1. Thursday, March 5, 2015 www.ocala.com 75¢
By Kristine Crane
Staff writer
Marion County Election Supervisor
Wesley Wilcox purposely left the date
off Florida’s presidential preference
primary election in the 2015 Voter’s
Guide, which was hot off the press
Monday afternoon.
That’s not something that Wilcox
would normally do, but since one of
the issues on the table of the state’s
legislative session is a bill to push
Florida’s primary election date from
March 1 to March 15, Wilcox held off
on printing a date — although he’s op-
timistic the bill will pass.
Sen. Garrett Richter,
R-Naples, who chairs
the Senate Ethics and
Elections Committee,
is proposing the bill,
which aims to make
the state compliant
with both the Republi-
can and Democratic
parties’ rules.
In the 2008 and 2012 primaries,
Florida was penalized with the loss of
delegates for holding early primaries.
The Republican National Commit-
tee has a rule that prevents delegates
with the majority of votes from
winning the state if elections take
place before March 15. If primaries
are held on or after that date, the top
candidate moves to a winner-takes-
all status.
In the upcoming elections, many
observers think that winner will be
former Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican
who served two terms and is the son
of former President George H.W.
Bush.
“What supporters of Jeb Bush want
to do is change (the rules) so that
whoever carries Florida gets all the
delegates,” said David Colburn, a
LegislatureconsidersMarch15primary
By Jim Ross
Managing editor
A
merica is no longer sweet
on dessert.
Only 12 percent of home
dinners include dessert
these days, according to a
new national study. That’s
down from 15 percent 10
years ago and 24 percent
in 1986.
This doesn’t mean cake, ice
cream and fruit are disappearing
from our diets. Those and other
treats — think of the sugar-laden
coffee drinks enjoyed by young and
old alike — remain popular.
It’s just that fewer families are
tacking treats onto the end of their
evening meals.
Dunnellon resident Michele Fye
Retter doesn’t doubt that fewer and
fewer family dinners end with a
sweet flourish.
Her take: Some people treat
dessert as a destination experience,
such as a trip to an ice cream parlor
every now and then. Or they indulge
only when they have confections left
over after a special occasion.
It is this latter category that most
interests Retter. Her home business,
Cupcakeables, supplies all sorts of
goodies for all sorts of celebrations.
“If it’s a sweet and I can make it, I
make it,” she said.
Retter said the trend among her
customers is to request custom-
made, specialty desserts: not just a
cherry pie, but a cherry pie with
coconut added.
“I’m booked all the way to
mid-April,” she said.
For the record, the new study
notwithstanding, the Retter
household (which includes two
kids ages 8 and 11) still has dessert
after most dinners — often a small
cake or such made with leftover
batter from a job.
The dessert data comes from the
NPD Group’s 29th annual “Eating
Patterns in America” report. NPD,
which describes itself as a global
information company, said the
home dinner trend is toward more
one-dish meals, sans the sweets.
The move to desert dessert is a
“step in the right direction,” accord-
ing to Jennifer Tartaglia, a regis-
tered dietitian nutritionist at the
0 390994 24006
For Home delivery
call: 867-7827
Toll Free:
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© 2015 Ocala Star-Banner
Ocala, Florida, Vol. 72, No.
161, five sections
TODAY:
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TOMORROW:
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INDEX
HIGH
84
LOW
61
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sharply divided along
familiar lines, the Supreme Court took up a
politically charged new challenge to President
Barack Obama’s health overhaul Wednesday in a
dispute over the tax subsidies that make insur-
ance affordable for millions of Americans.
The outcome in what Justice Elena Kagan called
“this never-ending saga” of Republican-led
efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act appears to
hinge on the votes of Chief Justice John Roberts,
whose vote saved the law three years ago, and
Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Roberts said almost nothing in Wednesday’s 85
minutes of lively back-and-forth, and Kennedy,
who voted to strike down the health law in 2012,
asked questions of both sides that made it hard to
tell where he might come out this time.
Otherwise, the same liberal-conservative divide
that characterized the earlier case was evident in
the packed courtroom with the same lawyers
facing off as in 2012.
Millions of people could be affected by the
court’s decision. The justices are trying to
determine whether the law makes people in all 50
states eligible for federal tax subsidies to cut the
Schoolsseefewglitches
duringWednesdaytesting
U.S. clears officer who
shot Ferguson teen, 3a
CSX’s property could
draw development, 1B
Bruce Ackerman/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Chef Herb Santiago, center, serves creamy mint mousse pie to Martha Vanderspool, left, and Jean Barnes,
right, during lunch in the cafeteria in The Estates at the Hawthorne Village Retirement Community in Ocala
on Wednesday. SEE MORE PHOTOS ONLINE AT WWW.OCALA.COM
Ditchingdessert?It’s
partofgrowingtrend
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius speaks with reporters
outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
By Joe Callahan
Staff writer
School district officials said the majority of area
middle and high schools launched computerized
testing Wednesday, with only a handful of
computer glitches reported.
The computerized writing test
is being given to eighth- through
10th-graders as part of the new
Florida Standards Assessments.
Some students across school
districts statewide experienced
glitches with logging into the
system Monday and Tuesday. Marion was
scheduled to begin testing Tuesday, but local
officials decided to postpone until the glitches
were resolved.
Principals at 17 schools were given the option to
start Wednesday or today. Officials said schools
have plenty of time to complete the writing tests
on schedule, which is by the end of next week.
Students in grades four through seven have
EAT IT UP!
FOOD PARTIES
SEASON THE
CITY, IN GO
Inside
Senate com-■■
mittee passes
bill to curb
school testing,
See page 1B
testing on Page 6A
Would you care
for some dessert?
A recent study shows few people
eat dessert after dinner at home.
Does that include you? Take our
poll at www.ocala.com and check
out the story on the Star-Banner’s
Facebook page.
Dessert on Page 6A
High court
split over
health law
challenge
Subsidies on Page 6A
primary on Page 6A
Richter
Surveyshowsfewerfamiliesindulginginsweetsafterhomedinners