Hays Blinckmann

Naysayers say there is no such thing as a good deal, but they never saw this bargain coming. Tis the season for “local specials” and Sunset Key Cottages is besting most of them. The resort is usually only available to flush tourists and has an exclusive offer for Florida...

Ask any mother: parenting requires far more than just love, but strength, and tons of it. Who has it tenfold? Renee Makimaa, inside and out. For 26 years, the New Jersey native and mother of two has proven to be the strongest of women.  Makimaa started on tourist boats in...

It took a while, but the city has once again been able to fill the position of bicycle/pedestrian/transportation coordinator – locally dubbed “bike czar." It’s been bumpy progress for anyone who’s tried to tackle the city’s congestion and transportation puzzle — ask Chris Hamilton, who took the job in...

There must be something about helping the planet that makes one happier and generally more fun to be around. It’s not a sentiment often associated with government employees, but Alison Higgins, sustainability coordinator for the City of Key West, sees great things for the city and is doing something...

It was her voice, with the slight Midwest cadence and Oklahoma lilt, that became my daily highlight. Reading the news on radio station 106.9, Linda Russin, owner, personalized the local airwaves and made us all feel at home. Hearing of her sudden passing last week, I looked back through...

The clock is ticking down to May 3, when changes to the almost five-decade-old Title X program will see dramatic revamping and decreased health care services for poor and uninsured women. The new rules deeply concern Cali Roberts, director of Womankind, who met with U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell on...

It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for research diver Lucja Rice, faculty with the Diving Business & Technology department at the Florida Keys Community College. On April 12, she went to check on recent find “Agnes," a Caribbean reef octopus hidden in the rocks in the FKCC’s lagoon. During Rice’s...

It’s funny, almost. Florida legislators and Key West city officials are using the exact same argument on opposite sides of the issue to prove their point. Key West thought it had put the sunscreen topic to bed (coral bed, that is) with a 6-1 ban on sunscreens containing oxybenzone...

It’s a blinding, searing pain that can immobilize the strongest of women, the dreaded Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Nowadays, it’s hard to find a woman who hasn’t clutched the toilet paper roll or been rendered speechless trying to pee. If the doctor should ask, it’s a pain factor 10...

By Hays Blinckmann and Sarah Thomas We came across a historical artifact: The “Good Wife’s Guide,” rumored to have been published in the May 13, 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly. It offers advice on how to groom, behave, and treat your man for the best results in the house. When we...

According to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control, 1 out of 59 children ages 8-11 place somewhere on the Autism spectrum. The data was taken from 2014 school records and was up from 1 in 68 two years previous; so imagine the number for 2019? Autism is now...

It’s hard to miss her cobalt blue eyes and inviting smile. Jessica Long was made for marketing, full of good humor and radiating a confident business sense. She is a Key West success story, moving here in her early 20s, bartending until pursuing and making it in the corporate world...