Nancy Smith

Central Florida is in a dry period. Southwest Florida communities affected by the Caloosahatchee River need water from Lake Okeechobee right now.

This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.

Bright-eyed Anitere Flores -- with that arresting smile, the bounce in her step and so much time, it seemed, to hear out all comers -- entered the Republican Senate in 2010 with as much promise as I'd ever seen in a freshman.

Is it me, or has Senate Bill 10 just entered the Twilight Zone?

This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.

Aramis Ayala, who probably 90 percent of Florida had never heard of before March, may wind up as one of the 2017 legislative session's most prominent figures. Indirectly, anyway.

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has lost the first round of his clash with Gov. Rick Scott and his fight to raise the city's minimum wage to $13.31 per hour. Circuit Judge Peter R. Lopez issued a ruling Tuesday declaring Miami Beach's Living Wage Ordinance invalid.

All Aboard Florida doesn't want to pay for safety, thinks it shouldn't have to. So it's fighting like a jackrabbit to get off on a technicality as the Florida High-Speed Passenger Rail Safety Act reaches committees in both chambers.

This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.

Apparently there are still people in Florida -- including leaders in the Florida Legislature, of all places -- who are perfectly happy to give Mel and Betty Sembler's drug policy the time of day.

This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.

No wonder sugar people are so loathe to speak up in their own defense. This week the twisted tongues of environmentalists showed us why.

Certainly in most areas of American society, I stand tall for free-market principles. I always have. But when the conversation turns to eliminating what remains of the Certificate of Need Program (CON), I strongly oppose deregulation.

Despite a new, business-friendlier commission majority elected last fall in Martin County, the dictatorial regime of the last commission woke up a pair of unincorporated Martin communities.

This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.