Stet NewsBonjour, Stetters! For you today, free election guides are back in the county’s libraries; deeply different candidates vie for County Commission; leaders get personal at the Nonprofit Chamber; a canceled celebration is revived; and wisdom from the elders.
✅ Voters’ guide banned, now back
A free, nonpartisan election guide that’s been available at Palm Beach County’s 20 library branches for a decade has been missing in action this year before the Nov. 3 elections.
In mid-September, the county’s League of Women Voters’ publication chair, Joyce Sullivan, learned the library system would not allow the 2026 voters’ guides to be placed for distribution. The reason stemmed from the county’s fear of violating a state law against advocating for an issue.
But after Stet News asked him last week about the ban, Palm Beach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said he is allowing the guides to be distributed once again at the libraries.
Abruzzo said it wasn’t right to block the guides. After consulting with the county attorney, he authorized their distribution once again.
The league’s Sullivan told Stet News on Monday that the guides are already back in some county libraries. She suggested patrons call their library to find out if they are available.
Why it matters: The voters’ guide includes information about candidates running in federal, state and local races as well as breakdowns of proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution and countywide referendums. Each candidate within the same race receives identical questions, and responses are published verbatim.
What they’re saying: “The initial decision was made out of caution due to the county’s ballot initiative for voter approval of Parks and Library construction bonds,” Palm Beach County Library System Director Douglas Crane said in an email last week to Stet News.
Catch up quick: This year the league paid The Palm Beach Post $10,000 to print 53,000 copies of the guide. Of those, 12,600 were inserted in The Post and the Palm Beach Daily News and delivered to print subscribers.
- Volunteers distributed the guides at the league’s Election Expo on Sept. 28 and to senior citizens groups, condominium associations, other community groups and government offices.
- Fortunately, Sullivan said, the league had at least 2,000 left to place in the libraries.
Get it online: To find races that will be on your ballot using the league’s online platform, plug in your address at vote411.org/ballot.
– Susan Salisbury
🗳️ 2026 midterms: Baxter vs. Waldron for County Commission
Two deeply dissimilar candidates are facing off for the District 6 Palm Beach County Commission seat, with incumbent Sara Baxter touting her endorsement from President Donald Trump and former state Rep. Katherine Waldron emphasizing her years of community service.
The big picture: The two candidates’ different approaches to the Israeli bonds controversy reflect their approaches to issues.
- Baxter, a Republican, has vehemently defended the county’s $1 billion investment, saying the bonds bring in $200 million. She ordered about a dozen speakers who raised the issue removed from the county’s Sept. 15 budget meeting. At least one was arrested.
- Waldron, a Democrat, said ejecting speakers gave opponents just what they wanted: explosive video that went viral on social media and made the commissioners look like tyrants. “Why can’t we let them speak?”
Baxter declined requests from Stet News for an interview.
Where the candidates stand:
- Amendment 3: “I’m fully for this amendment passing,” Baxter said at a July forum. Waldron calls it “flawed.”
- Palm Tran: Baxter would reduce the county’s annual $175 million contribution to the bus service by $100 million and give able-bodied riders Uber vouchers. Waldron says, “I don’t believe Uber vouchers are the solution.”
Backstory: Baxter is a 42-year-old mother of three who worked as a retinal imaging technician and real estate agent. She won her first campaign for the County Commission in 2022, riding a red wave that saw Gov. Ron DeSantis become the first GOP gubernatorial candidate to carry the county in 36 years.
- Waldron is a 66-year-old entrepreneur and former telecom executive who served on the Port of Palm Beach Commission from 2016 to 2022 before winning a state House seat. In 2024, she lost that seat by 348 votes to former Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig.
The baggage: The sheriff’s office, the county inspector general and the ethics commission are investigating a former staffer’s anonymous allegations against Baxter. Baxter denies them and accuses Waldron’s team of being behind them. Waldron calls that “absurd.”
By the numbers:
- $595,204: Baxter’s near record-breaking war chest
- $187,775: Waldron’s contributions
What’s next: Early voting begins Oct. 19, and Election Day is Nov. 3.
Keep reading: Baxter: Why she entered politics. Waldron: What being in a superminority in the state House taught her. At StetNews.org.
– Jane Musgrave
More Stet election coverage:
- Roth vs. Silvers for state Senate
- Woodward vs. Calabrese for County Commission District 4
- What’s in the proposed $280 million Palm Beach County parks bond
- County library improvements are on the Nov. 3 ballot
🪞 Make the personal public, coach urges nonprofits
Leaders can reach more people by connecting their personal history to their organization’s mission, executive coach Ana Sasmiresan told Palm Beach County nonprofit CEOs last week.
Why it matters: The bosses sharpened their message at the leadership training presented by the Nonprofit Chamber for Health and Human Services and its partners.
In the room: “What has your life been about?” Sasmiresan asked them at the Oct. 1 meeting at the Manatee Lagoon Conference Center in West Palm Beach. She traces her career, built on helping leaders find their voice, to her childhood in Romania under a government that made it dangerous to speak out.
Sasmiresan urged the audience not to be afraid to be open.
- “I was ashamed to have grown up in communism. I actually was trying to hide it for a very, very long time,” she said. “It does take a process to understand who you are becoming based on where you come from.”
Earlier in the program, Craig Goldenfarb, founder of Goldlaw, announced a $100,000 gift divided among the nonprofits.
How it works: Each nonprofit organization represented at the meeting received $1,000. Four organizations received $5,000: Bella’s Angels, Child Rescue Coalition, Inner City Innovators and Resource Depot. The nonprofit chamber received $20,000.
Goldenfarb’s contribution is drawing attention to the nonprofits.
What he’s saying: Goldenfarb said he discovered the organization years ago when he was reading the Notables section of The Palm Beach Post. “I found out it was a charity that supports charities,” he said. “What a cool concept.”
Keep reading to learn about the Nonprofit Chamber and how it honored retiring manager Marlene Passell at StetNews.org.
– Carolyn DiPaolo
🇲🇽 Day of the Dead festival is reborn
The popular Day of the Dead festival has been rescued from cancellation and will be held next month — but not in Lake Worth Beach.
Why it matters: Nearly three months after the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency pulled the plug on this year’s festival, a local artist plans to resurrect the event Nov. 7 in West Palm Beach.
Jose R. Mendez, who co-founded the popular Hispanic cultural festival in Lake Worth Beach in 2016, said the 2026 fiesta will be held at The Peach, an arts collective at 3950 Georgia Ave. beneath the Southern Boulevard overpass.
What he’s saying: “I do not want to see a tradition that I helped create, that has become so meaningful to our community, come to an end,’’ said Mendez, who displays his work at one of six studios at The Peach through the nonprofit No More Starving Artists Foundation.
The vibe: This year’s event, from 3 to 9 pm, will be smaller than previous Lake Worth Beach Day of the Dead festivals that attracted up to 6,000 people at The Hatch cultural center in Lake Worth Beach.
- While he said he hopes the festival can return to Lake Worth Beach next year, he promised that this year’s West Palm fiesta will offer a vibrant community celebration for all ages.
Behind the scenes: The festival will have a limited budget, mostly from donations and Mendez’s personal expenses. Rodney Mayo, who owns The Peach, offered the arts space. Artist Craig McInnis, whose studio is at The Peach, is helping with logistics.
No More Starving Artists is raising money to help pay for the event. Donations can be made by clicking here.
Keep reading to find out what is planned at the festival at StetNews.org.
– Joe Capozzi
This story was published in partnership with Lake Worth Beach Independent.
🍊 THE JUICE
🧑⚖️A state appeals court has decided to erase the Hope Florida grand jury report that said Attorney General James Uthmeier was central to a “sophisticated scheme” to move $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into his political committee. The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that a grand jury cannot allege criminal activity and attach names to it without indicting anyone. The hearing was held without notice to anyone who could oppose it. (Florida Trident)
- Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday called the grand jury report a hoax and the leak “a crime that did irreparable harm to innocent people.” He vowed that the people responsible would be held accountable. (News Service of Florida via WUSF)
- Collectively, the state paid law firms at least $444,000 to represent state officials in the matter since August 2025. (Florida Trib)
3️⃣ If Amendment 3 passes, more than 21,000 Palm Beach County children could lose access to child care, after-school programs and summer camps, write former County Administrator Verdenia Baker; founding director of the county’s Youth Services Department Tammy Fields; and Dr. Seth Bernstein, retired executive vice president at United Way of Palm Beach County. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
3️⃣ The president of the Florida Realtors makes a case to vote yes on Amendment 3. “There is one burden we have the power to change: property taxes,” he writes. (Sun-Sentinel)
📳 Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Marino exchanged texts with a lawyer for the Project Tango developer during the July 15 zoning hearing in which she cast the lone vote in favor of expanding the hyperscale AI data center project. (The Acreage Advocate)
- The tortured history behind the Project Tango site. (WLRN)
🇮🇱 Multiple people were removed from Palm Beach County Commission chambers last week after a clash over the county’s investments in Israeli bonds. Opponents say the policy is supporting genocide, and supporters say the investment has produced higher returns than comparable investments, easing pressure on taxpayers. The county is the world’s biggest public-sector investor of the bonds, with investments exceeding $1 billion. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
💼 Lake Worth Beach picked interim City Manager Troy Perry to be its first full-time manager since December 2023. City commissioners are scheduled to review his proposed contract tonight. (Lake Worth Beach Independent $$$)
🏈 A divided Riviera Beach City Council punts its Oct. 7 meeting. (Community Voices)
🎰The Seminole Tribe of Florida on Thursday sued DraftKings, an online betting platform, claiming it is illegal in Florida because it violates a pact between the state and the tribe in 2021. The agreement gives the tribe a monopoly over gambling in Florida in exchange for guaranteed payments to the state. (WLRN)
🕵🏼♂️ A former CIA officer who authorities say stashed hundreds of gold bars in his home admitted in court last week to a far larger web of deception, including a scam to buy and flip $145 million in luxury real estate in the Palm Beach area. (The New York Times, gift link, email required)
🦉 Florida Atlantic University won a $200,000 federal grant to build a quantum cybersecurity workforce across South Florida and the Treasure Coast.
- The grant comes as FAU prepares to bring a $20 million commercial quantum computer to its Boca Raton campus. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🐊 The University of Florida plans to open a home near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., after lobbyist Brian Ballard donated the $4.3 million property to the school. (Florida Politics)
🏗️ The Bristol’s developer, Al Adelson, talks about his 25-story Berkeley under construction on Clear Lake, where prices start at $2.5 million. (Realtor.com)
✅ Early voting starts Monday in Palm Beach County for the Nov. 3 election and runs through Sunday, Nov. 1 from 7 am to 7 pm.
- Any registered voter can cast a ballot at any of the 28 early voting locations as long as they were registered by Oct. 5.
- To find a location or make an appointment, go to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website.
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, interviews Gwen Graham, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor on the Jolly-Graham ticket and daughter of the late Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today.)
561NSIDER: 🎧 Listening to stories of the past
👋🏿 Stet News/Community Voices reporter Abigail Guillaume here.
Rohi’s Readery and Liberation Station, a West Palm Beach community center and social justice bookstore focused on youth education, held its fall fundraiser last month at the home of journalist and philanthropist Soledad O’Brien. The Event honored 12 elders who shaped the city and its Historic Northwest Neighborhood.
The scene: Two elders spoke to the gathering. James Carman was West Palm Beach’s first Black fire chief. Elizabeth Munnings, an educator who turned 100 this year, led the effort to put the Northwest Neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places.
Munnings, who turned 100 this year, shared stories of growing up in West Palm Beach. She described a time when Black families couldn’t use banks and had to keep their money at the post office instead.
- “The Northwest neighborhood was a city within a city, and that means that we didn’t really have to go outside of the area to get many, many things.”
Carman urged younger residents to volunteer. “You have to give something to get something,” he said.
💬 My thought bubble: I grew up in Brazil. Hearing these memories face to face gave it a weight textbooks don’t. I walked in expecting a fundraiser and left with a lesson on Black history in West Palm Beach.
Keep reading to learn more about what the elders shared at StetNews.org.
– Abigail Guillaume
Who wrote this story: This story was reported by Community Voices writer Abigail Guillaume.
What is CV: Community Voices is a partnership between Stet News and Inlet Grove High School that trains and pays teens to cover the news. Community Voices is supported by The Pew Family Fund, the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties and the Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation.
Stet’s Liz Capozzi contributed to this story.
