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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 27, 2002
1,243 more teachers get national certification
TALLAHASSEE -- Another 1,243 Florida teachers have earned national board certification, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan said Tuesday. Tat brings the state's total of nationally certified teachers to 3,490 and puts it behind only North Carolina, he said.
Teachers who go through the yearlong study and evaluation and are certified earn a 10 percent bonus. Those who mentor other teachers can make a second 10 percent bonus.
The state pays most of the $2,300 application fee and gives teachers $150 for supplies. This year the state is spending $49-million on the program.
Candidates provide the national board with a portfolio of teacher and student work and are tested at a teacher assessment center.
MIAMI -- Six Cuban migrants, including a 13-year-old boy and his father, and two suspected smugglers were in the custody of U.S. immigration officials after their disabled boat was found at sea, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.
The eight people were detained by the Coast Guard after their 21-foot Florida-registered boat ran out of fuel Monday off Key West and their vessel was towed there, Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said.
When the boat reached shore, five of the migrants scrambled off the boat onto land. The boy was kept aboard awhile but then allowed to join his father, Diaz said.
The two accused smugglers are Florida men, Diaz said. They face as much as five years in prison if convicted.
Federal authorities said the six refugees will probably be allowed to stay under the wet foot/dry foot policy. A 1966 federal law usually allows Cubans who reach U.S. shores to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally returned to Cuba.
Diaz said the Coast Guard did not board the boat at sea because 5-foot waves presented dangers for the Coast Guard crew and those aboard the boat.
"It was a search and rescue case that turned into a law enforcement case," Diaz said. "The main concern was saving lives at sea."
BRADENTON -- Health officials expect to learn today whether Manatee County has had its first confirmed human case of West Nile disease, caused by a mosquito-borne virus.
William Wiser, 41, of Bradenton told the Bradenton Herald he was diagnosed with West Nile, according to his discharge papers from Manatee Memorial Hospital.
Dr. James Ogedegbe confirmed that the county Health Department is investigating a possible West Nile case, but because of confidentiality rules he could not give the name of the patient. Officials are awaiting lab results.
Wiser is now home after eight days' hospitalization. He said he thinks he got sick about Nov. 12 from a mosquito bite on a job site where there was a lot of standing water.
Symptoms of West Nile include headache, fever, confusion, nausea and vomiting. More serious cases may result in altered reflexes, convulsions, abnormal movements and coma.