A1A South

JACKSONVILLE, FL — The nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning has a new focus.

After weeks of warnings about tomatoes, the CDC says the culprit could be something else in your pantry.

900 people have gotten sick in 40 states since April, with more than 100 people having to be hosptalized.

The source of the sickness has baffled experts. Investigators believe one or more of these ingredients could be the source: jalapeno and serrano peppers, cilantro, scallions, and onions.

Phyllis Rodgers eats at Mexican restaurants a lot.

“Mexican restaurants, probably once a week, at least,” said Phyllis.

Order just about anything on the menu, and you can’t miss.

“Refried beans, refried beans, yeah, and the chips, and the salsa,” said Phyllis.

But it could be just about everything on the menu at Mexican restaurants everywhere that’s effected.

The salmonella outbreak has the FDA taking ingredients like tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro out of shipments to the U.S., making the one business that consistently uses all those, very nervous.

“Choreta chicken or choreta beef, beans, rice, pico de gallo, guacamole, steak fajitas, all the fajitas we sell, and basically 90% of our menu has vegetables,” said Juan Valencia, whose family owns the Mi Toro Mexican Restaurant in Mandarin.

Valencia’s family has owned the Mi Toro Mexican Restaurant in Mandarin for 11 years.

He says it’s those great ingredients that keeps people coming back for more.

“It’s freshly prepared every day, it’s not canned, or anything like that, and it’s really inexpensive,” said Valencia.

Low prices make Mexican food all the more appetizing in a lagging economy.

“We basically keep our customers coming in pretty much two times a week, the way the economy is right now,” said Valencia.

But Valencia says now it’s time to consider their options if they can’t get their main Mexican staples.

Valencia says he may consider growing a garden of those ingredients on his own.

Whatever happens, Phyllis says she won’t be kept away. Valencia says the ingredients they have at the restaurant now will only get them through the week.

Source:  FirstCoastNews.com

DAMN!  How’m I gonna make guacamole and pico de gallo now? 

From the New York Times:

Some of the Democratic missteps started soon after planning for the event began. The Democratic National Convention Committee decided not to take cheap office space and instead rented top-quality offices in downtown Denver at $100,000 a month, only to need less than half the space, which it then filled with rental furniture at $50,000 a month. And in a costly misstep, the Denver host committee, early on, told corporate donors that their contributions were not tax-deductible, rather than to encourage donations by saying that the tax-exempt application was pending and expected to be approved.

Overly ambitious environmental goals — to turn the event into a “green” convention — have backfired as only three states’ full delegations have so far agreed to participate in the program. Negotiations over where to locate demonstrators remain unsettled with members of the national news media concerned over proposals to locate the demonstrators — with their loud gatherings — next to the media tent.

And then there is the food: A 28-page contract requested by Denver organizers that caterers provide food in “at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple and white.” Garnishes could not be counted toward the colors. No fried foods would be allowed. Organic and locally grown foods were mandated, and each plate had to be 50 percent fruits and vegetables. As a result, caterers are shying away.

If I were a caterer, I’d run, not walk, away from that mess, particularly since when I took the contract, I might have to be planning my menu on a locally organically grown crop that may not have been planted yet. Yikes. Even marking up the prices 200% because I know they’re going to be pains in the butt to deal with, it wouldn’t be worth it. Luckily I don’t have to make my living catering to people’s food preferences, no matter how stupid.

Now for that whole “green” mandate thing….what is it with the Democrats that they take twice what they need of the most expensive office space in Denver? A green mandate would be pitching a tent, putting in some Porta Potties and making do. Fifty thousand dollars a month for renting office furniture for unneeded space? Please. Apparently accountants are all Republicans.

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Charlie Crist’s casino gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe, ruling he lacked authority to unilaterally forge a deal.

The decision Thursday throws into doubt hundreds of millions in revenue for the state. But for the time being, the gambling will continue at seven casinos, including Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Tampa.

The unanimous ruling is a major defeat for Crist, who did not comment. He pushed ahead with negotiations last fall even as critics warned he needed legislative approval to grant the Seminoles the right to offer card games that are otherwise illegal in Florida.

“The governor has no authority to change or amend state law. Such power falls exclusively to the Legislature,” the court ruled.

House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Miami Republican and gambling opponent who filed the suit in November, said, “The court’s decision is a victory for our constitutional system of checks and balances.”

Much was still unknown Thursday. Crist has 15 days to ask for a rehearing.

The tribe has already paid $60.4-million to the state as part of its $100-million obligation this year. The money has not been spent.

The compact allowed the Seminoles to offer Vegas-style slots previously available only in South Florida and so-called Class 3 card games such as blackjack and baccarat that are illegal under state law.

Read the rest at the St. Petersburg Times.

It would appear that Gov. Crist deliberately usurped the authority of the legislature to approve this deal. On the other hand, reservations are supposed to be sovereign nations and the deal was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. According to Governor Crist’s former chief of staff:

“It’s easy to be a critic. It’s easy to file lawsuits,” LeMieux said. “But governors have to act, and this governor was in a position where they (the federal government) told him he had to act or they would give slot machines to the Seminoles and the state would receive nothing. We’re now in a position where that might actually happen.”

I lived in Arizona when Governor Symington seized slot machines from Indian Reservations and emotions and rhetoric were quite heated. From History of Indian Gaming in Arizona:

In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in response to the proliferation of gambling halls on Indian reservations. IGRA recognized gaming as a way to promote Tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong Tribal government. The Act says a State must permit Indians to run gaming on reservations if the State permits such gaming off reservation. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, a Tribe that wants to engage in Class III casino style gaming must first sign a gaming Compact (or agreement) with the State where the casino would be located. IGRA requires a State to negotiate in good faith with the Tribe seeking a Tribal-State Gaming Compact.

In enacting IGRA, Congress was reacting to a regulatory vacuum left by a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians) that States have no regulatory authority over gaming on Indian reservations. That ruling said Tribes have the right to operate gaming on reservations if States allowed such gaming off-reservation.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 expressly granted States and the Tribes the power to jointly regulate Class III Tribal gaming. Class III gaming includes slot machines, blackjack, keno and other casino style games. IGRA also created the federal National Indian Gaming Commission to oversee reservation bingo games and certain aspects of Class III gaming.

By the early 1990s, several Arizona Tribes had installed slot machines in their casinos even though none of them had Tribal-State Gaming Compacts with the State. The Arizona governor at the time, Fife Symington, said reservations shouldn’t have casinos because Arizona didn’t allow such gambling off-reservation. Tribes countered that Arizona did permit such gambling by allowing state lotteries, dog and horse racing, and charity bingo games off-reservation.

In May 1992, the National Indian Gaming Commission issued rules clarifying that a Tribe must have a gaming Compact with a State before the Tribe can operate slot machines. Immediately after the rules were announced, the Arizona Governor called on the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix to shut down casinos with the slot machines. FBI agents raided five Indian casinos and seized their slot machines. At Fort McDowell casino near Scottsdale, Tribal members formed a blockade to prevent the removal of the machines, and a three-week standoff ensued.

Against a backdrop of legal challenges by both sides that continued for more than a decade, Governor Symington signed Arizona’s first set of Tribal-State Gaming Compacts with 16 Tribes from 1992 to 1994. The governor’s successor, Jane Hull, signed a Compact with a 17th Tribe in 1998.

The Arizona Tribal-State Gaming Compacts gave Tribes exclusive rights to operate slot machines and casino style gaming, limited the number of slot machines and casinos, established comprehensive rules governing gaming, and set minimum internal control standards for casino operations. The Compacts authorized the State of Arizona to ensure compliance with the Tribal-State Gaming Compact and to work with Tribal regulators to protect the integrity of Class III gaming on Tribal lands. This first set of Compacts was in effect from 1993 to 2003.

In the November 2002 general election, Arizona voters approved Proposition 202, which authorized the continuation of Indian gaming. From December 2002 to January 2003, Governor Hull signed new Tribal-State Gaming Compacts with 16 Tribes. In 2003, Governor Janet Napolitano signed Compacts with an additional five Tribes. The Compact with each of the 21 Tribes is identical. The Compacts took effect in 2003. They last for 10 years, and can be renewed for another decade.

Currently, there are 15 Tribes operating 22 Class III casinos in the State. Another 6 Tribes do not have casinos but have slot machine rights they may lease to other Tribes. One of Arizona’s 22 Tribes (Hopi) doesn’t have a gaming Compact.

Apparently the governor’s representative was wrong in stating that the BIA would have unilaterally given the slot machines to the reservations whether or not Governor Crist signed an agreement; however, the BIA can approve them anyway when they do not think that the State has negotiated in good faith, so I am not sure what pressure may have been brought to bear and what constitutes “good faith” negotiating. I suspect that since Florida has a lottery, has recently approved Powerball, and there is dog and horse track betting (although parimutuel betting is much different than casino gambling), it looks as though the State is protecting horse and dog tracks and the state monopoly on gambling from competitors.

Further information re Indian Gambling can be found here: