.S. 1 around Mariposa Court, the intersection of the shopping center.

Three of the students died. They were: Eric Adams in 1990, Aaron Baber in 1998 and Ashley Kelly in April 2005. Kelly was hit by an SUV while walking to T.G.I. Friday’s with a friend to meet potential roommates.

The most recent incident involving a UM student was in April 2012 when Eliza Gresh was struck by a hit-and-run driver in South Miami and injured while attempting to cross U.S. 1 at Southwest 57th Avenue.

After nearly eight years, the county has approved the project. About $6 million in funding at the state and federal level has been allocated and a Mediterranean-style overpass has been designed.

“This has been a long-term project and it’s absolutely imperative, not because it adds an aesthetic value, but because it adds a component of safety to the residents of Coral Gables, a large number of whom are UM students,” said Nawara Alawa, student government president. “This is not just a project benefiting the university.”

But Miami-Dade County can’t begin construction because it hasn’t acquired the five parking spaces in the northeast corner of the University Centre parking lot needed to place the eastern pedestal of the bridge. The center is on the eastern side of the highway.

Shalala expressed her frustration over the hold-up to the Coral Gables Commission at the December State of the City/University of Miami meeting.

“We, of course, believe that the University Centre would not be there without our students and staff using all of those shops heavily,’’ Shalala said.

Last month, the property owner rejected the county’s final offer of $1.85 million for that corner of the lot.

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Miami’s Mailman Center helping change the way society views developmentally disabled children

The seeds of the Mailman Center for Child Development were sown on a tennis court during a match more 50 years ago, a conversation between a U.S. president’s sister and the director of a university pediatric department about how best to serve special needs children.

They both knew something about that world: Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s sister, Rosemary, was developmentally disabled and Robert Cooke, a pediatrician and department head at Johns Hopkins University had two severely disabled daughters. At a time when most severely disabled children were referred to as “mentally retarded” and often consigned to institutions, Shriver, her husband Sargent and Cooke believed the best way to change lives was through research and equipping those on the frontlines with the professional training and tools.

That conversation, in early 1963, was a game changer in the way the nation treated its youngest and most needy citizens, the first significant step toward opening 11 academically affiliated clinical and training facilities in the United States, including the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Mailman Center. Shriver was even present when the doors of Miami’s gray, nine-story building opened on the Jackson Memorial Medical Center campus in 1971.

“Our core mission has not changed, in that we are trying to learn and do as much as possible to help our children with disabilities,’’ said Daniel Armstrong, director of the center. “We are trying to help them live full lives and grow into independence.’’

Built upon the premise that “different” is about possibilities rather than limitations, the Mailman Center – the first of its kind in the nation – would become a part of national discourse about the care of special needs children and help shape public health policies. It opened with the assistance of a federal grant, the Kennedy Foundation and Abraham and Joseph Mailman, a pair of South Florida brothers and business executives who gave generously to healthcare and education causes.

Today, the center, operating on a $24 million annual budget, offers services to about 22,000 children a year through its early education programming, clinics and the high-profile inclusion school called the Debbie Institute – named after Abraham Mailman’s granddaughter, Debra Jean Segal, born with cerebral palsy. Over the decades, the focus has broadened to include the developmental risks of neo-natal newborns and children with serious chronic illnesses such as cancer. Currently, there are more than 70 active research projects and a sweeping set of programs ranging from an Early Steps intervention to a Fragile X clinic.

“The folks at the Mailman stand out for their willingness to work with and share information with others across the country and around the world,’’ said Margaret Nygren, CEO of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a Washington DC-based membership organization. “They are a national leader in the fields of clinical work, training and research.’’

Natalie Araneda, 21, born in Guatemala City, spent four years at the Debbie Institute learning to live with limited hearing.

“I came here to take a test when I was 1, after my parents realized I was not responding to the sound of their voices,’’ said Araneda, who wears a hearing aid. “There wasn’t really a place for me to go in my country for my level of hearing loss. We ended up moving here for me to be treated.’’

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Miami police to enforce teen curfew

Miami police began enforcing a teen curfew Wednesday, although they insisted this was not in response to a recent series of shootings in the city..

According to the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance, it is against the law for children younger than 17 to be out on their own in Miami-Dade County between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, curfew hours are midnight until 6 a.m.

Miami police spokesman Willie Moreno said police have enforced the curfew several times within the last few years.

“It’s normally done when kids are out of school, and we’ve done it before ... usually during the summer months,” he said.

“That’s when kids tend to stay out later and later.”

Moreno noted Miami-Dade students will soon be on spring break, which could lead them to being out later at night.

There are some exceptions to the curfew.

Among them are being accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or someone 21 or older with permission to be responsible for the juvenile; working, or traveling to or from work; having written permission from a parent or guardian to run an errand; aiding or assisting in an emergency; traveling to or from school, religious, civic, or county-sponsored events; if the juvenile is emancipated by marriage or a court order; attending or returning from a public event (with permission) if the event began before 10 p.m.; being authorized by the County Commission.

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Little Havana condo owners get little help as units collapse

When a group of Little Havana condominium owners realized in 2009 that there were serious structural problems in the properties they had just bought, they sought help from several local officials.

They called Miami building inspectors. They wrote letters to the directors of the city and county programs that helped finance their purchases with nearly $1 million in public funds. And they contacted their elected officials to complain about the developers who had sold them the condos.

In November 2010, County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, whose district the complex is in, offered to try to help convert the zero-to-low-interest loans that eight of the condo owners had received as first-time homebuyers into grants.

But they rejected the offer because it would have required them to stay in their homes for 30 years and they didn’t think they would last that long.

A month ago, the floor in one of the units collapsed. Other owners are having similar problems. The owners want somebody to take responsibility for what happened.

“Who could the county go after? The engineering firms? All the appraisers sent by the banks?” asked Barreiro.

It’s unclear when the floors in the five buildings that make up the Havana Palms complex, 960 SW Second St., began to deteriorate.

Public records show that Montara Land V, LLC — owned by Anibal Duarte-Viera and Gabriel de la Campa — bought the 1946 apartment complex for $2.5 million in 2005. The developers converted the units into condominiums the following year, investing about $120,000 to repair the electric and plumbing systems, as well as installing central air conditioning, according to city permits.

Between December 2006 and March 2009, Montara Land sold 18 of the units to buyers, 14 of whom qualified for government aid for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers. The prices of the condominiums dropped as Miami’s real estate bubble burst, but the sales varied from $119,000 for a one-bedroom to $184,000 for two. By 2010, when the real estate market had collapsed, they sold one last condo for $44,000.

Unable to sell the remaining 13 units, Montara Land began to rent some of them out, according to the residents. The developers finally sold the remaining stock to investor Constantino Cicchelli in March 2011 for $475,000, or less than $37,000 per unit. Duarte-Viera and De la Campa shut down their company that September.

The condo owners say that the floors showed signs of deterioration shortly after they moved in. After a 2009 city inspection confirmed problems with the floor joists, Montaramade some repairs, but the work was never completed, according to city records.

Duarte-Viera told El Nuevo Herald said that he remembers that some repairs were made in the complex but said he was unfamiliar with the details.

The owners say they asked the developers to take responsibility for repairing structural damages. When the work didn’t take place, they reached out to government officials for help.

In October 2011, the county offered another solution: It gave the condo owners the option to sell or rent their units before the loans expired. “This waiver has been approved due to the unsafe structural condition of the property and the developer’s non compliance with the city of Miami building codes,” wrote Rubén Arias, the county’s public affairs director.

But the owners also turned down that offer. By then their properties had lost so much value that, even if someone wanted to buy them, the money from the sales would not have been enough to pay off their mortgages. The condos currently have assessed values of between $41,770 and $48,450, according to the county’s property appraiser.

At the city level, the deputy director of Miami’s Community Development Department told the condo owners in November 2011 that he would recommend total or partial pardon of the debts to a committee with authority on such matters. Nine owners received aid from the city government. However, the city could not allow the property owners to participate once again in the first-buyers program as they had requested.

For now, many of the condo owners at Havana Palms say their only recourse is a civil suit. They are unsure who to sue because Montara Land no longer exists. They are considering a suit against the private appraisers sent by the banks or the private engineering firm that conducted a 40-year certified inspection of the complex in 2009 that found the complex structurally sound.

Juana Blandón, one of the few owners who did not receive government aid to buy her condo, is among those in talks with a pro bono attorney. Blandón’s bathroom floor has broken in two and the floors in the rest of the unit feel spongy.

“Maybe we will have to sue the banks, the inspector and all those responsible in order for this to get resolved,” Blandón said. “We have no other choice.”

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Miami Marlins hold ballpark organist tryouts

For the first time since the team's inception in 1993, the Miami Marlins held open auditions for an organist Monday night at their new stadium.

Several local musicians showed up to vie for the special gig.

The chosen organist will be responsible for performing songs such as Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Let's Go Fish and Clap and Stomp at all 81 home games next season.

Among the requirements for the job were a good knowledge of all genres of music, knowledge of the Miami Marlins and creativity for all types of situations and spontaneous moments during a Major League Game.

Organs have been a standard feature at most baseball parks ever since the Chicago Cubs introduced them at Wrigley Field in 1941. The Marlins have had only two organists — Lowery Ballew and Dick Jans — but had never held an open tryout for the position.

It’s unknown how much the job pays.

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Miami group lauds immigration reform efforts

Each year, the Miami-based Americans for Immigrant Justice generally honors immigrants who succeed in winning asylum or a green card against all odds.

Things will be a little different this time.

The organization will be celebrating bipartisanship at its 17th annual gala on March 7, as Republicans and Democrats begin working toward immigration reform.

“Fixing our broken immigration system ought to be a national priority,” said San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who will be the event’s keynote speaker at the Hotel Intercontinental in downtown Miami. He’ll be introduced by Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and current chairman of the American Conservative Union.

“For the first time in a long time we have a chance to get this right,” said Cardenas, referring to Congress’ fledgling efforts on immigration reform. “It’s a narrow window of opportunity and all of us need to do our part to see comprehensive immigration reform succeed.”

South Florida’s push comes as the White House and Congress step up efforts to offer some form of immigration reform legislation later this year that would legalize undocumented immigrants, officially estimated at 11.5 million.

Last week, the White House acknowledged it has prepared its own immigration reform bill that would grant undocumented immigrants – without any criminal convictions – temporary legal status.

In eight years, they would receive a green card after paying fines, fees and back taxes.

Last month, eight senators announced a bipartisan immigration reform proposal that would allow undocumented immigrants to get temporary status, but would receive green cards only after immigration controls are further tightened, and they learn English.

SIMILARITIES

While the two proposals appear similar, some Republican lawmakers have criticized the White House proposal, without offering specifics. Some lawmakers indicated that President Barack Obama’s plan interferes with efforts by the eight senators to draft their own plan.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press recently, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Obama’s proposal would fail if the White House persisted in going forward. He encouraged the White House to give senators a chance to continue their bipartisan work.

It is that effort that Americans for Immigrant Justice plans to celebrate at its dinner next week.

The bipartisan push makes immigration reform more possible than before, said Cheryl Little, the group’s executive director. That makes it more likely that Congress will pass a bill to legalize undocumented immigrants – long a key goal of immigration activists.

“We opened our doors to see this day,” Little said. “We have been fighting for comprehensive immigration reform since we started our organization.”

Americans for Immigrant Justice was founded in 1996 under the name Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. The group changed its name two years ago.

Since its inception, the group has helped thousands of immigrants – Cubans, Central Americans, Haitians, Mexicans and many others – secure asylum, green cards, temporary legal status or refugee benefits.

Its mission is to protect and promote the basic human rights of immigrants through free legal services, policy reform and public education.

Reform more likely

Little said immigration reform seems more likely this year because of the last presidential election in which Hispanic voters overwhelmingly voted for Obama, even though he did not fulfill his first-term promise of enacting immigration reform. Since Obama’s reelection, many Republicans have softened their opposition to immigration reform.

“The Democrats have a debt to pay, and the Republicans a party to save,” Little said. “That gives me hope.”

The group also will honor Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, for her longtime support for immigration reform.

“I’m humbled to be recognized for any small contribution I might have made toward the noble goal of helping so many freedom and opportunity-seeking individuals,” she said. “Americans for Immigrant Justice has been working nonstop on comprehensive immigration reform, and the hard work of the members of this important organization is bearing fruit.”

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Miami Dolphins hopeful on stadium referendum date

The Miami Dolphins are hopeful the Miami-Dade County Commission will approve a May 14 date for a referendum on the $400 rehabilitation of their stadium, time enough to get South Florida in play for Super Bowl 50, a Dolphins spokesman said Saturday.

Spokesman Ric Katz said the language of the proposed referendum has yet to be decided, and ultimately the commission decides the date.

But, he said, “we’d be very happy with” May 14 because “that gives us a week to communicate to the NFL before they make the important decision of Super Bowl 50.”

NFL owners are slated to meet on May 22 to pick the site of the 2016 Super Bowl — seen as a tourist revenue prize for whichever host city gets the 50th anniversary contest.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez met Friday with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and CEO Mike Dee to discuss the proposed stadium rehabilitation.

From the mayor’s side, there has been no agreement on a date and Gimenez does not plan to bring the proposed May 14 referendum to the commission at this time, said spokeswoman Suzy Trutie.

Friday’s was a “first meeting” at which “many things were discussed,” including the Dolphin’s preference for May 14.

But, “We continue negotiating with the Dolphins with regards to finances.”

One proposed financing plan would increase the bed tax in mainland Miami-Dade by 1 percent and increase the sales tax rebate the team already gets at the stadium in Miami Gardens. Ross had initially offered to pay at least $201 million in his financing plan. But Katz, a Miami publicist representing the team in the stadium campaign, said the two sides were still in negotiation on what the mayor would ask the commission to put to taxpayers in a referendum.

Trutie said the proposed referendum would gauge public opinion on increasing hotel taxes from 6 to 7 percent to fund the stadium renovations.

Of the commission, Katz said, “We do not take them for granted. They have the prerogative.”

Attorney Kendall Coffey did not return calls asking whether the Dolphins had hired him to write the ballot language.

Dolphins lobbyist Marcelo Llorente had said in recent weeks that the team was considering May 7 and 14 as possible referendum dates.

Any activity by the Florida Legislature would likely have to be undertaken before then. The regular session is slated to end May 3.

Miami Herald staff writers Patricia Mazzei and Doug Hanks contributed to this report.

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Shots fired as Hialeah police attempt to stop a stolen vehicle, perimeter set up in search of suspects

A perimeter has been set up in Hialeah as police search for car thieves after shots were fired in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

According to Hialeah police Sergeant Eddie Rodriguez, shots were fired as police approached a stolen blue mini-van in an attempt to make a stop. The occupants then fled and crashed into an occupied vehicle around the corner at East 6th Avenue. and East 27th Street. before abandoning the van.

A perimeter has been set up from East Seventh Avenue. to East Fourth Avenue and from East 21st Street. to East 27th Street. as police search for the thieves.

Police have recovered a firearm from inside the stolen mini-van.

It is still unclear who fired the shots.

This story will be updated as more details become available.

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Are Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake coming to South Florida? It seems likely

The rumored Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z tour appears closer to reality — and a South Florida show is in the plans.

First, bloggers hinted the Legend of the Summer Tour would take place in at least 12 outdoor venues across the U.S.

Then Thursday night, Jay-Z's lifestyle website, Life + Times, coyly posted photos of 12 stadiums — including Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Yankee Stadium in New York and Fenway Stadium in Boston.

No dates have been announced yet.

The pairing of the two popular stars could be the biggest tour of the summer, competing in a tight race that may also include Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, who will also be on the road, including shows at BB&T Center in Sunrise on July 9 and AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on July 10.

Justin Timberlake's made his return to performing earlier this month at the Grammys, where he performed hit current single Suit and Tie, which features Jay-Z.

Timberlake's third album, The 20/20 Experience, will be released March 19.

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U.S. Supreme Court ruling affects many immigrant convicts in South Florida

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Wednesday shuts the door on appeals for hundreds of Floridians convicted in the past of crimes for which they could be deported.

The high court, in Chaidez v. United States, ruled that immigrants convicted of certain crimes before 2010 cannot appeal their cases if their criminal defense lawyer did not properly warn them of deportation.

Wednesday’s decision followed up on the court’s 2010 ruling throwing out the conviction of military veteran Jose Padilla, whose lawyer failed to warn him he faced deportation to his native Honduras when pleading guilty to marijuana smuggling in Kentucky.

After the ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, thousands of convicted immigrants — fearing deportation, or some ordered deported — asked lower courts across the country to throw out their convictions. That included Roselva Chaidez, a longtime U.S. resident from Mexico convicted in Chicago of auto insurance fraud.

But seven of nine justices said Wednesday that the Padilla ruling established “new law” and was not legally “retroactive.” Under federal law, non-citizens convicted of an “aggravated felony” can be deported.

The U.S. Attorney General’s Office had also argued that applying Padilla retroactively “would be overwhelming to the administration of justice” — flooding the courts with thousands of cases, most of them so old that witnesses or evidence in the cases have disappeared.

South Florida defense attorneys greeted Wednesday’s ruling with dismay.

“There will be an increase in voluntary departures, only the ‘voluntariness’ will be based on the fact that there is no recourse if the person’s case pre-dated Padilla ... an increase in orders of deportations and in increase in money spent to supervise people who cannot be deported to countries such as Cuba,” said defense attorney Maggie Arias, who along with Benji Waxman argued the issue before Miami’s appeals court.

“They’ve cut the legs out of anyone who would have recourse in criminal court based on bad advice — or no advice — from a criminal defense lawyer.”

Two Supreme Court justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissented.

The issue of “retroactivity” had been particularly vexing in immigrant-rich South Florida, and several Miami cases had made their way through the appellate courts.

One such case: Gabriel Hernandez, who arrived in the United States from Nicaragua when he was 2 years old. Now 30 and a legal resident, he boasts a bachelor’s degree and works as a successful computer network administrator for a Miami bank group.

His one blemish occurred when he was 19 years old. He was arrested on charges of selling LSD.

In an outcome typical for first-time offenders, Hernandez pleaded guilty and accepted a year of probation in return for a promise that no felony conviction would appear on his record. But Hernandez insists he never understood that the plea deal could wind up getting him deported to Nicaragua.

Miami’s Third District Court of Appeals denied Hernandez’s bid to throw out the conviction based on the Padilla case. The Florida Supreme Court, in November, upheld the ruling.

Hernandez’s lawyer, Michael Vastine, was chagrined by Wednesday’s court decision.

“From here on out, Florida immigration judges are going to be deporting people for crimes that are constitutionally suspect,” Vastine said. “I find that a little bit galling.”

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Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez to speak at Miami’s Freedom Tower

Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, who is on a world tour after 10 years of being barred from leaving her homeland, plans to visit Miami April 1 and speak at the iconic Freedom Tower.

“It is such an honor to not only have Yoani speak at what we affectionately call Democracy’s College, but also at the Freedom Tower. I can think of no better venue for this historic conversation in Miami,” said Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College., in an email Tuesday night.

The Freedom Tower, which is located on the MDC campus, was the old headquarters of The Miami News but went on to a second life as a center for processing and offering services to Cuban refugees who fled the Castro regime in the 1960s.

The federal government sold the Mediterranean Revival style building in 1972 and after changing hands a few times, it was donated to Miami Dade College.

Sánchez will take part in what is billed as a special conversation with community leaders and students at 2 p.m. on April 1. The conversation will be live-streamed from the tower, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Cuban blogger, who began an international tour this week that will stretch to nearly three months, will receive the Miami Dade College Presidential Medal for championing human rights.

Past honorees have included President Bill Clinton; Lech Walesa, former Polish president and leader of the Solidarity Movement, and Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought economic and political change to the Soviet Union..

“I think it’s wonderful that she’s coming,’’ said Andy Gomez, a senior fellow at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

“It will give her the opportunity to see how embracing the Cuban-American people are to Cubans on the island and how much we care about them. I hope she will go back and tell this to the Cuban people.’’

More importantly, he said, it will give people here and at the other venues Sánchez plans to visit the ability to see Cuba from the point of view of a journalist, “a simple blogger’’ and help them understand the hardships of daily life in Cuba.

“We need to listen to their voices; a lot of times the voices on the island are different but they are so important in building bridges between here and there,’’ Gomez said.

But he added, “I think too much pressure is being put on the shoulders of Yoani. She’s not a politician; she’s not an academic; she’s not a public figure by design and people abroad have made her into a public figure.

“She’s one of the many — many dissidents on the island. I hope she doesn’t burn out,’’ said Gomez.

But during her first stop in Brazil this week, Sánchez proved resilient in the face of pro-Cuba hecklers who disrupted the screening of a film about press freedom in which she appears. On her arrival in the Brazilian state of Bahia, protesters also threw fake dollar bills at her and accused her of being financed by the CIA.

But during a news conference Tuesday, Sánchez, 37, said, “I’ve found something here like what Cuba could be in 20 years in terms of diversity of opinion.’’

Asked about her future role in Cuba, she said she hoped to work in a Cuban newsroom free of censorship.

“I have a dream of founding a media outlet in my country because I believe in the power of journalism as a regenerative force,” said Sánchez.

Her critical blog posts, tweets and columns are followed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, although because Internet access is so limited in Cuba, she is not well-known on the island.

Through the years, Sánchez has had to turn down many invitations to visit abroad because the Cuban government wouldn’t give her an exit visa.

But under a travel and migration reform last month, Cubans are no longer required to obtain the so-called tarjeta blanca to leave the island. And they are allowed to stay outside the country for extended periods without losing their Cuban citizenship rights.

Sánchez requested her passport soon after the reform went into effect and began planning an itinerary that includes several stops in the United States, an appearance at an Inter American Press Association meeting in Mexico, and visits to a number of European nations.

Sánchez, who also plans to visit her sister while in South Florida, appeared at the 2011 Miami Book Fair International — but via a phone call and a pre-recorded video message. Earlier this month she participated in the live program Avanza Cuba — a collaboration of MDC and TV Marti, via phone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Work begins on State Road A1A repairs in Fort Lauderdale

The battered section of northern Fort Lauderdale’s shoreline will start to take its former shape this week, when pieces of a 2,600-foot-long sea wall made of corrugated steel are installed.

The repairs, initiated to undo the damage left by Hurricane Sandy in October, will not be complete before spring break or possibly the Fort Lauderdale Air Show in April, Florida Department of Transportation officials said.

“All the work that we are doing should take until April,” said Barbara Kelleher, spokeswoman for the transportation department. “It’s just to make emergency repairs.”

The urgent need erupted after the beach area became so badly eroded that the outer edges of State Road A1A began to crumble from the lack of support underneath.

The old concrete barrier wall, which was built to withstand powerful currents, was no match for the storm in several spots north of Sunrise Boulevard. The resulting damage to the oceanfront road prompted the state to accelerate its repairs.

The estimated cost of the repairs: $8.3 million. They are expected to be complete by early May, Kelleher said.

The new A1A between Northeast 14th Court and Northeast 17th Street will narrow to two lanes from four until the city of Fort Lauderdale initiates a much broader plan for the mostly residential stretch of the busy road.

A series of trails called greenways will be built after the state transportation department completes the essential improvements. The trails will provide a safe and scenic way for bicyclists, joggers and dog walkers to travel along A1A.

The city has asked for feedback from residents on a website called Restore A1A to decide how the restored stretch of A1A should look.

As the larger plan comes together, Broward County will pick up the $1.2 million tab for the thousands of tons of sand to replenish the beach along the road.

“The city and the county are sort of sharing the cost at this point,” said Eric Myers, a county natural resources administrator. “It’s supposed to be a much more robust structure.”

As part of the emergency repairs, 44-foot-long pieces of creased steel will be sunk 42 feet into the ground, forming a barrier that, Kelleher says, will be more stable than the concrete embankment that Sandy ravaged.

The new wall will be capped with wood that residents can sit on when the project is completed. The undamaged portions of the sea wall farther south will stay put.

“There hasn’t been any erosion problem there yet,” Kelleher said.

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The builders of the Sen. Marco Rubio brand

WASHINGTON --
Sen. Marco Rubio is on a breathless rise, a testament to his political skill and demographic appeal that last week saw him delivering the Republican State of the Union response and appearing on the cover of Time as “The Republican Savior.”

But behind the scenes is a relentless, methodical effort to build the Rubio brand, aided by a team of strategists and media handlers positioning the 41-year-old Floridian for an expected presidential run.

They include members of Rubio’s Senate staff and presidential campaign veterans who work for the political committee Rubio formed ostensibly to help elect other conservatives.

Instead the Reclaim America PAC has focused on consultants and building a national fundraising network. Last year, his PAC spent more than $1.7 million, with the vast majority going toward staff and fundraising, and about $110,000 going to other candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“It connotes a machine, someone who is grooming his image for a jump to higher position,” said the center’s executive director Sheila Krumholz.

Rubio’s team plots policy and publicity moves, including his recent foray into the immigration debate. He was among eight senators working on a proposal, but Rubio took them by surprise — and ensured he would be front and center — with a Wall Street Journal piece laying out the framework before the group announced it.

The Rubio machine cultivates the image of a new breed of Republican, youthful, and as at ease talking about Tupac and the Miami Dolphins as talking about budget deficits. At the same time, advisors dole out nuggets to the news media, they aggressively contest even the smallest points in articles.

The political fascination with Rubio has made it easier for his team to build helpful story lines. When he first took office in the U.S. Senate, it was Rubio the humble, political star keeping his head down. That followed with periodic “major” policy rollouts — foreign policy, job creation, the middle class. When Rubio gives a speech, it’s invariably a “major” address. A young assistant is always there to record it on video and take photographs.

“It’s almost like he’s the Backstreet Boy of American politics, a Hollywood creation of what a model political candidate should be,” said Chris Ingram, a Republican communications consultant from Tampa who has been critical of Rubio. “He has to deliver on the hype but from a P.R. perspective, it’s textbook.”

And constant. Last week, Rubio issued 17 press releases. By comparison, former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, another potential 2016 candidate, released three.

Behind the scenes

Rubio’s political inner circle includes PAC employees Heath Thompson and Terry Sullivan, two operatives who made their names in South Carolina’s bare-knuckled political culture and are close with former Sen. Jim DeMint. The hyper-competitive Thompson is a college football fanatic more comfortable in a baseball cap than suit and tie.

For broad messaging strategy, there is the roguishly charming Todd Harris who knows practically everybody in the political media and is never shy about excoriating reporters.

The Senate staff includes Alberto Martinez, who goes back to Rubio’s days as speaker of the Florida House and can anticipate where critics might attack Rubio, and Alex Burgos, another Rubio campaign alum and true believer who pushes back at any hint of negativity in Rubio coverage.

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The Miami Beach cop and the meth dealers: a tawdry tale

While other cops strived for the big bust or sergeant’s stripes, George Navarro Jr. had other aspirations. The Miami Beach patrolman yearned for the ultimate score, his friends told investigators: to engineer an epic drug deal, one that would make him rich and allow him to leave law enforcement behind.

They called it the “Coke Dream.”

That dream is dead now, as may be Navarro’s police career. He was suspended last September without pay after being charged with racketeering and fraud in connection with a scheme to use phony paperwork to acquire luxury cars.

But that might be just the beginning of Navarro’s troubles. Although for now he hasn’t been charged with anything else, the investigation into his actions has produced reams of damning documents detailing bungled trips to the Bahamas to buy kilos of coke, the rip-off of a suspected marijuana grow house, drunken brawls, a botched attempt to collect a drug debt and — perhaps most strikingly — his penchant for lending his police car, uniforms and other gear to meth-dealer pals.

If nothing else, the investigation of George Navarro Jr. inflicts another black eye on the beleaguered Miami Beach Police Department, battered in recent years by stories of lax discipline and criminal misbehavior.

The mud is being splattered in many directions, onto other officers and other agencies, spawning a slew of investigations.

For instance, the U.S. Coast Guard is probing one of its own for allegedly providing detailed locations of cutters near the Bahamas to help Navarro avoid detection while at sea.

Authorities are also examining the role of Navarro, 27, and his father — once a high-level Miami Beach police commander, now retired — in a secret and illegal recording made by the younger officer’s drug-dealing former roommate as he was being grilled by internal affairs detectives.

Michael Band, attorney for Navarro Jr., said the allegations are nothing more than the “spouting of a Judas.”

That “Judas” would be Marlon Mayoli, a childhood friend of Navarro. Mayoli and another drug dealer, Rafael Guedes, both 27, have been talking quite a bit to state and federal agents, presumably in hopes of trimming some years off their prison sentences.

“What was George’s crime?” asked Band. “He made the mistake of being too loyal of a friend, and exercising poor judgment in friendship.”

Mayoli and Guedes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm while drug trafficking. (The federal probe also led to the indictment of former Boynton Beach Officer David Britto, who has since fled to Brazil.)

Mayoli is serving 15 years in prison, Guedes 14.

Ronald J. Manto, attorney for Mayoli, insisted his client is telling the truth.

“Mayoli accepted responsibility for his participation … He cooperated with the authorities and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. It appears that the investigation is ongoing but much of what Mayoli told police has been corroborated by other sources and evidence. I believe it’s just a matter of time before the other shoe drops.”

The investigation into Navarro Jr. began in March 2011 when the feds raided Guedes’ and Mayoli’s Miami apartment. Inside, they found ecstasy, crystal meth — and, curiously, Navarro’s police uniforms.

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‘Alarmed’ by missing cash from Hollywood evidence room, city official calls for a full review

Saying he was “alarmed” to learn that as much as $175,000 in cash could be missing from the police department’s evidence vault, Hollywood Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez asked Friday for a full review and meeting with anyone who was aware of problems there.

Fernandez, who was hired in August, said although he had been briefed by outgoing Police Chief Chad Wagner, he was not aware of the extent of the problems in the evidence locker until he read The Miami Herald’s story about the missing money Friday.

“I think anybody would be alarmed with any amount missing — let alone that much,” said Fernandez, who oversees public safety for the city. “But there has been no confirmation,” he added.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have launched a criminal investigation into cash — estimates range from $125,000 to $175,000 — that went missing, although it’s not clear when. The FDLE investigation is focusing on a retired police sergeant who supervised the vault from 2006 until his retirement in April 2011.

The sergeant, John Nevins, told The Miami Herald on Friday that he never misplaced, stole or knew about a substantial amount of money missing during his tenure.

However, Nevins did say that about a year before he retired, he reported about $90 missing from a safe to his then-supervisor. He said he went to retrieve the money from the safe after it was requested in connection to a closed criminal case.

He was startled to find the cash had disappeared and asked his supervisors to conduct an audit. Sources said he and others scoured the vault but could find no evidence of the cash. To his knowledge, there was nothing else found missing before or since.

“I’m not hiding anything,’’ Nevins said.

The vault or locker, as it is sometimes called, is actually a group of several secured rooms in the station in which valuables and other evidence seized during a criminal investigation is stored. The evidence can include, guns, money and forensic information.

In addition to Nevins, a civilian employee is also under scrutiny by the FDLE because he was seen helping Nevins remove boxes from the evidence area on Dec. 16, 2011.

Surveillance cameras captured Nevins removing the boxes, sources said.

Nevins said he did take some empty boxes — but they were from the supply room — not the evidence vault. The supply room is a storage area for office supplies and is separate from the evidence or property locker which is secured.

“I have never taken anything out of the property vault,’’ he said. “I only took some empty boxes from the storage area.’’

The boxes, he said, were used to pack gifts for the needy.

Four city commissioners contacted by The Miami Herald said they were not informed about the investigation until Thursday night. City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, Wagner and Fernandez had kept a lid on the probe so as to not jeopardize the case, they said.

“The investigation from what I understand has been going on for quite some time,” said Commissioner Linda Sherwood. “I know they are doing a very thorough investigation. I have confidence they will find the truth.”

Mayor Peter Bober, however, said he was aware of the probe before Thursday.

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Miami-Dade packed for weekend of events

Lured by sailboats and megayachts, urban street art and Romero Britto — and, of course, the lack of snow — thousands of visitors are expected to pour into Miami-Dade this holiday weekend.

The activities started Thursday morning with the opening day of the 72nd annual Progressive Miami International Boat Show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Yacht & Brokerage Show on the Indian Creek Waterway. Art Wynwood kicked off with a VIP preview Thursday night. And the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, in its 50th year, opens its gates on Saturday.

Combined, the events expect nearly 250,000 attendees over Presidents’ Day weekend — many of them from out of town.

“Presidents’ Day weekend is the busiest weekend here in South Florida,” said Nick Korniloff, founder and director of Art Wynwood. “It’s when the 30 five-star resorts are at the highest occupancy, when the Europeans and South Americans and Northeast residents come here. It’s a very diverse, well-cultured audience.”

Expecting similarities in audiences interested in yachts and art, Korniloff will have shuttles running between Art Wynwood in the Midtown Miami neighborhood and the Yacht & Brokerage Show near the Fontainebleau.

In its second year, the fair features 70 dealers from around the world, many representing urban street artists or selling Latin American and Asian art. That’s a jump from last year’s 53 dealers. Korniloff said he expects about 30,000 attendees this year, up from 25,000 at the inaugural event.

At the boat show, which includes locations in Miami Beach and downtown Miami, organizers anticipate more than 100,000 visitors. About 40 percent are from outside the state and a quarter of visitors are international, said Cathy Rick-Joule, show manager and vice president of the boat shows division for the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

“We’ve definitely seen a continued influence of Brazilians; you hear Portuguese spoken everywhere,” Rick-Joule said, adding that Russian, Chinese and Korean visitors have also been increasing.

Monty Trainer, president of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, has been busy publicizing the 50th year of the event with pop artist Romero Britto, who designed this year’s festival poster and will attend at some points during the weekend.

“This is the best year for all our exposure,” Trainer said. “Romero Britto is going to be a big draw.”

The show will feature 380 artists this year, 30 more than last year, when about 118,000 people attended. Of those, nearly 40 percent were overnight visitors who came to town for the festival.

Trainer expects this year’s activities to draw a bigger crowd — with a caveat.

“If this weather holds up, we’re in business,” he said. “But if you get bad rain, all your promotions are out the window.”

On that front, the forecast is mixed. The National Weather Service calls for a 60 percent chance of rain in Miami on Friday, dropping to 20 percent for Saturday with a high near 77. Sunday should be sunny and cool, with a high only in the mid-60s. By Monday, the weather should be just about perfect for February: sunny and topping out around 74.

“When other folks unfortunately have it bad, we have it good,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I think the country as a whole, with the exception of us, has been experiencing severe weather. It bodes well for our hoteliers and frankly bodes well for our winter season. We’re hearing very, very good things.”

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86 degrees: Last time it was this hot in Fort Lauderdale, FDR was president

Did it feel hot Wednesday for a February in Fort Lauderdale?

The thermostat hit 86 degrees, breaking the city’s previous record of 85 degrees set in 1935 for a February 13.

“There’s only a handful of those old records left on the books,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Konarik, of the 78-year-old record that fell to our current unseasonably hot weather.

One still standing was also set this week in 1913 — 89 degrees for a February 12.

But the record breaking heat for South Florida is coming to an end.

Cooler temperatures are in store for Friday and Saturday, when a cold front moves in and temperatures will dip into the 70s.

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‘Tony Montana’ pleads guilty to millions in jewel thefts

Eight months after his arrest in a South Beach hotel, the jeweler who called himself “Tony Montana” pleaded guilty Tuesday to organizing the thefts of and later reselling millions of dollars worth of diamonds and other jewels.

Juan Guardarrama, 49, received a reduced prison sentence of 10 years in exchange for cooperating with authorities on other cases related to the criminal enterprise of stealing and fencing diamonds.

In the agreement, Guardarrama acknowledges his “willingness to cooperate in bringing to justice” others who have been involved in crimes including theft, racketeering, money-laundering and fencing of stolen properties.

The night of his arrest, Guardarrama thought he was buying more than a half-million dollars worth of stolen jewelry when he asked undercover cops whether they would “take out” a partner from his side business of growing medical marijuana in Colorado. He had earlier asked the cops if they would be interested in selling some of that marijuana in Miami.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office charged Guardarrama with more than a dozen felony counts, from racketeering and money-laundering to dealing in stolen property and soliciting first-degree murder. The jeweler, whose nickname comes from a character in the 1983 Miami crime noir film Scarface, starring Al Pacino, faced more than 30 years in prison.

On Tuesday, Guardarrama pleaded guilty to the majority of the counts related to the jewelry operation, and authorities agreed to dismiss charges related to the marijuana and soliciting murder. As part of the deal, Guardarrama will surrender about $2 million in jewelry and money that was confiscated from his apartment in Denver.

His attorney, David Raben, declined to comment after Tuesday’s hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas Rebull.

Detectives from a multiagency task force had been investigating Guardarrama for more than four years when the arrest took place last June at Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Guardarrama had worked as a wholesale jeweler for close to two decades, and was a familiar face in the Seybold building in downtown Miami, a hub of diamond and jewelry commerce.

But much of what Guardarrama sold was stolen. Authorities say he was a key player in orchestrating heists and robberies for international jewelry thieves who have operated in South Florida and across the country since at least 2005. He worked with a group of mostly Colombians who targeted traveling jewelry dealers for assaults, and a separate group of Cuban-born welders who blowtorched their way into jewelry store safes.

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Related could give jolt to long overdue Watson Island development plans

The long overdue development of Watson Island, stalled for a dozen years by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a collapsed economy, may have received a huge jolt when New York’s Related Companies agreed to study the plan and possibly join forces in its development.

Developer Mehmet Bayraktar, who won the right to develop on the waterfront crown jewel back in 2001, said Monday that the company run by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has signed a Letter of Intent to “co-develop” the entire project.

“They will come in and we will work together jointly on the whole project. We’re co-developers or co-investors,” Bayraktar said Monday.

He described a Letter of Intent as a non-binding agreement in which both sides agree to do due diligence and spend time and money studying the plans. “It’s like an engagement, or a promissory note,” he said.

Ross was out of town Monday and couldn’t be reached for comment. Ric Katz, a public relations hand hired to help the Dolphins with the push to get public money for Sun Life Stadium renovations, couldn’t confirm the agreement late Monday.

According to Bayraktar, Related would be involved in three main components of the proposal: a hotel and residential complex, retail and a giant mega-yacht facility meant to lure some of the wealthiest people in the world. He estimated the project he won with a $281 million bid in 2001would likely balloon to a cost of about $800 million today. If Related absorbs 50 percent of the deal, it could put Ross’ investment close to $400 million.

“We’re planning to start building this fall,” said Bayraktar, who said he’s known Ross for many years.

The news was all good to Miami leaders who have struggled in dealing with Bayraktar, especially the past three years, when he fell behind in rent by as much as $500,000.

Several times they’ve threatened to kill the plan and reopen the bid to prospective developers. Each time, however, Bayraktar has been able to make required payments before the city rebid the project. Other times lobbyist Brian May was persuasive enough in pleading Bayraktar’s case that commissioners stalled killing the deal. “It’s fantastic news,” said Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents the district that encompasses Watson Island, a large circular spit of land that links Miami Beach to the mainland. “It shows we have someone who has the ability to get the ball across the goal. This type of project is right up his [Ross’] alley.”

Related, which specializes in high-end residential properties, also built New York’s Time Warner Center and CityPlace in West Palm Beach; it is currently working on the high-profile 26-acre Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s West Side.

Bayraktar has been beset by problems since he won the right through a public vote to develop on Watson Island in November 2001.

The original $281 million plan would have yielded Miami a pair of ritzy hotels, one 18 floors and the other 28 floors. Shops, gardens, and restaurants were planned for more than 221,000 square feet of retail space, and a 54-slip mega-yacht complex called for matching 470-foot platforms.

Bayraktar’s company, the Flagstone Property Group, was to pay Miami $1 million a year in rent during the two years it would take to build, then $2 million a year and a percentage of retail and hotel room sales. Miami leaders drooled at the thought of $250 million into its coffers over the project’s 45-year lease.

But construction stalled as banks backed away after 9/11 and Bayraktar fought lawsuits and money issues. When the economy began to tank again in 2007 and banks again wouldn’t commit to the plan, the city granted him extensions.

Bayraktar and May have been a constant presence at City Hall since early 2010, soon after Tomás Regalado was elected mayor and made saving the Flagstone plan one of his top priorities.

“We expect to be open by 2016,” said Bayraktar.

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