THE TREACHEROUS PATH TO A PRESIDENTIAL nomination, and ultimately to the White House, is mined with surprises, scandals, missteps and ill-conceived deeds.
There’s a lot of talk about the decline of journalism these days, but none of it’s true.
Every May, when the last northbound snowbirds are pulling onto I-75 and the locals start settling in for a slow, steamy summer, one event in Naples is as dependable as the thunderstorms that mark time until the flock returns next winter.
But it looks like this year, the 40th, will be the swan song for the Great Dock Canoe Race.
Megan Sorbara is president of the Naples Cat Alliance, a free-roaming, nokill shelter that last year found forever homes and families for almost 350 felines. She’s been involved since 2009, when a few people representing the Collier County Cat Coalition cared for 12 feral cats that lived in a barn.
I have glimpsed the future, and it is Alabama.
The South is famous for many things but progressive policies or enlightened political leadership are rarely among them. Politically moderate Southerners are lonely voices within the conservative choruses dominating the statehouses of the old Confederacy.
ALTAIR Gun Club owner Michelle Jones leads a “Women’s Firearms Familiarization Workshop” from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 7, at the ALTAIR Gun Club Deep Lake Facility in Copeland off State Road 29 east of Naples. Participants must be 18 years of age. No firearms experience is required. Topics will include the different types of firearms, proper use of a firearm and firearm safety.
Potters, artists, students and others are working fast and furiously to make and decorate bowls for the 2017 Empty Bowls Naples lunch. It’s still nine months away — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, in Cambier Park — but preparations began almost immediately after the 2016 event, which raised a record $95,000 to fight hunger in Southwest Florida.
¦ The League Club distributed a record amount in grants to a record number of nonprofit agencies in Collier and Lee counties earlier this month. Awards from the organization’s Community Trust Fund totaled $321,764.
Awesome governments
The Clerk of Court’s Office in the North Collier Government Services Center on Orange Blossom Drive will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 30, for anyone who wants to submit a United States passport application to the U.S. Department of State. Here are some suggestions for applicants that can save time on what promises to be a busy day:
Jaguar infuses driving passion into every car, even a responsible midsize sedan. How else can you explain a supercharged 380 horsepower rocket ship that has more trunk space than a Toyota Camry?
[img_assist|nid=242590|title=|desc= Pete Jenks, at the stern, and John Edwards paddling toward the finish line. Mr. Jenks has the distinction of winning the first-ever Great Dock Canoe Race in 1976 and also taking the title eight times since then.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of May 2-6:
Monday, May 2
Vanderbilt Beach and Goodlette- Frank roads: Red-light running
Pelican Marsh Boulevard and U.S. 41 North: Aggressive driving
Logan and Green boulevards: Speeding
GenShoah SWFL invites everyone to a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at Temple Shalom, 4630 Pine Ridge Road.
Here’s what’s coming up as part of Physicians Regional Healthcare System’s educational lectures and events. Most are free. Reservations are required and unless otherwise noted can be made by calling 348-4180.
In 2012, when NCH became the first Florida hospital and seventh in the nation to formally affiliate with the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, we knew the partnership would be a good one. And four years later, were we ever right.
The long-held approach to predicting seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness may need to be revisited, new research suggests.
To adopt or foster a pet
This week’s adoptable pets are from Brooke’s Legacy Animal Rescue, an all-volunteer, foster home rescue organization. For more information, call 434-7480, email Admin@BrookesLegacyAnimalRescue.org or visit brookeslegacyanimalrescue.com.
How often do you have your dog or cat vaccinated? If you’re still following an annual schedule, you may want to reconsider.
Vaccines save lives; there’s no doubt about it. They teach the immune system to recognize and fight off invading organisms that cause severe and sometimes fatal diseases, such as distemper and parvovirus.
NATURE IS A FINE AND DANDY THING LEFT untutored, and Floridians in particular like to look at it or even step into it, on occasion.
Are you newly retired and wondering what to do with your time? Volunteering at SCORE is a way for you to pass on your business knowledge and expertise to the next generation of entrepreneurs in the community.
One of the most frustrating things about being an individual stock investor is how quickly a stock can go from hot to not. Extreme examples of this over the last year include Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which in only a five-year period, went from around $30 a share to over $250 and now back to $30 a share.
First-generation students at Florida Gulf Coast University will get a hand up with a new endowed scholarship fund established by Suncoast Credit Union Foundation.
The credit union has pledged $25,000 to establish the fund; additional gifts can be matched by the state of Florida or the FGCU Foundation.
Q: How long should I keep various financial records?
— A. M., Elkhart, Indiana
In 2015, companies authorized a whopping $831 billion of repurchases of their own stock, the second-most in any year, per Birinyi Associates data. Is that good news? Well, it depends.
I had decided I wanted to invest in Netflix even before its initial public offering (IPO), when shares were made available to the public. I bought a few shares as early as I could, for less than $3 apiece (split-adjusted). Soon after its IPO, my investment counselor talked me out of Netflix, saying it would never go anywhere. So I sold it all. I figure he owes me lots and lots of money.
I trace my routes back to the 1972 journey of a secondhand ship, the Mardi Gras, from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico. My founder bought my flagship brand (which is now my name) in 1974 for $1 and the assumption of its $5 million debt balance. Today I’m the world’s largest leisure travel company, with a fleet of about 100 ships and 16 more arriving by 2020.
I trace my roots back to 1922, when three scientists founded the American Appliance Company. My early focus on refrigeration soon shifted to electronics, and after buying Amana Refrigeration in 1965, I introduced the first countertop microwave oven for consumers. I developed computers for NASA that helped astronauts land on the moon.
Nathaniel Reed, a born-and-raised Florida boy, stepped out of his home on the southern terminus of the Indian River lagoon one early morning last week, looked up the river where he can see five miles on a clear day, and spotted a pod of dolphins.
“They weren’t feeding on snook,” he says. “They were moving through.”
From the Mosquito River near Cape Canaveral south through the Indian River, the Banana River, the Sebastian Inlet, the Fort Pierce Inlet, the St.
You’ve probably seen the electronic message signs on the interstate lighting up with a “Silver Alert,” displaying the characteristics and tag number of a car and imploring motorists who spot it to call #347 or 911.
If the Republican Party is to be saved from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz’s runaway victory in Wisconsin will have been the inflection point.
If you thought this service to the GOP would be met with plaudits from the party’s insiders, you obviously don’t know anything about their relationship to the Texas senator.
A couple years ago, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach hosted a photography exhibit, “The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951.” It was organized by The Jewish Museum, New York, and the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.
Theodore “Ted” Soliday, executive director of Naples Municipal Airport, has been named the 2015-16 recipient of the Leadership Collier Foundation Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award.
Through the course of human evolution, stories have helped people understand themselves, their communities and their surroundings through narrative. Luckily for us in Naples, a new group called Storytellers of the Round Table is bringing back the tradition of storytelling with events that are growing in popularity.
As “kitten season” begins, Port Royal Jewelers and Naples Cat Alliance invite feline aficionados to a Kitten Shower from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the jewelry store on Fifth Avenue South.
More than 1,000 pickleball players are expected to convene for the first-ever U.S. Open Pickleball Championships set for April 26-May 1 at East Naples Community Park. Minto Communities has signed on as title sponsor for the next three years, with the goal to make the tournament an ongoing annual event.
¦ The PCBUG computer and technology club invites all those interested in learning more about computers and mobile devices to its regular meetings at 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at Naples Regional Library, 650 Central Ave. The next meeting is April 21. For more information call J. Burke at 659-0659 or email paddyeb@hotmail.com.
ALTAIR Gun Club holds a “Women’s Firearms Familiarization Workshop” from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 7, at the ALTAIR Gun Club Deep Lake Facility in Copeland off State Road 29 east of Naples. Participants must be 18 years of age. No firearms experience is required.
The Clerk of Court’s Office in the North Collier Government Services Center on Orange Blossom Drive will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 30, for anyone who wants to submit a United States passport application to the U.S. Department of State.
A new Hope PACE vehicle will be on the road soon as the result of an $84,750 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation made to Hope HealthCare Services. The funds from FDOT’s Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program will enable Hope HealthCare Services to add to its fleet for Hope PACE, a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.
Jessica Wajoli has been chosen as Dress for Success SW Florida’s 2016 Success Story and will be honored at its annual signature event, “A Fashion Night in Black & White” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, at the Hilton Naples.
Body-modification exemplar
On average, Florida women employed full time, year round are paid just 85 cents for every dollar paid to men — a yearly pay gap of $6,203.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of April 25-29:
Monday, April 25
Immokalee Road and Cypress Way East: Aggressive driving
Thomasson Drive at Avalon Elementary School: Speeding
Collier Boulevard and Manatee Road: Speeding
AARP offers classes to help older drivers learn about new traffic laws, refresh their driving skills and reduce their risk for tickets and accidents. Drivers over age 55 might be eligible for a discount on auto insurance.
¦ Girls on the Run Collier County holds its Superhero 5K Saturday, April 23, at Sugden Regional Park. Participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite superhero for a family run, children’s activities and more fun. The children’s run starts at 8:15 a.m. and the 5K sets out at 8:30 a.m. Registration is $10-$35.
Incorrect perceptions of Florida and Buick go hand-in-hand: Those in colder climates often think of the Sunshine State as home to retirees in LeSabre sedans with the turn signal welded in the “on” position. We know better, and so does Buick.
It only takes a frozen winter to change our state’s stodgy image, but a car company needs to be a bit more proactive.
The decisions are yours to make:
Should we maintain the status quo when it comes to solar energy, or should we leave the door open to alternative business models?
(Amendment 1)
Should sick people be allowed to use marijuana as medicine?
(Amendment 2)
When Maureen Yuster moved to Southwest Florida 25 years ago, she thought she knew what to expect.
“I guess I had a certain mental picture of what the community was like in Florida — a bunch of happy retirees, golfing, playing on the beach,” she said.
Remember that old question, the one that defies any generation gap known to humankind by reinserting itself into schoolyard conversations across time and space?
No, not that one — not the one about what goes where.
The other one, about trees falling in the forest. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make any noise?
Students at the University of Michigan called police the other day — because someone had written Donald Trump’s name in chalk.
No arrests were made. The episode is part of a nationwide trend of Trump supporters writing pro-Trump messages on sidewalks, stairs and other surfaces at college campuses, where fainting fits are sure to ensue.
It is more than a decade since Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm, weakened and then made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast. Though it was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane when it hit the mainland, its massive size and earlier intensity delivered a gargantuan storm surge deep into the coastlines of Mississippi, southeast Louisiana and Alabama.
Low-income working parents with preschoolers need a nurturing environment for their kids while they’re on the job. Fun Time Early Childhood Academy was established more than 55 years ago to do just that in Naples.
Jaguar Naples and Porsche of Naples are building on a decade of support for The Immokalee Foundation as sponsors of the 2016 Charity Classic Pro-Am and Charity Classic Celebration that take place in November.
Naples Equestrian Challenge recently celebrated the 450-plus volunteers who make the work of the organization possible.
¦ The Conservancy of Southwest Florida needs volunteers for duties at its von Arx Wildlife Hospital, which treats more than 3,200 injured, sick or orphaned animals every year. Among the jobs:
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida invites Southwest Florida to join the celebration of our water, land, wildlife and future at its annual Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16.
The power of precedent
Jewish Family and Community Services of Southwest Florida has received a lead gift of $100,000 from John Levy and Gail Rothenberg to establish an endowment fund for the agency. Mr. Levy and Ms. Rothenberg will also match additional gifts to the JFCS endowment dollar for dollar up to an additional $100,000.
Satisfy the Hunger, a program to help stock the shelves of Collier County food pantries for the lean days of summer, kicks off Friday, April 15, and runs through June 3. Ten local non-profits, including the Harry Chapin Food Bank, will benefit.
Celebrate the sixth annual “Cinco de Meow” to benefit Humane Society Naples from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at Painting with a Twist, where an instructor will guide cat lovers through the creation of a cat-centric painting. Cost is $40 and includes all materials for the painting along with house-made sangria and Cinco de Mayo-inspired snacks.
The Renaissance Academy at Florida Gulf Coast University seeks new topics and instructors for its lifelong learning program for winter/spring (January-May), summer (June-August) and fall sessions (September- December) at any of the academy’s 12 RA locations in Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties.
For the first time in its 16 years, the Naples Winter Wine Festival next year will be chaired by four couples, three of whom are founding trustees and past festival chairs and one who recently joined. NWWF 2017: “Bright Sunshiny Day” is set for Jan. 27-29 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort and in private homes throughout Naples.
The David Lawrence Center has announced the sale of its award-winning Child’s Path preschool to Collier Child Care Resources. The transaction is expected to close in the next 30-60 days.
Daring to be different has a thin margin of error. It’s the line that separates a tech entrepreneur from your weird uncle Randy. But both will find appeal and value in the asymmetrical Hyundai Veloster.
Here’s where Collier County Sheriff’s Office traffic-enforcement deputies will be the week of April 18-22:
Monday, April 18
Collier Boulevard and Tuscany Cove Drive: Speeding
Bayshore Drive and Botanical Place Circle: Speeding
Immokalee Road and Juliet Boulevard: Red-light running
AARP offers classes to help older drivers learn about new traffic laws, refresh their driving skills and reduce their risk for tickets and accidents. Drivers over age 55 might be eligible for a discount on auto insurance.
