Eideard

Inspectors have found infestations of German cockroaches in or near the cafeterias or kitchens of 22 Orange County public schools.

Students at many of the schools are eating cold lunches prepared in a central kitchen while the facilities are cleaned and debugged. While the cafeterias are closed, students at 12 of the schools have been eating under outdoor tents or in their classroom, said district spokeswoman Kathy Marsh…

“Unacceptable” levels of bugs at 22 schools were found during nighttime inspections of all 188 Orange schools Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Most infestations were in the kitchen, the cafeteria or both, but a few schools had bugs in a storage room or bathrooms near the cafeteria…

The school district began the inspections after WKMG-Channel 6 in Orlando took administrators an undercover video of cockroaches at Pineloch Elementary. Principals began sending Connect Orange messages about the bugs to parents his week. Rock Springs Elementary had to postpone its sock-hop dance so the cafeteria could be debugged.

Admittedly, critters like this are always tough to deal with completely and successfully in southern climates. It’s their natural turf. But – still – it ain’t impossible, folks.

 
On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that local authorities in Orlando, Florida may restrict groups handing out free food to homeless people in city parks. But one organization doesn’t care.

Food Not Bombs, a loosely-knit group of independent collectives that serves free vegan and vegetarian food to all comers, says it will continue cooking such meals for Orlando’s homeless every Wednesday at Lake Eola, despite the law. “We’re going to do what we feel is right. They need food. Everyone deserves to be fed,” Gemma Thatcher told WFTV 9 in Orlando.

The Orlando ordinance in dispute requires groups serving food to more than 25 people in the downtown area to obtain a permit, with only two permits per year for each park issued to the groups.

The city argues that there is already a designated area for groups to feed the homeless, complete with benches and portable toilets. The only problem is…the area is locked up right now. In a news conference, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Food Not Bombs can serve all the food it wants without a permit, so long as it does so outside the downtown area.

Food Not Bombs contends that food is a basic human right and that the group’s action is a form of free speech. The 11th Circuit Court agreed, saying that feeding hungry people in public spaces was an activity protected by the First Amendment. But the court ruled that the city of Orlando’s efforts to regulate such activity were also legitimate…

But what about the more pressing interest of making sure everyone in the city has enough to eat?

Food Not Bombs operates much the same way in San Francisco as it does in Orlando…local authorities in the City by the Bay, a decidedly more progressive bunch, allow the group to do its valuable work unmolested. It wasn’t always that way; members of the group were arrested more than 1,000 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the wise men and women who run San Francisco realized that there is no higher priority than feeding the hungry, and today Food Not Bombs is a respected institution that serves meals to the city’s needy five nights a week.

I hope the City of Orlando decides to creep up on the 21st Century and adopt a better attitude to their fellow human beings. There’s a reason it’s called “human-itarian”. Someone just needs to explain it to local politicians.

Thanks, Mr. Fusion

A concerned citizen from Orlando, Fla., called in the Orange County Bomb Squad after seeing a suspicious object on the road.

The suspicious object in question? A toy pony.

That’s right, a child’s toy pony. The bomb squad promptly dashed to the scene, inspected the pony and then did the sensible thing: They blew it to kingdom come…

“We’re just not taking any chances at all. We’re just making sure everything is fine,” an officer said. Yeah! Why would there be a toy animal there anyway? Well, it’s only 100 yards from an elementary school, so … probably because of that.

And this cost the taxpayers of Orange County how much?

The Transportation Security Administration has launched an internal investigation into an air marshal field office in Florida where supervisors are alleged to have used a crew assignment board to ridicule and keep score on women, gays and minorities, sources told CNN.

The board, resembling the TV game show “Jeopardy,” includes categories such as “pickle smokers,” “our gang” and “creatures,” which sources said were names used by managers for gay men, African-Americans and lesbians.

A photograph of the board was sent to CNN. The Transportation Security Administration confirmed the investigation in a written statement but did not elaborate on when the board was in use, where it was displayed or how it was used…

“Accordingly, TSA takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. The Federal Air Marshal Service will continue to provide its full cooperation and support to the investigation.”

They certainly are on top of things – now that a whistleblower and CNN told them about it.