Strip a presidential campaign of its bombast, BS and Civics 101 folderol, and you are left with the world’s most grueling and extended job interview — or at least that’s what presidential elections ideally should be. Every four years, we essentially hire, through our votes, someone to run the country, to be our CEO.
During the week, Spencer Cordell is a Lee County criminal defense attorney, but for the 2016 Python Challenge, he intends to head to the wilds of the Everglades, channel his inner Crocodile Dundee, and catch some big snakes on the weekends.
The Obama administration was right when it insisted that the capture and release of 10 American sailors by Iran showed the benefits of a cooperative relationship with Tehran.
After anthropologists from Cambridge University in England reported their conclusions last week about the remains of roughly 25 human beings they found in 2012 — people who had spent the last 10,000 years buried in the mud beside Lake Turkana in Kenya — this old world kept spinning ’round.
One of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s most picturesque natural settings happens to be manmade. Covered in native Florida marsh plants and calm settling ponds, it is a protected and fertile home to immature game fish, turtles, snakes, frogs and toads, and the preferred landing and feeding spot for numerous wading birds.
The headlines in major papers around the state said it all: In the last six months, $28 million in political contributions flowed into the electoral apparatus supporting Florida legislators. No one thinks the flush of money into campaign coffers is coincidental to the start of the annual session of the state Legislature.
Dear El Nino,
I was snuggled in my bed, diligently processing my list of anxiety dreams, when I was awoken by the high-pitched shrieking of my husband’s iPhone at our bedside.
“Stop it! Why did you do that?” I wailed, incoherently shoving at him to turn off what I wrongly assumed was our barely functional alarm clock.
How could I know it was you?
¦ The Yiddish Club of Naples meets at 10 a.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Temple Shalom, 4630 Pine Ridge Road, and welcomes anyone who enjoys hearing Yiddish spoken, read or sung. The next meetings are Feb. 2 and 16. Come schmooze! For more information, email Zane Garfein at zgarfein@gmail.com.
Dark skies are essential natural, scientific, cultural and economic resources. National parks, including Big Cypress National Preserve east of Naples, are home to some of the last remaining dark skies in the country.
The Gulf Coast Sailing Club will welcome Tucker Thompson, the TV and public host for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda, as guest speaker at dinner Saturday, April 2, for the club’s 40th Southwest Florida Charity Regatta. Mr.
The Collier County Bar Foundation, in conjunction with the Collier County School District and Court Administration for the 20th Judicial Circuit, host the 2016 mock trial competition for Collier County high school students Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30.
Streaming news
Tournament officials have announced the early commitments for the 29th Chubb Classic taking place Feb. 9-14 at TwinEagles in North Naples. The tournament is the former ACE Group Classic, which has been held in Naples community for 29 years.
Michigan State University alumni in Southwest Florida will hold the eighth annual MSU Endowed Scholarship Fund golf scramble at Quail Creek Country Club on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 15. The tournament draws more than 100 golfers and an additional 85 for dinner, the awards program and auction.
¦ Humane Society of Naples’ 10th annual Run for the Paws 5K sets out at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, at Naples Municipal Airport. Dogs with up-to-date vaccinations and cats in strollers are welcome to participate with their owners, but retractable leashes are not allowed. Same-day registration starts at 7 a.m. at the Civil Air Patrol building.
The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team takes on the North Collier Fire-Rescue Department and the Collier County Senior Softball League in a doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 13, at the North Collier Regional Park. The opening ceremony at 5 p.m. will have a Collier County Fire- Rescue Honor Guard, fire trucks and the introduction of dignitaries.
Students in the construction technologies program at iTech Immokalee Technical College are renovating the The Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida’s 97-yearold railway boxcar and strengthening its structural integrity so it can continue in use as a traveling educational tool.
It is often less exciting to be the dependable choice. That’s why there are no pinup calendars featuring tax lawyers, and artists don’t use cinder blocks for a canvas. But we are always happier with dependability in our lives. After all, who doesn’t like to flaunt it when they have the best accountant in town?
Tax filing season started with a warning from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office about an Internal Revenue Service telephone scam targeting taxpayers.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of Feb. 1-5:
Monday, Feb. 1
Goodlette-Frank and Solana roads: Aggressive driving
Airport-Pulling Road and Golden Gate Parkway: Red-light running
U.S. 41 North and Pine Ridge Road: Speeding
THE POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY BORNE BY FLORIDA legislators who jumped into a new and early legislative session last week is evident in the numbers.
The Sunshine State now includes about 20 million residents, roughly the population of the United States when Florida joined the union on March 3, 1845, just about the time the now historic capitol building in Tallahassee was completed.
It’s OK if you haven’t been paying attention — if perhaps a few elections have passed you by and maybe you’ve fallen behind. Names have changed, and you’re just not sure anymore who exactly your representative and senator in the Florida Legislature are. It happens to the best of us.
Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R, District 30:
“My personal goals include, first and foremost, testing the backlog of rape kits that exist, some 13,000 across the state that have been untested for years.
“These are from victims, and we will no longer accept that they have to wait six years or more.
Jan. 22, 2066, National Weather Service, Clewiston:
EAST COAST: Meteorologists predict calm weather along Florida’s east coast from Homestead north to the Bay of Okeechobee this week.
Art, both visual and culinary, will be the star at the 10th annual Empty Bowls Naples lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at Cambier Park.
Those attending the Harry Chapin Food Bank fundraiser will be greeted by the sight of about 2,500 handcrafted and hand-painted pottery bowls in a rainbow of color and design.
If you were asked to name the movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006, it might be a stretch. However, you might recall that one of the films competing for top awards that year was “Brokeback Mountain.” The film produced shock and awe among American audiences unprepared for gay cowboys kissing passionately.
The lazy conventional wisdom is that Ted Cruz is the new Barry Goldwater, doomed to suffer an electoral landslide defeat should he win the Republican nomination.
Imagine going blind or having any vision loss. Who would help you learn how to socialize, navigate, communicate and feel safe in a sighted world?
As the only Center for Blindness and Vision Loss in Collier County, Lighthouse of Collier has the mission to foster independence among the community’s estimated 14,000 local children and adults who are blind and visually impaired.
The Naples chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society offers field trips, presentations and workshops throughout the season. Reservations are required for field trips and workshops; lectures are open to all without reservations. Here’s what’s coming up in February and March:
Naples Botanical Gardens presents “A Personal History of Botanical Gardens: The Good, the Bad and the Bizarre” from 204 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, in Kapnick Hall in the Chabraja Visitor Center.
It’s a warm, sunny day. You decide to visit Tigertail Beach, and it’s low tide when you arrive. You look to the north, toward Hideaway Beach, and see what appears to be a red carpet covering the sands. But it’s a special sort of carpet, as it’s constantly in motion.
Weather permitting, resource management staff at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve will conduct prescribed fires Thursday and Friday, Jan. 21-22, commencing each day at 9 a.m. on Keewaydin Island as well as reserve lands south of Treviso Bay area and near Shell Island Road.
While the snowbirds flock south to Florida in January, car people head to Detroit. The North American International Auto Show is our time to peek into the crystal ball to see what the automakers see in the future. There are plenty of dream cars with sheet metal that defies gravity, and vehicles that drive themselves home.
The first of a yearlong series of public forums sponsored by a broad-based civic coalition are set for later this month. The forums take place from 6-7:30 p.m. at Naples City Hall.
The race for mayor of Naples — which puts incumbent Mayor John Sorey up against current City Council members Bill Barnett and Teresa Heitman — will be the focus on Monday, Jan. 25.
The new grade inflation
Some of world’s most distinguished experts on climate change, invasive species and global water issues share their knowledge during the 2016 Bernard and Susan Master “Moonlight on the Marsh” Distinguished Lecture Series presented by Florida Gulf Coast University at Naples Botanical Garden.
Part-time Naples resident Karna Small Bodman will present two lectures locally next month. Hosted by Iberiabank, the programs take place the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the bank’s branch at 3838 Tamiami Trail N. in Naples and Wednesday, Feb. 10, at the branch on Marco Island. Welcome receptions begin at 5:30 p.m. and the programs start at 6 p.m.
January is AAA’s Move Over awareness month. The law requires passing motorists to give adequate space to law enforcement, emergency medical and roadside assistance personnel as well as sanitation and utility service vehicles that are stopped on the side of the road.
The second annual Naples Disabled Veterans Banquet is set for Saturday, Feb. 6, at Naples Municipal Airport.
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office hosts a Family Health & Safety Fair from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at Corkscrew Middle School in Golden Gate Estates.
Naples civic leader and philanthropist Alan Korest has been named Hodges University Humanitarian of the Year for 2016. Chosen unanimously by the selection committee comprised of past award winners, Mr.
ARTISTS OPEN UP THE WORLD TO US, SHOW US WE WHO ARE and who we’re not and who we wish to be. They reveal our darkest impulses and most casual whims and the complicated world we live in. They point out the things we might miss, things that words can’t always describe.
Dear Bill,
I know I’ve said this before, but I think we have a lot in common. Have you noticed how much I look like you, Bill? I’m good at jokes, too. I say funny things in front of people all the time. But they don’t laugh. What am I going to do to make them laugh?
Please help,
Teddy Cruz
Dear Teddy,
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge hasn’t heretofore been known as a locus of government tyranny or much of anything else. Saying that the refuge, established in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, is in the middle of nowhere makes it sound too centrally located. It is in southeastern Oregon, about 30 miles from the nearest town of Burns, population 2,722.
On a page taken from a classic art heist novel, thieves were able to abscond with more than $200,000 in bronze sculpture from a local storage facility just before Christmas. Artist Ben Foster had recently arrived from his native Wyoming last month with plans to display and sell his pieces at several events between Naples and Sarasota over the next several weeks.
It is a relief to find cause for celebration this early in 2016. A cloud of unease followed us into the New Year, stoked by the rhetoric of fear, anger and bigotry that has weaponized the politics of the 2016 presidential campaign. Courageous voices of right and reason are their antidote.
Jewish National Fund hosts its annual Naples Tree of Life Award dinner Thursday, Feb. 4, at TwinEagles Country Club. The humanitarian award is given in recognition of outstanding community involvement, dedication to the cause of American-Israeli friendship and devotion to peace and security of human life.
This year’s recipients are Anthony Solomon and David Braverman.
Stand-up comedian Rabbi Bob Alper brings his “unorthodox’ jokes and his insights about humor to Naples next month. Sponsored by the Naples Jewish Congregation, Rabbi Alper’s visit includes his stand-up show on Thursday, Feb.
The Tau Epsilon Rho Law Society and the Cardozo Society of the Jewish Federation of Collier County invite the public to a Shabbat dinner to mark the opening of Tau Epsilon Rho Law Society’s 95th annual convention on Friday evening, Feb. 5, at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.
The Winter 2016 spiritual intensive program based on the teachings of Eckhart Tolle (“The Power of Now”) meets from 6:30-8 p.m. Thursdays, Jan. 28-March 3, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples, 6340 Napa Woods Way. Facilitated by Linda Allen, who has been a student of Mr.
Hard times for science
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of Jan. 18-22:
Monday, Jan. 18
U.S. 41 East and Lakewood Boulevard: Red-light running
Oil Well and Immokalee roads: Aggressive driving
Davis Boulevard and Shadowlawn Drive: Red-light running
This is one of the most interesting gambles in the luxury car game today. Lincoln has redesigned its MKX crossover to look just like its little brother MKC. In fact, it is difficult to tell the difference between the two cars pictured and that may be the exact intent.
The second annual Naples Disabled Veterans Banquet is set for Saturday, Feb. 6, at Naples Municipal Airport.
As hard as parents try to set the right examples, teach the right lessons and reinforce the right habits to their children, we all manage to, at some point, mess up along the way.
The overall theme of my five prognostications for 2016 is that the era of hyper-change continues in the health care industry and that it requires hyper-vigilance if we are to thrive as we have been in Southwest Florida.
Disposing of old or no longer needed household and prescription medicines often presents a challenge. Even though numerous locations through Collier County serve as drop-off sites, people must take the meds to those places.
Not so anymore, at least for a limited time.
The holidays are over, you’re back at work or school and you’re still enthusiastic about your new year’s resolution to get in better shape. I think most of us commit to some version of that resolution every year: to exercise more, take up a new activity, eat right.
To adopt or foster a pet
There’s nothing worse than that super scary moment when you realize that you’re failing terribly at your new year’s resolutions, and it’s mostly because the holidays are STILL HAPPENING.
WE’VE REALLY GONE AND DONE it now, haven’t we? And not for the first time.
The Babylonians did it first, and not to themselves but to the gods — they made solemn new year’s resolutions, promising to pay off debts and return objects they’d borrowed.
Roads swell with more traffic every year in Southwest Florida, and planners look ahead at how to manage it. That includes hundreds of Florida Department of Transportation projects from replacing traffic lights and sidewalks to a major expansion of Interstate 75 and increasingly traveled corridors such as State Road 82.
We should be glad that 2015 has passed into memory, because it was a year when we could barely hold it together.
This is the story of one American man.
Burdie See-Baker Byrd, listed as “not legitimate,” was born in Attapulgus, Georgia, near Bainbridge, about 25 miles north of the Florida state line on June 5, 1939, according to his birth certificate, filled out in the hurried, barely legible penmanship of a clerk who may have believed he didn’t count.
Every chance we can, Linda and I had to Weekend Willie’s for the Mudbone Blues and Beyond Jam. At the risk of hyperbole, I’ve never before witnessed the complex, syncopated, extemporaneous and mesmerizing play that bassist David Carlton Johnson brings to the Mudbone mix.
Before we fully launch ourselves into the new year, it is obligatory to take a backward look and see what transpired, hoping most of it won’t follow us into the future. Only then can we celebrate, give a sigh of relief and wish good luck and farewell to the previous year.
