The Cooler

It's a fine day for news in the South Florida mainstream media. Here's some of it.

A- Herald: Miami is sweet.

Today, a new crop of bakers is harkening back to those seemingly simpler times. With homey interiors and an emphasis on local sourcing, independently owned bakery-cafés are proliferating faster than yeast cells feeding on sugar.

Their growing presence has brought bread back in a big way, reminding us that no matter how big our city gets, we can still enjoy smelling like a small town.

B- Herald: You know you live in Florida when...

Florida wildlife managers on Monday announced a new approach: a snake-hunting contest offering cash prizes.

The Python Challenge, scheduled to begin next month, will pay $1,500 for the largest number of snakes and $1,000 for the longest one in two categories. One would include 70 or so licensed python hunters and the other would be open to anyone willing to pay a $25 registration fee, take a half-hour online identification course and — it probably goes without saying — sign a liability waiver.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission touts the month-long contest as a way to raise public awareness about the threat the exotic constrictors pose to native wildlife in the Everglades and potentially put a dent in their population.

C- Herald: Maurice Ferre thinks the Herald Building is fugly.

The Miami Herald building, a major eyesore, brutalist wall of a building, blocking all bay views from the Arsht Performing Arts Center and from Biscayne Boulevard, should not be designated a Historic Structure by the City of Miami.

D- Herald: They write letters.

Irrational acts

The NRA and its followers keep spewing the same old argument, that is, that guns don’t kill people but that people kill people. The real truth is that people with guns kill people, and usually the victim is a family member or someone known by the shooter.

Humans sometimes act impulsively. They have an argument and act irrationally in the heat of the moment. When a gun is available, some use it, and most regret their actions.

Education is helpful, but there will still be irrational acts. Don’t argue that there are other weapons besides guns. When was the last time someone entered a movie theater with a knife and committed mass murder?

John Meic Sr., Davie

E- Palm Beach Post: Life in South Florida.

Police were called to a residence in the 500 block of 28th Street. An officer found a woman cleaning up garbage and clothing on the driveway. She told him her girlfriend, who lives with her, became upset for an unknown reason and began throwing and breaking items in the apartment. Her girlfriend then took the woman’s clothes and threw them on the driveway, dumped garbage on top of them, then poured bleach on the pile.

F- Palm Beach Post: Obsessive?

GREENACRES — Greenacres Police Officer Teak Adams has a keen eye for drivers not wearing seat belts.

Adams was awarded top producer in the state recently for writing 566 seat-belt violation tickets during three, two-week enforcement waves from November 2011 through June. The department also won third place in its division.

[...]

Adams credits some of his success in the challenge to fellow officers who handle other traffic calls while he is working on the seat-belt enforcement waves.

G- TC Palm: The one that got away.

A 24-year-old man who was pulled from the rocks near Sebastian Inlet Wednesday told rescuers a shark flipped his kayak.

The man said he had been fishing at the inlet Wednesday afternoon, according to Lt. Jeff Taylor of Brevard County Fire Rescue. He told rescuers he hooked a shark which flipped his kayak, dumping him into the water. He was then pushed by the current onto the rocks on the north side of the fishing pier. He suffered injuries from hitting the rocks.

H- WPTV: A Lexus would have never done that. *ba da boom*

BOCA RATON, Fla. - A Boca Raton woman was charged after allegedly stuffing a $1,795 purse down a Bloomingdale’s toilet and then shoplifting from Macy’s, police said.

Mercedes Jade Reed-Vaughn, 18, visited the Boca Raton Town Center mall on Tuesday, according to a Boca Raton police arrest report.

A Bloomingdales staffer spotted a woman exiting a bathroom stall, police said. The Bloomingdales employee found a $1,795 Chloe handbag stuffed into the bowl, police said.

Another Bloomingdales employee followed Reed-Vaughn to Macy’s. At Macy’s, Reed-Vaughn attempted to steal $842 worth of merchandise, police said.

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