Happy birthday, Miami

On Monday, July 28, the City of Miami celebrated its 118th birthday. Apparently, the event didn’t much stir the media, as opposed to the social networks. From early in the day, on Twitter and Facebook, many users wrote messages of thanks to the city that welcomed them. It couldn’t be otherwise, if we take into account that most of its residents, or their families, are immigrants. A note to the curious: Miami has the distinction of being one of the few municipalities in the U.S. founded by women (Maria Brickell and Julia Tuttle.)

In 2008, Miami was awarded the title “The Cleanest City in the United States” by Forbes magazine. That same year, it became the third wealthiest city in the U.S. and 22nd in the world, according to a study by the Swiss financial services company UBS A.G.

Echoes of Gaza in Miami

At dawn on Monday, graffiti were discovered on the facade of the Congregation Torah V’Emunah in Miami-Dade — clumsy drawings of a swastika and the word “Hamas.” “We have been violated,” said Rabbi Yerucham Benzinger.

The local press has paid some attention to this and two other incidents involving automobiles that were graffito-ed. One of them bore the word “Jews,” scrawled with cream cheese. Local officials say that this is a hate crime and they will not tolerate this kind of anti-Semitism in Miami.

At the same time, with extreme caution, some avoid making any statements about the more of 1,000 Palestinians killed, most of them civilians, during the Israeli incursion into Gaza.

Florida among top states hosting refugee children

Florida, Texas, California and New York have received the largest number of unaccompanied migrant children, according to the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Forty-six percent of the more than 30,000 minors who have slipped into U.S. territory in the past several months have ended up in shelters in those states. A legal process aimed at deporting them is ongoing.

Nudist burglars in Bonita Springs 

Seeing is believing. Security cameras in a Bonita Springs (Fla.) restaurant recorded the activities of three men — two of them naked and the third in underpants — as they stole 60 hamburgers after busting the rear door at Doc’s Beach House restaurant. And that wasn’t all. The by-now-notorious trio — dubbed by a restaurant worker “Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest” — also stole several pounds of buns and red peppers. 

Chris Bosh renews pact with Heat

In the wake of LeBron James’ sudden “trip to the seed” in Cleveland, The Miami Heat, the NBA’s runner-up, will not see the departure of Dwayne Wade ($34 million for two seasons), Chris Andersen ($10 million, two seasons), or Udonis Haslem ($2.7 million, one season). Don’t hasten to call these salaries “outsized.” Bosch, that unstable player, renewed with the Heat for five seasons and 118 million. Streamers? No. Rupees? No. As it happens, there’s a house for sale in California, priced at $14.5 million. Look for it on craigslist and strike a deal with the owner, a guy by the name of Christ Bosh.

A worldwide ‘arepazo’

Did you know that there is a Worldwide Arepa Day (#DiaMundialdelaArepa)? Well, yes, it’s a creation of Venezolanos en el Mundo (Venezuelans in the World), an organization of emigrants that has set Sept. 13 as the date, because that day is the second Saturday in September this year.

One of the organizers said that, because the homeland is going through a “difficult” period, the “conditions are not right for celebrations.” However, he added that the Worldwide Arepa Day represents a possibility to “foster and rescue the unity, the peaceful coexistence, the respect and tolerance among Venezuelans.”

He didn’t say if this event is intended to foster unity only in the diaspora. A Worldwide Arepa Day would have to include, strictly speaking, all Venezuelans, including those who have reason to celebrate and remain in Venezuela. So far, 19 cities will join the event. Miami will surely be its headquarters; Caracas won’t.

Carlos Giménez favors raising taxes on libraries

The main problem that worried the employees in Miami-Dade public libraries (and also their families) seems to have been settled when Mayor Carlos Giménez last week failed to veto an increase to the property taxes on the library system. As a result, there will be no unwanted personnel cuts or reduction in hours of service at the county libraries. 

The ‘Jefecito’ was seen on South Beach

No big fuss was made when Marcos Rojo, Argentine defender with an important role in the recent soccer World Cup, came to Miami to relax. Such was not the case with Javier Mascherano, who was seen and photographed by almost everyone in the Sun Capital of the World, where he came to Miami from Cancún. The Barcelona star, whose legs were key to the Argentines’ run to the Cup final, was seen at the Loews Hotel on South Beach with his wife and children.

Fishermen handle the pacu with care

Sarasota resident Tom Rigby was fishing in local waters when he reeled in a pacu fish, a relative of the piranha, whose teeth resemble a human’s teeth. Rigby, who had no idea of the kind of fish he had caught, sent pictures to a local marine research lab for identification. The reply: the pacu fish has been reported to sink its teeth in the testicles of fishermen. (Uruguayan soccer star Luis Suárez bit an Italian opponent during World Cup play in June, but it was on the shoulder.)