Monday Morning Long Distance Runaround Edition

Thomas J. Rebull assures Herald readers that despite the nationwide search for the Civilian Investigative Panel's executive director, it is quite possible someone from South Florida is somehow competent enough to handle the job:

The search beyond South Florida simply means that the CIP wants to make sure that it finds the best person for this community. That person might very well be from our own back yard.

HAHAHAHA, Tom's always been a joker. Nice line, though.

What else -- the new stadium the taxpayers are building for the Marlins is already a Miami Arena-styled failure:

The city hopes the stadium will eventually attract further commercial development, perhaps including a hotel, to several city-owned parcels on the site's eastern and western flanks that will be left undeveloped for now. Those lots will be occupied temporarily by surface parking and an existing recreational ball field.

But critics of the plan see myriad missed opportunities. Many fear that the stadium will become another sports venue that fans largely evacuate after a game, like the old Miami Arena or the current AmericanAirlines Arena, both of which failed to spur promised redevelopment.

By giving over most of the 42-acre Orange Bowl site to the Marlins stadium and multistory garages, some say, the city has sharply reduced the options for a broader mix of development -- such as retail, offices and housing -- with sufficient economic oomph to revitalize the larger neighborhood around it.

HAHAHAHA, Dave Samson's always been a joker. Nice taxpayer ripoff, though.

In other good news, all you bigfirmers holding your breath for January and February to end, it ain't over yet:

Hinshaw & Culbertson, a Chicago-based firm with about 490 attorneys, cut 11 attorneys and 17 staff members last week in an effort to trim costs amid the economic slowdown.

The firm, which has nine of its 26 offices in Illinois, made the reductions across all offices and the dismissals weren't concentrated in any particular practice areas, said Bill Roberts, Hinshaw's managing partner.

The employee cuts amount to nearly 3% of the former 1,002-worker headcount.

Don't they have -- or didn't they have -- a Miami office? Paging Ron Kammer!

And finally, Willie Ferrer may become our next US Attorney:

Two former colleagues in the Miami prosecutor's office -- attorneys David Buckner and Curt Miner, who attended Harvard University law school with Acosta in the early 1990s -- say they intend to apply for the position. They are among more than a half-dozen potential candidates -- including Miami-Dade County government lawyer Wifredo ''Willy'' Ferrer, a one-time federal prosecutor as well as deputy chief of staff and counsel to former Attorney General Janet Reno.

Hey, wait a minute -- this is actually good news.

And how was your weekend?