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DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a Ph.D. student in a college town where the public bus also serves as the campus bus, and students get free fare. As a result, it is often very crowded, mostly with undergrads.

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At my advanced age of 30, I have learned (or at least thought I’d learned) that on a very crowded bus, it is accepted practice to get off the bus briefly to let other people off if you are blocking the door.

It seems, however, that no one does this. Undergrads stand there blocking the door while five to 10 people try to get off. They are dumbstruck, as if there is no solution to the predicament they find themselves in. This is exacerbated by the fact that everyone is wearing headphones (including me, to be fair).

I’ve been putting up with this for years. Recently, in a fit of agitation, I yelled “Move!” at people blocking the door, in a tone similar to a cow. This didn’t feel great.

Am I correct that getting off the bus briefly is the best practice here? If so, do you have any ideas on how I can politely impart this knowledge to these new-to-the-bus riders?

To be fair to these poor kids, one time I found myself blocking the door, so I stepped off — and the bus tried to leave without me. I was forced to yell for the driver to wait (which he did). I think they’re just afraid of this happening, and are too scared or inexperienced to communicate with the driver.

GENTLE READER: It would indeed be easier if people stepped off the bus, but Miss Manners fears that no one is going to deputize you as the bus police, so you will have to concentrate on getting out yourself.

Most people are embarrassed to raise their voices in public and therefore equate it with being rude. But one can speak loudly — shout, even — in a noisy environment without therefore having to resort to mooing or worse. “Coming out, please!” works.

You can also try to ease your way by warning the person in front of you that yours is the next stop — although you will then be stuck when they tell you that they are also getting off there.

If you do step off to allow others to exit, hold the bus door open for those disembarking.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: An old friend got in touch after some years apart and said she would like to come visit.

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That’s great with me, but I am wondering how best to entertain her since we haven’t seen one another in years.

Is it polite to inquire ahead what she would like to drink? I don’t want to imply that I think she has to have alcohol, although in the “old days,” the question “Beer, wine or whiskey?” seemed perfectly normal. What’s the best way to put it?

GENTLE READER: Pick something more neutral from your shared past and ask if she still enjoys that. Miss Manners expects her to be charmed that you remember — even if you get it wrong.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Q: I think giving up the house for a 37-year-old Kevin Durant is a huge mistake. It is time to get younger, not older. – Mason.

A: Which is why the Heat clearly are not willing to give up the house, as was the case as well with Kevin Durant at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline. In all negotiations, prudence cannot be sacrificed. There is a correct price that prospects the Heat’s future, as well. To this stage, the Heat have shown the restraint to honor that limit. One prospect, matching salary and this year’s No. 20 pick? Fine. Another well-protected pick? Possibly. Anything more requires deep deliberation.

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• Submit your “Ask Ira” question here!

Q: I would prefer to keep Kel’el Ware, on a rookie contract with huge upside out of a Kevin Durant trade, than overpaying Bam Adebayo as a max-player who has plateaued and is never going to provide the consistent offense that is needed to win a championship. Am I crazy? – Brian, Miami Shores.

A: The way I look at players as trade assets or as keepers is whether they can be played or strategized off the floor. For all his unique 7-foot length, I think that has been and can continue to be the case with Kel’el Ware, just as it has been for other 7-footers in playoff situations, including Rudy Gobert. By contrast, Bam Adebayo will always have a place in such situations, even when opponents successfully go small. It is why Bam is by far more of a keeper, and why, if necessary, I would not overstate parting with Kel’el Ware in a potential trade for Kevin Durant.

Q: Ira, I don’t see a downside in bringing Alec Burks back. – Stephen.

A: At the minimum salary, it is hard to find a reason not to. Hard – but not impossible. For example, if Duncan Robinson returns in some form (a longer-term deal at less per year is a possibility), if a shooter is added in the draft, if Josh Christopher is the preference, there yet could be alternate paths. So while an agreement could come with Alec as soon as Friday (a day after the potential end of the NBA Finals), I’m not sure anything gets done that expediently, even with as much as Alec would like to return.

A generation ago, graffiti, vandalism and smashed window panes warned that crime was creeping in. Today, a different omen has spread across Florida’s strip malls and street corners: vape shops. Behind the tinted glass of these gateways to the illicit economy, the merchandise tells its own story.

Bright, candy-colored, dessert-flavored Chinese disposable vapes sit beside synthetic THC, Kratom, Delta-8, flavored nitrous, bongs and every other manner of drug paraphernalia. Police stings routinely discover worse in back rooms — illicit drug trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion run by sophisticated criminal networks.

Edgar Domenech is a special advisor to the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network. (courtesy, Edgar Domenech)

Just two months ago in Martin County, “Operation Smoke Signals” led to the arrest of 27 people selling illegal psychedelic drugs out of 20 different vape shops. Investigations around the country routinely uncover how these vape shops are the retail storefront for dangerous criminal enterprise. Last year in Michigan, a vape shop storing large amounts of butane and nitrous oxide exploded, killing a 19-year-old man. The site was described as a “war zone” and required over 60 firefighters to control.

Why the explosion? Lax enforcement. America’s nicotine vape market is dominated by products smuggled in violation of federal rules — more than 90% of Chinese vape products enter the country skirting import rules.

Those vapes travel the same routes that move fentanyl, meth precursors, weapons and even humans. Mexican cartels treat illicit tobacco and vapes as low-risk, high-margin cash commodities that bankroll violence. State-sponsored Chinese manufacturers and shell importers evade Customs to ship devices of unknown chemistry.

In 2023 alone, Chinese factories sent an estimated 216 million illicit disposables — roughly $2.4 billion at retail — into U.S. ports, with only a fraction intercepted. Profits flow through Chinese underground banks to the Chinese Communist Party’s $210 billion state tobacco empire, helping fund naval expansion and ballistic-missile programs. That is a national-security problem, not a regulatory footnote.

Cartel finances tell the same tale. The DEA’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment shows Sinaloa and Jalisco organizations laundering proceeds through Chinese brokers and using the very pipelines now carrying flavored nicotine. Cheap contraband like vapes provides seed money for meth super-labs and weapons purchases. When these devices surface, deputies soon find counterfeit pills, conversion labs and juveniles recruited online into retail drug sales. Vape windows are the modern broken windows.

As the National Sheriffs Association convenes its annual conference in Fort Lauderdale at the end of this month, it’s an opportunity for law enforcement leadership to collaborate on strategies to combat emerging threats. Here are some suggestions.

1. Close the information gap. Officers need fast, searchable lists of approved and denied products. Clear visuals of illicit devices will help local teams pull contraband from shelves and trace it upstream.
2. Shut down the gateways. Once investigators know what to look for, empower them to act. Closing criminal vape shops removes the storefronts that international syndicates use as beachheads.
3. Harness regional fusion centers. Treating this as isolated “tobacco crime” is a mistake. Model DEA counter-threat teams: integrate sheriffs, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, state revenue agents and FDA intelligence to follow chains from port to point-of-sale.
4. Create funding structures. Local resources are already stretched. Direct existing grant programs — and a portion of FDA user-fee revenue — toward state and municipal enforcement so they can police this emerging threat.

We have stood by as flavored vapes seeped into schools and homes, and as shadowy shops multiplied across America. The pattern is bigger than nicotine. Low-risk contraband becomes a foothold for violent enterprise, just as one unfixed broken window once invited squatters, then burglars, then gangs.

Communities that ignore the first crack pay dearly when the whole block splinters. Let us act now — while the glass can still be repaired.

Edgar Domenech served as chief operating officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. He was the 117th sheriff of New York City. He is a special advisor to the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network and resides in Jupiter.

Here are the top stories for Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Get the weather forecast for today here.

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Dave Hyde: Panthers dominate, leave no doubt, repeat as Stanley Cup champs

So when is the Panthers’ parade? It’s tentatively scheduled for this weekend

U.S. Jews fleeing Israel-Iran hostilities to fly home in Florida-backed airlift

Judge finds Florida attorney general in contempt over immigration law

Threats from ‘people who are quite frankly lunatics’ fuel bill shielding officials’ home addresses

South Florida Wildlife Center, the state’s busiest, in search of new home

Palm Beach County selects Joseph Abruzzo as new county administrator

License suspended for assisted living facility that didn’t have AC for a week

Florida’s budget: Property tax rebates, sales tax cut fail

Miss Manners: I was told I was rude for putting the hostess in this position

Re: For now, David Jolly asks you to believe | Column, June 8, Steve Bousquet 

David Jolly can make Florida turn blue.

I have been listening to him on MSNBC and his views have not wavered. His demeanor and strong rhetoric without abrasiveness is a breath of fresh air for me.

He had the moral sense and commitment to our democracy to see what the future of his former Republican Party would be, long before he decided to run as a Democrat for governor of Florida.

We are lucky to have him.

Democrats must embrace his commitment and glide him into office.

As Jolly himself has said many times, we must start sticking together!

Linda Gefen, Boca Raton

The value of medical research

In 1967, I conducted research on cervical cancer with Dr. M. Younes, a gynecologist from Egypt.

Sheila Jaffe with an electron microscope in 1967. (courtesy, Sheila Jaffe)

Despite the outbreak of the war against Israel, we continued our crucial work, which led to the development of the Gardasil vaccine. The process of curing diseases can be protracted, and not all research endeavors yield successful outcomes.

Despite our differing religious and national backgrounds, Dr. Younes and I collaborated effectively for a noble purpose.

Our research at Thomas Jefferson University Medical College was supported by the American Cancer Society and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Universities such as Harvard and Jefferson receive vital NIH funding to provide lifesaving treatments.

It’s imperative that such funding be utilized responsibly and not employed as a political instrument for retribution.

Sheila Jaffe, Boca Raton

We must help Ukraine

President Trump says he doesn’t know “what the hell happened” to his good friend Vladimir Putin regarding his lack of response toward finding peace in Ukraine.

He sounds just like Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain after he talked Great Britain into an appeasement pact with Germany, after which Adolf Hitler promptly invaded Poland, which led to World War II.

Is history repeating itself?

Putin will not rest until he has Ukraine back under Russia’s control. Then, he will proceed to go after the Balkan states no matter how long it takes.

We can’t walk away from this. We must unite with the European powers to help Ukraine or we risk becoming an isolationist country under Trump.

Our world of today and the future is too small to allow this to happen.

Gloria Fisher, Deerfield Beach 

A mother and Medicaid

More than 20 years ago, while campaigning for a candidate, I spoke with a Florida mother.

She said her children kept losing their Medicaid coverage whenever she had work, and she had to reapply every time she was laid off.

Her kids were missing their routine doctor visits, and she would only vote for someone who could fix this problem.

I thought of her when I read that rolling back President Biden’s streamlining of Medicaid eligibility rules and requiring states to conduct more frequent Medicaid eligibility determinations are two “bold, disruptive, and lasting change(s)” proudly touted by Republicans to save trillions of dollars on Americans’ health care.

Here on the ground, it looks like they plan to make poor and working Americans jump through more hoops for their medical care, but somehow the bureaucrats who do the extra reviews will work for free.

Nope — Florida’s taxpayers will pay them.

H. Joan Waitkevicz, M.D., West Palm Beach

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Today is Wednesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2025. There are 196 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 18, 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

Also on this date:

In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

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In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French Imperial Army in Belgium.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

In 1983, astronaut Sally Ride became America’s first woman in space as she and four other NASA astronauts blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission.

In 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane and helicopter carrying sightseers collided over the Grand Canyon.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Georgia v. McCollum, ruled that criminal defendants could not use race as a basis for excluding potential jurors from their trials.

In 2018, President Donald Trump announced he was directing the Pentagon to create the Space Force as an independent branch of the United States armed forces.

In 2020, the Supreme Court, in the case of Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, rejected by a 5-4 decision President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for more than 650,000 young immigrants.

In 2023, the submersible vessel Titan, on an expedition of view the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, imploded, killing all five people aboard.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Musician Paul McCartney is 83.
• Actor Carol Kane is 73.
• Actor Isabella Rossellini is 73.
• Singer Alison Moyet is 64.
• Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith is 62.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis is 50.
• Actor Alana de la Garza is 49.
• Country musician Blake Shelton is 49.
• Football Hall of Famer Antonio Gates is 45.

Will the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers once again bring the celebration to the Elbo Room on Fort Lauderdale Beach? We’re sure the fans will pile in. Catch the excitement throughout Wednesday morning on these live-streaming webcams inside and outside the bar.

Elbo Room street view

Elbo Room patio

Elbo Room inside bar view 1

Elbo Room inside bar view 2

Las Olas & A1A beach cam

(From the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort)

Follow the Sun Sentinel’s complete coverage of the Florida Panthers.

Elbo Room made history in 1994 as the first bar in the world to livestream online. They have just launched BandCam+ to stream every band that performs in their three daily live shows with high-quality video and audio. Elbo Room is offering a one-month free trial with promo code ELBO1938.

SUNRISE — Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk missed the end of the regular season, but returned in time for Florida’s second straight Stanley Cup winning run.

What people outside the Panthers organization did not know was that Tkachuk was playing with a downright brutal injury even as he scored scored a goal in Game 6.

“I tore my adductor off the bone and then had some hernia thing,” Tkachuk told the TNT post-game broadcast. “All on the same side. Wanted to throw in the towel a bunch of times, I’m sure. I’ve got to thank a lot of people for getting me healthy enough. I’m sure I wasn’t the easiest to deal with. My fiance did a great job with the house on days when I probably wasn’t in the best mood coming to the rink. The trainers, maybe when I wasn’t in the best mood when I was in pain. I just owe them so much.”

Tkachuk said before Tuesday’s Game 6 victory that he was not sure he would get to play in the postseason.

“I didn’t know if I was going to come back at the start,” Tkachuk said Monday. “Kind of found out the day before I was going to have a chance to play. Day of, honestly. The first round was definitely the worst I felt, by far.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice had said he did not know if Tkachuk would be physically capable of even finishing the first-round series against Tampa Bay.

But Tkachuk scored two goals in his first game back. He had an extended scoring drought but finished the postseason with eight goals and 15 assists.

It is not the first time Tkachuk has played through injuries during playoff runs. He broke his collarbone during Florida’s 2023 trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

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“What he does so well is he’s so smart,” Maurice said. “He managed himself around the ice and around the game that he could still produce, but he wasn’t taking hits, and he wasn’t giving hits. He was (on) open ice, and then he just kind of slowly built up.

Maurice added: “The closer we got toward the end of the Final, it didn’t matter. Tears it off the bone again, fine. He’ll come back in January. Just help the team win. And his last four games, for me, were the four best games he’s played with the Florida Panthers.”

Matthew Tkachuk reveals he tore his adductor muscle off the bone, and had "some hernia thing," which almost kept him out of the playoffs

Scenes from Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, where the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers to capture their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

Complete coverage:

Champs again! Panthers claim 2nd straight Stanley Cup, down Oilers in 6

Dave Hyde: Panthers dominate, leave no doubt, repeat as Stanley Cup champs

So when is the Panthers’ parade? It’s tentatively scheduled for this weekend

Sam Bennett wins first Conn Smythe Trophy in Panthers history

SUNRISE — They came sprinting off the bench like kids out for recess, yelling, hugging, throwing gloves and sticks in the air and all their emotions went up for grabs as this warm, wonderful noise accompanied their opening view atop the mountain.

They did it. Again.

The Florida Panthers really won it all. Again.

The franchise that once couldn’t get out of its own way, that gave away tickets to games, that went a quarter-century without winning a playoff series — that sad-sack franchise is now toast of sports after they celebrated their second straight Stanley Cup championship

They didn’t just do it, again, in winning 5-1 in this Game 6 and taking this best-of-seven series, 4-2.

They dominated it. They controlled it. They took everything a good Edmonton team had Tuesday and took over the last night of the season, right from the opening minutes, when Sam Reinhart picked up a loose puck, treated defenseman Mattias Ekholm like a stage prop and then scored even as he was sent spinning to the ice.

That started it. Matthew Tkachuk made it 2-0 in the final minute of the first period. And Reinhart put one in off his skates from Aleksander Barkov to make it 3-0 in the second period, and another from Barkov for an empty-net goal — hats began flying on the ice for his hat trick — and yet another fourth goal to make it 5-0.

What a night. What a run. What a celebration this was, too, one that told you why they won beyond their rich talent and smart coaching. Their handling of the Stanley Cup said as much.

“Let’s do this again,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said to Barkov before handing the Panthers’ captain the Cup as protocol demands.

Barkov skated it to the full team, then around the rink before the cheering crowd, before handing off to … where was he? … yes, there he was …Nate Schmidt?

The order of players getting the Cup is no small decision in this sport. It’s defining of the team, they all know.

“That told you about us, didn’t it?” said Schmidt, a strong but classic role player.

Why didn’t Reinhart get it next? Or goalie Sergio Bobrovsky? Or Sam Bennett, the Conn Smythe winner as the playoff’s top performer?

“It meant everything,” Schmidt said.

Seth Jones skated next with The Cup. The veteran defenseman led the Panthers in ice time, so clearly the stars were getting it now, right?

“This was about family, that’s what this order was about,” Jones said.

Tomas Nosek got it next. The fourth-line veteran. A good playr, but not Brad Marchand with all his heroics. Not Tkachuk for changing this culture and turning in one of defining performances of his career in playing injured these playoffs.

“We decided to give it to the guys who hadn’t won it before,” Barkov said. “That was important, them getting it. We’d get it next.”

Do you see how they did it? How they won so big beyond being so good? Schmidt started the playoffs with three goals against Tampa Bay. Nosek’s fourth line brought them back in the Toronto series, Maurice kept saying these playoffs. The point is this was about everyone, doing everything, together.

“They love each other,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I know, every team says it. But these guys, they really love each other.”

“Family,” Bennett said.

“Brothers for life,” Aaron Ekblad said.

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• PHOTOS: Panthers capture second consecutive Stanley Cup with Game 6 win
• So when is the Panthers’ parade? It’s tentatively scheduled for this weekend
• Sam Bennett wins first Conn Smythe Trophy in Panthers history

That first lap with the Cup meant something to all of them. But watching the first-timers celebrate with the Cup was something special for a player like Carter Verhaeghe, who was on his third Cup between last year and one in Tampa Bay.

“We want the Cup!” the crowd began chanting midway through the third period when it became clear it was coming to them.

PHOTOS: Panthers capture second consecutive Stanley Cup with Game 6 win

The fans were part of the night, too. They savored the night and drank from the Cup, if only metaphorically, because this is the first time back-to-back championships have been celebrated at home for any South Florida team.

This is a fan base built from nearly nothing with the kind of success in recent years that rivals the greatest South Florida teams ever. The Miami Dolphins went to three straight Super Bowls, winning two, from 1971 to 1973. The Miami Heat went to four straight NBA Finals, winning two, from 2010 to 2014.

That’s the rare air these Panthers now reside. This Mount Rushmore of local greatness can’t even fill out the card. Their full spring explained even after the first-round series Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, a two-time Cup winner himself, called the Panthers, “An exceptional team. Not just average, an exceptional team.”

They don’t need numbers to back up anything, but they back up everything right through this last game. The Panthers had the best offense in the playoffs in scoring the most goals and the best defense in yielding the fewest per game. 2.5 goals per game.

They had the best postseason penalty kill (and sixth-best power play). So, their special teams were special, too.

Edmonton fiddled with who to start in goal, Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard, and up and down the lineup in a few places. The Panthers’ lineup was set. Maurice had worked that out in the regular season. And what a team he had.

They’re the first team where nine players had at least 15 playoff points since the 1980s New York Islanders teams. Bill Torrey, the original Panthers team president, was the architect of that Islanders dynasty and was asked back when they got the second Cup in 1981  what the Panthers had to consider now: Was the second title was greater than the first?

“You’re damn right it is,’’ Torrey said.

That’s the question they wrestled with now.

“I don’t know,” general manager Bill Zito said. “I really don’t know.”

That’s something to consider. So, give them their moment. Give them this first night of a full summer of celebration. Savor it, too.

The Panthers did it again. They really won it all again.