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Metro columnist Jim DeFede said he taped a phone conversation with Art Teele hours before the politician shot himself. Executives said they fired DeFede because taping is illegal without consent. The Herald fired columnist Jim DeFede Wednesday because he tape-recorded a phone conversation with Arthur E. Teele Jr. without his knowledge. Teele had killed himself in The Herald's lobby earlier in the day without ever knowing that the columnist recorded their conversation. Both Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said they fired the popular Metro writer because it is illegal for anyone to tape a conversation with...

I hope this column is outdated by the time you read it. Ordinarily, it is the bane of a columnist's existence, the fear that his words will become obsolete between the time of his writing and your reading. But in this case, that would be the happiest possible outcome, because it would mean Jim DeFede had his job back. That he lost it in the first place is a travesty.

NEW YORK The firing of a Miami Herald columnist for secretly taping a phone conversation with a county commissioner minutes before the public official's suicide in the newspaper's lobby has raised questions about whether his actions constitute a fireable offense. Although Florida law prohibits the taping of anyone's phone conversation without their consent, legal experts differ over how that might apply to a reporter. Herald staffers, meanwhile, have expressed concern that the columnist, Jim DeFede, might have been fired too quickly by editors who were responding under duress from the suicide. Strictly interpreted, the law seems to indicate that DeFede...

MIAMI -- Suspended Miami Commissioner Art Teele fatally shot himself in the head in the lobby of the Miami Herald building late Wednesday afternoon. Teele survived the shooting, and was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in extremely critical condition. Teele, 59, had one gunshot wound to the head and before he was taken from the lobby, he had lost a great deal of blood, witnesses said. According to witnesses, just after 6 p.m., Teele walked into the lobby, spoke calmly with a security guard and shook his hand. Then Teele took a pistol out of a bookbag...

MIAMI -- Suspended Miami Commissioner Art Teele shot himself in the Miami Herald building late this afternoon. Former Commissioner Arthur Teele Teele survived the shooting, and was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. Teele has one gun shot wound to the head and he had lost a great deal of blood, according to witnesses. According to witnesses, just after 6 p.m., Teele held a gun to his head, and spoke calmly with a security guard. Then when police arrived, he pulled the trigger.

Former Miami commissioner Art Teele committed suicide in lobby of the Miami herald building. He was being brought up under corruption charges

MIAMI (AP) - A jury found a Miami city commissioner guilty Friday of threatening a police detective following a highway chase last August. The six-member Circuit Court jury convicted City Commissioner Arthur E. Teele Jr. of making threats to a public servant but acquitted him of aggravated assault. According to documents filed when he was arrested, Teele was under surveillance because of a corruption investigation at the time of the Aug. 24 incident. Police said Teele drove his car at Miami-Dade County Police Detective Mark Bullard and tried to ram him off the road. Once stopped, police said, Teele threatened...