Florida Health Insurance Program Begins

Two Companies Will Provide Health Coverage For Henry And Glades

LABELLE, FL. -- Governor Charlie Crist has announced that six health insurance providers are ready to begin enrolling Florida consumers in the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program. Two insurance companies will write policies for Hendry and Glades county. The state has selected the companies based on bids and the government will not subsidize the coverage.

• Plan Details - Blue Cross - Blue Shield of Florida
• Plan Details - United Health Care

Blue Cross has the lowest monthly premiums, lowest coverage and highest deductible
United Health Care has a higher premium, higher coverage limits and lower deductibles

The Governor said, "Today is a day many uninsured Floridians have been waiting for. Affordable access to health care is a reality, and I encourage every Florida family and business owner who has been waiting for affordable health insurance options to visit www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com and review the available Cover Florida plans.

"I am grateful to the six insurance carriers who have developed these affordable health insurance options for Floridians.  I strongly encourage all six companies to make every effort as quickly as possible to provide accurate information to Floridians wanting to purchase Cover Florida plans."

Interested individuals are encouraged to discuss their health care options directly with each available insurer, says Crist. The www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com web site has been updated to include contact information for each insurance provider.  Each company will begin providing information to interested consumers via toll-free phone numbers, and two providers have information available online.

Boynton Man Dead In Glades Crash

One Motorcyclist Dead. Two Injured At Buckhead Ridge

MOORE HAVEN, FL. -- A crash Sunday afternoon at Buckhead Drive and State Road 78 East in Glades county left a 66-year old Boynton Beach, Florida man dead and his 64-year old wife seriously injured.

William M. Dodson died when he and passenger Patricia A. Dodson were traveling east on SR78. Norma L. Risner, 42 of Okeechobee, driving a 2003 Ford was entering the westbound left turn lane on SR78 at Buckhead Drive and failed to yield, striking the 2002 Harley Davidson motorcycle on which the Dodson's were riding.

The motorcycle overturned and came to rest in the median separating SR78 and Buckhead Drive. Risner suffered minor injuries and was taken to Raulerson Hospital in Okeechobee, while Patricia Dodson was taken to St. Mary's Hospital.

Bubba Raw Radio - For Boys Only

By Don Browne

Lame Name Dropping At Its Finest - Bubba Returns To Boring Radio

LABELLE, FL. -- A mishmash of not funny talk radio aimed at young males, with Tampa based brash raspy-throated Bubba The Love Sponge (trademark!) and lame sidekicks, Spice, Brent, Manson and Ned. After a long stint on Sirius satellite afternoon radio, Bubba returns to add terrestial radio to his arsenal with never-ending talk about his musician friends, wrestling buddies, racing buddies, continuous sports-celebrity name dropping, appealing I would think only to 17 to 25 year old guys.

The Bubba show, after a listen to its first hour and a half, is like a monster truck loaded with advertising banners, hawking stuff that would only appeal only to young males. Who would be listening to this radio other than a few guys on their way to work? I don't think the unemployed, probably a more likely target audience, would be up at 6 a.m.

Sponsors' ads may be the most exciting part of the four-hour broadcast, loud announcers behind rock music, hocking Lookers "exotic erotic, possibly psychotic" Men's Club in Ft. Myers, auto detailing, an auto repair shop, the monster truck show at the Lee Civic Center, credit counseling, transforming "debt into wealth" hucksters, and curiously Edison Mall and Applebee's Restaurant.

I can imagine this show survives only as long as advertisers can be hoodwinked into buying spots on it. When the advertisers find out they've been had, I would guess they will pull out sooner than later.

The crude language is toned down from Bubba's unabridged Sirius satellite radio show in order to meet FCC requirements for traditional radio wave broadcasting, but even so an occasional "ass wipe" "fag" and other somewhat narrowly offensive language is heard.

Bubbaraw.com, his semi-porn wrestling, hot-gal photo web site; btls.com, and bubbaarmy.com the Bubba online store, were mentioned, making me wonder what's with having so many different web sites. Heard this morning were name drops of Bubba's son Brent, wrestler Hulk Hogan, race driver Tony Stewart, Bubba's football star friends, Bubba's other wrestler friends, and a very bad commentary about the weekend's Palestinian Gaza strip invasion by Israel, comparing it of course to Bubba's favorite topic, a wrestling match.

Radio listeners looking for entertaining talk, and not finding it here, can still listen to the afternoon Stan and Haney Show at 2 p.m. on Ft. Myers' K-Rock 96.1 or Miami's (by way of Toronto, Canada) Neil Rogers Show mornings on the internet or on WQAM 560 at 10 a.m..

Where's Bubba: Miami. Beasely Broadcast Group Fort Myers 96.1, Tampa, Orlando, and Richmond, Va.

No Movie Theaters In LaBelle?

No Problem - Watch Movies Free On The Internet!

LABELLE, FL. -- There are no movie theaters in the county seat of Hendry county, and no theaters in Glades county either. The closest theaters are in Fort Myers, at least a 45 minute drive from LaBelle. So what to do? Watch the movie on the internet is the solution for many people now.

The internet has seen a large expansion recently of sites showing 1st run current hit movies broadcast continuously on websites like justin.tv. And all are free to watch by anyone. Anyone can watch the latest movies on the internet including latest releases, old classics free. So what's the catch you might ask?

Most all of the current movies you see streaming on the internet are from illegal video taping of the legitimate movie by a video camera at a movie theater. You will even sometimes see shadows of people walking in front of the camera.

Generally, the video quality may be mediocre to poor, and the sound quality may be excellent to poor, but the movies are at least watchable on the small screen of a computer. But by watching these "free" movies, you are probably encouraging illegal copying and broadcasting of films without permission of the copyright owners. And lots of people are doing it. There are usually about 400 people watching one of these numerous movie channels at any time of the day, many more people watching than would be in an actual theater showing.

It is illegal for anyone to broadcast copyrighted material to the public without permission of the copyright owner, in this case the movie studios or production companies are the owners of the movies and videos. You can be sure that none of the live broadcasters at these websites have permission to broadcast these movies.

But, nonetheless, one particular web site owner (Justin.tv) allows the live broadcasts unless the copyright owner notifies them that they are in violation of their copyright. This almost never happens apparently as these channels have been broadcasting movies continously for many months, with several hundred viewers at any one time.

Here's where to find out more about the illegal movie sites:
Watch 1st Run Movies

Got A Question For Local Officials/Businesses?

Ask Your Questions - Make Comments Online!

LABELLE, FL. -- Hendry and Glades County will be starting off the new year with newly elected officials in many offices serving the residents and visitors of LaBelle, Clewiston, and Moore Haven in rural Florida.

Beginning new terms in office this month are Steve Whidden, Sheriff of Hendry county; Phil Pelletier, Hendry Property Appraiser; Rich Murphy, Hendry Superintendent of Schools; and Jeniffer Daniels-Derleth, Port LaBelle Community Development District Supervisor.

In the past, the Sunday Morning News has noticed that local elected officials for the most part ignore communications to them, and it's a rare official who actually responds to a query by any resident.

The Sunday Morning News thus begins this year with a permanent community web page where anyone can ask questions or make comments to local officials or business owners online. The questions and comments are posted by the community and then are ranked by readers by checking each question for importance.

Categories to which questions have been asked so far include: Sheriff's Office, County Commissioners, Property Appraiser, Community Complaints, Questions to County Officials

Take a look, ask a question, make comments, add new topics, and make your voice heard!

http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=126a8 - Click to ask your questions, make comments, and add new topics