http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features Orlando Weekly's news coverage. en-us Copyright 2009 Orlando Weekly http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12852 Wondering what 2009 has in store? So are we. We thought it'd be fun to put that question to some local notables – politicos, journalists, rabble-rousers, psychics, – to get their insights on the year to come. There weren't any guidelines, beyond asking them keep it short and get back to us ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman and Billy Manes Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12841 The Year of Our Lord 2008 was anything but puppies and rainbows. Economically, this was the worst year America has seen in decades: The stock market crashed. The auto industry flopped. Media companies can't declare bankruptcy fast enough. The federal government bailed out bankers to the tun ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman and Billy Manes Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12830 On Dec. 11, 2004, John and James (as they're called in court papers) escaped hell. Their parents had all but abandoned them. The boys – one 4 years old, the other 4 months old – suffered from scalp ringworm. The baby had an ear infection. Medicine sat in their house, unopened and expired. ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12829 The big news at the Dec. 9 Orange County School Board meeting may have been the time-swap imbroglio, its effect on parents' schedules and its inevitable reversal by the board, but the reported $700,000 saved by the convoluted scheme of trading middle-school hours with high-school hours was ... in Up Front by Billy Manes Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12815 When I saw the face in the blood, everything froze for a moment. The blood was everywhere – puddled and smeared, vivid and viscous, red and black on the floor and brown on the bathtub, where someone who couldn't go on anymore had ended their anguish. One cannot help but imagine it: the desp ... in by Liz Langley Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12813 On May 11, 2005, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty stood before the Chamber of Commerce crowd gathered for his annual State of the County address and announced what would be his legacy project: A corridor of high-tech businesses and houses where people could walk or bike to work. There would be ... in by Adriana Ruiz Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12812 Regarding the venues: I told you so. It brings no joy to say it, but there it is. A quote from this column last January: "It's impossible to overstate just how pie-in-the-sky Orlando's financing plan for the arena, the performing arts center and the Citrus Bowl really is. This nearly $2 ... in Slug by Bob Whitby Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12798 Since April, Defame Orlando (defameorlando.blogspot.com) has been stirring the downtown pot with its Internet observations on coke-addled club promoters, local girls gone wild, scenesters in long jean shorts and boat shoes, fixed-gear-bike riders and fame whores. The response – as noted from t ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12797 What with their decisive loss in the presidential election and the party's distinct minority status in the House and Senate, the Republicans could be forgiven for being pessimistic. Things do indeed look bad for their Grand Old Party. Actually, it's even worse than they think. Since the ... in by Steven Stark Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12796 Since its public introduction in March, the downtown Eola Capital project has been an uneasy saga for its developers, opponents and the city alike. The proposed 200-foot-tall office high-rise abutting Lake Eola touched the nerves of neighboring residents, who saw it as both an urban eyesore sh ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12794 Has Orlando's most in-your-face activist has finally gone too far for his handlers? According to a press release from the National Latino Officers Association, the Florida State ACLU is moving to disband the Central Florida Chapter because its president, George Crossley, has crossed the ... in Happytown by Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes and Bob Whitby Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12784 "What is perhaps most troubling, and sad, about industrial eating is how thoroughly it obscures all these relationships and connections. To go from the chicken ... to the Chicken McNugget is to leave this world in a journey of forgetting that could hardly be more costly, not only in terms of ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12783 In 1985, New York Judge Sol Wachtler famously told a newspaper that prosecutors could get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich" if they wanted to. That phrase has become a staple of legal punditry ever since, and with good reason. There is no place in the criminal justice system where a p ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12772 Not long after U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Hayden learned he was going to be named the director of the National Security Agency in 1998, he and his wife went out on a date. The Haydens lived in Seoul, South Korea, where he was stationed with the United Nations Command, and they decided to ... in by Lee Gardner Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12757 Not long after U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Hayden learned he was going to be named the director of the National Security Agency in 1998, he and his wife went out on a date. The Haydens lived in Seoul, South Korea, where he was stationed with the United Nations Command, and they decided to ... in by Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12746 It's one of the most eclectic commercial stretches remaining in downtown Orlando. Stretching from the picturesque, historic Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts down to the quickly growing medical community surrounding the Florida Hospital campus, the sidewalks of North Orange Avenue near L ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12745 ALL IS WON Four years ago in this space, Weekly editor Bob Whitby and I penned columns on the meaning of the 2004 election, in which progressives and Democrats took a drubbing from George W. Bush and his minions ["All is lost/No it isn't," Slug, Nov. 11, 2004]. I foresaw a dystopian future of ... in Slug by Jeffrey C. Billman and Bob Whitby Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12730 Editor's note: This is a corrected version of the story. This corrected version was updated 11/6/2008 at 4:09 p.m. Last summer brought both steamy weather and a newfound prosperity for Quincy-based online advertising company AdSurf Daily. The company made money by selling Internet advertisin ... in by Deanna Morey Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12729 In March 2006, with local news cameras in tow, Winter Park cops raided Club Harem – the city's only strip club – and arrested seven people on charges ranging from drugs to (overly) dirty dancing. As this newspaper reported [see "Run 'em out of town," Sept. 14, 2006], documents in the case made ... in by Deanna Morey Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12728 "We will be no less Americans on Wednesday than we are today," the Rev. Raulston Nembhard dripped politics into the opening of our biweekly civic communion with God. District 2 commissioner Tony Ortiz dropped his mumble-crunch baritone to call some high-school baseball upstarts "scary" (in a g ... in Council Watch by Billy Manes Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12714 Instructions: Cut along the dotted lines, open eye and mouth holes, immediately suspend all trick-or-treating and return to Washington. More masks, in PDF format for your printing convenience. Collect 'em all! John McCain Ric Keller Wall Street CEO Battleground state voter Tom Feeney ... in by Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12701 "We're your regular yellow-dog Democrats," Sherry tells me, referring to loyal Southern Democrats. "Though we have a lot of Republicans in our family." I find that last part hard to believe. Sherry is a consummate salesperson. I've been canvassing Central Florida neighborhoods with her for ... in by Adriana Ruiz Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12700 Jim Turner has a top rating from Martindale-Hubbell, a peer-review group for lawyers, and volunteers with the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. Fred Schott also has a top Martindale-Hubbell rating, and he works with Harbor House, a charity for abused women and their children. ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12699 "You should see the hate mail we're getting," says Stephanie Porta, ACORN Orlando's head organizer, while sitting in the group's crowded and narrow East Colonial Drive offices. "One of them refers to 'niggers.'" The venom conservatives have directed toward the Association of Community Organ ... in by Adriana Ruiz Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=12698 This looked like it could get good. Overhead, the flat-screen beamed images of a sweaty-backed Mayor Buddy Dyer being tackled by a gaggle of kids from the Parramore Kidz Zone, while on the council floor embattled state Sen. Gary Siplin made the rounds in a light fedora and pinstripes. Was it ... in Council Watch by Billy Manes Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST