AND FLORIDA - The Homophobic State Stuck in the 40's

IMHO: Again, government at any level should NOT regulate the relationships between citizens, including parents and their children.

"How Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law regulates school lessons on gender, sexual orientation" PBS NewsHour 3/30/2022

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SUMMARY:  A controversial new law went into effect in Florida this week.  Coined by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, it forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for kindergarten through third grade.  But those who oppose the bill say it doesn't protect parents, it just harms children.  Ana Ceballos, a reporter for the Miami Herald, joins John Yang to discuss.

HURRICANE RELIEF - Rick Scott vs Chuck Schumer

"Why Sen. Scott blames Schumer for stalled Hurricane Michael relief" PBS NewsHour 5/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  More than 200 days have passed since Hurricane Michael hit Florida with devastating Category 5 force -- but a corresponding disaster relief bill is still yet to be passed.  Amna Nawaz talks to Florida .  Rick Scott [R-Fl], who was the state’s governor during the storm, about the “frustrating” months of gridlock, funding Puerto Rico's recovery and why Sen. Scott blames Sen. Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.] for the stalemate.

JUSTICE DENIED - By Alex Acosta

Another Trump Administration scandal.

"Labor secretary under fire as disturbing Epstein details continue to emerge" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2019

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SUMMARY:  A federal judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors led by current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta broke the law when he was U.S. attorney in Florida.  Acosta's team allegedly concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.  Amna Nawaz talks to Julie Brown of the Miami Herald about the troubling details she heard from victims.

ELECTIONS - Old Voting Technology

"‘Virtually tied’ Florida races highlight challenges with voting technology" PBS NewsHour 11/13/2018

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SUMMARY:  In Florida, extremely close vote margins have triggered machine recounts in three races, including those for governor and Senate.  As in the presidential election of 2000, Broward County finds its election practices under intense scrutiny.  Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the technical details and how confident Florida voters can feel about the results.

Adam Smith, The Tampa Bay Times:  Because Broward has a track record of just botching these elections, election after election after election, Palm Beach County to a lesser extent, too.

And so they were — after the votes seemed to have been counted on election night, it turned out there were a lot more coming from Broward County.  That's why Bill Nelson didn't concede.  That's why Andrew Gillum, running for governor, took back his concession.

FLORIDA - Phosphate Mining

"Battle over phosphate mining roils small Florida town" PBS NewsHour 10/31/2018

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SUMMARY:  Phosphate mining is a major industry in Florida, but it’s also a major source of pollution, responsible for red tide, toxic algal blooms and killing wildlife.  In the northern part of the state, residents of a small town are resisting a man who wants to mine phosphate near their homes.  Can the local government balance individual rights and with community health concerns?  Laura Newberry reports.

VOTE 2018 - Florida's Big Impact

"Who will be Florida’s next governor and senator?  Candidates face the final sprint" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  Florida’s governor’s race is one of the most watched in the country.  It pits former congressman Ron DeSantis [R] against Andrew Gillum [D] the mayor of Tallahassee.  The outgoing governor, Rick Scott, is challenging incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.  Close races are also unfolding in at least five congressional districts.  Judy Woodruff reports on tough races up and down the Florida ballot.

"How Florida voters are thinking ahead of Election Day" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  Florida is yet again proving to be a swing-state election battleground.  How do voters in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area see the midterms and other pressing issues?  Judy Woodruff talks to five residents, ranging in age and political persuasion.

"Why Florida Democrats need young people and Puerto Rican voters to turn out this election" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  In the last two governors’ and presidential races, the winners in the state have been determined by razor-thin margins.  This year, the results could hinge on the participation, or lack thereof, of three groups: retirees, young voters, and an influx of Puerto Ricans.  Yamiche Alcindor reports on the turnout efforts.

"Will ‘red tide’ algae in Florida turn some Republican voters ‘blue’?" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  From rising sea-levels to toxic algae, Florida voters have a host of water problems on their minds this election season.  Governor and Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott saw his poll numbers slide as ‘red tide’ algae bloomed.  Scott’s critics blame him for cuts to environmental programs.  His supporters say a Scott win may mean more help from the Trump administration.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"Tamara Keith and Susan MacManus on what Florida’s midterms mean for Trump in 2020" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  Tamara Keith of NPR and Florida political expert Susan MacManus join Judy Woodruff in Tampa for a special Politics Monday.  They discuss Trump’s strategy in the “Sunshine State,” his response to recent violence and voters’ concerns about the direction of the country.

"How first-time voters are being mobilized in Florida" PBS NewsHour 10/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  The 2018 midterms mark the first time most of those born in the year 2000 can vote in a national election.  The PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab's Mason Berger reports on how organizations in Florida are trying to mobilize young voters around issues like the cost of college and gun violence.

MIAMI - A Future Atlantis?

"Will climate change turn Miami into a ‘future Atlantis’?" PBS NewsHour 10/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  Florida research professors studying climate change have serious warnings for the Magic City.  They say that Miami’s buildings have come a long way in becoming more resistant to sustained, heavy winds.  However, the city’s infrastructure may not be prepared to protect it from a huge hurricane storm surge.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.

VOTE 2018 - Midterms, Arizona and Florida

"What Arizona and Florida primary winners mean for November" PBS NewsHour 8/29/2018

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SUMMARY:  In Florida, Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum pulled off a historic upset Tuesday, setting up a battle with GOP nominee Rep. Ron DeSantis.  In Arizona, Rep. Martha McSally topped the Republican candidates to face off against Rep. Kyrsten Sinema [D] to become the state's first female senator.  Lisa Desjardins and Kyle Kondik of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, join Judy Woodruff for more.

MIAMI - U.S. HIV Epicenter

"Why Miami is the epicenter of new HIV cases in the U.S." PBS NewsHour 6/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  The tourist mecca of Miami is also a hotbed of HIV transmission.  While city and state officials have launched an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis, William Brangham and Jason Kane join Jon Cohen of Science Magazine to look at how and why it’s gotten so bad.  This report is part of the NewsHour’s ongoing series “The End of AIDS: Far From Over,” with support from the Pulitzer Center.

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS - The Students & Guns In Schools

THE STUDENTS:

"‘We do have a right to go to school and not fear for our lives,’ say Florida shooting survivors" PBS NewsHour 2/19/2018

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SUMMARY:  Last week’s school shooting has given rise into a new campaign for action on guns.  Two students from the Florida high school, Suzanna Barna and Lewis Mizen, discuss the aftermath of the shooting and the change they hope to drive in state and national gun laws.

"Staging walkouts and rallies, students and family members implore lawmakers to end gun bloodshed" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

#NeverAgain

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SUMMARY:  As dozens of survivors from the Florida school shooting lobbied the Republican-led Florida legislature for tougher gun control, thousands across the country heeded a call to walk out of classes, massing at Florida’s state capitol, as well as the U.S. Capitol and White House, where President Trump held a listening session with shooting survivors and family members.  William Brangham reports.

"These students are fed up with going to school scared for their lives" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

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SUMMARY:  Student-led rallies in support of gun control are picking up momentum in Florida and around the country, in part born out of anger over the easy availability of assault-style weapons.  Judy Woodruff gets perspectives from Camille Richter and Jake Bennett, two Virginia high school students who took part in a walkout from their schools.

"For kids who survived the Florida shooting, the next assault is from online conspiracy theorists" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

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SUMMARY:  The immediate response to the school shooting in Florida was a national wave of prayers, condolences and political outrage.  Then came a different flood, allegations and conspiracy theories about the students now calling for gun reform.  Right-wing outlets and online trolls are promoting the false theory that the Parkland teens are actually paid actors or even FBI “plants.”  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

"Scottish town devastated by gun violence has advice for America: Say ‘no more’" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

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SUMMARY:  For the Scottish town of Dunblane, one deadly shooting massacre was enough.  After 16 children and a teacher were murdered in 1996, Britain outlawed hand-gun ownership.  After years of watching deadly shootings in the U.S. with little change in American attitudes toward gun control, some in Dunblane feel inspired by students in Parkland, Florida.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

GUNS IN SCHOOLS:
#StandAgainstNRA

"If we arm teachers, ‘we have accepted… that school shootings will not stop,’ says Detroit teacher" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

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SUMMARY:  After last week's mass shooting at a Florida school, "students are scared," gasping even at the sound of the normal school announcement system going off, says Mike Conrad, a teacher at a high school outside Detroit.  Conrad joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the importance of making school a safe environment and why he's opposed to arming teachers.

"NRA backs Trump’s call for arming teachers: ‘Schools must be the most hardened targets’" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2018

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SUMMARY:  The CEO of the NRA gave a full-bore defense of gun rights at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, calling for weapons in schools in response to a mass shooting in Florida last week.  Meanwhile, Republicans in that state like Sen. Marco Rubio face new pressure in the gun control debate, as evidenced by a tense televised town hall on Wednesday night.  William Brangham reports.

"Students who support gun rights say schools safer when ‘good guys’ are armed" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2018

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SUMMARY:  Judy Woodruff talks with Maddison Westcott, a Rio Salado College student, and Ian Parish, a Liberty University student, about various restrictions and other gun control measures being raised, as well the prospect of arming teachers.

"New Florida gun control proposals make notable break with NRA" PBS NewsHour 2/23/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump at CPAC again insisted that arming teachers would help stop mass shootings, despite disapproval of many education groups, and repeated his call to keep seriously mentally ill people from buying guns.  But in Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott broke with the President and the NRA in announcing new gun control proposals for his state.  William Brangham reports.

GUNS IN AMERICA - Florida School Shootings

"School shootings like the one in Florida are no longer rare.  Are schools more prepared?" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  Police swarmed a high school in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon where a gunman shot and killed multiple people.  The suspect was arrested later off campus and was identified as a former student.  Judy Woodruff learns more from Terence Shepherd of WLRN News, Ronald Stephens of the National School Safety Center, and Broward County commissioner Michael Udine.

"Florida school grieves deadly shooting by teen suspect with troubled past" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  A routine day turned into terror at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday.  Authorities say 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz has confessed to killing 17 people, and charged him with premeditated murder, as a clearer picture emerged of the deeply troubled young man and his motive.  Special correspondent Steve Mort of Feature Story News joins Judy Woodruff for an update.

"Shootings are terrorizing America.  There are real ways to stop them" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2018

I can not remain silent, the NRA's solution is to put MORE guns in schools. #StandAgainstNRA

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SUMMARY:  There have been so many deadly mass shootings in America that one could easily feel powerless in stopping them.  What is the way forward?  Judy Woodruff talks to Kristina Anderson of the Koshka Foundation for Safe Schools, Robert Draper of The New York Times Magazine, Daniel Webster of Johns Hopkins University, and Katherine Newman of the University of Massachusetts.

"The Florida school shooting, in students’ own words" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  As Parkland, Florida, mourns a school shooting that left 17 dead, we listen to the voices of those who experienced the tragedy firsthand.

"The lives we lost in Parkland, Florida" PBS NewsHour 2/16/2018

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SUMMARY:  Funeral services began Friday for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.  We remember each of the 17 people killed on Wednesday, including the teachers who helped save students’ lives.

TRUMP COUNTRY - Volusia County, Florida

"Meet the pro-gun, pro-immigrant sheriff bringing police reform to Trump country" PBS NewsHour 1/23/2018

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SUMMARY:  Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is both pro-gun and pro-immigrant and he's been endorsed by both the NRA and the NAACP.  Special correspondent John Carlos Frey reports in collaboration with the Marshall Project on why Sheriff Chitwood's appeal often cuts across traditional political lines.

RACE IN AMERICA - Walking While Black

"Walking While Black" by Topher Sanders and Kate Rabinowitz (ProPublica) and Benjamin Conarck (Florida Times-Union), ProPublica 11/16/2017

THE JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF’S OFFICE issues hundreds of pedestrian citations a year, drawing on an array of 28 separate statutes governing how people get around on foot in Florida’s most populous city.  There is, of course, the straightforward jaywalking statute, barring people from crossing against a red light.  But in Jacksonville, pedestrians can also be ticketed for crossing against a yellow light, for “failing to cross a street at a right angle,” for not walking on the left side of a road when there are no sidewalks, or alternatively for not walking on a sidewalk when one is available.

The sheriff’s office says the enforcement of the full variety of pedestrian statutes is essential to keeping people alive in a city with one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the nation.  The office also says the tickets are a useful crime-fighting tool, allowing officers to stop suspicious people and question them for guns and or drugs.

However, a ProPublica/Florida Times-Union analysis of five years of pedestrian tickets shows there is no strong relationship between where tickets are being issued and where people are being killed.  The number of fatal crashes involving pedestrians, in fact, climbed every year from 2012 to 2016, the most recent years for which complete data is available.

What the analysis does show is that the pedestrian tickets — typically costing $65, but carrying the power to damage one’s credit or suspend a driver’s license if unpaid — were disproportionately issued to blacks, almost all of them in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.  In the last five years, blacks received 55 percent of all pedestrian tickets in Jacksonville, while only accounting for 29 percent of the population.  Blacks account for a higher percentage of tickets in Duval County than any other large county in Florida.

Blacks, then, were nearly three times as likely as whites to be ticketed for a pedestrian violation.  Residents of the city’s three poorest zip codes were about six times as likely to receive a pedestrian citation as those living in the city’s other, more affluent 34 zip codes.

Tickets for some of the less familiar statutes were issued even more disproportionately to blacks.  Seventy-eight percent of all tickets written for “walking in the roadway where sidewalks are provided” were issued to blacks.  As well, blacks accounted for 68 percent of all recipients of tickets issued for “failing to cross the road at a right angle or shortest route.”

John Fitzgerald Kendrick, a truck driver, got out of his truck after encountering Jacksonville sheriff’s officers in April of 2015.  Once out of his truck, he was immediately ordered to the ground by an officer, who pointed a Taser gun at him.  He was arrested and issued a ticket for “walking in the roadway where sidewalks are provided.” Kendrick fought the ticket and it was dismissed by a judge.

Brianna Nonord, 13, wound up in handcuffs and detained by an officer that same month in 2015 after she walked away from an officer trying to write her a ticket for having “failed to cross in a crosswalk” on her way home from school.

Maurice Grant, a lawyer with the federal public defender’s office, was walking near the federal courthouse in May of 2016 when he was cited for crossing against a red light.

The ProPublica/Times-Union analysis also found that the sheriff’s office had issued hundreds of erroneous tickets for crossing the street while not in a crosswalk.  The mistakes, identified by a detailed ProPublica/Times-Union review of the locations where the tickets were given, appear to have resulted from a misunderstanding of the statute on the part of the sheriff’s officers.  The often misapplied crosswalk statute accounted for more tickets than any other, and again, blacks were over-represented in that category of ticket.

In interviews, the sheriff’s department’s second-in-command, Patrick Ivey, said any racial discrepancies could only be explained by the fact that blacks were simply violating the statutes more often than others in Jacksonville.

“Were the citations given in error?” Ivey asked.  “I have nothing to suggest that.  Were they given unjustified?  I have nothing to suggest that.”

In response to the ProPublica/Times-Union findings, Sheriff Mike Williams said, “Let me tell you this: There is not an active effort to be in black neighborhoods writing pedestrian tickets.”

Ivey said stopping people for pedestrian violations as a means for establishing probable cause to search them was also fully justified.

“Shame on him that gives me a legal reason to stop him,” Ivey said.

Lots of police agencies across the country in recent years have been found to have improperly targeted African Americans and other minorities.  The New Jersey State Police profiled minority drivers on the state’s highways.  The New York Police Department’s policy of stop-and-frisk was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge after statistics showed minorities, while making up half the city’s population, accounted for 83 percent of all such encounters with police.  Similar issues with stop-and-frisk practices have surfaced in Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

ANTI-SCIENCE - The Florida Law

"Two Sad Ironies In Florida Passing Its 'Anti-Science' Law" by Marshall Shepherd, Forbes 7/1/2017

COMMENT:  Mr. Shepherd, you don't understand, the members of the legislator and the Governor likely flunked science in high school.

It is officially called Florida House Bill 989, and it was signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott on June 26th, 2017 after passing both chambers of the house.  According to the National Center for Science Education's website:

• With the law now in place, any county resident — not just any parent with a child in the country's public schools, as was the case previously — can now file a complaint about instructional materials in the county's public schools, and the school will now have to appoint a hearing officer to hear the complaint.

Does this mean that some "Joe or Jane" public can file a complaint if they think schools should be teaching that the Earth is flat and not an oblate spheroid?  Many of the affidavits filed in support of the bill complained about evolution and climate change being taught.  One even complained that they have seen global warming being taught as a reality.  Hellooooo000, it is a reality.  Numerous credible sources show that our climate system is warming, and even many conservatives are now acknowledging the threat.  Sea level doesn't care about "red" and "blue," it just rises.  This week one of the climate doubter's signature arguments was dealt a blow.  A new study by some of the pioneering satellite climate scientists found that their measurements of warming had been underestimated.  What struck me about the Florida law is that there are two sad ironies with this so-called "Anti-Science" Law.

Florida is particularly vulnerable to climate change.  This first irony has implications for life and property.  This week arguably the most comprehensive study estimating economic damage from climate change was published in one of the world's top peer-review journals, Science.  The study examined economic damage as a function of crime, energy, storms, human mortality, and labor.  A key finding is that there is an economic cost of about 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) for every 1°C rise in temperature.  They also found that Southern states in the United States are most vulnerable, particularly Florida.  A map of the most economically-vulnerable counties can be found by clicking this link.  My colleague Pam Knox also made me aware of more detailed maps showing each contributing factor.  I have worked as a scientist developing major satellite missions, but it does not take a rocket scientist to understand why Florida is so vulnerable.  It is a peninsula state vulnerable to increasing sea level rise, saltwater intrusion in its drinking water supply, and hurricanes.  Joe Romm recently wrote an excellent analysis of climate change being the nightmare scenario for Florida's Coasts.  Florida Congresswoman Schultz opined last month in the Miami Herald

Human activity is contributing to climate change.  Its effects, expected to only worsen over time, are happening right now in South Florida.  Hiding from that reality will not change it.  And if the near-universal conclusions of climate scientists aren't enough for him (referring to President Trump's exit from the Paris climate agreement) perhaps he should consult with the property appraisers or insurance companies in South Florida who are already factoring sea level rise into their home value assessments.....Ask any of my constituents about an experience they've recently had with flooding, and you'll likely get a lengthy story.  Listen to enough stories about South Florida's ever-increasing king tides, and you'll hear about fish swimming in the streets.

Florida has been a leader in science.  The other irony comes from reflecting on some of the greatest science and technology achievements in history.  NASA is a national treasure, and I was privileged to work at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for twelve years as a scientist working on Earth science related missions.  As I left NASA to join the faculty at the University of Georgia, people were stunned that I was leaving NASA.  It is that awesome.  One of the interesting things as I reflect on from my NASA days is that people would always ask me if I worked at Kennedy Space Center.  My answer was always no.  NASA has several different space centers around the United States, and they all have different specialities.  As I reflect on this new Florida law, it is almost a slap in the face to a state that so many associate with scientific greatness and the space program.  It is also now hosts several private enterprises like Space X, which are pushing the boundaries of science and technology.  These companies will need a scientifically literate workforce not students spewing fringe theories.  This Florida law sends a dangerous message about sound science and would make me nervous if I was a parent sending a child into this type of situation.

Such a law opens up so many "cans of worms" that another commentary could be written on that topic.  We are currently in a time period where opinions and beliefs mean more than facts.  If you stand on the top of your roof, do no get too close to the edge because there is still gravity whether you believe so or not.  As I write this, CBS News is reporting that the current White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is unstaffed and there is currently no person appointed as White House Science Advisor.  There is still no NASA Administrator appointed either.  We have officials at the Department of Energy that dispute published science that people from both sides of the aisle acknowledge.  We have an EPA Administrator calling for silly "red and blue" team climate reviews when science journals, conferences, the National Academies, and others already provide sound mechanisms for independent review.

Pay attention to what is going on with science education and policy at the local, regional, and national levels because our kids and their future depend on our diligence now.

And perhaps the ultimate irony as someone suggested in a tweet, it adds more layers of process and government intervention.....For more on this travesty, one of my former professors at Florida State, University, Dr. Paul Ruscher, blogged his thoughts, and it is worth the read.

AMERICA - Florida is Burning

"Florida is burning and it's just the start of the dry season" PBS NewsHour 4/12/2017

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SUMMARY:  In Florida, a state of emergency is underway as more than 100 wildfires burn in and across all corners of the state.  And since February, more than 7,000 acres have burned across the state, as Florida copes with rising temperatures and major drought.  William Brangham sits down with Jim Karels, director of the Florida Forest Service, about how the state is combating the heat.

THE ARTS - Miami's Art Basel

"Miami's extravagant Art Basel reflects the new economics of art" PBS NewsHour 12/5/2016

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SUMMARY:  This past weekend, Miami hosted Art Basel, the largest art fair in the country.  The annual event draws people from across the globe, this year, 269 galleries from 29 countries participated.  While the Zika scare may have suppressed attendance slightly, the festival drove plenty of discussion, including about politics and the dramatic sales growth of very high-end art.  Jeffrey Brown has more.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  A family reunion for the international art tribe, a trade show, but one that includes some up-to-the-moment political commentary, Art Basel Miami Beach is all of that and more, art of all shapes and sizes and colors and kinds, and all for sale.

It can be head-spinning, or, if you're a prominent gallery owner like Jack Shainman, nightmare-inducing:

JACK SHAINMAN, Jack Shainman Gallery:  A lot happens the first days or the first few hours.  In fact, one of my anxiety dreams that I have when I travel is that all these collectors show up at my booth at the same time at an art fair, and I can't talk to all of them at once.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Here at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 269 high-end galleries from 29 countries around the world take part in the main art fair, last year attracting 95,000 viewers and collectors over six days.

Fred Bidwell was back this year.

FRED BIDWELL, Art Collector:  This is crazy.  This is more art than the human mind could possibly perceive.

JEFFREY BROWN:  With billions of dollars on the line, including new money from abroad, New York gallery owners James and Jane Cohan have a lot at stake.

JANE COHAN, James Cohan Gallery:  We really know the kinds of things our clients are looking for.  So, when we have something that's spectacular, they have been interested in a certain artist, we have a spectacular work, we're going to let them know that we're bringing it to the fair, and then they can come and see it.

JEFFREY BROWN:  So, a little bit of this is sort of precooked?

JANE COHAN:  Absolutely.  But I still really believe that you have to see a work of art in person to fall in love.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Collectors come in all forms, trophy hunters, speculators, and actual lovers of art.

This fair, an offshoot of one in Basel, Switzerland, is known for attracting Latin American art and collectors, including Tiqui Atencio, who's just written a book about collecting art.

TIQUI ATENCIO, Art Collector/Author:  I walked into a gallery that I love, which is the Brazilian gallery from Sao Paulo, Fontes de Deloya.

And I started looking around, and I saw these two wonderful Latin American artists from Brazil in their 20s.  And I thought, oh, my God, these are fantastic artists.

HURRICANES - St Augustine, Florida

"How the country's oldest city weathered Hurricane Matthew" PBS NewsHour 10/10/2016

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SUMMARY:  To get a sense of the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew, Hari Sreenivasan traveled to St Augustine, Florida.  The city, billed as the oldest in the country, was devastated by last week's storm.  We tour one of its hardest-hit areas, where sewage litters the streets and residents were just allowed back on Saturday.  As for the city as a whole, only half its residents were able to evacuate.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Earlier in the program, we told you about the record-breaking flooding in North Carolina.  Hurricane Matthew also left a wake of damage on its way to North Carolina along the coasts of three states.

Billed as the oldest city in America, St Augustine, Florida, was one of the places that felt the storm's might.  The small coastal town of nearly 14,000, which dates back to the 16th century, is only now emerging from this weekend's storm.

I was there yesterday.

It looked like one big garage sale on Solana Road in St Augustine, Florida.  But everything in the front yards was contaminated, couches, mattresses, family keepsakes all soaked by the floods after Hurricane Matthew.  Families were racing to get it all out before the moisture turned to mold and made its way into the walls.

MAYOR NANCY SHAVER, St Augustine:  When you evacuate, you take only the things that you really find irreplaceable.  But this is the whole — these are all the things that may be replaceable, but they're what give you something to come home to.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Mayor Nancy Shaver took us to one of the low-lying areas that was hardest-hit.  The sewer pumps were still offline, meaning underground waste was overflowing onto the street.  Residents were only allowed back into the area Saturday.

NANCY SHAVER:  Your home is where you're supposed to go to be peaceful, restful, be with your family, sleep, eat.  And none of these things are possible in these homes.

FLORIDA - Zika Control?

"In Florida, controlling Zika is no simple matter" PBS NewsHour 10/5/2016

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SUMMARY:  Florida's battle against the outbreak of Zika is intensifying as the number of cases climbs.  The state currently has 940 documented instances of the virus, with 230 in Miami-Dade County alone.  Efforts to contain the spread of the disease focus on mosquito control and avoidance, but many details about Zika remain a mystery.  For more on the outbreak, William Brangham reports from Miami.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  Beyond the famous sugar-white sands of South Beach in Miami, there's a clear sense of unease about the growing public health crisis here.

GOV.  RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.):  This means Florida has become the first state in the nation to have local transmission of the Zika virus.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Over the last few months, officials have been waging an all-out war against mosquitoes, spraying pesticides from the air, going door to door in some neighborhoods, checking plants and standing water, and plastering the city with warning signs, telling residents how to protect themselves from Zika.

There are now over 940 documented cases of Zika in the state of Florida and over 230 in Miami-Dade County alone.  But the epicenter is here in Miami, and the largest number of locally-acquired Zika infections have occurred in these two neighborhoods.

How are people in Florida doing with this?

SAMMY MACK, Health Reporter, WLRN:  The pregnant women that I have talked to, and their partners, or people who know pregnant women are taking it very seriously, and there's a lot of anxiety there.  There's a lot of anxiety there.

Pregnant women should avoid nonessential travel to the county.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Sammy Mack is a health reporter for WLRN, the local NPR station in Miami.  While she's eager to cover this big story, Mack has ended up in the middle of in it in a way she'd rather not.  She's also four months pregnant.

SAMMY MACK:  It became an issue of, OK, how — how am I going to cover this thing that is happening in the middle of my beat, in a way that is not putting me at any kind of additional risk?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Mack took one of the free Zika tests offered by the state, but the results took weeks, and those delays can limit the options for pregnant women.

SAMMY MACK:  I waited five weeks to get my results back.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  In the middle of a pregnancy?

SAMMY MACK:  In the middle of a pregnancy.

If women don't get their test turned around quickly and are waiting four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, whatever it is, that may affect their window to decide to terminate the pregnancy.  Florida restricts abortion past 24 weeks.

ZIKA - Miami-Dade County

"What Miami-Dade County is doing about Zika" PBS NewsHour 8/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  With 12 confirmed cases of the Zika virus in Miami-Dade County, officials are asking residents to take part in mosquito-prevention efforts, including draining standing water and wearing insect repellent.  Gwen Ifill speaks with Alina Hudak, Deputy Mayor of Miami-Dade County, for details on the identified cases, what containment measures are being utilized and the “many unknowns” about the disease.  (update, 14 confirmed cases)

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  In Florida, workers went door to door today to check for mosquitoes, and to spray in neighborhoods, in the hope of clamping down on the Zika virus.

Officials say 15 people have become infected in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, and it's believed these are the first mosquito-transmitted cases in the mainland U.S.

The CDC says the mosquitoes are proving harder to eradicate than expected.

For an on-the-ground look, I'm joined by Alina Hudak, the deputy mayor of Miami-Dade County.

Thank you for joining us.

We know now of 15 locally transmitted case of Zika infections.  How many more are likely, and are you prepared to handle an increase?

ALINA HUDAK, Deputy Mayor, Miami-Dade County:  Gwen, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight to you and to your viewers.

I would like to clarify first and foremost that the confirmed cases in Miami-Dade County are 12.  I want to reiterate and really just be very clear about our mosquito control program here in Miami-Dade County.  We have a very strong and aggressive program that we have had in place since 1935.  We have many years of a proven track record in managing and controlling disease.

We work together with our Department of Health, with the Department of Agriculture.  We have had consultations with the CDC, and they are working very closely with us.  So we feel very confident that this can be contained and it can be contained to a very small area.

I want the viewers to understand that we're talking about one square mile in a community that is over 2,000 square miles, and I think that's important for context and for people to understand exactly the area that we're talking about.

GWEN IFILL:  Why is it confined so far to this one area, Wynwood, which contains an art district and attracts people from outside of the neighborhood?  Why there?

ALINA HUDAK:  You know, I certainly would be speculating relative to that.

We have a high international presence there and a lot of travel in that community.  It is unknown exactly how it is that the transmission takes place, and obviously there is a lot of focus on the mosquito, but there are many unknowns about this disease.  And, you know, quite frankly, we have been able to isolate at this point these particular cases, in consultation with the Department of Health.

Our crews have been there every single day, and have been on the ground since day one.  The moment that a suspected case is identified, our crews are there.  They do inspection.  They do treatment.  And we have, again, a very aggressive program.

In addition to that, we have a very aggressive outreach program to our residents, and we're communicating with our residents regularly about the part and the role that they play in being our partner with this.  We want our…

(CROSSTALK)

GWEN IFILL:  And pardon me.  What are you asking them to do?

ALINA HUDAK:  We're asking our residents to look in their backyards, to drain any standing water.  We're asking our residents and our visitors to wear repellent.

I heard someone today in a meeting describe it as you leave your house in the morning in Miami and you put on sunscreen.  Put on insect repellent and help us and be preventive and do your part in preventing the spread of this disease.

SOUTH FLORIDA - The Zika Scare

"What you need to know about South Florida Zika scare" PBS NewsHour 7/28/2016

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SUMMARY:  The Food and Drug Administration asked two South Florida counties — Miami-Dade and Broward — to immediately halt blood donations as what looks like four cases of locally transmitted, mosquito-borne Zika virus are investigated.  Hari Sreenivasan talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Health, about the virus, which can cause birth defects.  Fauci says the FDA is taking “prudent steps.”

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  The U.S.  Food and Drug Administration today asked blood centers in two in Florida counties to suspend blood donations until each unit can be screened for the Zika virus.

This comes as state health officials investigate four non-travel-related cases of Zika, which may mean the first cases of local Zika virus transmission by mosquitoes in the United States.

For an update on all this, I spoke earlier this evening with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

I'm joined now by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH.

Thanks for joining us.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, National Institutes of Health:  Good to be with you.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  All right, first of all, this change in status almost, what does this warning in Florida mean?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI:  Well, the warning from the FDA is saying that in the regions in Miami-Dade and Broward County where you have what looks like local transmission of cases, namely, cases that are not travel-related, don't appear to be sexually transmitted, and very likely mosquito-transmitted locally, mainly because those people never left the continental United States, so they didn't get infected elsewhere, given that, what the FDA is doing is, they're saying there may be more cases out there.

So, in order to protect the blood supply and to be very safe and to keep it safe, they are suspending the collection of blood from those two areas until they can implement either testing of the units as they are donated or decontaminating of any potential units that might be potentially contaminated.

So, they want to be quite safe about it and very prudent, so that we don't get contamination of the blood supply.  That's what their particular order is regarding collection of bloods.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Now, halting the collection of blood, that is a pretty extreme step.  That has got to affect local hospitals that use it, other places that use blood.

Is there some evidence that you would base a significant move like this on, an idea that there are local mosquitoes there that would be carrying Zika?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI:  Well, there's no doubt that the mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting Zika are in that area.

This is the Aedes aegypti mosquito that's extensively seen along the Gulf Coast, the Gulf Coast states, and up across in part of the East Coast and a little bit out towards the West, but certainly along the Gulf Coastal states.

We know that we have now more than 1,600 travel-related cases, which is the reason why one would have predicted that, sooner or later, you're going to see some local transmission.  And the local transmission that we're seeing now is the kind of thing that makes one want to make sure we do what we can to prevent that local transmission from becoming sustained and from becoming disseminated.

And the answer to that is by very aggressive mosquito control.