The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 1

I i ENVIRONMENT DOWNTOWN MIAMI Condo bust draws scams and squatters Mel Martinez Senator (R) Previously supported moratorium Now "very pleased" with plans of President Bush and Sen John McCain Charlie Crist Governor (R) Previously supported moratorium on drilling Now agrees it should end: have to be sympathetic to Floridians' Mario Diaz-Balart Congressman (R) Has supported earlier bills to roll back the moratorium Maintains same position give the states flexibility within Monday they found the marble floors splashed with black paint The man had fled leaving destruction in his wake along with a change of clothes in the washing machine Among the decidedly low-rent problems plaguing South luxury condo market squatters are the latest headache to arise from the glut of vacant foreclosures in some of ton-iest condominiums At a recent meeting at the Brickell on the River North a TURN TO CONDOS 2A MiamiHeraldcom Video report at Extras Property managers at condos are coping with new schemes some criminal others plain irritating arising from foreclosures BY MONICA HATCHER mhatcherMiamiHerald com Someone had kicked the door in on the foreclosure on the 33rd floor at The Club at Brickell Bay Last week Lori Rice the property manager pushed it open Inside she found the tell-tale signs of a squatter: a mattress on the floor a few toiletries in the bathroom a man was staying in Rice said adding that she called the police When police arrived on Hundreds of leases: The federal government lists more than 240 active leases held by various companies in the region known as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area The government estimates the region holds up to 922 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and up to 278 billion barrels of oil and condensate John McCain and Charlie Crist have jumped aboard the offshore-drilling train How far can it go? And would it ever affect gas prices? MIAMJ-DADE SCHOOL BOARD Schools reveal they overspent millions BY CURTIS MORGAN cmorgan aMiamiHerald com If the offshore-drilling ban covering much of the coast is lifted the next oil and gas rush would start off of coast and spark an environmental battle of national scope But far less certain that more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would bring lower gasoline prices at least anytime soon Likewise there seems little chance of rigs rising off Southwest Florida or the Atlantic coast in the near future if at all true that more sophisticated surveys could discover deposits that the last decades-old searches missed But the waters off Panhandle rank at the top of the energy wish list Nobody knows for sure how much untapped fuel both natural gas and crude 3 1 1 1- I 3 I i Already needing to close a projected budget gap for the next fiscal year Miami-Dade School Board members got more bad news: The current budget is millions in the red BY KATHLEEN McGRORY kmcgroryg-MiamiHerald com For the second year in a row the Miami-Dade school district will need to raid its rainy-day fund to close the year in the black Superintendent Rudy Crew said Wednesday The district hired more teachers than budgeted lost state funding by misclassify-ing special-needs students and encountered rising costs Crew said causing overruns in the current budget Crew would not say how large the deficit will be but board members estimated the figure in the tens of mil- TURN TO BUDGET 10A School district workers urge board to save their jobs IB limited drilling: Since the late 1980s drilling has been limited in the 65-million-acre area by administrative deferrals and a congressional moratorium that has been renewed each year Now leading national Republicans are calling for an end to the moratorium TURN TO DEBATE 2A THREE COMMON METHODS OF OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING A liilJS Floating Production System Semi-submersible unit equipped with drilling and production equipment Anchored with wire rope and chain and can be positioned using rotating thrusters Well production is transported to the surface deck through risers Can be used in depths from 600 to 7500 feel Tension Leg Platform Floating structure connected to the sea floor: vertical tendons attached to pile-secured templates Tendons are "tensioned" providing for use at a range of depths Larger units have been used successfully at up to 4000 feet SPAR Platform Single vertical cylinder supporting a deck Has a typical fixed platform topside and a hull moored by six to 20 lines anchored into the seafloor Currently used at depths up to 3000 feet but existing technology could go as far as 7500 teet it OF THIS PRISON' A Taliban ambassador wielded power within Guantanamo where the detainees treated him like a hero FUEL PRICES Credit-card fees bedeviling gas stations gallon to the firms That leaves him a penny and he even paid his overhead a problem more and more station owners face But because many have contracts requiring them to take credit cards and four out of five customers prefer to pay with plastic only a few are refus- TURN TO FEES 5A 81 Some gas-station owners are offering cash discounts while a few are rejecting credit cards BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH AND SCOTT ANDRON sandronicCMiamiHerald com John Rudolph is tired of watching credit-card companies eat his lunch Rudolph who owns four South Florida gas stations marks up his fuel by no more than 10 cents per gallon Then he pays an average of 22 percent almost nine cents a TAKING ACTION: Roger Randolph owner of Ed's Chevron has stopped accepting most credit cards at his station in St Albans WVa BOB BtRDAP BYTOMLASSETER tlasseteriamcclatchydccom KABUL Afghanistan When US guards frog-marched Abdul Salam Zaeef through the cellblocks of Guantanamo detainees would roar his name Zaeefl Mullah Zaeef in shackles looked at the guards and smiled soldiers told me are the king of this he later recalled Zaeef is the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan famous for his defiant news conferences after 911 in which he said the militant Islamist group would never surrender Osama bin Laden Pakistani intelligence officers dragged him out of his house in Islamabad in late December 2001 or January 2002 and took him to 1 Peshawar Excellency you are no longer Your 2 he recalled one of them saying The Pakistanis handed him over to US troops who he said threw a sack over his head and pushed El MiamiHeraldcom Find South Florida's lowest gas prices at Today's Extras WEATHER INDEX LOCAL NEWS IB A RECORD DAY FOR LIGHTNING BOLTS OF LIGHTNING STRUCK AT LEAST SEVEN HOMES IN MIAMI-DADE SPORTS ID TIGER TO MISS REST OF SEASON AFTER WINNING THE US OPEN WOODS WILL HAVE SURGERY ON HIS LEFT KNEE TO LEADER 22A HIGH 90 LOW 74 Forecast badi of Section.