Carlos and Jorge de Céspedes, who started with nothing and built up one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the country, were charged Tuesday with healthcare-related wire fraud and income tax evasion.
MIAMI-DADE
The scandal of disappearing Miami-Dade Transit buses -- and the legend of the teenager accused of stealing them -- continues to grow.
TRAFFIC
Miami Beach's angst over a state plan that could temporarily close ramps connecting the city to Interstate 95 during next year's tourist season spilled over to Congress Tuesday.
DUMERCY LORFILS, 65
On Aug. 13, 1979, Dumercy Lorfils's wife and five of their seven children drowned off the Palm Beach coast in the first documented case of smugglers dumping their human cargo.
FLORIDA TAX DEBATE
The debate over swapping property taxes for sales taxes -- the core of Amendment 5 -- began to ferment on Tuesday. Opponents staged a forum in Pembroke Pines and derided it as the ''largest tax increase in state history.'' And the Broward County School Board hosted a workshop to spell out how it hopes to defeat the plan.
CRIME
Two men trying to rob an armored truck in Northeast Miami-Dade on Tuesday shot the guard before fleeing, police said. It was the second attack on an armored car in South Florida on Tuesday.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended his proposal to negotiate with Iran Wednesday and said he would use "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade the country's leaders not to develop nuclear weapons.
DOWNTOWN MIAMI
The Freedom Tower, the 83-year-old downtown Miami icon whose survival has seemed in doubt for years, cemented its future on Tuesday.
BALANCING ACT
It's Saturday night and a dozen women are in Carmen Rojas' living room, passing around edible lotions, flavored body powders and adult toys. For Rojas of Miami, this night is about more than getting these women to buy her products.
RESTAURANTS
Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade is feeling the heat from business partners after a failed restaurant venture. On Friday, the company D Wade's Place filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against Wade, accusing him of breach of contract.
Wachovia Corp. lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, and said Tuesday it was slashing its dividend and cutting 6,350 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.
What: Brookstone WeatherCast, a wireless five-day forecaster Features: Information is received wirelessly via a satellite signal so no wires, computer or subscription is required. Shows five-day forecasts for five nearby cities. Has a clock. Includes magnet for mounting on a refrigerator.
MIAMI-DADE MEGAPLAN
Longtime friends turned adversaries Monday in Norman Braman's fight to stop the ballpark pitched for the Florida Marlins, as the trial's second week focused on economic development.
CUBA PROGRAMS
Congress has put the U.S. Agency for International Development's $45 million Cuba program's 2008 funding on hold, following a series of troubling audits and cases of massive fraud, The Miami Herald has learned.
CRUISE INDUSTRY
Demand for cruise vacations remains solid in the face of a sour U.S. economy, but the South Florida-based cruise industry is getting hammered by soaring fuel prices.
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama traveled to a former hotbed of the Sunni insurgency on Tuesday for talks with tribal leaders who joined the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq and now seek a deeper role in Iraq's political future.
EDUCATION
Miami-Dade School Board member Ana Rivas Logan rubbed her eyes and yawned. Vice Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman stood up to stretch her legs. Others on the dais were bleary-eyed.
THE ECONOMY
Come December, putting a holiday roast on the table will likely put a squeeze on pocketbooks. ''You think you've seen food inflation and inflation at the meat counter?'' asked Gregg Doud, chief economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Washington, D.C. ``You haven't seen anything yet. We're just getting warmed up.''
BOATING SAFETY
Out where the Atlantic Ocean turns deep blue and the towering beachfront condominiums turn into faraway toys, a trio of men with badges zipped across the water in a SeaVee boat, searching for dive flags.
MIAMI GARDENS
After a successful first six months, Miami Gardens police say, the department's detectives are ready to take over the hunt for the city's killers, robbers and rapists.
