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108TH YEAR, NO. 183 2011

MiamiHerald.com
MIAMI-DADE

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 16, 2011

FINAL EDITION

DISASTER IN JAPAN

In Japan, a new day brings a new crisis

Amind a rising death toll now topping 10,000, troubles at the weakened nuclear reactor cascaded Wednesday as workers contended with yet another fire.
BY CAROL J. WILLIAMS
Los Angeles Times

TO RECALL ALVAREZ
Yes No 180,171 24,348

TO RECALL SEIJAS
Yes No 16,999 2,363

Alvarez, Seijas out in a rout; 9 of 10 demand change

LOS ANGELES Another fire at Japans stricken Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear power complex broke out early Wednesday, compounding the spree of disasters expected to take historic peacetime tolls on the nations people and economy. The latest blaze broke out in the No. 4 reactor at the nuclear complex on the northeast coast where a plume of radiation escaped Tuesday, sending background radiation levels soaring to degrees that authorities conceded were harmful to anyone with prolonged exposure. The plants operator said the fire reignited because an initial blaze was not completely extinguished, The Associated Press reported. With the confirmed dead and known missing topping 10,000 and untold thousands of others suspected to still be buried in the sodden wreckage littering the northeast shores of Honshu island, Japans mainland, government leaders urged calm and patience as hardships persisted four days after the worst earthquake in Japans recorded history. The devastating tsunami that followed inflicted most of the damage half an hour after Fridays magnitude-9.0 quake, and a terrifying spate of fires, explosions and missteps at the nuclear power complex in Fukushima prefecture has intensified fears of another calamity. Radiation released from the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex Tuesday caused a 400-fold increase in background levels outside the stricken plant and about 10 times the

ROBERTO KOLTUN/EL NUEVO HERALD

MAN BEHIND THE MOVEMENT: Car dealer and philanthroprist Norman Braman declared that voters have demonstrated by their ballot that they are tired of unaccountable officials, of being ignored.

Major defense not enough to save acerbic commissioner

BY MARTHA BRANNIGAN AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN AND MARTHA BRANNIGAN

mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com

TURN TO REACTOR FIRE, 2A

Critics skeptical of Florida officials nuclear

safety assurances, 2A MiamiHerald.com/world Get more coverage of the quake aftermath

Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, a formidable fixture in county politics known for her acerbic style, was removed from office Tuesday amid a seething voter revolt. An overwhelming 88 percent of those who turned out to vote in District 13, which includes Hialeah and Miami Lakes, backed the recall of Seijas, who has ruled over the western county region for 18 years. MiamiHerald.com/video Watch video of voters sharing their opinions on the recall

The commissioner had mounted a major defense to the recall campaign, angling to differentiate herself from Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, an unpopular figure also on the ballot who was viewed as more vulnerable to ouster. Seijas made no public comment Tuesday night. An aide, Terry Murphy, said in an e-mail: She will not be participating in any media stories about the election results. Bankrolled by county employee unions, developers and lobbyists, Seijas raised $213,575 through a political action committee, Abre Los

TURN TO COMMISSIONER, 11A

Voters swept Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez out of office by a stunning margin Tuesday, capping a dramatic collapse for a politician who was given increased authority by voters four years ago to clean up much-maligned county government but was ushered out in the largest recall of a local politician in U.S. history. The spectacular fall from power comes after two years of missteps, ranging from granting top staffers big pay hikes to construction of a publicly funded stadium for the Florida Marlins to implementation of a property-tax rate increase that outraged an electorate struggling through an ugly recession. Alvarez tried to fend off ouster by twice filing suit to block a recall vote. After the lawsuits went nowhere, he defended his record in speeches, radio and television appearances and paid advertisements, arguing that he made the tough calls to preserve vital services for residents. But voters responded by handing the mayor a humiliating defeat: Nearly nine of every 10 voted to remove Alvarez from office.

SEIJAS SPENDING REQUEST TURNED DOWN, 10A

ECUADOR

TURN TO ALVAREZ, 10A

From his wheelchair, vice president inspires

Paralyzed from the waist down after a shooting 13 years ago, Ecuadors vice president shines a spotlight on the nations disabled population.
BY JIM WYSS
jwyss@MiamiHerald.com

MATT DUNHAM/AP

WASHED AWAY: Keijo Nakamura weeps at the remains of a dead relatives home.

QUITO, Ecuador The ornate lobby of the nations vice presidential palace is teeming with people in wheelchairs and on crutches, mothers leading the blind and the developmentally disabled. Many are here because they believe that the man upstairs is one of their own. Ever since a thief s bullet ripped

through his spine 13 years ago, Ecuadors vice president, Lenn Moreno, has been paralyzed from the waist down. When he was elected second-in-command of this Andean nation in 2007, he became one of the highest ranking politicians in Latin American history to have a visible disability. Sitting in a wheelchair behind a wide wooden desk at his office, Moreno, 58 , is TURN TO MORENO, 8A

quick to downplay his historic role. There have been congressmen and judges in wheelchairs before, he said. There have been Latin American presidents with speech impediMORENO ments, and Joaqun Balaguer, the former president of the Dominican Republic, was in his 90s and legally

INDEX CLASSIFIED, 9-12D |

COMICS, 5E | CROSSWORD, 4E | DEATHS, 4B | EDITORIALS, 14A | LOTTERY, 2B | MOVIES, 3E | PEOPLE, 6A | TELEVISION, 3E

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