It is hard to overstate the effect that our sports teams have on the lives of ordinary people in Miami.

A case in point is the way our basketball franchise, and its ups and downs during the last few weeks, has filled our conversations, our electronic messages, and our mind-psyches.

The...

I had just been elected to the county commission when we were surprised by a visit from Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Her appearance was prompted by an invitation from Commissioner Barbara Jordan and a federal study that placed her congressional district as having just about the lowest "misery index" in the...

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
Quoted at the funeral of Aaron Cohen by his grandfather Ron Esserman

I have only been a county commissioner for about eight months, but already have a deep scar in...

One of the criticisms of charter schools is that they cater to a specialized class of students who are not representative of the student body of a typical public school. Based on that notion, the argument is often heard that charter schools extract the best and the brightest from the...

Jan. 13 - The county and its ten unions have been negotiating now for about five months on contracts that reduce substantially the payroll of the county's workforce.

About half of the unions are under contract, and the rest are about 75% in agreement.

That was the status quo last...

In my summation of the reasons for voting against the budget presented by Mayor Gimenez, I told the story of a minister who compliments a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The minister remarks: "You two must have a very special formula to have lasted fifty years together."

...