Author: Broward County Public Schools

For one man, getting a six-figure job in Fort Lauderdale City Hall was as easy as creating a webpage with photos of strangers, and padding his resume to make it appear he was qualified. No one in City Hall checked, and voila, he was the treasurer. Salary: $118,040. The embarrassing allegations of poor vetting are laid out in Broward Inspector General John Scott’s latest investigation, released Wednesday. In it, the office alleges that Fort Lauderdale City Treasurer Ash-Shaqandi “Ash”... Read More

A single bullet casing, cellphone records and surveillance video point to rapper YNW Melly as the gunman who took the lives of two longtime friends, Miramar police say. YNW Melly and his friend, Cortlen Malik Henry, tried to disguise the killings of Anthony D’Andre Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. as a drive-by shooting, and to portray themselves as survivors of street violence in an effort to mislead police, according to newly available court documents. But evidence that the initial,... Read More

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday called for more transparency about healthcare costs to help patients save money. At a morning news conference at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, the governor endorsed a bill by state Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, that would reward patients who shop around for health care by allowing them to share in the savings with their insurance company. The governor praised Memorial’s web-based system, which allows patients to easily and quickly look up the total... Read More

Chris Rosinski didn’t know what he was getting into when Port Everglades hired him in April. In less than two months on the job, he said he uncovered widespread fraud and purchasing abuses by trade workers there, leading to ongoing investigations by Broward County auditors, the Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The abuses could go back years, if not decades, said his attorney, Matthew Weissing. Rosinski, who worked as a skilled trade supervisor at the port for... Read More

A quick-thinking loss prevention employee and Broward Sheriff’s deputies were able to make two arrests within an hour of a theft at a Target store in Deerfield Beach, officials said Wednesday. Surveillance video showed Jasmine Angelika McCartney, 25, of Pompano Beach, bypassing the checkout line and walking out the front door with a shopping cart overflowing with more than $2,000 worth of computer equipment and flat screen TVs, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. She left in such... Read More

In a move that signals how seriously Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam is about running for the 2020 presidential nomination, he is seeking formal guidance from the Florida Division of Elections about a key state law. In a letter to the Elections Division obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, one of the state’s most prominent election lawyers is asking for an advisory opinion on Messam’s behalf about the state law that requires elected officials to resign from their current offices when... Read More

A bill was introduced on Tuesday that would strip former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson of his retirement benefits from the Florida Retirement system. The bill, HB 1091 filed by Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, accuses Peterson of neglect for not entering Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland during the Feb. 14, 2018 massacre of 17 students and faculty members. Peterson resigned and retired a week after the shooting, and in April started receiving his... Read More

It’s been five years since Justin Flowers was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Fort Lauderdale and a reward is still being offered for information leading to the arrest of whoever was responsible for the death of the Pompano Beach teenager. Broward Crime Stoppers this week re-circulated information about the case in the hopes of stirring up leads for investigators. Of the $5,000 reward being offered, a $2,000 donated portion will expire on Feb. 26, 2020 unless it is renewed, a... Read More

Accusing former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson of neglect during last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a House Republican proposed a bill Tuesday to try to strip Peterson of his $8,771 pension in the Florida Retirement System. Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, filed the bill (HB 1091) for consideration during the legislative session that starts March 5. Peterson, who was the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, has drawn... Read More