The scandal about a pay-to-play secret job with a developer seeking permits in the city hasn’t really slowed Miami Mayor Francis Suarez down or changed his mind about seeking even a higher power to abuse. Baby X could announce his long-rumored and delusional run for president next week.

Five of his staffers have taken unpaid leave through at least August, according to The Miami Herald, indicating they could be about to transition to a campaign team. That includes his spokeswoman, Soledad Cedro, as well as Ricardo Seara, Jeremiah Schwartz, Rosa Roig-Kuper and Moises Hernandez. Unpaid leave allows them to keep their jobs and their healthcare coverage.

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In the past few years, the city of Miami Commission has taken several steps to crack down on homelessness in what many believe are inhumane ways — including banning food distributions and sweeps that separate homeless individuals from the few belongings they have. Ideas that have been floated include turning historic Virginia Key into a concentration camp of homeless, bussing them out of town — or having homeowners adopt a homeless person and take care of their needs.

Homeless advocates on Monday had a press conference at City Hall to announce a week of activities aimed at bringing awareness to and changing Miami’s policies that basically criminalize homelessness.

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Commissioner should at least be removed from Bayfront Board Trust

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The city of Miami can stop paying Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s legal bills right now. Let him pay for his own appeal with the funds from his political action committee.

Carollo, who has spent more than $2 million of the taxpayers’ money defending himself from a federal lawsuit he lost Thursday, has a neat $1,380,295 sitting in the bank account for his Miami First PAC. If he wants to appeal the jury verdict — which granted $63.5 million in damages to two Little Havana businessmen who were retaliated against for supporting Carollo’s opponent in 2017 — let Carollo put his money where his big mouth is.

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Developing story: The news that Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is getting monthly rental payments from a developer with several projects in the city is just the latest in a series of ethical lapses and questionable actions by the top politico in the City Beautiful, once a promising rising star in the local Republican Party.

Lago is part owner of a property that is currently rented by Location Ventures, the same developer who is building a luxury condo on Ponce De Leon Boulevard and who has also offered to pay $9 million for a city-owned parcel in the downtown. Location Ventures CEO Rishi Kapoor‘s payments to Lago’s buddy, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, while navigating permits and approvals for projects in that city is already a subject of investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission of Ethics and Public Trust. Lago’s ties to Kapoor, and questions that raises about a potential quid-pro-quo relationship should be looked at, too.

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Rishi Kapoor offered to buy a city-owned property for $9 million

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