After many months of obstruction by the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Governor’s office received deeply disturbing information regarding the organization’s practices over the past several years. These practices include exorbitant compensation payouts, abuse of state dollars, withholding of information, and breach of public trust.
Governor Ron DeSantis has requested Chief Inspector General (CIG), Melinda Miguel, to determine if there are reasonable grounds to refer the matter for criminal investigation to law enforcement. If the evidence leads to that conclusion, CIG Miguel will take the appropriate action going forward. This investigation is a top priority for Governor DeSantis.
The Governor has been urging action on this matter since 2019. Due to these ongoing concerns, the Governor recommended competitive procurement for domestic violence services rather than continuing to directly contract with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence in his Fiscal Year 2020-2021 budget recommendations. Continue reading
Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointments of Dr. Patricia Snyder, Nancy Hardt, Dr. Margarita Labarta, Dr. Karen Cole-Smith and Charles “Lee” Pinkoson to the Children’s Trust of Alachua County Advisory Board. These board members are appointed by the Governor from a list of candidates selected by Alachua County’s Board of County Commissioners.
Dr. Patricia Snyder
Dr. Snyder, of Gainesville, is the director of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She earned her bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from the State University of New York, her master’s degree in special education from Millersville University and her doctorate degree in early childhood special education from the University of New Orleans. Dr. Snyder is appointed to a four-year term. Continue reading
Chamber February Nothing But Networking Luncheon at Carrabas. We had so many people I think we overwhelmed the Restaurant, but we got it done, the meeting went well, the food was good. Bread was not served, I was disappointed, since that is one of their signature things on the menu. All of the networking went well. We had visitors from the local high school talking to our Chamber business people about what their business plan is. Most people I talked to were happy! March meeting will be held at the OutBack Restaurant, March 5th 11:30 am. Check the Lady Lake Chamber website for the monthly scheduled events.
The Marion County Genealogical Society will meet Thursday, March 19, 2020 from 2pm – 4pm at the Marion County Public Library, 2720 E. Silver Springs Blvd, Ocala, FL. Kathy Stickney will give a live presentation on the topic “Pass It On: Sharing Your Genealogical Research”. For further information, visit www.mcgsocala.org or contact Joel Swanson at (352) 897-0840.
The Lady Lake Police Department encourages drivers to be safe, follow the rules of the road, and remain focused when operating a motor vehicle upon the roadways of the State of Florida. One of the common causes of crashes involves distracted driving. Distracted driving is anything that takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road, or mind off of driving. One of the most dangerous distracted driving behavior is texting and driving, as it encompasses all three of these elements. However, texting and driving is not the only cause of distracted driving. Other common causes include eating, tending to children, grooming, or checking the GPS system. When a driver is not focused on the road, it limits their ability to perceive a hazard and delays their reaction time to avoid a crash. The Lady Lake Police Department urges drivers to stay focused on driving when operating a motor vehicle.
On multi-lane streets, roads, and highways, drivers are required to operate their motor vehicle in the right half of the roadway except when passing another vehicle traveling in the same direction. Drivers must not continue to drive a vehicle in the far left lane when being overtaken by a faster moving vehicle, unless the driver is preparing to make a left turn at an intersection. Additionally, Florida law requires you to Move Over a lane — when you can safely do so — for stopped law enforcement, emergency, sanitation, utility service vehicles and tow trucks or wreckers. Continue reading
America dialed 911 and Donald Trump answered the phone. Now they are trying to stop him because the DOJ investigation is getting to deep. It is uncovering some very powerful, well liked people.
I cannot understand why we are sending all these millions of dollars to all the countries that either hate us or try to help countries that want to hurt us. Our politicians are sending their family members out to join a company or start a company in other countries where their family have influence and could collect Millions for political influence. There are many documented cases connecting a number of influential politicians and politicians’ family members. It is money laundering, kickbacks, favor for a favor but millions of our tax payer is paying for all that. So that explains the impeachment and the rush to beat Trump because he is rooting out the crooks.
I think it runs deeper and higher than any of us could imagine!!! “Drain the Swamp!” Make them serve jail time, maybe not a lot of jail time but enough to make the others realize there is a price to pay for their crimes. Continue reading
The Ocala MSA ended the year with a run of national rankings which will frame the state of the local economy quite well. The area ranked #3 on U-Haul’s List of the Top 25 Cities for Growth. This ranking aligns well with previous analysis which showed the 25-34-year-old segment as the fastest growing demographic locally. Additionally, the area ranked among the top mid-sized metros in rankings for manufacturing (Advisor Smith) and entrepreneurship (Cloud Kitchen). All of these accolades reflect the area’s continued significant growth along with a diversifying economic base.
Two major primary employment announcements occurred during the year. Dollar Tree announced plans to construct a 1.7 million sq. ft. distribution center in the new Florida Crossroads Commerce Park which will result in a capital investment of more than $210 million and will create 700 new jobs. This will be the first facility in the new Florida Crossroads Commerce Park seeking to ignite growth in the southwest portion of the community. GTI, a publicly traded company in Canada, announced that an affiliate had purchased the former Mark III complex and would begin redevelopment efforts in the first quarter of 2020. The company is a major player in the medical cannabis industry and the complex will be a cultivation and processing facility. The first phase of the project will result in a $20 million investment and the creation of 100 new jobs. Continue reading
Friends,
The 2020 Legislative Session will have soon reached a conclusion, maybe even before this article makes it to publishing and we’re very much looking forward to being back home in the district. Once we return, we’ll be ready to tour the district to give a full report on all that we’ve accomplished these last few months. Until that time, however, we will keep providing a few updates on some of the highlights.
For this column, we should address the budget.
The Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 2500: Appropriations, a proposed state budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This proposed budget invests in Florida’s teachers, state employees, and environment while maintaining $3.5 billion in total reserves. With $500 million for a new Teacher Salary Increase Allocation and $325 million in increased flexible funding through the Base Student Allocation, the state budget provides funding for schools districts to increase the starting salary for classroom teachers while also investing in other members of school district personnel who serve our children. This has been a big priority for Governor DeSantis and President Galvano. I’m excited to be a part of this great team, working to improve education in the State of Florida. Continue reading
Who said “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”?
As I See It, anyone who doesn’t think that America, was, is and always will be ‘great’ qualifies for a one-way ticket to Havana, Beijing or Moscow, UNLESS they fear that the country is going broke!
Back in 1835, for the first and only time in history, President Andrew Jackson paid off the United States National Debt.
Where are we now?
Public debt now adds up to more than $22 trillion — the highest it has ever been.
This, despite the fact that we are in the largest economic expansion since World War II.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that the U.S. will continue to rack up more debt faster than ever before.
Over the next 10 years, Congress will have to borrow another $1.2 trillion which is far higher than any time in the past 50 years.
The CBO said. “Other than immediately after World War II, the average deficit has never been so large over so many years,” Continue reading
Business owner Kathy Haviland of Tri-County Senior Outreach Services, was holding an 8 year anniversary celebration and Ribbon Cutting on Thursday, Feb 20 from 4-6 pm at Harbor Chase in Wildwood (1477 Huey St., Wildwood). Kathy Haviland, Blake and Kate Gallaher from Luxury Diamonds and John Sokol from Bikes and BBQ 4 Autism, are coming together to present a $1500.00 check to Dream Acres for Autism (an organization that trains service dogs for autistic children). Photo by Gregg Malanczuk.
