With news this morning that Penn State coach Joe Paterno has died of lung cancer, I am reposting this column from last November. The scandal, it's now clear, killed the master at age 85.

Enough already. This lunacy is past crazy.

Joe Paterno, an icon of sport, was fired as coach of the Penn State football team yesterday. The reason: a peripheral tie to a child abuse scandal. The 85-year-old guy was preparing to coach his last game. He had already tendered his resignation.
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Finally, a history of Miami's nude beach at the north end of Haulover Park, which is the most popular in the nation. These guys -- and gals -- take it all off.

The beach has been around for about a decade. I decided to shoot a video of it after founder Richard Mason called to complain when we named it one of the best places to have covert sex. There are three sections of the beach: the gay part, the swinger area, and the just plain folks place on the south end.
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New Times Broward-Palm Beach editor Eric Barton this morning tells the story of a 23-year-old cub reporter who's stuck in the middle of Miami Central High School recruiting allegations.

This past November, South Florida Sun-Sentinel writer Dieter Kurtenback reported about the transfer of a star quarterback -- whose family was apparently homeless -- from a Broward school to nationally rated Central High. Austin Stock has starred for the team, which won its first playoff game by more than 70 points; in return, he says Central backers have made threats against his life.

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​Miami New Times dominated this past weekend's Florida Press Club Awards in Saint Augustine. The newspaper took ten awards, more than any other in the state.

Among the winners: Frank Alvarado and Robert Dunlap took first in general news writing; Tim Elfrink, first in government news and business writing; Mike Miller, first in serious features, religion writing, and environmental writing. Chuck Strouse first in commentary; Pam Shavalier first in feature page design and second in front-page design. Gus Garcia-Roberts, first in sports features.
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​Some illiterate little paper I had never heard of -- and never hope to hear of again -- the South Florida Chronicle -- was reveling this morning in the fact that I had to lay off an employee a couple of weeks ago.

Sorry, you simpletons. There were no big layoffs. One person in Miami and one in Fort Lauderdale. I was sad as hell to let go Sebastian del Mármol, one of the most talented journalists I have ever worked with and a great friggin' guy. It is a tough economic time, and we are pushing through.
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​The executive editor of the Daily Business Review, Eddie Dominguez, is jumping ship.

He sent out this email yesterday:

"After a decade as executive editor of the Daily Business Review, I've decided to leave the DBR and journalism and take a short stroll up Brickell Avenue to City National Bank where I begin Monday as Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing, Communications and Community Relations. I am lucky to be going from one well-regarded local institution to another.

"This was a decision that did not come easy and without a few long sleepless nights filled with deliberation. But I am sure this is absolutely the right move for me and at the right time."
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​This past September 8, 20-year-old Christopher Headley grabbed a cup of fruit punch and walked out the door of his uncle Paul Neil's Miramar apartment. Fifteen hours later he was dead -- shot four times in the head and chest.

The really horrible thing about Chris's death -- which I detail in a column in this week's New Times -- is that both the media and the cops dropped the ball. Chris's mom, Kristina Mahoney, an accomplished woman with two Master's Degrees, says there was no investigation. And neighbors confirm this. Moreover, when I walked through the complex where he was shot in Miami Gardens, there were pretty good indications about what might have happened.
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A new group of lawyers is taking the side of Hialeah street vendors. The Institute for Justice is suing the city of Hialeah today on behalf of the mobile sales folk, saying the city's regulations are too tough.

This is a little bizarre, considering you probably see more guys vendiendo todo in the City of Progress than almost anywhere else on the North American continent. But what the hell! We love the flower vendors. We also love arepa vendors. The guys who sell those weird straw hats on street corners? Not so much.

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wikimedia commons/Bert Rotze

​Seventy-two cats have been killed and 14 have died after an outbreak of disease at the Miami-Dade Animal Shelter. About 40 more healthy felines have been been moved r due to the disease, which is called panleukopenia. More >>

Five Republican candidates -- including Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Perry -- have pulled out of a Univision debate in January. Why? Allegedly it is because of a comment the head of the blockbuster Spanish-language channel made to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's people while attempting to blackmail the senator into participating in an interview. More >>