Guest Author, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorFebruary 19, 2015

Speaker Crisafulli is right: no one has really made the case to him or anyone that the statutory language of SB 1030 is flawed; but it absolutely is and must be fixed legislatively. I’m willing to accept partial blame here. The conversations surrounding 1030 have largely been driven by two groups of political actors: advocates […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 18, 2015

He worked for six Florida governors and two presidents, helped found 1000 Friends of Florida, and is active in the Everglades Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. His resume is impressive. But the Apollo School Foundation, kicking off a new speaker series, wanted Nathaniel Reed, 81, well-known as a storyteller, to share his childhood […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 18, 2015

There is a reason we study Russian and European history as an integral part of our history curriculum. History is required from pre-K to college because it is a vital part of knowing how you and your country came to be. History also helps shape perceptions about the people being studied. However, no matter how […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 17, 2015

Whenever a politician is caught with his pants down, the wife is always a curious spectacle, so many in the media putting her under a microscope. Remember Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner’s accomplished wife and most ardent supporter? When she took to the microphone after one of his more recent transgressions, we saw something unfamiliar and, […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 17, 2015

Although I am at the end of my third visit to India, this is still a nation that feels more remote from my experiences than any other. In the far south, it took nine hours to drive the hill country from Tamil Nadu on the east coast of India to the edge of Kerala on the west. […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 17, 2015

As taught in mainstream culture, American history propagates this nation as the womb of freedom, justice and liberty. There are American creation myths as exemplified by the “Founding Fathers.” There are founding documents as revered as biblical texts for their promise of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That is why the argument that […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 16, 2015

We get the calls every day. Parents, siblings, grandparents and friends are reaching out to our organization worried that their loved one is abusing prescription medicine. Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic and is skyrocketing among our nation’s teens. Kids are popping pills at an alarming rate. In fact, prescription medications are now the most […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 15, 2015

The ironically named Student Success Act of 2011 mandated something called the Valued Added Model, which attempts to quantify each teacher’s influence on each student. The complicated formula purports to predict what a student’s normal gain scores on a standardized test will be from one year to another. If a student gains more or loses […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 12, 2015

It’s not every day that a divorce lawyer reports her own client to the state child abuse hotline. But that’s what John Jonchuck‘s lawyer did. On Jan. 7, Jonchuck showed up at the firm’s office dressed in pajamas, toting his 5-year-old daughter Phoebe, along with a Bible he incorrectly believed to be written in Swedish. Jonchuck’s lawyer told the Hotline that her client was “out-of-his-mind […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 12, 2015

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The fifth resolution before the U.S. House of Representatives in its first meeting in January was overwhelmingly defeated along a pure party-line vote of 238 Republicans saying “no” and 160 Democrats nodding “yes.” The issue affected the five “nonvoting” members of Congress representing four Trust Territories and the District of Columbia. House Resolution 5 would […]

Guest Author

Ben Pollara: Legislative action needed on Charlotte's Web

Sally Swartz: Nathaniel Reed's Old Florida included movie stars and snakes

Anthony Major: History of black inventors needs more coverage

Catherine Durkin Robinson: The unrealistic demands of monogamy

Alan Farago: Travels in India conjure memories of priceless Everglades

Leonce Gaiter: American history is not black history

Steve Pasierb: Curbing the devastating trend of prescription drug abuse

Catherine Martinez: 'Value Added Model' of no value to teaching

Florence Snyder: Phoebe Jonchuck tragedy reveals underpaid staff, DCF doublespeak

Joseph Carter: House action ensures 4 million U.S. citizens have no vote