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In dark basements under two Freeport public housing projects, a quarter-million taxpayer dollars' worth of unused windows have collected dust for two years. Freeport Housing Authority commissioners and attorneys say the windows can't be installed because they weren't designed to work with child safety guards. The windows can't be returned because they were custom made,… Continue reading The $250,000 Blunder
German Bosque’s personnel file looks more like a rap sheet than a résumé. In two decades, the Opa-Locka Police Department opened 40 internal affairs cases on Bosque. Sixteen of them were for battery or excessive force. Fired five times and arrested three, he was charged with stealing a car, trying to board an airplane with… Continue reading Unfit for Duty
We want to add some talent to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigative team. Every serious candidate should have a proven track record of conceiving, reporting and writing stellar investigative pieces that provoke change. However, our ideal candidate has also cursed out an editor, had spokespeople hang up on them in anger and threatened to resign at… Continue reading The best journalism job ad ever
Whether the decision to invest came from Mark Brivik’s silver tongue or the glossy brochures he foisted upon impressed investors, River Meadows seemed destined to make everyone piles of money. Brivik’s 2005 plan called for nearly 70 homes on an idyllic bend of the Manatee River. It offered future residents the best of old and… Continue reading Brivik deals offer lesson about real estate boom
Fraudulent property flipping ran rampant during this decade’s housing boom, with $10 billion in suspicious deals in Florida alone, a Herald-Tribune investigation has found. The deals -- many of them inflated sales among friends, family and business associates -- drove up property values and tax bills during the boom, fed bank bailouts and failures after… Continue reading ‘Flip that House’ fraud cost billions
Matthew Doig 