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Margaritaville Resort Deal, New Zika Report, Teach-A-Thon Program

Jessica Saavedra
/
Courtesy
Spanish Lakes Elementary principal Jaquiline Arias-Gonzalez (left) with Teach-A-Thon participants Jessica Saavedra, Luisa Uribe, and Hector Rodriguez.

A report on funding for a new parking garage at Margaritaville Resort in Hollywood Beach has renewed controversy about the city's push to bring the resort to town. The Sun Sentinel recently reported on a deal between the City of Hollywood and the resort's owner, KSL Capital Partners, in which the city gave a $28 million grant for the construction of the resort. That deal, though, also included an $80 million loan for the resort’s parking garage, which will be paid off by the parking garage's users and taxpayers by 2045. Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy believes the city has made an investment for its future. On Sundial, he defended the deal and responded to concerns regarding its financial viability.

Back in 2016, Miami was at the epicenter of the Zika outbreak in the U.S. A new reportfrom the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finds one in seven babies exposed to Zika in the womb in the United States have demonstrated health problems in their infancy. According to the CDC report, health problems were identified only as the infants grew older. During a CDC press conference call last week, Dr. Red Field from the CDC said “about 14 percent of these 1,450 babies had one or more health problems possibly related to Zika.” Miami Herald reporter Daniel Chang has examined the new study and joined Sundial to break down its findings.

Being a teacher in Florida isn’t easy. There are constant reports of budget cuts, low pay and hours spent working outside the classroom. Now the Education Fund has partnered with Miami-Dade Public Schools for their annual Teach-A-Thon program to raise awareness of some of the issues teachers face. This is a “walk in their shoes” program that puts working professionals in schools for a day and exposes them to the day-to-day challenges of teaching. Everyone from bankers to attorneys are paired up with a teacher in Miami-Dade Public Schools. They create a lesson plan and teach for a day while raising money through the fundraiser. Sundial was joined by the President of the Education Fund, Linda Letch; a Miami Senior Teacher who’s been a part of the program for 10 years, Shawn DeNight; and Wells Fargo Branch Manager Jessica Saavedra.

Those interested can sign up for this year’s Teach-A-Thon here.