Tag Archives: Miami-Dade County

The Associated Press reports: An engineer left a voicemail two days before a catastrophic bridge failure in Miami to say some cracking had been found at one end of the concrete span, but the voicemail wasn’t picked up until after the collapse, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Friday. The voicemail left on a landline wasn’t heard by a state …

The Miami Herald reports: The FIU pedestrian bridge across Southwest Eighth Street collapsed Thursday afternoon, trapping an unknown number of people and cars underneath. The bridge was installed at Southwest 109th Avenue Saturday morning, intended eventually to provide pedestrian access across Tamiami Trail from FIU’s main campus to Sweetwater, where thousands of students live in off-campus housing or in FIU’s …

Via the Miami Herald: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican who vigorously fought to defend the state’s same-sex marriage ban against a barrage of legal challenges, on Monday conceded defeat. “The judge has ruled, and we wish these couples the best,” said Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray in a statement. For the last several months, Bondi sought extensions of the …

“This is a pivotal moment not just for Miami but for the entire country. Florida is a bellwether state, and I can think of no more encouraging sign as the US Supreme Court prepares to decide whether to resolve this issue for the entire country at its next conference on January 9, and as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals …

UPDATE: Sad trombone!

Miami-Dade County will jump the marriage gun by twelve hours as a state judge has just lifted her stay. Marriages there will commence immediately and the rest of the state can join in at midnight. UPDATE: Details from the Miami Herald. Miami-Dade County will become the first place in Florida to allow same-sex couples to marry on Monday, 10 hours …

Via the Miami Herald: In July, a state judge in Miami-Dade, Sarah Zabel, ruled Florida’s marriage amendment violated constitutional rights and ordered Miami-Dade to issue marriage licenses to six same-sex couples who had sued to marry. Like Hinkle, she stayed her own ruling to allow for appeals. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has vigorously defended Florida’s gay-marriage ban, appealing Zabel’s …

After contentious and ugly public meetings, the Miami-Dade County Commission last night approved a broad transgender rights ordinance by an 8-3 vote. Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Critics came in droves, packing seats at Miami-Dade County Hall and waiting for hours to testify against the ordinance. More than 130 signed up to speak. Pastors, parents, teens, and seniors expressed particular …

It looks like the poll just launched. Middle of the page on the left. (Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

In a 3-1 vote, a committee for the Miami-Dade County Commission yesterday advanced a transgender rights bill over the usual screaming of Christianist activists. Raw emotion and invocations of biblical damnation over a proposed ban on discrimination against transgender people dominated Wednesday what was perhaps the fiercest debate Miami-Dade County Hall has seen this year. Advocates of a more inclusive …

Via Steve Rothaus the Miami Herald: SAVE, one of South Florida’s best-known LGBT-rights groups, has produced a campaign video, Why We Vote, in support of candidates including Democrats Charlie Crist and Annette Taddeo. “I’m voting because Rick Scott and Pam Bondi refuse to recognize our marriage,” says SAVE board chairman Christian Ulvert, seen on-camera with his husband Carlos Andrade. Both …

The usual “men in dresses will invade public restrooms” crackpots were apparently caught flat-footed in Miami-Dade County yesterday. Via the Miami Herald: Gay rights activists prepared for a political skirmish Tuesday at Miami-Dade County Hall. They wore matching T-shirts, arrived early and filled several rows of the commission chambers in support of legislation expanding protections to transgender people. But no …

Filing separate motions in both the Monroe County and Miami-Dade County cases, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a state appeals court to continue those counties’ stays on marriage ban overturn rulings until the US Supreme Court rules on one of the cases already presented to it. “Neither this Court nor the Florida Supreme Court can decide this federal …