Free Republic

MIAMI -- Suspended Miami Commissioner Art Teele shot himself in the Miami Herald building late this afternoon. Former Commissioner Arthur Teele Teele survived the shooting, and was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. Teele has one gun shot wound to the head and he had lost a great deal of blood, according to witnesses. According to witnesses, just after 6 p.m., Teele held a gun to his head, and spoke calmly with a security guard. Then when police arrived, he pulled the trigger.

Metro columnist Jim DeFede said he taped a phone conversation with Art Teele hours before the politician shot himself. Executives said they fired DeFede because taping is illegal without consent. The Herald fired columnist Jim DeFede Wednesday because he tape-recorded a phone conversation with Arthur E. Teele Jr. without his knowledge. Teele had killed himself in The Herald's lobby earlier in the day without ever knowing that the columnist recorded their conversation. Both Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said they fired the popular Metro writer because it is illegal for anyone to tape a conversation with...

I hope this column is outdated by the time you read it. Ordinarily, it is the bane of a columnist's existence, the fear that his words will become obsolete between the time of his writing and your reading. But in this case, that would be the happiest possible outcome, because it would mean Jim DeFede had his job back. That he lost it in the first place is a travesty.