FLORIDA DIGEST September 07, 2007

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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest09071nbsep07,0,4440705,print.story

Broward County: Recently resigned official seeks sheriff's post
September 7, 2007

A recently resigned, high-ranking employee of the Broward Sheriff's Officefiled papers Thursday with the Supervisor of Elections Office to run forsheriff.

Wiley Thompson III, 58, is seeking the post vacated by Ken Jenne, whoresigned Tuesday after agreeing to plead guilty to federal charges of mailfraud and income tax evasion.

Jenne hired Thompson in May 2005 to help manage the agency in the wake of ascandal involving false confessions and doctored crime statistics. Thompsonlater was moved to the training division and kept his $195,700 salary.

Thompson, a Democrat, lists among his qualifications to run the agency hisexperience as an FBI agent and as security director for the TransportationSecurity Administration in Memphis, Tenn.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbsalaries0907nbsep07,0,5037501,print.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

Broward Teachers Union negotiates big raises for vets, little for newcomers

By Jean-Paul Renaud
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 7, 2007

Broward County teachers today are voting on a contract that more generouslyrewards the top union officials who negotiated it than rank and fileeducators.

If it is approved, about two-thirds of Broward's 17,000 public schoolteachers will receive raises of 5 percent or less. The most substantialincreases, as high as 17 percent, will go to the most senior teachers - lessthan a third of Broward's educators.

In contrast, more than two-thirds of the 22-member Broward Teachers Unionexecutive board, which negotiated the contract, have the seniority toqualify for the most generous raises, records show.

"I'm not surprised at all because one would assume that the people at thetop level are the ones that are on the negotiating team," said School Boardmember Stephanie Kraft. "I don't think that sounds right. I guess it wouldbe nice if they would look after all the teachers equally."Several boardmembers said the situation, though not unusual for a school district,reflects the power of unions. Some teachers said it shows union leaders areout of touch with the rank and file.

School districts across the state have a complicated system of settingsalaries, mostly based on seniority levels that officials call "steps." InBroward, there are 22 steps, and teachers typically do not see substantialpay raises until they reach the 20th level - or their second decadeeducating children. All salaries are based on 196 days of work and can beincreased if teachers obtain additional academic degrees and training.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-907backstreet,0,5921779,print.story

Creator of Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync loses Orlando home in bankruptcy

Associated Press
10:29 AM EDT, September 7, 2007

ORLANDO -- Boy band mogul Lou Pearlman is losing his lakefront Orlando homeand a New Jersey condominium in bankruptcy proceedings, as he faces separatefederal charges of defrauding a bank out of $20 million.

A bankruptcy judge Thursday approved the $7.1 million sale of the9,000-square-foot Orlando home and a $335,000 condominium in Atlantic City,N.J., owned by the man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.

Pearlman, 53, remains jailed after being indicted on three counts of bankfraud and single counts of mail and wire fraud for business he did withEvansville, Ind.-based Integra Bank N.A., according to court documents.

Also Thursday, the bankruptcy judge approved the return of $22,467 indeposits Pearlman made toward a November cruise on the Queen Mary 2 and heassigned three lapsing Pearlman life-insurance policies to an investor.Pearlman also will give up eight lower-bowl season tickets for Orlando Magicgames.

Pearlman was arrested in June in Indonesia, where he was found staying at aposh hotel under an assumed name.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/mayo/blog/

September 7, 2007
The price of political vanity
Posted by Michael Mayo at 10:17 AM

Ken Jenne is gone as Broward Sheriff, but his felony-tainted name is stilleverywhere at the Sheriff's Office - enmeshed in the agency's logo onshirts, pins, doors, buildings, flags, business cards and stationery.

It will probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace all theJenne-branded equipment and supplies.

Jenne's not the only one who did this. Just about every electedconstitutional officer --from Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish toBroward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes -- plasters their names in asmany places as they can.

Why? Because they want to keep their names familiar to voters. It's one ofthe powerful advantages of incumbency.

That doesn't make it right.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/sfl-907virtual,0,4031372,print.story

'Virtual classes' catching on in Florida's elementary, middle and high schools
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
9:53 AM EDT, September 7, 2007

TALLAHASSEE -- As a seventh-grader, Kelsey-Anne Hizer was getting mostly D'sand F's and felt the teachers at her Ocala middle school were not giving herthe help she needed.

But after switching to a virtual school for eighth grade, Kelsey-Anne isreceiving more individual attention and making A's and B's. She's alsoenthusiastic about learning, even though she has never been in the same roomas her teachers.

Kelsey-Anne became part of a growing national trend when she transferred toOrlando-based Florida Virtual School. Students get their lessons online andcommunicate with their teachers and each other through chat rooms, e-mail,telephone and instant messaging. ``It's more one-on-one than regularschool,'' Kelsey-Anne said. ``It's more they're there; they're listening.''

Virtual learning is becoming ubiquitous at colleges and universities butremains in its infancy at the elementary and secondary level, where skepticshave questioned its cost and effect on children's socialization.

However, virtual schools are growing fast _ at an annual rate of about 25percent. There are 25 statewide or state-led programs and more than 170virtual charter schools across the nation, according to the North AmericanCouncil for Online Learning.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbwasserstrom0907nbsep07,0,3009294,print.story

Hollywood mayor testy as witness in commissioner's corruption trial
Ihosvani Rodriguez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 7, 2007

Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti verbally jousted with a state prosecutorwhile testifying Thursday in the corruption trial of suspended CityCommissioner Keith Wasserstrom, a longtime political ally.

For about 90 minutes, Giulianti gave tart and testy responses whenquestioned about her role when the commission voted in 2004 to give an $18million contract to Schwing-Bioset, a sludge company financially connectedto Wasserstrom and the mayor's son.

Giulianti, who is not charged with any wrongdoing, was called to the standby prosecutors to help their case against Wasserstrom.

Among the five felony charges against Wasserstrom are allegations that hemisled the mayor when she filled out two conflict-of-interest forms in 2004.The forms were separately filed in March and again in July when thecommission voted to hire Schwing-Bioset, even though the company receivedthe lowest ratings from an evaluation committee. Wasserstrom and Giuliantinever voted, citing conflicts of interests.

At several points in her testimony, the mayor differed with Assistant StateAttorney Catherine Maus on which paragraphs of e-mails and documents shouldbe read aloud to the jury. Maus repeatedly had to restrain Giulianti fromreading passages she hadn't been asked to read, some of which supportedWasserstrom's defense that he was concerned only with hiring a company thatbest served the city.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbdig09073nbsep07,0,3356416.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Fort Lauderdale: AIDS agency urges Naugle to resign
September 7, 2007

The City Commission won praise and the mayor was slapped Thursday by theAIDS Healthcare Foundation.

The nonprofit group issued an announcement thanking the commission forpassing a resolution Wednesday night reaffirming the city's embrace ofdiversity and pledging to condemn "any statement or action that showsdisrespect for any segment of our population."

But the national group asked the commission to go a step further and callfor Mayor Jim Naugle's resignation. Naugle has made many comments recentlyabout gays and AIDS.

For example, on CNN, host Rick Sanchez asked Naugle last month: "Are yousaying that tourism dollars should not be spent to attract gay visitors toSouth Florida, because they might contract AIDS here?"

He answered: "It's not the men coming here spreading the disease.Unfortunately, it's people going home with the disease that maybe theydidn't have before they visited Fort Lauderdale."

AIDS Foundation's Michael Kahane, bureau chief of the group's southernregion, said in the announcement: "The mayor's misinformed and irresponsiblecharacterization of the county's HIV/AIDS epidemic is not only inaccurateand polarizing, but it may also prove deadly to those who - because of hisstatements - might continue to believe that they are not at risk forcontracting HIV if they are not engaging in certain behaviors or members ofa certain group."

Broward health officials say the county does have an HIV/AIDS crisis and hashad one for years. It affects gay men, they said, but one of the fastestgrowing groups of HIV infections here is heterosexual black women.



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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbmayocol0906nbsep06,0,998411,print.column

Jenne's day in court ends with hollow sorrow
Michael Mayo
News Columnist
September 6, 2007

Ken Jenne couldn't even get the apology right.

Minutes after pleading guilty to four criminal charges and becoming aconvicted felon, the disgraced former Broward sheriff stood outside thefederal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale and put on a command performance ofhalf-hearted contrition.

Reading from a prepared statement, he talked about making "personalmistakes" and showing "poor judgment in the conduct of some personalmatters."

"Please know that I would never deliberately or consciously violate orcompromise my sworn duties as sheriff," Jenne said.

Uh, excuse me?

Minutes earlier, in U.S. Judge William Dimitrouleas' courtroom, Jenneaffirmed all the details of how he used Sheriff's Office personnel for hisown selfish ends. How he had an in-house Sheriff's Office attorney attend tocode enforcement issues on his Lake Worth property. How he directedsecretaries to cash checks and deposit money into his bank account.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-flfaskgov0907nbsep07,0,4125733,print.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Ask The Governor: Is there a better way to help ex-cons return to society?
September 7, 2007

Q Recidivism is a major problem everywhere, not just in Florida. Shouldthere be more solid programs put in action? There seems to be a revolvingdoor at our jails and prisons. We need better programs to migrate ex-consback into society so they can be more stable and secure to live healthierand honest lives.

Laura Dodson, Hollywood

A: The philosophy now is we need to do everything we can to make sure thatwhen individuals leave our Department of Corrections, they have everyopportunity to lead productive lives.

We are seeing a shift to focus much more on the ability and the opportunityof the department to provide for very successful, productive citizens upontheir release, to truly do everything we can to rehabilitate.

The best prevention program is a good education system. It's important wehave educational opportunities, resources and libraries that can help tobenefit a productive release.

There are faith-based programs that can be very productive, and we're tryingto increase those.

I hope this will result in a reduction in the rate of recidivism in Florida.I believe it will.

Note: The state's prison population peaked at 93,074 in July. According tothe Department of Corrections, 32 percent of the inmates are back in thestate prison system within three years of their release.

Corrections Secretary James McDonough:

Our mission is public safety. I'm fully cognizant that 90 percent of inmatesgo back to society. We recently changed the mission of the department tostate that re-entry is part of [our mission]. I have a goal to reduce that32 percent [recidivism rate] to 20 percent.

We need to get them an education. The average education level in the Floridaprison system is sixth grade. We have 4,000 inmates at the first- andsecond-grade level. When they get out they can't read, they can't make aliving, they can't manage their lives.

McDonough said the department is now focusing on four programs to helpinmates:

. Improve reading and math skills.

. Develop work-related skills by partnering with the construction industryand Habitat for Humanity to give inmates training to be carpenters, plumbersand masons.

. Provide substance-abuse treatment, since inmates who get treatment arenearly 30 percent less likely to end up back behind bars.

. Teach life-management skills so they can handle life outside prison,including how to open a bank account and handle food shopping.



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/775/v-print/story/228811.html

Posted on Fri, Sep. 07, 2007

Virtual learning catching on at elementary, high school levels
By BILL KACZOR

As a seventh-grader, Kelsey-Anne Hizer was getting mostly D's and F's andfelt the teachers at her Ocala middle school were not giving her the helpshe needed.

But after switching to a virtual school for eighth grade, Kelsey-Anne isreceiving more individual attention and making A's and B's. She's alsoenthusiastic about learning, even though she has never been in the same roomas her teachers.

Kelsey-Anne became part of a growing national trend when she transferred toOrlando-based Florida Virtual School. Students get their lessons online andcommunicate with their teachers and each other through chat rooms, e-mail,telephone and instant messaging.

"It's more one-on-one than regular school," Kelsey-Anne said. "It's morethey're there; they're listening."

Virtual learning is becoming ubiquitous at colleges and universities butremains in its infancy at the elementary and secondary level, where skepticshave questioned its cost and effect on children's socialization.

However, virtual schools are growing fast - at an annual rate of about 25percent. There are 25 statewide or state-led programs and more than 170virtual charter schools across the nation, according to the North AmericanCouncil for Online Learning.


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