Politics

After bills to ‘merge’ Broward health districts fail, Gov. DeSantis names donor to Board of Memorial Healthcare System

Published

4 months ago

August 11, 2025

Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County has two new Board of Commissioners members and one returning member, courtesy of appointments and a reappointment by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

They come months after a failed legislative effort last Session to merge Memorial Healthcare System and Broward Health by Shane Strum, the CEO for both entities who previously worked as DeSantis’ Chief of Staff.

A sponsor of the legislation and lobbyists indicated it may be reintroduced in next year.

The Board’s two new members are Violet Lowrey and Diana Taub. Both are active in their communities, albeit to different political degrees.

Lowrey, a 54-year-old retired Hollywood resident, previously led student and career services at Keiser University. She’s served as a member of the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce’s Education and Workforce Committee, Rotary Club of Cypress Creek and American Lung Association of South Florida.

Taub, a 75-year-old Pembroke Pines resident, is an education consultant, President of the Southwest Broward Republican Club and a member of the State Retirement Commission through a separate DeSantis appointment.

She has donated tens of thousands of dollars to GOP causes and candidates over the years. DeSantis, by far, has been the biggest beneficiary of her political generosity, and her X page still includes a link to the donations page for DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign.

“Thank you @GovRonDeSantis for putting your trust in me!” Taub wrote on the site Monday shortly after the Governor’s Office announced her appointment. “Hope to serve our community well!”

At the state level, Taub has given DeSantis and his now-closed political committee, Empower Parents PAC, $13,200 since 2018. That’s more than half her total state-level political giving, which has also gone to Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, Sens. Jay Collins and Joe Gruters, Reps. David Borrero, Tom Fabricio and Chip LaMarca, and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody’s 2018 campaign for Attorney General.

Federal Election Commission records show Taub gave no greater at the national level than to DeSantis’ presidential campaign, including $6,856 to Restore Our Nation (RON) PAC, $5,000 to the Great American Comeback leadership PAC backing him, $5,000 to Team DeSantis 2024 and $2,500 to Never Back Down Inc.

She also contributed $1,500 to the Republican Party of Florida’s federal account in 2022, gave thousands to President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and kicked three-figure donations to U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Brian Mast in 2020.

Diana Taub (far right) poses for a photo with Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez. Image via Diana Taub’s Facebook page.

Taub’s support of the Governor isn’t solely monetary. On at least one occasion, she traveled to Iowa to support DeSantis’ presidential bid as part of First Lady Casey DeSantis’ “Mamas for DeSantis” initiative.

Taub worked as a teacher and administrator with Miami-Dade County Public Schools for close to 42 years, retiring in April 2016. She also worked as a freelance advertising and design consultant for more than 53, according to her LinkedIn profile, which says that for the past decade she’s been a school improvement consultant and independent agent in life, health and annuity product sales.

Memorial Healthcare System is a special taxing district created by the Florida Legislature in 1947 to serve residents of southern Broward County. It is headquartered in Hollywood and has grown into one of the largest public health care systems in the United States, operating six hospitals — including the flagship Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital — and numerous urgent care centers, primary care clinics, a nursing home and specialty institutions.

Its seven-member Board of Commissioners are appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Senate and responsible for setting policy, approving budgets, authorizing major expenditures and overseeing strategic planning. That includes holding the organization’s CEO accountable for daily operations and safeguarding public resources while advancing its mission of providing high-quality, cost-effective health care to the community.

In February, Republican Sen. Bryan Ávila of Hialeah Gardens and Republican Rep. Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach filed twin bills (SB 1518, HB 1253) that would have granted Broward’s two public hospital districts — the North Broward Hospital District (Broward Health) and the South Broward Hospital District (Memorial Healthcare System) — broad authority to form nonprofit or for-profit ventures and establish partnerships and corporations without being subject to state or federal antitrust laws.

Supporters, including Strum and lobbyists for both districts, framed the measures as tools for efficiency, resource-sharing and improved competition against larger, for-profit systems like HCA Healthcare. Critics, including some Memorial employees and physicians, warned the proposals could lead to a de facto merger without the public review and possible referendum required under state law for an actual merger.

Both bills died unheard. The boards of each hospital organization denied knowing of the bills until they were filed. But sponsors and lobbyists indicated they may be reintroduced in future Sessions.

The legislation arose during a period of internal change at Memorial, where Strum, appointed interim CEO in September while retaining his Broward Health role, oversaw layoffs, demotions and workforce restructuring. Memorial’s board praised the actions in March as part of a mandate to eliminate redundancies and increase efficiency. Some employees alleged declining morale and feared further cuts.

Public opposition included a Change.org petition that by April had amassed nearly 2,000 signatures, many from health care workers and concerned residents.

DeSantis on Monday re-appointed Memorial Healthcare System Board of Commissioners Chair Elizabeth Justen, a 64-year-old Hollywood resident who works as the Executive Director of the Sheriff’s Foundation of Broward County and an e-commerce project manager for BrandsMart USA.

She also owns and operates The Justen Group Inc., a for-profit company she registered with the state in January 2024.

In 2016, Justen donated $825 to the late Ken Keechl, a Democrat who made history as Broward County’s first openly gay Mayor.

Post Views: 0

Source link

Politics

Carlos G. Smith files bill to allow medical pot patients to grow their own plants

Published

10 hours ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

Home cultivation of marijuana plants could be legal under certain conditions.

Medical marijuana patients may not have to go to the dispensary for their medicine if new legislation in the Senate passes.

Sen. Carlos G. Smith’s SB 776 would permit patients aged 21 and older to grow up to six pot plants.

They could use the homegrown product, but just like the dispensary weed, they would not be able to re-sell.

Medical marijuana treatment centers would be the only acceptable sourcing for plants and seeds, a move that would protect the cannabis’ custody.

Those growing the plants would be obliged to keep them secured from “unauthorized persons.”

Chances this becomes law may be slight.

A House companion for the legislation has yet to be filed. And legislators have demonstrated little appetite for homegrow in the past.

Source link

Politics

Rolando Escalona aims to deny Frank Carollo a return to the Miami Commission

Published

11 hours ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

Early voting is now underway in Miami for a Dec. 9 runoff that will decide whether political newcomer Rolando Escalona can block former Commissioner Frank Carollo from reclaiming the District 3 seat long held by the Carollo family.

The contest has already been marked by unusual turbulence: both candidates faced eligibility challenges that threatened — but ultimately failed — to knock them off the ballot.

Escalona survived a dramatic residency challenge in October after a rival candidate accused him of faking his address. A Miami-Dade Judge rejected the claim following a detailed, three-hour trial that examined everything from his lease records to his Amazon orders.

After the Nov. 4 General Election — when Carollo took about 38% of the vote and Escalona took 17% to outpace six other candidates — Carollo cleared his own legal hurdle when another Judge ruled he could remain in the race despite the city’s new lifetime term limits that, according to three residents who sued, should have barred him from running again.

Those rulings leave voters with a stark choice in District 3, which spans Little Havana, East Shenandoah, West Brickell and parts of Silver Bluff and the Roads.

The runoff pits a self-described political outsider against a veteran official with deep institutional experience and marks a last chance to extend the Carollo dynasty to a twentieth straight year on the dais or block that potentiality.

Escalona, 34, insists voters are ready to move on from the chaos and litigation that have surrounded outgoing Commissioner Joe Carollo, whose tenure included a $63.5 million judgment against him for violating the First Amendment rights of local business owners and the cringe-inducing firing of a Miami Police Chief, among other controversies.

A former busboy who rose through the hospitality industry to manage high-profile Brickell restaurant Sexy Fish while also holding a real estate broker’s license, Escalona is running on a promise to bring transparency, better basic services, lower taxes for seniors and improved permitting systems to the city.

He wants to improve public safety, support economic development, enhance communities, provide more affordable housing, lower taxes and advocate for better fiscal responsibility in government.

He told the Miami Herald that if elected, he’d fight to restore public trust by addressing public corruption while re-engaging residents who feel unheard by current officials.

Carollo, 55, a CPA who served two terms on the dais from 2009 to 2017, has argued that the district needs an experienced leader. He’s pointed to his record balancing budgets and pledges a residents-first agenda focused on safer streets, cleaner neighborhoods and responsive government.

Carollo was the top fundraiser in the District 3 race this cycle, amassing about $501,000 between his campaign account and political committee, Residents First, and spending about $389,500 by the last reporting dates.

Escalona, meanwhile, reported raising close to $109,000 through his campaign account and spending all but 6,000 by Dec. 4.

The winner will secure a four-year term.

Source link

Politics

Florida kicks off first black bear hunt in a decade, despite pushback

Published

12 hours ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

For the first time in a decade, hunters armed with rifles and crossbows are fanning out across Florida’s swamps and flatwoods to legally hunt the Florida black bear, over the vocal opposition of critics.

The state-sanctioned hunt began Saturday, after drawing more than 160,000 applications for a far more limited number of hunting permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed in this year’s hunt, the state’s first since 2015.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded 172 bear hunt permits by random lottery for this year’s season, allowing hunters to kill one bear each in areas where the population is deemed large enough. At least 43 of the permits went to opponents of the hunt who never intend to use them, according to the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, which encouraged critics to apply in the hopes of saving bears.

The Florida black bear population is considered one of the state’s conservation success stories, having grown from just several hundred bears in the 1970s to an estimated more than 4,000 today.

The 172 people who were awarded a permit through a random lottery will be able to kill one bear each during the 2025 season, which runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. The permits are specific to one of the state’s four designated bear hunting zones, each of which have a hunting quota set by state officials based on the bear population in each region.

In order to participate, hunters must hold a valid hunting license and a bear harvest permit, which costs $100 for residents and $300 for nonresidents, plus fees. Applications for the permits cost $5 each.

The regulated hunt will help incentivize maintaining healthy bear populations, and help fund the work that is needed, according to Mark Barton of the Florida chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, an advocacy group that supported the hunt.

Having an annual hunt will help guarantee funding to “keep moving conservation for bears forward,” Barton said.

According to state wildlife officials, the bear population has grown enough to support a regulated hunt and warrant population management. The state agency sees hunting as an effective tool that is used to manage wildlife populations around the world, and allows the state to monetize conservation efforts through permit and application fees.

“While we have enough suitable bear habitat to support our current bear population levels, if the four largest subpopulations continue to grow at current rates, we will not have enough habitat at some point in the future,” reads a bear hunting guide published by the state wildlife commission.