‘Cook using bare hands to plate quesadillas,’ flies on clean dishes: 5 South Florida restaurants shut

Live roaches behind a fryer and a cook using bare hands to plate quesadillas were among the issues that led the state to temporarily shut five South Florida restaurants last week. The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as... Read More

Closing some Broward schools? Here’s why they could get new life as charter schools

Some schools may be on the Broward School District’s chopping block in the few years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean students won’t be able to get an education there. These campuses could get a second life as a charter school, due to a state law that gives charter schools access to surplus properties as well as zoning restrictions that could a restrict a school site from being used for non-educational reasons. A state law that hasn’t been discussed during the district’s... Read More

The Caregiving Boom Needs Spiritual Support

By calling or circumstance, millions in the “sandwich generation” feel the weight and cost of tending to aging relatives. Shanoah Bruner is among the quarter of American adults who find themselves in the “sandwich generation,” raising children under 18 and supporting aging parents. At her home in the Indianapolis suburbs, the 40-something mom lives with her husband, tween and teen daughters, mother-in-law, and biological father. The caretaking role comes naturally to... Read More

The Miracle of the Ear

Speech was not God’s only miracle at Pentecost. The Spirit also gave the gift of understanding, overcoming division and contempt. Tongues of fire, everywhere. In this loud and furious age, a time of protests and counter-protests, words come burning, singeing, scalding, stinging. “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” James wrote, “because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (1:19–20). But... Read More

High hopes: Aviation exec sees South Florida travelers riding his electric air taxi service and new Zoom! airline

So you want to start an airline. How about two? That’s what Miami airline executive-entrepreneur Ed Wegel proposes to do as he orchestrates what he calls “the last rodeos” of a commercial aviation career that dates back to the 1980s. Within a little more than a week, Wegel has formally announced plans to start a South Florida air taxi service using eVTOLs (electric vertical takeover and landing) aircraft, and a Miami-based scheduled airline that would serve small cities in the Northeast... Read More

Supporters of Broward judge up for re-election blast opponent’s apparent revenge motive

No one expected Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips to draw a challenger for her latest re-election campaign. But one Orlando lawyer with no apparent ties to Broward County qualified to run against Phillips, and the judge’s supporters believe it’s a campaign with an ulterior motive that has nothing to do with wanting to win. Phillips is currently the administrative judge of the circuit civil division, second only to Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter and a likely candidate to... Read More

How hot is it in South Florida? Let us count the ways 

“WBGT” may sound like a classic rock radio station playing cool songs, but it’s really yet another way for experts to tell us how dreadfully hot it is in South Florida, with a little more precision. The National Weather Service routinely informs us what the heat index, or “feels-like” temperature is, but the agency has recently been emphasizing what’s called the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, or WBGT. Like the heat index, the WBGT measured air temperature and relative humidity, but... Read More

‘World on fire’: Guaranteed another term in Congress, Cherfilus-McCormick reflects, looks ahead

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick went to Congress thanks to the slimmest possible victory, just five votes. Now, she’s secured another term without appearing on the ballot at all, after no candidate came forward to challenge her reelection. It was a last-minute surprise, and Cherfilus-McCormick will serve in the House at least until January 2027. “It feels great, and (is) a big relief,” she said. The Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat outlined her plans and priorities in a wide-ranging phone... Read More

The Sustaining Breath of God

As a physician, I witness countless first and last breaths. As a Christian, I am constantly reminded of how God breathes life into us through his Spirit. The scalpel sliced through the uterine wall. The amniotic sac ruptured, and fluid flowed across the blue surgical drapery toward me. The obstetrician’s fingers curled around the baby’s head while my gloved hands pressed firmly against the mother’s abdomen. The baby was larger than we had expected. I shifted my full body... Read More