Stet News📫 Welcome to our monthly roundup. Our top stories from March plus a peek behind the scenes.
We love to hear from you. Write to Joel and Carolyn at stet@stetnews.org or just reply to this email.
🥾 Gannett fires Palm Beach Post opinions chief
March 7, 2025
Backlash over an editorial cartoon deemed antisemitic led to the firing last month of The Palm Beach Post’s editorial page editor, Tony Doris.
The firing came just days after executives with the paper’s owner, Gannett, met in West Palm Beach to discuss the cartoon with representatives of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and the Anti-Defamation League.
Why it matters: In this era of cutbacks for local media outlets, publishers have become wary of controversy, refusing to take stands, for instance, on who should be president, or, in this case, whether an editorial cartoon takes criticism too far.
Catch up quick: Gannett, the nation’s largest daily newspaper publisher and operator of USA Today, did not respond to requests for comments. But its spokesperson, Lark-Marie Antón, told The New York Times that the cartoon “did not meet our standards.”
– Joel Engelhardt
💰 Ruling could cost county $43 million
March 11, 2025
A developer has won what could amount to a $43 million judgment from Palm Beach County.
Why it matters: The ruling by Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Harper clarifies how far counties can go to make developers cover the cost of growth.
Catch up quick: When Avenir moved forward in 2016 to build what amounts to a small city on the former Vavrus Ranch northwest of Beeline Highway and Northlake Boulevard, the county said the Coral Gables-based developer had to pay $105 million to cover the cost of road improvements.
- Avenir sued in 2021, saying the county went too far by making the developer pay to meet congestion caused by other growth. A state law in 2011 said developers don’t have to pay to correct “background deficiencies” in the road network.
- The developer calculated those excessive costs at $42.9 million.
Harper agreed. On Feb. 28, the judge granted partial summary judgment in Avenir’s favor, ruling that the county’s demand that Avenir pay for those roads “amounted to an unlawful monetary exaction.”
– Joel Engelhardt
🍫 Hoffman’s flagship Greenacres location closes
Mar 17, 2025
After more than four decades, Hoffman’s Chocolates closed its shop Friday on Lake Worth Road in Greenacres.
Five other Hoffman’s Chocolates stores remain open, including three in Palm Beach County, she said.
Hoffman’s began in 1975 as a tiny shop in downtown Lake Worth Beach, created by Paul Hoffman, an engineer. He moved it to the Greenacres location and expanded it to a factory where the public could watch the chocolates being made. It soon became a tourist destination.
It remained in the family until 2013, when it was sold to BBX Capital Corp. BBX took the corporate brand under its Las Olas Confections.
— Jan Norris
🏥 Why Tampa General is here
March 18, 2025
For insight into why Tampa General Hospital is buying doctor’s practices and investing in Palm Beach County, we offer short takes from Tampa General CEO John Couris, who once led Jupiter Medical Center.
Couris hosted about 150 doctors, health care professionals and community membersfor dinner and a presentation Wednesday at the Kravis Center’s Cohen Pavilion.
He emphasized the academic nature of Tampa General, a 981-bed not-for-profit hospital and academic health system based since 1927 on Hillsborough Bay in Tampa. Couris answered three core questions during the discussion, and had more to say about why Tampa General is partnering with the Health Care District of Palm Beach County to run Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade.
– Joel Engelhardt
🔎 Clerk Abruzzo at center of search for new county manager
March 25, 2025
The minimum requirement to be the next county administrator is U.S. citizenship, two county commissioners said last week.
Why it’s important: That would make the criteria for the $400,000-a-year job less restrictive than a job as a Publix cashier.
- Cashiers must be at least 14 years old.
Behind the commission’s unusual approach to replace longtime Administrator Verdenia Baker, who resigned effective May 31, is a push to put Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo in the job.
“To me the only qualification you need is an American citizenship and an interest,” Commissioner Maria Sachs said at the commission’s March 18 workshop.
Commissioner Bobby Powell, who suggested in a three-page memo that commissioners move quickly, argued against setting minimum qualifications. In the end, commissioners agreed to consider bottom-line standards at their next meeting.
Behind the commission’s unusual approach is a push to put Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo in the job.
– Joel Engelhardt
And don’t miss our story from Jane Musgrave on the local court case involving the Tate brothers.
🕵️♀️ Stet behind the scenes: The fight for local news
The Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce put the spotlight on the vital role of local news last week at its monthly breakfast.
Chamber board Chair Tim Burke, the former publisher of The Palm Beach Post, moderated a panel of local coverage experts including Stet News’ Joel Engelhardt.
Why local news matters: “Communities with less local news have higher polarization, higher financing costs, higher taxes, more government corruption, more government waste, and less voter turnout,” Burke, citing research, told the chamber last week.
Reasons to be optimistic: Burke shared that Press Forward has launched a $500 million philanthropic movement to strengthen reliable local news. He also quoted these stats:
- The majority of Americans of both political parties say local media in their area are doing their jobs well.
- 85% say local news outlets are important or somewhat important to the well-being of their communities.
- 258 news startups have launched across the country in the last five years including your Stet News.
What is Press Forward? It is a collaborative of funders who are collectively investing in local news.
- Miami Foundation Vice President and panelist Lindsey Linzer said the Press Forward movement has grown in 18 months to 88 funders and invested $200 million across the country in providing access to local news and information.
At the same time, the definition and source of local news is changing, panelist Samantha Ragland, vice president of journalism programs for the American Press Institute, said. People are getting their information in a growing number of ways.
- “The Post has a role. Stet has a role. Tik Tok has a role. The trusted messenger, who has been running Little League for a couple decades, has a role,” she said, in getting fact-based information to the public.
- Ragland said the American Press Institute is exploring ways newsrooms can collaborate with trusted messengers, also known as influencers, to reach new audiences.
The bottom line: The community has to be involved, Engelhardt said.
- “We are looking to the community to help finance us,” he said, “to help democracy flourish.”
– Carolyn DiPaolo
