The deadline to request a mail ballot is Thursday, Feb. 26.

State law sets a strict deadline of 5 p.m. for vote-by-mail ballot requests to be at the county elections office. That includes online applications. Postmarks for mailed applications don’t count.

People can request mail ballots online.

Residents of two cities, towns and villages in Broward and 19 in Palm Beach County are electing local officials, deciding on referendums, or both. Some communities will pick successors to departing mayors who have been in office for years.

There are three key factors voters may not be aware of and need to know:

— People who want to vote by mail in the March municipal elections need to make new requests if they haven’t done so since the 2024 presidential election. Under state law, all requests for vote-by-mail ballots made prior to the 2024 presidential elections have been voided.

— There is no in-person early voting for the city, town and village elections.

— Voters who have renewed or replaced a Florida driver’s license or state ID may need to update their license or ID number with the county supervisor of elections office so the request for a mail ballot can be processed.

Who can vote

Most Broward communities have their local elections in November. Palm Beach County municipalities generally use the uniform March election day.

Broward voting: Lauderhill and Pembroke Pines. Candidates in four other places were unopposed, so elections won’t be held.

Palm Beach County voting: Boynton Beach, Belle Glade, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Gulf Stream, Hypoluxo, Juno Beach, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach Shores, Royal Palm Beach, South Palm Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach.

Only people who are registered to vote in municipalities are eligible to participate. Voters whose address lists a city, yet reside in an unincorporated area, are not eligible to vote in the municipal election.

Returning mail ballots

People should return their mail ballots well before Election Day, March 10.

Florida law features a strict deadline for returning mail ballots. They must be back at the county elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks don’t count.

Elections officials routinely warn against waiting too long to return ballots and risking a Postal Service delay. Every election there are ballots that arrive late and can’t be counted under Florida law. In close elections there often have been enough uncounted ballots to potentially change the results.

People can also return their mail ballots at drop boxes at supervisors of elections offices in their home counties. Details about the hours and locations are available at the county elections office websites.

State law no longer uses the term “drop boxes” for ballots. Florida changed the name to “secure ballot intake stations” after Republican activists claimed without evidence that they weren’t sufficiently secure and could lead to fraud.

Someone who requests and receives a mail ballot is not required to use it. Voters can still vote in their neighborhood polling stations on Election Day, March 10. Safeguards are in place to prevent someone from voting more than once.

Make it count

To make sure your vote counts, mark the ballot exactly the way the instructions specify. If you don’t, it might not scan correctly.

If someone votes for more than one candidate in a race (unless it’s a contest in which people are supposed to pick more than one candidate), the vote won’t count. People can skip a race and leave it blank.

Elections canvassing boards in each county end up reviewing unusual ballot markings and are left to decipher voter intent. If they’re unable to figure it out, the vote isn’t counted.

Election Day

Neighborhood polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 10.

Anyone who is in line at 7 p.m. is allowed to vote.

People must vote in their assigned polling place on Election Day.

Someone must have a current, valid photo ID with a signature. The most common are Florida driver’s licenses or state ID cards.

Many other forms of ID, including passports, are accepted. If the photo ID doesn’t have a voter’s signature, the person will have to show another ID with a signature.

Dates & deadlines

In-person early voting: Not available for March local elections.

Return mail ballots: 7 p.m. March 10. Postmarks don’t count.

Election Day: March 10. Neighborhood polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Information

People can check to see if they’re registered to vote, request mail ballots and check their status, and find locations of polling places online and by phone.

Broward County: www.browardvotes.gov, 954-357-8683.

Palm Beach County: www.votepalmbeach.gov, 561-656-6200.

WM’s $90 million Pembroke Pines recycling plant recently opened its doors to the public, taking visitors on a tour of its high-tech processing machinery and education room. At the 127,000-square-foot facility, upward of 275,000 tons of material are expected to be recycled per year. That’s about 60 tons per hour.

Local officials and WM representatives hope that community tours and school trips to the facility inspire more South Floridians to recycle.

Currently, only about 32% of Broward residents recycle, according to the county, far short of a statewide goal of 75%.

“The children are going to teach the parents,” Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich said. “I understand that people wonder, ‘Where is it going? Is it really going where it’s supposed to go and being recycled?’ And here is a way we can educate people and move from that 30%, which is pathetic, to the 75%, which is where we need to be.”

Inside the second-floor education room, visitors can see the recycling process from behind a glass panel before walking through parts of the plant. After trucks dump materials, two conveyors transport items through a sorting process where nonrecyclable materials are removed from the line.

Magnets, optical screens powered by AI, and other machinery sort aluminum, tin, fibers, cardboard, plastics, and other recyclables before balers pack together each class of items.

Bales of items like laundry detergent containers, milk jugs, soda cans, and other processed items sit in the center of the floor. They’ll be picked up and sold to companies that give them a new life as recycled products.

“We want to show you that recycling is real, and that everyone should be recycling always,” said Tara Hemmer, WM’s senior vice president and chief sustainability officer, at a news conference.

The new WM facility, at 1285 SW 208th Ave., recycles waste from Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier counties.

Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr pointed to the facility’s opening as part of a greater sustainability push in the county, which includes a new county-led yard waste recycling program, a food waste recycling initiative in school cafeterias, and a long-term Solid Waste Authority master plan being considered by Broward cities.

“We need facilities like this to be able to do that,” Furr said.

Incumbent Tom Good, a former public works director in Cooper City, has drawn two challengers for the District 1 seat: James Henry, a retired Pembroke Pines police sergeant making his first run for office, and Dennis Hinds, an insurance agent who has run for office at least three times.

Incumbent Mike Hernandez, a public relations specialist who served as senior adviser to former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez, has one contender for the District 4 seat: Elizabeth “Liz” Burns, an event planner making her fourth run for a seat on the commission.

The winners will serve a four-year term and earn an annual base salary of $33,161 along with a yearly expense allowance of $13,062 and a car allowance of $7,920.

Pembroke Pines, a growing bedroom community located directly north of Miramar in southwest Broward County, is home to more than 170,000 residents. That number is expected to grow in the coming years.

District 1

Tom Good

Good, first elected to the commission in 2018, is now running for a third term.

A former assistant city manager in Deerfield Beach, Good is now serving as district manager for the Central Broward Water Control District.

Good says the city is partly to blame for voters rejecting a $230 million bond issue that would have paid for a new police station, park upgrades, new sidewalks and other projects. A staggering 65% of voters said no to the bond in March 2025.

Residents should have been able to pick and choose which bond items they wanted instead of being forced to choose all or none, Good argues.

“I think it was just too much,” he said. “The city is doing the right thing. We’re engaging the public. We’re asking them what they want. And people do want a new police station.”

That may come back to the public as a general obligation bond at some point, he said.

“We are still moving forward with refining the design and getting a more detailed current cost — which is difficult because time adds to the cost,” he said.

If elected, Good said the city has a long list of challenges he would continue to tackle.

“I would like to be able to continue on with our strategic plan regarding our traffic, our utilities, parks and recreation and roadway improvements,” he said. “And affordability of housing, which is the most important one for all of us.”

Good shared a few reasons why voters should choose him.

“I am the only candidate in this race that has a true connection to this community,” he said. “I’ve lived here over 30 years. I’ve raised a family here. I’ve watched the changes from past to present and know where we’re going in the future.”

Good pointed to his work as an administrator in both Cooper City and Deerfield Beach along with his experience as an elected official.

“I have synergy in playing both roles,” he said. “I have the ability to engage with administrators countywide and the political element countywide. That enables me to find solutions a lot faster. I know who to go to. My role has allowed me to use knowledge from both aspects in order to find solutions. I’m solutions oriented, and I find solutions for people.”

James Henry

Henry spent 28 years with the Pembroke Pines Police Department, working his way up to the rank of sergeant. He retired from the department in 2023 and said he now works as director of security for Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines.

A former resident of Coral Springs, Henry moved to Pembroke Pines four years ago.

If elected, Henry says he would bring a calm presence to the dais.

“I want to take the politics out of politics,” he said. “I don’t like some of the antics that go on. It’s like a show. That’s where I can come in. I am very calm. I don’t raise my voice. I was on (the police department’s) crisis negotiation unit for over 18 years. It’s all about communication and how you talk to people.”

Voters said no to borrowing money for a new police department, but the need is still there, Henry said.

“The police department has outgrown the building,” he said. “There’s a lot of desk sharing. You’ll have an entire traffic unit in one room.”

Henry said he believes the voters might have approved the bond issue if the city had not packed it with so many items.

“I think they stacked the bond and put too much in there,” Henry said. “It was originally for the police department. Then they added parks and other things.”

During 14 years of supervising the police department’s Community Affairs Unit, Henry said he got to know a lot of people around town.

“I think I can make a difference,” he said. “My track record with the police department shows I care for the community. I just want to make sure things get better and make things safe.”

If elected, Henry said one of his goals would be to create a mentorship program for schoolchildren throughout the city.

“I want the kids to pick a career and partner with businesses in the city and put everyone together to make something happen,” he said. “We have a great school system. I just think we can make it better.”

Dennis Hinds

Hinds declined the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s request for an interview, citing his busy schedule.

“Trying to speak with the voters takes up most of my days,” Hinds said by text. “Hope you understand.”

District 4

Mike Hernandez

Hernandez was appointed to the commission in May 2024 to fill a vacancy. Six months later, he was elected to a two-year term. He is now seeking reelection to what would be a four-year term.

“I’m running because two years is really not enough to really continue the work that we need to tackle,” he said.

Hernandez said he’d like to see the city do more competitive bidding to get the biggest bang for the buck.

As an expert in communications, Hernandez said the city can do a better job getting the word out to residents.

“I think we need to be more outward facing and aggressive,” he said.

One reason voters rejected a $230 million bond issue is because money is tight for most everyone, Hernandez said.

“Cost of living has risen dramatically,” he said. “I also think there was a very effective group of residents who went on Nextdoor and claimed it was not something we needed and it was government waste. And it was effective. But the need for the work doesn’t go away.”

Hernandez said he now believes the bond referendum should have been split into a menu of options.

“We probably should have split it,” he said. “Hindsight is 20-20.”

The Broward School District plans to close Panther Run Elementary and Palm Cove Elementary due to declining enrollment and budget challenges.

“The buildings, we are told, would not stay vacant,” Hernandez said. “We want a say in what is there. We set the tone very clearly that we need to be involved in the process. Whatever plans (they have), we have to be involved.”

As schools consolidate or close, Superintendent Howard Hepburn needs to do a better job communicating with Pembroke Pines and other cities, Hernandez said.

Like other cities, Pembroke Pines is closely watching the state’s push for property tax reform.

“We’re very concerned,” Hernandez said. “I know the city manager and his staff are running several scenarios.”

An estimated 63% of what the city collects in property tax money goes to police and fire, Hernandez said.

“Any significant hit the city would absorb, you can’t make up in fees,” he added. “Each police officer and firefighter received 6% increases over the past three years. I don’t think we can be so generous in future years. Math is math.”

Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Burns

If elected, Burns says she would be the first Jamaican-American woman to serve on the commission.

“In 66 years they have not had a person of color on the commission,” she said of the city, which incorporated in 1960.

Burns has lived in Pembroke Pines for 25 years.

“I’ve always encouraged people to run for office,” she said. “Someone finally said, ‘Why don’t you run for office?’ And so I prayed about it and I got my answer. So I started running. I like speaking to people and hearing their stories. It energizes me.”

Burns has run once for mayor and is now making her third run for a commission seat. So far, she has lost all her races.

“Some people lose and they never want to run again,” she said. “I’m not like that. I ran for mayor not because I knew I was going to win. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to meet more people in my city. I already feel like a winner because I have met so many people.”

If she were to win this time around, Burns said her focus would be on increasing affordable housing.

“Many young people cannot afford homes on the west side,” she said. “Affordable housing would help them be able to buy near where their families are.”

If elected, Burns said she plans to be a watchdog for the taxpayer.

Burns said she objected to Pembroke Pines spending $300,000 on a special election last year to allow voters to decide whether they wanted the city to borrow $230 million to pay for a new police headquarters and park upgrades.

Burns said she voted against the bond.

“I was totally against it,” she said. “I was against it then. I’m against it now. We fought hard for it not to pass. And people listened. The bond is not paid by the city. It’s paid by us, the taxpayers. Think of those people in Century Village on fixed incomes. How can they afford more money out of their pocket?”

Burns also objected to the timing of the bond referendum, saying the commission wasted $300,000 in taxpayer dollars holding a special election.

“Many of the things they wanted to do were not necessary at this time,” she said. “They wasted $300,000 to hold a special election. And they could have waited a year to put it on this year’s ballot.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan

Judy Levis Krug Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival

The 10th anniversary of this film festival will feature more than 40 Israeli and Jewish-themed films.

WHEN: Feb. 7-22

WHERE: Movies of Delray, 7421 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach

COST: $14 for single ticket; $59 for five-film pass; $105 for 10-film pass; $360 for all-access pass

INFORMATION: levisjcc.org/filmfestival

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

The 40th year of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) will screen a lineup of over 50 films and documentaries. In addition to red carpets with the likes of Chevy Chase, Terrence Howard, Sydelle Noel, Guy Harvey, Jeremy Piven, Paul Reiser and Jamie Kennedy, there will also be parties and Q&A sessions. FLIFF events take place at various venue throughout Broward County.

WHEN: Feb. 20-28

WHERE:

Savor Cinema, 503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale

Cinema Paradiso, 2008 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Paragon Ridge + Axis15 Extreme, 9200 W. State Road 84, Davie

Paragon Theaters, 3984 W. Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach

African American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center (at Nova Southeastern University), 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd., Davie

Flamingo Gardens, 3750 S. Flamingo Road, Davie

Baptist Health IcePlex, 800 NE Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale

AutoNation IMAX Theater at Museum of Discovery & Science, 401 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale

COST: Some screenings are free, while others range from $8 to $50.

INFORMATION: 954-525-3456; fliff.com

Best of the Belgians Beer Fest

It’s the duo you never saw coming: Belgian beer and the Boca Ballet Theatre. Featuring Belgian brewskis (with unlimited sampling), food trucks and live music, the event benefits the civic dance company/school that has been a major force in the South Florida performing arts scene for over three decades. How did this happen? Well, ballet and Belgian suds are both passions of Dan Guin, the dance company’s executive/co-artistic director.

WHEN: 2-5 p.m. Feb. 21

WHERE: Dr. André Fladell Civic Center (formerly South County Civic Center), 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach

COST: $50 for general admission; $95 for VIP (early admission, VIP-only beers, Belgian-themed food); free for designated driver tickets

INFORMATION: bestofthebelgians.com

FuelFest

The wheels wonderland that is FuelFest will once again have appearances by two “Fast & Furious” film franchise stars, Tyrese Gibson and Cody Walker (cofounder of the event). The vroom-vroom event features more than 800 custom, exotic, rare and exclusive cars and trucks, as well as live-action drifting, fan ride-alongs, custom exhibits, interactive fan racing activities and attractions, auctions and live concerts. You can also, of course, see cars that appeared in “Fast & Furious” movies. New this time around will be Taste of Tokyo, a Japanese car showcase with the vibe of an underground car meet. A portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit Reach Out WorldWide, the nonprofit founded by the late Paul Walker and continued by his brother, Cody Walker.

WHEN: 1-8 p.m. Feb. 28

WHERE: South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach

COST: 

General admission is $46.33.

Children’s admission is free (age 12 and younger)

VIP Platinum admission is $338.46

Other tickets, including for a Meet & Greet with Cody Walker, are available at the website.

INFORMATION: fuelfest.com

It played out precisely according to script last weekend as word spread of the military incursion in which the U.S. captured and removed Venezuela’s dictatorial president, Nicolás Maduro.

A half hour north of Doral, in parts of Broward County — where Weston has one of the largest concentrations of Venezuelans in the United States — Maduro’s ouster produced just as much joy, and in the days after just as much concern, even though it didn’t attract the same volume of news cameras.

“The whole community, the whole Venezuelan community I would say is happy. The people are just happy,” said Alexander Rueda, a native of Venezuela who is now a U.S. citizen and Weston resident. I don’t know even one person who is not against Maduro.”

Rueda, 55, and his family are among the immigrants from Venezuela who have transformed the economy, culture and politics of Weston — and, more recently, pockets of other nearby communities in Southwest Broward.

Weston is home to so many Venezuelans who are now U.S. citizens, people who have been legally allowed to live and work in the country, and their American-born citizen children that the city is often called Westonzuela.

Rueda estimated that two of every three people in his neighborhood are from Venezuela. His two youngest children attend Cypress Bay High School, where an estimated 65% of the students are Hispanic. (School district data doesn’t break down background by nationality.) Rueda’s two older children are graduates of Florida International University.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has lived in Weston for 28 years, said in an interview most of the neighbors on her block are Venezuelan, and many of her now-adult children’s friends when they were in school there were Venezuelan.

And, she said, Venezuelans and non-Venezuelans aren’t isolated in separate enclaves the way different ethnic groups are in some places.

The numbers

A Neilsberg Research analysis in October of the Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey data found Broward has 58,811 Venezuelan residents.

Previous research estimated the county’s Venezuelan population was 25,073 in 2012, up significantly from 8,807 in 2000.

And the biggest concentration is in Weston, where the estimated 10,215 Venezuelans make up 15% of the city’s population. Venezuelans are 3% of the countywide population.

Pembroke Pines, Sunrise, Miramar, Hollywood, Coral Springs and Davie also have sizable, though smaller Venezuelan populations. Pembroke Pines has the largest number outside Weston, at 8,391, an estimated 5% of the city’s population. In Sunrise the estimated 5,734 are 6% of the city’s population.

Palm Beach County, by contrast, has an estimated countywide Venezuelan population of 14,385 — less than 1% of the county’s residents. Orange County’s 40,906 residents are 2.8% of the county’s total population.

Miami-Dade County’s 124,087 Venezuelans are 4.6% of its residents. Doral, home to an estimated 31,361 Venezuelans, or 41%, has the largest Venezuelan population in the country.

Impact

Food is a visible way the Venezuelan diaspora has had an impact, said Eduardo Gamarra, a political science professor at Florida International University, and founder of the Latino Public Opinion Forum at FIU’s School of International and Public Affairs.

“I see the influence in the restaurants that have opened up there, especially in the Weston area and in parts of western Broward,” he said. “More than anything else they have improved our culinary experience.”

Thriving businesses are a result, Gamarra said.

Adelys Ferro, a Weston resident and executive director of the political advocacy organization Venezuelan American Caucus, said there are food truck owners, entrepreneurs, nurses, restaurateurs, teachers and delivery people, along with many other business and professional people.

“We have become a very important asset of Weston and of Broward,” Ferro said. “I think it’s a critical community, a really very important community. We are part of not only the cultural fabric of the community, but also the economic fabric of the community.”

And there are large businesses that started small in Weston. Rueda is CEO of Panna Group, a food company which in many ways illustrates the growth and economic importance of the Venezuelan community in Weston.

Panna started selling Venezuelan food — tequeños (fried dough-wrapped cheese sticks), empanadas (dough with a filling), and cachitos (ham-filled rolls) — at a gas station in Weston in 2000. It still does.

The company, which Rueda joined in 2014, now has five restaurants and coffee shops in Weston, Doral and Orlando.

Panna today has more than 200 employees, and the company produces and distributes its products to retailers, including Walmart, in 40 states. It had $45 million in revenue in its most recent year of business, Rueda said.

The now larger company’s products serve a wider range of tastes, including Argentinian empanadas, which use wheat as the main ingredient and are baked; Colombian empanadas, which have a yellow-corn base and are fried; and Venezuelan empanadas, which have a white corn base and also are fried, he said.

Why Weston

There are varied, complex and often interrelated reasons why so many Venezuelans have made Westonzuela their home.

Venezuelans have been coming to the U.S. for decades in waves, sometimes motivated more by economics, sometimes motivated by political turmoil and repression.

Weston has long been a prime destination. Wasserman Schultz said it is home to people who have lived in the community for decades along with newer arrivals.

Decades ago, some wealthier Venezuelans began splitting their time between South Florida and their home country, gradually spending more and more time. Some people with the financial ability moved their families to the area and, for a time, returned to Venezuela to conduct business.

Later, Venezuelans fled economic chaos and lawlessness under the repressive regimes of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Upheavals, repression and economic turmoil under those leaders sometimes produced large influxes of new arrivals.

(President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted, without offering evidence, that Maduro emptied prisons and mental institutions and sent millions of violent criminals to the United States.)

Attracted by the city’s reputation for having stellar schools and one of the lowest crime rates in Florida, many immigrants from Venezuela settled in Weston. Crime statistics show the city continues to have one of the lowest crime rates in the state and nation.

Rueda, who moved to the U.S. in 2006 as his career advanced with a Fortune 500 company, recalls that real estate companies had sales offices in Venezuela.

Fabio Andrade, who is Colombian, said that years ago developers building in the planned city of Weston advertised to potential buyers in Venezuela and Colombia. Old news coverage about Arvida, the company that planned and developed Weston, reported that developers advertised in those countries in the 1990s and early 2000s.

“That is how both the Colombian and the Venezuelan communities started coming to Broward,” Andrade said.

Elected to the Weston City Commission in 2024, Andrade founded the Americas Community Center decades ago, and the organization still runs programs helping Hispanic immigrants with assistance in jobs and networking in Broward County.

Given his corporate career that brought him to the U.S., Rueda said he’s different from many Venezuelan immigrants. He’s similar, though, in that schools attracted him to Weston, in 2016. “Weston became a very attractive place because of the education,” he said. “The Venezuelan people value education.”

Ramón Peraza, 70, said he arrived in Weston 22 years ago with his wife and four children, then between 9 and 18 years old. The family has grown; he now has four grandchildren.

A few years after arriving, they bought Café Canela on the Weston-Sunrise border, where he said most of his customers were, and remain, Venezuelan.

He was an electrical engineer, who came to the U.S. for better opportunities, having previously vacationed here. Peraza said he left Venezuela, because it was impossible to work there. And he’s now a citizen of the U.S., which he called “a great nation, the best nation in the world.”

Gamarra said earlier phases of Venezuelan migration featured people with more money and more education, who were better able to afford to buy in Weston. Many of the more recent arrivals didn’t have financial resources to buy homes in an upscale community and are more dispersed.

U.S. politics

There aren’t any Venezuelan Americans in elected office in Broward, Ferro said. But the community enjoys some political clout even though it is not a large voting block.

Amassing influence and getting people elected takes time. Some immigrants were concentrating on making a living. It also takes time to gain citizenship, which allows people to vote.

And some immigrants had a bad feeling about politics in general, after fleeing a country where disagreeing with the regime could lead to harsh treatment. “Many of the people fled from Venezuela because they don’t want to continue living a life where politics has to be the main thing in your life,” Rueda said.

Still, political leaders in both parties are responsive to the Venezuelan community.

Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, has long been an outspoken critic of the Chavez and Maduro governments — and has often advocated more hawkish U.S. policy toward the country’s dictatorial leaders than other Democrats. In 2019, she visited the Colombian-Venezuelan border and met with refugees.

Gamarra said the congresswoman is reflecting her constituency “probably better than any other Democrat that I know of. … She certainly wasn’t doing the progressive agenda with them. The rest of the Democratic candidates were never able to do what she did.”

Andrade, who was the founding president of Republican Amigos, a Broward political club, also said the Democratic congresswoman has been responsive to the Venezuelan and Colombian communities.

For many years, Gamarra said, Venezuelans who had become citizens tended to lean Democratic, something he said changed with the rise of Trump in 2016.

As to how Venezuelan Americans vote in 2026 and beyond, that’s unclear. “How the Venezuelan vote plays out is going to greatly depend on how the next few months goes,” Wasserman Schultz said.

Anxious, optimistic

Many in the Venezuelan community praised Trump’s actions that removed Maduro. “We are very, very happy what the United States is doing about liberty for Venezuela,” Peraza said.

Others are concerned about what comes next in the country and whether the administration’s efforts to end temporary protected status, known as TPS, will result in mass deportations of Venezuelans.

The Trump administration is terminating TPS, a humanitarian program, which allows people who’ve fled turmoil in their home countries and can’t return home to legally live and work in the U.S. The administration is working to end TPS for people from multiple troubled countries.

If large numbers of Venezuelans are forced to leave, Gamarra said the effects would be significant. “It’ll be big. I don’t think we fully understand that yet.”

Republican Andrade and Democrat Ferro said the end of TPS is a major concern.

On Friday, Wasserman Schultz and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto of Orlando, led 70 Democrats in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding they immediately restore TPS for Venezuelans.

Questions remain about the nature of the government the Trump administration is allowing to run the country, with many Maduro allies in positions of power, including his vice president. And people in the country may be unable to obtain basic goods and services, something that was already difficult under the crumbling Maduro-led economy.

Wasserman Schultz called the capture and removal of Maduro “welcome news.”

“The real concern that exists right now among Venezuelans in our community in Broward is that they’ve cut off the head of a snake and swapped it for another head on top of the same snake’s body,” Wasserman Schultz said. “So while there’s excitement and hope, probably still cautious optimism, there’s real concern.”

Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

Evelyn Cruz, 43, had faced over 50 felony charges following her arrest in January 2025. But prosecutors with Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution dropped most of the charges, and on Tuesday, she pleaded no contest to only one count of grand theft and one count of proprietorshop by non-dentists, Palm Beach County court records show.

Cruz was sentenced to 28 days in jail with credit for 28 days she already served, 48 months of probation, and restitution.

State investigators said in a probable cause affidavit that the Florida government had originally denied Cruz a business license she had sought because she is not a dentist. Then, beginning in 2012, she began opening dental practices in Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines and Doral under the names of actual licensed dentists.

At first, the affidavit said, many of the dentists Cruz listed did not know that their names were being used. She later switched all of the offices over to Dr. Ivan Pelton, who allowed her to use his name despite the fact that Cruz was the true owner and operator. Pelton was also criminally charged, but prosecutors dropped all of the charges against him.

Between 2019 and 2024, the dental offices collectively billed insurance companies over $11 million, according to the affidavit. After the Boynton Beach location changed hands in 2021, the new owners discovered that insurance companies had been billed and over 80 patients had been charged for work that was not performed or overcharged, according to the affidavit, many of them 65 or older.

In 2021, Cruz and her husband used over $500,000 in proceeds from the dental offices to buy a $1.8 million beachside home on Manasota Key, south of Sarasota, according to the affidavit. When investigators searched the Cruzes’ other home in Southwest Ranches in 2023, they found over $300,000 in cash wrapped in patient cash receipts in trash bags in their closets.

State investigators had also arrested Cruz’s husband last year, but prosecutors never filed charges against him.

Prosecutors originally charged Cruz with over 30 counts of insurance fraud, one count of organized scheme to defraud between $20,000 and $100,000, 10 counts of theft from persons 65 years or older, four counts of proprietorship by non-dentists and one count of grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000 following a three-year investigation.

Last month, prosecutors dropped all of the charges except for one count each of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and proprietorship by non-dentists. On Monday, they also dismissed the organized scheme to defraud charge.

Cruz’s attorney, Jason Weiss, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel Wednesday that prosecutors dropped many of the charges after it came to light that his client had relied on the advice of an attorney and did not knowingly commit fraud.

“If mistakes were made, they were made unintentionally and ultimately were not and did not constitute evidence of any kind of large-scale fraud,” Weiss said. He did not provide further information about the attorney.

In regards to the insurance fraud allegations, he added, the overcharging was done in error and not intentionally fraudulent.

“In any large-scale billing company there are going to be errors,” he said. “Whether the errors are made with criminal intent or not separates mistakes from crimes.”

As part of the plea agreement, Cruz must forfeit close to $500,000 she obtained from the dental offices, but she does not have to forfeit the Manasota Key home.

The office of Statewide Prosecutors did not respond to questions seeking comment Wednesday.

The nonprofit group, which is celebrating 75 years of bringing together orchid enthusiasts while providing educational opportunities and supporting conservation efforts, will haul in thousands of the delicate flowering plants from growing centers around the world.

“Our amazing show and sale will completely transform the Dodge City Center auditorium with fragrant, exotic blooms, along with elaborate vendor displays” from Friday through Sunday, show organizer Luanne Betz said.

Every year, the show has a new theme, and this time, Gretchen Denton, who serves on the board of trustees, found inspiration reading the comic novel, “Orchid Territory,” according to Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society member John Soto.

“The orchid displays are all inspired by the theme, so there will be references to ‘Orchid Magic’ within the designs,” he said.

Whether you’re a hobbyist or just want to ogle some eye-catching orchids, you can mingle with hybridizers and growers from Ecuador and Florida, including Soroa, Krull-Smith and Quest Orchids. But the orchids aren’t just pretty to look at: Sellers will have varieties available for purchase, along with gift items, books, orchid supplies, educational materials and free classes.

New this year is the Orchid Magic Online Auction, which is running simultaneously on the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society’s website through Sunday and features items such as sports memorabilia, travel stays and a wine tasting for 20 people.

The annual show and sale is the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society’s primary fundraiser. The group’s meetings, which are open to the public, take place at 7:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month at Christ Lutheran Church Social Hall, 1955 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale.

“[This event] preserves orchid knowledge through the juried exhibits, free classes and expert growers on-site. It supports orchid conservation through the awareness of the Million Orchid Project and focusing on indigenous orchids.” said Soto, referring to the South Florida initiative to reintroduce native orchids.

“The orchid show is a very important event that sustains, educates and connects the orchid community in South Florida,”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society’s 66th Annual Orchid Show and Sale

WHEN: 9-11 a.m. (VIP early shopping) and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (general admission) Friday, Jan. 9; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10; and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11

WHERE: Charles F. Dodge City Center, 601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines

COST: $15 general admission; get $3 off by clicking the unlock button and using code SHOW26 at Ticketmaster.com; free entry for children younger than 12. VIP admission costs $40 at flos.org.

INFORMATION: flos.org

The 46-year-old congresswoman made a brief appearance before magistrate Lisette M. Reid, who agreed to postpone the arraignment until Jan. 20, 2026.

After she left the courtroom at the C. Clyde Atkins Federal Courthouse in Miami, Cherfilus-McCormick said again she was innocent of any corruption charges brought by the federal government.

“I just want to make it clear that I am innocent and in no way I stole any kind of funds,” she told reporters on the courthouse steps.

“I am committed to the people of Florida in my district,” she said. “We are going to continue fighting and making sure everyone gets the representation they need.”

The congresswoman, who has pleaded not guilty and has been free on two bonds with a combined value of $60,000 since late November, was indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of using FEMA money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Overall, she is charged with 15 federal counts, including theft of government funds, money laundering, straw donor campaign contributions, false tax statements, and conspiracy.

The charges revolve around Cherfilus-McCormick’s family-run company Trinity Health Care Services, which received a Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded contract from the state of Florida to conduct COVID-19 testing and outreach in minority communities during the pandemic. The state overpaid on the contract by $5 million.

Co-defendants include her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, 51, also of Miramar; tax preparer David K. Spencer, 41, of Davie; and Nadege Leblanc, 46, also of Miramar. Edwin Cherfilus has retained representation through the federal public defender’s office.

Cherfilus-McCormick said on Monday she looks forward to her day in court “so we can prove our innocence.”

“There is no place ever in my life where I have ever been accused of anything,” she said. “We look forward to the facts in defending ourselves.”

Speaking on her behalf, Miami criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus accused unnamed members of the state Democratic party of “targeting the congresswoman.” Without being specific, he said that “we’ve started to uncover evidence that folks within the Florida Democratic party are the ones targeting the congresswoman, and we’re very troubled by that. We’ll be looking at that more and more as the case goes forward, and exposing those folks targeting the good congresswoman.”

Earlier he told the court that he and his firm Markus / Moss are “working hard” on securing legal representation for Cherfilus-McCormick.

The congresswoman has represented District 20, which covers large sections of Broward and Palm Beach counties, since 2021. She is a candidate for re-election in next year’s general election.

On Nov. 25, the congresswoman surrendered to authorities in Miami and was released on bond but without pretrial supervision. A federal magistrate judge ordered her to surrender her personal passport, and said her travels should be confined to and from South Florida, the District of Columbia, the District of Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia. This month, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, who is assigned the case, gave her permission to visit her mother-in-law in Brevard County after the latter underwent back surgery, according to court files.

Separately, under rules of the House Democratic Caucus, Cherfilius-McCormick was placed on leave as ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

Edited portrait

Last week, a “vivid yellow diamond” ring the congresswoman allegedly purchased for $109,000 with some of the government money became the focus of a social media controversy.

In her official portrait on the U.S. House of Representatives website, she is shown wearing a diamond ring.

In a Christmas note to constituents on the social media platform X, the congresswoman posted a portrait of herself along with a holiday message.

But the ring was missing from the portrait and X users, according to various national and regional media reports, asked what happened to it.

In a statement to WPEC-CBS 12, Cherfilus-McCormick’s chief of staff, Naomie Pierre-Louis, said the edit of the photo “was not directed, approved or authorized by the Congresswoman.”

“It was a staff-level decision made by well-intentioned individuals seeking to protect the Member’s reputation. It was unauthorized and should not have occurred,” Pierre-Louis added. “The image is the Congresswoman’s official portrait, and she has no intention of altering or editing it now or in the future.”

This article was updated after publication to correct the name of defense attorney David Oscar Markus’ firm, Markus / Moss.