Conexion Miami / Water is life 

The Everglades evokes images of Florida alligators. Tampa Bay Times is reporting that alligators that inhabit the Everglades are showing signs of serious trouble. Their population has dropped, and the ones that are still around tend to look starved. According to biologist Frank Mazzotti alligators have been called “the buffalo of the Everglades.” They are an indicator of the overall health of the River of Grass. If they’re not doing well, said Mazzotti, a University of Florida professor who has spent decades studying them, then neither is the Everglades. The problem? Water – not the pollution in it, but the quantity of it.

Marco being Marco

Marco Rubio may be in trouble with his base. The same tea party republicans who helped elect him are now mad at him. This due to the fact that President Obama credited Rubio and other senators (without naming them) for getting the ball rolling on immigration reform by co-sponsoring and cheerleading the Senate bill that passed 68-32. The flip-flopper par none then went on to oppose his own bill. And last week he blasted the president’s announcement on executive action. In the end it’s just Marco being Marco…

330,000 young Floridians without insurance

Ask Gov. Rick Scott and he’ll tell you that Florida is doing better than ever. And yet this week we read a report that 330,000 young Floridians between the ages of 18 and 34 are uninsured and likely to remain so unless state legislators accept the federal government’s offer to fund the cost of expanding the eligibility criteria for Medicaid as called for under the Affordable Care Act.

Don’t get hurt!

‘Just don’t get hurt’ would be a good slogan for persons who want to avoid Florida hospitals and the bills received if you end up in an emergency room. “Trauma response” is when a medical team is paged to await a patient who shows up hurt. The fees charged for this response can be astronomical: Floridians have been charged as much as $33,000. The average fee in Florida last year was $10,000. And oftentimes the only thing the patient needed was but a little first aid.

Poverty level jobs

This week the Miami Herald reported that “South Florida’s jobs picture is looking sunnier.” The jobless rate for greater Miami fell to 6.4%. Employment in Miami-Dade County grew 1.2 percent in October from the prior month, adding 13,100 jobs. We compared that to a recent United Way report that showed how almost half of Floridians (Miami leading the way) are at, or close to, the poverty level. So the only conclusion we’re able to reach is that we are creating jobs, but they may not be paying enough to keep us out of poverty.

Gun culture

Here’s more from the Miami Herald you may have missed. “Two teenagers were shot near Carol City High School [in Miami] on Thursday afternoon in an exchange of gunfire that led to helicopters sweeping the neighborhood for a shooter, hundreds of students locked inside three area schools, and one of the wounded stumbling into the school begging for help.” Don’t you just lover our gun culture?!…

Chihuly at Fairchild

If you want to leave the grit and guns, there’s always Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, located at 10901 Old Cutler Road in the southern part of Miami-Dade. This place reminds us of what Miami was like at one time. And starting in December there will be an outdoor exhibit of American artist Dale Chihuly, whose glass sculptures become part of the garden. Beautiful and stunning can be used to describe it.

Rubio and Nelson: Government peeping toms

Both U.S. senators from Florida, Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, adhere to the idea of government peeping into our business. And they proved it last week when they voted against a bill that would rein in government data collection programs. You know the type exposed by Edward Snowden, who helped us understand that we’ve become no better than what we once criticized the Soviets for doing.

Bondi still hating on gay marriage

And this from the AP: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is asking to keep intact the state’s ban on same-sex marriage until ongoing appeals have finished. A federal judge earlier this month decided to keep Florida’s ban in place through Jan. 5. That means no gay weddings can take place for now. But Bondi’s office asked the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the stay in place beyond that date. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in August ruled the Florida gay marriage ban was unconstitutional.

Killing Bambi silently

As gun violence continues to rise, now the NRA in Florida wants to add more to its arsenal. It wants to allow silencers for hunters. Yes, that’s right. According to the NRA hunters should have the right to kill deer very quietly. Lending credence to the “it never knew what hit it.”

Message to students: Slow down on your studies

Gov. Rick Scott promised to increase spending in education in Florida. Let’s hope he tackles this: the state is on track for providing the fewest number of the merit-based scholarships to college in a decade. This year’s Bright Futures’ awards would represent the program’s lowest since the 2004-05 school year, when 130,597 went out. Next year, the amount of awards would be the fewest since 2002-03. Since 2010, Bright Futures awards have been reduced and the qualifying standards increased under both Govs. Charlie Crist and Rick Scott to slow the pace of growth in the program.

Health insurance premiums

An Associated Press analysis found that average monthly premiums for mid-range health insurance plans increased as much as 20 percent in Florida this year with the biggest increases seen in rural areas. South Florida saw only meager increases and premiums decreased ever so slightly in Miami-Dade County.

Breakfast in the Sculpture Park

FIU celebrates Art Basel Miami Beach at the Frost’s renowned outdoor Sculpture Park, where the museum hosts Breakfast in the Park by inviting noted sculptor, Daniel Arsham, to speak. Guests enjoy a complimentary outdoor breakfast, plus informal lectures and guided tours of the Sculpture Park and the exhibitions inside the museum. Arsham’s work blurs the lines between art, architecture and performance. He explores issues such as natural-versus-manufactured and intention-versus-happenstance. It will happen on Sunday, Dec. 7. For more info,click here.

Voter turnout

The Eye on Miami blog offers these suggestions to increase voter participation: If you voted, you get a tax credit; and if you register a car, you pay a penalty if you fail to vote. In the Miami Herald, Maurice Ferre urges civics classes to educate children and increase voter turnout from the abysmal rates that plague elections.

Curbelo wannabes

Carlos Curbelo beat Joe Garcia for the District 26 congressional seat. Curbelo must now give up his seat on the Miami-Dade School Board leaving it open. As if on cue, the buzzards are now circling… Names bandies about as possibly interested in Curbelo’s old seat: former Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell; former School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla; Lubby Navarro, the School Board’s head lobbyist; lobbyist Daniel Diaz-Leyva, who spent half a million and lost a state house bid; school teacher Carolina Blanco; Judith Marty, principal at iMater Academy, a charter school.