St. Lucie County commissioners today by the narrowest of margins authorized a June 26 referendum on public funding for staffing of a trauma center at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute.
But, for a few moments, it appeared the vote and the trauma center would go down in flames.
Commissioner Paula [...]
Vero Beach's new resort lifestyle ...
One of our blog readers sent me this link to Gloria and Emilio Estefan's resort in Vero Beach to open in 2008.
The resort at 3244 Ocean Drive, just south of the Ocean Grill, a Vero [...]
The good news is that the Medicare trust fund won't be empty for 12 more years, according to this Associated Press article.
The bad news is that it will be broke in 2019, and that every year we wait to do something about the fact that fewer workers are paying [...]
"Illegitimate Nation," a report issued this morning, provides more sobering news about the direction America is heading. Comparing unwed birth rates among migrants and native-born Americans, the Center for Immigration Studies details a sharp and steady increase in out-of-wedlock births among both groups.
These upward trends [...]
PBS' "Frontline" and "American Experience" collaborate for the first time to produce a two-part documentary on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "The Mormons," scheduled to air next Monday and Tuesday evenings (April 30 & May 1), is called by the network one of "America's [...]
The Indian River County School District today named nine semi-finalists for its superintendent's job.
Since one is wife of the St. Lucie County schools chief and another works in Brevard County, perhaps our readers have some relevant, firsthand information about them.
And since Florida is a transcontinental melting pot, [...]
So I'm at the gym this morning, working out in front of a muted big-screen TV. One of the 24/7 news channels is on, and a talking head is discussing something with a guest talking head, presumably related to the headline on the screen, "U.S. ACCUSES NUCLEAR OFFICIAL OF [...]
Dawn Blakeley of Stuart recently sent me this link to an excerpt from Lee Iacocca's new book "Where have all the leaders gone?"
"I received this article in an email," she said. "Please read and see if it is something your readers might be interested [...]
Mandy Dawson
Unlike the flim-flamming Tim Mahoney up in Washington, some Florida Democrats are actually trying to control illegal immigration. It's pretty hard not to get exercised when confronted with this kind of case:
A Delray Beach girl is abducted, raped and dumped in a trash bin [...]
Who does Rep. Tim Mahoney think he's kidding? In Sunday's paper, he claims to support "strong border security," but blows right past guest-worker programs on his way to a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens.
Which means he's simply parroting the same tired party line of Ted Kennedy and the [...]
Recently online readers debated (see results for Sonja Taylor's letter in upper left of link) whether parents should take their children to restaurants. The issue was how children behaved.
Children's behavior is a reflection of their parents, as this video
so eloquently points out. It [...]
Watch and listen
[...]Many of us may have had similar experiences. But, I'm taken somewhat aback when it happens.
I was standing in line this week at the grocery store. It was Tuesday evening. A young woman with a young child was in front of me. The child sat in a grocery cart.
I noticed [...]
On Tuesday, St. Lucie County commissioners are expected to call for a special election to create a countywide tax district to raise funds for operation of a regional trauma center at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute in Fort Pierce.
By approving the referendum, commissioners won't be endorsing creation of [...]
Well, well, well.
Six months after the syrupy testimonials about the wonderful Escobedo clan, authorities confirm what everyone suspected. These folks were big-time drug dealers.
Early on, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara suggested that the turnpike slayings were probably over "drugs and money." But that [...]
When it comes to residential construction, most Indian River County folks agree on the quantity issue. There's been far too much built far too fast.
And, let's face it, the building binge has spewed out plenty of pretty tacky stuff.
With construction in the doldrums, [...]
Check out the editorial, "America's 'supermarket of guns' " from our sister Scripps paper in Anderson, S.C. The Statesman-Journal, the capital-city paper of Oregon ran it, and it received dozens of reader comments.
And here's another, gun-control column, from Slate's Timothy Noah. The column was sent to me by [...]
You've heard of "pack journalism" -- supposedly independent newspersons running in one herd, bleating monotonously.
Here, for your perusal, are two classic examples:
The New York Times on Thursday carries a story about Charlie Crist's first 100 days in office. Naturally, the governor receives a glowing review for [...]
Look at this and the scope of this tragedy becomes even clearer. These are the murdered:
— Ross Abdallah Alameddine, 20, sophomore from Saugus, Mass.
— Christopher James Bishop, 35, foreign languages instructor who joined the Virginia Tech faculty in August 2005.
— Brian Roy Bluhm, 25, civil [...]
Something amazing happened today. The Florida Senate passed its version of a property tax overall. Without debate. Unanimously.
Haridopolos
This is among a group that formerly couldn't agree on what day of the week it is. And, here they are -- Democrats and Republicans -- united on a [...]
Korean Chong Duk Chung
is "a little embarrassed
and a little ashamed."
The New York Times is nothing if not consistent. After a young Bosnian went on a deadly shooting spree at a Salt Lake City mall, the newspaper raised the specter of Utah's whitebread Mormons exacting [...]
Here's a proposal to allow teachers to pack heat.
I received this e-mail from a Pembroke Pines company last night. Defensive Shooting Instructors Inc. is offering a special class for teachers.
Talk about capitalizing on the Virginia Tech massacre. These guys make ambulance-chasing [...]
Debbie Almontaser: Madrassa matron
Here's a new one: New York City plans to give Arabs and Muslims their own school.
Not far from where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood, the special ethnic campus will promote Arabic instruction, as well as study of the Quran [...]
After receiving videos, photos and a manifesto from mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui, NBC News made the decision to air some edited portions of the video, apparently made between the two killing sprees on the Virginia Tech campus.
The decision to give the sick killer a worldwide forum for [...]
I can understand the usual angst over yesterday's Supreme Court's decision on abortion. But why the heck should homosexuals and lesbians have their panties in a bunch? "Unintended" pregnancies among that crowd would seem to be a biological impossibility, if not a freak [...]
Michelle Malkin, whose column runs in our newspaper on Saturdays, had an interesting interview the other night with Malik Shabazz, general counsel for the New Black Panther Party.
If you don't think racism runs two ways in this country, check out [...]
Raping in New York........................... grieving in Virginia.
Virginia Tech isn't the only institution of higher learning experiencing a crime wave, and Cho Seung-Hui isn't the only sicko preying on college students. Check out Columbia University.
Over the weekend, a 23-year-old journalism graduate student [...]
You've seen the picture. You may have heard the story. Now they are linked.
The wounded Virginia Tech student is senior Kevin Sterne.
Sterne is the former Eagle Scout who made a tourniquet from an electrical cord after being shot through the femoral artery of his right leg.
Doctors said [...]
While media pundits and pop psychologists debate Cho Seung-Hui's state of mind or grumble about Virginia Tech's "delay" in notifying students of his heinous attack, no one asks the obvious question: Why is a resident alien entitled to buy guns?
You don't have to be a gun grabber [...]
Dick Harman, president of Martin Memorial Medical Systems, and his crew visited us last week to discuss their concerns over Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute's proposal to open a trauma center in Fort Pierce.
Harman has been critical of the efforts for many [...]
The world champion University of Florida Gators are getting the smack-down at the Legislature, which is just saying NO to the school's $1,000-a-year surcharge on students.
The proposed fee at Gainesville can't get out of committee and is apparently dead for the session. Administrators and faculty, [...]
A colleague of mine, ">David Mastio, has a fascinating series of Web sites that aggregate blogs from around the country.
He sent me a link to the Virginia blogs today, which have a lot of commentary on the mass murders at Virginia Tech.
Here's the link to the Virginia blogs.
Also, [...]
Water conservation officers with the South Florida Water Management District have asked local governments to begin issuing citations and fines for those who violate the agency's newly imposed water restrictions. That strikes me as a bit premature. After all, the Phase I water restrictions only became effective on Friday [...]
Goessling
I received this column the other day from Shannon Goessling (Southeastern Legal Foundation), discussing proposed state legislation and Floridians' rights regarding guns and employers' property. I had planned to seek some other views -- NRA, chamber of commerce -- and run a package [...]
A plan for redesigning popular Jetty Park in Fort Pierce was a last minute addition to the City Commission's Monday night agenda.
The reason is the city has a May 9 deadline to apply for a $3 million state grant for the project.
City officials pledge to meet with the public before [...]
How dense can you be?
With a little tweaking here and there, it looks like Fellsmere's leap across I-95 is good to go.
A new memorandum from the staff of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council gives the green light to the city's 392-acre project west of the interstate and north [...]
Here's a video I had not seen before.
[...]
Cho Seung-Hui, 23, South Korean "resident alien"
The shooting had barely stopped before the spin machine started whirring. Within minutes after authorities identified the Virginia Tech killer as "Asian," young Matthew Schneeberger fired an opening salvo of political correctness into the Internet:
"Xenophobes in the USA are raising [...]
Katie Couric should be glad events such as the Dan Imus flap and the Virginia Tech shootings have dominated the news, according to this column from the Los Angeles Times.
Couric, if you recall, read a story that was so [...]
A couple of anti-airport activists contacted me via e-mail and phone today pointing out this Associated Press story about how taxes we pay the airlines end up making improvements to smaller airports -- such as the ones that cater to private pilots [...]
The unspeakable tragedy at Virginia Tech today is probably insufficient for any serious discussion about this nation's gun laws.
The pitiful gun control measures under which we claim to be a civilized nation allow young gang members to easily get guns to kill each other, allow innocent young girls to die [...]
The Raleigh News and Observer, one of my favorite newspapers, is debating whether to continue to allow readers to post comments anonymously.
Many of our commenters post with their real names -- and that is laudable. Others, I'm sure, post with pseudonyms for one good reason or another. Some of [...]
As Ken has pointed out repeatedly, there's a huge cost associated with allowing poorly educated immigrants into the United States.
No, this is not the late 1800s or early 1900s, when education was not as important and immigrants were steaming past the Statue of Liberty. Today, the the Heritage Foundation [...]
Shortly after Ken posted his piece -- "Katie spaced out" -- regarding the plagiarism Katie Couric read on her show, I received an e-mail from a man on the board of an out-of-state scholarship fund. He told me how the Couric piece really hit home to [...]
Forget immigration, long-term deficits related to baby boomers and Medicare, Iraq and any number of major problems.
Here's one of the critical issues Congress addressed this week.
That's right, Zach Johnson, winner of the Master's Golf Tournament. Here's what Congress did with regard to this critical issue.
If [...]
A Martin County commissioner asked me this week if I thought the Atlantic Ridge Preserve project has "the possibility of opening any doors for future preservation/clustering projects" in the county?
"I hope so," I replied, "but I doubt it."
Developer Alberto Micha is donating 2,300 acres of highly prized environmental land adjacent [...]
Sometimes the foresight of Florida legislators doesn't reach the end of their noses.
Consider, for example, an anti-prostitution bill that has passed a House committee (HB 1231) and is awaiting action in the Senate (SB 2712).
The goal of the companion bills is to catch adult club owners who encourage prostitution and [...]
Line up for your refund now
The IRS took down Al Capone. Three-quarters of a century later, the only thing Uncle Sam wants from law-breaking migrants are their tax forms.
Just in time, the Associated Press filed another one of its fuzzy, formulaic yarns about a law-abiding [...]
