As Haitians Rebuild, a Photographer Captures the Catastrophe

Michael McElroy is a South Florida-based freelance photographer who spent seven days in Port-au-Prince after the January 12 earthquake. Click here for a slide show of images that he captured, and below is a dispatch he filed after his trip.

The day after the earthquake in Haiti, I was on assignment for the New York Times, shooting the reactions of Haitian residents in Little Haiti. I knew I needed to get down there. I was able to book a flight to the Dominican Republic. Everything happened so fast. There wasn't any time to make plans, so I went into this blind. No ride, no... full story >>

In the War of Attrition Waged by the Texas Attorney General Against Robert O'Donnell, There Were Unintended Consequences

Robert O'Donnell stands rigidly in the courthouse hallway, his arms folded across his chest, trying to keep his rage in check. Like some Americans, O'Donnell is fed up with big government, but his simmering anger has nothing to do with Wall Street bailouts or health-care plans. After more than six years of squabbling and litigation, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in Texas ran his child support collection company out of business, and if that wasn't enough, today, its attorneys are trying to toss him in jail.

Taking his mind off the pending showdown, he stares out a... full story >>

Can a veterans court help former GIs find justice here at home?

What are you going to do, shoot me?"

It was around ten o'clock at night when Edward Lynch heard the strange shouting. He went to the utility room at the back of his house to investigate and saw a man standing in his neighbor's yard, yelling into the night. Much of what he was saying was gibberish — though there was mention of a gun.

As Lynch watched, the stranger went up to his neighbor's car and rammed his elbow into the driver's side window. When the window didn't break, the man picked something up off the ground and threw it at the car. At that point, Lynch... full story >>

Crash Reports

Steve Morrison probably never knew what hit him that April afternoon in 2008. After the 52-year-old swimming-pool company owner eased off the brakes of his green Saturn and headed south down Hillcroft across Westpark, a Nissan Frontier driven by a 28-year-old Salvadoran immigrant named Rosa Villegas-Vatres slammed into him, caving in his driver's side door — and his rib cage — and killing him instantly.

That Villegas-Vatres blew through the red light on Westpark is not in question. Several witnesses said she did and she also admitted as much. In the immediate... full story >>

The Sex Edition: the Disavowed

Marcella was dancing with three other guys, playing the field at America's Pub in Westport, when an olive-skinned Puerto Rican man tapped her on the shoulder. She'd never seen him before. But that night, in October 1998, William Rivera had been watching her.

"Here's my number," he told her, ignoring the other suitors. "Call me."

"I called him the next day and I was like, 'You've got to be nuts. I'm dancing with three other guys. How do you know I don't belong to one of them?'" she recalls. "He was really bold. I just had to get to know this guy."

A week later,... full story >>

Super Bowl guide to sex, drugs, gambling, and living large in South Florida

Welcome to the land of excess and instant gratification. You sensed it when you got off the plane or maneuvered into that I-95 exit lane. Or maybe it was the first time you spotted that shady, mustached man with sunglasses and a briefcase, standing conspicuously under a palm tree. This isn't the canned, corporately manufactured indulgence of Las Vegas. You're in South Florida, the land of champagne dreams and billion-dollar Ponzi schemes. You can have anything you want for the right price. Down here, there's a general understanding that everybody needs something.

Maybe it's sex... full story >>

Dan Buettner's Blue Zones teach nine secrets of a longer life

The red-walled foyer of Dan Buettner's Lake of the Isles home is packed with party guests. Black-clad waiters weave among the revelers, offering up twirls of scallops and skinny pasta spun onto silver forks. In one section of the house, the gossip columnist for the Star Tribune stalks the governor with her video camera.

"Hi, C.J.," says Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the potential GOP presidential candidate, offering an awkward wave.

C.J. has followed Buettner for years—he and former supermodel girlfriend Cheryl Tiegs were frequently the subjects of her gossip column.... full story >>

Going Rogue: An Obsessive Phoenix Patrol Cop Tried to Nail the Wrong Guy in the Baseline Killer Case

With a mug shot of a sullen-looking African-American man looming in the background, Channel 5's anchor opened the newscast with:

"It's a new face on the most notorious crime spree in Valley history. This is Terry Wayne Smith. He once spent time in prison with Michael Goudeau, Mark's brother.

"He lived near several of the Baseline Killer crime scenes. And he allegedly hinted to his family that he was involved in some of the murders linked to the case."

This was scary... full story >>