#Broward County homes

[qualcarenursing]

How to Support a Senior’s Mental Health at Home: Strategies for Caregivers

Caring for an elderly loved one goes beyond attending to their physical health—it’s equally important to prioritize their mental well-being. home care agencies in broward county can experience isolation, depression, and anxiety, which can significantly affect their overall quality of life. As a caregiver, here are some strategies to support a senior’s mental health at home, ensuring they feel emotionally supported and engaged.

1. Foster Social Connections

Social isolation is one of the leading causes of mental health decline in seniors. Encourage regular interaction with friends, family, and the community. Home health aide agencies and senior helpers Broward County can assist in maintaining these relationships by providing companionship and emotional support during daily activities. Connecting seniors with social groups, either in-person or virtually, can combat loneliness and create a sense of belonging.

[striverealtyllc]

Best Neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County for Families

Discover the top rated schools safe streets and community facilities this family friendly community in Miami Dade County has to offer. Explore Neighbors such as Coral Gables Pinecrest & Key Biscayne recognized for its family friendly amenities and atmosphere.

[cardioflextherapy]

Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA) needed at CardioFlex

CardioFlex Therapy is currently in need of an Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA) for our Outpatient PT & OT Clinic located in Davie, FL. This is a permanent part-time position, leading to a possible full-time position in the future. The Occupational Therapist Assistant will be in charge of OT treatments,

manage techs, and produce clinical documentation. CardioFlex Therapy is open Monday to Friday, from 8 am – 7 pm, and specializes in Orthopedics, Sports Injury, Vertigo, Neurological Conditions, and other specialized programs.

Requirements for this position include a Degree from an Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA) program, a current License as an Occupational Therapist Assistant, and a minimum of 1 year of Occupational Therapy experience. The Occupational Therapist Assistant will treat all injuries and conditions of the Hand, Wrist, Elbow, and Finger. 

We provide excellent support for our Therapists and make sure that they design personalized and individualized Therapy sessions. If interested, please email your resume to: info@cardioflextherapy.com

For more info visit: www.cardioflextherapy.com

About the Author Terry Abrams is the President & Director of Physical Therapy for CardioFlex Therapy, a start-up company founded in 2005 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Delivering both Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy, CardioFlex Therapy’s Outpatient Clinic is centrally located in Davie, FL serving the towns of Cooper City, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Southwest Ranches, Hollywood, Miramar, Sunrise, & Fort Lauderdale. For Home Physical Therapy, CardioFlex sends its therapists to homes located in Broward, Dade, & Palm Beach counties.

[blackgirlslivingwell]

Sean Kingston's Florida mansion in Southwest Ranches was raided by the Broward Sheriff's Office on Thursday morning. During the raid, his mother, Janice Turner, was arrested and faces charges of fraud and theft. Kingston was not present at the time of the raid.

[honsantiagoestatefl]

Jon Santiago Real Estate - The Keyes Company

Phone: (954) 604-9566

Address: 1999 N University Dr # 100, Coral Springs, FL 33071

Website: https://jonsantiago.keyes.com

Real estate agent in Florida's southeastern coast, specializing in helping individuals and families navigate the complexities of buying and selling homes. With a deep understanding of the local market, Jon Santiago offers service across South Florida and the Treasure Coast, including Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Tamarac, Parkland, Miami, and Broward. As an experienced and knowledgeable agent, Jon is dedicated to guiding you through every stage of the real estate process.Jon provides expert advice, effective negotiation skills, and a commitment to securing the best possible deals. Choose Jon Santiago for a smooth, stress-free real estate experience

[realestateedcook]

Plaza At Oceanside

Experience the pinnacle of coastal living at Plaza at Oceanside. Our exclusive listings showcase the luxury and sophistication of this premier condominium, offering residents unparalleled amenities and panoramic views of the ocean!

[juanmillerr]

Landmark Custom Homes - Custom and Luxury Homes for Sale in Broward County FL

Landmark Custom Homes has long been recognized as a premier custom home builder in Broward County FL. Wish to view our Portfolio, Model Homes, Gallery, and Contact Details. Visit our site now. https://www.landmarkcustomhomes.com/pages/lch-homes

[mariacallous]

Her trans daughter made the volleyball team. Then an armed officer showed up.

Jessica Norton eased her minivan out of the driveway, and she told herself she’d done what any mother would. Her daughter Elizabeth had wanted to play high school volleyball, and Norton had let her. Norton had written female on the permission slips. She’d run practice drills in the yard, and she’d driven this minivan to matches all across their suburban Florida county.

A bumper sticker on the back said “mom.” A rainbow pin tacked inside read “safe with me.” Norton and Elizabeth had spent hours laughing and singing in this extended cab chariot. But this time, Norton had decided to leave her daughter at home.

“Good luck!” the teenager called. “Don’t get fired!”

Until recently, Norton had worked at the high school Elizabeth attended. But last fall, an armed officer with the Broward County Public Schools Police had told Norton she was under investigation for allowing Elizabeth to play girls sports. District leaders banned Norton from the building. They discussed the investigation on the local news, and soon, everyone in Coconut Creek seemed to know Elizabeth is transgender. (Norton asked The Washington Post to use the child’s middle name to protect her privacy.)

In the nine months since, school officials had talked about Elizabeth as if she were dangerous, but Norton knew they couldn’t possibly be picturing the 16-year-old who stood at the edge of the driveway in Taylor Swift Crocs. This girl loved Squishmallows and Disney World. She had long red hair, and she was so skinny, the principal described her to investigators as “frail.”

Elizabeth didn’t have an advantage, Norton thought. She was a normal teenage girl, and yet her very existence had thrust them into one of the nation’s most contentious debates.

Over the last few years, half the country, including Florida, had banned trans girls from playing on girls teams. Proponents of the laws argued that they were fighting for fairness, and the debate had spilled into the stands with an anger that worried Norton. Critics called trans competitors “cheats.” Crowds booed teenage athletes. And some spectators had begun eyeing cisgender competitors for signs of masculinity.

For all that fury, though, no one had been punished yet under one of the bans. Soon, Norton feared, she might become the first. The Broward County School Board planned to take up her case that afternoon, and the agenda included only one proposed outcome: termination.

Norton drove toward her fate and felt nauseous. This life had not been the one she envisioned, but she’d done all she could to ensure it was a good one for her daughter. And she’d succeeded. Before the investigation, Elizabeth had been happy. She’d been a homecoming princess and class president two years in a row. She had friends, near-perfect grades and blue eyes that lit up when she talked about the future.

Now, Elizabeth stayed home and read hateful comments on the internet. She didn’t play sports. She hadn’t been back to Monarch High School.

Norton wanted the light in her daughter’s eyes back. She wanted Elizabeth to have prom and graduation, senior pictures, all the little hallmarks of a teenage life. But first, Norton told herself, she had to fight for her job. She had to return to the school district that shunned her, then somehow she had to convince Elizabeth it was safe for her to go back, too.

Norton was born in Florida in the mid-1970s. She grew up hearing about gay people and drag queens, but the first time she learned about trans children, she was skeptical.

It was 2007. Norton was pregnant with Elizabeth, and she’d turned on the television. Barbara Walters was interviewing a 6-year-old girl she described as “one of the youngest known cases of an early transition from male to female.”

The girl, Jazz Jennings, was cute, Norton thought, but the dispatch unsettled her. How could someone that young know anything about their gender? How could a parent let their kid change their name and appearance?

When Norton gave birth that October, her husband, Gary, picked out a boy’s name, and she bought blue onesies. But almost as soon as Elizabeth could talk, she told her parents she was a girl.

At first, Norton thought their child was confused or maybe gay. Elizabeth begged to wear pink, and she threw tantrums when Norton called her a boy. They fought over backpacks and lunch boxes, school uniforms, haircuts. Norton tried to explain the difference between boys’ and girls’ bodies, but Elizabeth never relented.

“I’m a girl,” she said.

One day in 2013, while Elizabeth was at kindergarten, Norton turned on the TV, and she saw Jazz again. The little girl had a lot in common with Elizabeth. They both loved mermaids. They liked sports, and they seemed to know exactly who they were. Ever since Jazz could talk, her mother said, she had been “consistent, persistent and insistent” that she was a girl.

Oh my god, Norton thought. My kid isn’t gay. My kid is transgender.

Norton collapsed into her couch and sobbed. She didn’t know how to raise a trans child. What if she let Elizabeth transition, then Elizabeth decided she wasn’t a girl? What if someone hurt her?

Norton kept trying to raise Elizabeth as a boy, but eventually, she grew tired of fighting. One afternoon, when Elizabeth was 5 or 6, she asked to wear one of her sister’s outfits to a concert and Norton said yes.

Elizabeth picked a teal ruffle shirt dress with a leopard print. She pulled on a pair of leggings, and when they got to the show, she skipped down the street. Norton had never seen her look that happy.

Though those early years felt hard, South Florida turned out to be an easy place to raise a trans child. The Nortons live in Broward County, a left-leaning community that includes Fort Lauderdale, and its school district was among the first in the United States to adopt a nondiscrimination policy for gender identity. In 2014, when Elizabeth was in first grade, the district released an LGBTQ critical support guide, a wide-ranging document that affirmed trans students’ right to play on sports teams that aligned with their identity.

The superintendent hosted “LGBTQ roundtables” to help parents whose kids were gay or trans. Norton recalled that at one meeting in 2016, she asked if it was possible to change Elizabeth’s name and gender marker on her school records, and he told her yes. (The superintendent later told investigators and The Post he does not remember this conversation, but other people who attended submitted affidavits affirming Norton’s recollection.)

Norton was so excited, she went to Elizabeth’s school that day and asked the assistant principal to make the change.

Norton has always been an involved parent. She volunteered a few times a week at the schools Elizabeth and her two older children attended, and the experience was so positive, she decided she wanted to work in education, too. In the spring of 2017, Monarch High School posted a $15-an-hour job for a library media clerk, and Norton applied even though the job paid $13,000 a year less than she earned as a cake decorator at Publix.

A few months after Norton started, she learned the school board was considering a resolution to create an LGBT history month. Elizabeth said she wanted to testify, so they spent a weekend writing a speech together.

Norton was nervous as they headed inside, but Elizabeth rocked on her heels, excited. She wore her favorite teal dress and a purple headband, and she smiled with all her teeth showing as she and her parents approached the podium.

“I openly transitioned two years ago,” Elizabeth said. “It was the best time of my life. I got to be who I was born to be.”

Elizabeth was 10 then. She’d always had a beautiful face, and people never seemed to look at her and see anything other than girl, but as the school year wore on, she told Norton she worried what would happen once she started puberty.

Norton found a pediatric endocrinologist, and the doctor prescribed a monthly testosterone-blocking shot. As long as Elizabeth took the injection, her voice wouldn’t deepen, she wouldn’t grow facial hair and her body wouldn’t become more muscular the way a boy’s would.

After Elizabeth finished elementary school, she told Norton she didn’t want people to know she was trans. Her new middle school pulled from three elementaries, and most of the kids there had no idea she had ever used another name. She told Norton she wanted to be “a basic White girl,” the kind who wore leggings and drank pumpkin spice lattes, and Norton understood. Most middle-schoolers want to blend in.

The coronavirus shut down schools the next spring, and Elizabeth spent the rest of sixth grade and part of seventh learning online. But Florida was among the first states to reopen, and when Lyons Creek officials announced students could return, they also welcomed kids to try out for sports teams.

Elizabeth was ecstatic. She went everywhere that fall with a volleyball in her hand. She tossed it in the house, and she used the garage door as a rebounder to practice her jump serve. But when she tried out for the team, she didn’t make it past the first cut.

She came home disappointed and told Norton she wanted to get better. Norton didn’t know how to play, but she offered to help. They spent most of the next year in the street outside their house, running “pepper” drills where two people pass, set and hit the ball back and forth.

Norton’s wrists stung by the end of their sessions, but Elizabeth always seemed more energized. Next year, Elizabeth vowed, she would make the team.

As Elizabeth headed into the yard each night, volleyball in hand, she believed the only thing that could keep her off a team was her own ability.

For much of her life, all the big sports associations allowed trans athletes to compete, and most states did, too. Some required athletes to show proof they were taking hormones or blockers, but a dozen states, including Florida, had no restrictions at all. As long as a student could show their gender identity was consistent, they could play.

Trans people represent less than 1 percent of the country’s population, and for decades, state lawmakers rarely mentioned them. But as gay people won protections and the right to marry, LGTBQ+ rights groups and right-wing leaders began looking for new issues to galvanize supporters. Both turned their attention to trans rights.

The community was slowly becoming more visible. Trans people ran for office and appeared on TV, and 17 million people watched as Caitlyn Jenner came out on “20/20.” Trans athletes almost never dominated. But between 2017 and 2019, two trans girls beat cisgender competitors at state track meets in Connecticut, and leading conservative Christian groups warned that other girls would lose athletic opportunities if trans girls continued to compete.

Over the next few years, Florida and two dozen other states passed nearly identical bans on trans girls in sports. Many Republican lawmakers spoke about trans athletes as if they were all the same — tall and muscular, physically dominant, grown men cross-dressing for the sake of a secondary school athletic win. The bill sponsors didn’t mention trans girls who never went through puberty. They hardly ever talked about children like Elizabeth who tried and failed to make a seventh grade team. By 2023, multiple polls, including one by The Post and KFF, found that two-thirds of Americans agreed that trans girls should not be allowed to play girls sports.

Trans athletes remain very rare. A 2021 Associated Press analysis of 20 proposed state bans found that legislators in most couldn’t point to a single trans athlete in their own region. And in Florida, state records show that just two trans girls have played girls sports over the last decade — a bowler who graduated in 2019 and Elizabeth.

Norton doesn’t follow the news, but a friend told her about Florida’s ban the summer before Elizabeth started eighth grade, so Norton went online to read the details. The statute doesn’t list any penalties for young athletes. Instead, it allows competitors who feel they’ve been harmed by a trans athlete to sue that student’s school.

Norton thought Elizabeth might be okay. She had started estrogen by then, and few people knew she was trans. Plus, Coconut Creek still seemed like a safe place. Two weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the bill, in June 2021, the Broward County School Board unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the ban.

Still, Norton wanted assurance. That summer, with backing from the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Norton filed a pseudonymous lawsuit challenging the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. She didn’t mention any schools. She didn’t use her last name, and she didn’t list Elizabeth’s name.

Norton assumed she’d prevail. A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump in Idaho had already ruled that that state’s ban was likely unconstitutional and did nothing to ensure the fairness of girls sports.

Norton and Elizabeth never talked about the lawsuit. Instead, they watched the Tokyo Summer Olympics, and Elizabeth fell even more in love with volleyball. As they streamed the Games, Norton researched, and she learned that the International Olympic Committee allowed trans girls and women to compete as long as their testosterone levels were low and they’d identified as female for four years. Elizabeth met all those qualifications. Because she started puberty blockers before her body began making testosterone, her hormone levels looked like any other girl’s.

Though research on the subject remains limited,multiple studies have found that testosterone is the only driver of athletic differences between the sexes. The hormone can give a person a larger physical stature, denser bones and a greater capacity to build muscle. Without it, a trans girl like Elizabeth likely has no physical advantage, researchers have found.

Florida’s new law didn’t make sense to Norton. Elizabeth could compete at the Olympics, but state lawmakers didn’t want her on a middle school team.

Norton had Elizabeth’s birth certificate amended that year, and by the time Elizabeth started eighth grade, she was legally female. When she asked to try out for volleyball again, Norton filled out the paperwork. Next to “sex,” Norton wrote “F.”

When Elizabeth made the cut, she rushed out to tell Norton. She was shocked. She’d been afraid to really hit the ball, she said. She’d tapped it, and the coach had urged her to play harder.

They celebrated at a sports grill, and Elizabeth was too excited to eat. She’d wanted to be on a team with other girls, and now she was.

Elizabeth started high school the next year. She was good enough to make the varsity volleyball team, but she rarely left the bench, and Monarch lost more matches than it won that season. Still, she loved playing. The coach later told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Elizabeth “brought an energy” to the team. Other players described her as the team “favorite.”

By then, Norton had become the school’s information management specialist, and she took on a slew of extra jobs to help kids with their student service hours and senior class activities. Norton was so busy, she largely forgot about the lawsuit she’d filed. Her lawyer called her every few months to give her an update, but she didn’t understand much of what he said.

Elizabeth won a starting spot as the volleyball team’s middle blocker her sophomore year. She was 5-foot-8, one of the team’s tallest players, so the coach put her near the net to play defense. She scored a few points over the course of the season, but she wasn’t a hitter. Players need a lot of power to spike a ball the other team can’t return. Elizabeth was 112 pounds and not especially muscular.

Monarch made it to the district semifinals, but its season ended that October with a 3-0 loss to Stoneman Douglas. MaxPreps ranked Monarch 218th out of the state’s 300 girls’ volleyball teams.

Three weeks later, a Trump-appointed district judge dismissed Norton’s lawsuit. The law was not discriminatory, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman found, because it didn’t apply to all transgender students. Trans boys could still play boys sports, he noted.

When the lawyer called to tell Norton the news, she felt the briefest flash of panic. Oh no, she thought. What if they come after me?

Later that month, at the tail end of Thanksgiving break, a work friend asked Norton if she’d seen the email an assistant principal had sent. Norton tried to look, but her school email had stopped working.

There’s a mandatory meeting tomorrow morning, the friend said. It sounds serious.

Norton felt uneasy as she drove Elizabeth to school the next day. She’d heard rumors that some of the boys on the football team lived outside of the district, and she worried she’d be held accountable because her job included overseeing student records.

At the all-staff meeting, an administrator explained that the district had reassigned the school’s principal pending an investigation. Norton felt confused. Everyone liked the principal. He seemed like a stand-up guy, not at all the kind of person who would break district policies.

After the meeting, Norton’s manager told her the school district’s police chief needed to talk to her. Norton met the chief and a school district representative in the principal’s office, and she felt intimidated. The officer was armed. He sat next to Norton, then handed her a written notice and told her she was under investigation.

The notice was inscrutable, just a run of numbers and legalese. Norton told the chief she didn’t understand, and he said she had caused Monarch to break the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

Elizabeth, Norton thought. They’re going to ruin my child’s life.

The chief told Norton she was banned from the high school and would have to turn in her keys and laptop, but he assured her the investigation was confidential. No one would know Elizabeth was the reason Norton was in trouble unless Norton told them herself.

Norton spent the next two hours panicking. She called her lawyer, but she was too inconsolable to make out whole sentences. What if she lost her job? What if someone went after Elizabeth?

Just before 11 a.m., Elizabeth texted. She’d looked on the location-tracking app Life360 and seen Norton was at home. Their pet boxer Walter had been sick all weekend, and Elizabeth worried the dog had taken a turn for the worse.

“You’re scaring me,” Elizabeth wrote. “Is Walter OK?”

Norton paced the living room. It took her 20 minutes to work up the nerve, but finally, she called Elizabeth and told her Walter was fine.

Elizabeth asked if Norton had done something wrong, and when Norton said no, Elizabeth asked what happened.

“I don’t want to tell you,” Norton said.

“It has to do with me, doesn’t it?” Elizabeth asked.

She started sobbing before Norton could answer. She asked Norton to pick her up, but Norton told her she wasn’t allowed. A few minutes after they got off the phone, a school employee called. Elizabeth had gone missing.

“Where is she?” the woman asked. “It’s all over the news. Everyone knows.”

Norton checked Life360, and she could see that Elizabeth had left Monarch. Norton asked her husband, Gary, to pick their daughter up, and when they arrived home, Elizabeth ate a pint of ice cream and Gary turned on the news.

A local station called it a “campus controversy.” Reporters said that Norton, the principal and three others had been reassigned because they allowed a transgender student to play volleyball.

News crews showed pictures of Norton and footage of Elizabeth’s team. The reporters didn’t say Elizabeth’s name,but the district released Norton’s, and everyone at school knew Norton had a daughter on the volleyball team.

The phone rang. Norton didn’t recognize the number, so she rejected it, and a man left a snickering voice message.

“So you got a son who likes to sneak into women’s bathrooms?” he asked.

Neither Norton nor Elizabeth left the house the next day. They hid while reporters knocked on the front door, and they watched TV. The local news reported that hundreds of Monarch students had walked out to protest the district’s decision.

Elizabeth was allowed to go back any time, but she told Norton she was scared. What if everyone looked at her, searching for signs of boy where they once saw girl? And what if someone tried to beat her up?

Elizabeth had never been quick to talk about her feelings, but in the weeks that followed, Norton could sense something had changed. Elizabeth spent hours in bed. She told Norton she didn’t care about any of it but pored over online comments about what had happened. That December, Norton’s older daughter came home for the holidays, and she told Norton she could hear Elizabeth through their shared wall. Elizabeth wasn’t sleeping. She was awake, sobbing.

The investigation began that winter. District officials sent Norton to do janitorial work and manual labor at a warehouse, then they interviewed people about Elizabeth. In late January, two officers questioned Norton. They pressed her about the day in 2016 she asked Elizabeth’s elementary school to change her gender marker.

Norton told them every detail she could remember, but she didn’t understand why they were asking. She hadn’t even worked for the school district then. She was just a parent, and as far as she understood, she hadn’t done anything illegal.

A few weeks later, an officer brought Norton a redacted copy of the investigation, then told her a professional standards committee would recommend a punishment within a few months.

Norton read the document at her dining room table, and she felt angry as she made her way through. The then-superintendent had told reporters that an anonymous constituent had called the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and told him a trans girl was playing on the volleyball team. But the informant wasn’t just a constituent, Norton learned. He was a Broward County School Board member. (The former superintendent could not be reached for comment.)

The board had changed considerably in the five years since Elizabeth had testified and thanked its members for keeping her safe. DeSantis had removed several elected board members and replaced them with his own delegates.

The investigation showed that one of DeSantis’s appointees asked the district to investigate Norton. The volleyball season was over by the time Daniel Foganholi reported Elizabeth, but Foganholi told investigators he had received an anonymous phone call “advising that a male student was playing female sports at Monarch High School.” (Foganholi did not respond to requests for comment.)

The investigators’ report was more than 500 pages long, and it took Norton a few days to finish reading. Nearly every page angered her. The officers had spent considerable time trying to find out what Elizabeth looked like. They asked a district administrator to comb Elizabeth’s files and tell them how much she weighed every year between 2013 and 2017. They pushed multiple adults to describe her physically, and they asked three girls on the volleyball team if they’d ever seen Elizabeth undressed. No, the girls said. No one ever used the locker room.

The investigation included transcripts of every interview the officers conducted, and as Norton read, she saw that the officers had repeatedly called Elizabeth “he” in those discussions. On two occasions, the transcripts showed, one detective called Elizabeth “it.” (The investigation is a public document, and The Post reviewed this document and 200 other pages related to the investigation.)

A week before they interviewed Norton, the file showed, they talked to Elizabeth’s middle school guidance counselor, and they asked her to tell them about Elizabeth’s transition. The counselor said she was worried she’d break the law if she did, but an officer told her she wouldn’t.

“No,” the officer said. “I am the law.”

As Norton neared the end of the document, she realized at least some district leaders had known Elizabeth was transgender long before Thanksgiving break. The investigation showed that in 2021, three weeks after Norton filed the lawsuit, the district’s lawyer asked for Elizabeth’s records.

What changed, Norton wondered? Why was the district investigating her now?

Winter turned to spring, and Elizabeth did not return to Monarch. She’d only go back, she said, if Norton went, too.

Norton enrolled Elizabeth in virtual school, but she rarely did more than an hour of classwork. Mostly, she played “Fortnite.” In the game, no one knew what was going on at her school. She was just a girl, spinning across the screen in pink hair and a Nike jumpsuit.

By spring, she was failing geometry. Norton spent most of her time at the book warehouse where she’d been reassigned, but one day in early April, she called in sick so she could spend time with Elizabeth.

Norton waited most of the morning, but Elizabeth didn’t emerge from her room. Finally, at noon, Norton knocked, then pushed Elizabeth’s door open. She was asleep, tucked into a pair of purple floral sheets she’d bought at Target after seeing the same set in a Taylor Swift video.

“Wake up,” Norton said. “We’re going to lunch.”

They drove to a Cheesecake Factory a few minutes from their house. Elizabeth barely talked. After they finished, Norton asked if she wanted to go to Sephora to buy the pistachio-scented Brazilian Crush perfume they both wore.

“Just in and out, okay?” Elizabeth said. “School is getting out soon.”

They made it maybe 20 feet before two teenagers waved. Elizabeth swung right, then disappeared, but Norton didn’t have on her glasses, so she didn’t notice the girls until they were right in front of her.

“Mrs. Norton!” one said. “We miss you!”

Norton scanned the street, but she didn’t see Elizabeth. She wished the girls luck in school, then she found Elizabeth hiding in a row of eyebrow pencils. The perfume was too expensive, Elizabeth said. She left without buying anything.

On the way home, they drove past Monarch, and Norton teared up. She suddenly understood all that Elizabeth might lose. Every year, the seniors paint their parking spots. Elizabeth had already made plans to decorate hers with lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” but now, Norton thought, she might never paint one. She probably wouldn’t go to prom. She wouldn’t take senior pictures. She wouldn’t give the graduation speech she’d already started writing.

When they got home late that evening, a certified letter was waiting. Ultimately, the school board would decide Norton’s fate, but the letter said the committee had reviewed the investigative report, and they’d found sufficient evidence to show Norton had broken Florida law.

“The disciplinary recommendation,” it said, “is a termination.”

Norton’s high school salary had always covered their necessities and little else. She worried she’d soon lose even that, so as the investigation dragged on, she took a side job selling merchandise at concerts across South Florida. The Friday night before her scheduled board hearing, she was working a Carlos Santana show when a friend texted to say the board had removed Norton’s name from the Tuesday agenda.

Norton’s stomach sank. She was tired of being silent. She decided she would go to the meeting. She would sign up for public testimony, and she’d tell the school board what had happened to her daughter.

As Norton and her husband sat in the audience that Tuesday, she could feel her heart rate climb. She looked down at her Apple Watch: 110, 120.She worried she might have a heart attack before she reached the podium.

The board reappointed dozens of employees, memorialized three young students, then finally, two hours into the meeting, they called Norton’s name.

She and her husband walked to the microphone, and Norton smoothed her floral dress.

“We are here to speak for our family and tell you how careless actions by the district’s leadership have affected our daughter and our family,” she said.

She had waited 203 days for an answer, she told them. She had done manual labor. She had answered every question, and she had sat through an interview where a detective refused to use her daughter’s legal name or gender.

Norton teared up as she spoke. Her daughter was an innocent 16-year-old girl, she said. Yes, she had played volleyball, but she had done so much more at Monarch. Her peers had chosen her for the homecoming court and student government. She had been flourishing, Norton said, but the district’s investigation had ruined that.

“It’s okay if I’m the villain in their story,” she said, “because I’m the hero in my daughter’s story.”

Things started to change after Norton’s speech. The district set a new hearing for late July, and a number of school board members told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel they didn’t want to fire Norton.

On her way to the final meeting, Norton fiddled anxiously with the minivan’s stereo. As part of an earlier board discussion, one member had asked for other employee discipline data. A reporter had posted the findings that morning while Jessica did her makeup. Adults who’d abused children had served one- and five-day suspensions. A teacher who’d slapped a child received a letter of reprimand.

“They’re recommending a harsher punishment for me than for people who abused kids,” Norton told her husband as she drove.

A dozen people registered to speak. Former students told the board Norton was the reason they made it to college. Most people asked the board not to fire her, but as Norton watched, she couldn’t tell what the district officials might do.

Some said the investigation was flawed. They described Norton as a scapegoat and said Elizabeth had suffered enough. But the chair, a former stay-at-home mom who joined the board after her daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting, said she believed any employee who breaks the law should be punished.

Like the investigation itself, much of the board’s discussion centered on the day Norton asked Elizabeth’s elementary school to change her records. Though Norton hadn’t worked at the district then, Brenda Fam, a board member who had criticized trans people online and in previous meetings, said she thought Norton “inappropriately requested and pressured” school employees.

“I think what happened is criminal,” Fam said. “Norton’s efforts to change her child’s gender have stemmed back to the second grade.”

Fam repeatedly referred to Elizabeth as Norton’s “son.” After the third or fourth time, Norton started to think maybe she didn’t want to go back to Monarch. How could she work for a school board that intentionally misgendered her child?

Norton walked out of the auditorium. Outside, she loaded a stream ofthe meeting on her phone and waited for a decision. The board members were split on what they wanted, but half an hour later, a narrow majority agreed to suspend Norton for 10 days, then move her to a different job where she no longer has access to records.

A scrum of reporters circled Norton and her husband. Norton was proud she hadn’t backed down, but she told them she wasn’t sure what to do now. She had fought for 11 years to keep Elizabeth safe in school. She would do whatever she had to do next to keep her safe still.

“Am I remorseful for protecting my child?” she asked. “Absolutely not.”

The school district told Norton in late August she wouldn’t go back to Monarch. Instead, she’d do clerical work at a nonschool site. Norton didn’t want to leave Elizabeth, but she needed money, so she accepted the job.

The family spent one of Norton’s last free days at the beach, then that evening, Elizabeth said she wanted to watch her old team play. It was an away game, the second match of the year, so they climbed into Norton’s minivan and drove to Coral Springs.

All the girls hugged Norton and Elizabeth when they arrived, and most of the parents did, too. But once the game started, Elizabeth went quiet. She watched, and Norton knew she wanted to be out there with them. They left after the first set.

Norton wanted to cheer up Elizabeth, so she drove her to the mall after the game. Elizabeth didn’t talk the entire time. They ate Chipotle and wandered around, and eventually Norton found Elizabeth in the kids’ section at Marshalls, running volleyball drills with a toy.

Elizabeth passed out on the couch the second they got home, and Norton knew they couldn’t keep living like this.

In all the months they’d been waiting for an end to the investigation, Norton had never considered moving. She loved Coconut Creek. Both she and her husband had lived there their entire lives, and she’d always imagined they’d grow old on their corner lot.

Maybe it was time to let those dreams go, Norton thought. Maybe they were better off moving to a town where no one knew them. Elizabeth might never want to play team sports again, Norton imagined, but maybe, if they found a new school, she could still have a senior year, one last chance at a normal girlhood and the good life Norton had worked so hard to give her.

[callmearcturus]

@vmprsm replied to your post “Raw MKV rip of Mission Impossible: Fallout:...”:

Theoretically, if one wanted their own copies of the MI movies safely on a hard drive....where would one go?

​I mean, there is a site where you can acquire a lot of movies via torrent. I tend to use (rot13) 1337k.gb and I got a heavily discounted Windscribe VPN subscription that I use on almost all of my devices.

But my thing is that... I want commentary reels and special features, and sometimes you'll download a movie but the fucking subtitles are either bad or they become desynced over time and I haaaaate it.

So I've been gathering bits and pieces over the past year to get a Plex system going in my house and it works like a fucking DREAM. But it requires some investment. If you just want to have a few local copies of your favorite movies, this is way overkill. But me, I am canceling all of my family's streaming services and pivoting to our Plex.

So what I have for actually getting the files:

I don't have this model but it's similar to this, a Pioneer External Blu-ray Reader. It sits on a little shelf and is connected to my PC by a USB cable. (I think I got mine for around 68 bucks so you can wait for a sale.)

I use MakeMKV which will rip the big honking raw files from a Blu-ray and leave them as matroshka (.mkv) files.

Because these raw files are ENORMOUS, I compress them in Handbrake. Handbrake is wildly powerful, can convert file formats and make them super small. I have my Handbrake set up special to dump all the non-English language subtitles and audio tracks to save space.

(SUPER BONUS TIP FOR HANDBRAKE: If you have a dedicated GPU, you can give Handbrake permission to use it, and it'll compress shit literally 10x faster, love it.)

At the moment, I am using a Western Digital portable 5TB external harddrive because it was one sale and I couldn't beat the price. Eventually, I want to upgrade to two 10TB HDDs so I can keep a full backup of everything I'm ripping. Because this is a bit of a time and energy commitment and I don't wanna lose all my progress here!

At first I was running Plex off my desktop PC and that worked totally fine, but my family hates having to touch my desktop to wake it up every time, so I very recently grabbed one of these guys:

This is a Beelink Mini PC S12 Pro. It is small enough to fit in my hand but it is a speedy little demon that runs Windows 11. (And eventually I am gonna use it to firewall out ads from our entire home network, I'm pumped for that project but ANYWAY.)

The upside of these mini boys is that instead of being a hefty workhorse like my main computer, this is small and has a low-power draw.

So I moved my Plex Media Server to the mini PC, plugged in my 5TB drive of movies, and now everyone in the house can easily stream anything I have added to the library.

This is what it looks like, if you're curious. Any device in the house that runs Plex and is signed in can select any movie or TV show I have and just watch it like it was Netflix or something.

A month ago, I has like.... 65 movies? Now I'm ripping a few and we're gonna break 100 soon.

"But Arc, where do you get so many blurays!"

My local library.

When I lived in Broward County, FL, I had an extravagantly wonderful library system. Tax dollars at fucking WORK, y'all. Now I live in Georgia and the library system is not nearly as good, but I have still gotten my hands on a frankly ridiculous amount of blurays. Every week I'm picking up 3 to 10 movies or shows, taking them home, making good copies, and returning them.

All of this is an investment and it is work. But as someone who built my computer, built my keyboard, cracked my 3DS and PS Vita-- this is fun to me! This is what I love to do. And through doing it, I've seen more movies in the past year than the last ten years put together.

So yeah, I can't recommend this to everyone, but if you wanna get out of your subscriptions and to just have high quality shit on demand, this is what I'm doing.

Cannot stress this enough tho, if this seems interesting to you: wait for sales. All the components here go on steep sale if you wait patiently. Take your time assembling the parts and keep in mind that shit is modular, you can upgrade parts later.

[ausetkmt]

Lynching victim Rubin Stacy’s story being told by his family in film screening at NSU

Anne Naves knew something bad had happened to her uncle when her male relatives came home from fishing, each wearing a pall of silence. Dad wasn’t cracking jokes like usual. Grandfather looked grave. And her uncle, Rubin Stacy, hadn’t come back. The next day, someone from the funeral home said a body had been dropped off.

Naves, 8 years old at the time, only discovered the full gruesome truth about her uncle years later. On July 19, 1935, acting on an unproven accusation from a white woman, a masked lynch mob strung up Stacy under a Fort Lauderdale tree, hanged him and shot him 17 times as spectators gawked and children laughed.

The brutality and silence of Stacy’s lynching is revisited in the new documentary, “Rubin,” which will screen on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at Nova Southeastern University. In the hourlong film, the farmhand’s death is recounted through the eyes of his surviving descendants, but mainly through Naves, who was the last living eyewitness to the trauma — and to the secrecy — that followed.

The film, the first to be made by relatives of Stacy’s family, also chronicles the history of lynchings in America, used as a tool of punishment and to foster silence.

“I think (my family) knew that, without telling us (kids) what really happened, they would save us a lot of trauma,” Naves says in the documentary. “The neighbors and our church members respected our silence, too, because they knew that if it could happen to our family, it could happen to theirs.”

For “Rubin” director Tenille Brown, who is a cousin of Rubin Stacy, the film has in recent weeks also morphed into something else: a posthumous tribute to Naves. After filming her interviews for the documentary, she died on Sept. 18 at age 96, leaving behind a strong legacy: She was a Broward County educator for 25 years, teaching at Pines Middle and other schools.

“The biggest piece of the film was Anne,” Brown says in an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Without her, there’s no story. She’s the driving force. She was ready to talk. She told me to record her. She really pushed me when I didn’t feel confident and said, ‘Record me anyway. Just go.’ ”

The rest of America witnessed the cruelty of Stacy’s lynching long before Naves did. A series of photos immortalize the moment when a white crowd gathered around Stacy’s body hanging from a tree. These images ran in newspapers nationwide, were published by the NAACP, Life magazine and National Geographic, and are now archived in the Library of Congress.

It was a tale of Jim Crow-era racism that Fort Lauderdale would’ve rather forgotten — the brother of a corrupt Broward County sheriff participated in the lynching — but city officials have made strides in recent years to acknowledge the tragedy by placing memorial markers around Fort Lauderdale. One is on Davie Boulevard and Southwest 31st Avenue, also known as Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, near where Stacy took his last breath. There’s another on the 800 block of Northwest Second Street, where he lived, and a third at Woodlawn Cemetery, his final resting place. In February 2022, a section of Davie Boulevard was renamed Rubin Stacy Memorial Boulevard.

“I’m glad they acknowledged it,” says Brown, of Pompano Beach. “These stories make some people in the state uncomfortable, but if they are based on fact, we need to tell the truth. You can’t turn your head. These are things you can’t ignore.”

For Brown, it was these memorials — and Naves’ willingness to break her silence — that motivated her to reconstruct Stacy’s story. To do so, she also interviewed Ken Cutler, Parkland commissioner and historian, and Tameka Bradley Hobbs, library regional manager of Fort Lauderdale’s African American Research Library and Cultural Center.

“My family didn’t want to talk about it out of fear for years,” Brown says. “There was shame. There’s an element of hurt, and you can hear that emotion in Anne’s voice. Now it feels freeing. This is a story that was suppressed for years and by sharing it, this is how we overcome.”

Michael Anderson, a producer for “Rubin,” says the film also tackles what too many school textbooks don’t stress enough: the history of Black lynchings.

“For Black youth to know their stories, they have to know the history of lynchings,” Anderson says. “They still don’t know how lynchings were used as a weapon to keep a community quiet. That’s exactly what it did to Rubin Stacy’s family.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Rubin”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3

WHERE: NSU’s Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd., Davie

COST: Free, but tickets must be presented for entry

INFORMATION: 954-462-0222; MiniaciPAC.com

[tkachuktkaching]

Amerant Bank, the largest community bank headquartered in Florida, today announced it has entered into a brand partnership featuring Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, one of the NHL's top players.

The NHL superstar will be featured in expansive marketing campaign to promote Amerant Bank's new co-branded Florida Panthers Debit Card

Tkachuk is being featured in an expansive marketing campaign to promote Amerant's new co-branded Florida Panthers debit card, comprising television and online commercials that run throughout the NHL playoffs as well as billboards placed throughout Broward County in South Florida - most notably near the Amerant Bank Arena where the Panthers play all home games.

"I am proud to work with a company like Amerant Bank, they are a group that is truly committed to South Florida and are big fans and supporters of our team," said Matthew Tkachuk. "I look forward to sharing many more exciting moments on the ice at Amerant Bank Arena and in our community."

"We are excited to introduce Amerant's partnership with Matthew Tkachuk and the launch of our co-branded Florida Panthers debit card and checking account," said Jerry Plush, Chairman and CEO of Amerant Bank. "This represents our dedication to fostering community engagement and supporting our valued sports partnerships. Matthew (Tkachuk) is a true superstar, and partnering with him showcases our ongoing commitment to excellence."

Source : markets.ft.com / Amerant Bank

[beardedmrbean]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff fed up with a spate of false school shooting threats is taking a new tactic to try get through to students and their parents: he's posting the mugshot of any offender on social media.

Law enforcement officials in Florida and across the country have seen a wave of school shooting hoaxes recently, including in the wake of the deadly attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, that killed two students and two teachers.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on Florida's Atlantic Coast said he's tired of the hoaxes targeting students, disrupting schools and sapping law enforcement resources. In social media posts Monday, Chitwood warned parents that if their kids are arrested for making these threats, he'll make sure the public knows.

“Since parents, you don’t want to raise your kids, I’m going to start raising them," Chitwood said. "Every time we make an arrest, your kid’s photo is going to be put out there. And if I can do it, I’m going to perp walk your kid so that everybody can see what your kid’s up to.”

Chitwood made the announcement in a video highlighting the arrest of an 11-year-boy who was taken into custody for allegedly threatening to carry out a school shooting at Creekside or Silver Sands Middle School in Volusia County. Chitwood posted the boy's full name and mugshot to his Facebook page.

In the video, which had more than 270,000 views on Facebook as of Monday afternoon, the camera pans across a conference table covered in airsoft guns, pistols, fake ammunition, knives and swords that law enforcement officers claim the boy was “showing off" to other students.

Later, the video cuts to officers letting the boy out of a squad car and leading him handcuffed into a secure facility, dressed in a blue flannel button-down shirt, black sweatpants and slip-on sandals. The boy's face is fully visible at multiples points in the video.

“Right this way, young man,” an officer tells the boy, his hands shackled behind his back.

The boy is led into an empty cell, with metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles, before an officer closes the door and locks him inside.

“Do you have any questions?” the officer asks as he bolts the door.

“No sir,” the boy replies.

The video prompted a stream of reactions on social media, with many residents praising Chitwood, calling on him to publicly identify the parents as well — or press charges against them.

Others questioned the sheriff’s decision, saying the 11-year-old is just a child, and that the weight of the responsibility should fall on his parents.

Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally exempt from public release — but not if the child is charged with a felony, as in this case.

Law enforcement officials across Florida have been tracking a stream of threats in the weeks since the 2024-2025 school year began. In Broward County, home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, officials said last week they had already arrested nine students, ages 11 to 15, for making threats since August.

"For my parents, to the kids who are getting ready for school, I'm going to say this again," Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said at a press conference, “nothing about this is a laughing or joking matter.”

“Parents, students, it's not a game,” he added.

[realestateedcook]

Condominiums In Pompano Beach

Top 5 Luxury Oceanfront Condos In Pompano Beach

Living in Pompano Beach, FL, has many features, such as live music, bars, seaside, and beaches. The luxury oceanfront condos in Pompano Beach, South Florida, offer excellent value. The area is not full of hotels, and the beaches are not crowded. Some new, exciting developments popped up in the last few years. There are many choices for oceanfront condos in Pompano Beach, FL.

This article narrows it down to the top five. Living in these condos is a luxurious experience. The warm climate and gorgeous beaches make Pompano Beach a dream destination for a luxurious lifestyle. Due to the lush amenities, the Intracoastal Waterway, and breathtaking ocean views, it is easy to understand why these condos in Pompano are so popular.

Whether you are in the market for a stunning investment property or a beautiful place as your home, the condominiums in Pompano Beach have something for everyone. There are some benefits to living in luxurious condos.

Plaza at Oceanside

The extraordinary Plaza at Oceanside, located at 1 N Ocean Blvd, was built in 2009. The tower has 186 residential units. You see carefully designed structures and high-end features everywhere, creating a sense of conformity and completeness.

Residents enjoy access to pristine beaches. This stately complex has Intracoastal and ocean views, high-speed semi-private elevator and private elevator, brush chrome hardware throughout the common areas and residences, unobstructed views due to high ceilings, individual climate control, and an expansive balcony with panel railings made of glass.

You enjoy a kitchen layout that maximizes space and ease of food preparation and cooking. The luxurious kitchens have marble floors, granite countertops, European custom cabinets, and stainless steel appliances.

Oversized master suites have large walk-in closets and sitting areas, large soaking tubs in a spa-like ensuite, dual vanities with marble countertops, and showers enclosed with frameless glass doors. Little details make a big difference. Attention to detail is reflected in recessed lighting, wiring for digital cable, and high-speed internet. The oversized laundry has enough space for a front-load washer and dryer. Plaza at Oceanside complex amenities include:

A News Cafe with a large-screen TV

Indoor Golf Simulator

A world-class fitness center with state-of-the-art fitness machines

A luxurious theater

Media room

Playrooms for children and teens

Resort-style heated pool having lap lanes and beach entry

Interior Design by Steven G

The city has been restructured to ease the flow of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Condo sales here are a rare find. The turnover of residences is low.

Waldorf Astoria Residences

The Waldorf Astoria Residences in Pompano Beach, FL, are inspired by the classic grandeur of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Every residence encompasses the beauty and scale of the building and its original architecture. It is the ideal balance of practical and aesthetic considerations.

The Waldorf Astoria Residences sit on a two-acre oceanfront site. It has 92 residential units that offer world-class architecture and design. Nicholas Architects head it in collaboration with Enea Landscape, BAMO, and KORA. The hospitality-infused amenities include:

Approximately two dozen boat slips

A pool

Cabanas with poolside dining

Jacuzzi

A beachfront cafe offers room service

One of the prominent features is Peacock Alley. It is a residents-only space that serves as the central gathering place for residents to see and be seen. A crafted clock in the main lobby is inspired by one at the Waldorf Astoria, New York.

It is an iconic landmark in the flagship hotel and part of its New York City lore. The influence of the original hotel extends to over 15,000 square feet of amenities. The homes are available in various sizes and crafted for single-family living.

They range from two to five bedrooms and vary in size from 2100 to 6100 square feet. Every residence has a private elevator foyer, high ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows highlighting stunning Intracoastal and ocean views. Other standard features include top-of-the-line Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances, custom Italian cabinetry, and oversized balconies. The residences are ready for occupation with a choice of designer finishes.

Salato Residences

The ultra-luxury Salato Residences are at 305 Briny Avenue in Pompano Beach, Florida. The expertly designed residences rise 100 feet from the beach with a pristine oceanfront. Forty private residences include six penthouses designed by Randall Stoff Architects.

The interior features include floor-to-ceiling windows that offer spectacular views of the ocean. An amenities deck extends more than 20,000 square feet, with direct access to the beach. The residences are designed to feel like worldwide luxury resorts.

Individual residences range from 2,106 to 3,354 square feet. They feature open floorplans with vast living space and 14-foot-deep terraces 320 to 746 square feet in size that provide phenomenal outdoor living and entertainment. All residences have three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. Amenities include:

An event room with a private chartering kitchen

Residents’ lounge with nutrition and juice bar

State-of-the-art fitness center

Massage room

Steam showers and dry saunas

Poolside lounge suite with private wine locker and bar

An ocean-view pool with separate loungers and a wet deck

Full-time pool and beach attendants

24-hour concerige service

Valet parking garage

The residences have an impressive selection of finishes and the absolute finest quality furniture. 10-foot windows and sliding doors surround each living space. Any chef would feel at home in the kitchen with custom European cabinetry and Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances.

The owner’s suite features a walk-in closet and a luxurious bathroom retreat. Stunning solid quartz countertops, porcelain tiles, and custom European cabinetry in the guest bathrooms give a sophisticated atmosphere. Residents and their guests enjoy the privacy provided by semi-private foyers and elevators.

Casamar Residences

Casamar Residences oceanfront condo in Pompano Beach, located at 900 N Ocean Blvd, designed by Arquitectertonia, has 119 units. It is situated on 3.2 acres and has 283 feet of oceanfront frontage. Each has direct, unobstructed oceanfront views. Casamar offers two, three, and four-bedroom units.

Every floor has six units. The smallest unit for sale has two bedrooms and a den that ranges in size from 1350 to 1700 square feet. Three bedrooms plus den units range from 2500 to 3000 square feet. Four-bedroom and den condominiums range from 3300 to 3934 square feet. Amenities and services include:

Personalized concierge services

Sunrise and sunset swimming pools

The Promenade Lounge

State-of-the-art fitness center

Multimedia and gaming tables

Virtual Golf Simulator with a mini bar

Lobby Welcome Station with light snacks and coffee

Open green gathering space

Pickleball court

Valet parking

Water sport storage

Pet washing station

The flow-through floorplans feature floor-to-ceiling windows that provide breathtaking views of Pompano Beach, the ocean, and the Intracoastal Waterway. All residences have unobstructed eastern views.

Tranquil and spacious master bathrooms feature a deep soaking tub, beautiful vanities, Hansgrohe fixtures, and contemporary finishes. The laundry room per unit has a full-size washer and dryer. Most units have a sink.

A customized password-protected app manages the spacious pre-wired smart home. Casamar Pompano Beach condo is in an excellent location close to marinas, golf courses, stores, and restaurants. It is 20 minutes from downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Ritz-Carlton Residences

A remarkable collection of magnificent amenities and luxury homes, with a landscape concept and interior design by Piero Lissoni, is like no other. The Ritz-Carlton, 1380 S Ocean Blvd, comprises two striking towers designed by Luis Revuelta.

They are on sprawling property that spans the waterfronts from Intracoastal to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ritz-Carlton gives homeowners direct access to a private yacht club and beach. The Beach Tower is a beachfront property with 31 stories and 117 larger condominiums.

Across A1A, the Marina Tower has an Intracoastal frontage and 14 stories. All of the condo development is residential. Residents of the Ritz-Carlton Residences enjoy stylish indoor and outdoor common areas with floor-to-ceiling windows. There are firepits, gardens, and plants throughout. Amenities include:

Three infinity edge pools

Two oceanfront and one marina front

Yoga Garden

Events lawn

Dog park

Outdoor wellness pavilion

Pickleball court

Bocce court

Valet services

Reception and concierge desk

Oceanfront lobby

The breakfast room and bar have outdoor seating

Fitness center

Lounge and library

Beauty salon with mani-pedi

Barbershop

Beach bar and grill

The Beach Tower has two, three, and four-bedroom residences. One, two, and three-bedroom units are found in the Marina Tower. They maintain the height of luxury, but each has a specific character. The goal was to design the buildings as welcoming and comfortable environments and create sophisticated places for socialization and relaxation.

The Beach Tower has a contemporary design using pure forms and lines expressed through light colors and natural materials. In the Marina Tower, slightly darker colors are used. Detailed and theatrical lighting is elemental in cultivating a welcoming and intimate environment. Large glazed volumes give the space definition and bring a Caribbean nature indoors.

Honorable Mentions

A few other stunning, luxury condos in Pompano Beach are the following:

Sonata Beach Club

Sabbia Beach

Ed Cook Real Estate Has Luxury Condos for Sale

Ed Cook Real Estate knows that Pompano Beach, FL, offers the ideal blend of day and nighttime action, an active lifestyle, and beachfront beauty. The beachfront dining options and fishing pier are part of what energizes the Pompano Beach Fishing Village.

Our Pompano real estate company has luxury condos for sale in Pompano Beach. We have listings for luxurious condos in Palm Beach County and Lauderdale by the Sea. Luxury condos for sale in Pompano Beach offer a stunning rooftop terrace, generous balconies, a nice pool, and much more.

Contact Ed Cook Real Estate on Ocean Blvd. today to search for new construction Ocean Blvd condos or search condos in nearby zip codes for all your Florida condo and real estate needs in beautiful Pompano Beach, FL!

[paskoskiconstruction]

Are you ready to design or remodel your dream home a reality? At Paskoski Construction, Inc. we help you to provide Custom Homes and Remodeling will assist in specializing in custom luxury home building, home remodeling, and interior completion projects including restaurants, offices, retail, and banking facilities. Our award-winning general contractors work closely with a courteous team of professionals dedicated to making your home building experience a positive one. For more information contact us today at:(954) 522-1258.

[justinssportscorner]

Jacob Ogles at The Advocate:

When Jessica Norton became “team mom” for her daughter’s volleyball team, she never expected it might cost her job. She certainly didn’t anticipate becoming the face of a national controversy about transgender children’s place on the athletic field. But that changed when the Broward County School Board announced disciplinary action against administrators at Monarch High School and against Norton, who worked as an information management specialist at the school. District officials said the school and Norton personally had violated Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

“I’ve been through the wringer as far as this investigation,” Norton said in an exclusive interview with The Advocate. “That day, I was told that the investigation was going to be 100 percent confidential and that nobody would know what was going on unless I told them. I left [my daughter] at school because they promised me she would be safe. Within two or three hours of me being home, it was on the news, along with my name and the other people involved. The school board did a press conference with the superintendent, and you know, it was on every news outlet in South Florida and apparently everywhere else.” Norton went on to fight punishment from her employer. As things stand now, she has been removed from her current position and was suspended for 10 days but will keep her long-term employment with the school district.

But her daughter, whose name is being withheld out of respect for the child’s privacy, transferred from Monarch and is now enrolled with Florida Virtual School, taking all classes remotely.

While Norton shielded her daughter from the media spotlight and tried to avoid much of it herself, the girl’s gender identity was never a secret to teammates or coaches. In fact, the family filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s sports ban, a law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in 2021 (on the first day of Pride Month). The state remains at odds legally with President Joe Biden’s administration, which announced federal rules protecting transgender students from discrimination. A federal appellate court last week said Florida could enforce its trans sports ban other anti-LGBTQ+ policies for the time being. But the manner in which Florida’s law has been enforced against Norton’s family and school alarms Norton’s attorney Jason Starr, director of litigation for the Human Rights Campaign. “This investigation was placed on a track that's normally reserved for criminal conduct or very serious alleged violations of harm to students,” Starr said. “Essentially, these are police officers. They call Ms. Norton into the office. They have guns. They have badges. It had the imprimatur of a criminal investigation.”

It wasn’t until early August, more than seven months after the investigation’s launch, that the district identified a specific policy Norton had violated. The superintendent’s office alleged Norton submitted paperwork to the Florida High School Athletic Association listing her daughter’s sex as female, as it appears on her legal birth certificate and all school forms. Relevant to Norton’s legal challenge to retribution at work, she submitted those documents as the child’s parent, not through her administrative position at Monarch High.

Happy to see Jessica Norton stand up to unjust bans on trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports.