Floridians are breathing in African dust particles. They contain chemicals and viruses and could make people sick, cause agricultural diseases and perhaps even kill coral reefs. Amy Tardif spoke to a microbiologist who is studying that dust and has this report. (AUDIO)

Lee County animal control officers discover more that just loose dogs during routine neighborhood sweeps. Janette Janero went along on one last week and has this report.
(AUDIO)

A Jewish athlete—who gave up a chance for Olympic glory to oppose Nazi rule—has died. Milton Green of Palm Beach passed away Tuesday at age 91. Green was a record-setting hurdler from Harvard. And despite the likelihood of his success, Green agreed to boycott the 1936 Berlin games. Nazi icons blanketed the event… and Germany had banned jewish athletes from its own team. In 1997—60 years later—Green was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Joe Sigmun is the hall’s founder—and met Green at the induction ceremony.

“In the mid 1930’s, he was one of the U.S.’s preeminent hurdlers. His unfortunate timing was that he came to his peak in time for the 1936 Olympic games—which were held in Berlin. And he became all but forgotten. He graduated Harvard. And there were no games in 1940 or ’44. So, his career as a track star was gone.”

Green stayed active throughout his life. At age 71, he took home six gold medals at the Florida Senior Olympics.

About 450 elementary students have applied to attend Cape Coral’s first municipal charter school. Called Elementary South, it will admit 600 students in all. It will open this fall.
City of Cape Coral Charter Schools Administrator – Dr. Patrick Mark – says if there are less than 600 qualified applicants, every student will be accepted. If there are more, students will be chosen at random.

“Under the charter we have until the 31st…March 1st to March 31st mark the period where if we went over 600 we’d have to have a lottery. If we don’t have 600 by March 31st, all those students are in – along with their siblings in terms of sibling preference.”

Dr. Mark says he’s already hired about a dozen teachers. The school is part of an effort by the City of Cape Coral to provide an alternative to the Lee County School District. Cape Coral Charter Schools plan to open a middle school, and another elementary school in 2006 - and then a high school in 2007. Charter schools receive state funding, but are privately operated.

With the help of the Florida Flame—the NBA’s development team, there’s now a teen lounge at the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. It’s a place where young adults coping with the stress of illness can find some respite. Commissioner of the National Basketball Association—David Stern – and several players – dedicated the new room today—and its “reading corner”… part of the league’s literacy initiative. Florida Flame spokesperson – Amber Rish – says the hope is to create an environment within the hospital where kids can be kids…

“We found out they had an extra room they were going to be renovating in the hospital for a teen center. They already had a pool table and an old junky couch and an old TV – and they wanted to revamp it for a place that the children, when they’re sick, can go and kind of get away from being in their hospital room and their illness.”

Besides a new couch and television – the Flame also donated 500 new books for the reading corner. The walls of the renovated room now sport a basketball theme.

The minimum voting age in Florida may be 18. But, that didn’t stop younger students in Naples from casting REAL ballots on Tuesday. For several years, the Collier County supervisor of elections has infused a statewide reading program with an additional civics lesson.
As part of the Sunshine State Young Readers program, students choose from a list of 15 books, read one or more of them, and then vote for their favorites. That’s where elections officials come in. Education Coordinator Cyndi Young says she brought real touch-screen machines into Seagate Elementary School in Naples… and let youngsters cast ballots.

“They see how the system works. They become comfortable with it. Any fears that they have—it takes them away. If fact, some of the students had gone with their parents to the polls on election day—which is allowed in Florida. And now they can share the experience that they voted on the machines, too.”

Kids who read all 15 books got to serve as poll workers. The author of the winning book will be honored at the National Conference of the Florida Reading Association.

Last week, there were posters around the state capitol proclaiming “Wanted: The Republican 9”—with the photos of 9 lawmakers.” They referred to some state senators who voted against a bill to re-insert Terri Shiavo’s feeding tube. Those posters—along with threats—prompted Capitol police to step up security. It’s one of several developments we discussed with Political Columnist at the Fort Myers News-Press, Betty Parker. (AUDIO)

A former ambassador to Indonesia was in southwest Florida Monday… the same day a massive, 8.7, quake hit just north of Sumatra. Edward Masters who now co-chairs the United States-Indonesia Society spoke in Naples. He says the region is still recovering from the massive tsunami last December. Ambassador Masters says Monday’s quake—though strong—is not necessarily a surprise… because people in the region have been dealing with many large aftershocks.

“This has happened a couple of times since December 26th. That was such a terrible event and so dramatic that every time there’s an earthquake, people head for high ground. And I, frankly, don’t blame them.

Although it didn’t trigger a major tsunami, the most recent quake has claimed lives. Ambassador Masters spoke to the Naples Council on World Affairs. You can hear his full address Wednesday night at 7 on WGCU, 90.1 FM.

Indonesia’s Vice President fears Monday’s 8.7 earthquake may eventually claim up to 2000 lives. The University of Southern California Tsunami Research Center says that earthquake is the 8th largest recorded in the past 50 years. It was centered on the same fault line where a December 26 earthquake launched a tsunami that killed at least 175 thousand people. The daughter of Naples photographer Connie Bransilver is the program policy director for the relief agency Oxfam. Dr. Lea Borkenhagen is in Ache setting up relief efforts after the tsunami. Bransilver got an email from her soon after the quake.
“She was very shaken. She said it was extremely scary, especially seeing all the people running and driving up the road… She was in the safest building fortunately in Ache but she said she feels likes she’s drunk half an hour after the event. She said my body is still moving. I have two wrong flip flops on. She couldn’t see anything. It happened in the middle of the night. So she is well and I have confidence that she’s now putting her mind to helping other people.”
Bransilver says Borkenhagen has been with Oxfam for a year and a half and has lived in Indonesia off and on since 1990.

A new program launched at Myakka River State Park in Sarasota expands recreational and educational activities in Florida State Parks. Through its “GET REAL in Florida State Parks” program the state is forming partnerships with local and county governments. The first project with the city of North Miami Beach involved teaching urban children primitive camping skills at Myakka River. Other partnerships are in the works. Florida State Parks spokesman Matt Mitchell says the REAL in “GET REAL in Florida State Parks” is an acronym for recreational and environmental adventures in learning…

“We wanted to let folks know that there are learning opportunities in state parks. So we welcome the opportunity for people to go out, walk across a sandbar in a state park, walk on a sandy beach or look into one of our beautiful springs, and it’s just fascinating the things that can be learned through interpretive programming of our park rangers and also self-taught guided trips.”

Florida’s 158 state parks cover more than 770-thousand acres. Last year alone, 19.1 million visitors went to the facilities. One of the oldest and largest state parks, Myakka River State Park flows through 58 square miles of wetlands, prairies, hammocks and pinelands. It offers wildlife observation, hiking trails, airboat tours and safari tram tours. For more information about activities at the parks look on line florida state parks.org.


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