Shared Items - January 26, 2009

• South Florida hotels suffer December dip (Miami Herald)

January 25, 2009 - South Florida's tourism decline worsened in December, as hotels cut rates but still couldn't fill beds as quickly as they did a year ago, according to Smith Travel Research. Miami-Dade hotels saw occupancy drop 8.5 percent, the market's worst showing since September 2006. That brought occupancy down to 66 percent, even worse than in the steamy, stormy days of August. The drop in demand came despite deals, with room rates down 7 percent to $170 a night.
• Local leaders decry Liberty City bloodbath

January 25, 2009 - With nine people wounded, two fatally, police called it one of the largest mass shootings in Miami history. But the weekend bloodbath in Liberty City -- triggered by a mystery gunman who unleashed a hail of bullets on a street dice game -- underscored the same themes woven through much of Miami's urban violence, big or small.