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In 1975, Palm Beach County and Broward County faced a garbage dilemma: How do we deal with the millions of tons generated each year? Palm Beach County went one direction. Broward County went another. Today, Palm Beach County is achieving important fiscal and environmental goals. Broward County has failed and is in a crisis. But we have an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past if we can work together.

Broward County generates nearly 5 million tons of garbage a year. We rely on landfilling far too heavily, which increases environmental damage and falls short of our mandate to divert, reuse and recycle. Aside from a disposal crisis, we also face a serious and threatening economic crisis because, unlike Palm Beach County, we do not own the trash infrastructure. We ceded our economic strength and destiny to market forces and the trash industry.

Sun SentinelMike Ryan is the mayor of Sunrise.

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County is a special district created by the Florida Legislature in 1975. It now owns most of the trash infrastructure, including recycling centers, transfer stations, two waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities, a biosolids processing facility and a landfill that is their last resort for waste disposal. For a mature system, it spends $4 million per year reinforcing educational efforts. As a result, in 2023, it reported an 80% recycling rate. Broward is below 40%.

Unlike Palm Beach’s countywide Solid Waste Authority, Broward chose instead to organize itself through contractual agreement between cities and county designed to expire in 2013. Like Palm Beach County, the residents and businesses of Broward paid for two WTE facilities. However, in Broward, after we paid off the bonds, astonishingly, we handed the keys over to the private operator. We own nothing.

Prior to expiration in 2013, there was interest in trying to extend the agreement. However, because of high pricing offered by the market for WTE, landfilling and recycling, the cities became fragmented and dissolved the agreement, with little to show for the past 50 years. Every trash and recycling metric then headed in the wrong direction.

Realizing the failure of fragmentation, most cities and the county came back together and created the Solid Waste Authority of Broward County, which was tasked with crafting a Draft Master Plan to address this crisis and for the next 50 years. The Draft Plan is the product of accumulated analysis including 11 task-specific and publicly available white papers comprising thousands of pages of information and analysis. We have held public meetings every month and received comments from residents, elected officials, corporate leaders and the trash industry.

The Draft Master Plan is full of details, data and policy choices. In short, it concludes that, because we do not own the trash infrastructure, if we are to divert from landfills and WTE and protect our financial future, we must start immediately with behavioral change in how we process our garbage, and cities must begin exerting maximum economic strength to achieve the best pricing from the market by combining our trash tonnage.

We cannot landfill or burn our way out of this crisis. In fact, the Draft Plan does not call for any new WTE plants or landfills in Broward. As I wrote last year in this paper, it is inconceivable economically, environmentally, socially or politically that we would build a new billion-dollar waste incineration facility on the edge of the Everglades and so close to communities.

But there are things we can do now. For example, we must divert and recycle construction and demolition debris and yard waste. These are the most highly divertible commodities in the waste stream. We can replicate proven strategies from other counties to reduce dramatically the tonnage going to landfills.

We must be focused on changing our behavior, from how our suppliers package goods, to how we take home our goods and what we do with waste streams. Single-use plastic reduction, harmonizing recycling messages and implementing organic composting with existing partners are all initiatives we can start today.

When we exercise our economic strength by combining our trash tonnage, we give the next generation of residents, businesses and policy makers the best potential to achieve not only the paramount public policy mission of diverting from landfills and WTE but also the economic stewardship that was taken away from us 50 years ago.

Mike Ryan is the mayor of Sunrise, an attorney and the chair of the Solid Waste Authority of Broward County’s executive committee. The Draft Master Plan and opportunities for comments can be found at BrowardSWA.org.

Unbelievably, members of a far-right militant group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted in the Capitol riot and then pardoned by President Trump are suing the Justice Department for $100 million dollars because they say their rights were violated.

Just as unbelievable, the Justice Department has agreed to pay almost $5 million dollars to the family of Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt was the individual shot during the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol while crawling through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby, where some members of the House were trapped on the balcony. Although Babbitt was warned several times to “get back,” she continued to force her way in and was shot as a last resort by a Capitol policeman.

Author Patsy Neal lives in Matthews, N.C.

As tragic as the death was, it is hard to comprehend that Babbitt’s family is going to receive a settlement after the Justice Department and the Capitol Police had cleared the officer of wrong-doing in earlier investigations.

It is also hard to comprehend that the government is paying $1,000 to illegal immigrants who are willing to leave the country on their own — another example of rewarding unlawful acts.

Yet, rewarding individuals who have committed criminal acts should not be surprising. President Trump gave clemency and pardons to over 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and 379 individuals who had been convicted of assaulting police and members of the media.

Trump also indicated that some restitution fees should be reimbursed as part of the voided convictions, and that compensation might be considered for those given clemency, opening the door to lawsuits.

Trump has changed the scales of justice in many ways. In the Babbitt case, he called the police officer who shot Babbitt “a thug,” praised Babbitt for her role in the Jan. 6 violence, and falsely described what happened by saying, “she was innocently standing there.”

Rewarding criminal behavior makes a mockery of Trump’s claim to be for “law and order.” Once we lose sight of right and wrong, everything else falls apart. We cannot reward lawbreakers without putting all of us in danger. When we elevate those who have broken the law, we give them more power to hurt us. And when there are no consequences, we encourage more criminal activity.

So, what can be done about law-breakers being rewarded? Most vitally, Congress must take back its role as a co-equal branch of government and help stop illegal acts through legislative action. The judicial system, regardless of political affiliations, must impartially prevent unlawful acts based on the Constitution. And the executive branch must be pressured to respect the rights of the other two branches of government, fairly enforce the laws and stay within legal boundaries.

As individual citizens, we cannot continue to sit silent. Each silent voice gives more momentum to lawlessness. All of us — “We the people” — must emphatically but peacefully demonstrate that enough is enough. Remember, everyone, what the Declaration of Independence says: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Patsy Neal has had several books, articles and op-eds published, and has received four Freedom Foundation Awards for her essays. She lives in Matthews, N.C.

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Today is Tuesday, July 1, the 182 day of 2024. There are 183 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 1, In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment.

Also on this date:

In 1863, the pivotal, three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, began in Pennsylvania.

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In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect. Called Dominion Day until 1982, the national holiday is now known as Canada Day.

In 1903, the first Tour de France began. (It ended on July 19, won by Maurice Garin.)

In 1944, delegates from 44 countries began meeting at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where they agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In 1963, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.

In 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration was established.

In 1984, the first movie rated PG-13 (“Red Dawn,” starring Patrick Swayze) debuted.

In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.

In 2004, actor Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles at age 80.

In 2015, after more than a half-century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared their intent to reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, leading to a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.

In 2018, LeBron James announced that he would be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving Cleveland for the second time in his career.

In 2019, 15-year-old Coco Gauff, the youngest player to qualify at Wimbledon in the professional era, defeated 39-year-old Venus Williams in the first round.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor-dancer Leslie Caron is 94.
• Actor Jamie Farr (TV: “M*A*S*H”) is 91.
• Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 84.
• Actor Genevieve Bujold is 83.
• Rock singer Deborah Harry (Blondie) is 80.
• Actor Terrence Mann is 74.
• Rock singer Fred Schneider (The B-52s) is 74.
• Pop singer Victor Willis (Village People) is 74.
• Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 73.
• Actor Alan Ruck is 69.
• Mystery novelist Louise Penny is 67.
• Singer Evelyn “Champagne” King is 65.
• Olympic track champion Carl Lewis is 64.
• Actor Dominic Keating (TV: “Star Trek: Enterprise”) is 62.
• Actor Pamela Anderson is 58.
• Actor Henry Simmons is 55.
• Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 54.
• Actor Julianne Nicholson is 54.
• Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is 50.
• Actor Liv Tyler is 48.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla is 48.
• Actor Hilarie Burton is 43.
• Actor Lea Seydoux (LEE’-uh say-DOO’) is 40.
• Actor-singer Chloe Bailey is 27.
• Actor Storm Reid is 22.

Inspection Certification Associates Review: Is it For You?  Miami Herald

By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is slogging through a tense overnight session that has dragged into Tuesday, with Republican leaders buying time as they search for ways to secure support for President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts while fending off proposed amendments, mostly from Democrats trying to defeat the package.

An endgame was not immediately in sight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota is reaching for a last-minute agreement between those in his party worried the bill’s reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts.

Thune declared at one point they were in the “homestretch” as he dashed through the halls at the Capitol, only to backtrack a short time later, suggesting any progress was “elusive.”

At the same time House Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled more potential problems ahead, warning the Senate package could run into trouble when it is sent back to the House for a final round of voting, as skeptical lawmakers are being called back to Washington ahead of Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.

“I have prevailed upon my Senate colleagues to please, please, please keep it as close to the House product as possible,” said Johnson, the Louisiana Republican. House Republicans had already passed their version last month.

It’s a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump’s holiday deadline Friday. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president.

In a midnight social media post urging them on, Trump called the bill “perhaps the greatest and most important of its kind.” Vice President JD Vance summed up his own series of posts, simply imploring senators to “Pass the bill.”

The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities in both chambers. Thune can lose no more than three Republican senators, and already two — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who warns people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who opposes raising the debt limit — have indicated opposition.

Attention quickly turned to key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have also raised concerns about health care cuts, but also a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions.

Murkowski in particular was the subject of the GOP leadership’s attention, as Thune and others sat beside her in conversation. Then Paul drew eyes after he returned from a visit to Thune’s office.

And on social media, billionaire Elon Musk was again lashing out at Republicans as “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” for including a provision that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion, which is needed to allow continued borrowing to pay the bills.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his side was working to show “how awful this is.”

“Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular,” Schumer said as he walked the halls.

A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.

Senators to watch

Few Republicans appear fully satisfied as the final package emerges, in either the House or Senate.

Tillis said it is a betrayal of the president’s promises not to kick people off health care, especially if rural hospitals close.

Collins had proposed bolstering the $25 billion proposed rural hospital fund to $50 billion, but her amendment failed. And Murkowski was trying to secure provisions to spare people in her state from some health care and food stamp cuts while also working to beef up federal reimbursements to Alaska’s hospitals. They have not said how they would vote for the final package.

“Radio silence,” Murkowski said when asked.

At the same time, conservative Senate Republicans proposing steeper health care cuts, including Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, filed into Thune’s office for a near-midnight meeting.

The Senate has spent some 18 hours churning through more than two dozen amendments in what is called a vote-a-rama, a typically laborious process that went on longer than usual as negotiations happen on and off the chamber floor. The White House legislative team also was at the Capitol.

A few of the amendments — to strike parts of the bill that would limit Medicaid funds to rural hospitals or shift the costs of food stamp benefits to the states — were winning support from a few Republicans, though almost none were passing.

One amendment was overwhelmingly approved. It would strip a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence if they receive certain federal funding. It was approved 99-1.

What’s in the big bill

All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.

The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.

Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.

Democrats fighting all day and night

Unable to stop the march toward passage, the Democrats as the minority party in Congress are using the tools at their disposal to delay and drag out the process.

Democrats forced a full reading of the text, which took 16 hours, and they have a stream of amendments.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, raised particular concern at the start of debate late Sunday about the accounting method being used by the Republicans, which says the tax breaks from Trump’s first term are now “current policy” and the cost of extending them should not be counted toward deficits.

She said that kind of “magic math” won’t fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books.

___

Associated Press writers Ali Swenson, Fatima Hussein, Michelle L. Price, Kevin Freking, Matt Brown, Seung Min Kim and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

General Daily Insight for July 01, 2025

Equilibrium might be hard to find. The sensitive Moon moves into Libra at 5:16 pm EDT, which normally helps to create a sense of balance within us. Unfortunately, today holds more challenges to this idealized inner peace. Such issues arise once the Moon opposes Saturn, creating stubborn obstacles and delays that frustrate our attempts to create harmony. Later, the Moon wrestles with Neptune as well, adding further potential layers of confusion, miscommunication, and exhaustion. Let’s give ourselves some grace if we’re knocked off balance.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You might be getting in your own way. Someone may push your buttons, leading you to act out of character and speak out of turn, potentially when you really want to make a good impression. Being aware of what’s setting off your feelings can help you take note of when you’ve let your emotions or preconceived notions get in the way of thinking ahead. The more grounded you are when you approach any obstacle, the better of an outcome you’re likely to see.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Mustering up motivation may currently be challenging. You might find that you’re running on empty despite still having the normal amount of everyday tasks to accomplish, or there may be an issue that pops up to stand in the way of your regularly-scheduled progress. With your determination and optimism, you’re unlikely to be stuck in one place for long, unless you’re unable to break free from your usual approach. Make sure to think outside the box in order to make some real headway.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Trying to go in many directions risks stalling you. You might struggle to know where to go next due to the paradox of choice — you simply have too many appealing options for your future! Doing some pondering of your opportunities is wise, but you can only think about it without taking action for so long. This could be a good time to just pick one and move forward. Too much deliberation can lead to missing out on all of them.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

It may be hard for others to see past their personal perception of you. The way that you see yourself is what it is due to the time that you’ve spent living in your own skin, but others only know what you’ve shown them. Plus, that gets mixed with their preconceived ideas and anything they’ve heard from others. Instead of going silent when you know that you’re being projected upon, make it clear who you are, and that your word is your bond.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Miscommunication can speedily send you down the wrong path. This information that you learn can come from someone close to you and could be relevant to you or someone you know personally. Conversely, it may be broad-scope trivia that you learn about the outside world. Regardless of the subject matter, it’s likely to be incorrect in some way, shape, or form, and it should be carefully scrutinized before you share it with more people or act on it. Get the source!

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Be aware of how much energy you’re putting into a single matter. You may feel as though you’re in the right headspace, only to turn around and realize that you’ve been putting all of your efforts into one place, letting the rest of your life fall apart. It could have been an area of life that was very demanding, and possibly still is, but this doesn’t mean that you can let everything else tumble down. If you need to, ask for help.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Someone close to you may be blocking your vision. They could be trying to make you believe that you’re thinking for yourself. Meanwhile, you’re likely noticing that they’re casting doubts on your intuition and leading you in the direction that they want to go, rather than a direction that you agreed on together. It’s frustrating for someone to try to put you in the sidecar of their life just because you don’t want to create conflict, so speak up for yourself and maintain your boundaries.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

A lack of planning may have resulted in a lack of direction. You might feel as though you are struggling to figure out where to go next, and it might seem as though there are no good options — or no options at all. Don’t be discouraged! It’ll potentially take just a little more digging to find the right path. There’s no need to fear the idea of taking baby steps in one direction to see if it’s the right one. It’s okay to explore.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Taking a risk might result in something immensely shocking. You may find that the information that you’ve been given surrounding this gamble is not quite accurate — specifically, it could be too good to be true. Find your footing and realize that the urgency others involved are trying to impose upon you is created by them, not sourced from your reality. The truth is, you have time to figure out what you want to do. You shouldn’t have to rush yourself for them.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Confusion regarding how you feel in this moment can lead to confusion for others. It might be difficult for you to identify how you’re feeling right now, but that won’t stop others from being able to see that you are reacting to something. They may ask you why you’re behaving the way that you are, and you may not have an immediate answer for them — and that’s okay! You’re allowed to wait and fully feel your feelings before trying to analyze them.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Not saying what’s truly on your heart may be holding you back. You might find that there are people in your life who are doing their best to figure out what’s on your mind, but they could be struggling because no communication is being given to them. Alternatively, it may be the reverse of this situation, where you are attempting to figure out what’s on their mind, and they are stonewalling you. Don’t let the conversation end without finding — or offering — clarity.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Stability can start to feel stifling. The security that you’ve been trying to create may be harder to see right now, as it may seem like more of a cage than a fortress. Be wary of the temptation to tear it all down and start over in the name of feeling free. Instead of acting on this impulse, take a few breaths and think it over. What takes a long time to build can be torn down quickly, so make sure it’s what you want.