Roller Jam: Every night is '80s night at South Florida roller rinks

“Spring Love” by Stevie B:

Miguel Carver looks devilishly happy as he rounds the corner of the roller rink. He skates close to the inside of the oval, bent slightly forward, lost in his own world. The DJ spins a freestyle classic from 1988 — Stevie B's "Spring Love." It's one of Miguel's favorite songs. He shakes his tush to the synthesized beat.

At the next corner, 51-year-old Miguel turns to skate backward. His shoulder-length brown hair, short on top and long in the back, flaps in the air. His black jeans, black T-shirt, and black... full story >>

America's promise to protect asylum-seekers gets lost in the paperwork

Eleven years ago, Peter arrived in America, desperate for a place to hide.

In his native Uganda, he had been a rebel, a human-rights activist who fought for a multi-party system in a country ruled since 1986 by a one-party regime. Peter, who did not want his real name printed for fear of retribution, had worked to motivate young people to join the opposition Conservative Party. He'd driven people to rallies and tried to educate them about their political rights.

In September 1997, he was driving with his boss, the director of a Ugandan human-rights organization, when... full story >>

Ronald Taylor Is One of Perhaps Hundreds of Innocent People Harris County Has Sent to Prison

Ronald Gene Taylor's long night began one morning 15 years ago when he was awakened by the sound of police kicking in the neighbor's door.

Taylor was 33 years old at the time — a black man who had dropped out of high school, served time in prison for cocaine possession, forgery and burglary and was working construction, living alone in a small house in the Third Ward. By many conventions, he was the perfect suspect, and so it was that, having pulled on pants and a shirt, and having rushed outside to see what was happening to the neighbor, Taylor learned that the police... full story >>

The Ghosts of St. Elizabeth: For Kansas City's Catholic sex-abuse victims, this was a parish of pain.

The cold face of the St. Elizabeth rectory gives no indication of comfort within. Inside, its walls are painted in bright crimsons and calming blues, adorned with pictures of the Savior. Some priests ended their lifework here, meeting their Maker in the bedroom where windows overlook the courtyard behind the church. Built in 1948, the rectory was designed to house four priests and a live-in housekeeper. Today, the priest lives alone.

Robert Bates has not been inside the building for more than 20 years, though it often crosses his thoughts.

Bates did not attend the... full story >>

Every Night Is Eighties Night at South Florida Skating Rinks

Miguel Carver looks devilishly happy as he rounds a corner of the roller rink. Bent slightly forward, lost in his own world, he skates close to the inside of the oval. The DJ spins a freestyle classic from 1988 — Stevie B's "Spring Love." It's one of Miguel's favorite songs. He shakes his tush to the synthesized beat.

At the next corner, the 51-year-old turns to skate backward. His shoulder-length brown hair, short on top and long in the back, flaps in the air. His black jeans, black T-shirt, and black country-western belt signal hell on wheels. Miguel likes to drop into... full story >>

Skate or die: Life with the MN Roller Girls

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, there's something you need to know about me: I'm a klutz.

I'm about as athletic as a wall. I stumbled into writing after being cut from the softball, volleyball, basketball, swimming, and cheerleading teams all in the same year. I have been known to trip over my own feet and occasionally walk into glass doors. The last time I roller skated was in junior high.

But I'm obsessed with the Minnesota Roller Girls. If I were a lesbian, I'd want to date one. They have fun, bold names like Dixxxie Wrect (say it out loud), a killer... full story >>

A Mormon Widower Wasn’t Counting on a Murder Rap When He Followed His Late Wife’s Instruction to Marry His Ex-Lover

"I know I will be here with my body until it is buried," the 35-year-old Gilbert mother of four said. "I have held a secret hope and desire for several weeks that I would be able to see you both married, that I could be there!"

Faylene, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, continued, "For some reason, this desire for you to be married immediately and to see you sitting together as husband and wife at my funeral has been so strong . . . I... full story >>

Building Overtime

Six hundred and twenty-two dollars and eighty-one cents. This is a figure virtually every builder toiling within San Francisco city limits has had emblazoned onto his or her memory through sheer repetition. In fact, counting in multiples of the dreaded $622.81 ticket has become something of a prerequisite for those in the city's building trades.

When a police officer pulled up at the Mission District construction site Brian was overseeing last year, the contractor's experience in adding — and multiplying — that number began. Claiming Brian's cones, road signs, and... full story >>

Abracadabra: St. Louis has become a flourishing place for magicians

It is a Friday afternoon in August and Keith Jozsef is shuffling cards at Tucker's Place in Soulard. Happy hour has just begun and the regulars are settling in amid wreathes of cigarette smoke. The ambience is still quiet enough to allow for conversational seesaw with Jozsef. And a little magic.

"Pick a card," says Jozsef, fanning what seems to be a shuffled deck of cards.

His spiel begins: "There are 52 cards in the deck: 26 red and 26 black. Red represents the brightness of the sun, and black is the darkness of the night. There are four suits in a deck of cards just... full story >>