photo via @PowerU305's Twitter

A protest against the lack of indictments in Ferguson and New York City -- as well as the killing of local teen Israel Hernandez by Miami Beach police -- quickly moved from Wynwood to the 195 expressway.

More than a hundred protesters have now shut down traffic in both directions, snarling cars for miles to the east and west as Art Basel week hits its peak.

Update: The protesters have left the highway and have now begun marching toward the heart of Wynwood, organizer Muhammed Malik tells Riptide. The crowd has grown to about 400 people. No arrests have been made, he says.

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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has become the 18th Republican state attorney general to join a lawsuit against President Barack Obama over his immigration executive order.

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One Dutch art dealer is certainly having a blue period after a plate crafted by Pablo Picasso was straight-up snatched from his booth overnight at Art Miami.

The 16.5-inch silver plate, dubbed Visage aux Mains and made in 1956, is worth around $85,000. Its small size may have made it an exceptionally easy piece to swipe.

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Photo by Morgan Coleman

Artists at work in Wywnood during Art Basel 2013.

Spend five minutes wandering through Wynwood this week and you'll spot more wall-tagging graffiti artists than regular pedestrians. Spray cans are everywhere during Basel week.

Which is why it's all the more perplexing that a 21-year-old tagger is now reportedly in critical condition after getting hit by a police car. The cops were chasing Delbert Rodriguez Gutierrez after spotting him tagging a building at NW Fifth Avenue and 24th Street, the Miami Herald reports.

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Today's photo comes from Blue Skyz Media's Flickr. If you'd like to see your photo here join our Flickr group.

Matt Damon's estate

If you happen to have tens of millions of dollars and are on the look out for a new home that was once occupied by a celebrity, we have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news first, just to get it out of the way: After a few years of trying to sell it, Matt Damon may have finally found a buyer for his home on North Bay Road on Miami Beach. So that's no longer an option. The good news? Just a little down the street, Shakira is quietly trying to sell her North Bay Road home.

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Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. Today, Luke takes on Charles Barkley over his comments about the protests in Ferguson and New York.

According to Charles Barkley, African-Americans protesting and rioting in Ferguson over a grand jury's decision not to indict the cop who killed unarmed teenager Mike Brown are "scumbags." During an interview with CNN this week, the NBA Hall of Famer and television analyst also defended the New York City cop who fatally choked Eric Garner, a black man from Staten Island. A grand jury declined to indict the officer for killing Garner.

Barkley said, "The notion that white cops are out there just killing black people is ridiculous. I challenge any black person to make that point."

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Illustration by Alvaro Diaz-Rubio

A lot of weird things happen in Florida. We're here every Friday morning to give you the week's weirdest. This week, that includes a deadly 4-year-old, a man who desperately needs anger management classes, and, of course, Satan himself.

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Photo by George Martinez/gmartnx.com

A protester last week in front of the Richard Gerstein Justice Building in Miami.

Has there ever been a stranger moment to be in Miami?

As grand juries across the country refuse to indict white cops for killing innocent black men, all Miami can talk about is Miley's killer concert. In New York, people are flocking to the streets and shutting down bridges. Here, celebrities are snapping up overpriced art and charging their phones in women's coochies.

If the cognitive dissonance is getting to you, there's a cure. Tonight, protesters will gather in Wynwood to demand justice for Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Israel Hernandez.

See also: Miami All Quiet After Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Sparks Protests Across the Country

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Update: We spoke to the artist, Lena Marquise, about her sudden fame and the meaning behind the performance, "Body As Commodity."

If there's any doubt that more redeemable parts of Art Basel Miami Beach week have been overshadowed by random VIPs and juvenile art-world stunting, we present to you the fact that last night Usher plugged his iPhone into a woman's vagina.

This is obviously what we'd call a NSFW post.

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Today's photo comes from Pedro Suarez's Flickr. If you'd like to see your photo here join our Flickr group.

A map shows which Florida markets Uber is now available in.

Five months to the day after launching in Miami-Dade County, Uber will now cover the vast majority of South Florida after launching in the Keys and Southwest Florida today. That means the UberX service reaches 82 percent of the population of Florida despite its legality still remaining somewhat murky in many areas.

Uber's launch today will now bring its on-demand taxi-like services to the Florida Keys, Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota/Bradenton, and Ocala markets.

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The Miami ecosystem is so awash in con men and two-bit pretenders that not even the Miami Heat are immune.

Ibes Gomez appeared to be a big baller during the Heat's 2012 playoff run. He sat in seats in a luxury box for five games, including three during the Finals. The total price he owed to the Heat: $113,963. So he wrote them some checks ... and those checks bounced.

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Rick Scott's obsessive quest to drug test every man, woman and child in the state of Florida appears to be at an end.

Seven months after the Supreme Court declined to hear his administration's argument for drug testing state employees, the governor lost again yesterday when a federal appeals resoundingly rejected his attempts to drug test welfare applicants.

"We have no reason to think impoverished individuals are necessarily and inherently prone to drug use, or, for that matter, are more prone to drug use than the general population," the court ruled.

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Photo by Tim Elfrink

Sheila McNeil with a photo of her son, Travis

When Miami cop Reynoldo Goyos shot and killed an unarmed man named Travis McNeil at a traffic stop three years ago, the Miami PD left no doubt about the killing's propriety. Miami PD's chief promptly fired Goyos and called McNeil's death "unjustified." The feds later investigated the department and, based in part on McNeil's killing, found a "pattern of excessive force."

So why is the City of Miami now preparing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting McNeil's family in court over a financial settlement?

"This case is a carbon copy of Ferguson," says Randall Berg, a lawyer representing McNeil's relatives. "In fact, it's probably worse than Ferguson."

See also: Amid Ferguson Conflict, Activists Decry Miami Cop Rehired After Killing Travis McNeil

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via Miami Beach Police Department

Joseph Gagliardo, a longtime South Beach resident, returned home last week from a long trip. As he had for years, he cycled from his home on the Venetian Causeway over to Lincoln Road. For a block or so he slowly pedaled east down the virtually empty mall, only to be suddenly stopped by a police officer.

The cop pointed to a small blue sign several feet away and high above Gagliardo's sight line. Then he politely issued him a $129 citation. Gagliardo was far from alone. In just the first two days of ticketing for the brand new offense, MBPD issued a total of 108 citations.

The city says it worked to educate residents about the change, but some longtime riders like Gagliardo complain the new signs are tough to spot. "It just says 'Pedestrian Friendly Zone', Gagliardo says. "It doesn't say 'It's illegal: You're going to get a fine.'"

See also: Miami Beach Bans Bikes on Lincoln Road, but Cyclists Ride On

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A Miami-based chain of for-profits colleges that is under hot water for ripping off taxpayers is now the center of a stranger allegation: it used strippers to lure potential students to its school.

The allegations came after the U.S Attorney's Office and Florida's attorney general joined a class-action lawsuit against FastTrain colleges.

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Photo by George Martinez

Same-sex marriages are likely to start in the Sunshine State on January 6. That is thanks to an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision today denying the state's motion to extend U.S. Federal Judge Robert Hinkle's stay on his summertime ruling that held Florida's ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional.

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Today's photo comes from Daniel Bonachea's Flickr. If you'd like to see your photo here join our Flickr group.

Now jettisoned plans for a stadium at PortMiami.

Amidst worries over the future of Major League Soccer in Miami, the David Bekcham-led group behind the proposed team has finally spoken up again after months of relative silence.

"The reality is that everything is progressing very well," a spokesperson for Miami Beckham United told Reuters."Miami is still David's number one choice and it will happen. The fans and the people of Miami are behind us and we hope to announce some positive and exciting news soon."

See also: Has Miami Blown Its Shot at Major League Soccer?

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