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Today on Context Florida: Donald Trump’s delegates, Northwood Centre, health benefits as pay and technology & privacy

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Today on Context Florida:

To win the Republican nomination in 2016, a candidate must win 1,237 delegates. After the March 22 primaries, Darryl Paulson points out that Donald Trump has 739 delegates and needs another 498 to win. If no candidate has 1,237 delegates when the convention starts, it is considered to be a contested convention. If no one secures a majority during the first ballot, the convention becomes “brokered.” Statistician Nate Silver estimates that Trump will fall about 29 delegates short of the 1,237 majorities.

In Greek mythology, Ajax is known as the guy who raped the prophetess Cassandra. In Tallahassee, Florence Snyder says Ajax is otherwise known as the absentee landlord of Northwood Centre, a state office building so sick with mold and bat poop that Gov. Rick Scott took the extraordinary step of cutting off rent payments and relocating 1,500 state employees. Among the displaced is Department of Business & Professional Regulation Secretary Ken Lawson, whose executive desk was located directly under 10 pounds of bat guano. The face and voice of Ajax is one Stuart Silberberg, described by the Tallahassee Democrat as a principal for Ajax Investment Partners, a New York City firm that has, since 2007, co-owned Northwood in partnership with Los Angeles-based JRK Birchmont.

The law on employer-paid health care has taken some strange twists in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Hobby Lobby. Its follow-up case, Zubik v. Burwell, is before the high court now. Julie Delegal asks if there is a way to reconceive health benefits as pay — and therefore as something employers have no control over once it’s disbursed?

Technology has brought us so much innovation the past few years. We now have the ability to stream movies from our cell phones and contact people across the globe. We can send important messages in a matter of seconds and essentially pack our entire lives into one small device. Our laptops and cell phones have a tremendous influence on our lives, but as Elizabeth Santiago notes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” With every phone call made and text message sent, we trust that our correspondence and anything else on our devices stays private. Up to this point, there has been a solid wall between the user and the manufacturer.

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Phil Ammann is a St. Petersburg-based journalist and blogger. With more than three decades of writing, editing and management experience, Phil produced material for both print and online, in addition to founding HRNewsDaily.com. His broad range includes covering news, local government and culture reviews for Patch.com, technical articles and profiles for BetterRVing Magazine and advice columns for a metaphysical website, among others. Phil has served as a contributor and production manager for SaintPetersBlog since 2013. He lives in St. Pete with his wife, visual artist Margaret Juul and can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @PhilAmmann.

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