DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ When Buying a Home Is Treated as a National Security Threat
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Amy Qin | Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After years of living in dorms and subpar apartments, Lisa Li could not wait to close on her new home. The one-bedroom condo in Miami’s financial district had a view of the river, was in a safe neighborhood and, Ms. Li heard, had neighbors who were much like her — less party, more chill. So Ms. Li, a 28-year-old who came to the United States 11 years ago as a college student from China, put in an offer, had her bid accepted and began ordering furniture. At the last minute, the title company raised concerns about a small United States Coast Guard outpost near South Beach a few miles away. Under the law, Ms. Li could face prison time, and the sellers and real estate agents could be held liable.

Persons: Lisa Li, Li Organizations: United States Coast Guard Locations: United States, China, South Beach, Florida

☆ Florida’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Is Now Law, With Political Implications
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ron DeSantis of Florida prepared to run for president last spring, he gathered anti-abortion activists in his Capitol office for an unusual bill signing, held late at night and behind closed doors. Florida lawmakers had just approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a major policy shift that would sharply restrict access to the procedure for women in neighboring states as well as for Floridians. For Mr. DeSantis, the move seemed like something that would play well among some Republican presidential primary voters in states like Iowa. But this was Florida, and public opinion polls suggested broad opposition to such a strict law. So Mr. DeSantis, who typically crisscrosses the state to sign bills, enacted the six-week ban in April 2023 with little fanfare, part of a headlong push into cultural conservatism meant to bolster his national campaign.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis Locations: Florida, Iowa

covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan.

Locations: New York, Manhattan

☆ Florida Abortion Ban to Take Effect, Cutting Off Major Access Point
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Florida has long played a significant role in the American abortion landscape, with dozens of clinics providing the procedure to tens of thousands of residents a year while also taking in patients from across the Southeast. That era will end, at least for now, on Wednesday, when a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy will take effect. The strict new law will replace a 15-week ban and require most Floridians and other Southerners seeking the procedure to travel to Virginia or farther. Almost every other state in the region banned or sharply restricted abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022; many had few abortion providers even before the ruling. North Carolina still allows abortions up to 12 weeks, but with a 72-hour waiting period that makes it a less practical option for out-of-state patients.

Persons: Roe, Wade, ”, Kelly Flynn Locations: Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Jacksonville, Fla

☆ As Colleges Weigh Crackdowns on Protests, Questions About Outsiders Linger
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amid a dizzying array of standoffs involving pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments at colleges, schools that cracked down on protesters over the weekend have given varying justifications for their actions, while others sent mixed signals with their inaction. Behind it all was a central question confronting university leaders across the country: When does a demonstration cross the line? Colleges have cited property damage, outside provocateurs, antisemitic expressions or just failures to heed warnings as reasons to clear encampments and arrest students. Northeastern University in Boston, Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University Bloomington and Arizona State University had police forces move in on demonstrations on Saturday, leading to more than 200 arrests. At other schools — including Columbia, Penn, Harvard and Cornell — an icy tension lingered on Sunday as leaders warned about possible consequences for demonstrators but had yet to carry them out.

Organizations: Northeastern University, Washington University, Louis , Indiana University Bloomington, Arizona State University, Harvard, Cornell Locations: Boston, St, Louis ,, Columbia, Penn

☆ Election Updates: Biden to campaign in Florida, keeping the focus on abortion.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Nicholas Nehamas | Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

The Biden campaign has made abortion one of its top issues, as polling shows it is one of the few subjects in which voters place more trust in Mr. Biden than Mr. Trump. While the vote could motivate liberal and independent voters to come to the polls, Mr. Biden would have to invest heavily in Florida to defeat Mr. Trump, which his campaign has not yet done. “Trump did this” has become a frequent messaging slogan from the Biden campaign. The Biden campaign, she said, should not give up on the nation’s third-largest state. Although the Biden campaign has a significant financial advantage over Mr. Trump’s operation, it has not spent heavily in Florida compared with the major battlegrounds.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, Floridians, Donald Trump, ”, Michael Tyler, “, Roe, Wade, “ Trump, Ron DeSantis, Debbie Mucarsel, Powell, Rick Scott, Ms, Mucarsel, DeSantis, ” Mr, Tyler, “ We’ve, Lauren Brenzel, ” Alex Andrade, Mr, Andrade Organizations: Biden, Republicans, Gov, Republican, Democratic, Florida Locations: Florida, Tampa, Trump . Florida, Arizona, Florida , Arizona, Miami, “ Florida, Kentucky , Kansas, Ohio, Dade County, Hialeah Gardens, Fla

☆ What’s Killing Endangered Sawfish in Florida?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Fishing guides in the Florida Keys began reporting unusual sightings to Ross Boucek last fall. Small bait fish, especially at night, would start spinning in tight circles in the water, seemingly in distress. As the months went by, more reports trickled in to Dr. Boucek, a biologist with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, a nonprofit conservation group. Bigger fish — jacks, snook — were swimming in spirals or upside down in the shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. They held meetings, took samples of the water and fish and tried to figure out what might be causing the fish to behave so strangely.

Persons: Florida Keys, Ross Boucek, Boucek, snook Organizations: Tarpon Trust Locations: Florida, Gulf of Mexico

☆ Former U.S. Ambassador Is Sentenced to 15 Years for Acting as Cuban Agent
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former United States ambassador accused of working for decades as a secret agent for Cuba in one of the biggest national security breaches in years pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Manuel Rocha, 73, pleaded guilty to two charges — conspiring to defraud the United States as a foreign agent and failing to register as a foreign agent — as part of an agreement with the federal government. He also faces three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine. Mr. Rocha, wearing a beige prison uniform and black glasses, conceded before he was sentenced to the “betrayal of my oath of loyalty to the United States during my two decades in the State Department.”“During my formative years in college, I was heavily influenced by the radical politics of the day,” said Mr. Rocha, who prosecutors said was recruited by Cuban intelligence agents in 1973. “Today, I no longer see the world through the radical eyes of my youth.”

Persons: Manuel Rocha, —, . Rocha, ”, Rocha Organizations: United, State Department, “ Locations: United States, Cuba, Cuban

☆ With Abortion Ballot Question, a ‘Path to Relevance’ for Democrats in Florida?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The nation’s third-largest state, once the biggest battleground in presidential politics, has become less important as its election results have trended repeatedly toward the political right. But three rulings from the Florida Supreme Court on abortion and marijuana, released on Monday, may inject new life into Democratic campaigns before the general election on Nov. 6. The court, which leans conservative, upheld a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, allowing an even more restrictive six-week ban to soon take effect. However, the court also allowed a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot that would guarantee access to abortion “before viability,” or at about 24 weeks. In a third decision, the court gave the go-ahead to a separate ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana.

Organizations: Florida Supreme, Democratic Locations: Florida

☆ Florida Court Allows 6-Week Abortion Ban, but Voters Will Get to Weigh In
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | More About Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The conservative-leaning court found that a 15-week abortion ban enacted in 2022 was constitutional. That ruling will allow a six-week ban enacted last year to take effect within 30 days. In paving the way for the six-week ban, the court cemented the rapid transformation of Florida, once a destination for women seeking abortions in the American South, into a place with restrictive policies akin to those in surrounding states. But allowing the ballot measure gave supporters of abortion rights a chance to continue their national campaign to preserve access to the procedure by giving voters the opportunity to directly weigh in on the issue. Ballot measures in favor of abortion rights have already succeeded in seven states, including Kansas, Ohio and Michigan.

Locations: Florida, American, Kansas , Ohio, Michigan

Jesus Campos said he worked at Brawner Builders alongside the men missing after a bridge collapse in Baltimore. “We’re low-income families,” said Jesus Campos, who has worked at the construction company, Brawner Builders, for about eight months. The executive, Jeffrey Pritzker, and the Coast Guard said that all of the missing workers were presumed dead, given how long it had been since the collapse. Embassies for the other two countries mentioned by Mr. Campos did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Officials said that in addition to the six missing workers, two people had been rescued from the water.

Persons: Jesus Campos, “, ”, Jeffrey Pritzker, Mr, Pritzker, “ It’s, Campos, Francis Scott Key, Miguel Luna, Luna, Gustavo Torres, Jacey Fortin, Miriam Jordan, Patricia Mazzei, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Kirsten Noyes Organizations: Brawner Builders, Brawner, Coast Guard, Baltimore Banner Locations: Baltimore, Baltimore County, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Maryland, Petén, Mexican, Washington, Brawner

There are more heavily trafficked routes across the Baltimore Harbor than the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The Harbor Tunnel carries double the daily traffic of the Key Bridge and the Fort McHenry Tunnel much more than that. The six men who are missing were part of this tradition of working Baltimore: members of a construction crew, working overnight hours filling potholes on the bridge. One day in 1977, Mr. Metzger said, his father, a truck driver, was coming back home from his route and happened upon the bridge’s ribbon cutting. And the Key Bridge is gone.”

Persons: Francis Scott Key, “, ”, Kurt L, Mr, Schmoke, Rafael Alvarez, Dali, Jim Lo Scalzo, Curtis Bay, Alvarez, Baltimoreans, James Metzger, Metzger, Metzger’s Organizations: Fort, University of Baltimore, Chesapeake, Washington , D.C, Bethlehem Steel Plant, Amazon Locations: Baltimore, Fort McHenry, Baltimore’s, Maryland, Washington ,, New York City, Shutterstock

☆ Miami Beach, Seeking Quieter Spring Break, Sets Curfew
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Escalating its aggressive push for a quieter spring break, Miami Beach declared a three-night curfew beginning on Friday, citing the large crowds it expects over what has usually been the peak weekend of the season. The curfew will run from midnight through 6 a.m. each night until Monday, Alina T. Hudak, the city manager, announced on Friday morning. It will apply only to South Beach, the part of the city most popular with tourists and revelers. “We did not make this decision lightly, but it should not come as a surprise,” Ms. Hudak said in the announcement. “We have been very clear about our intent to protect the public from the dangerous mayhem that has accompanied spring break crowds in recent years.”The sale of alcoholic beverages for “off-premises consumption” — read: on the street — will also be prohibited after 6 p.m. each day the curfew is in place.

Persons: Alina T, “, ” Ms, Hudak Organizations: Miami Beach Locations: South Beach

☆ Miami Beach Is Done With Spring Breakers: ‘It’s Not Us. It’s You.’
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than two decades ago, Wayne Jones traveled to Daytona Beach, then Florida’s spring break mecca, not to party but to study. Maybe Miami Beach, which had its own unruly scene every year over Memorial Day weekend, could learn a thing or two. Officer Jones is now Chief Jones of the Miami Beach Police. Last year, the police made more than 500 arrests and confiscated more than 100 guns over the spring break period. “This is going to be the best spring break ever,” he said in a recent interview at his South Beach office.

Persons: Wayne Jones, Jones, ” Organizations: Daytona, Miami Beach Police Department, Miami Beach Police, Miami Beach, South Locations: Daytona Beach

A former U.S. ambassador accused of working for decades as a secret agent for Cuba indicated on Thursday that he would plead guilty, a move that would bring to a swift end the legal case over one of the biggest national security breaches in years. Manuel Rocha, 73, said in federal court in Miami that he would file a change of plea, signaling that he is prepared to plead guilty. He was charged in December with acting as an agent of a foreign government and defrauding the United States. Mr. Rocha is expected to plead guilty to two counts of conspiring to act as a foreign agent. Prosecutors are expected to drop the other charges; the wire fraud charge carried a 20-year maximum sentence.

Persons: Manuel Rocha, Rocha, Rocha’s Organizations: Prosecutors, Associated Press Locations: U.S, Cuba, Miami, United States

☆ In on the Joke at the First-Ever Florida Man Games
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | Jason Andrew | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Wouldn’t it be fun, Mr. Melfi thought, to hold another race, this time with a big after-party? And what if the theme was none other than the meme that launched many thousands of headlines about his home state: Florida Man? His wild idea morphed into an all-day competition with a series of zany events: A mullet contest. (But, to be clear, there were no actual arrests in the race. The handcuffs came from a sex toy shop.)

Persons: Pete Melfi, Melfi Locations: St, Augustine, Fla, Florida

☆ Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Through Miami’s Airport Yours Probably Flew
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | Scott Mcintyre | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The roses that you buy this week from a florist, supermarket or website for Valentine’s Day in all likelihood arrived in the United States through one place: Miami International Airport, the port of entry for about 90 percent of the nation’s imported cut flowers. All year, farmworkers snip flowers by hand, mostly in Colombia and Ecuador, to be sent on cargo planes to Miami, where they are inspected and then loaded on trucks to reach every mainland state. Sometimes, flowers cut in the morning can be in South Florida, a three- or four-hour flight away, by the afternoon. It is a logistical feat, especially in the weeks leading up to Feb. 14 — one of the flower industry’s two peak holidays, along with Mother’s Day. Yet few consider that when they pick up bouquets for $20 at Target.

Organizations: Valentine’s, Miami International Airport, Mother’s, Target Locations: United States, Colombia, Ecuador, Miami, South Florida

☆ This Florida Mall Has Gucci, Prada … and Soon, Affordable Housing?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In Bal Harbour, Fla., an oceanside village north of Miami Beach, a luxury mall says it wants to help tackle one of the nation’s — and Florida’s — most intractable problems: a lack of affordable housing. It is an unexpected move for a retail temple where Gucci, Chanel and Rolex are on offer. Affordable? But in a rare instance of bipartisan agreement, the Florida Legislature passed a law last spring intended to encourage projects like the one that the owner of the mall, Bal Harbour Shops, has in mind. And nowhere has seen more backlash to date than little Bal Harbour.

Persons: Chanel Organizations: Miami Beach, Rolex, Florida Legislature, ” Locations: Bal Harbour, Fla, oceanside, Miami, Florida, Bal

Forgive Florida voters for feeling a little whiplash. Ron DeSantis appeared unstoppable in late 2022. He had just won re-election, thumping his opponent by nearly 20 percentage points in a victory attributed in large part to voters rewarding him for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. But this week, he dropped out of the Republican presidential race after a single contest, in Iowa, where he received a thumping of his own, losing to former President Donald J. Trump by about 30 points. “I thought he was going to go all the way,” said Taylor Brame, 24, who moved to Florida in part because she was a fan of Mr. DeSantis’s minimal restrictions during the pandemic.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald J, ”, Taylor Brame Organizations: Florida, Republican, Trump Locations: Iowa, Florida

☆ Ousted Florida Republican Party Chairman Won’t Be Charged With Sexual Assault
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | More About Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida who was ousted earlier this month amid a criminal investigation will not be charged with sexual battery, the Sarasota Police Department said on Friday. But the authorities will seek to charge him with video voyeurism, a felony. Christian Ziegler, the ousted chairman, recorded a sexual encounter he had in October with a woman who later accused him of assault. Officers prepared a probable cause affidavit for the video voyeurism charge and sent it to state prosecutors on Friday. They did not pursue a more serious sexual battery charge because the video, which the police obtained, “showed that the encounter was likely consensual,” the statement said.

Persons: Christian Ziegler, “, Mr, Ziegler, Bridget Ziegler Organizations: Republican Party of, Sarasota Police Department, Police Department Locations: Republican Party of Florida

☆ Criminal Investigation Roils Florida Republican Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | More About Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Florida’s Republican Party found itself roiled on Thursday after the police said they were investigating an accusation made two months ago that the party’s chairman had engaged in sexual battery. The chairman, Christian Ziegler, was elected to the post this year as top Florida Republicans were fretting over whether to support Gov. Mr. Ziegler was seen as the choice of Mr. Trump’s allies. No charges have been filed against Mr. Ziegler, who denied wrongdoing through his lawyer, Derek Byrd. Mr. Ziegler responded to a request for comment by sending the same statement from his lawyer.

Persons: Christian Ziegler, Ron DeSantis, Donald J, Trump, Mr, Ziegler, Trump’s, Derek Byrd, “, ” Mr, Byrd Organizations: Republican Party, Florida Republicans, Gov, Mr

☆ Her Livelihood? Hunting Pythons in the Dead of Night.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | More About Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

People would see hatchlings and think, “Oh, well, this isn’t a very big snake,” according to Ms. Siewe. “It’s going to get to be 10 feet long in three years.”But that did not make the next part any easier. Trees, grass, trash. Recently, one of Ms. Siewe’s friends caught a 17-foot, 2-inch python — so big and heavy, at 198 pounds, that multiple people were needed to contain it. “I arrived and there were five of them sitting on this python, keeping her secured,” she said.

Persons: Siewe, “ It’s, ”, Roberts, “ Locations: Florida

☆ Ohio Voted to Protect Abortion Rights. Could Florida Be Next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | More About Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Florida has always been a deeply libertarian state,” said Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition. It is deeply offensive to Floridians’ sense of independence and freedom.”Since June 2022, when Roe was overturned, states have given voters a direct say on abortion access, either to protect abortion rights, weaken them or explicitly exclude them from state constitutions. Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan all voted to expand or maintain abortion rights. Abortion was legal up to 24 weeks in Florida until last year. Most donations have come from Florida, with limited interest so far from the out-of-state donors who propelled campaigns in Ohio and elsewhere.

Persons: ”, Anna Hochkammer, we’ll, Roe Organizations: Freedom Coalition, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Florida, Kansas , Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio

☆ Florida Dentist Convicted in Murder-for-Hire Plot Against Law Professor
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Patricia Mazzei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nearly a decade, the sensational killing of a prominent Florida law professor in 2014 centered on a single, sordid question: Did his ex-wife’s family, motivated by an ugly custody dispute, hire hit men to murder him? On Monday, a jury concluded that it did, and convicted Charles Adelson, the former brother-in-law of the slain professor, Dan Markel, of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. Mr. Adelson closed his eyes, mouthed “No” and put his head down when the verdict was read at the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla. Mr. Markel, 41, a well-known legal scholar at Florida State University, was shot on July 18, 2014, in his home in an upscale Tallahassee neighborhood. The police found him wounded, and he died 14 hours later at a hospital.

Persons: Charles Adelson, Dan Markel, Adelson, Mr, Markel Organizations: Florida State University Locations: Florida, Leon, Tallahassee, Fla

The official said that Mr. Card was later evaluated at a mental health facility. Mr. Card was in his hometown, Bowdoin, to hunt deer as recently as last fall, a neighbor of his family said. Robert has a brother who had also been in the military and a younger sister, Mr. Goddard said. At the address for the Card family home, no one answered the door on Thursday, and there was only one car parked out front. “We’re on edge right now because we know this is his stomping area,” Mr. Goddard said.

Persons: Robert R, ” Col, William G, Ross, Card, Camp Smith, Bryce Dubee, Dubee, Bowdoin, Rick Goddard, Robert, Goddard, Card’s, Mr Organizations: Maine State Police, Pentagon, Army Reserve, 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment, Army, Police, National Guard, West, Subaru, Bowdoin, Mr Locations: Maine, Lewiston, U.S, Saco , Maine, West, Card’s, Lisbon

Search resuls for: "Patricia Mazzei"

25 mentions found