John Tanton’s name is getting a lot of play. Depending on who you talk to, Tanton is either a raging pro-eugenics racist with a deep-seated animosity toward brown people — or — a beaming, professorial Renaissance man with an insatiable curiosity and an infallible moral compass. Why should you care?…
As a general rule, people like going to the beach and splashing around in the ocean, but they tend to get fussy when they emerge covered in toxic tar sludge from an exploded BP oil rig. Strange, I know–but decidedly true.Although the April 20 catastrophe has already released 6 million…
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress failed to see into the future and prevent the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What’s more, it’s apparent that the White House and Congress are not experts on how to prevent an oil well 5,000 feet below the ocean’s…
Following the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizion oil rig and subsequent spill, there were scattered protests around the country, a bunch of huffing and puffing on Capitol Hill, and a general sense of heartbreak as TV news viewers watched the first tar balls reach land in Alabama. But…
Farmers equate saying goodbye to atrazine to depleting Floridian agriculture. But a growing number of scientists believe atrazine, an herbicide widely used to remove weeds and promote the growth of cash-crop sugar cane, may cause cancer and birth defects in animals and humans. While the EPA met recently to review…
Lake Worth Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill has a headfull of programs she’d like to see in Lake Worth to make it the greenest little city in South Florida. On the agenda: composting, public orchards, rain barrels, and front-yard vegetable gardens. Mulvehill says her own back yard composting projects inspired her to…
Looks like Alan Levine has managed to find a job that’s tougher than the one he had managing the North Broward Hospital District. The former Broward Health CEO left the district in December 2007 to become the secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals, which means he’s going to…
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico barely warranted mention in the “West Weekly Wrap-up” that congressional candidate Allen West sends along to his South Florida supporters. West supports drilling for oil off the South Florida coast and apparently sees nothing about the situation in the Gulf that…
By the end of today, Florida drivers could have a new design option for their license plate: an image of a surfer inspired by the 60s surf flick, The Endless Summer. The state legislature is expected to OK a bill authorizing the new plate. Sounds pretty rad, right? But some…
It’s like some sort of child’s fable, or maybe a Virginia Woolf essay. It is both poetic, and a sad reminder of modern woes.After the coldest South Florida winter in more than 30 years, this spring will see a sharp reduction in the number of butterflies fluttering about.The Clay Glass…
These years have not been kind to the proverbial Floridian wallet: If Madoff didn’t take your money, then Rothstein probably did, and good luck selling that four-bedroom for more than the price of a Lego pirate ship. Now, Florida’s own cash crop, sugar cane, is under fire as the Environmental…
It has a torpedo-shaped body, rows of sharp teeth, and if it has to, it can swim up from the muck of east Broward canals and walk across land. Animal Planet’s Jeremy Wade, whose program River Monsters is the highest-rated show in AP history — with moe than a million…
Greg Bryant raises reticulated pythons, the longest snakes in the world. From the Retic Ranch in Delray Beach, he breeds animals that can grow to 20 feet and top 100 pounds and sells them around the world. His livelihood is now threatened by federal legislation, proposed last year by Florida…
Thirty-year-old Romeo Ramirez has worked on Florida farms for his “whole life,” he says. And despite the conditions he’s seen — stagnant wages, no benefits, and even migrant farm workers forced to work against their will — he still seems to see the state he lives in as a vast…
This week’s feature story details the escalating battle between Big Agriculture and the Humane Society, the organization behind a nationwide campaign to legislate the safety and comfort of farm animals. The Humane Society helped push through Florida’s “pregnant pigs” constitutional amendment in 2002 — its first such victory in the…
Lake Worth environmental activist Panagioti Tsolkas was one of many locals who banded together five years ago to protest the Scripps Biotech development on Mecca Farms. Some of those same activists, including members the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition and Everglades Earth First, are hoping to use similar tactics to…
Leadership Florida released its fourth annual Sunshine Survey yesterday, and already supporters of Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 are crying foul. The survey, conducted by Nielsen ratings, suggested that the constitutional Amendment 4 that supporters have fought to get on the ballot in November 2010 may not muster the 60 percent…
John Thrasher and Jeff Atwater worked as an attorney and a banker, respectively, before they became state senators and declared themselves experts on how to educate your Florida child. You see, it’s quite simple: Good teachers inspire students who score high on standardized tests; bad teachers cause students to score…
German Mendez is a biologist who works at Mack’s Fishing Camp in West Broward. Yesterday this video of Mendez was posted on YouTube by documentary makers Paul Franz and Jesse Swanson. It’s not clear whether the timing is related to this week’s Charlie Crist scandal, but it really does drive…
Your Hungry Man might have to settle for salad tonight: Lakeland, Florida-based Publix today ordered a recall on four seasoning mixes (call them “mother’s little helpers”) distributed in all 735 of its Florida stores. Bad enough that we’ve had to haul back our baby food and dog kibble, our burger…
Do skeptics enjoy some time in the sun? How about cruising the Caribbean, discussing the finer points of incredulity as they gaze upon crystal clear waters and tropical islands? You better believe they do.If South Florida seems a little more gullible this week, it’s because James Randi, the “King of…
Wheelabrator, the division of trash-hauling giant Waste Management that owns Broward County’s two mammoth incinerators, is desperate to persuade cities to renew a contract for dumping waste at their facilities. But that’s a tough sell, especially if you read articles like the one I wrote in September 2008, in which…
