The Zika Virus in Florida

Zika is in the Flaviviridae family and belongs to the genus Flavivirus.  Cases have now been reported in South Florida and also on the Gulf coast of Florida.  Protect yourself, family, and friends with information, precautions, and updates.

The CDC has helpful resources here:
http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html

The Merck Professional Manual also has comprehensive information: 
http://tinyurl.com/hrerdm

Medline at https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007666.htm

The State of Florida’s website also has info at http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/zika-virus/index.html

The Miami Herald is also tracking Zika here in Florida:
http://www.miamiherald.com/…/health-ca…/article66790817.html

 

Voting in 2016

Hi everyone…

Early voting for the Florida Primary (and other local races and ballots) is underway in Palm Beach County, Florida, and it will end tomorrow, Sun. March 13, 2016.

For more information on early voting locations, visit the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections site at http://www.pbcelections.org/content.aspx?id=270

Regular election day voting  for the Primary is this Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Florida voters can check their registration status here at the Florida Department of State Elections site at http://registration.elections.myflorida.com/CheckVoterStatus

Qualified voters can also request absentee ballots.  For more information, see the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Absentee Voting Page at  http://www.pbcelections.org/items.aspx?id=28

Now online — Florida 2012 Election Websites

Hi everyone!

On the eve of the Florida 2012 Primary Elections tomorrow, August 14, 2012, I’m sure some of you may still be trying to find information on candidates and the issues that is as accurate, non-partisan, and unbiased as possible.

I myself haven’t been fortunate, perhaps because I started searching late.  It has been a busy summer.

In any case, many Florida newspapers have now published their endorsements and have created 2012 election news website pages.  Readers can find some of them listed below.

Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) August 2012 Editorial Page Endorsements at http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2012-08-12/story/roundup-newspapers-endorsements

Miami Herald Voter’s Guide at http://www.miamiherald.com/voters-guide/

Orlando Sentinel Voter Guide website at http://elections.orlandosentinel.com/2012/august/home/index/federal

Palm Beach Post Elections 2012 website at http://www.palmbeachpost.com/s/news/elections/

Sun Sentinel Elections 2012 website at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/elections/

Tampa Bay Times Know Your Candidates 2012 website at http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2012/reports/kyc2012/primary/index.shtml

Other websites

Politifact Florida’s website (sponsored in part by the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald) assesses the truth of candidate statements at http://www.politifact.com/florida/

The League of Women Voters for Palm Beach County’s site, where one can find information on events, candidate forums, issues and studies,  and so on, is located at http://www.lwvpbc.org/

You may also wish to  take a look at the League of Women Voters’ Vote411 Guide.  I did not locate enough specific information for the August Primary in Palm Beach County, but perhaps the guide will have more for the upcoming November 2012 elections.

Lantana purchases waterfront property

July 24, 2012

The Town of Lantana intends to purchase waterfront property on the west side of the intra-coastal waterway on the north part of Lake Drive for $965,000.  This follows on on earlier purchase made by the Town in the same area in December of 2011 for $1.2 million.

See the July 4, 2012 article by Deborah Hartz-Seeley in the Coastal Star, or click on the link below:

Lantana: Town scoops up waterfront land at bargain prices by Deborah Hartz- Seeley

Tax Return Fraud in Florida and What to Do

Do you have friends or associates who have had their tax returns stolen from them here in Florida?

I do.  Recently at Broward College in Coconut Creek, Florida, several of my fellow employees’ identities were stolen.  When these employees went to file their federal tax returns, they learned that their returns had already been filed by someone else.

According to one of my colleagues, local police officers advised him to do the following:

1) Report the crime to the IRS with a theft afadavit (whereby the IRS appoints an advocate to help return a refund to the legitimate taxpayer),
2) Report the crime immediately to local law enforcement,
3) Report the crime with Federal Trade Commission, and
3) Report the crime with elected representatives, and of course,
4) Alert others to this growing problem.

Facts on tax return fraud:

Tax return fraud has been increasing steadily in recent years — especially in Tampa and South Florida.  A recent Miami Herald article by Erika Bolstad reported the IRS had identified and prevented about $14 billion worth of fraudulent tax returns.

Read more about tax return fraud:
Avoid the inconvenience of having to search over the world wide web with Google, Yahoo, etc.  Don’t waste time sifting through results/hit list in order to access trustworthy/credible information!

Instead, log onto and search Lantana Public Library’s NewsBank database with terms such as “Florida Tax Return Fraud”.

NewsBank then compiles credible, relevant articles on this topic from newspapers both in Florida and nationally into ONE list for users.

Users can then in the upper left hand navigation bar sort further by year, location, actual newspaper source, and source type, and print all articles for free.

Here are just a few articles that I found using the NewsBank database:

*”Feds: Tax fraud an epidemic in Florida and spreading nationwide – The Internal Revenue Service this year has flagged 2 million returns for possible fraud through identity theft ” by Erika Bolstad, Miami Herald — Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

*”Bill Speeds IRS Refunds for ID Theft Victims,” by  William E. Gibson and Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) –Wednesday, March 21, 2012.

*”IRS Pilot Program to Combat ID Theft,” by Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), — Thursday, April 26, 2012.

Articles on the world wide web:

*”ID Thieves Loot Tax Checks, Filing Early and Often” by Lizette Alvarez, New York Times, May 26, 2012.

* “IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud, officials say” by Scott Zamost and Randi Kaye, CNN, Tuesday, March 20, 2012.

Also see the New York Times’ Tips on Preventing Tax Return Identify Theft. 

Florida 2011 Election Laws in the News and Voter Information 2012

Greetings good people of Lantana.

Are you aware that there are Primary elections to be held August 14, 2012, as well as Presidential elections on November 6, 2012?  Get ready for them now!

Why? Because this year Floridian voters will likely witness significant developments in where, when, and how they can vote.  The Florida Legislature passed new voter laws in 2011– Title IX, Ch. 97-107/Electors and Elections.  View this statute at On-line Sunshine — where all laws and statutes passed by the Florida Legislature since 1997 may be found.

*Are you a citizen who has registered to vote, but have not voted for a while and don’t know where your precinct is?
*Are you registered to vote, but uncertain if your district may be re-districted and altered later this year?

Florida has now completed its electoral re-districting and those districts have been pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice.  Maps can be viewed at FloridaRedistricting.org.  Palm Beach County, as well as other South Florida county voting districts have changed significantly since 2010 — locally, state-wide, and congressionally.  There are lots of new maps, but I found helpful “Maps and Block Equivalencies for New Congressional and Legislative Districts” — this is being provided to Supervisors of Elections across the state.

I did this because my neighborhood in Lantana has now been re-districted for congressional and state-wide elections.   Confirm for yourself your districts, and get a sense of how they have been re-drawn.  (Napoleon supposedly claimed that geography was destiny, but he may have not have been able to foresee that modern election maps can and do change from time to time).   My district is likely to have different candidates to vote for in all the races than in 2010.

The Town of Lantana also maintains a local municipal elections page, as Lantana has five elected officials  — see www.lantana.org.

*Are you a U.S. citizen unsure of how to register to vote in Palm Beach County?

Register directly with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections or register with the help of one of the State of Florida’s registered third party voter registration organizations.  The State of Florida’s list of these third party organizations is available on the State of Florida Department of State Division of Elections website.

*Are you a citizen wanting to change your address, name, or party affiliation in Palm Beach County?

You can do all of these, but only in advance; see the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Voter F.A.Q. page.

*Are you registered to vote in Palm Beach County, but are wondering if your name may be on a purge list?

Contact the County Supervisor for more information. Voters who had been identified as ineligible by the State are supposed to receive advance notification and be given the opportunity to produce proof of eligibility to Supervisors.

Courtesy of the Florida Division of Elections, voters can look up their voter registration status in Florida. (Note: I initially checked twice and was not successful at retrieving my status.  When I entered my information (name and birthdate), I had to type in some additional script to verify that I was a live person and not a spammer.  On my third attempt, I was able to retrieve my voter status.  My advice to users — try this lookup feature a couple of times, slowly and carefully.)

In addition, I was able to find out if my absentee ballot status and also the location of my precinct where I can go to vote.

*Are you registered to vote, but prefer to vote early and are unsure when the early voting period ends? *Are you registered to vote by absentee ballot, but are unsure of your status?

See again the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website on Election Information or the State Division of Elections on Early Voting, as the early voting window has also been shortened in Florida with the new 2011 law.

More updates and links will be provided as the elections near.  Local newspapers will also publish election guides — be sure to watch for them.

 
NEWS UPDATES/DEVELOPMENTS

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a warning to Florida to halt purge efforts, claiming the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NRVA) are being violated.  (See Reuters article of June 2, 2012, “Florida Weighs Warning Against Voter Purge“.)

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher recently halted completion of purge efforts, as did other County Supervisors.  (See “Governor Rick Scott’s voter purge on hold” in the Sun Sentinel, June 1, 2012, and Ignored by Obama DHS: Florida’s Request for Citizenship Database to Review Voting Lists” by Jim Turner, Sunshine State News, June 1, 2012)

Update 6/6/2012:

Note: All 67 County Supervisors of Elections in Florida suspended purge efforts.  See the Palm Beach Post article of June 2, 2012, Voter Purge Gets pushback from elections supervisors, U.S. Justice.

Update on 6/24/2012:

Note:  Lawsuits filed against Florida and the Federal Government.  See the Palm Beach Post article of June 11, 2012, Feds, Florida in Dueling Lawsuits  over Voter Purge.

Update on 8/13/2012

Apparently the State has still been unable to access the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database while it continues to purge ineligible voters from its rolls, according to Sunshine State News on August 9, 2012: Florida Still Can’t Access DHS Citizenship Database.