FLORIDA DIGEST - March 05, 2009

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~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~

Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-2 Yulee students challenging Nassau County Schools
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Two Yulee High School students will be in federal court seeking a preliminary injunction which will allow them to start a Gay-Straight Alliance club on their north Florida campus.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/933709.html

-Let gays serve openly
As we prepare to send more troops to Afghanistan and focus on the danger in that region, we are reminded that the military is seriously hamstrung by the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy. Those who are found to be gay or lesbian are discharged. I stand with the veterans of VoteVets.org in calling for the policy to be changed.
JEFF WEINBERGER, Plantation
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters/story/935314.html

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Steve Rothaus
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Jesse's Journal -- Homage to Gore Vidal
BY JESSE MONTEAGUDO
If I had to be stranded on a desert island with only the works of one author, I would pick the works of Gore Vidal. Brilliant, erudite, perceptive and sarcastic, Vidal is a one-man library. He is the author of twenty-three novels, five plays, two memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays. By virtue of heredity, luck and talent, Vidal has witnessed almost a century of American political and social life. His most famous series of novels - Burr, Lincoln, 1876, Empire, Hollywood, Washington DC and The Golden Age - is a fictional history of the United States from the American Revolution to the recent past. A frustrated politician - Vidal ran for Congress in 1960 and the U.S. Senate in 1982, and lost both races - Vidal channeled his political genius into literary forms, chronicling the Decline and Fall of the American Empire in a series of perceptive essays that, as United States: Essays 1952-1992, won the 1993 National Book Award. Last year, Vidal's best essays were collected in The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal, edited by his literary executor, Jay Parini (Doubleday; $27.50)
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay

-Social issues, including religion and sexual orientation, play stealth role in Fort Lauderdale race
BY AMY SHERMAN
On the campaign trail, Fort Lauderdale City Commission candidates Coleman Prewitt and Romney Rogers discuss the same topics: cutting the budget, promoting tourism and protecting neighborhoods.
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay

-Upcoming events for women at Halo and Yuca Lounge
From Pandora Events: EVERY THURSDAY SWEET AT HALO
Stop by for a drink, a girl, a friend and stop the clock at midnight!
7-9pm half price drinks &hors d'oeuvres
9pm-2am DJ Jennie Foxx spinning the funkiest blend of 80s and 90s
$7 Finlandia drinks & $3 Peroni ALL NITE
Midnight-1am Beat the Clock Open Bar
Never a cover
http://www.MiamiHerald.com/gay


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South Florida Blade
http://www.floridablade.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Top Cop
Openly gay Oakland Park deputy receives employee of the year
By JASON MICHAELS
Broward County Sheriff's Department Deputy, Jonathan Bleiweiss, 28, received the 2008Employee of the Year award for the Oakland Park Division for his outstanding work, at a ceremony on the evening of Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at the Oakland Park City Hall. This is the first time an openly gay deputy received this award from BSO.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/3-5/news/localnews/5598.cfm

-Dame Edna
Fabulous star brings show to FTL
By J.W. ARNOLD
Is South Florida ready for the biggest celebrity of all? Next week, Dame Edna Everage, the glamorous, self-proclaimed Australian "megastar," arrives in Fort Lauderdale where "she" will be holding court at the Parker Playhouse through March 28. Dame Edna-the high-society alter ego of comedian Barry Humphries, who has created a complex backstory of Edna's "family" and social status-is an international star of the Broadway stage and the screens of Hollywood, easily recognizable for her lavender-colored bouffant and shrill accent. Her shows are improvisations with the audience, shocking participants with her often-insensitive, politically-incorrect views.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/3-5/arts/nitelife/5605.cfm

-Skipper's killer gets life
A Polk County jury convicts Joseph Bearden of second-degree murder
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Joseph Bearden was sentenced to life in prison, after being convicted of second-degree murder Friday for the stabbing death of Ryan Skipper, an openly gay student in Polk County, Fla.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/3-5/news/localnews/5599.cfm

-Elections 2009
Three openly-gay candidates remain in Broward Elections
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
The Broward County Election of 2009 continues! After winning enough votes to qualify for the March 10 run-off elections, Dania Beach City Commission candidate Derrick Hankerson and Fort Lauderdale City Commission candidate Coleman Prewitt face one last election to secure their seats. Also in the running is Anthony Niedwiecki, who is seeking a seat on the Oakland Park City Commission.
http://www.floridablade.com/2009/3-5/news/localnews/5601.cfm


~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~

Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Democrats plan to answer Rush Limbaugh near his Palm Beach home
Democrats seek winning retort to post near radio host's Palm Beach home
By Andy Reid
Democrats are gearing up for a PR war with their political archenemy Rush Limbaugh and have picked Palm Beach County as the place to launch the first salvo at the king of the dittoheads.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flprush0306pnmar06,0,3770337.story


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JustNews.com
http://www.justnews.com
Go to the links for the following articles:

Biden To Speak In South Florida
Vice President To Address AFL-CIO
Vice President Joe Biden will address the nation's largest union groups as Congress is considering the heavily union-supported Employee Free Choice Act. The AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting and newly appointed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are both in Miami this week drumming up support for the bill that would give workers the option of unionizing by getting a majority of the workers to sign cards or a petition instead of holding secret ballot elections.
http://www.justnews.com/news/18861154/detail.html?treets=mia&tml=mia_12pm&ts=T&tmi=mia_12pm_1_11000103052009


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