Clark Mitchell, a one-time Miami Beach doctor who is already in prison for bilking insurers, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of healthcare fraud for his role in cheating investors out of almost $1 billion. The scheme, developed by officers of Mutual Benefits of Fort Lauderdale, involved luring investors to purcha
Attorneys for the man charged with slaying a Broward Sheriff s Office deputy and wounding a second deputy intends to claim he was insane at the time of the alleged murder, court documents show. Kenneth Wilk, 45, suffers from advanced AIDS and could face the death penalty if convicted in the Aug. 19, 2004, fatal shootin
Meredith Schwartz and Pamela Jackson started off World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 sitting side by side under hair dryers at a Miami Gardens spa. La Femme Enterprises, 580 NW 183rd St., was among businesses donating their time to provide dream makeovers for people living with AIDS or the HIV virus. Schwartz and Jackson, who hav
The Broward Community Planning Partnership is proposing an HIV/AIDS prevention plan aimed at reducing the prevalance among several groups, including black women and gay men. The plan -- which the Broward County Health Department evaluates every three years -- paints a fresh picture of HIV/AIDS in Broward, including new
Darran Simon and Erika Beras, dsimon@MiamiHerald.com
The drummer raised his hands inches above the desk, clenched a fist, pounded the wood and gave her a beat. Jennifer Louis leaned forward on a stool, waited for the desktop thump from Mike Joseph, a classmate at Blanche Ely High, and started rapping. H.I.V. P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E.., do you know what that means, man? H.I.V. pos
Monday night marked the finale of the 22nd annual White Party, a weeklong extravaganza devoted to raising money for HIV/AIDS prevention projects with themed parties. CARE Resource organizes the festivities. South Florida s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS service organization, CARE Resource threw the first White Party in 19
The Liberty City Health Center and its community partners will join with others across the country and the world to help bring awareness of HIV/AIDS in their community through a Unity Awards program at the Hyatt Regency hotel, 400 SE Second Ave., in downtown Miami at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1. In collaboration with the health c
Donna Wallace ran into the office of the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative five years ago to hide from the police. She had just seen an officer approach a man who had bought a vial of crack from her moments before, and she ducked into the Health Initiative s small Grand Avenue office to blend into the crowd gathered for
Coral Reef High School senior Paul Dollar looks forward to the vacation he won for designing a cellphone charm. But the 17-year-old won t be heading to a luxurious resort or sun-swept beach. His destination: South Africa . I think to see everything there first hand will be very dramatic and have a huge impact on me, h
Several dozen teenagers from West Kendall s Miami Vineyard Community Church fasted over the weekend to raise money for needy children around the world. They were 53 of about 600,000 youth who will participate this year in the nationwide 30 Hour Famine, a program that World Vision, a Christian relief organization, began
In the 15 years that he s been a certified massage therapist in South Florida, Tom Oakley has built an impressive word-of-mouth business. But his referrals don t come from pampered customers. Most of the 30 massage sessions he delivers each week are the product of doctor s orders. All of my work today comes as referral
Scores of people from the Liberty Square public housing project -- nearly half of them small children and teenagers -- gathered beneath a tent to sway to gospel music, listen to the sermon, and raise their hands to the night sky in praise. This is the original vision God gave me: to be on the grounds of the Pork n Bea
Madonna adopted a young boy in Malawi on Wednesday and moved ahead with plans to fund a center for 1,000 orphans, many of whom lost parents to AIDS in the impoverished African nation, reports MSNBC.com. The ex-Material Girl and an entourage arrived in the Malawian capital Lilongwe by private plane early Wednesday and w
Few things in life are more deeply satisfying than having true friends, the kind that stand by you through highs and lows, in your youth and in past-your-prime, in health and sickness. Such is the friendship of Jody (Daniel Lugo) and Carl (Matthew Glass), two gay men struggling with loss and fear in the days when the A
Magda Luz Lavin, operator of two clinics involved in a $5 million fraud, was convicted of all 26 counts in a jury trial. Lavin was not present at her conviction. She disappeared during the trial and a warrant has been issued for her arrest, for failing to appear in court. The drawn out case, involving phony HIV/AIDS tr
A panel of experts agreed Saturday that fraud in billing Medicare for HIV/AIDS treatments is a massive problem. We re very concerned, said Sandra Colon, a Medicare investigator. This healthcare fraud is endangering the health of our beneficiaries. She said the federal agency was aggressively taking measures to stop the
The 12-year-old hands tore at the red tissue paper, dug to the bottom of the red gift bag and pulled out a birthday present -- a pink gadget. Ma, I got an iPod, Brittany Joyner cried out to her great-grandmother, Anne Joyner, 76, who has raised her since before her mother died four years ago. The pink iPod, a vanilla c
The federal government said Thursday that everyone between ages 13 and 64 should be offered the test for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Public health officials hope that making the test routine will help find some of the estimated 250,000 people who have HIV but don t know it and slow the spread of the disease, which
The federal government recommended today that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 be tested for the virus that causes AIDS. Officials hope making testing part of routine medical care will help find more of the estimated 250,000 people who have HIV but don t know it, and to slow the spread of the disease, which conti
When Muriel Sherman, 81, decided to go to war against Medicare fraud, she found a lot of seniors who wanted to join her. Her story, reported in The Miami Herald last month, has sparked a wave of responses from seniors with similar stories about their identities being used for widespread fraud that FBI officials estimat
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The United States on Friday announced a $492 million aid package aimed at putting Haiti on a path to stability and lifting its stagnant economy. The funds, to be disbursed over three years, will address the Caribbean nation s enormous economic challenges by creating jobs, increasing access to
A year ago, 11-year-old Jasjuana Weathers was just along for the ride, accompanying her mother as she made her rounds as an outreach worker with Human Services Coalition of Dade County. But after months of watching her mother on the job, Jasjuana became an expert by osmosis. She perfected her own presentation on the pr
Three Miami-Dade men face Medicaid fraud charges, and two others were sentenced this week to federal prison after being convicted of similar charges. Police arrested three Miami-Dade men on Medicaid fraud charges Thursday, a day after a federal judge sentenced two county men to prison for defrauding the government-spon
A disparity continues to exist in the number of blacks and whites infected with the HIV virus in South Florida. However, experts say the gap is becoming smaller. Despite years of progress, blacks in South Florida are still more than three times as likely as whites to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a
At 81, she wasn t in great shape for a battle. Her right arm was in a cast. Her left elbow was in a brace. Still, when Medicare paid yet another round of fraudulent claims billed in her name, Muriel Sherman of Tamarac decided she had to fight back. This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, she said after receiving a n
It was warm and sultry inside the sanctuary of Mount Tabor Baptist Church. But nobody seemed to notice. Paper fans stirred up the warm air as choirs sang hand-clapping gospel songs and, later, as the Rev. C.P. Preston Jr. of Peaceful Zion Baptist Church preached a soul-tapping sermon. The guest of honor, the Rev. Georg
As a 24-year-old Havana potato vendor who makes $10 a month -- double if he finds side jobs -- Ricardo doesn t have anything against communism or Fidel Castro. He would just like some extra money to replace his shabby tennis shoes or even buy a car. A diabetic who appreciates Cuba s free healthcare, he says that even w
One love: Bono: One man: Bono: One singer: Bono: One altruist: Bono: One savior: Bono. Bono, founder of the charity known as One, is marketing a new fund- and consciousness-raising One T-shirt designed by Edun, the clothing brand cofounded by the U2 singer, TMZ.com reports. The shirt s celebrity-heavy ad campaign featu
Victim services center recently launched a physical care clinic and other partnerships expanding the scope of its mental health and counseling services. HEALING CENTER - Located in a pale, muted building on the fringes of downtown Miami, the offices of the Victim Services Center are surprisingly bright. Pink and yellow
OUTSIDE LES CAYES, HAITI - The 11-year-old boy lives out on a long dirt road and across a creek in southwest Haiti . Small enough to pass for 8, he was born with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His mother is already dead from the condition. After his last blood test at the AIDS treatment center at the hospital in Les
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Even as an unstable government, warring gangs and frequent kidnappings have brought despair to many in Haiti , the fate of AIDS patients has begun to improve. Haiti has long had the highest AIDS rate outside of Africa, and for years the impoverished country lacked the money to buy AIDS drugs, leaving t
HEALING CENTER Located in a pale, muted building on the fringes of downtown Miami, the offices of the Victim Services Center are surprisingly bright. Pink and yellow saris hang from the ceiling, art depicting everything from flowers to vacation snapshots from Machu Picchu adorn the walls. An oversized Mickey Mouse doll
At 4 p.m. Sunday, Northwest 17th Avenue in Liberty City will be dedicated in honor of the Rev. Dr. George E. McRae, pastor/teacher at Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church, 6601 NW 17th Ave. It is a well-deserved honor. McRae, has worked diligently to improve the lives of HIV/AIDS victims, and he was one of the first m
Funnyman Robin Williams is back to serious mode in The Night Listener, and it s the first time since 2002 s One-Hour Photo where his presence in a dramatic film isn t more of a distraction than anything else. Williams is surprisingly convincing and sympathetic as Gabriel Noone, the host of a late-night radio program wh
Miami Beach City Commissioner Luis Garcia, who recently resigned to run for state office, on Monday endorsed the woman who until two weeks ago was his only challenger in the state Democratic primary. Laura Leyva had been a candidate in the race to fill the District 107 House seat being vacated by state Rep. Gus Barreir
When Rod Smith went to a recent Tallahassee conference of gay and lesbian activists, the Democratic candidate for governor cracked a joke alluding to Brokeback Mountain, the gay cowboy movie. The crowd howled. That was a marked contrast to the lukewarm reception the state senator got at a Hollywood gathering a year ear
Nestled at the corner of Northwest 64th Street and 15th Avenue lies sacred ground, a field of grass in the center of a Liberty City neighborhood. Few weeds grow amid the green expanse, but neither do any flowers. A couple of shattered crack pipes, broken bottles and paper bags litter this urban meadow. The Rev. Devin B
The marketers of Seasilver, an alleged phony cure-all, have been ordered to pay almost $120 million for failing to comply with an earlier order that required them to pay $3 million in consumer redress. In ads, the Seasilver promoters claimed the product, a liquid dietary supplement containing aloe vera, phyto-silver se
Sheri Kaplan, fired unexpectedly this week from the agency she founded to help people with HIV/AIDS, was busy Wednesday looking for a new office to start another healthcare and support agency for people exposed to the virus or infected by it. Three other women also lost their jobs at the Center for Positive Connections
Last summer the buzz phrase was BROAD SPECTRUM. Going outdoors? Slather on sunscreen touting, ta-da, BROAD SPECTRUM protection, with ingredients to block the sun s UVA and UVB rays. UVB rays cause painful sunburn; UVA rays turn the skin into a leather handbag. Both can cause skin cancer and cancer in and around the eye
A Broward judge who has been in the spotlight for her treatment of attorneys is under investigation by a panel that polices judges. Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Aleman -- who has drawn wrath in recent years for throwing an attorney in jail and refusing to show leniency for an inmate dying of AIDS -- is under investigat
A bold Medicaid reform starts in Broward Saturday -- so ambitious that critics say it seems too perfect to be true. Starting Saturday, Gov. Jeb Bush s project to privatize Medicaid will begin in Broward and Duval counties. The ambitious pilot aims to give the poor and disabled who use Medicaid a broad range of choices
South Florida community activist Luis Penelas Jr., the brother of former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, died after a short battle with cancer. AIDS activist. Historic preservationist. Political consultant. And the outspoken brother of the former mayor of Miami-Dade County. Luis Penelas Jr. was all of those and much, mu
Fifteen Broward churches gave free HIV tests to anyone who wanted them after Sunday s sermon in a push to raise awareness and help erase the stigma of the disease. Most people go to church for spirituality and healing. What better place to bring it, said Gloria Scott, coordinator for the nonprofit Churches United to St
Jury selection begins today in Broward Circuit Court for a Miramar man police say sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in 2004. Cosme Caballero, 34, faces seven counts, including felony sexual battery charges and transmitting HIV. Police learned of the sexual assaults after spotting Caballero without his pants on in a
Vizcaya will hold the first JuneFest Celebration to honor Caribbean American Heritage Month on Saturday at the museum and gardens. The event will include art exhibitions, a fashion show, Caribbean cuisine, dance performances and live music. Proceeds from the event will go toward a relief fund for HIV/AIDS prevention in
Florida ranks last in the nation in federal dollars per capita for public health and bioterrorism preparedness, according to a report released Tuesday. The state received $11.38 per person in fiscal year 2005, just over half the national average of $20.99 per person. Alaska, which topped the list, received $53.36 per p
As The Miami Herald s medical writer from 1981 until 1986, Steve Sternberg covered the emergence of AIDS in South Florida. Last week, current Miami Herald medical writer Jacob Goldstein spoke with Sternberg, who now covers public health for USA Today, about the early years of what would be one of the most important sto
A University of Miami physician working to improve medical care in Haiti takes readers on his 25-year journey through the AIDS epidemic here and in Haiti in a new book. The first time Dr. Arthur Fournier picked up his pen to tell the story of AIDS in the Haitian community, in 1991, he put it down. There was no happy en
Margaret Fischl kept her voice even and civil, but when she got off the phone with the reporter, she shook her head in furious exasperation. A box of syringes had been found in a parking lot, the reporter had told her breathlessly. Did that mean an epidemic of AIDS would lay waste to Miami in the coming months? And wha
At 52, Tim Barnum takes pills to fight HIV, reels from the side effects and hopes that he can hang on until better drugs come along. Not long after Tim Barnum moved to New York City fresh out of college in 1977, he became part of a group of seven close friends. By the time he moved to South Florida 12 years later, all
By the time Dr. Laurinus Pierre arrived at the University of Miami in 1984 to begin his medical training, Haitians were already stigmatized by AIDS, part of the four-H-club of HIV infections pronounced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: hemophilia, homosexuals, heroin and Haitians. They were being blame
A generation ago, South Florida s first AIDS cases foreshadowed a global pandemic -- and challenged early stereotypes. For more than a year before the world s first AIDS cases were reported, doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami treated patients who had failing immune systems and strange infections. The initial
The special U.N. General Assembly meeting on AIDS last week took commendable steps urging nations to scale up the battle against this worldwide pandemic. In the end, however, the summit fell short by not setting financial or treatment goals for addressing this killer disease. Now the goal must be to convince individual
* In the United States , the biggest progress against AIDS has been in ridding the blood supply of the virus and reducing cases among babies who contract the virus from HIV-positive mothers at birth. * Nearly all people infected with HIV through blood transfusions received those transfusions before 1985, the year HIV t
A Weston doctor linked to botched breast surgeries is convicted on six counts of healthcare fraud. Isaac Nosovsky, a former plastic surgeon in Weston, has been convicted in federal court of Medicare fraud charges involving expensive AIDS/HIV infusion treatments -- the latest case in a crackdown to stop widespread schem
Madonna has defended a controversial mock crucifixion in her stage show, saying it is part of an appeal to the audience to donate to AIDS charities, reports BBC Online. I don t think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I m trying to send, she said. British and U.S. church groups condemned the stunt after the singe
Bono was a guest editor of Tuesday s edition of London s The Independent newspaper, filling its pages with stories on HIV/AIDS in Africa, poverty and global warming. The 46-year-old Irish rocker, who has long complained that Africa s problems get little attention in the news, was invited to sit in the editor s chair to
Henocson Mulatre and Uriah Jean-Baptiste are sports stars at North Miami High. But they re prouder about the public pledge they ve made to remain virgins until marriage. I m not ashamed, said Jean-Baptiste, an 18-year-old linebacker who admits to enduring ribbing from teammates. Sometimes I get picked on about it. But
Greg Louganis hasn t competed for gold in nearly 18 years, but the former Olympian is still a main draw at the Speedo USA Diving Grand Prix. It has been nearly 18 years since Greg Louganis, a former diver for the University of Miami, won double gold in the 1988 Seoul Games. How time flies. Louganis is 46 years old now.
Ashley Judd, whose screen credits include roles in De-Lovely and Kiss the Girls, says campaigning on behalf of AIDS awareness has changed her life. The 38-year-old actress, who is world ambassador for the Washington-based YouthAIDS group, met in Honduras with Vice President Elvin Santos, first lady Xiomara Castro,
Caren MacDonald, charged with whisking her 11-year-old son out of the country five years ago, said she did it to save her son s life. I thought my son was going to get AIDS and die, the soft-spoken defendant said in court Tuesday, on the sixth day of her trial. After losing primary custody of her son in 2001 to her ex-
WMBM-AM 1490 is getting ready to celebrate the first anniversary of Compassion, the live talk show that airs from 2 to 2:30 p.m. Mondays for people with HIV/AIDS, their families, caregivers and the community at-large. Since the program started in May 2005, talk show host Crystal Lee has cover HIV/AIDS topics pertaining
British-born movie star Rupert Everett, who lives six months a year in South Beach, says he is fed up with the way Americans take care of people with AIDS and HIV. The land of the free? It s the land of the slave, said Everett, 46, who on Sunday will be grand marshal at the 18th annual AIDS Walk Miami. It s quite shock
When Tony Noya and Peggy deCardenas moved to South Florida, they came with big dreams. After all, both had spent nearly a third of their lives planning to be doctors, attending college and graduating medical schools in Cuba and Africa. But almost immediately, both hit a wall that some foreign-trained doctors -- mostly
In an ambitious effort to identify some of the thousands of South Floridians who have HIV but don t know it, patients who walk into the emergency room at Jackson Memorial Hospital will soon be offered a routine test for the virus that causes AIDS. Officials hope the program, set to begin later this month, will not only
Tom Martino preyed on the weak and used the desperate health situation of AIDS and cancer patients to make a quick buck, authorities said. Now, he faces 60 years in prison after a Broward County jury Monday found him guilty on 32 different charges stemming from his role in a prescription drug ring that diluted medicati
More than a thousand severely disabled or chronically ill children who relied on state dollars for life-sustaining nutritional supplements have been cut off from Florida s Medicaid program, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to the agency, state officials acknowledged Thursday. Medicaid officials
Miami AIDS activist Steven Alicea, who lived in 15 foster homes by the time he was 15 years old, has gone national -- he s one of 20 teens who will change the world, according to Teen People magazine. Alicea, 19, just got back from New York where he and the others attended a March 10 luncheon co-hosted by Nick Lachey a
The head of Florida s healthcare agency says the state s Medicaid program will resume paying for the feeding supplements for disabled and seriously ill children and adults as officials sort through a growing controversy over alleged cutbacks in state funding. Alan Levine, secretary of the state Agency for Health Care A
For years now, University of Miami doctors and medical students have been quietly working to promote better healthcare in poverty-stricken Haiti , treating HIV-infected individuals and training Haitian doctors. That work will be the focus of a three-day visit set to begin on Sunday by University of Miami President Donn
Federal prosecutors obtained yet another guilty plea in their ongoing investigations into fraud involving expensive treatments allegedly given to HIV/AIDS patients. The U.S. Attorney s Office reported Rafael Walled pleaded guilty to charges he conspired to commit healthcare fraud of more than $2 million at two clinics
Buffeted by social unrest in oil-producing areas and petroleum companies unwilling to change the lucrative terms of old contracts despite windfall profits, Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio said Monday he planned to hike royalties in future negotiations. The contracts that we have signed in the past have not been to
Richard Gere donned a pair of glittering gold dancing pumps to earn his pudding pot and crown Friday as Harvard s Hasty Pudding man of the year, reports The Associated Press. In a nod to his role as a flashy lawyer in Chicago -- and to the resignation of Harvard President Lawrence Summers -- Gere sang to the tune of Ra
The number of new AIDS cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties fell last year, along with new cases of HIV in Miami-Dade, according to the Florida Department of Health. But HIV cases increased in Broward -- a sign that HIV/AIDS continues to spread in South Florida, which has been hit hard by the virus. We re encourage
Broward County commissioners voted Tuesday to cut off about $1 million in annual funding to a struggling healthcare agency that helps people with AIDS. The county s Human Services director recommended ending any payments to Community Healthcare CenterOne, which has been receiving federal money through the county since
Angie Lee never considered her work illegal. Not even the day she ended up sitting in a Broward County jail. Lee, a Miami-Dade woman, owns a company called Angie B. Productions, which helps promote HIV awareness events. She was doing just that -- distributing condoms and materials in the parking lot of Baja Beach Club
Juan Williams was tested for HIV four times, but never went back for his results. He was nervous and didn t want to know. But after his cousin died in his arms, of complications from HIV, he went for a fifth test. He found out then -- Oct. 11, 1990 -- he had HIV. At the time, he was 25 years old, a senior at Geneva Col
Health departments and community agencies around Florida will stage events today to encourage black men and women to get tested and to thwart the virus that causes AIDS -- even as a recent study suggests possible decreases in HIV diagnosis rates for blacks. The message is part of the sixth annual National Black HIV/AID
WASHINGTON - A particularly bad strain of chlamydia not usually seen in this country appears to be slowly spreading among gay and bisexual men, an infection that can increase their chances of getting or spreading the AIDS virus. Called LGV chlamydia, this sexually transmitted disease has caused a worrisome outbreak in
The largest AIDS clinic in the Haitian capital is bracing for chaos that could follow Tuesday s elections. We hope that things will be smooth, but we are also preparing for the worst, said Dr. Jean William Pape, whose Port-au-Prince clinic, Gheskio, cares for more than 2,000 AIDS patients. Haiti has the highest rate of
Florida International University students organized a charity walk to benefit World Vision, an organization that chronicles the global needs of the poor. When Florida International University student Andrea Felix received her assignment for her honor s college class, the 20-year-old thought outside the box. Felix decid
For some women, even in today s modern society, it can be the most awkward question to ask a man: Will you use a condom? But, left unanswered, it can also be the most deadly. Women are most severely affected by AIDS in places where heterosexual contact is the dominant mode of transmitting the disease, according to the
An HIV-positive Colombian is fighting deportation to his native country, where he believes a paramilitary group will kill him because he is gay. Luis Fabriciano Rico applied for asylum in late 2001, about 10 months after he came to Florida on a tourist visa. I cannot go back to my country. The people will kill me becau
About 300 bicyclists embarked early Friday on the third annual SMART ride, a two-day, 160-mile journey from Pinecrest to Key West. The riders came from all over Florida to share in the camaraderie and raise money for HIV/AIDS charities. Everybody asks us every year why we do it, said Coral Gables resident Jeff Stone as
Hundreds of bicyclists will trek from Pinecrest to the AIDS Memorial in Key West to raise money for AIDS and HIV patients and families. More than 200 bicyclists will gather at the Morningstar Renewal Center at 5 p.m. Thursday for a candle-lighting ceremony to kick off the third annual Southern Most AIDS/HIV Ride 3, or
Broward County has become a rich person s town where people faced with rising housing costs and one of the worst hurricane season in decades are increasingly choosing between rent and food, the head of a local food program said Wednesday. The Fort Lauderdale-area-based Cooperative Feeding Program, in its 2005 fiscal ye
Retired schoolteacher Annie Richardson still has the desire to help students learn, and earlier this year she found an outlet when El Portal Cares opened its doors at Rader Memorial United Methodist Church, where it leases space. The nonprofit, which recently held a meet-and-greet with members of the community, offers
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.