Aerial view of Palm Beach County
1. Five votes establish Westlake, Palm Beach County's newest city [Palm Beach Post]
2. Check out how 1960s Miami compares to now [The Next Miami]
3. Hermes to move from Worth Avenue to Royal Poinciana Plaza [Palm Beach Daily News]
4. Health inspector brings bad news for Tiger Woods' Jupiter restaurant [GossipExtra]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
By Nick Wiley
Several recent editorials present an incomplete picture of the science behind FWC's comprehensive bear management program. We are highly confident in the cutting-edge, peer-reviewed scientific foundation supporting FWC staff recommendations regarding black bear management. The scientific methods we rely on have been proven repeatedly in bear populations across North America and further validated through substantial research in the Southeast and here in Florida. This robust body of science clearly supports that Florida's comprehensive approach to bear management, which includes hunting, is effective and sustainable.
FWC invests considerable staff expertise in bear conservation programs and places great emphasis on using the best possible science. We employ 13 biological experts with more than 110 years of collective science and management experience directly focused on black bears. To verify that FWC is relying on sound science to guide our decision making, we recently invited the top bear scientists from across the nation to examine and review Florida's bear management program. This expert panel, with over 170 years of combined experience directly involving bears, concluded that, “FWC is employing quality long-term data and scientific research to manage Florida's black bears.” You can view their full supportive statement at MyFWC.com/bear.
After receiving extensive input from the public, FWC Commissioners will weigh FWC recommendations for a more conservative bear hunt with three other options, including postponing the bear hunt in 2016. You can learn more and provide input at MyFWC.com/bear.
Some reports have led people to believe that FWC has not done sound scientific research and makes hasty decisions about wildlife management. This could not be further from the truth. It is our responsibility to make recommendations based on the best available science, and that is exactly what we are doing.
SSouth Beach
1. South Florida's drooping hotel performance shows slight improvement [SFBJ]
2. Lennar ramps up construction, prices in Q2 [ABC News]
3. Miami commissioner wants to speed up building permit review [Daily Business Review]
4. Waterfront Moorish Revival estate in Coconut Grove sells for $6M at auction [Curbed Miami]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
A rendering of the new Gucci store
A new wave of luxury stores and restaurants is headed to Miami's Design District, including Gucci, Alexander Wang, Warby Parker and Estefan Kitchen, a Cuban concept led by Gloria and Emilio Estefan.
Gucci will build a flagship 7,000-square-foot store in the Design District, joining the already open Hermès, Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and others. Christian Louboutin will expand and open a flagship store next spring, according to Design District developer Dacra.
French fashion house Eres, retailer Cos, and Ahana Yoga have signed leases. Estefan Kitchen will open in the Palm Court, and Warby Parker will open its second Miami store about 1.5 miles away from its Wynwood location, which opened last year. Previously announced are three restaurants by renowned French chef and restaurateur Joël Robuchon.
The neighborhood currently spans an 18-block area north of I-195, between North Miami Avenue and Northeast Fourth Court. More than 60 stores and restaurants currently take up 700,000 square feet of retail space. The next phase will add more than 250,000 square feet of retail space, a 120-room hotel and a new 900-car parking structure, Dacra said.
The Stefano Ricci building, at 120 Northeast 39th Street, recently hit the market. Thor Equities owns that property.
Here's a full list of stores opening in the Design District by the end of next year.
The announcement brings the Design District to 30 percent filled, according to Women's Wear Daily, which first reported the news. Dacra CEO Craig Robins told the magazine that the area is still growing.
“We're in a market that's generally down. The Russians, Brazilians and the dollar have impacted things. Miami is way down,” he told WWD. “On average, we're up. Some of our stores are struggling and some are doing well.” – Katherine Kallergis
Screenshot from a video of falling furniture during a Miami storm (via Miami New Times)
1. Furniture flies off downtown Miami condo tower balconies during storm [Miami New Times]
2. Bank vacates building where BCC's expansion is planned [The Next Miami]
3. Butcher Shop grill for West Palm on hold till impact fee resolved [Palm Beach Post]
4. New development is booming in Plantation [GlobeSt]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
From left: Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
From the New York website: A new lawsuit filed in federal court accuses presidential hopeful Donald Trump of raping a 13-year-old girl at Jeffrey Epstein's Upper East Side New York mansion on multiple occasions more than 20 years ago.
The woman, who alleges the rapes occurred in 1994, filed a civil complaint in New York Federal Court on Monday against the presumptive Republican nominee and Epstein, a notorious ex-hedge funder previously convicted in a prostitution scandal involving minors in Palm Beach. Trump allegedly attended at least four of Epstein's parties at 9 East 71st Street in New York, known as the Wexner Mansion. The plaintiff, like other girls at the house, was lured to the parties with a promise of a modeling career, the lawsuit claims.
Testimony attached to the complaint alleges that a woman - identified only as Tiffany Doe - was hired by Epstein to recruit young girls for his parties. The woman allegedly met the plaintiff at Port Authority Bus Terminal and told her the parties would help connect her to the right people to launch her career.
The lawsuit, which repeats some allegations made in a dismissed complaint filed in California in April, offers a graphic account of the young girl's alleged encounters with Trump, the worst of which is described as a “savage sexual act.” The lawsuit claims that during this instance, Trump tied her to the bed and struck her face with his hand, saying he could do what he wanted, despite her pleas for him to stop. The complaint alleges that Epstein raped her twice.
Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, had not yet read the new allegations when reached by phone. An attorney for Epstein could not immediately be reached for comment. In response to a similar lawsuit filed back in April, Trump categorically denied the claims. That lawsuit was dismissed in May.
It should be noted that anyone can file a civil complaint in federal court. The statute of limitations in New York for civil rape cases is five years, but Monday's complaint argues that the time limit should be waived, noting that the plaintiff was too frightened to report the abuse because Trump had threatened that if she did “her family would be physically harmed if not killed.”
“Both defendants let plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats,” the complaint claims.
New York discarded its statute of limitations for criminal sexual assault cases in 2006. A spokesperson for District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in Manhattan declined to comment on the lawsuit.
On April 26, a woman identified as “Katie Johnson” filed a similar rape complaint against Trump and Epstein in a California court. That case was dismissed in May because Johnson did not file the proper paperwork. The address she listed in California papers was found to be an abandoned property.
In the suit filed in New York on Monday, the “Jane Doe” plaintiff is revealed to be the same plaintiff as in the California suit. Details in the New York complaint differ slightly, however, including a claim that Trump's comments to the media after Johnson filed the California suit amounted to defamation. The new complaint also alleges that Trump knew the plaintiff was 13 years old at the time of the alleged assault, something that does not appear in the California filing.
After Johnson submitted the first suit in April, Trump vehemently denied the allegations, saying “these allegations are not only false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.”
An attorney for the plaintiff, Thomas Meagher, did not immediately return requests seeking comment. The website for Meagher's New Jersey-based firm indicates that it primarily specializes in intellectual property law.
Epstein, a billionaire financier and current registered sex offender, pleaded guilty in Palm Beach County to soliciting an underage prostitute in 2008 after a lengthy investigation. He served 13 months in jail. In 2015, a woman named Virginia Roberts accused Epstein of making her a sex slave in the service of the likes of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and the Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. Several other women have reached settlements with Epstein outside of court.
Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark Epstein, said in a deposition in 2009 that Trump flew on Epstein's private jet at least once in the past. The relationship between the two predates that allegation by some years.
Find your Rep here:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/FL
Here's details about the Bill, from American Sportfishing Association:
House Natural Resource Committee Advances Solution for Gulf Red Snapper
Washington, DC – June 16, 2016- On the heels of another unreasonably short recreational red snapper season in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, yesterday the House Natural Resources Committee passed H.R. 3094, the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Management Authority Act (H.R. 3094). Introduced by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), and with the support of 42 bipartisan co-sponsors, H.R. 3094 offers a proven, state-based solution to ensure America's anglers have more than just nine days to access the healthiest population of Gulf red snapper in history.
“We are very grateful to Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, Congressman Graves and the Members of the Committee who voted for this bill and for better management of the Gulf red snapper fishery,” said Jeff Crane, president of Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. “The current federal model is clearly not working, and it's time for a more balanced approach to the management of this fishery.”
Congressman Graves' bill will extend formal federal recognition to the historic agreement between the five Gulf States to accept joint responsibility for the management of the red snapper fishery in both state and federal waters. The bill also ensures the current individual quota shares of the commercial fishery are protected.
“After many years of disappointment, the strong bipartisan vote in favor of reforming Gulf red snapper management heralds a brighter future for marine recreational fishing,” said Center for Coastal Conservation President Jeff Angers. “Hopefully 2016 will be the last year anglers and coastal communities will have to endure the contorted federal mismanagement in this fishery.”
Through their highly successful management of species like red drum, speckled trout, snook and numerous others, the states have demonstrated they can effectively manage fisheries for both sustainability and access.
“The Natural Resources Committee's overwhelming bipartisan passage of H.R. 3094 is clear validation of what we have argued over the years: federal management has failed recreational fishermen,” said Patrick Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association. “The fact that you have Members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, from across the nation supporting this legislation, shows that this fishery needs state-based innovation that this bill will provide.”
In light of the inability of the federal data collection system to accurately measure recreational angler harvest, all five Gulf States have implemented their own systems of angler data collection. These new programs, combined with their existing robust sampling procedures of the red snapper population itself, will position the states well to assume the new management responsibility.
