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.

Nothing screams "Buy my book!" louder than an assassination attempt on the author using a radioactive substance "suspected in the death of former PLO leader Yassar Arafat."

The gunman suspected of killing five people at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Jan. 6 was ordered held without bail during a hearing in Fort Lauderdale this morning. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow set a Jan. 30 arraignment hearing. 

Santiago could get the death penalty if convicted of federal airport violence and firearms charges that resulted in death. He still hasn't entered a plea.

If Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for drug czar, marijuana advocates might not be as disappointed as they imagine.

As the week wound down, the Everglades Foundation (EF) and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) already had produced more sequels in their epic battle over Everglades reservoirs than we ever got from "Clash of the Titans."

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.

Everglades Foundation Shares a Tantrum

The Everglades Foundation desperately needs to star in its own movie every time the cameras roll. This isn't an insult, it's just an observation. Like a diva, this environmental overseer is used to being treated with kid gloves whenever it makes an appearance. It's used to being cheered. Adored. 

As Rob Bradley's Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources moves forward, its members might want to "weight" some of the scientists, engineers and other "experts" they're relying on to educate them.

Republican challenger for state party chair Christian Ziegler denies he is running a "scorched earth" campaign, as some committee men and women around the state complain.

"Why would I do that?" Ziegler asked me Tuesday night. "I know we all have to come together and be friends and work for victory when this is over."

Exactly. 

Certainly that is the hope. 

Who was it who said, "When liars figure, figures lie"? I have no idea, but he sure as heck could have been talking about those wily coyotes at the Everglades Foundation/Coalition/Trust.

Former state Sen. Dwight Bullard, progressive candidate for chair of the Democratic Party of Florida, has won the endorsement of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, an organization representing 1.6 million black Democrats in the Sunshine State.

Henry Crespo Sr., president of DBCF, told Bullard he "will be casting his weighted vote" for him, according to a memo Bullard received Sunday. See the memo in the attachment below.