Social Policy

New Times Says No to Major League Baseball

Sorry, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. We won't hand over records that detail the inner workings of Biogenesis, the controversial Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied prohibited drugs to six professional baseball players, including Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.The reasons are manifol ... More >>

Jeb Bush Versus Marco Rubio: Jeb Just John Kerry'd Marco

Look, you guys. It's not so much that Jeb Bush is out of step with everyone else on immigration reform or that he's a complete flip-flopping dolt. It's just that he has horrible timing. And, as Jeb! points out himself, people were totally against the whole "path to citizenship" thing when he was ... More >>

Mitt Romney Wins Debate by Way of Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Wake up this morning and the consensus is that Mittington Willard Romnom RoboRomney Mittbot won the first presidential debate over Velvet Thunder Barack. Most pundits on Twitter and your mother agree. Romney was feisty, aggressive, kind of a dick, and on the offense. Meanwhile, Obama was a big ... More >>

Obama Seen As Being More Supportive of Small Businesses In Florida Than Romney, According to Poll

Do a Google Image search for "Obama and small business" and you'll get inundated with mindless memes harping on the president's "you didn't build that" comment. But a recent poll shows that 37 percent of small business owners in Florida see Obama as being more supportive of their ... More >>

Palm Beach Health Department Says Employee Stole Patient Names, Social Security Numbers

Palm Beach County Health Department on Friday warned that an employee accessed patient files and stole dozens of names and social security numbers as part of an identify theft scam. Officers confiscated a list that included 86 names and social security numbers of former pati ... More >>

Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson Second Official to Resign This Week

A note to anyone contemplating taking a state job in Tallahassee: You will probably have to work in Tallahassee.For the second time this week, a Florida official has resigned to be "closer to home" or some such thing: Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson submitted his resignation yesterday, saying ... More >>

South Florida Planned Parenthood Offering Free Cervical Cancer Screenings

Good news, all you women who don't want to die! Several lovely things are happening to help you stay alive this month: If you have insurance, as of today (or soon, depending on your plan), you'll no longer face copays for numerous reproductive health screenings, contraceptives, breastfeeding supplie ... More >>

Drinking With Slashpine: Their Semitruths on Inner Darkness, Nu-Metal, and Obamacare

Six Reasons Allen West Is Wrong About the Health Care Law Being Useless

Congressman Allen West, along with anybody else up for election in November, is really ticked off about the Supreme Court upholding the terrible progressive Marxist Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.West, however, is the only one calling it the "Patient Protection Unaffordable Tax Act (PPUT ... More >>

Obamacare Individual Mandate Upheld; Take That Florida Republicans

A lot has been said about the Supreme Court challenge to "Obamacare," the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One thing, though, that's gotten lost in the shuffle is that the case is called Health and Human Services v. Florida -- it was filed by Florida's then-attorney general Bill McCollum, ... More >>

Days of Rage: The U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama Leave the Undocumented and Their Allies No Choice but to Escalate Civil Disobedience

Politics, Pandering, and Punch Lines

Allen West Says He's Harriet Tubman, Promises to Get Black People Off the "Plantation"

Harriet Tubman​Always a fan of skewed historical references, Rep. Allen West went on Fox News yesterday to proclaim he's the "modern-day Harriet Tubman," and says he's the one that will get the nation's African-Americans off the "21st century plantation."The "plantation" isn't a new reference ... More >>

Nan Rich: Florida Republicans Only Take Federal Funds if it Promotes "Extreme Agenda"

thoughttheater.comThis nice chastity belt is apparently a better investment than preventing child abuse​Florida's Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich isn't too happy today about the state's Republican leadership rejecting $50 million in federal funds to protect people like at-risk kids and senior ci ... More >>

Rick Scott Thinks It's "Inappropriate" for Journalists to Do Their Jobs

Family Man?​Gov. Rick Scott, whose administration has continually drawn the ire of journalists for its culture of secrecy and unwillingness to process public records, said it's "inappropriate" for reporters to report.During a 60-minute question-and-answer session at the capital Monday morning, som ... More >>

Tea Party Outdoes Rick Scott -- Unveils Prewritten Faxes to Send Wasserman Schultz

This is what the future looks like.​Remember how old-school that Gov. Rick Scott was when he asked his supporters to send out prewritten letters about himself to newspapers around the state? Well, he has been outdone by the South Florida Tea Party, which is embracing the height of 1980s telecommun ... More >>

Gov. Rick Scott Wants to Drug-Test Welfare Recipients, Including His Little Brother -- UPDATE: Scott still won't talk

Rick Scott: Family man?​When Gov. Rick Scott, a rising star of the Tea Party movement, signed into law a bill May 31 requiring that Florida's welfare recipients pass drug tests, he didn't mention how close to home the issue hits. Scott has a brother in Texas who gets welfare -- and might also hav ... More >>

Donald Trump, Tax-And-Spend Liberal, Wows Tea Party.

What can I say? I hate rich people!​Having read Slate's recent article on Donald Trump's last presidential pseudo-candidacy, I'm now a little sad to have missed The Donald's Tea Party-coordinated Tax Day event in Boca Raton. The Donald, I now understand, is a great American, and we should probably ... More >>

Hello, SB 736. Goodbye, Teacher Tenure

Well, I hope Wendy Portillo is pleased with herself.Three years ago, the WPB teacher got on the bad side of one bad mutha named Melissa Barton, when she abused Mrs. Barton's autistic child in the classroom. After a year of paid leave, Portillo compounded the offense by returning to work and allegedl ... More >>

Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

Palm Beach Faces First Mosquito Advisory in Years; Infected Sentinel Chickens Are Lovin' Life

via Palm Beach Department of Health​Since invading public consciousness years ago, the words West Nile instantly make people shudder. In fact, some of the most cautious people in Palm Beach have probably been wearing pants and long sleeves in the balmy days since October 26, when the county's heal ... More >>

What the New "Pill Mill Bill" Will (and Won't) Do

​Broward County's thriving experiment in free-market health care -- pain pill clinics -- faces tougher regulations as of last Friday, when a piece of statewide legislation went into effect. The real title of the "Pill Mill Bill" is two single-spaced pages long. Suffice it to say that while the law ... More >>

DREAM Act Could Be Dream Come True for Coral Springs FSU Grad

Andrea Huerfano​This weekend dozens of undocumented immigrants took to the sands of Miami Beach to tell Congress to pass the DREAM Act this week. About 50 people formed human billboards spelling out the words "Dream Act Now" and "Call [Sen. George] Lemieux Now."Activists in South Florida -- a fron ... More >>

[UPDATED] Timing of Broward Health Proposal Raises Questions About CEO's Motive

From BrowardHealth.orgFrank Nask​The pending changes at the North Broward Hospital District have been advertised as a way to make the hospitals more profitable and adaptable in the era after health-care reform. But a far more recent news event may have played a bigger role in the move: Florida's R ... More >>

Ronnie's Kids

Today, amnesty is a dirty word. So what happened to the immigrants given a fresh start by Reagan in 1986?

Lake Worth and Immigration: A Call for Reasonable Debate

Dayworkers looking for work outside LW Home Depot.​After last week's Community Relations Board meeting in Lake Worth, where a reading group from the Night Heron Grassroots Activism Center presented a PowerPoint lecture on hate groups operating in Lake Worth, I posted a couple of items on the meeti ... More >>

Palm Beach County "Hate Groups" May Influence Local Policy

Even a board specifically appointed to promote harmony and mediate opposing viewpoints has a rough time getting residents -- or themselves, for that matter -- to see eye-to-eye in Lake Worth. Harsh words were exchanged Monday night when the Lake Worth Community Relations Board heard from activists a ... More >>

Wasserman Schultz Town Hall an Ugly Night for Democracy

I can't imagine a single person who was present at last night's town hall meeting by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who would say the event was productive or worthwhile. The opponents of health-care reform and the Democratic Congress showed no interest in a dialogue; they just wanted to scre ... More >>

After Health-Care Reform Is Signed, Will We Need Public Hospital Districts?

FlickrHouse Majority Whip James Clyburn and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after last night's passage of the health-care reform bill.​The U.S. health-care system has a tradition for cruelty toward the uninsured, and in Broward and Palm Beach counties, public hospital districts were created to deal with the ... More >>

Wasserman Schultz: Let's Not Panic About Health Care Reform

wassermanschultz.house.govDebbie Wasserman Schultz​This week's Republican upset in the Massachusetts Senate race cost Democrats their filibuster-proof majority and dealt a powerful blow to the party's hopes for health care reform. This afternoon I asked West Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman ... More >>

South Florida Immigration Officials Under Fire After Targeting Guatemalans in Jupiter

Flickr: anita gtThe government of Guatemala has issued a public protest based on immigration officials' actions in Riviera Beach.​A Guatemalan immigrant in Jupiter is facing deportation after Federal Express employees in Riviera Beach opened a package, inspected its contents, then reported a possi ... More >>

Wasserman Schultz on Fox News: Insurance Companies "Rape and Pillage" American Consumers

As you can see, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is quite comfortable on the cable news circuit; so comfortable that the otherwise circumspect West Broward Congresswoman is willing to describe in vivid terms exactly what deviant metaphorical acts the insurance companies are inflicting upon us virginal Ameri ... More >>

Ethics Complaint Against Lake Worth Commissioner Cara Jennings Is Dismissed

Mary Lindsey: Losing the battle against Jennings?​The ethics complaint filed on behalf of Lake Worth business owner Gary Dario against City Commissioner Cara Jennings has been dismissed yesterday by the Florida Commission on Ethics for "lack of legal sufficiency," according to a news release issue ... More >>

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Now a Lightning Rod in Party Politics Over Health Care

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the EconomyMove over, Alan Grayson. There's another Florida Democrat who's not afraid to ruffle Republican feathers -- West Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In yesterday MSNBC segment (roughly 3:15 of the video above) she w ... More >>

John DeGroot Digging Into Case of Gabriel Myers, the Foster Child Who Hung Himself

I'm dashing off for Halloween weekend, but as long we're giving props to gritty journalists who've gone blog-happy, here's some fantastic, in-depth reporting, courtesy John DeGroot, about the case of Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old foster child in Margate who hung himself with a rubber hose in April.T ... More >>

Lake Worth Commish Hopeful Scott Maxwell Tied to White Supremicists?

Maxwell: The crusade temporarily suspended​The Lake Worth elections slated for November 3rd just get weirder by the minute. As if the flap about Mayoral candidate Rene Varela's role in the sales of wild dolphins to a marine park in Dubai weren't scandal enough, now the Palm Beach County Environmen ... More >>

Embattled Coral Springs Physician Refuses Settlement in Wrong Side Surgery Case

Flickr: Alphafish​Last week, we told you about Dr. Bernard Zaragoza, the Harvard-educated surgeon who in 2007 operated on an 83-year-old man who had an inflamed gallbladder. Zaragoza was supposed to remove the gallbladder but took out the man's kidney instead.However innocent the mistake was, the ... More >>

A South Florida Muslim Leader Refused to Be a Snitch, so the Feds Tried to Destroy Him

In Overhaul of U.S. Immigration Facilities, More Will Resemble Broward's Facility

Photo: geogroupinc.comThe Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach​The Obama administration has plans for kinder, gentler immigration holding centers to be located in nursing homes and hotels. This new generation of facilities will be less like a prisons, more like the immigration facility in ... More >>

Florida's U.S. Senators: Which One's Tweedle Dee?

Flickr: Meeko_Your health care is in their hands. Feeling queasy yet?​At tonight's joint session of Congress, Florida will have two senators in the audience in a position to make good on a policy -- health-care reform -- that is the subject of tonight's speech and that was a major part of Barack O ... More >>

Obama Reacts to Ted Kennedy's Death

Flickr: diggz6873​A few moments ago, President Barack Obama released this statement about the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy: Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy. For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to adva ... More >>

Bless This Mess: Is Miami-Dade Really Desperate Enough to Copy Broward Health?

As the bearer of so much bad news for the North Broward Hospital District, we should acknowledge its recent note of favorable publicity. Despite recent scandals about the commissioners' ethics, their district is in far better financial shape than the public health care district in Miami-Dade, Jackso ... More >>

Broward Health Chair Speaks on Cobo Case

browardhealth.orgBroward Health Chairman Mike FernandezAfter allegedly mingling public responsibilities with private consulting work, Broward Health Commissioner Joseph Cobo faces an uncertain future. A week after those charges came to light, Board Chairman Mike Fernandez is seeking to protect the p ... More >>

Slick Trouble

The government's determination to deport old-school rapper Slick Rick knows no bounds

War for What?

Sgt. Cabadiana was the poster child for the Bush military. Then they took his wife away.

Letters to the Editor

Letters for October 25, 2001

Admitting Terror

The immigration service's own describe how America failed to protect its borders from the September 11 terrorists

Night & Day

January 21 - 27, 1999

Waste-Case Scenario

While negotiating a $21 million contract with Broward County, Unisys swept a $100 million health-insurance mess right under the rug.