August 4, 2016

To Trump, With Love: Artists fill downtown Jacksonville with tongue-in-cheek compliments to Trump

Posters with tongue-in-cheek compliments alongside the pictures of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, white supremacist David Duke and Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up all over downtown late Tuesday night.

Posters and stickers showing actual compliments to Trump alongside pictures of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, white supremacist David Duke and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The tongue-in-cheek praises — direct quotes from a North Korean newspaper, Duke and Putin — appeared downtown and especially near the Veterans Memorial Arena where Donald Trump is scheduled to speak Wednesday at 7 p.m. Some also covered newspaper boxes in San Marco and Riverside's Five Points.

The posters don't indicate who made them. Somebody putting them up Tuesday night provided photos of the artwork and spoke on the condition of anonymity citing a fear of legal issues. He said the 18 posters and 120 stickers were put together by a collective of artists calling themselves the New Federalists who oppose Trump's visit to Jacksonville.

■ "Donald Trump is a really brilliant and talented person - Vladimir Putin," reads one poster with Putin's face. Last December, according to a translation, the Russian leader told reporters, "He’s a really brilliant and talented person, without any doubt. It’s not our job to judge his qualities, that’s a job for American voters, but he’s the absolute leader in the presidential race.”

■ "Donald Trump is a wise politician - North Korean editorial," another poster reads. The editorial in DPRK Today did call Trump a "wise politician" and a "far-sighted" candidate, according to a translation.

Read more: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2016-08-03/story/trump-love-artists-fill-downtown-jacksonville-tongue-cheek-compliments

August 4, 2016

Clinics accused of bilking Miami-Dade schools of $2.7 million

The offer came from a vending-machine refill man known as “Papitas,” or French Fries.

He told three employees at Felix Varela High that they could earn some quick cash by simply showing up at a medical clinic, showing their health insurance card, driver’s license and signing a few blank forms.

They did. And Miami-Dade Schools police say that ABC Therapy turned around and fraudulently billed Cigna Insurance Company for healthcare services that were never actually provided.

In all, investigators believe ABC and another clinic fraudulently billed some $13 million to the school district, actually collecting about $2.7 million. The school district contracts with Cigna to administer its healthcare insurance.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article93471482.html

August 4, 2016

IOC allocates a record 450,000 condoms to Olympic athletes in Rio

Four years ago, 150,000 condoms were available to athletes competing in the Summer Olympics in London.

This year? At the games in Rio? Triple the number of condoms — 450,000 — are ready for male and female athletes in a clinic and vending machines in the Athletes’ Village.

That breaks down to 350,000 prophylactics and 100,000 female condoms — 42 condoms per athlete — plus 175,000 packets of lubricant, according to the International Olympic Committee.

“Welcome to the most promiscuous Olympics in history,” writes The Guardian, which points out that 450,000 condoms is “a hell of a lot,” even by Olympic standards.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article93643627.html

August 4, 2016

Trump Taj Mahal casino shutting down; Icahn says he lost $100 million

Donald Trump has been gone from Atlantic City for years, but his name has lived on in glowing neon on the facade of a casino he no longer owned.

But later this year, the Republican presidential nominee's name will disappear from the seaside gambling resort — along with 3,000 jobs.

The Trump Taj Mahal casino, opened 26 years ago by Trump, announced Wednesday that it will shut down after Labor Day. The business now belongs to Trump's friend and fellow billionaire Carl Icahn, who decided he can no longer support a casino losing millions of dollars each month amid a crippling strike.

Icahn told The Associated Press Wednesday he has lost nearly $100 million on the Taj Mahal in the past 18 months, including money he spent to keep it afloat during bankruptcy court before he even owned it.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-taj-mahal-casino-shutting-down-20160803-story.html

August 4, 2016

As UCF paper shuts down, alums recall its legacy

Freshman Jillian James was a journalism rookie, so freshly hired at the UCF student paper this spring that she had not yet visited the newsroom.

But then there was breaking news: reports — later determined to be false — that a woman brought a gun into the University of Central Florida library.

James hurried to the library to document what was happening for the Central Florida Future, the weekly paper that has chronicled life on campus since 1968, five years after the school opened. It made her feel like a true reporter to rush to the scene while others fled.

On Wednesday afternoon, hours before her final deadline, James said she felt sad as the paper readied its final edition.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-ucf-future-newspaper-impact-20160803-story.html

August 4, 2016

Democratic Senate candidates hurl charges, but won't debate before primary

The already-heated race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate turned even nastier Wednesday as the two leading candidates, on the campaign trail in South Florida, hurled even more vitriolic rhetoric at each other.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, the Democratic Party establishment's favorite, said his opponent, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, is so unfit for public office that if he somehow wins the Aug. 30 primary, he couldn't endorse him in the November election.

Murphy also said Grayson is such a pariah that he pulled the plug on the single pre-primary debate that had been scheduled.

Grayson, an outspoken liberal known for colorful rhetoric, hit back even harder at Murphy.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-grayson-murphy-senate-democrats-20160803-story.html

August 4, 2016

Alan Grayson pushes back on domestic abuse allegations

WEST PALM BEACH — An embattled U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson met with reporters Wednesday in South Florida to fight back against allegations by his ex-wife that he abused her repeatedly.

When asked if he would provide explanations of the four times his ex-wife, Lolita Grayson, contacted the police between 1994 and 2014 to claim he abused her, Grayson said he couldn't describe what happened except for in the most recent incident.

"The police didn't contact me with regard to the ones in Virginia, and with regard to the one here three years ago the short answer is she attacked me — the video taken at time demonstrated that, as did her own 911 call."

Grayson met with a handful of reporters at Dontee's diner in West Palm Beach, where he took questions for about an hour. It was his first sit-down interview in South Florida — a Democratic-rich territory he needs in the primary — since the allegations broke. Grayson, of Orlando, is in a competitive Democratic primary battle against U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter for the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Marco Rubio.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/alan-grayson-pushes-back-on-domestic-abuse-allegations/2288038

August 4, 2016

LePage can’t help owners of damaged roads

Gov. Paul LePage says he can’t help provide financial assistance for repairs on private roads in rural Somerset County damaged by flash flooding in late June, but members of his administration could offer technical expertise to local road associations in the unorganized territory.

The governor, in a letter sent to Somerset County commissioners and local lawmakers Tuesday, put the onus on the Legislature to convene a special session to consider an emergency bill.

More than a dozen miles of roads in the unorganized territory between The Forks and Jackman were damaged in the June 28 flash flooding, initially trapping some residents and camp owners, exposing boulders and creating craters making roads largely impassable. The cost of repairs has been estimated at up to $100,000 for at least one road association, and tens of thousands of dollars for others.

“After carefully reviewing the private road damage and the state budget, the executive branch is unable to provide financial assistance with the repairs, as the Legislature is the only branch of government that can appropriate money,” LePage wrote.

Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/03/lepage-cant-help-owners-of-damaged-roads/

August 4, 2016

Vermont OKs Sale Of 5 Nursing Homes

Springfield, Vt. — Genesis Healthcare, a Pennsylvania-based holding company with more than 500 nursing homes nationwide, has won approval from regulators for a $39-million deal to acquire five Vermont nursing homes.

Culmination of the deal will make Genesis the largest nursing home operator, with about a 30 percent share of the inventory, in each of the Twin States. Genesis Upper Valley facilities include a 110-bed facility in Lebanon and the 68-bed Elm Wood facility in Claremont.

The approval was issued the same day that Genesis, which posted $5.6 billion in revenue in 2015, announced it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to pay $52.7 million to settle allegations that Genesis violated “federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations.”

Genesis officials did not respond to telephone requests for comment on Monday.

Read more: http://www.vnews.com/Genesis-Vermont-Nursing-Homes-Purchase-Approved-by-Green-Mountain-Care-Board-3748677

August 4, 2016

Nearly $1M in funding to help protect fish, wildlife habitat

Nearly $1 million in funding is going toward the protection and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat in New Hampshire.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, in partnership with Eversource, the University of New Hampshire and the Connecticut River Watershed is announcing the funds today at UNH.

The projects are expected to restore eroded stream bank; provide fish access to miles of streams; improve young forest habitat; protect diverse habitat for fish and wildlife; and engage in hundreds of volunteers in conservation.

Projects are expected to help native brook trout; woodcock; cottontail; and warblers.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/Nearly-$1M-in-funding-to-help-protect-fish-wildlife-habitat-3802396
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