In treacherous, drenching rainfall that varied race-long from intense to torrential, a 22-year-old (Ricky Taylor) with a bright future practically floated across the finish line just in front of a 52-year-old (Scott Pruett) with a glorious past. But those with long memories can tell horror stories of far more diabolical weather conditions that greeted the 1983 Miami Prix inaugural on downtown Miami streets.

The county, aware of the political ramifications, immediately rushed 123 of the cars into circulation.

The Toyota warranty insures some hybrid parts for up to eight years or 100,000 miles. That doesn’t do much good when you consider the cars were parked in a hot and humid car lot, rusting away. The autoblog.com suggests there could be unknown damage done to the unused hybrid powertrain.

So how does one just simply lose 298 brand new cars?

A investigation is being done to determine exactly how this taxpayer funded debacle happened. It is believed that the cars got “lost” during the recall and eventual ousting of then Mayor Carlos Alvarez. Not surprisingly, he was removed from office after voters “felt, among other reasons, that he had been behind multiple acts of misappropriation of funds.”

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were out for the Heat while Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo didn’t play for the Celtics, with each team unable to improve their playoff seeding.

Dexter Pittman had 12 points for the Heat, whose 25 turnovers were a season high.

In Atlanta, Joe Johnson scored 28 points, including a wild three-pointer in the final minute, as Atlanta held on for a 109-102 victory over Los Angeles, moving a step closer to wrapping up home-court in the first round of the playoffs.

Blake Griffin scored a season-high 36 points for the Clippers in a back-and-forth game.

In Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant scored 32 points to lead Oklahoma City past Sacramento 118-110.

Newton, who is already facing charges in Sydney for assaulting a taxi driver and in the US for resisting arrest during an incident at a Miami bar earlier this month, spent another night in a Florida jail after the latest arrest.

According to the Miami-Dade Police report, Newton approached the desk clerk at Miami’s Marriott Courtyard Hotel and “was angry about a call” he made from the phone in his room “being dropped”.

Newton, 35, allegedly “threw papers” that were on the counter, then went behind the counter and punched the male clerk in the face before pushing him to the ground.

The Underbelly actor claimed the clerk spat in his face, police said.

The incident happened just before 5am on April 17 and police said Newton may have been influenced by alcohol.

The alleged assault was captured on the hotel’s surveillance cameras, although the footage did not clearly show if the clerk spat at Newton.

Newton’s Sydney-based lawyer, Chris Murphy, was quick to defend the actor via Twitter.

“Can’t cure mental illness with ‘You stop that!’,” Mr Murphy tweeted.

“Bipolar sufferers need patience & support.

“Matthew Newton has mine.

“Treatment continues.”

In the latest incident Newton was charged with battery and resisting arrest without violence, both misdemeanors considered less serious than felony charges.

If found guilty he faces up to one year in jail.

On April 6 Newton was charged by Miami-Dade Police with resisting a police officer and trespassing at popular Miami watering hole Mr Moe’s Restaurant and Bar.

Injuries kept the ‘Canes from settling certain issues on both sides of the ball, but two scrimmages and the Orange and Green Spring Game on April 14 provided some answers.

The 13 percent gain in sales prices in March for single-family homes comes amid a drop in transactions — which were down 12 percent in Miami-Dade. That’s a reversal of trends seen in recent years, when sales were booming as prices continued to plunge into bargain-basement territory.

In Miami-Dade, the median price for a single-family home was $180,000 in March, compared to $159,000 a year ago. Realtors sold about 919 homes in March, down from the prior year but still almost four times better than the 276 homes sold at the start of the recession in March 2008.

The increased prices may be a lull before yet another housing storm, as banks prepare to speed up sales of foreclosed homes. The distressed sales were delayed last year amid a national investigation into improper mortgage paperwork, but the so-called “robo-signing” scandal has been settled.

The condo market, which tends to churn out more erratic numbers, also saw price gains and volume drops. In March, the median price for a Miami-Dade condo was $141,700, up 45 percent from the median price tag in March 2011 of $97,400. Condo sales were down 10 percent to 1,387 units in March.

Broward numbers will be released later Thursday.

“In one respect, Hyde will be a new amenity for our best customers,” Eric Woolworth, president of business operations for the Miami Heat, tells Bloomberg News. “It adds a hip quotient and panache, and it’s also another space we can market for parties and private events.”

There is already a restaurant/nightclub on the grounds of the AAA — Gloria Estefan’s Bongos Café — but Hyde will actually be inside the arena and open during games and events.

“People want to connect when they go to a game or a concert, but there’s no place for them to intermingle,” Sam Nazarian, owner of the L.A.-based SBE, tells Bloomberg. “With Hyde… it gives people a chance to stay.”

Hyde Lounge will not be the only new Miami expansion for Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment Group. On June 14, the SLS Hotel South Beach will open in the former location of the Ritz Plaza.

The property will include another Hyde location, dubbed Hyde Beach. So it turns out the Heat’s club will have a Miami Beach counterpart after all.

They are brilliant and dominating one moment and struggling the next, an often mixed up jumble of three great players and a handful of question marks led by a coach who hasn’t yet settled on anything close to a regular rotation. The Miami Heat are a lot of things. A tease is chief among them.

“[Guillen’s] first day back will be Tuesday, and I think there is definitely going to be added press and media and questions,” Sveum said. “It’s just an unfortunate incident that happened and hopefully it goes away pretty quick, but it’s not going to go away when we’re there.”

Guillen was suspended by his own team for saying to Time magazine that he admired Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s ability to stay in power for such a long time. Many in Miami’s large Cuban community were upset and protests at the ballpark are expected Tuesday and beyond.

The Cubs have yet to receive word on any additional security precautions that might be in place by Major League Baseball.

“I’m sure you might get something or we might have adjustments, but we haven’t heard anything yet, no,” Sveum said. “But I’m sure there will be protesters, obviously. That will happen. Whether it’s a lot or a few, who knows?”

Despite it all, Sveum isn’t expecting it to be an issue for his team, even if his players are asked about the Guillen issue ad nauseam.

“Is it a distraction? It’s just another question to a player,” Sveum said. “At [game time] nobody is worried about the question that was asked or the answer they gave unless it was something gargantuan answer that created a lot of stuff in the media. Distractions like that for us are very minimal if at all.”

The Marlins (2-5) have been held to one run or less in four of their five defeats so far. After the latest anemic output, the Marlins returned home after losing four of their past six games.

“We haven’t been able to sustain anything offensively yet,” Cora said. “Hopefully, when we go home, we can get some consistency.”

Buehrle (0-2), who gave up only two runs in his first start in Cincinnati last week, went 6 1/3 innings and gave up three earned runs, and eight hits, two of which were solo home runs by Shane Victorino and Ty Wigginton.

The Marlins couldn’t do enough to back up their starter against Phillies righty Joe Blanton, who went seven innings and allowed one run on three hits in his first start of the season.

“We’re going to go 2-5 at some other seven-game stretch throughout the year and we’ll probably go 5-2 during another stretch,” Buehrle said. “It’s still early. But we’re definitely not clicking. When we get the hitting, we’re not pitching. And when we get the pitching, we’re not hitting.”

The frustrating missed opportunities, where a timely hit or a defensive play that might have changed the outcome, ultimately sealed the loss.

Facing Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, the Marlins had runners on first and second with one out. But catcher John Buck grounded into a game-ending double play.

In the bottom of the seventh, Buck wasn’t able to handle a foul ball off the bat of Phillies first baseman Ty Wigginton that could have prevented his big hit moments later. The ball hit Buck’s glove just as he hit the guard rail in front of the Phillies dugout. Two pitches later, Wigginton blasted a solo home run to left field to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 3-1.

The Marlins got their only run in the fifth inning when Omar Infante, who is hitting .360 so far, smacked a two-out double off the wall in left-center field. Buck hit a ball that Pence couldn’t track down despite a sliding effort in right field, allowing Infante to score.

But Miami couldn’t muster the tying run in the top of the sixth, thanks to some solid defense by the Phillies.

With runners on first and second and one out, Phillies second baseman Freddy Galvis reached to his left and snared a line drive hit by Giancarlo Stanton.