The decision to change the format of an upcoming mayoral debate has led to the departure of one of the original sponsors of the event.
Over the past decade, deep Red states like Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia have enacted serious criminal justice reforms. Florida? Not so much. That was going to change in 2017, several state lawmakers predicted earlier this year. Except it didn’t. “We walked into this session very high on idealism, thinking that we could accomplish quite a bit, that the climate was right for this,” said St. Petersburg Democratic state Senator Darryl Rouson, while speaking to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club in St.…
Armed with the results of a new poll they say shows overwhelming support for their side of the issue, a group of veterans held a news conference in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse Annex in Tampa today warning members of the County Commission to resist any temptation to reverse their vote to keeping a controversial Confederate monument in front off the building.
Three nights after their latest debate ended in chaos, the candidates running for mayor of St. Petersburg engaged in a restrained affair Thursday night. The most dynamic performer on the stage was Jesse Nevel, the 27-year-old Uhuru firebrand who blasted Mayor Rick Kriseman and former mayor Rick Baker throughout the 83-minute affair, while varying his message beyond a call for reparations for the black community.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist said he now supports moving the Confederate monument. The Republican voted the opposite way last month, but now thinks it should be relocated if a proper location will accept it. Crist was one of four Republicans on the County Commission who sided with activists to keep the monument in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse Annex, a controversial decision that has outraged many parts of the community.
Barbara Zdravecky, who has served as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida since 1993, is stepping down. Her departure is effective January 2018.
Not surprisingly, U.S. Representative Kathy Castor is giving a thumbs down to the Senate’s revised health care bill. “Unfortunately, the latest GOP Trumpcare bill is just as terrible as the previous version,” she said in a statement. “The inclusion of the Cruz Amendment would inflict even greater suffering for Americans with pre-existing conditions – on top of an already brutal bill.” The “Cruz Amendment” proposed by Republican U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee would allow insurers to sell plans that do…
