The Cooler

Yep, I'm breaking with tradition here and giving you a Cooler on a weekend day. Here are some of the things I found interesting in this morning's news.

A- Herald: Take the money and run.

Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker put in his retirement papers on Friday after more than five years at the helm of Florida's largest police department, saying personal financial considerations factored into his decision.

Parker's retirement is effective Sunday.

[...]

He said that he would have lost a considerable amount of money in leave time and other benefits if he had stayed on past Sunday. Parker's annual salary is $226,000.

On Friday, Alvarez announced a 5 percent pay cut for most non-union employees, which goes into effect Monday.

B- Herald: MIA's North Terminal opens next week...kinda.

SHINY AND NEW: Final preparations take place ahead of the official opening. The North Terminal won't be fully completed until March 2011.

Fourteen years after its initial conception, and $2 billion over budget, the almost mythical North Terminal of Miami International Airport will finally open its doors to the traveling public next week.

[...]

Originally scheduled to open in 2006 and projected to cost under $975 million, the now $2.9 billion construction project won't be completely finished until March 2011.

Still to be installed, among other things, is the $135 million Automated People Mover, a train that will run along the roof of the new terminal. The train was ready in 2005, but Miami-Dade County had to pay the Japanese manufacturer $54,000 per month to ``exercise'' the cars, keeping the rubber wheels and electrical systems from deteriorating as construction delay piled on construction delay.

C- Herald: But of course, these are the same braintrusts who voted to lower property taxes a couple years ago.

Florida voters want offshore oil drilling, oppose a ``public option'' for health insurance and overwhelmingly support a gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe, according to a new Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9 poll.

D- Sun-Sentinel: You know all those funny "slimy lawyer" jokes?

Five South Florida lawyers have been disbarred and two suspended for stealing from clients, abandoning them, lying to the government or other acts of misconduct, according to The Florida Bar.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

F- Palm Beach Post: Republicans are weird.

TALLAHASSEE — An anonymous Web site aimed at embarrassing Republican Gov. Charlie Crist's political rival appears to have backfired after one of Crist's top political advisers admitted that he helped develop the site.

This latest twist in a suddenly sizzling primary race is at least the second time Rich Heffley, a powerful Republican political operative, has assisted a shadowy political group on behalf of Crist.

"This was me going off half-cocked and I'll never do it again," said Heffley, an influential Tallahassee lobbyist who has billed Florida Republicans nearly $6 million for campaign work in the past decade.

G- South Florida Business Journal: Does Forbes do anything other than run surveys?

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area ranked dead last on Forbes list of the safest largest cities in the U.S.

The rankings are based on a city’s levels of violent crime, workplace fatalities rates, traffic death rates and natural disaster risk.

America's southernmost metropolis ranked among the six worst in all four categories earning it the lowest overall safety ranking the list, according to Forbes.

H- CBS4: Video, water main break on Biscayne.


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