CHIPs Are Falling

It’s been one of the more popular federal programs the past two decades, but Congress failed to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) before its authorization ran out Sept. 30. Now it’s unclear whether legislation to extend the program will pass before states, such as Florida, run out of money to keep the it afloat.

And children’s health is now a political pawn in Washington, D.C.

Enrollees in the state’s CHIP program - known in Florida as KidCare - are required to pay monthly premiums of $15 or $20. KidCare is reliant on federal funding, which accounts for 96 percent of its overall spending. If Congress doesn’t act soon to renew CHIP funding, Florida’s CHIP program will be forced to make some painful - and unpopular - choices. These could include shutting down the program until funding is restored and sending closure notices to thousands of Utah families as early as mid-January.

This problem is not unique to Florida. States across the country will also be running out of funding and left with the same hard decisions.

According to the federal government’s benefits resource website, CHIP provides health coverage to nearly eight million children and families nationally with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but can't afford private coverage. Benefits covered through CHIP include routine check-ups, immunizations, doctor visits, prescriptions, dental and vision care, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, laboratory and X-ray services, and emergency services - in other words, basic health care options.

CHIP usually has near-unanimous bipartisan support, but has been neglected the last quarter of 2017 because of Congressional Republicans’ preoccupation with passing their current tax plan to redistribute our national wealth to billionaires and to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As a result, we have seen our leaders repeatedly ignore the needs of children. Instead, they have taken actions that put children’s health care at risk.

Adding insult to metaphorical injury, the GOP tax plan would repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will cause 13 million fewer Americans to be covered by 2027 because they will opt not to get insurance. Additionally, Americans could expect a 10 percent spike in premiums in most years over the next decade. So not only are Congressional Republicans not helping children who depend on CHIP, they are repealing the individual mandate, and in doing so, saving over $300 billion to help pay for their massive tax cuts.

And yet, CHIP funding is in limbo.

Taking care of our children’s health care is supposed to be about people, not politics. Sadly, I'm not so sure this is the case anymore, even if the CHIP issue is resolved before it’s too late. I hope Congress gets its priorities straightened out and allow citizens across the nation to have the medical certainty they deserve and need.

A Small Step For Educators

It’s not what teachers in the Palm Beach School District were hoping for, but a moderate pay raise will pacify 12,500 educators, as well as other district employees and administrators in the new year.

The agreement, unanimously approved by the district Board of Education this week, gives teachers evaluated as “effective” last year 2.75 percent raises, while those rated “highly effective” are in line for a 3.5 percent increase in pay. The tentative raises are retroactive to July 1, and will be the largest that the county’s teachers have seen in four years if ratified by the Classroom Teachers Association membership.

District administrators, including Superintendent Dr. Robert Avossa, will see 3 percent raises.

In all, the raises will tally around $30 million.

While CTA President Justin Katz implied he is generally pleased with the final negotiation numbers - and there are some notable improvements over recent contracts - I'm not sure we’d call it a “victory.” Since the loss of automatic annual “step” salary increases several years ago, plus increases associated with insurance, teacher raises have not kept up with the cost of living; many teachers have lost thousands of dollars annually between what they were projected to make and where they stand today.

Factor in higher annual salaries and benefit packages in other states (especially along the east coast and in New England), and there are reasons the Palm Beach School District, like virtually every other district in Florida, is struggling to both bring in newer qualified educators and retain the educators recently hired.

On Facebook, Katz noted there “are efforts in the works to address salary compression” which will be dealt with during next year's negotiations. So possibly there’s hope on the horizon that teachers’ salaries may bounce back to where many believe they should be on the overall salary scale. 

The district is also pondering asking residents to support a small property tax increase, with the funds dedicated to teacher salaries in hopes of keeping them in district classrooms. Under the proposal being pushed by Avossa, voters would pay about $25 more per $100,000 of assessed property on their tax bills. If put on the ballot and approved, this would provide about $50 million a year toward teacher salaries.

While it’s easy to point at the district - and they are not entirely blameless here - at least they’re trying to be proactive. I'm not sure the same can be said in either the state or federal capitol. Many of the problems with funding public education in Florida today - that’s public education as a whole, not just salaries - stems from issues in both Washington, D.C. and Tallahassee. The continued push to use public education funding for charter schools, plus the continued chipping away of money dedicated to districts the past decade, has led to less financial flexibility for the district. 

Back in April, Avossa encouraged continued communication with state lawmakers, urging them to open the fiscal pursestrings and make education funding a priority. I urge continued open communications with both lawmakers and the work force you represent, and look forward to when teachers are truly compensated to where they want to stay in the profession. 

#MeToo

High-profile sexual harassment. Just a few years ago, it caused barely a ripple in the media, with the mid-1990s claims against President Bill Clinton and the early-2010s accusations against Bill Cosby seeming the only notable high-profile celebrity cases.

But in the past 13 months, starting with President Donald Trump’s infamous “Grab them by the pussy” Access Hollywood tape, it seems as if virtually every notable male member of the media and United States political machine has been infected by the Sexual Harassment Plague. It’s a “who’s who” list - Harvey Weinstein, Roy Moore, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, John Conyers, David Sweeney, Louis C.K., Richard Dreyfuss, Dustin Hoffman, Andrew Kreisberg, John Lasseter, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Steven Seagal, Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Tambor, George Takei, Mark Halperin, George H.W. Bush … and that’s just (some of) the names which have come out the past month!

What we are seeing today is a live-action broadcast of Howard Beale’s famous meltdown in Network: women today are mad as hell about being sexually harassed, and they’re not gonna take it anymore!

In large part, the extremely recent turn of events is a backlash against Trump, who has been accused at least 15 times since the 1980s of sexual assault and sexual harassment, and whose election on the heels of the previously-noted Access Hollywood tape revelation led to concerns of women being marginalized in the workplace and society.

And what a backlash it has been, starting with the Women's March - a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017 advocating legislation and policies regarding human rights, women's rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, and workers' rights. Far from being marginalized, women have found a rallying cry and a voice. And the proverbial dam burst with the graphic, detailed allegations by multiple women against Hollywood mogul Weinstein.

Which leads me to wonder, are men really that naive about sexual harassment?

It sure seems so. And that’s scary as hell.

But what is also scary to us is the real possibility that some of the already-accused and to-be-accused may very well be innocent of the allegations. Some of those listed previously deny the claims; others may be targeted by political opportunists. We’ve seen witch hunts before; just ask the good people of Salem, Mass. They aren’t for the feint of heart.

So, let’s keep our eye on the big picture. The only “good” Sexual Harassment in the Workplace is the smooth 1988 instrumental by Frank Zappa.

First of all, the punishment should fit the crime; there’s a world of difference between sexual harassment and an inappropriate relationship, and the last thing proponents of the charge need is to become this generation’s McCarthy Red Scare.

Secondly, as the Washington Post did with a failed sting operation recently - where the conservative watchdog group Project Veritas attempted to discredit the paper by planting a bogus story about Moore impregnating a 15-year-old - the media needs to do serious fact-checking on allegations before publishing stories. For those who have been accused, unjustly, they will be unable to fully clear their names with the public. And that’s just wrong.

Just as sexual harassment is wrong.

On The Air: The Connection Between Radio Broadcasting and the Debate World

QUIZ TIME: Which of these is not like the others? Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Paul L. Gaba.

That last guy? That would be me. Yes, putting myself in the same sentence with three iconic broadcasters might seem narcissistic and vain. But I do have significant broadcasting training and experience. I’m just, um, using it differently. In a career called speech and debate.

I’ve been coaching speech and debate in Florida since 2000, and hundreds of students have enrolled in my class the past 17 years. Many have inquired about my own debating experiences. Sadly, my high school offered no such program. However, “radio broadcasting” was an option, and I spent 2 1/2 years as a DJ and newscaster at the Bloomfield Hills (Mich.) School District’s educational radio station, WBFH-FM. And while “radio broadcasting” and “debate” might seem as alike as chalk and cheese, the skills I learned at “The Biff” prepared me for all of my professional experiences.

While yearbook, newspaper, and marketing were available, I quickly caught the radio bug. It was exciting, a chance to do something beyond the mundane required courses. It offered an opportunity to speak into a microphone and spin tunes – for a grade! And to wear cool shades and sign autographs – for groupies! And to emulate the cool cats on WKRP in Cincinnati (a staple of early 1980s air aces).

But beyond these perks were numerous life skills, which are universally applicable to those taught in debate. Both hone critical thinking, researching, writing, and oral communication abilities. Both involve mentorship of students from an adult supervisor, and of newer students by program veterans. Both utilize real world knowledge. Both are comprised of close-knit groups of highly intelligent and motivated young adults, many of whom remain friends long after graduation. Both teach management, teamwork, confidence, and important “people skills.” And both give youth a purpose.

At the time, I didn’t realize this; but one of the great things about education is its impact is measured futuristically. Looking back, I see the powerful foundation radio provided me scholastically and professionally.

My radio teacher and mentor was Pete Bowers, who was the only general manager WBFH knew from its inception in 1976 until his retirement in June 2017. And I can say, unequivocally, the biggest positive influences in my life include Bowers, who helped guide me to a focus on broadcasting and journalism as an undergrad at Central Michigan University, and later into teaching.

“Even though most of my students didn’t go into broadcasting, it’s still one of the best classes someone can take because of the life skills they learn,” Bowers says. “You keep hearing, ‘People need better communication skills.’ Well, I hope that's what they learn here.”

Great teachers like Bowers make a difference. And Bowers cared. Passionately. About the product being put on the air, and – more importantly – for the students under his guidance.

Practical application of life skills is common to both debate and radio. “You can read a book on how to be an on-air personality 30 times, but you’ll never be good until you actually do it,” Bowers says. “And every time you do something, the better you will be. I had them do show prep, so they knew what ‘hot topics’ were out there to talk about. I mean, for the school musical, you have three months to prepare for a few shows; in radio, you have three minutes to prepare for each performance.”

“The exercise of on-air prep – such as compiling news stories, sports scores, and writing on-air commercials – provided as much useful real-world experience as any college course would,” says Detroit Lions Marketing Manager and WBFH alum Frank Novak. “The skills I learned played a huge role in not only building that first resume, but providing me with the background and experience I could take into the ‘real world.’”

Along with “live” impromptu and extemp moments (quick, how does the DJ handle dead air when the song doesn’t play on cue?), radio and debate go hand-in-hand in myriad ways. Morning shows are full of humorous (and often team) interpretations as part of the schtick. Sportscasting requires “setting the scene” for listeners. Newscasting or hosting a talk show mandates being on top of current events, locally and globally, as well as solid oration and interviewing skills. And radio is, of course, “theatre of the mind,” with no costumes or props - just like interpretation events.

“In radio, you have to be compelling and interesting, because there’s nowhere to hide. It’s up to you to engage the audience, and I learned that in educational radio,” says WBFH alum Matt Friedman, founder of the Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications public relations firm in Detroit. “You are on the spot at some point, and you have to figure out a way to deliver.”

There’s also management skills. “Regardless of what you may go into as a career, you will most likely have people working underneath you,” Bowers says. “You have to handle those kinds of responsibilities at a high school radio station.” Radio students manage and work in various departments, such as news, sales, and promotions; debate offers leadership as interp, congress, or debate events captains, among other options. And both programs usually have a student president to coordinate and lead by example.

As with debate, high school radio veterans work with newer students to learn the ropes, whether in using digital recording equipment, writing news copy, or airing phone calls live. Students also need to be able to conduct interviews, do sports broadcasts and remotes from news events, and handle other "professional" broadcast duties, in between studying for exams and doing homework for other classes.

“It’s fun to see advanced students work with the newer staff to learn these things,” Bowers says. “I could go in there and do that, but it’s way better when one of your advanced students engineer shows and teach them how to be an air personality – how to run the board, find things they need to play, read the weather live. They learn what it’s like to be the teacher.

“And as they progress as a student broadcaster, when I listen to them, I can tell if it’s an improvement, and make sure to mention it to them the next time I see them,” Bowers says. “I think that’s important for an educator, to provide that kind of feedback.”

Both debate and radio provide confidence to young adults. “My high school radio teacher (David Albery) gave me the confidence and knowledge to make it happen,” says Cara Carriveau, afternoon drive host at WSHE in Chicago, who started at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High School’s WBLD. “His belief in my abilities was so amazing, I can't even imagine how my life would have turned out had I not taken that radio class. I certainly would have struggled in college, and in fact may never have even figured out my passion for a career in radio at all.”

“High school radio made me a better conversationalist and made me well read,” adds Christopher Grindrod, a WOVI (Novi, Mich.) alum who spent several years in Bonaire (an island in the Leeward Antilles) with the international broadcast ministry Trans World Radio.

Since 2003, WBFH has been recognized as the best high school radio station in the nation six times, and the top high school station in Michigan 11 times, with numerous students earning honors in various individual state and national broadcasting categories. Fourteen students have attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University - the top broadcast/journalism school in the nation.

“It’s nice to be recognized, but we don’t do what we do to win state and national awards,” Bowers says. “However, it is a nice motivator for younger students.”

Another parallel with debate.

Looking back, some of the coolest things about being in high school radio was the variety of unique experiences it provided. Like playing a charity basketball game against DJs from a professional Detroit-area rock and roll station, or the annual marathon to raise money for the March of Dimes, which involved seeking pledges for songs or goody stunts.

The irony is Bowers never planned to go into education. “When I was at Central Michigan University, I’d sit around the radio station with my broadcasting peers and we’d talk about, after we’ve been in the business for a long time, how nice it would be to buy our own radio stations, to program what we wanted, to hire who we wanted,” Bowers says. “Well, that happened to me at age 23. I remember the job posting said ‘radio station manager,’ and I said, ‘Sounds good to me!’

“Teaching wasn’t part of it. Then (the district) said, ‘By the way, at some point we’ll be offering classes,” Bowers says. “I told them, ‘I don’t have a teaching certificate.’ So they worked to get me vocationally certified. I had never done any student teaching, or even taken an education course. And they said, ‘Well, it’s just like any other class, except you’re in the front.’”

In some ways, this parallels the world of high school debate coaches – the difference being we become educators with the intent of teaching. And then administration swoops in and entices us into coaching. This usually happens when we are new to the profession, meaning we (a) have time and (b) need the financial stipend to (c) help pay those impending college loans.

Trial by fire. Many a debate coach (and every novice) have been there.

Bowers literally built the station from scratch. There were no “Introduction to Radio” textbook, so he used the Federal Communication Commission licensing guidelines as source material. He created 40 “minimum objectives” for students to achieve every semester, showing basic proficiency in a variety of areas such as recording promotions and writing news copy. He incorporated “old time radio” programs from the 1930s into teaching the history of radio broadcasting.

Bowers may have started out focusing on management, but he’d turned 180 degrees by the time he retired. “I got to love teaching,” Bowers says. “It was like being a stand-up comic wanna-be. I had the microphone, which I walked around the class with. I used props. I had lots of stories (from my college radio career), and I always tried to relate them to the topics we talked about, to try and pass along my experiences to them. Keeping the attention of teens for 90 minutes isn’t easy.”

Looking back, I spent nearly 20 years in communications prior to becoming an educator. I took my experience at WBFH and scored a mid-week graveyard shift at the college FM station – a rarity for freshmen. While still in college, I landed employment at WWJ, Detroit’s all-news radio station. After graduation, I worked a variety of newspaper jobs across Michigan, covering everything from local high school sports to corruption in county government. And in the mid-1990s, while I was free-lancing for The Detroit News, Bowers offered me the WBFH assistant manager position, which led me back to college, a teaching degree, and a move to Florida in 1999.

I’m not alone in following that kind of path. “My experience at WSDP set the trajectory of my career at the age of 16,” says Central Michigan University associate broadcast professor Patty Williamson, an alum of the Plymouth (Mich.) station. “I chose my college based on the strength of their broadcasting program, worked in commercial radio for a decade, and then decided to go back to school for advanced degrees in the same field. Now I teach young aspiring broadcasters and filmmakers. The experiences I had at my high school station gave me the foundational skills I've built upon for the past 30 years.”

So while Oprah, Tom, and Jane used their debate experiences to foster careers in broadcasting, I brought my radio background into the debate classroom. I incorporate many of the lessons Bowers provided over four decades as a model. The crux is helping young adults learn how to harness their inner voice and make it shine. In some cases, their voices were already there, but needed to be fine-tuned; in others, they didn't even realize they had a voice. I can only hope to have been, and to be, as positive an influence for my students as Pete Bowers was for his.

Take that, Oprah!

You can watch Pete Bowers’ retirement ceremony video, where alumni such as myself paid tribute, below:

This originally appeared in the November/December 2017 edition of The Rostrum.

Time, The Avenger

Does time exist? This has been a philosophical quandary for years. For example, the philosophy of time that takes the view that only the present is real is called “presentism,” while the view that all points in time are equally “real” is referred to as “eternalism.” 

Regardless of this argument, time - a man-made concept - does exist. We use a clock to measure time; information about time tells us the durations of events, and when they occur, and which events happen before which others. Nevertheless, despite 2,500 years of investigation into the nature of time, there are many unresolved issues.

One of those unresolved issues is whether we really need to have Daylight Savings Time as part of our world. This is a timely subject since DST ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 5, which means we turn our physical clocks back an hour and “re-gain” the hour we “lost” back in March.

There are advantages and disadvantages to adjusting time. Among the “pro” arguments: while changing the clocks does not create extra daylight, it does impact when the sun rises and sets; this creates an additional hour of natural daylight, and longer evenings, thus both boosting the economy and motivating people to get out of the house. Activities such as boating, golf, shopping, and dining out, are all increased when it’s light out.

More natural light means energy savings, too, because people are less reliant on artificial light for activities. A 2016 study by researchers from Prague’s Charles University and the Czech National Bank on energy use and DST found a positive relationship between latitude and energy savings.

Studies have also found DST contributes to improved road safety by reducing pedestrian fatalities by 13% during dawn and dusk hours, and that there is a seven-percent decrease in robberies following the spring shift to DST. (No word on whether robberies increase seven percent after the autumn shift.)

For all this DST rah-rah, there are some concerns. The biggest negative is health-related. Changing the time disrupts our body clocks. For most people, the resulting tiredness is simply an inconvenience; for others, however, the time change can have more serious consequences. A 2009 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology links the lack of sleep at the start of DST to car accidents, workplace injuries, suicide, and miscarriages. Further, the early evening darkness after the end of the DST period is linked to depression. And the risk of suffering a heart attack is also increased when DST begins. (However, the extra hour of sleep we get at the end of DST has in turn been linked to fewer heart attacks.)

Several states are exploring the idea of removing DST from their lexicon. Florida is not among them, nor does it appear on the horizon in Tallahassee. Nor does moving all of Florida into the Eastern Time Zone; currently, the western half of the Panhandle is in the Central Time Zone. But that’s another discussion for another time.

You And I Will Meet Again

The first "real" concert I ever saw was Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. It was June 1980; I was 16, finally able to drive, and picked up Audrey Harwith in the 1971 lime green Pontiac LeMans to go to Pine Knob and see TPATH with opening guests Tommy Tutone. It was their Damn the Torpedoes tour, and they opened with "Here Comes My Girl," the second track on the album.

It was the beginning of a beautiful musical relationship.

At the time, I'd be hard-pressed to say TPATH was my favorite band. That honor had once belonged to Electric Light Orchestra (around 1976), and had shifted to The Beatles by the time I reached high school. It took a few more years, and albums, for Petty & Company to replace the Fab Four at the top of my musical list, but by the mid-1980s, that status had been achieved.

Number 1 on Gaba's list ... for more than 30 years.

I was blessed with the opportunity to attend 14 TPATH concerts over the years. The best of the shows - and the best concert I ever attended - was when TPATH toured with Bob Dylan. My cousin Larry Stern attended the show with me (we had damn good seats), and the show itself was amazing, even before Bob Seger joined them on stage to croon "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" for the first encore.

I've been asked often why Tom Petty is my favorite, and I don't have a definitive answer. In part it's the powerful lyrics and stories he put together. In part it's the seamless meshing of melodies and rhythms. In part it's because, let's be honest, his voice made horrible singers like me believe we could become big-time rock stars, too!

In large part, though, it's that he could relate to the "everyman" (much like Bruce Springsteen) - like the time he fought his label MCA's attempt to release his Hard Promises album at a $9.98 list price instead of the standard $8.98. (He threatened MCA he would withhold the album, and urged fans to write letters. The album was released at the lower price. Its cover shows Petty in a record store, standing in front of a crate of albums selling for ... $8.98.)

When I was growing up, I used to analyze lyrics, searching for hidden, deeper meaning in life. Songs  I could relate to. Songs that were about me. In Tom Petty, I found a treasure trove of such lyrics, all depending on the mood in which I was at the time. "Learning to Fly" ... "A Face in the Crowd" ... "Even the Losers" ... "You Got Lucky" ... "Dogs on the Run" ... "I Won't Back Down" ... just a few of the songs I related to in my darkest, highest, or most defiant moods.

Tom Petty is a friend I never met, but who got me through numerous times of turmoil. And for that, I thank him.

My favorite TPATH song is "The Waiting," which is pretty amazing since my Top 10 list probably has 40+ songs. And I'll probably post the video a bit lower on this thread. But I'll go with that first song from that first concert as a starting point.

RIP, Thomas Earl Petty. You were one of a kind.

Nowhere To Hide

Usually, when Wellington, Florida, makes national news, it's related to an equestrian event, a celebrity moving to the area, or success in high school sports or “reality television” singing auditions.

(Or ... due to an amazing high school debate team. Not that I'm one to brag.)

But this week, Wellington was in national - and international - headlines because of an event that took place 27 years ago: the arrest of an individual believed to have murdered area resident Marlene Warren.

This past Tuesday, Sheila Keen Warren - wife of Marlene’s ex-husband, Michael - was located in Washington County, Virginia, and arrested without incident. Keen is awaiting extradition to Florida.

Marlene Warren was fatally wounded outside her home in Wellington’s Aero Club development in May, 1990, by someone wearing clown makeup, a red wig, and holding balloons in what is believed to be part of a love triangle crime.

It sounds like a scenario straight out of a Stephen King story. And given Florida’s notoriety for seemingly daily outlandish crimes, one could be forgiven if they didn’t believe this tale.

While Keen was a suspect at the time, and law enforcement discovered a number of connections (for example, the abandoned getaway car was eventually traced to a rental agency Michael Warren did business with, and two clerks at a costume store picked Keen out of a photo lineup saying she had bought a clown outfit two days earlier), no probably cause could be established at the time, and no arrests were made. The case would remain cold for more than two decades, and was one of Palm Beach County’s most notable unsolved murders.

Three years ago, the PBSO Cold Case Unit reopened the homicide investigation. Witnesses were re-contacted and additional DNA analysis was conducted. A major spark in their renewed interest in the case was their discovery that, in 2002, Michael Warren married Keen in Las Vegas. The marriage established probable cause.

While never charged with Marlene Warren’s murder, Michael Warren was arrested in 1992 on a plethora of charges connected with his ownership of his used car dealership - one count of racketeering, six counts of grand theft, and 21 counts of odometer tampering. He did three years and nine months of a nine-year prison sentence. The PBSO said at the time it discovered his crimes while investigating her murder.

The murder took place in the days before Twitter, Facebook, and diehard tabloid media, so much of the publicity and gossip was contained to Palm Beach County, in large part because Marlene and Michael Warren were among the wealthiest western communities residents at the time; they had real estate holdings worth over $1 million, all of which were in her name. But, not all was happy in the Warren household; despite being married for 20 years, the Warrens were having marital problems, and Marlene thought her husband was having an affair.

Authorities have yet to comment on Michael Warren’s involvement in Marlene Warren’s murder, or any plans to prosecute him. But one thing is for sure - if you commit a major crime, you can run, but you cannot hide forever.

On The Other Hand, It Could Have Been Worse

As southeast Florida continue to piece things back together after Hurricane Irma, I can’t help but think … as bad as it was (and it was bad), it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Because for all the damage to homes and businesses Irma caused in the region, the worst part of the mid-September storm was the power outages. And even that, by comparison to past years’ situations, pales.

Let’s face it: Yes, it's been a rough stretch two weeks ago. Yes, while there was a ton of hype, for once the reality was relatively close. And yes, we've had to deal with long gas lines, grocery aisles void of bread and bottled water, and the other “regular” inconveniences of preparing for a major hurricane. But for all that, in the end, we weren’t hit as bad as was forecast.

Part of the reason we can look back and breath a collective sigh of relief is that Irma came on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which dropped an estimated 33 trillion gallons of water on Houston (the equivalent of 275 trillion pounds) - which, according to the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory, pushed the earth’s crust down two centimeters while simultaneously flooding the entire region in ways reminiscent of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Part of the reason is that when Irma nailed St. Martin, Anguilla, and Barbuda, she destroyed thousands of buildings, displacing many from their homes and knocking out power and potable water systems. Food and water are scarce. Hospitals and health clinics are struggling. Schools are closed indefinitely.

Part of the reason is, quite frankly, even when our area was hit by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, the area decimated was north of Sewell’s Point in Martin County: Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, and the Treasure Coast suffered far worse than Palm Beach County.

Add the raging wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and the earthquake that just hit Mexico, and … yeah. We’re doing ok here.

None of this is to say we had it easy. But in the grand scheme of things, we lucked out. And that luck continued this week with Hurricane Marie, which blasted Puerto Rico with the same fury Irma laid on St. Martin, with the same devastating results.

So we pick up the pieces. And we donate like crazy.To organizations like the Red Cross (https://www.redcross.org), Band Aid For America (https://www.bandaidforamerica.org/), Boots On The Ground (http://www.bootsontheground.org/), Mercy Corps (https://www.mercycorps.org/), UNICEF (https://www.unicefusa.org/), Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/), or SPCA International (https://spcai.org/). Or you can help with the rebuilding effort through Habitat for Humanity (https://share.habitat.org/globalvillage), or volunteer via the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (https://www.nvoad.org/).

Locally, the southern half of Florida is in need of volunteers; consider participation through Volunteer Florida (https://www.volunteerflorida.org/irma/). 

The 2017 hurricane season has been absolutely devastating, but it is always inspiring to see communities come together in times of such great tragedy to help those in need. We’ve done quite a bit; we’re not finished yet.

Nationwide Disaster Insurance Sucks

It really wasn’t so long ago when the stretch of real estate from Miami north past Vero Beach was ravaged by a quartet of nasty storms during a 13-month period, causing billions in property damage, in addition to loss of life and frayed nerves anytime something stronger than a light drizzle was forecast.

As I reflect on the recent turn of events in Houston, plus hurricanes Irma and Jose sweeping their way westerly through the Atlantic, PLUS the fires raging through the Pacific Southwest, I think it’s a really good time to have a national discussion about nationwide disaster insurance, which I believe would make life a lot better for individuals impacted by these kinds of situations.

Individuals like ... for example ... me.

According to preliminary estimates, Hurricane Harvey may inflict as much as $30 billion in damages on homeowners. But only 40 percent of that may be covered by insurance - and of that, the federal government will bear the biggest liability.

When natural disasters strike, concern about the health, safety and welfare of loved ones is paramount. It should be the first priority. But a close second should be the financial health and welfare when it comes to recovering from such a disaster.

This is not the first time such a position has been advocated, for a nationwide disaster insurance program to be implemented. The concept has been discussed in Washington, D.C. for years, but with minimal results - which is surprising, given the criticism the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been subjected to the past decade or more. Although insurance is largely limited by location, natural disasters occur without regard for such boundaries; hurricanes don’t hit the Florida-George line and say, “Whoops! Gotta stop here!” When Mount St. Helen blew her stack in 1980, the eruption column rose 80,000 feet into the atmosphere and deposited ash in 11 states plus parts of Canada.

No matter where you live, you can’t escape the possibility that a terrible natural disaster might one day happen to your home or business.

The problem is, current homeowners’ insurance policies are designed to be specific, largely to limit risk. But policies are riddled with lists of exclusions and specifications that could leave you uninsured when you need it most. For example, flood damage is excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies, and while you can get replacement cost coverage for the structure of your home, only actual cash value coverage is available for possessions.

Proponents of natural disaster insurance call for blanket coverage across the nation, meaning that whether you face fire, flood, tornado, earthquake or hurricane - or any other such disaster that comes your way - you will have adequate coverage to salvage your home.

As noted previously, national disaster insurance would create a much wider pool for risks by encompassing communities across the nation that will not likely face natural disasters every year - or at least at the same time, which would make it profitable for companies. Better yet, it’s not a hard idea to implement - the national flood insurance program already gives us the template. And it would dramatically reduce the federal government’s financial responsibility to rebuild homes and businesses, allowing leaders in Washington, D.C., to use our tax dollars more wisely.

Scam Artists? Yes!

In many a horror film, there have been situations where a phone rings, and we, the audience, instinctively want to go meta and yell at the screen, “Don’t answer the phone!”

In our world, there have been a plethora of similar situations, thanks to the rise in telemarketers and scam artists trying to make innocent people the subject of real-life horror scenarios, complete with identity theft and credit fraud.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission issued a warning to consumers about a relatively new scam hooking individuals with just one word: “Yes.”

According to the FCC, the scam begins as soon as an individual answers the phone. A recorded voice or an actual person asks, "Can you hear me?" And the consumer responds, “Yes."

"The caller records the consumer's 'Yes' response and thus obtains a voice signature,” an FCC news release said. “This signature can later be used by the scammers to pretend to be the consumer and authorize fraudulent charges via telephone.

"According to complaints the FCC has received and public news reports, the fraudulent callers impersonate representatives from organizations that provide a service and may be familiar to the person receiving the call, such as a mortgage lender or utility, to establish a legitimate reason for trying to reach the consumer," the news release added.

What is most disheartening about this twist on the tried-and-proven scam is that it relies on “local” phone numbers, not out-of-area exchanges. Individuals are more likely to pick up if an unfamiliar number is local, as they might think it’s someone from their child’s school, or a neighbor, or someone with whom they might be familiar. This is less likely to happen with calls from non-local area codes or anonymous calls.

The FCC shared the following tips:

• Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. Let them go to voicemail.
• If you answer and the caller (often a recording) asks you to hit a button to stop receiving calls, just hang up. Scammers often use these tricks to identify, and then target, live respondents.
• If you receive a scam call, write down the number and file a complaint with the FCC (https://www.fcc.gov/) so it can help identify and take appropriate action to help consumers targeted by illegal callers.
• Ask your phone service provider if it offers a robocall blocking service. If not, encourage your provider to offer one. You can also visit the FCC's website (link is listed above) for information and resources on available robocall blocking tools to help reduce unwanted calls.
• Consider registering all of your telephone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry (https://www.donotcall.gov/).

Snopes, the urban myth debunking site, has classified the scam as “unproven,” because it has yet to "to identify any scenario under which a scammer could authorize charges in another person's name simply by possessing a voice recording of that person saying 'yes,' without also already possessing a good deal of personal and account information for that person, and without being able to reproduce any other form of verbal response from that person.”

But, better safe than sorry; it’s still extremely plausible, especially with advents in new technology. Even if a scammer doesn't use a "yes" answer to attempt to sign someone up for an unwanted service or product, it still has value to the scammers; just by answering, that person has proven their phone number is active, which indicates an individual will answer calls from unknown numbers. The scammer can then turn around and sell the number - and others - as sales leads to other solicitors of questionable repute.

The LeBron James Hurricane Index

According to LeBron James, there’s not one, not two, not three, but four storms a’brewing in the Atlantic right now. And that could mean bad news for Palm Beach County and southeast Florida.

One, Hurricane Gert, continues to spin parallel to the United States' East Coast, and in the middle of the Atlantic. It’s closer to the Carolinas than Florida, so it doesn’t appear to be much of a threat here - especially since it looked to be heading northeast of Nova Scotia. 

But three other tropical disturbances are disturbing, and by next week could be either sorry, soggy excused for storms or barreling full-throttle toward the United States mainland.

If all three continue to develop into tropical storms or hurricanes, they'd be named Harvey, Irma and Jose. However, at this time it doesn't seem likely all three will continue to grow.

Then again … we are heading into the heart of the mean season. Historically, hurricane season peaks from mid August to late September, when conditions are generally more favorable for more intense cyclones. And if hurricanes had bar mitzvahs, last week Hurricane Charley would have been reading from the scriptures, and next week Hurricane Frances would be doing the same.

It’s hard to believe that thirteen years have passed since Florida got nailed by the Fab Four of hurricanes; it was between August 9 and September 27, 2004, that Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne made their presence felt and re-landscaped much of the state, leading to thousands of blue tarped roofs and millions in damages.

Just last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nudged up its forecast for the current season after concluding the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean were likely setting the stage for more hurricanes. They now expect the season to produce 14 to 19 named storms, five to nine hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes with winds topping 110 mph.

So with all this in front of us, it seems like a good time to remind you of the obvious: be prepared! Create an emergency communication plan with your family. Have emergency supplies in place at home, at work and in the car. Check your insurance coverage, since damages caused by flooding are not covered under normal homeowners’ insurance policies. Know your local community’s evacuation plan and evacuation routes, how to receive alerts and shelter information. And listen to local officials for storm information.

The time to prepare for a hurricane is before a storm is bearing down on the region, when you have the time and are not under pressure. If you wait, the odds are you will be under stress and could make poor decisions. Plus, that’s when much-needed non-perishable foods and supplies dwindle quickly and may not be available. Take the time now to create and write down a hurricane plan, know where you will stay to be safe for a possible storm, and get your supplies in place.

For more tips on getting prepared for the 2017 hurricane season, visit www.nhc.noaa.gov/prepare.

The Definition of Insanity For $100, Alex

Albert Einstein is credited - probably incorrectly - with proposing the definition of “insanity” as repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.

This definition definitely applies to the Republican Party’s attempts to strike down and/or reform the Affordable Care Act the last seven years, where the GOP’s valiant abilities have been worse than Charlie Brown’s ability to hit a baseball or kick a football.

Between something like 60 failed attempts to repel the ACA while President Barack Obama was in office, and multiple failed attempts to do the same since Donald Trump took the Oval Office, Republican Party leadership and membership has been unable - and, in some cases, unwilling - to bring about its much-ballyhooed change to the health care system.

Obama promised change and achieved it; the GOP has proven all talk and no action, with plenty of flip and flop along the way.

Now, don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of issues that need to be fixed in the ACA. Plenty of Democrats feel this way; heck, back in January, Obama said he would publicly support GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare - and encourage Democrats to support it - if their plan is better.

But Republican plans have not been better.

For seven years, Republicans have railed against the ACA (also known as “ObamaCare”). Instead of spending time seriously devising an alternative that would work, they whined and complained and shook their fists in the air. And in the past six months, since taking full control of the federal government - the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the Office - they have developed replacement plans in secret, without reaching across the political aisle, and alienating their own base.

While they freely assailed the health law when Obama occupied the White House, the GOP was unable to devise a workable plan that would keep both moderate Republicans and conservatives on board.

Is it any surprise three of the GOP senators who helped prevent Trumpcare from achieving a vote were Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski? It’s notable the three women - who have been vocal in their positions on health care policy - were all left out of the Senate’s initial working group to draft the latest Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill - a group of 13 men.

"I did not come to Washington to hurt people," Capito said in a statement. “I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”

So now what? After the latest crash and burn, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham said Republicans must admit they need to work with Democrats in order to pass legislation on healthcare or “do nothing.” Trump seemingly decided to focus on the latter part of her position; the president has declared his plan is now to “let Obamacare fail,” suggesting Democrats would then seek out Republicans to work together on a bill to bury the Affordable Care Act. 

If he is determined to make good on that pledge, he has plenty of options at his disposal, from declining to reimburse insurance companies for reducing low-income customers’ out-of-pocket costs to failing to enforce the mandate that most Americans have health coverage.

I hope Democrats and Republicans can come together and clean up the health care system. Americans deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and having available, viable health care options achieves all three of these goals.

Florida's Opioid Mess

It took much longer than it should have, but the state Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott have finally passed and signed into law tougher penalties aimed at combating Florida’s opioid epidemic.

The legislation, officially signed last month, increases penalties for dealers caught selling synthetic drugs like fentanyl, a cheap and potent painkiller largely responsible for the surge in overdoses in Florida over the last few years.

Under the new law, drug dealers could face murder charges if their customers overdose and die using fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid South Florida drug dealers have mixed into heroin.

Starting this fall, judges will be forced to sentence people possessing 4 grams of fentanyl to a minimum of three years in prison. If an individual has 14 grams, they face 15 years in prison; people with 28 grams with get a minimum 25 years in prison.

County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay has been pushing hard for such legislation to be passed. About the same time Gov. Scott was ceremoniously signing the bill into law in Wellington this week, McKinlay was receiving the Florida Association of Counties’ Marlene Young Presidential Advocacy Award, which is presented to a county elected official who has shown extraordinary leadership. FAC President Kathy Bryant said the recognition was in large part due to McKinlay’s tireless push to not only create tougher penalties for opioids, but to get more and better funding from the state and federal governments.

McKinlay was among the first public officials in the state to lobby Gov. Scott for action, and in April helped persuade the commission to adopt an initial $3 million plan to address the crisis.

In May, after four years of a drastic increase in opioid-related deaths, Gov. Scott finally declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The new law allows Florida to tap more than $54 million in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant money to pay for prevention, treatment and recovery services.

The real questions now are, (a) is it enough funding to stem the tide, and (b) can any amount of money achieve this goal? Odds are, the answers are (a) no, and (b) no … but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Florida has been a leader, nationally, in terms of opioid overdoses; according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the state accounted for 12 percent of the 33,000 people nationwide who died in 2015 of opioid overdoses.

This is the second recent major drug-addiction related initiative with direct ties to Palm Beach County. There have been nearly 30 arrests in the past few months of individuals who have been breaking the law while running drug-treatment centers.

So-called “sober homes” are intended to be supportive transitional environments for individuals preparing to face the world during recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. In 2015, the state passed a law requiring recovery residences and their administrators to be certified (at the time, sober homes were unregulated, so the state was not even sure how many there were).

Last year, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg began a task force consisting of prosecutors and police to study abuses in the industry and find solutions. The result has been a crackdown on such abuse, which has direct ties to the opioid situation.

I am pleased the rampant abuse of drugs is being dealt with at the local and state levels, and hope this will be resolved quickly and effectively in short order.

On Banning Conversion Therapy

A year ago, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, pushed for county commissioners to take up the issue of banning “conversion therapy” for children, the controversial practice in which therapists attempt to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Palm Beach County had the opportunity to be the first county in Florida to ban conversion therapy for people under the age of 18. But thus far, the commission has dropped the ball on creating a county-side umbrella policy banning the measure outright, so HRC president Rand Hoch has decided to go door-to-door (or, rather, municipality-to-municipality) to get local leaders to do what the county has not accomplished the past 12 months.

The reason this is “big” news now is this past week, Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig cast the lone dissenting ballot during a preliminary reading of an ordinance that would ban conversion therapy within village boundaries. Several other municipalities in Palm Beach County have approved similar ordinances banning conversion therapy by medical professionals, but they were all unanimous votes.

According to the American Psychological Association, conversion therapy refers to psychotherapy aimed at eliminating homosexual desires and is used by people who do not think homosexuality is one variation within human sexual orientation, but rather still believe homosexuality is a mental disorder. The APA has concluded trying to change someone's sexual orientation can cause depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse. 

When the APA published the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the “bible” used by mental health professionals to diagnose psychiatric disorders) in 1952, homosexuality was defined as a psychiatric disorder. Although there was no scientific evidence to support the diagnosis, it remained in the DSM until 1973.

California was the first state to outright ban conversion therapy in 2013. Conservative Christian legal organizations - representing individual parents, children and therapists - said the law violated therapists' free expression and parents' rights to make important medical decisions for their children. Since then, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. have passed laws banning licensed mental health providers from offering the practice to children.

Gerwig said she was bothered the ordinance would prohibit licensed professionals from practicing conversion therapy to minors, but not unlicensed youth counselors. Under current Florida law, this is accurate; although the Wellington ordinance would ban the practice by medical professionals, by state regulation it could not ban its use by religious and other non-professional groups.

The past two legislative sessions, State Sen. Jeff Clemens has introduced legislation to prohibit conversion therapy statewide. However, the Florida Senate refused to take action on the bills. Clemens intends to reintroduce the bill in the 2018 legislative session. I urge both the county and state to ban the practice completely.