Taking Sides: Who’s Behind Amendment 4?

One of the fiercest battles to be waged this election year will be over Amendment 4, a citizens initiative aimed at putting decisions about growth in Florida back into the hands of voters. On November 2, we’ll go to the polls, and essentially send our government a message about whether…

Joyce Tarnow Pricks Up Her Ears at Pompano Resolution

The City of Pompano Beach thundered last week, and thousands of miles away, Joyce Tarnow picked up the faint murmurings of her old adversaries.On Tuesday, January 26 the Pompano City Commission unanimously voted for a resolution to oppose Amendment 4. Vice Mayor George Brummer led the charge against the citizens…

FPL Plant Deals Dirty on the Race Question, Activists Say

Environmental activists and some Riviera Beach residents are fed up with living with “one of the dirtiest power plants in the entire state of Florida,” according to a news release from the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition. The coalition, along with the Riviera Beach Civic Association, will host a public…

UPDATED: Haiti Earthquake Jolts Local Charity

Jon Pace, a boardmember of local charity  Living Water Ministries of the Palm Beaches told us by phone this morning that Executive Director Pastor Etienne Jacklin’s house in the Bon-Repos area north of Port au Prince was destroyed, and his wife’s arm badly injured by a falling block, when the…

Manatees to Pythons: A Rough Weekend For Local Wildlife

Iguanas falling from the sky.Pythons slithering from the swamps and into suburban yards in search of warmth. It would make a great horror movie if it weren’t true life. It’s been so frigid in South Florida this week that 250 sea turtles in cold shock have already been picked up…

Lake Worth Charity Makes Holiday Contributions Count

Tis the season for charitable giving, and choosing where to spread your meager holiday surplus is harder than ever this year. But folks who donate to one Lake Worth charity don’t have to worry about whether their dollars will be spent wisely. For the Children  made Florida Trend’s list of…

Drug May Help Compulsive Gamblers

Maybe gambling should be treated like any other addictive substance. Researchers have found that the same antidepressants typically used to combat addictions to alcohol and drugs can help people who have a compulsion to gamble themselves into poverty.That report is one of the highlights of this week’s science conference at…

Did South Florida Invent the Foam Finger?

If you watched much of the Vikings-Cardinals game last night (it wasn’t much of a game), you probably saw this week’s installment of Toyota’s “Great Moments in Tailgating History.” The topic: the origin of the giant foam finger.The legend, according to the entertaining reenactment, is that the foam finger came…

Finally – Some Swine Flu Vaccine!

Here’s a cut-and-paste press release about where and when you can — finally — get the swine flu vaccine. Officials at the Broward County Health Department announced Broward County’s first H1N1 Vaccination Clinic which shall be open to all members of the public starting Monday, November 30, 2009 at the…

A Local Halloween Houdini Seance From a Surprising Source

If the most famous magician in history were to come back from the dead as a publicity-related favor for any group or organization, it would probably be the skeptics.Harry Houdini spent most of his career debunking psychics and scamsters, convincing the world that these people are frauds — not worth…

Lauderdale Dr. Gary Snyder Argues Against Flu Vaccine

Historians will look back some day on the autumn of 2009 as a period of mass hysteria over a relatively innocuous strain of flu called H1N1, which so far has killed 1,000 Americans (normal seasonal flu averages 36,000 U.S. deaths per year, according to the CDC — see how they…

Is Lake Worth Mayoral Candidate a Dolphin Trafficker?

It’s not unusual for politicians to want to hide controversial details of their lives: adulterous affairs, DUI arrests, bankruptcies. Leave to the reliably kooky city of Lake Worth to have this week’s most interesting political scandal: rivals of mayoral candidate Rene Varela — a marine mammal veterinarian — say that…

Waiting for Swine Flu Vaccine? Just Skip It.

In what may come to be called the Great Swine Flu Fuck-Up, local health officials have vaccinated thousands of schoolkids this year with the regular seasonal flu nasal mist — a vaccination which unfortunately promises to protect them not at all. The seasonal flu vaccine purportedly protects against three viral…