4 OctOber 31 - NOvember 6, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ LOCATION RINGING NON- ENDORSEMENT THE SUN SENTINEL WON’T ENDORSE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN 2024. WHY? BY ALEX DELUCA T he South Florida Sun Sentinel has joined other major newspapers across the nation in not endors- ing a candidate for president this year. As the paper explained in an editorial previously posted by the newspaper’s edito- rial board, the Sun Sentinel stopped endors- ing candidates for president, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial races in 2022 under a “company-wide decision” — roughly a year af- ter the paper was acquired by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund. “We’ll continue our work of en- dorsing many can- didates for local, regional and state office, judgeships, Congress, ballot questions and constitutional amendments,” states the editorial, published on October 7, 2022 — a so-called off-year election that did not include a presidential race. “We’ll celebrate fact and expose fiction. And to quote Tom Petty, we won’t back down. Nor are we expected to.” The paper noted that the restriction aligns with “corporate-level dictates in other media companies, some of which have eliminated endorsements entirely.” “It’s well within the long-standing tradition of American editorial pages, which leaves the final say on endorsements to newspapers’ ownership,” the 2022 editorial states. The Sun Sentinel, which appears to have shared its (Democratic) endorsements for president in each general election since 2008, joins other U.S. papers in opting not to en- dorse a presidential candidate this year. For instance, Los Angeles Times execu- tive editor Terry Tang reportedly told edito- rial board staff earlier this month that the California paper wouldn’t be endorsing a candidate in the 2024 presidential election for the first time since 2008 — a decision handed down by its owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. In August, the Minnesota Star Tribune an- nounced that it wouldn’t make political en- dorsements for the 2024 election, ending its long-standing practice of doing so. And late last week, the Washington Post announced to its staff that it would not be making a presidential endorsement this year for the first time since 1988. At press time, it remained to be seen whether South Florida’s other daily newspa- per, the Miami Herald, would endorse a can- didate for president this year. While the paper has been releasing en- dorsements for Congress, ballot amend- ments, and local offices in piecemeal fashion this month, it has yet to do so for the 2024 presidential race. It appears the Herald did not endorse a presidential candidate in 2020. Miami Herald executive editor Alex Mena did not immediately respond to New Times’ request for comment; nor did a spokesperson for McClatchy, which owns the Miami daily. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS The South Florida Sun Sentinel has joined other major U.S. newspapers in not endorsing a candidate for president this year. Photos by Gage Skidmore (Trump) and Maryland GovPics (Harris) via Flickr ▼ LOCATION ONE BLUE LIGHT A KENDALL KMART IS NOW THE LAST IN MAINLAND U.S. BY ALEX DELUCA T he memories may fade, but the Blue Light Specials will last forever. Or not. The last full-size Kmart in Bridgehampton, New York, closed its doors for the final time on October 20, leaving the Kmart in Miami’s Kendall neighborhood as the company’s only remaining store in the mainland United States. (Three stores remain in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one in Guam). Situated at 14091 SW 88th St. in Kendale Lakes Plaza, the store is but a shell of its former self. Last year Kmart began leasing out most of the space to the home-furnishings company At Home. All that remains of the once massive Kmart is a tiny, two-room section in what was formerly the garden department. A Miami Herald reporter who visited the Ken- dall store in August reported that while it was stocked with household items like shampoos and soaps, some shelves were barren, with “no replacements in sight.” Incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corpora- tion and renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977, the company opened its first store in 1962 in Michi- gan. The big-box retailer built its reputation on selling a wide variety of affordable goods, from food to electronics to clothing. “Kmart was part of America. Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not,” retail historian Michael Lisicky told the Associated Press in 2022. “They had everything. You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had candy. You had stationery. It was something for everybody.” But the retail gi- ant has long been on the brink of collapse. While it operated more than 2,400 stores worldwide at its peak in the early 1990s, its subsequent down- fall has been called “the slowest, most humiliat- ing demise in retail history.” Struggling to compete with Walmart, Target, and online retailers, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2002 — reportedly the largest such filing ever made by a retailer. Kmart merged with Sears in 2005 to create the Sears Holding Company, but the reorganized arrangement continued to flounder through the early 2010s owing to a number of factors. The company began shuttering stores and, in 2018, filed for Chapter 11. A remnant of the bygone retail area, Kmart joins other iconic relics of the past, such as Blockbuster, which has only one location left in the world. [email protected] ITS DOWNFALL HAS BEEN CALLED “THE SLOWEST, MOST HUMILIATING DEMISE IN RETAIL HISTORY.” THE PAPER NOTED THAT THE RESTRICTION ALIGNS WITH “CORPORATE- LEVEL DICTATES IN OTHER MEDIA COMPANIES.”
