WEATHER

From dry to drenched, South Florida's rainfall in '08 was `average'

After a see-saw year of drought and deluge, regional rainfall and levels in Lake Okeechobee wound up almost...

CORAL SPRINGS

Lauderhill man fatally struck by car in Coral Springs

A Lauderhill man was killed as he was tried to walk across Coral Ridge Drive, Coral Springs police reported...

SUNRISE | SOUTH FLORIDA'S FUNNIEST KID

Kids clown around in battle to become South Florida's Funniest Kid

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT

Cuban American named Florida Supreme Court justice

Gov. Charlie Crist named Jorge Labarga to the Florida Supreme Court. The Palm Beach judge represents the se...

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

University of Miami Hurricanes' defeat debt settled with stone crabs

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz paid off his Emerald Bowl debt to San Francisco's mayor -- but not with oranges.

MIAMI

Fidel Castro (no, not that one) arrested in Miami on traffic charge

Fidel Castro was cuffed in Miami. This Castro was not the Cuban dictator, who this week is celebrating 50 y...

WEST KENDALL

Vandals spray West Kendall mosque with bullets

Dozens of bullets were sprayed across the facade of an empty mosque in West Kendall.

MIAMI

Miami police donate DVDs to troops serving overseas

Miami police are sending baseball ghosts, super spies and castaways to soldiers in Iraq. The department's c...

VIRGINIA ROGERS, 86

Virginia Rogers, widow of prominent Broward lawyer dies

Virginia Rogers, who cracked enemy codes during World War II then married into a prominent South Florida fa...

DEERFIELD BEACH

Rivals set for battle over Deerfield Beach mayor's seat

The stage is set for a repeat showdown between longtime Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini -- suspended in ...

SOUTH MIAMI-DADE

Man charged with attempted murder after running down police officer

A man accused of trying to run down a Miami-Dade police officer is facing charges of attempted murder.

INAUGURATION

Sluggish sales imperil 'Yes We Can' cruise

A cruise that would take President-elect Barack Obama supporters from South Florida to his inauguration nex...

ILLINOIS | U.S. SENATE SEAT

Senate Democrats vow to block Blagojevich appointee

Democrats vowed to block Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of a veteran politician to the Senate ...

Judge reviewing Cuba captives OKs detention of 2

Federal judge upholds indefinite detention of two men at Guantánamo as enemy combatants, one another...

MIAMI TORTURE TRIAL

U.S. seeks 147-year term for Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor

The son of Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president, was convicted of torturing prisoners.

MISSING PERSON

Sea search for woman suspended

The woman who disappeared from a cruise ship off Cancún, Mexico, had been celebrating her one-year a...

IRAQ

Senator making an impact in uniform

Sen. Lindsey Graham traded his suit for a uniform on a visit to Iraq.

North Miami-Dade man's Holocaust love tale a fabrication

Herman Rosenblat offered the world his heartwarming tale of the love he discovered in a Nazi concentration ...

THE RECESSION

States are selling off roads, parks, airports and lotteries to raise funds

Ballooning budget deficits have prompted more U.S. states to sell off roads, parks, airports and lotteries ...

CAMPAIGN 2008

Obama led first billion-dollar race

Barack Obama, who spent $740.6 million during the presidential campaign, became the first major-party nomin...

Hoop-centric Cabinet may take team approach

ILLINOIS | BLAGOJEVICH SCANDAL

Report: Governor wanted Cabinet post

Rod Blagojevich, the secretary of health and human services? Apparently, the embattled Illinois governor th...

Accused 9/11 plotter 'KSM' faces a French trial

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who is being held by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay, goes on trial in absentia in...

Britain: No US request to resettle Gitmo captives

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the U.S. has not asked Britain to accept Guantánamo Bay detainees if the c...

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban using snipers against U.S.-led troops

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are changing tactics in their assaults on U.S.-led coalition forces, relyin...

International force could bring stability in Gaza

After a week of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza strip, Israel, Arab and U.S. officials are discussing how t...

Ex-UK advisor: Britain must help close Gitmo

Britain's former chief legal advisor warned Friday that the U.K. should be prepared to take in Guantá...

Australia 'unlikely' to accept Guantánamo detainees

Australia will likely reject a U.S. request to accept detainees freed from the prison camps at Guantá...

THE MIDDLE EAST

Israel's Ehud Olmert vows 'iron fist' against Hamas

As diplomatic efforts stalled, Israel launched a deadly airstrike against a Hamas military strategist and a...

RUSSIA

Russia cuts off gas shipment to Ukraine

A row with Russia that disrupted gas delivery to Ukraine heightened tensions between the two nations and co...

Baghdad's Green Zone handed over to Iraqis

The United States transferred control of the Green Zone and the former palace of Saddam Hussein to Iraq.

U.S. asks Australia to resettle Guantanamo detainees

Australia confirmed Friday that the U.S. has asked it to consider accepting detainees from the Guantá...

IRAQ

Old fears linger as new era begins

50 YEARS | REVOLUTION AND EXILE

'Yanqui' rebel William Morgan's saga in Cuban revolution is revived

The image of the 'yanqui comandante' has faded, but ex-rebels still recall his role in a revolution that ch...

NICARAGUA

Nicaragua gains land by removing Contra war mines

Nicaraguan farmers are reclaiming plots once covered with thousands of land mines planted during the Contra...

New Puerto Rico gov faces soaring crime, deficit

Puerto Rico's new governor was sworn in Friday, inheriting an island government that is battling a recessio...

Bahamas using 2 experts for Travolta son autopsy

The Bahamas will use two pathologists to ensure a careful autopsy on John Travolta's son, who died at the a...

Symbolic start of Dakar Rally in Argentina

Hundreds of thousands of people overwhelmed the center of Buenos Aires on Friday to see the 500 vehicles co...

Sports still No. 1 in Cuba despite declines

The decline of Cuba as a sports power is a reflection of the state of the island. But the nation remains co...

BELIZE

Obama's election inspires blacks in Latin America

Raul Castro warns Cubans that life will not be easier

Fifty years ago, Raúl Castro walked into the Moncada Army barracks with just one bodyguard and the s...

After 50 years, questions about Cuba still hound Wieland

William Arthur Wieland's name has now faded from memory, but the former State Department official made head...

Venezuela's oil income soars in early 2008

Record prices boosted Venezuela's oil income by 225 percent in the first nine months of 2008, allowing the ...

Havana was strangely quiet on the eve of 50th anniversary

This capital city remained eerily dark and silent Wednesday night as the year ended and the day marking the...

FLORIDA LEGISLATURE

Florida Legislature about to chop budgets for education, other services

Florida legislators will start the new year in familiar fashion: by cutting aid to schools and other progra...

LEGISLATURE | ETHICS COMPLAINT

Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom hires attorney in ethics case

An ethics complaint against House Speaker Ray Sansom has prompted the lawmaker to hire a high-profile attor...

LEGISLATURE

Florida Legislature to hear public's views on budget cuts

As the Legislature heads into a special session on the state's budget crisis, lawmakers will offer the publ...

TALLAHASSEE

Northwest Florida State College has a friend in Legislature

E-mail shows close ties between House Speaker Ray Sansom and Northwest Florida State College, where Sansom ...

TALLAHASSEE

Gov. Crist's budget plan spends savings

Gov. Charlie Crist's plan to close a budget shortfall includes tapping into the state's savings accounts.

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT

Second Cuban American in running for Florida Supreme Court seat

First out of the running for the Florida Supreme Court, Jorge Labarga now has an interview scheduled for We...

Weston lawmaker Franklin Sands among Madoff's victims

Weston legislator Franklin Sands -- Democratic leader of the Florida House -- said Monday he and his wife L...

THE LEGISLATURE

Lawmakers cash in with campus jobs

Former and current lawmakers are finding employment at community colleges and state universities, even in t...

LEGISLATURE

Crist offers up ideas for balancing budget, sparing services

Gov. Charlie Crist has a plan to eliminate Florida's $2.3 billion budget shortfall without cutting services...

GAMBLING

Powerful forces oppose Seminoles' gambling expansion

New pressure is mounting to stop the Seminoles' expansion of blackjack throughout Florida.

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL BOARD

Miami-Dade School Board lobbies Tallahassee over spending

Miami-Dade's school board blitzed the state Capitol for two days asking legislators to spare classrooms fro...

ESOL advocates fighting loss of teacher training

Clara E. Martinez stood in front of her middle-school students at Coral Way K-8 Center in Miami and asked t...

SCHOOLS

Enrollment down 30,000 at Florida's public schools

Enrollment in Florida public schools has dropped for the third straight year, state figures show. After pea...

HIGHER EDUCATION

Florida universities fear losing top researchers, grants

Amid a state budget crunch, Florida's 11 universities are faced with losing their top researchers and the g...

THE LEGISLATURE

Lawmakers cash in with campus jobs

Former and current lawmakers are finding employment at community colleges and state universities, even in t...

EDUCATION

Broward Teachers Union: Stop rehiring retirees

The Broward Teachers Union wants the district to quit rehiring employees who have retired, saying that thos...

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS

Hearing on Miami-Dade teachers' raises ends

The United Teachers of Dade and the Miami-Dade public school district Tuesday finished their second day of ...

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS

Top principal in Florida takes over F school

Miami Central High, a chronically failing school, is getting a new principal -- the state's best.

ALLAPATTAH

Aunt says clerk whipped child

An 8-year-old boy said he and several other children had been hit by a clerical worker at their school.

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS

Miami-Dade School Board votes to sue state over funding

The Miami-Dade School Board will sue the state to make up funding it says it's not getting from local taxes.

MIAMI-DADE SUCCESS ACADEMY

Dade program pays 'F' school students who get tutored

The Miami-Dade school district's new Success Academy will pay students at nine struggling schools who atten...

MIRAMAR

Three students at Miramar school suspended for sexual activity

Police and school district officials say three Glades Middle School students were involved in sexual activi...

Death of corals is oceanographer's murder mystery

Marine scientist John Bruno became interested in coral reefs as a boy snorkeling in the turquoise waters of...

Elephant populations decline in the wild, but zoos may not be the answer

In Chad, the ivory poachers have upgraded to automatic weapons.

EVERGLADES

Ruling puts brakes on Tamiami Trail bridge project

The Miccosukee Tribe won its bid for an injunction to stop the building of the one-mile Tamiami Trail bridg...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

More research on Everglades projects ahead

With a federal judge blocking plans to build a new Tamiami Trail bridge, federal agencies fall back on plan...

FLORIDA REEFS

Climate change increases problems for Florida reefs

Despite new federal protections, Elkhorn Coral may disappear from the waters off the coast of South Florida

THE EVERGLADES

U.S. Sugar land deal is approved -- with an escape clause

South Florida water managers approved the controversial purchase of U.S. Sugar land considered essential to...

THE EVERGLADES

Hurdles remain for Florida-U.S. Sugar land deal

Skeptical lawmakers and a House committee review loom among upcoming hurdles for the state's controversial ...

ENVIRONMENT

Gov. Crist led all-out push to save Big Sugar deal

With his Big Sugar deal on shaky ground, Gov. Charlie Crist mounted a hefty political push that shored up t...

That holiday gift from your tree-hugger friend contains a hidden danger: biodegradable packing peanuts

That holiday gift from your tree-hugger friend may contain a hidden danger: biodegradable packing peanuts -...

Federal court temporarily reinstates air quality regulations

A federal appeals court reversed itself Tuesday and temporarily reinstated regulations aimed at sharply red...

Christmas tree farmers growing Japanese, Turkish firs to replace diseased Frasers

Christmas begins on the mountain slopes of North Carolina where farmers grow Fraser firs from seedlings to ...

New Senate will miss old members

When the new Congress begins this week, a great many familiar faces will be missing. While the most notable...

EL SALVADOR

Former Salvadoran guerrilla explores crippling post-war political divide

Joaquín Villalobos, 57, was one of the top commanders of the FMLN, the coalition of guerrilla groups...

COMMENTARY

Keep politics out of our state courts

By the early 1970s, patronage politics had severely undermined confidence in Florida's judiciary. After he ...

The empty chair at the holiday table

Even in hard times, this is the holiday season and a time when thoughts turn to home and family and dinner ...

COMMENTARY

Coming year will be one of change, crises

The coming year will be a narrative of tension -- a series of difficult choices between the imperatives of ...

AUTO INDUSTRY BAILOUT

Much worth saving that UAW built

A failure to help the Big Three automakers would destroy an institution that secured half a century's worth...

Sansom offers bruising ride for taxpayers

It's been barely a month since Ray Sansom was sworn in as Florida's new speaker of the House, and the Desti...

FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

Talk-radio industry fears fairness law could silence them

Some talk radio fans fear Democrats are ready to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine, which mandates ideological...

Questions still darken Iraq's future

BAGHDAD -- As soon as I arrived here, I went to visit the neighborhood of Hay Salaam, my bellwether as to t...

Soul for sale -- Rod and Satan have a talk

From the voluminous, still-to-be-indexed FBI wiretaps of Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich: The governor: ``...

MIAMI HERALD OMBUDSMAN

Newspapers' voices changed once, and might again

We surely all had the same question upon reading the story last week that real-estate developer Jorge Perez...

89-year-old arrested for keeping ball sues family

An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman arrested for confiscating the neighbor kid's football is now suing the...

Detroit lawyer gets 5-cent IRS bill, 4-cent refund

James Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has received from the Internal Revenue Service.

Fla. couple back home after unexpected Cuba trip

A Florida couple who said they wound up in a Cuban jail after their boat was badly damaged in a storm is ba...

Who is this? Calif. residents getting Ala. calls

There used to be a time when people who called Linda Jahraus' home in Laguna Beach, Calif., were actually w...

Porcupine plague causes $100K in damage in Colo.

Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chompin...

911 caller in ND reports drunken driver: herself

Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender.

'Hello 911? I'm driving drunk'

Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender. A 1...

Man arrested after grave decorations found at home

Authorities in northeast Tennessee have arrested a man and charged him with possession of stolen property a...

Mich. twins born on different days, months, years

They're twins, all right, despite what their spanking new birth certificates say. Tariq Griffin entered the...

Police: Driver switched seats to avoid DUI arrest

Police said a West Valley City woman tried to avoid a drunken driving arrest by putting her daughter in the...

NYC man wins his second couch potato title

He's the king of couch potatoes. A Manhattan man has won his second couch potato contest. Stan Friedman, 47...