The Cooler

Lots of interesting news this morning but don't take my word for it...check out the Cooler.

A- Herald: Pitts.

Seldom has the need for a viable third party been more apparent.

Unfortunately, we don't have that and won't in the near future. We are left instead with two parties that might better be named Angry and Dopey. One manufactures votes by scaring voters to the polls ("Vote for us or Muslim terrorists will sneak over the border from Mexico and gay-marry your children!''). The other chases legislative power as frantically as Wile E. Coyote chased Roadrunner, but handles it with the same cool authority Barney Fife once handled his gun.

Their one commonality: politicians from both sides seem to rank party above country and themselves above both.

B- Herald: Regalado's lack of vision.

Ask the man most people expect to be Miami's next mayor to describe his vision for the city, and you might as well stick eight years of skyline-filling rapid development in mothballs.

``Tell the people how their money is being spent. No backroom deals. Any grandiose projects, we take to the voters,'' says Miami Commissioner Tomás Regalado. ``We do need to take a breather.''

The anti-Manny Diaz?

[...]

Said lobbyist Jose Cancela: ``The business community is sitting back and taking a wait and see attitude with Regalado. There is no vision at this point.''

Regalado wants nothing to do with grand plans.

``When I speak of our great city,'' his campaign website states, ``I do not envision a metropolis.''

C- Herald: Citizens on patrol.

A murder suspect who left his car running in the street couldn't get away because a woman walking her dog removed the keys from the ignition, Coconut Creek police said Tuesday. Police released a recording of a weekend 911 call in which the woman told a dispatcher that she felt something was amiss, so she pulled out the keys and also took a wallet from inside the car.

The woman was still on the phone when the man -- who unknown to her would be charged with killing another man inside the house -- stepped outside.

``He's coming out now,'' the woman said. ``He ain't going nowhere.''

D- Herald: Nonstop, Lauderdale to Havana.

Residents and travelers with relatives in Cuba might be able to hop a plane or boat out of Broward bound for Cuba.

Broward County commissioners on Tuesday approved seeking permission from the federal government to allow flights to and from Cuba at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

County officials will also ask the U.S. Department of Treasury to designate Port Everglades as another point of entry.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Is your wife hot or not?

Is your wife hot...or not?

A billboard battle along South Florida's busiest roads revolves around that very question.

Now it's the crux of a federal lawsuit.

Air Around the Clock, a Coral Springs-based air conditioning and heating company, filed the suit last week, accusing a competitor of trademark infringement and misappropriating its "Your wife is hot" ad campaign.

All Year Cooling, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, has put up its own billboards up using the phrase "Your wife is not hot" and started advertising the Internet address www.wifenothot.com, which connects to the company's Web site.

Air Around the Clock is demanding a judge order All Year Cooling to stop using the "Your wife is not hot" slogan, and to pay it an unspecified amount in monetary damages.

F- Palm Beach Post: Don't try this at home.

PALM SPRINGS — In an effort to duplicate an experiment shown on YouTube, a 9-year-old Palm Springs boy accidentally blew up a plastic soda bottle and is now recovering from surgery to remove imbedded bits of the bottle from his face, CBS 12 reports.

The science-experiment-gone-wrong began when the boy mixed vinegar and baking soda in a soda bottle, his grandmother told CBS 12.

G-WPLG: Video, Weston's world record miniature car collector.

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