- HOME
- NEWS
- WEATHER
- COMMUNITY
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- LIVING
- TOOLS
- Deals
- Jobs
- Autos
- Homes
- Shop/Classifieds
- Services
When Congress approved the Beach Act in 2000, I was hopeful. The law required the Environmental Protection Agency to develop federal standards for water quality that would protect beach users from pathogen-caused illnesses, and it called for modernizing an outdated approach to measuring beach water quality. I believed it had the potential to make beaches far safer for the nation's swimmers and surfers.
Advertisement
Really? Seriously? In the history of pro sports, men have done all sorts of things to commemorate their feats on the field or the court. They have flopped like seals, walked like gorillas, head-butted like bighorn sheep. They have high-fived, low-fived, dog-piled, chest-bumped, wept, kissed their own biceps. They have breakdanced, riverdanced, jitterbugged and otherwise tripped the light fantastic.
Maybe it was the Harvard program on Dealing with an Angry Public that prepared Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel for the Tampa crowd that hissed at him during a recent U.S. Senate hearing on election law changes.
The first Queen Elizabeth was standing under an English oak tree when she learned that she had become queen.
There continue to be many factors driving up the cost of doing business in Florida and the ability for businesses to sustain their employees and further create jobs. This year, the Florida Legislature must work to close a loophole in the workers' compensation system that is significantly impacting Florida businesses by allowing physicians to pass along exorbitant prescription prices to employers.
Through 11 presidential elections, beginning with the Democrats' nomination of George McGovern in 1972, Republicans have enjoyed a presumption of superiority regarding national security. This year, however, events and their rhetoric are dissipating their advantage.
Let's think about the kind of mess we're in. Federal 2010 Medicare and Medicaid expenditures totaled $800 billion. The projected annual growth of both programs is about 7 percent. Social Security expenditures are more than $700 billion a year. According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports, by 2030, 49 percent of federal revenues will go for Social Security and Medicare payments. The unfunded liability of both programs is already $106 trillion.
Some issues fade; others fester. The Obama administration's contraceptive mandate on religious charities, hospitals and universities is the festering kind.
Like blood and plasma, stem cells are usually obtained through an easy procedure, and the people who donate them quickly generate more. But in other ways, they're markedly different. There might be only one or two potential donors who are a good match for a patient in need of stem cells. That means donors who are less than entirely altruistic are in a good position to demand thousands of dollars for their stem cells, which would make the life-saving transplant, sometimes used in the treatment of certain cancers and autoimmune diseases, available mainly to the rich.
Just like his pal former speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich, ex-congressman and former Florida attorney general Bill McCollum wants voters to forget a few things.
At the core of a strong economy is support for working families, not only to provide families the ability to achieve self-sufficiency but to grow a strong future workforce through high-quality early learning environments.
We all know that health care providers have expertise and that medicine is best practiced when they have access to a full range of therapeutic options to employ for their patients. However, in some cases, the rush to eliminate costs has unduly tied the hands of physicians and other medical professionals.
Happy birthday, Charles Dickens! Today marks the bicentennial of the writer's birth, and celebrations around the world are showcasing his life's work. His fiction is still widely read and has been adapted for the silver screen many times over.
Recent revelations about the deplorable working conditions at an Apple factory in China provide a cautionary tale about globalization and consumerism.
Even as two-thirds of Americans now say there are strong conflicts between rich and poor, another great American division is slowly healing.
A partial video of a remarkable court hearing captures, beyond doubt, a woman struggling to understand what is being said. When she speaks, she does so haltingly, in the manner familiar to anyone who has been lost in the labyrinth of a foreign language.
Several years ago, prior to my retirement from the CIA, I was meeting with a senior Iranian asset in the Middle East. I had finished debriefing him on the intelligence he had to provide, and we had launched into a more expansive conversation about the overall direction of American policy toward Iran. I was trying to explain the rationale behind our sanctions regime and the thought process that had led us to conclude that we could persuade the Islamic Republic of Iran to modify its behavior.
Although Warren Buffett may be a stellar investor, his entry into the world of federal tax policy has brought forth nothing but bad ideas based on flawed information and misleading demagoguery. Let's review the record.
For political junkies, this is the midwinter of our discontent. With the Florida Republican primary over, there is more than a month to go before Super Tuesday, and the next debate is three weeks away. That means I have even less reason for my post-midnight groping for my iPhone to check the latest polls or campaign Twitter feeds.
Privatization has become the rallying cry of Florida's legislative leaders facing budget cuts every year. Private companies have long been needed to efficiently complete government projects, such as road construction. But unfortunately today, some lawmakers want to privatize state prisons for the sake of privatization — ignoring real numbers, hardworking correctional officers and public safety.
It's time to prepare for spring. The Arab Spring in the Middle East continues to move forward year round.
Each year, two-thirds of American adults consume at least a moderate amount of alcohol, Gallup polls show. These responsible adults, who enjoy a sociable drink with friends or a glass of wine with dinner prior to driving home, support keeping dangerous drunks off the roads. According to 2009 data reported by The Century Council, high-blood-alcohol-content drivers were responsible for 73 percent of Florida's alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, and 83 percent of fatalities involving repeat offenders.
The Florida Association of Special Districts agrees that a thorough review of all state programs, taxes and government bodies is often needed, and we welcome a fact-based discussion regarding special taxing districts. However, it is vital to understand that some cost-saving measures should not be decided upon on face value only, and that hindsight can indeed be 20-20.
During Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!, the Department of Education highlighted the importance of literacy throughout the Sunshine State. On the heels of such an important message, it is empowering and important for parents to be reminded that they have the ability to help a new generation fall in love with reading, increase literacy rates and encourage lifelong reading habits.
The Republican establishment is pulling out all the stops to try to keep Newt Gingrich from becoming the party's nominee for president of the United States — and some are not letting the facts get in their way.
Advertisement
Advertisement
