Browsing: Local News

       This crisis directly affects students. The 2023-2024 school year started with over 4,000 teacher vacancies, forcing schools to rely on substitutes, overburdened staff or larger class sizes. Many students go weeks — sometimes entire semesters — without a permanent teacher, undermining their ability to learn. Research confirms that teachers are the most influential factor in student success, yet Florida’s educators are being pushed out of the profession due to financial instability.

   Real Talk for Women was a powerful and unforgettable gathering where over 125 dynamic women came together to reclaim their health through honest conversations, shared wisdom, and mutual empowerment. 

       In 2021, the City of Hallandale Beach acquired 13 Tesla Model Y vehicles for its Police Department. These vehicles were operationalized in June 2022, and Hallandale Beach’s purchase may position it as the largest rollout of full-size electric vehicles for law enforcement use in the United States. Notably, Tesla Model Y vehicles are not reasonably priced. The base price of a Model Y commences at approximately $45,000, excluding any tax credits or incentives, which, incidentally, will be phased out for the average consumer. 

If perhaps as a minority you were employed in the 70s in law enforcement, with the fire department/emergency rescue or even in the field of electronics, Mr. Emmitt Kater likely had some impact or significant influence Don your chosen career or at the very minimum you knew him professionally or personally. Having met him through his association with the Westside Gazette family, particularly our publisher Bobby Henry and my wife Sonia, whom he refers to as his wife as well – more on that later – he struck me as a larger than life character – gregarious, loquacious, energetic, comical and highly intelligent with the memory of an elephant, which is on constant display in our presence. His influence and impact on others emanated from his vast professional experiences as Communications Engineer with the Hollywood Public Safety, Police & Fire/Fire Rescue where he serviced Two-Way Radio devices, Mobil and Base Station Repeaters, Digital Voice Land Lines, and Computer Local to Wide Area Networking.

   The honor of visiting South Africa is one I will carry for the rest of my life. Boarding the plane in Fort Lauderdale and beginning the 16-hour flight, I anticipated a journey of culture and connection. But as we crossed the vast Atlantic Ocean, I found myself in profound reflection. I gazed out over the waters that once carried millions of African souls to unknown shores under horrific conditions, and I imagined the terror and heartbreak of that forced transatlantic journey. My ancestors were taken from a land that had everything they needed—community, wisdom, purpose—and cast into bondage in a foreign world. Now, generations later, I was returning—freely, proudly, and purposefully. I was going back not as a descendant of the enslaved, but as a leader committed to partnership, progress, and possibility.

       Through its cultural programs the City of Pompano Beach Cultural Affairs Department (PBCAD) works to celebrate the convergence of art, culture and history all year long. PBCAD has celebrated Juneteenth and Caribbean Heritage Month’s since June 2020 with a range of virtual and in person events ranging from story time and conversations to concerts and performance.