LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK

Wael Barsoum, M.D., president and CTO, Healthcare Outcomes Performance Co. Last Thursday, Amazon announced that it has entered an agreement to acquire primary health care company One Medical in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $3.9 billion. One Medical is a membership-based primary care service that promises customers “24/7 access to virtual care.” The acquisition is just the latest example of the tech giant expanding its footprint in the health care industry. Amazon acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy, in 2018 and then later launched its own digital pharmacy in the United States. With the One Medical deal, Amazon would gain access to physical health clinics and potentially payer and hospital system relationships. Shares for 1life Healthcare (ONEM), the parent company of One Medical, surged more than 65% in early trading Thursday after the announcement.

Sheryl Woods, CEO, YMCA of South Florida. It’s that time of year when parents, teachers and students begin preparing for the start of the school year. One of the rites of passage is shopping for school supplies. In Florida, we can take advantage of the Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday through Aug. 7. It’s so important for students to begin the year with the essential supplies they need to be successful. If you can, I hope you’ll consider donating to one of the many school supply drives in our community. Students and teachers will greatly appreciate your help.

Michael Udine, mayor, Broward County. Want to try new flavors and support local businesses? Dine Out Lauderdale starts Aug. 1 and runs through Sept. 30. Prices range from $35-$45 per person and restaurants are located throughout the county. Restaurants participating offer an appetizer, main course and dessert. Reservations are recommended; check ahead for any exclusions. This initiative showcases many of the unique flavors Broward County has to offer, so don’t miss out! Check out all the great options at visitlauderdale.com/restaurants and get ready for a great meal with friends or family that will not disappoint!

Angelo Castillo, commissioner, Pembroke Pines. Cities across America are having great difficulty recruiting police officers. It is not uncommon to find significant shortages of willing and able candidates to replace retiring cops. In Broward, it is a problem most cities struggle to offset through increasingly creative hiring approaches and incentives. Still, the shortages are real. I sense the need to ascribe greater seriousness to this concern before lack of sworn police personnel to patrol our communities becomes critical. I’m doing my part to encourage greater attention placed on finding ways to recruit and retain police staffing necessary to ensure our public safety. And yes, a career in law enforcement remains among the most important disciplines in all of public service. We need more cops.

Jason Hughes, executive director, ArtServe. According to the U.S. Department of Education, of 22,326 human trafficking victims and survivors identified through the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2019, at least 5,359 were under age 18. It follows that many of these children may also be students in our school systems nationwide, since no community or demographic is immune to the threat of human trafficking. As South Florida gets back to school, ArtServe is offering an Aug. 4 workshop for teachers and families to learn how to prevent this threat, as well as how to identify children who may be in the classroom who need intervention.

Christine Hunschofsky, member, Florida House of Representatives. The past two weeks we have heard horrifying testimony during the penalty trial of the MSD killer. We learned that he searched online for information on mass shootings, weapons of war and ammunition. We also heard the heartbreaking testimony of how he hunted his victims, how many times each victim was shot, and the horrifying impact the high speed bullets from the AR-15 style weapon had on the bodies of the students and teachers. Before our state decides to follow Texas’s bad direction, all lawmakers should watch this trial and then think about how their decisions impact families and communities.

Howard Simon, retired executive director, ACLU of Florida. The DeSantis administration will soon report its survey of viewpoint diversity on university campuses, as a 2021 law requires. The results will be unreliable and compromised: few teachers or students are likely to respond to an administrative inquiry about their political views. The survey also failed to prevent multiple responses and responses from those not affiliated with university communities. But that will not matter: The point of the survey is to confirm — not investigate — DeSantis’ ideological judgment that Florida universities are overrun by what he derisively calls “woke liberals” and that there are insufficient voices reflecting his political views.

Dean Trantalis, mayor, Fort Lauderdale .In my July newsletter, I discussed how the city of Fort Lauderdale has been fighting to combat the affordable housing problem and increase the stock of our workforce and affordable housing options. We want to do as much as possible to ensure we remain a diverse community that is accessible to all income levels. Some housing projects that have either come online in the last couple of years or are currently moving through the design and construction process include Six13, Village View, River Garden Townhouses, Sailboat Bend II, Rock Island Apartments, Poinciana Crossing and Seven on Seventh, to name a handful. Sign up for my monthly newsletter for more information at ftlcity.info/mayornewsletter.