U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler will hold a town hall meeting with the residents of West Boca at 7:30 on Monday, June 2. Wexler will speak about the war in Iraq, the struggling economy, and health care, and then take questions and comments from the floor.

This event is open to the public. It will take place at the Boca Lago Country Club, sponsored by the West Boca Community Council.

Robert Wexler is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and is Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee. He also sits on the Financial Services Committee.

The Boca Lago Country Club is located between Glades Road and Palmetto Park Road. Go east from Lyons Road for ¼ mile on Boca Lago Drive, then turn left to the clubhouse complex.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Share:

After enthusiastic and well-attended festivities to celebrate the opening of the Daggerwing Nature Center’s massive expansion, the new facilities are now open to the public.

The new exhibit hall takes visitors on a journey that begins under the ground, continues under water, and rises above the surface up to the canopy of a swamp. Interactive exhibits, live animals, sloped flooring and oversized features create a storybook-like experience to help understand the swamp habitat.

Following the exhibit, you can take a walk on the boardwalk through 40 acres of real swamp to test out what you learned in the exhibit hall.

Daggerwing offers programs for school groups as well as private gatherings for birthday parties, scout troops, camps, nature clubs, church groups, “mommy and me” groups, senior adult centers and libraries. For all programs, educators use a hands-on approach with live animals, models, interesting facts and other fun materials to teach about conservation and what’s native to Florida.

Master of Ceremonies Burt Aaronson, the County Commissioner for our area, reminded the audience that there was more yet to come at Daggerwing. The new astronomical observatory, which will have a dome that opens and a telescope for viewing celestial objects/events, is yet to be built on the very site where the grand opening took place on April 26. He promised it would be open for business within a year’s time.

Daggerwing is located in South County Regional Park just west of the Tennis Center and just north of Coconut Cove Waterpark. It is open six days a week from Tuesday to Sunday, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm, except for Saturday, when the facility opens at 8:15 am.
Admission is free.

For more information, go to www.pbcparks.com/nature and click on the Daggerwing link.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Share:

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties are classified by the United States Government as one metropolitan area because of their social and economic similarities.

So why do seniors in Miami-Dade receive thousands of dollars a year more in benefits from private Medicare providers than do seniors in Palm Beach County? And why will that discrepancy soar 48% higher in 2008?

Bob Schulbaum, longtime head of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, said of this ever-widening discrepancy, “I’m speechless….Someone from Medicare should come down here and tell us why a person is worth $344 a month more in Dade County. And they better not give us any gobbledygook.”

Medicare actuary and spokesperson Paul Spitalnic said recently that the reasons for the discrepancy “have not been determined at this time”, even though the problem is hardly new.

Another Medicare spokesman, Joe Kuchler, said the actual amounts Medicare pays to private Medicare providers cannot be released to the public. When Florida Health News asked him what law or regulation makes those payments a secret, Kuchler replied that Medicare’s technical staff was researching the issue.

South Florida Congressman Robert Wexler asked “what is the justification for so much over-utilization in Miami-Dade and why should Palm Beach and Broward suffer? Why should the same 70 year-old man in Miami Beach require more services than a 70 year-old senior in Boca Raton? Something is not kosher. Something is wrong.”

It’s totally illogical,” Wexler said. “It’s totally unfair and bordering on the ridiculous.”
Wexler has taken up the matter with Governor Crist, whom he described as “very interested in this issue”.

If you would like to ask Congressman Wexler about this issue in person, he will be the guest speaker of the West Boca Community Council on June 2 at the Boca Lago Country Club just east of Lyons Road, between Glades and Palmetto. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm and is open to the public.

> Discuss this entry

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Share: