Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald looks at ideological divides in the U.S., responses to the earthquake in Haiti, and the way the nation talks about race.

 

The U.S. Labor Department will release current employment numbers later this morning.  Slate associate Editor Chris Wilson has put together an interactive map that shows the nation's transformation over the past two years, as big job gains turned into painful job losses.  We take a look at two intriguing areas of the country: the first is South Florida, where Ned Murray, associate director of the Florida International University Metropolitan Center, blames the housing bubble's burst, amongst other things, for the ballooning unemployment over the past two years there.  The other area we will focus on is Riley County, Kansas, where they've actually seen job gains, unlike most of the rest of the country. In January of 2007 they had seen 807 more jobs than the year before; and in October of 2009, they saw 10,927 jobs gained. Michael Kearns, Riley County commissioner, attributes the growth of Fort Riley as a key factor in Riley's success.

Florida taxpayers spend roughly $45 million a year subsidizing health care for government employees. More than 27,000 government officials – including Governor Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), now a candidate for U.S. Senate – pay no premiums at all. Once a simple benefit of public service, these perks are now being called into question amid the nationwide debate over healthcare reform. For more on the story, we speak with Beth Reinhard, political writer for the Miami Herald.

The Sunshine State is buzzing over Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez's sudden resignation. Governor Charlie Crist, the Republican front-runner for this Senate seat in 2010, must pick a replacement who won't challenge him, and won't hurt him in a contested GOP primary. Joining The Takeaway to talk about this is Joshua Johnson of WLRN-Miami Herald News, and Al Cardenas, former chair of the Republican Party of Florida. He's also a good friend of Senator Mel Martinez.

A makeshift sailboat carrying close to 200 people capsized off the coast of the Turks and Caicos Islands. At least fifteen are dead. The boat was carrying Haitians aiming to make the U.S. coastline in Miami and had been at sea for three day before hitting a reef. Lieutenant Commander Matt Morlag, spokesman for the U.S. Coastguard in Miami, joins us with an update on the continuing search.

My aunts and uncle called me from L.A. just as the game was ending. All I could hear was a loud buzzing from my phone – it was them cheering, hooting, hollering, letting the world know that the Los Angeles Lakers are now the NBA champions.

Did the Orlando Magic realize they were in an NBA final? They looked lost. The Lakers, on the other hand, knew exactly where they were. Their five-game series win doesn't quite sweep away the drubbing they got from the Boston Celtics last year, but they did become one of only two teams to win the NBA championship a year after losing. As a franchise, the Lakers have won 50 percent of the finals they have played in. They can legitimately claim to be one of the most dominant franchises in sports.

This is the tenth NBA title for legendary coach Phil Jackson. (Jackson won as a player with the Knicks.) He coached the Chicago Bulls to six titles and the Lakers to four. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher now have four each. But this year the NBA playoffs made stars out of some previously unknown players. Guys like Trevor Ariza, Houston's Aaron Brooks (whose play brought the Lakers to the brink in seven games) and the Celtics’ Glenn Davis, whose heroics on a team playing without star Kevin Garnett, made the C’s still feel like a contender before they went down to the Magic in seven. This year also brought some players like LeBron James and Dwight Howard back down to earth. In the end, though, this NBA season was all about a 30-year-old veteran named Kobe Bryant. He showed that he can win without Shaq; he is the best player in the league; and he’s got a lot more left in the tank. He's also got a team around him that is young and hungry for more.

Polo fans and equestrian-lovers watched in horror as seven horses sickened and died in front of their eyes. The horses were meant to take the field for a polo match in Wellington, Florida on Sunday afternoon. Soon seven other horses fell sick. Veterinarians rushed the fields, but were unable to save a single horse. By Monday, 21 horses, all from the same Venezuelan team, had died. Now, investigators are searching for the cause. The Takeaway turns to Brian Haas, a newspaper reporter on the ground in Florida and Dr Celeste Kunz, a horse veterinarian, to try and piece together this equine mystery.

For more, read Brian Haas' article, PBSO and state investigations launched in deaths of 21 horses in Wellington in the Sun Sentinel.

CBS News has this report:



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President Obama found a new head for FEMA yesterday: Craig Fugate. Fugate is the Director of Florida Emergency Management and in that role he guided the way through hurricanes and wildfires and everything else nature has thrown at the Sunshine State. Joining us for an overview of the new FEMA leader is Mark Simpson, assistant news director at WMFE and host of the local show Intersection in Orlando, Florida.

Click here for our guide to who's who in Obama's cabinet