The Cooler

Not a whole lot going on this Monday morning in the mainstream media. Here's some of it.

A- Herald: Recession? What recession?

While the recession lingers in other parts of the country, the Keys economy is riding high, with a booming tourist industry leading the way. Occupancy rates are tops in the state at 83 percent, up from 70 percent in 2010. Average daily rates for lodging also are way up, from $179 a night two years ago to $235 now.

“In a way, we have kind of benefited from the gloom and doom situation elsewhere,” said Harold Wheeler, executive director of the Keys tourist development council.

B- Herald: Go fish.

When you order fish at your favorite South Florida restaurant or buy fillets from the supermarket, there’s a chance you are not eating what you thought you bought. The marine conservation group Oceana recently tested 96 fish samples purchased from 60 outlets from West Palm Beach to Key Largo and found that nearly one-third of the seafood was mislabeled.

C- South Florida Business Journal: Good wine.

Four Miami restaurants have been included in Wine Spectator's Best Wine Lists of 2012.

Casa D'Angelo, Meat Market, Quattro Gastronomia Italiana and Rusty Pelican were the Miami winners on the list, which recognizes 3,795 of the world's best restaurant wine lists, according to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

D- NBC Miami: Results of Key West Hemingway contest.

E- WPTV: A Monday morning story for cat lovers.

The crash happened on Monday at about 3 p.m. while Saltzburg, her wife Mara, 40, Sam and their infant son Parker were moving across the country from Los Angeles to Miami. Sam, in his cat crate, was in the front passenger seat. They were driving on Interstate 75 approaching Big Cypress National Preserve when another vehicle collided with theirs, causing Saltzburg to lose control of the minivan.

"It was terrifying," Saltzburg said. "It was really scary."

Saltzburg remembers looking up after her minivan had rammed into a tree off the highway. Sam's cat crate, which had been on the passenger seat, was no longer there. It had been ejected through the window.

After being pulled from the minivan, Saltzburg, who has been a paraplegic since she was only a few days old, saw the broken cat crate in the grass. Sam had dashed off into the bush.

[...]

On Wednesday, Kathleen Sullivan, who works at the Brigid's Crossing Foundation cat sanctuary in Naples, drove out to the Alley with her husband Christopher to look for Sam. When they got to the site of the crash near mile marker 97, they found the cat waiting in the bush. He had barely moved from the scene of the collision.

Saltzburg, Loge and Santomero were all stunned that Sam was found unharmed.

"The chances of finding that cat were almost zero," Santomero said. "I absolutely think it's a miracle."

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