Reports are that the newly formed City of Miami Gardens Police Department is offering attractive incentives to attract some 150 officers to its force. These incentives include a $12,000 hiring bonus for officers and $14,000 for detectives. Officers relocating from outside the Tri-County area receive $7,000 to defray costs. The starting pay for officers is $45,100, and depending on the experience of an officer, the starting pay could be as high as $76,396.

These incentives are much higher than those paid in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. In Miami-Dade the average starting salary for s police officer is $39,432, and in Broward, $43,036, and there is no signing bonus. In Miramar, the neighboring city to Miami Gardens, the starting pay of $44,510 is marginally less than in Miami Gardens.

The new police chief in Miami Gardens, Major Alfred Lewers, formerly of the Fort Lauderdale Police, said at his swearing in earlier this week that the City is looking for experienced, veteran officers, and is willing to pay for them.

Miami Gardens’ attractive salary and incentives are luring applicants from officers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Barbara Jordan, speaking at the swearing-in ceremony said now Miami-Dade police will have to develop a package that is better than Miami Gardens to be competitive. Hollywood’s police captain, Captain Roni Mangan, said that the Miami Gardens package is tremendous and everyone is talking about it.

“Strong mayor? What the dickens is a strong, mayor?” Nellie Foster, a Caribbean-American South Miami resident responded when CNWeekly News asked her if she was going to vote in the strong-mayor referendum held in Miami-Dade County on January 23. She was not alone in her confusion, as despite the long campaign spearheaded by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez for that county to change its mayoral status to that of a strong mayor, the majority of voters neither cared nor understand what difference a strong-mayor made to the county’s administration.

On Wednesday following the victory in the referendum Alvarez addressed media reporters at the Miami-Dade County Hall accompanied by the commission chairman, vice chairman and County Manager George Burgess.

Although one of the most repeated clichés is “Only death and taxes are certain” it is still surprising that so many people in America are uncertain about filing their annual taxes. Because of this uncertainty the IRS has reported that there are millions of dollars that could be refunded to taxpayers annually that are not being refunded, because hundreds of tax payers file their taxes incorrectly or fail to file their taxes at all.

South Florida businesses can expect to see a record amount of spending by the National Football League (NFL), businesses, visitors, and the media on area lodging, transportation, food and beverage, entertainment, business services, and other hospitality activities according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

PwC estimates that Super Bowl XLI will generate approximately $195 million in direct spending for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. This excludes the so-called "multiplier effect," which past studies have suggested can up to double the direct dollars by accounting for "indirect" impacts, such as a concession company's purchase of goods from local producers and manufacturers, and "induced" impacts which occur when the income levels of residents rise as a result of increased economic activity and a portion of the increased income is re-spent within the local economy.

At a time when the nation is preparing to celebrate Black History Month, and having just celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is imperative that we recognize that we are experiencing challenging times. This is what human rights advocate and political leader Martin Luther King III brought to the fore when he addressed guests at the City of Lauderhill Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 7^th Annual Celebration, at the Diamante Banquet Center in Lauderhill on Saturday.

King, who has a had a whirlwind of activities surrounding MLK Day, has been traveling in and out of the country on speaking and other engagements.

Although the event was to be one of celebration, the son of the assassinated Black activist and scholar, said there was not much to celebrate at this point. King addressed poverty, education, the war in Iraq, what he called the “criminal system” among other issues affecting the nation.