What if the notion is not true?
And even if it is true, as some compelling evidence and the wisdom of thoughtful people sometimes suggest, perhaps there are solutions to a problem many have noticed with dismay in recent years: Americans appear to be increasingly disconnected from each other.
For many Southwest Floridians, swimming is simply a fun activity or a form of exercise.
Personally, my takeaway from the whole affair was surprise and appreciation. The beautiful, well-spoken Melania Trump took the words right out of Michelle Obama’s mouth and delivered them as if they were entirely her own in a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
What we don’t want is for this to be a glimpse of the future.
It started in May with a rogue bufo toad. Unbeknownst to us, the carnivorous, poisonous threat to the health and safety of our family and pets found a way into our screen enclosure and silently prowled our lanai for hours before we found it the next morning.
No matter who wins the White House in November, the election of 2016 already has produced one clear-cut loser.
Bill Clinton.
Founded in 2012 by Diana Riley, the fundraising group Swinging With Purpose had a hugely successful first quarter of its fourth year.
Hellcat. Dodge was able to inspire an entire generation of muscle car fans with this one word. It means that an already massive 6.2-liter V8 motor is given a supercharger to create 707 horsepower of rolling thunder.
Hope for Haiti and IBERIABANK host the sixth annual Neighborhood Pub Crawl the evening of Saturday, Aug. 13. Space is limited, and the first 100 people to sign up will receive a limited edition T-shirt.
Bank of America has awarded the David Lawrence Center a $5,000 grant to fund the Supported Employment Services program for low- and middle-income individuals in the community with mental illness who struggle to find jobs.
The seventh annual Thinking Outside the Box: “Lucky 7” workshop for nonprofit organizations in Collier County is set for 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday, Aug. 19, in the Community Room at the Naples Daily News, 1100 Immokalee Road. Registration is open now for the free program.
The power of prayer
¦ Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples hosts the fourth annual Castles for Kids sand castle competition from 8 a.m. to noon on Monday, Aug. 1, at La Playa Beach & Golf Resort. Team registration is $125. For more information, call 514-0084 or visit cmon.org.
The hungrier parents are at mealtimes, a new study shows, the more they might feed their young children, which could have implications for childhood obesity.
¦ Now in its 65th year, the 110-member Rotary Club of Naples announces the following officers and board members for 2016-17: Jane Wingate, owner and executive vice president of Gulf Coast Mortgage of Naples, president; Mark Matos, president-elect; Lisa McCarthy, treasurer; Jeff Galati, secretary; Jay Crandall, sergeant-at-arms; Mia Delk, immediate past pre
As the start of a new school year approaches, the Florida Department of Health-Collier County reminds parents and caregivers to check the immunization status and school requirements for their children and, if necessary, to visit the local health department or their private health-care provider as soon as possible.
Collier County students start school Monday, Aug. 15.
In the wake of the mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando earlier this month, Avow reminds the local community that grief support services are available to anyone experiencing loss. Avow’s bereavement counseling, workshops and support groups are offered at no cost and conducted in a safe, compassionate environment for people who need help in times of grief.
The Florida Department of Health in Collier County now provides family planning services to men and women at the DOHCollier Naples and Immokalee locations. Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida previously provided family planning services for Collier County through a contract with DOH-Collier.
The next support group meetings for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America take place from 5-6 p.m. Thursdays, Aug. 4 and Sept. 1, at Naples Regional Library, 650 Central
Ave. Gastroenterologist Raymond Phillips will address the July meeting and take questions from those in attendance. For more information, call 649-1336. ¦
We all think ‘chubby’ babies are cute, but obesity continues to increase in the U.S., beginning at early ages. Studies show that more than one-third of children are obese, and the condition has become one of the biggest health threats for children. Lee Memorial Health System pediatrician Denise Drago, M.D., aims to reverse the trend.
IF DOGS HAVE MASTERS, CATS HAVE servants.
True enough.
But our relationships with our pets are for anything but the birds.
They preen, they play and they poop where they will.
At the end of the day, they are as devoted to us as we are to them.
Indiana lawyer and Gov. Mike Pence, who tells us he’s “a Christian, a conservative and Republican, in that order,” grew up in an Irish Catholic family of Hoosier Democrats who celebrated John F. Kennedy.
Now, he’s an evangelical Christian.
Florida Weekly took home three journalism awards at the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine State Awards ceremony held July 9 in Miami.
The contest is open to all professional print, broadcast and online journalists in the state of Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Summer is supposed to be the time you get to do things that elude you all year long because you work for a living. When June appears and summer officially begins, we try to cram into an abbreviated space all the pleasures denied because we have neither the time nor the money nor the choice to do otherwise.
Naples has a seven-member City Council consisting of a mayor and six council members who are nonpartisan and elected at large. Serving four-year terms, City Council members and the mayor are limited to two consecutive terms.
President Barack Obama is a lawyer, not a statistician, and it shows.
The Collier County Supervisor of Elections office reminds Collier County citizens that they must be registered to vote by midnight Monday, Aug. 1, in order the vote in the Tuesday, Aug. 30, Primary Election.
In the July 14 story on page A1 headlined “EC Primer” about the Electoral College, observations regarding the establishment of the EC were incorrectly attributed to Richard Hasen of the University of California, Irvine School of Law.
Hopes for Haiti and IBERIABANK host the sixth annual Neighborhood Pub Crawl the evening of Saturday, Aug. 13. Space is limited, and the first 100 people to sign up will receive a limited-edition T-shirt.
Friends of Foster Children Forever has received a $25,000 grant from The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation to help expand the organization’s academic mentoring program to serve foster children in Glades and Hendry counties in addition to the Collier County children already served.
When a young girl known as “the dog whisperer” receives a sewing machine for her birthday, what else is she supposed to do but create canine accessories? That’s exactly what 10-year-old Alex McDonough did back in March, and now she’s running her own business.
A great lawyer
Collier Child Care Resources recently received $15,000 from the Terra Cotta Invitational Golf Tournament that took place this past spring at the Naples National Golf Club. More than 200 children are enrolled in CCCR’s early learning programs. The Terra Cotta gift has been designated for partial tuition assistance and the purchase of supplies and equipment.
Literacy Volunteers of Collier County announces that plans are underway to expand the Children and Parents Reading Together Program to serve up to 10 Head Start schools in Collier County.
Run in conjunction with Collier County Public School District, the program will serve 12 4-year-old children each week throughout the coming school year.
Threatened least terns, the smallest of Florida’s terns, nest in colonies on site-specific sandy beaches each year. They spend winters in Central and South America and are present in Southwest Florida from March through August.
¦ The Gulf Coast Orchid Alliance meets Thursday, July 21, at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church. Members are invited to bring orchids from their collections for judging, and an orchid raffle is held. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, and all are welcome.
Minto Communities, developer of The Isles of Collier Preserve and TwinEagles in Naples, has signed a multi-year contract extension as title sponsor of the US Open Pickleball Championships in Naples. The 2017 USOPC will be held April 23-30 at East Naples Community Park. It is anticipated that 1,000 athletes will compete on the park’s 48 world-class courts.
With assistance from a high tech robot, National Institutes of Health researchers have identified and tested a molecule that shows promise as a possible treatment for the rare Gaucher disease and the more common Parkinson’s disease.
Ironically, the first sign of dangerous heat stroke or heat-related illness is often the absence of sweat. As the temperature rises, your body’s natural cooling mechanism — perspiration — evaporates and helps to cool your body. But on those really hot and humid days, evaporation is slowed and your body runs a higher risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
One stark reality and constant challenge for every health-care institution today is the need to respond to decreased reimbursements for physicians, services and health-care systems such as NCH.
Imagine being legally blind but still able to navigate a big city like Chicago alone and enjoy a full life with family, community support and independence. Your vision is fading year by year, however, and by the time you relocate to Collier County, it’s almost gone. Here you are, nearly blind and left to your own devices, in a new and unfamiliar town.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2016 IS NOT YET IN FULL SWING, but already voters are in a state of deep despair. If the opinion polls are to be believed, a majority of Americans would prefer someone other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States.
I’m having a few people over this week to celebrate.
It’s not everyday you turn 60, is it?
You want to have a party. You want to chortle blithely in the face of mortality, flanked by your own kind. So even though there’s a hollowness to your own cheer, a sort of “Oh, s**t” echo that only you can hear, you make merry.
Maybe you saw the drama unfold on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was broadcast through social media. The cameras typically used by C-span to record the action in the chamber were turned off. Unruly lawmakers had broken House rules. Their offensive behavior was deemed far too unseemly to be given the benefit of a national audience.
It’s summertime, which in addition to the oppressive heat, means everyone is putting a happy spin on enforced family togetherness. I see you, Facebook, trying to convince me that my preschool best friend from across the country is having “a totally rad vacation with the fam!” while surrounded by relatives who appear to be Marilyn Manson roadies.
Recently a state of emergency was declared for Lee, Martin and St. Lucie counties from the filthy water and toxic algae spilling from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and estuaries. The irony is that the state knowingly has made decision after disastrous policy decisions that have contributed to this crisis.
¦ The DPI-SIG Naples Digital Photography Club meets from 7-9 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at Florida SouthWestern State College, 7505 Grand Lely Drive. The next meeting is July 14. Meetings are open to the public, and all levels of photographers are welcome. For more information, visit dpi-sig.org.
Blessings, guaranteed
“My dad has a race car in Missouri that he wants in Naples.”
Anyone who has to take a racecar (or boat, camper or other toy) from mid-Missouri to Naples needs a good tow vehicle. It only seems fitting that our classic Datsun 240Z would be paired with the all-new 2016 Nissan Titan XD.
Three Southwest Florida buildings are in the running for the third annual People’s Choice competition sponsored by the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects. The contest has garnered more than 1 million votes in its first two years.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, regular physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
But when the temperature rises, so does the risk for heat-related illnesses, including cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
These can occur when the body can’t cool itself quickly enough.
While bipolar disorder is one of the most-studied neurological disorders — the Greeks noticed symptoms of the disease as early as the first century — it’s possible that scientists have overlooked an important part of the brain for its source.
Throughout the nation, hospitals have evolved into important leadership institutions, employing more people and dealing with more citizens than any other community entity. That is certainly the case here in Naples.
New data show senior housing in the Naples region is 87.7 percent occupied, as compared to 89.7 percent nationwide, with new construction underway. An analysis from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care shows 4,394 senior housing units in Naples at the end of the second quarter 2016, with 540 of those units unoccupied.
Who goes to Arizona in the summer? It’s not the first place traveling pet owners think of, especially with temperatures soaring as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit recently.
Blue Zones Project-Southwest Florida invites local business owners to the second annual Blue Zones Project Worksite Summit from 8:45 a.m. to noon Thursday, July 28, at The Club at The Strand. Employers will learn how to build a more engaged, healthy and productive workforce.
To adopt or foster a pet
One of my girlfriends calls it “torture,” another says she’d rather scrub the inside of her stove with toilet paper, and yet another tells me she’d prefer to have lunch with her overly critical mother-in-law every day for an entire week.
Almost anything, they say, is better than trying on swimsuits.
It would seem the classic wristwatch is running out of, well, time.
One could argue that antiques are the great equalizer. Think about it: Just about everyone has some trinket large or small that was passed down by a friend or relative.
And much of the value we assign to that item may be because of the person with whom we associate the piece. So it has to be worth something, right? Not necessarily.
There’s a lot of talk about generations — the greatest this, the boomers that, the Xers some other, the millennials now. I’ve always been suspicious of the distinctions.
