Free Republic

It has been an excruciatingly agonizing wait for the families of the victims of the building collapse in Miami-Dade County’s town of Surfside. On Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis went to meet them at the Grand Beach Hotel Surfside. Crews have been working overnight, through the rain, and even at the risk of spontaneous fires. Officials said they are doing their best to provide regular updates at the hotel. Still, some relatives are losing their patience. “It’s not enough,” a distraught mother told DeSantis. “Imagine if your children were in there. You are going to leave here and you are going...

Engineer Warned of ‘Major Structural Damage’ at Florida Condo ComplexA consultant in 2018 urged the managers to repair cracked columns and crumbling concrete. The work was finally about to get underway when the building collapsed. Three years before the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, a consultant found alarming evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the 13-story building. The engineer’s report helped shape plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was set...

The partially collapsed Florida condo building, which has left at least four dead and 159 people missing, was flagged as having “major structural damage” in 2018, according to reports. A lack of proper drainage on the pool deck of Champlain Towers South condo, which sits above the building’s parking garage, was the source of the “main issue,” wrote engineer Frank Morabito, according to the Miami Herald. Years of standing water had seriously damaged the concrete structural slabs below the deck, a problem Morabito warned would be “extremely expensive” to fix. “Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause...

One person has died and at least eight are injured after the partial collapse of a residential building near Miami, Florida. Search and rescue efforts are continuing, with firefighters searching what remains of the building. The collapse happened just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday at the Champlain Towers South condo on Collins Avenue in Surfside, north of Miami. An aerial-platform is used by firefighters to rescue individuals that are trapped on their balconies. Video below: Twitter LinkFirefighters are seen pulling a boy from the rubble. Twitter LinkAn interview with a resident who lives on the first floor of the condo that’s...

I’m so old I remember when this sort of thing** only happened in third world countries:Oh wait…Third World tent cities in Denver, left, and LAI don’t know about you, but I blame guns.Those foundations didn’t just shoot themselves out from under the building.**Except in the case of Muslim terrorismPosted from: MOTUS A.D.

NEW YORK (AP) — The building has stunning Manhattan skyline views, its spa offers deep-tissue massages, and the fancy restaurant off the lobby serves up prime steaks. Best of all, many apartments at the Trump World Tower are selling at a deep discount — assuming the buyer doesn’t mind the name over the door. “Fifty percent of the people wouldn’t want to live in a Trump building for any reason … but then there are guys like me,” says Lou Sollecito, a car dealer who recently bought a two-bedroom unit with views of the Empire State Building. “It’s a super...

White woman who confronted her black neighbor at St. Louis condo building defends herself against accusations of racism and says she was just concerned for her safety Hilary Brooke Thornton, 32, was filmed blocking D'Arreion Toles, 24, from entering the St. Louis loft building where they live Thornton was fired from her job as a luxury realtor after the footage went viral Toles said he was coming home from work on Friday night when the confrontation took place Thornton, who was holding her dog on a leash, demanded to know what apartment he lived in She has since denied that...

The federal government is moving to take control of the Trump Tower condo of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. […] In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said the government would take control and custody on or after Oct. 20 of the Trump Tower condo and a luxury estate in the Hamptons. Mueller’s also moving to seize other New York properties of Manafort’s, as well as funds from different bank accounts. …

AUBURN, Calif. (WCMH) – Members of a California community are upset after their homeowners’ association told them they need to keep their garage doors open during the day. A list left with homeowners in the Auburn Greens subdivision is giving many residents a cause for concern. It mandates leaving garage doors up from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, KTXL reported. Residents who fail to keep their garage door up face a $200 fine and an administrative hearing. “I have nothing to hide. I understand that somebody had someone living in the garage. I don’t,” said Shelly Ia....

A condominium in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood is on the market for $49 million. The property is a 13,800 square foot duplex penthouse on the 41st and 42nd floors of the new Lumina building at 201 Folsom Street. According to the listing, there are five bedrooms, five "entertaining rooms," six bathrooms, two half bathrooms, a gym/massage room, and family lounge. The windows are 20-foot high "shimmering walls of glass" that offer 360-degree views and there are eight exclusive-use outdoor spaces including a private rooftop terrace. A sale of this unit could be the most expensive condo deal in...

After surviving two long, cold Wisconsin winters on the streets, Betty Ybarra traded freezing park benches and tents for a tiny house made of recycled wood she helped build herself. Her 99-square-foot home, which boasts flower window boxes, was built by volunteers of the Occupy Madison group, as part of about a half dozen similar projects around the United States, including in New York and Texas, to shelter the homeless. -SNIP- "The village will bring dignity. We will have a fence and we will have community," organizer Trina Clemente said. For Ybarra a tiny house means much-needed normalcy after many...

Longtime political strategist David Axelrod, who helped advise President Obama's presidential run in 2008 and is serving as communications director for Obama's re-election campaign, has paid $1.7 million for a four-bedroom, 3,320-square-foot condo unit in a high-rise condo along Michigan Avenue. Axelrod, 57, also worked as a senior advisor in the Obama White House from 2009 until 2011, when he departed to begin work on the president's re-election campaign. Despite his time in Washington, Axelrod always has kept a home base in Chicago.

Naked man accused of slamming truck into home SOUTH BERWICK, MAINE -- A man is under arrest, accused of taking a dangerous drive, slamming into a house and nearly hitting a child inside. “Basically my dining room and my kitchen are now in my living room,” said Wayne Landers. It’s bad enough that Wayne Landers' refrigerator and dishwasher are smashed and strewn in the middle of his home. “This structural piece is here…is where the dishwasher used to be,” said Landers. What's worse -- minutes after the crash, he was confronted by a naked man. “I'm thinking a bomb or...

A-Rod's Big, Fat, Upper West Side Condo Tax Break You know what rich people like? Staying rich! While it's unclear why exactly super-rich Yankees slugger and serial house hunter Alex Rodriguez finally decided to buy a $6 million place at the Rushmore condo, here's one factor that probably didn't hurt: The 421a tax break that will turn what could have been an annual $60,000+ tax bill into one that's just $1200 a year. Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez blasts the tax abatement program, "It grants as much as a 98% percent tax abatement for up to 25 years to condo...

Conservatives often look at government spending, shake their heads and say, “They wouldn’t spend their own money like that.” Turns out if you’re Barack Obama, you would. A new financial analysis indicates that he’s always spent far more than he made. Here’s how The New York Daily News reports it:

Dr. Doom's $5.5 M. Condo Purchase End of World As We Know It December 17, 2010 | 5:58 p.m Either the housing crisis is coming to an end or the apocalypse has arrived. The N.Y.U. economist who predicted the housing bubble's spectacular burst has bought a $5.5 million condo in the East Village. Nouriel Roubini (a.k.a. Dr. Doom) who only recently opined on a possible second crisis in the housing market and in 2006 sung the praises of the rental market, apparently has contradicted both pieces of advice, plunking his cash in the most expensive condo recently on the market...

WEST PALM BEACH, FL--A building damaged by two hurricanes turned into rubble just after 9 Sunday morning in West Palm Beach. The 1515 condo, a 30 story building, was packed with about 2 thousand pounds of dynamite and detonated. In a matter of minutes all that was left was a pile of debris. Thousands of spectators looked on from a safe distance. Many lined a nearby bridge and others were in boats sitting in the nearby Intracoastal Waterway. They heard a series of 18 explosions, and after a slight pause, the building fell down upon itself. VIDEO AT LINK

DENVER – He bought his first home, spent $30,000 fixing it up, and now, six months later, Jonathon Kyte has learned the home doesn't belong to him. According to the City and County of Denver, Jonathon owns the dump, next door. He found out about the mistake almost by accident when he received a map which showed the unit he's living is actually unit No. 4. "I froze. My wife and I were just speechless," Kyte said. Kyte owns the deed and title to unit No. 5. Jonathon blames the Coldwell Banker listing agent for the mistake. She marketed the...

A story and a little audio

A lemonade from lemons story, and a funny audio.