The Cooler

All MJ, all the time. Here's some of the other stuff that is gracing the pages of your local mainstream media this morning.

A- Herald: Pitts on MJ.

Thriller consumed Michael Jackson. It raised the stakes on everything he did, and until his last day he was always competing with it, always looking to top what he had done. He never did. And yet, you wouldn't have been surprised if he had. That's how good he was.

Which is why for those of who remember Michael Jackson before, those of us who memorized his little ad libs in ABC and stayed up late to watch him dance the robot on Carson, those of us who saw him move seamlessly as liquid, or sing in a voice that shifted without apparent effort from saw-toothed rawness to a sweet and ethereal falsetto, there is a poignancy beyond mere grief here. We were waiting for him to get back to what he had been before all the extraneous madness: a singer and showman of astonishing genius. We were waiting for that, even those of us who thought we weren't.

B- Herald: Perfect pooches are pilfered from pet stores by pinchers.

According to Detective Aida Fina-Milian, a police spokeswoman, two women walked into a pet store in the 6700 block of Southwest 40th Street on the afternoon of June 8 and began looking for the perfect pups.

Police said they had no intention of paying for them.

When one of the women started stuffing Chihuahua puppies into a black bag, store employee Rafael Sanchez, 32, noticed and approached her.

That was when the second woman, clad in pink nurse's scrubs, jumped in front of Sanchez to block him as the other woman ran from the store. The woman who had grabbed four Chihuahua puppies scurried into a white Lexus SUV. Sanchez gave chase and was somehow able to get a handle on the bag.

As Sanchez fought with the woman in the car, the second puppy-snatcher ran from the store with two Yorkies in tow.

The driver of the Lexus hit the gas. Sanchez was dragged about 200 feet before he fell to the ground, suffering minor scratches and bruises.

C- Herald: MIA impresses visitors.

As one of probably millions of travelers who gets only a few hours' view of Miami, I'd like to comment on the eyesore that is Gate E6 at Miami International Airport. On June 23, my wife and I were returning from nine days in the British Virgin Islands. Unfortunately, we had a delayed flight on our final leg back to Denver. I travel a lot in my job and spend more time than I would like in airports. But, typically that just means a mass-produced meal and a few extra business calls in surroundings that are better than a pig sty.

I cannot say that about Gate E6 and the surrounding waiting areas, which contained pizza boxes, empty soda and water bottles, twist-off tops, crumpled napkins, gum and straw wrappers and used Band-Aids.

I mentioned the litter to a gate attendant, who said that she had called and reported the mess when she came on duty six hours earlier. I paid about 9-percent tax on the salad and soda I bought for dinner. Perhaps some of the tax revenues could be used to clean the joint.

By the time you read this, I will be long gone from Miami. But the memory of the trash will linger longer than my recollection of the interesting airport art.

JACK CHESNUTT, Evergreen, Colo.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Nice.

Workers last week began digging a path for the new $5.6 million New River Greenway that eventually will allow people to skate, stroll or bike between Markham Park in Sunrise and the Secret Woods Nature Center off State Road 84 in Dania Beach, just west of I-95.

The greenway is part of a network of trails and bike paths planned by Broward County.

[...]

The new greenway will be 12 feet wide and paved with concrete. Concrete was chosen over asphalt because officials believe it will hold up longer and be easier to maintain.

"Concrete is going to be better for biking and (roller blading)," said Mark Horowitz, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Construction of the first leg between 136th Avenue and University Drive should be finished in six months.

E- South Florida Business Journal: Yeah, yeah, we know already.

Miami has the distinction of being the “sexiest” American city, according to a newly release poll by TripAdvisor.

F- Miami Today: Still going down.

Miami condominiums continue to sell steadily but prices have endured a 50% drop in the past year.

Real estate analyst Jack McCabe projects an additional fall in prices of 10% to 15% in the months to come.

The median sale price for a Miami-Dade condo unit in May 2008 was $280,700, a price that has fallen to $140,300 this May, according to a report released Tuesday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

[...]

Many investors are buying condo units for cash because they can buy them at a low price and rent them out, "earning a positive cash flow," he said.

First-time homebuyers are also taking advantage of an $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit, which runs out at the end of November, he added.

Mr. McCabe says the worst is over but he forecasts residential prices dropping another 10% to 15% because the biggest wave of foreclosures hasn't hit yet.

G- CBS4: Just taking care of a friend with taxpayer money.

Miami's Civilian Investigative panel last January fired its executive director, Shirley Richardson. Richardson, board members said, was an overpaid underperformer. The vote to terminate the allegedly incompetent manager was unanimous.

But for the five months since her dismissal, Richardson has continued to draw her full executive director's salary of $168,000 a year, an $800 a month car allowance, and a $200 a month cell phone allowance.

Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez, who opposed Richardson's firing, is the source of the largess. Declaring that "the budget is my domain," Hernandez shifted Richardson to his office in city hall - as an assistant to an assistant - where her job duties and responsibilities were unspecified. Hernandez told CBS4's Gary Nelson Thursday that he felt bad for Richardson getting fired, thought she deserved a "severance" of some sort, and thought it was "fair" to continue to pay her full executive director's salary while he "looked for a position to place her in."

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