LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK

Michael De Lucca, president, Broward Regional Health Planning Council Inc. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, an observance that highlights the importance of vaccination in protecting public health. The CDC recommends vaccinations throughout your life to protect against many infections. In skipping vaccines, you leave yourself vulnerable to illnesses such as shingles, pneumococcal disease, flu, HPV and Hepatitis B, both leading causes of cancer. Now is the time to get routine vaccines for back to school, COVID-19 and more. Vaccines keep you healthy and are as important to your overall health as diet and exercise to keep you safe. To learn more about the different vaccines available for preventative diseases visit cdc.gov/vaccines.

Anna Fusco, president, Broward Teachers Union. The renewal of the Secure the Next Generation Referendum on the Aug. 23 ballot is our opportunity to support public schools, including charters, for the next four years. Of the predicted $214 million for public schools and $53 million for charters annually, at least

75% will increase compensation for school employees, with up to 17% used to maintain and enhance school safety personnel and up to 8% used to preserve essential mental health services. This comes at a minimal increase to taxpayers of an estimated $13/month for homeowners and

$7.50/month for condo owners. A great deal for the price!

Bob Mayersohn, city commissioner, Parkland; president, Broward League of Cities. Aug. 8 is National Pickleball Day! The game was invented in 1965, and in 2021, the Sport and Fitness Association declared it the fastest-growing sport in the United States. This newly popular sport that combines the elements of tennis and ping pong is easy and fun to learn at any age. Nationally, there are more than 9,500 parks and sports complexes with pickleball courts. Here in Broward, many of our cities have installed pickleball courts in their parks. If you haven’t yet played, grab the kids, your friends or neighbors and give it a try — you won’t be disappointed.

Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson, president and CEO, Community Foundation of Broward. On Aug. 17 and 18, our community has an exciting opportunity to tackle big challenges facing the middle class and help more of our residents striving to move into the middle class. OIC of South Florida’s Middle Class Summit is a conference for business leaders, policymakers, nonprofits and other community leaders to come together and discuss attainable solutions for promoting more economic opportunity. This two-day gathering at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood is a chance to elevate dialogue and build consensus about job creation, health care, housing and much more. Visit OICSFL. org.

Roni Raab, host, Shalom South Florida on WWNN. Aug. 14 marks the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the fast of Tisha B’Av, marking many calamities befalling the Jewish people, including the destruction of its two Holy Temples in Jerusalem (23 BCE and 69 CE) and the expulsion of Jews from England (1290 CE) and Spain (1492 CE). A story is told of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was traveling through a Jewish town in Europe, seeing men and women in a synagogue crying, sitting on the floor by candlelight, reading from books. He was told the Jews were mourning something that happened 2,000 years ago. He said this people will merit to see the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Eleanor Sobel, former member, Florida Senate. Kamala Harris visited Florida International University to discuss the Biden administration’s efforts to combat global warming. While discussing the climate crisis, which she referred to as “urgent” and accelerating, Harris announced that the administration would provide states with more than $1 billion in grants to combat the flooding and extreme heat that are expected to increase in the coming years due to global warming. The funds will be administered through FEMA and will double the amount many states receive through the BRIC program, which gave Jacksonville, Florida more than $20 million last year to improve stormwater infrastructure and flood mitigation.

Gregory Stuart, executive director, Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization. The Sunshine State can no longer wait to invest in the clean electrification of our transportation system. The Inflation Reduction Act will boost America’s solar energy industry and bring large increases in incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. It’s the federal government’s first serious effort to reduce carbon emissions. The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization is already investing in sustainable forms of transportation, which include EVs, and building out a robust multimodal system that is accessible to all of our residents. The sunshine that brings tourists can also bring new technologies and create an even more vibrant economy.

Thomas Wenski,

archbishop, Archdiocese of Miami. Associated Press, once considered the most objective mainstream news, proclaims: “A person’s sex and gender are usually assigned at birth by parents or attendants and can turn out to be inaccurate.” AP thereby settles the question in favor of gender theorists and adds that journalists should not be “giving a platform to unqualified claims” that might challenge that ideology — even in “the guise of balancing a story by including all views.” Rather than objective reporting, the AP substitutes editorializing on the news page. This Orwellian Newspeak explains why the public has lost trust in news reporting from “woke” sources.