by Jenn Hanson | Oct 2, 2022 | West Palm Beach Local News
The town of Palm Beach has made it clear that moving ahead, it will deal with any significant accumulation of seaweed on its beaches right away.
The Town Council decided to take into consideration additional raking services for beach areas from Angler Avenue north during its most recent meeting and instructed staff to pursue an hourly rate contract for special projects and beach cleanups.
Sargassum, a species of seaweed that floats in big masses on the ocean’s surface, would be taken out during beach cleanups. According to local officials, it may be hazardous to eggs and hatchlings of sea turtles that are nesting.
Since sargassum has been washing up on the town’s beaches more frequently and in greater quantities for several years, council members and town workers have been debating permanent and temporary solutions to get rid of it.
Lights out for sea turtle nesting season, which runs from Tuesday through October 31.
Options for Seaweek removal are being considered by Palm Beach, which will look into ways to get rid of sargassum from its beaches.
Removal of sargasum is prioritized:
New sea turtle nest protections are approved in Palm Beach, and mechanical beach cleanup will continue.
At the meeting on September 13, council member Bobbie Lindsay commented, “This may be a new normal.” “In the more than 20 years that I’ve been up here, I’ve never seen this much sargassum. I can assure you that this year was unlike any other I’ve ever witnessed.”
Sargassum was all over the beaches last month, and although it has started to recede (especially at beaches in the North End from Angler Avenue to the inlet jetty), the town anticipates a big regrowth of it next spring, which is when sea turtle breeding season begins.
According to Council President Maggie Zeidman, setting up a contract for special projects and beach cleanups would be a proactive measure that would enable the town to remove sargassum when the situation calls for it.
She stated that this has been going on since around 2011. “Sargassum is entering the area and accumulating. I think it would be a good idea to consider taking proactive, regular steps to get rid of it. We must keep an eye on it because we might not always need it.”
Seaweed removal would take place as part of a trial program run in conjunction with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission if it were necessary the following year.
A portion of the seaweed would be placed next to the jetty through the program and covered with a thin coating of sand.
Paul Brazil, director of public works, explained to the council that this would prevent sea turtle hatchlings from migrating toward the inlet and instead direct them toward the ocean.
On the beach, the remaining seaweed would be buried and covered with a layer of sand that was about two feet thick. According to Brazil, that quantity is required for sea turtles to construct a nest for their hatchlings.
In order to ascertain whether each action has an impact on nesting, both would be carried out and observed during the following nesting season.
According to a $50,000 agreement that is about to expire, the town already rakes Midtown Beach and Phipps Ocean Park.
Brazil stated that it would make sense for the town to include that region in a new beach raking contract because that area, which is in the shadow of the jetty, has the biggest seaweed issues starting from Angler Avenue north.
There is more seaweed there, according to Brazil.
Brazil estimated that a contract covering Angler Avenue north, or about three-quarters of a mile, would be worth about $100,000.
Brazil claimed that because the Citizens’ Association of Palm Beach pays to clean the majority of beaches south of Sloan’s Curve, the contract would not cover beach raking in the South End of the town.
by Jenn Hanson | Oct 2, 2022 | West Palm Beach Local News
On Tuesday, Democratic candidate Dave Kerner, who has won four elections in the largely Democratic Palm Beach County, enthusiastically endorsed Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Additionally, Kerner, a former police officer who is widely considered to have aspirations of one day holding the position of sheriff in Palm Beach County, reiterated the Republican claim that Charlie Crist, the Democratic candidate for governor, favors cutting money to the police.
Kerner and DeSantis praised one another during a gathering held at the PBC Police Benevolent Association specifically to make the endorsement announcement.
We are a state that is improving, and I give our governor a lot of credit for that, according to Kerner.
I have never been constrained by the rigid and erroneous boundaries of partisan politics, he said.
I had no trouble making this choice. As the expression goes, this was hardly the “lesser of two evils.” Governor DeSantis has demonstrated that he is more than capable of handling the modest duties of his job. He has done it with a level of decency, respect, and intent that is missing from the public debate of today.
Law enforcement, according to Kerner, is behind DeSantis. “Everyone agrees. You nevertheless carry it out. There are six total. You’ve got them covered, Kerner said. “That was never spoken to me by a governor while I was a police officer. But having it right now definitely is awesome.
In Alachua, Florida, Kerner worked as a police officer from 2004 until 2007. For much of that period, Republican Jeb Bush was governor, before he was succeeded by Crist in 2007.
According to Kerner, Crist is in favor of “reallocation, which to me, by the way, is code for taking resources away from the people that look out for us. It is a code phrase for cutting off police financing.
After looking into a Republican TV campaign against Crist that began airing the day after he secured the Democratic primary in August, the neutral fact-checking website Politifact came to the conclusion that Crist does not support a plan to “defund the cops.”
Terrie Rizzo, chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, said it wouldn’t matter “because Dems alredy know exactly who Ron DeSantis is. Dems are fully aware of his accomplishments. And Charlie will receive Dems support. Democrats in the ranks are reacting by saying that this is outrageous, from what I hear.”
“I am utterly and completely stunned by Dave Kerner,” Rizzo said. “I am tremendously unhappy — that’s not a strong enough term — that Kerner could endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
Democrats, according to Rizzo, would not take a Kerner candidacy well.
A little over 40% of the county’s registered voters identify as Democrats, 31% as independents or minor parties, and 29% as Republicans.
A lawyer, Kerner was elected to the County Commission in 2016 after serving two terms in the Florida House of Representatives. He was re-elected to the commission in 2020, although he cannot run again in 2024 due to term restrictions.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who is in his sixth term, will retire, and Kerner, 39, has long been considered a potential contender to succeed him. The following sheriff’s race is scheduled for 2024.
This year, Bradshaw has struggled with his health. The Sheriff’s Office disclosed in May that he underwent a cardiac operation and missed a significant amount of time at work.
Bradshaw’s voice and a collage of old photos were featured in a video that the sheriff posted to the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page on July 18. In the video, the sheriff said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts during the past few weeks while I was dealing with a health issue. I am out of the hospital and recuperating at home despite all the rumors and false information about my health. I’m in fantastic health and am eager to get back to work.
Bradshaw’s successor would be chosen by the governor if he were to step down before the conclusion of his tenure.
Kerner, who was serving in the rotating office of Palm Beach County mayor in the early days of COVID-19, lauded DeSantis’ strong performance.
by Jenn Hanson | Oct 2, 2022 | West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment
Mar-a- Thanks to the now-famous FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, Lago has dominated the news in recent weeks.
But the lavish estate had a colorful and lengthy past before it served as a storage facility for official records. And a rich heiress is where it all starts.
On Thanksgiving in 2018, former president Donald Trump addresses the media from Mar-a-Lago.
Heiress to the Postum Cereal Company, which later changed its name to “General Foods Corporation,” was Marjorie Merriweather Post. After her father passed away, Post took over the business at the age of 27, becoming one of the wealthiest women in the world at the time.
She gave the property in Palm Beach a suitable name. Mar-a-Lago means from the Sea to the Lake. This Spanish name was chosen due to the property being in between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth.
Mar-a-Lago was constructed in the 1920s for roughly $7 million, which is equivalent to more than $100 million today.
Just one of her estates was Mar-a-Lago. The Hillwood Estate in Washington, D.C., which is now a museum, was another prominent residence owned by Post.
Mar-a-four-year Lago’s construction process cost Post around $7 million, which is equivalent to more over $100 million today. Homes like Mar-a-Lago typified the Roaring 20s, a period of soaring consumption and affluence.
Michael Luongo, a freelance writer and PhD candidate at Purdue, researched the Post Family Papers at the University of Michigan and wrote about Mar-a-past Lago’s for Smithsonian Magazine.
“Mar-a-Lago was extravagant, even by Palm Beach standards,” he wrote.
In 1937, Marjorie Merriweather Post hunts grouse in Scotland.
The mansion is enormous, and the land has roughly 20 acres. It has 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms, and it is more than 37,000 square feet. 36,000 antique Spanish tiles, imported Italian stone, hundreds of square feet of marble, gold-plated fittings, and gold leafing are all used in its decoration.
As a hostess at heart, Post constructed Mar-a-Lago because her previous Florida house “got too tiny for her gatherings,” according to her New York Times obituary.
Mar-a-Lago has more than 37,000 square feet of space, 58 bedrooms, and 33 baths on over 20 acres of property.
Royals and diplomats, lavish parties, and charitable events like the International Red Cross Ball were all sponsored by Post. And a lot of this was accessible to the nearby Palm Beach neighborhood of Mar-a-Lago.
She was also quite concerned about making sure the less fortunate were invited to events so they could take in, say, musical performances, Luongo said. “She a lady of resources, quite affluent, astute, and aware of the significance of her place in society.”
Luongo claims that in 1929, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus visiteperform for disadvantaged kids as a fundraiser for charity. She placed a high value on these events raising money for the charity she supported.
According to Luongo, “She discovered strategies to guarantee that expenditures were cut for a smaller firm.” She made certain that, if she opened her doors to the public, doing so would advance society in general as well as benefit charities or individuals from less privileged backgrounds.
The Department of the Interior designated Mar-a-Lago as a national historic site in 1969, and it was subsequently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Mar-a-building Lago’s process took around four years, and it was finished in 1927.
When Post passed away in 1973, she left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government as a “Winter White House” for presidents and diplomats to use as a retreat.
That ultimately didn’t happen because the government thought it would be too expensive to maintain. These kinds of homes are referred to as “white elephants” – a term for a property that is so large and pricey that it becomes a burden.
“There were additional instances of similar homes, but they are no longer in existence. As preferences evolved, families sold their homes, and many could no longer afford them by the [1950s and 1960s], “explained Luongo. “For that reason, many have been destroyed throughout the years.”
When it was listed it for sale, and after many deals fell through, Donald J. Trump, a prominent real estate developer at the time, joined the picture.
For $5 million, Trump bought the property from the foundation in December 1985. Additionally, he spent additional millions on the antiques at Mar-a-Lago.
Then, in 2019, at the Mar-a-Lago resort, President Donald Trump conducts a video call to the soldiers deployed globally.
Getty Images/Nicholas Klamm
According to Luongo, “He did obtain a lovely place for a very, very cheap amount of money.”
“Would that home have been spared or demolished without Donald Trump? So, that’s something more to consider “said he. But it’s a lovely piece of history and has always been a piece of history, you know.
Trump converted his private house into “The Mar-a-Lago Club” in 1995, where membership costs $200,000 at first.
In 2017, the former leader of the United States began referring to Mar-a-Lago as his own “Winter White House.” Inside Mar-a-Lago, which served as the setting for press conferences and events in the White House, served as a reminder of Post’s power. Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, and Xi Jinping, the president of China, were among the international leaders that Trump entertained at his residence when he was president.
At the conclusion of a joint news conference at Mar-a-Lago in 2018, Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, clasp hands.
Trump relocated permanently to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. However, Mar-a-Lago has most recently been in the news because of an FBI inquiry to take records from the resort.
Mar-a-Lago is in many ways Post’s legacy, and it is now now a part of former President Trump’s legacy. It’s difficult to predict Post’s current thoughts on Mar-a-Lago.
Luongo remarked, “I can’t be in her head, but I believe in many respects she would be fascinated. “I believe she would be horrified because she utilized her position to promote the United States, concepts of equality, and notions of diplomacy,” the author said.
In a sense, Post achieved her goal of seeing Mar-a-Lago continue to serve as a “Winter White House.”
by Jenn Hanson | Oct 2, 2022 | West Palm Beach Construction
According to police, Brian Washburn stole millions from clients and frequently left hazardous debris mounds and gaping holes in their backyards.
A Florida pool contractor who allegedly cheated clients out of millions of dollars will spend decades in prison, according to the prosecution.
According to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Brian Washburn stole more than $2 million from clients and frequently left hazardous debris mounds and gaping holes in their backyards.
Nine felony offenses were recently given 30-year sentences by a judge: one count of an organized plot to defraud, a felony of the 1st degree; 2 laundering counts that involve more than $100k; and 6 counts of fraud through use of personal ID info, which is a third-degree felony.
In addition, the judge mandated that Washburn pay $3 million in compensation to the pool fraud scheme’s victims.
According to a news release from Moody, “This fraudster will serve decades in prison for stealing millions of dollars from Floridians who made sizable down payments to have pools put on their houses. He stole their money, dug enormous holes in their yards, and then fled from his commitments to finish the work as per the contract. However, he didn’t get very far before the law caught up with him. He will now spend a considerable amount of time in jail contemplating his horrific acts, thanks to my statewide prosecutors.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement claims that Washburn used promises of inexpensive costs and prompt, skilled work to persuade more than 100 homeowners in the counties of Brevard, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie to accept contracts for pool construction.
The contracts, according to the authorities, demanded sizable upfront deposits and upfront payments. When Washburn received a deposit, the business occasionally gave up on the project before it started.
In other instances, investigators claimed Washburn created unsafe rubble piles all around the building site and left huge holes in the victims’ backyards. The majority of the pool projects were abandoned by the corporation, costing homeowners a lot of money in property damage.
Authorities claimed that Washburn converted the payments into cash via a third-party check cashing business in an effort to conceal the scam.
During a news conference last year, Special Agent Lee Massie described the Washburns’ acts as “planned and intentional.”
Chyrstal Washburn, Washburn’s spouse and fellow conspirator, is still being held in the Indian River County Jail. Her accusations are still pending.
by Jenn Hanson | Sep 27, 2022 | West Palm Beach Local News
Precautions are being taken to keep families safe as this year’s hurricanes begin to pose a threat to the residents of the Palm Beach counties. In an effort to protect the pupils, schools are debating closing on Wednesday.
This choice was made right away and is in the best interests of the pupils who attend the schools in the counties that have received warnings about the potential dangers and intensity of storm Ian.
Due to Hurricane Ian’s potential impact, all public schools in the counties of Palm Beach, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee will be closed on Wednesday.
All district-operated schools, offices, and after-school events, including athletics, school meetings, and leasing, are closed on Wednesday, according to the School District of Palm Beach County.
Parents and staff will be informed if the decision to close the school on a day other than Wednesday is made.
All Palm Beach County public schools are open as usual on Tuesday, and aftercare services are available until six o’clock in the evening. All after-school programs, athletic events, nighttime rentals, and adult education sessions are postponed.
Before deciding to close schools, Superintendent Mike Burke said in a written statement to WPTV, “We have been closely monitoring Hurricane Ian.” “The National Hurricane Center’s probability cone does not currently encompass Palm Beach County, but hazardous conditions might develop there. I’ll keep collaborating closely with emergency management and taking prompt action to protect our workers and children.”
At this time, the district has no plans to start any shelters at schools.
The district offices and all public schools in St. Lucie County will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Wednesday, all public schools in Okeechobee County will be closed.
All schools in the Okeechobee County School District are open on Tuesday, according to assistant superintendent Dylan Tedders.
However, the district is closing schools on Wednesday out of an abundance of caution due to the tropical storm-force winds that are predicted for late Tuesday.
Before deciding whether or not there will be school on Thursday, school district officials will consider all relevant variables.
On Wednesday, all Broward County Public Schools will be closed. Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties’ school districts haven’t yet called off this week’s classes.
The South Florida Fairgrounds near West Palm Beach was to host a College and Career Fair on Wednesday, but the School District of Palm Beach County has cancelled it due to bad weather and challenging travel conditions.
The event has been moved to the Fairgrounds on November 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Additionally, the annual College Fair for St. Lucie Public Schools has been postponed. It was supposed to go on Tuesday night at the Fort Pierce Havert L. Fenn Center.
The event has not yet been postponed.
