The Cooler

I have one of the better Coolers in recent memory for you this morning. Get comfortable because there's lots of interesting stuff. Enjoy.

A- Herald: Seizing seized cash.

The U.S. Justice Department shut down Bal Harbour’s celebrated federal forfeiture program and ordered the police to return more than $4 million, slapping the agency with crushing sanctions for tapping into drug money to pay for first-class flights, luxury car rentals and payments to informants across the country

After years of seizing millions from criminals, Bal Harbour’s vice squad is now banned from the federal program that allowed the village police for years to seize cars, boats and cash — and to keep a cut of the proceeds.

B- Herald: Dave Barry's scariest things about South Florida.

SANTA’S ENCHANTED FOREST

This is the big mass of lights you see glowing at night alongside the Palmetto Expressway. It looks festive; it will draw you in. “Looks like fun!’’ you will think. “A Christmas-season delight for the whole family!’’ Hours later, when you stumble out, broke, exhausted and queasy from eating foods that are essentially sugar fried in grease, then going on festive holiday rides with names like Death Vomit, you may change your mind.

But by then it will be too late.

C- Herald: Don't we all know it.

Not only are Cubans reliable Republican voters — they’re about 70 percent of Miami-Dade’s registered Republicans — but they’re also more likely to answer surveys like the FIU poll.

“Cuban-American voters pick up the phone and answer. They want to be heard,” said Eduardo Gamarra, an FIU professor of Latin American studies who conducted the poll with his political research firm, the Newlink Group.

D- Heat: Boston who?

Oftentimes, NBA defending champions under perform on the night they receive their rings. Last season’s Dallas Mavericks, for example. The Heat suffered no ring hangover, defeating the Boston Celtics 120-107 on opening night of the 2012-2013 season.

E- Herald: Morin.

F- Palm Beach Post: Make sure you take advantage!

To help keep intoxicated drivers off the road during Halloween, AAA and Anheuser-Busch Wholesalers are offering the Tow to Go Program Wednesday through Saturday throughout Florida.

The program, designed to be used as a last resort, provides a free ride within a 10-mile radius to a safe location. The AAA tow truck takes the driver and the vehicle home. It’s free and available to both AAA members and non-members.

G- NBC Miami: But of course.

Don't be surprised if you see an enormous gator head floating around Biscayne Bay during Art Basel.

When it's assembled, the gator, made of steel and recyclable materials, will be 230 feet long. Its head_ the size of a three-story building _ will be built around the boom of a crane so that the mouth can open and close.

The body will consist of 102 tiles, each being 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, made of highly buoyant material.

Lloyd Goradesky, a Hollywood-based artist and photographer, came up with the idea for "Floating Tile Art 'Gator in the Bay,'" three years ago.

H- WPLG: We can only hope that they're Republicans

TAMARAC, Fla. - Some voters casting their ballots early in Tamarac left the polls to find their cars being towed.

Luvenia Allen's red Cadillac wasn't parked for more than 10 minutes when a tow truck carried it away. The same thing happened to Christine Bregentzer's car.

"Somebody took my car. The Toyota Corolla -- somebody took it. It was parked right here," said Bregentzer.

The scene repeated itself over and over again outside the Casa Linda Plaza across the street from the Tamarac Branch Library on Tuesday.

"You cannot go vote and this happens. It's not fair," said Heather Smith.

"This does not feel good. You come out, vote early and here you have to worry about your car," said Trudy Kay Edmond.

I- WSVN: Life in South Florida.

NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Residents in a South Florida neighborhood are concerned after a crocodile showed up in a nearby lake.

The eight-foot crocodile has been roaming the neighborhood along 191 Street Northeast 23rd Avenue in Northwest Miami-Dade for about two weeks.

J- WPTV: How about that voter enthusiasm?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A memo obtained by NewsChannel5's Evan Axelbank, from an adviser to a local GOP campaign, says that the Democratic turnout effort is, "cleaning our clock."

The memo says, "The early and absentee turnout is starting to look more troubling."

[...]

During the first three days of countywide early voting, 60 percent of ballots cast have been by Democrats, 22 percent by Republicans.

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