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Iconoclast filmmaker John Waters grew up in racially segregated Baltimore, Maryland during the stifling conformity of the 1950s and early 1960s. Waters, now an openly gay man, came of age as a filmmaker in the late sixties. As a young man, he lived in a closed society where racial mixing and homosexual sodomy were illegal. Furthermore, the emerging American youth countercultures—the hippies, anti-war and student movements in the 1960s6—greatly influenced his work. The social and political unrest during this decade often resulted in confrontations with the authorities. Participants in these social movements used the media, especially television, to exploit their arrests and gain support for their causes prior to and during trial.

As early as the seventeenth century, satirists used the travel essay as a means to examine and critique societies, including their own. If an artist’s government discouraged or banned political or social critique, he was necessarily forced to disguise his criticism as fiction—the more fanciful, the better. This practice has carried over to the genre of science fiction (SF). While authors fictionalize many of the elements in SF to make their stories more exciting and bizarre, some elements have made a transition into popular culture because they resonate with the human popular imagination. As a result, many individuals believe that such elements actually exist.

Among them are popular methods of alien transportation, such as the rocket (often pictured as the “rocket to Mars”), the flying saucer, and the alien being interested in making contact with a human, either for benign or (more often) nefarious purposes. The idea that an alien intends to visit Earth in order to destroy the planet or to cause us harm is one that begins with the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds and quickly gathers popularity in novels, films, and television beginning in the mid-twentieth century, fed by actual political and cultural events.

Law school reform may well be in the air. Such reform, however, requires a social, political, and legal process that challenges the existing division of power in legal education. Absent a national accreditation process that compels broad change, the work of law school reform becomes the difficult work of institutional reform. Reform at this level requires the vision of forward-looking deans and faculty pressing reform initiatives—addressing curricular reform and pedagogical innovation, clinical education, and student life—that are matched by a profound institutional commitment of political and financial resources. Even before the recent financial crises, not all law schools were prepared for such efforts or commitments. New law school buildings were built and filled with art, carpets, and ceremonial gestures; housing spacious up-to-date libraries and electronic and media support centers; wired with Internet access throughout; and offering clinical programs and courses that reflect new developments in law. But, the traditional curriculum remained sacrosanct, and the traditional pedagogy remained largely unchanged.

On June 30, 2008, Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill enacted by the 110th Florida Legislature that called for the establishment of seagrass mitigation banks on sovereign submerged lands. Mitigation banks are a method by which third-parties can become involved in curtailing the negative environmental effects of development. Coastal development often impacts important environmental resources, such as seagrasses, and developers are typically left to shoulder the burden of compensating for those impacts. Mitigation done by a developer, known as permittee-responsible mitigation, has a history of being unsuccessful and leading to a net loss of resources. On the other hand, new federal regulations recognize mitigation banking as the preferred method of compensatory mitigation because it is a safer, more beneficial means of making up for lost resources. Governor Crist’s veto letter gives the impression that he is genuinely trying to protect seagrasses. Instead, by vetoing the bill, he has removed this beneficial method of third-party involvement—leaving the fate of impacted seagrass beds in the hands of developers.

Sharon and Kirk met in a business finance class at the University of Tampa. They were young and fell in love. Three years later, they graduated, married, and settled down in a small starter home in Tampa, Florida. Soon thereafter, Sharon gave birth to three beautiful children: Kirk, Jr., Tammy, and Geni. Sharon became a full-time homemaker in order to play a key role in their children’s upbringing and to reduce childcare costs. Meanwhile, Kirk worked long hours to provide the family with financial stability.

Unfortunately, the young family’s blissful days disappeared shortly after the birth of Geni when Sharon developed severe depression. Sharon withdrew from her family and the world as an internal darkness consumed her. Kirk quickly realized that he was unable to manage the additional family responsibilities on his own. After much debate, Sharon and Kirk asked Linda, Sharon’s widowed mother, to move in with them to assist with the child rearing and daily household chores. Linda and the three children developed a close bond over the next five years as the children came to rely on Linda for their daily emotional, psychological, and physical needs. Then, early one morning, Sharon killed herself.

The words “hometown” and “democracy” each carry their own connotations. In the State of Florida, the phrase “Hometown Democracy” uniquely connotes direct citizen control over major land use and growth decisions, bypassing elected officials. Hometown Democracy first appeared in Florida as an initiative proposing a constitutional amendment, centering on the assumption that Florida’s growth-management controls were both illconceived and detrimental. Supporters of the constitutional amendment emphasized its ability to place the power to amend and approve the state-mandated local comprehensive plans with the voters. Challengers of the amendment remained apprehensive, even more so than with foregoing pregnant-pig or highspeed-rail amendments. When the constitutional amendment failed to receive enough signatures to be placed on the 2007 ballot, local initiatives ensued, placing similar measures in local charters.

In the United States, the government that most directly affects people’s daily lives is local government (counties and municipalities). Anytime people turn on the water; walk down the sidewalk; drive on the streets or take transit; send their children to school; go to parks, recreation centers, and libraries; record their deeds; open their businesses; or build their homes; they deal with local government. Code enforcement is a function of local government and affects people’s daily lives. Its purpose is to enhance the quality of life and economy of local government by protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the community. Code violations “run with the land,” and subsequent purchasers can be held responsible for bringing the property into compliance and can be liable for payment of a lien, interest, and costs.

Local governments in Florida have adopted ordinances authorizing special magistrates to hold hearings and assess fines against violators in their respective jurisdictions. This Article discusses defenses and issues in code enforcement proceedings to provide guidance to special magistrates and private- and publicsector lawyers for fair, just, and equitable proceedings.

In 2004, Florida experienced the most active hurricane season since weather records were first recorded in 1851. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne and Tropical Storm Bonnie damaged the beach and dune system, inland structures and property, and infrastructure in most of Florida’s coastal counties. Similarly, in 2005, Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Ophelia, Rita, and Wilma and Tropical Storms Arlene and Tammy exacerbated erosion conditions throughout the State and substantially reduced the width of Florida’s beaches available for public access.

Equitable adoption affects children every year, but most people are not even aware of it. When a person dies without a will, that person dies intestate, and the probate code dictates how to distribute the person’s estate. When a child is the legally adopted child of an intestate decedent, rather than the natural, biological child, the code treats that legally adopted child as the decedent’s biological child for purposes of intestate succession. However, there is a complication when the deceased parent never formally adopted the child. Before examining the legal ramifications of equitable adoption, one must understand the situation in which equitable adoption arises—the situation in which the law must bend. Equitable adoption can take many forms, but in order to put them into practice, one must understand the basic concept.

Mitigation banking has raised the bar on compensatory mitigation by instituting accountability, financial assurances, and regular monitoring. The mitigation banking industry has improved mitigation practices throughout the United States, improvements which have carried over to other nations. Marketbased systems that transform resources into fungible commodities are an invaluable means of working toward a more ecologically sustainable future. However, as the enthusiasm surrounding market approaches continues to grow, we need to be cautious of overly relying on mitigation banks to protect broader ecosystem services and meet sustainability targets.