tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78755098605069958452024-02-20T19:05:25.006-05:00Howard Goodman: Stories and columnsReporting and opinion writing from the Philadelphia Inquirer, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other points in my career.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-33302784877799434392013-03-10T16:28:00.001-04:002013-04-09T15:09:27.375-04:00Boomers in paradise
A freelance story.
I discovered the subject and wrote it up as a post for the New York Times' Booming blog.
With a crucial boost from the blog's editor, Mike Winerip, it mushroomed into a story for the National desk, and then a story for the Times' front page ... and then, unbelievably, for Page One Sunday. Along the way, I picked up Mike as a writing partner, whose Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-23087209869191320412012-05-29T21:00:00.000-04:002013-03-28T15:18:35.739-04:00That's me on TV
While writing a series of blog posts about Florida's attempts to suppress the vote in the coming 2012 presidential election, I was asked to appear on a national cable TV show, Jennifer Granholm's War Room, on Current TV, and talk about the issue as an expert.
With only a couple of hours notice, I rushed over to the almost-empty studios of our local PBS station in Boynton Beach, where a Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-26005812333840321072010-05-06T00:52:00.000-04:002012-07-15T19:56:37.530-04:00Israel at the World's Fair
A freelance piece from Shanghai at the start of the World Expo.
Israel Showcases Its Brain Power on a Receptive World Stage
Letter From Shanghai
The age of great world’s fairs is supposed to be over, but no one told the Chinese.
Ignoring the conventional wisdom that these grand global assemblages have been rendered obsolete in the era of the Internet and satellite communications, and that Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-45820608106569803832009-07-10T08:01:00.000-04:002012-05-19T16:00:58.410-04:00Dean without borders
Here's a story I did for "Horizons," the alumni magazine for Nova Southeastern University in Broward County, Florida, Summer 2009
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-66494087309821790962009-03-17T18:26:00.000-04:002012-07-15T19:52:04.492-04:00Don't mention God here!This story, which turned out to be one of the last I wrote for the Sun Sentinel, caused a great sensation. It went out on the Internet and whipped around the world, quickly attracting 175,000 hits and getting lots of play on, you guessed it, Fox News. I wrote it as straight-down-the-middle news story. But the reason it got so much attention is the absurdity of the hospice position: so afraid of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-92149548408917615292009-01-31T14:19:00.000-05:002011-02-14T20:32:09.435-05:00An unknown for too longThis started out as a follow-up to a news brief: An accident victim, probably an illegal immigrant, left no ID and authorities couldn't figure out who he was. Several weeks went by, and I was asked to try to profile this man from the few clues he left behind. Before I could get the story in the paper, investigators solved the puzzle. It looked like we had no story -- until we learned that Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-16069820360201233532009-01-13T14:51:00.000-05:002011-02-14T20:32:49.415-05:00The decline and fall of a favorite marketThis story was conceived as simple salute to a well-known store that went under. In reporting it, however, I found a story that hadn't been told: the store's misfortunes were the result not of bad weather and a bad roof, as everyone thought, but of bad management.
Fallen King's Market to be auctioned
For some, this is final indignity for the gourmet grocery that had ruled supreme
Date: Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-63352377557274586802007-03-18T11:42:00.000-04:002012-09-30T11:43:56.114-04:00The homeless and the rest of usA series of unconscionable crimes against homeless people prompted this one:
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-34042575085540654232007-03-13T11:44:00.000-04:002012-09-30T11:45:19.092-04:00Do your civic duty!An election-day call for good citizenship:
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-39763762004906330772007-03-06T11:48:00.000-05:002011-02-14T20:33:25.766-05:00Politics comes to the nudist colonyThe assignment: Cover a political debate at a nudist camp. The challenge: To keep my juvenile sense of humor in check.
FORUM AT NATURIST RESORT GOES OFF WITHOUT HITCH
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Edition: Palm Beach Section: LOCAL Page: 1B
Byline: HOWARD GOODMAN COMMENTARY
It is great to watch the body politic put democracy in action, but maybe not so much when the body isn't wearing Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-61247149062496893342007-03-04T20:07:00.000-05:002012-05-19T15:56:52.850-04:00Separate, unequalThe first idea behind this story was to profile life on Route 80, the east-west highway that connects Palm Beach County's very weathiest community to its poorest, with various degrees of urban and rural middle-class in between. The subject proved too unwieldy, so I dropped the road and kept the two extremes.
A TALE OF TWO STARKLY DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES -- ONE OPULENT AND THE OTHER, NOT FAR Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-19785401057143319352007-02-22T11:39:00.000-05:002012-09-30T11:40:42.694-04:00Backwards thinking on taxesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-19320360022247098872007-02-20T11:29:00.000-05:002012-09-18T21:59:14.767-04:00Things go slow
Henry Flagler would have put this plan on the fast track
By Howard Goodman | Commentary
We need Henry Flagler back.
In his day, when an industrial magnate could be king of all he surveyed, things got done in the state of Florida.
Once the right-hand man of John D. Rockefeller, Flagler moved here in the 1880s and basically built the town of St. Augustine.
Bringing civilization to the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-29923705979756467882007-01-07T06:29:00.000-05:002012-07-31T20:20:59.960-04:00Keystone Kops? Not.
It's not easy to admit error. So I thought it was important to salute the police said they had the wrong men.
Boynton police acted properly in the deadly mall shooting case
By Howard Goodman | Commentary
A lot of people probably think the Keystone Kops are alive and well in Boynton Beach.
The town's police do seem prone to pratfalls:
Two men are arrested in the shooting death of a Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-77391157183802241882006-10-31T07:57:00.000-05:002011-03-22T08:03:09.121-04:00Uneasy over electronic votingElectronic voting was easy enough ... so why do I feel uneasy? By Howard Goodman | Commentary
I voted Monday.
It took five minutes.
I walked into the South County Elections Office, and a couple of kindly poll workers took my name and address, checked my driver's license and handed me a plastic card.
I inserted the card into the machine, and a virtual ballot appeared on screen.
I made my choices,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-44970616211631603912006-10-10T23:54:00.000-04:002011-02-14T20:34:39.530-05:00The Donald and the flagSome controversies can only happen in the town of Palm Beach ...
LIGHTEN UP, SIP A MACCHIATO, AND LET THE DONALD FLY HIS GIANT FLAG
Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Edition: Palm Beach Section: LOCAL Page: 1B
Byline: HOWARD GOODMAN COMMENTARY
If you are Donald Trump, by gum, you should be able to do whatever the heck you want.
This is because you are the richest man on earth and you Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-28981188623993339552006-10-05T06:43:00.000-04:002011-03-22T06:51:36.678-04:00Congressman and a 'cute butt'Congressman forfeited privacy when he crossed the line of decencyBy Howard Goodman | Commentary
Three years ago, when confronted with "revolting and unforgiving" reports that he is gay, Mark Foley angrily held a news conference to say he deserved to keep his private life private.
"Elected officials, even those who run for the United States Senate, must have some level of privacy," the Republican Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-22156757517379303372006-10-02T11:37:00.000-04:002011-03-22T11:53:26.832-04:00Naked confessionsNaked confessions of Foley's priest are hard to swallowBy Howard Goodman | Commentary
Now, that's a relief: It was only saunas and massages in the nude, skinny-dipping and fondling.
Thank God it was nothing like sex.
The interview confessions of the Rev. Anthony Mercieca induce a kind of stunned amazement that any man of the cloth would so easily admit to behavior that's so patently wrong, while Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-78002527396356325522006-10-01T12:57:00.000-04:002011-02-15T10:11:53.494-05:00Politicans and priests acting badlyFor a time in 2006, Palm Beach County was a bonanza for crazy behavior from public figures. In one particularly rich stretch, we had priests robbing the till and a congressman making weird sexual advances to teen boys. Hence...
TRIO'S BETRAYAL KNOCKS PUBLIC'S PRECIOUS TRUST DOWN ANOTHER NOTCH
Date: Sunday, October 1, 2006
Edition: Palm Beach Section: LOCAL Page: 1B
Byline: HOWARD GOODMAN Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-29835754802704148912006-09-21T06:15:00.000-04:002011-03-22T06:40:12.112-04:00Heroes and villains of the beachBeach cleanup effort quickly swept away by litterers by Howard Goodman | Commentary
A broad sandy beach.
A sky of blue. A shimmering sea.
And a Hershey wrapper, three soda cans, four plastic water bottles, a shriveled balloon, a discarded sandal and too many bottle caps and plastic bags to count.
That's just some of the inventory I found in a 20-minute stroll on a gloriously near-empty Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-38096080326053293332006-06-27T13:06:00.000-04:002011-02-15T10:12:36.593-05:00Fat-cat burgerBoca Raton loves to play up its image of wealth and luxury. Here was a chance to hold up a mirror.
THAT $100 BURGER MAY BE TASTY, BUT IT'S ALSO TASTELESS
Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Edition: Palm Beach Section: LOCAL Page: 1B
Byline: HOWARD GOODMAN COMMENTARY
Just in time for your Fourth of July barbecue: the $100 hamburger.
The Old Homestead Steak House in the Boca Raton Resort & Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-63777454102530035612006-06-01T18:06:00.000-04:002012-09-19T16:41:37.139-04:00Lower life forms in Boca
An absurd public-art controversy.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-11919200027795633852006-05-07T21:38:00.000-04:002011-02-15T10:13:16.791-05:00Hope for Alzheimer'sI met Patty Doherty, who impressed me right away with her passion over the sufferings of Alzheimers patients and their spouses and children. And then I found out that she was using that passion to raise money for a researcher who was trying to crack the mysteries of the disease. And the researcher was working in the next town over. Great story.
RIGHT HERE'S WHERE FIGHT FOR ALZHEIMER'S BEGINSAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-74187103417128370272006-05-06T17:59:00.000-04:002012-09-19T16:42:00.224-04:00Wellington's Siren
The debates that flare up over public art can be pretty hilarious.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875509860506995845.post-47674541630333006292006-03-26T13:20:00.000-05:002011-02-15T10:13:44.233-05:00Touch-screen votingI was one of the first reporters in the mainstream media to raise questions about the accuracy of touch-screen voting machines and I returned to the subject frequently. Here's a column about a hero who spoke out despite political heat:
VOTE MACHINES CAN'T GO WRONG, GO WRONG, GO WRONG
Date: Sunday, March 26, 2006
Edition: Palm Beach Section: LOCAL Page: 1B
Byline: HOWARD GOODMAN COMMENTARY
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14599436602354440114noreply@blogger.com0