http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features Orlando Weekly's news coverage. en-us Copyright 2009 Orlando Weekly http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13586 Holiday Guide 2009 With the exception of the lonely and those in serious need of cash, no one wants to work Christmas. You're supposed to be at home with the family tearing into presents, shoving pie into your piehole and reflecting on the birth of the baby Jesus. You are not sup ... in by Trevor Fraser, Billy Manes, Lindy T. Shepherd, Justin Strout, Bob Whitby and Jessica Bryce Young (Photos by Jason Greene) Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13572 A history professor at the University of Michigan, Juan Cole's notoriety as a scholar focusing on Islam was largely confined to academic circles until 2002, when he began writing his Informed Comment blog. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq ... in by Curt Guyette and W. Kim Heron Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13555 When Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law the use of global positioning satellite devices to monitor the whereabouts of habitual sex offenders in 2005, it seemed like a sign of the times. It was a technological development that could help alleviate prison overcrowding in states teetering on financial ... in by Billy Manes Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13546 By now you've heard of ACORN, the national coalition of community organizers. It has embezzlement problems, and recently a few of its counselors offered tax, immigration and housing advice for a criminal enterprise proposed by conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute. The v ... in by Ben L. Kaufman Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13545 Download the links below to print out your own Mask Mask - Accessories Wow, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson is one scaaaaaary dude. Those beady eyes. That imposing build. The (now shorn) Rasputinesque beard. The Harvard diploma. The federal deficit–sized ego. He's the liberal under your bed who ... in by Illustration: Plinio Pinto Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13526 There isn't much to take away from the 20 hours of surveillance footage that the Winter Park Police Department recorded outside Club Harem on Lee Road between January and August 2008. Mostly it's just stationary dashboard views through the windshield looking at the club's iconic twin-domed arc ... in by Billy Manes Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13511 Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored for 13 years, says he's finished with reform. It's impossible, he says in a recent interview, to try to get major news media outlets to deliver relevant news stories that serve to strengthen democracy. "I really think we're beyond reforming corpor ... in by Rebecca Bowe Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13503 In early April, someone mailed envelopes to a handful of local public officials. In each was a set of five grainy pictures of two naked women kissing, fondling and having oral sex. Each envelope included a simple cover sheet consisting of the handwritten initials "M.L." and the handwritten n ... in by Billy Manes Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13486 It's been a summer of change for the CityArts Factory, the four-story building that sits at the corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street. And it isn't over yet. Most people know CityArts Factory as the place where a glass blower can be seen hard at work through the shop's street-front window ... in by Lindy T. Shepherd Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13480 It's been an awkward transition period for the Central Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a fact evident in the demeanor of new interim board president Samir Gupte. "Before we get started, any kind of context you can give on the purpose to give us a call?" he asks, settl ... in by Billy Manes Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13458 Feel that? That morning a couple of days ago that didn't feel like a slap in the face with a wet towel when you walked out the door? Around here we call that fall, and it is the time of year when you start to remember why you live in Florida. The summer crowds are gone, the ... in by Orlando Weekly Staff Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13449 Karen Peters should have known it wouldn't work. Even with the city's generous incentives and the Dyer administration's lofty talk about Parramore renovation, and even though her business would be housed just across West Church Street from the under-construction Amway Center, her idea simpl ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13448 You've heard the story: A young Ohio girl from a Muslim family converts to Christianity, then runs away to an Orlando evangelical couple she met over the Internet. She claims that her Muslim parents want to kill her. The couple shelters her for two weeks before telling the cops where she is ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13431 It wasn't quite the glass-shattering crescendo opera lovers would have expected from the end of such a long, dramatic act; it didn't even carry the emotional heft of a fading pianissimo in slowly dimming light. Instead, the July 30 auction of the remaining assets of the 51-year-old Orlando ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13420 Welcome to the new frugality, folks, where bling is no longer the thing. It's OK to be cheap and totally cool to negotiate deals, clip coupons and boast about how much money you just saved on your car insurance. As a survivor of this sour economy, I've become quite the miser. Here now, I ... in by Mark Padgett Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13419 Three years ago, I decided to attend graduate school with little forethought and lots of hope. The tuition for the private college where I enrolled was steep, but I brushed off the debt, figuring I would cross the repayment bridge when I got to it. I joked that I might be paying off my educati ... in by Leilani Clark Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13400 The numbers tell the story: According to the 2008 exit polls, Democrat Barack Obama claimed a decisive 66 percent of the under-30 vote. He won 95 percent of under-30 blacks and 76 percent of under-30 Latinos. The only age demographic Republican John McCain actually won was the 65-and-over brac ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13399 At the crack of dawn on July 22, Joel Boner, 30, awoke to a terrifying scene. Outside his tent at an Ocoee homeless camp at the intersection of State Road 50 and Bluford Avenue, two 19-year-olds – John Hawthorne and Cameron Milner, who according to police reports had been "killing time" all ni ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13385 This new variation on corporate greenwashing — "local-washing" — is, like the Buy Local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann's, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new "Eat Real. Eat Local" initiative in Canada. The ad c ... in by Stacy Mitchell Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13384 'You made me a fool." Steve Clelland is seething. The president of the Orlando Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 1365, is between meetings with city commissioners and recounting his interactions with city officials over the phone to a reporter. The city's negotiations with Clelland's ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13368 It's a sleepy Thursday morning at Warm Mineral Springs in southwest Florida, at least until a peppy instructor starts a water aerobics class. Several dozen floppy-hatted floaters – median age somewhere around 70 – gravitate toward the shallow end of the sulphur-smelling pool, and recorded m ... in by Lindy T. Shepherd Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13362 Private space! Private space!" These are the only English words known to the barking Japanese man keeping guard over a secret mountain cove on the Pacific Ocean in Taiji, Wakayama prefecture, on Japan's southern coast. Taiji is a whaling community, best known for its whale museum, and the ... in by Justin Strout Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13351 Tamecka Pierce knows the trouble with health care in Florida in a way she never expected to. The 35-year-old single mother of three was diagnosed with lupus in 2007, while she was still employed in a state representative's office and carrying a Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance card. ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13337 If you had a $30,000 annual slush fund courtesy of someone else, what would you do? If you were Orlando city commissioner Daisy Lynum, you'd travel. A lot. You'd fly to places like Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, going to conferences an ... in by Jeffrey C. Billman and Billy Manes Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=13322 Today's the big day. Outside the recently closed Village Tavern near the Mall at Millenia on July 1, political yard signs in that signature dark-blue hue that denotes serious campaigning announce "Matthew Falconer: The Leader We've Been Waiting For," while inside a small menagerie is gather ... in by Billy Manes Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST