Miami Beach

Few destinations are as romantic, as exhilarating, as a seaside resort.There is a sense of urgency that heightens its seasonal seductions: those few months of fine weather before heat and humidity descend. There is the exotic factor, too, as familiar architectural styles are rendered in local materials, and horticultural impresarios transform the scrubby maritime landscape into a semitropical arboretum.Then, there is that sense of bravado belonging to communities built close to the ocean, their inhabitants blithely ignoring the fact that a particularly hearty wave could wipe the beach clean.

One in a series of profiles of Maryland delegates to the Republican National Convention Ask Brenda Butscher to compare this year's Republican convention to the first one she attended, in 1972, and her answer is unexpected. "One thing is I haven't met with an ice pick since I've been here," the 72-year-old Garrett County woman says with a smile. Butscher, who has attended nine national political conventions — more than anyone else in Maryland's delegation — found herself caught up in the Vietnam War protests that accompanied the 1972 nomination of Richard M. Nixon in Miami Beach.

Baltimore County environmental inspectors will begin searching today for the source of the bacterial contamination that has forced the shutdown of Miami Beach Park's swimming area.County officials said yesterday that the problem, triggered by water-borne fecal coliform bacteria, could have come from waterfowl, area septic tanks or other sources near the beach on the Chesapeake Bay. Results of the survey are expected by the end of the week; a decision on whether to reopen the beach, which closed Monday, could come early next week.

According to The Daily Beast , Ocean City ranks No. 2 on its list of the 20 Most Popular U.S. Beaches , coming in ahead of Miami Beach, Honolulu, Coronado, Nags Head - just to mention a few destinations that were lower on the list. Surprised? Well, um, a little. But it must be true - they used math! To calculate the Top 20, the survey utilized data on 200 beaches from the nonprofit United States Lifesaving Association (USLA). Here's what The Daily Beast had to say about how it came up with the list: "We considered the 2010 total beach-attendance figures from the USLA as well as the total resident population of each beach town, according to the census, to determine which beaches had the most visitors overall, as well as those that lure the most guests compared with residents.

One of the joys of cavorting with the Orioles back before mediocrity was not only accepted but extolled was wintering in South Florida while the troops shook the kinks out before another 105-win season.Miami, the Beach, Fort Lauderdale and environs were jumping then, as no less than a dozen sports collided and the proud and the profane were all over the place. With Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford in the Yankees' camp, it was as big an attraction as Ted Williams learning about managing with the Washington Senators.

Ducks and other waterfowl are the likely source of bacterial contamination that has kept Miami Beach Park's swimming area closed since July 7, Baltimore County environmental inspectors said yesterday.The bayfront swimming area will not reopen until county officials can develop a plan to drive the birds out, said Ian Forrest, bureau chief for waste management and community service.But officials would not predict when that plan might be completed. "We're working on it every day," said John F. Weber, county parks director.

Baltimore County's Miami Beach, forced to close last July because of bacterial pollution, is now safe for swimming and is set to re-open June 6, county environmental officials say.One of two Chesapeake Bay beaches in the county, Miami Beach was closed to swimming July 7 and remained off limits for the rest of last summer after tests showed fecal coliform bacteria levels of up to 10 times the federal limit for safe bathing.But tests done earlier this spring showed extremely low levels of the bacteria in areas typically open for swimming, said Ian Forrest, bureau chief for Waste Management and Community Services.

MIAMI BEACH -- They sit side by side, architectural paeans to the past, with ocean views. Built by the same man in the same era, the hotels hark back to a grander time, when staircases had sweep, floors were made of marble and chandeliers glittered like the night sky.Morris Lapidus' Fontainebleau and Eden Roc were monuments to 1950s excess -- lavish, gaudy homes to celebrities and movie sets and postwar optimism. Now these landmark structures, having undergone multimillion-dollar makeovers, are getting renewed attention.

MIAMI -- Gianni Versace, a king of the fashion world whose flamboyant designs helped build a global empire, was killed yesterday on the steps of his palatial villa in chic South Beach.Police said they have a prime suspect in the case, Andrew Phillip Cunanan, one of the country's most wanted fugitives, who is already a suspect in four other slayings.Versace was shot twice in the head as he returned from an early morning walk to buy magazines.More than 12 hours later, Miami Beach police Chief Richard Barreto identified the suspect as Cunanan, 27, who was being sought in the slayings of four men from Minneapolis to New Jersey.

There's been a lot of debate in this country over whether recording the police is legal. A judge in at least one state, Illinois, has shot down a request to film officers without their permission, while another judge here in Maryland has ruled such recordings are legal and an exercise in free speech.  Whatever an individual judge's ruling, it's become clear that witnesses who record police interactions with citizens are helping the country and...

There's been a lot of debate in this country over whether recording the police is legal. A judge in at least one state, Illinois, has shot down a request to film officers without their permission, while another judge here in Maryland has ruled such recordings are legal and an exercise in free speech.  Whatever an individual judge's ruling, it's become clear that witnesses who record police interactions with citizens are helping the country and...

The bad news for the Roman Catholic Church: Father Alberto Cuti?, the widely popular priest at St. Francis de Sales in Miami Beach, was photographed cavorting romantically on a Florida beach. The good news: He was with a woman, thank God, not an altar boy. Given the torrent of sordid revelations in recent years, the church should be positively giddy with relief that one of its rising stars was caught snuggling with a very adult-looking female. No apparent felony was in progress while Mr. Cuti?

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte' Stallworth hit and killed a pedestrian with his Bentley yesterday morning on a busy causeway linking Miami and Miami Beach, police said. Stallworth was headed toward the beach when he hit Mario Reyes, 59, about 7 a.m., Miami Beach police spokesman Juan Sanchez said. Reyes was taken to a nearby trauma center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. Reyes was near a crosswalk, but it's not clear whether he was crossing legally. Stallworth, 28, was cooperating, and no charges have been filed, Sanchez said.

The sand felt mighty fine at Miami Beach yesterday - warmed by the 85-degree temperatures, scented from the salty tide. A toddler waded in and giggled with delight. Nearby, a couple sunbathed in beach chairs and two boys smoothed out the foundation of a sand castle. The Memorial Day trip was all the more perfect for Terri Wheeler of Baltimore because it was made spur-of-the moment, in less than 30 minutes. "I woke up this morning, and the sun is shining. I thought, 'Let's just go,' " says Wheeler, whose nearly 3-year-old daughter is known to go along with such impulses.

Jan. 25 1947 American gangster Al Capone died in Miami Beach, Fla., at age 48. 1961 President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television.

MIAMI -- A propeller-driven seaplane with 20 people on board caught fire and crashed off Miami Beach shortly after taking off yesterday for the Bahamas fishing resort of Bimini. Rescue workers recovered 19 bodies by early evening, in an operation carried out with the submerged plane visible under water. Most of the bodies were found in the fuselage, still strapped to their seats. The passengers included three infants. The plane was 58 years old, a twin-engine Grumman G-73 Turbo Mallard, manufactured in 1947, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

MIAMI -- The news from Courtroom 4-6 went out live yesterday at 9:25 a.m.:Ana Cardona, mother and murderer of "Baby Lollipops," must die.The beating death of 3-year-old Lazaro Figueroa, said Circuit Judge David L. Tobin, and "the long period of time over which this baby was subject to torture, abuse, pain and suffering separates this crime from all other crimes seen in the Dade County Courthouse within the memory of anyone . . . in this building."Yet even as she was being hustled out the door, Cardona tried to paint herself as a victim.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Police Chief Richard Barreto issued an unusual apology to the media -- and the world -- yesterday, after acknowledging that his officers incorrectly told reporters that no body had been found inside the Miami Beach houseboat where Andrew Phillip Cunanan killed himself.Barreto blamed the misinformation on a series of misunderstandings by his officers. The error drew criticism from a slew of Miami Beach politicians. "For us to put out information that is wrong is hurtful to the public and is wrong," said City Manager Jose Garcia-Pedrosa.

MOUNT DORA, Fla. - For now, it's a case in Idaho that has seized the nation's attention, reviving outrage, anger and debate over the treatment of sex offenders. But in Florida, rocked by the lurid kidnap-murders of two young girls, the issue has been on people's minds much of the year. A number of Florida cities and towns have recently been adopting laws requiring people convicted of sex crimes against minors to reside at least 2,500 feet - slightly less than half a mile - from schools, school bus stops, day care centers, parks, playgrounds or other places where youngsters congregate.

On Wednesday, September 22, 2004, ROBERT BERNARD, 77, of West Palm Beach, Florida, formerly of Baltimore, Maryland, died at home under the care of Hospice. Survivors include daughter, Diane Houser and son-in-law Lewis Houser, beloved mother Irene Schunick of Miami Beach, devoted brother Arnold Schunick and two grandchildren. He was a retired restaurant owner, and served as an officer in the Merchant Marines. He was also a volunteer at the Wellington Regional Medical Center and the Veterans Hospital.