Some interesting news and developments local-wise:
-- The Miami Herald's Todd Wright produced a quality piece of daily journalism for us this morning. In a story about Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti's campaign mailings that target challenger Peter Bober, Wright lays out Giulianti's false claims and then soberly tells us why each of them are wrong. Exactly what a reporter is supposed to do.
-- Jon Burstein writes about the arrest of Ada Velez, a worker at the Seminole casino in Coconut Creek who was selling slots vouchers on the down-low. My favorite part:
Velez, 37, who worked as a service representative, said she had come to view her customers as family and gave them vouchers to keep them happy."I wanted to keep them coming to the casino," she said after Tuesday's court hearing.
Ah, the spirit of giving got the best of her. Of course it didn't hurt that she was selling the vouchers at a 50 percent discount (according to one of the patrons who accepted them) and admittedly received tips for handing them out.
It's sort of a more heartwarming version of the Gulfstream slots scandal, which is apparently still being investigated by FDLE.
-- And finally, Alan Levine is leaving the North Broward Hospital District (aka Broward Health) to become the secretary of health and hospitals for the state of Louisiana. Anthony Man calls him a "health care wunderkind." I don't know about that, but Levine was definitely a marked improvement over Wil Trower, the previous CEO. Levine, unlike former leaders at the corruption-wracked public health system, actually responded to problems. He regularly communicated with me and, unlike so many thin-skinned leaders in South Florida, invited my scrutiny, which he told me was desperately needed not only at the district but in all of Broward County. Levine sent me an email after I published this John DeGroot piece and told me that he was looking into the South Broward Hospital District's program to see how he could improve the north side. It just shows that the man cares -- and among the often arrogant and greedy leadership that has marked NBHD over the years, that's a rarity.
