Mitch Perry - page 511

While we may be just one last court decision away before marriage equality comes to Florida, LGBT activists and their supporters are hoping that next year’s legislative session will also see a change in the Sunshine State’s anti-discrimination statute. Though cities and counties have updated their human rights ordinances to include lesbians, gays, bi-sexual and transgendered people, the fact is that the state of Florida has not. And though you may think it’s against the law to fire someone for being gay,…

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There are more than a few familiar faces among the non-incumbents who have filed to run in next year’s city council races in Tampa. Julie Jenkins, Joe Citro, Guido Maniscalco and Susan Long are all back around this cycle after losing their respective bids for office in 2011. One of the freshest personalities on the scene is University of Tampa student Tyler Barrett, who is running in the District 4 South Tampa race against incumbent Harry Cohen and businessman Kent King. In…

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They held the news television Emmy Awards this past Saturday night in Pembroke Pines, and there were a lot of winners. That’s because they handed out awards in more than 50 categories at the 38th annual National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Suncoast Chapter Emmy Awards. Since nobody else is going to do it, here’s a recap of all the folks who won from the Tampa Bay market, the state’s biggest media center. I hope I didn’t leave anybody…

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Yesterday in Nashville, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam announced the new Insure Tennessee plan, a two-year pilot program that would provide health- care coverage to tens of thousands of Tennesseans who currently don’t have access to health insurance or have limited options. The plan would be leveraged with federal dollars available through the traditional Medicaid expansion that the Obama administration expected every state to do, but which became optional after the Supreme Court 2012 ruling. In other words, this is a…

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Business and political leaders in Tampa Bay have been putting an intense focus on establishing trade relations in Central and South America in recent years, making excursions to Colombia, Panama and, most recently, Chile. Now they’re targeting Brazil. On Monday morning, the Florida Chamber of Commerce presented a two-hour discussion on creating business opportunities with the largest country in South America. Doug Davidson, a marketing executive with Bank of America, serves on the Chamber’s Global Florida Advisory Council. That’s a…

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It’s been an interesting off-season for the Tampa Bay Rays after their first losing season since 2007. First came the news that the Los Angeles Dodgers had picked off their general manager, Andrew Friedman, signing him to a $35 million contract for the next five years. Then came the blockbuster news that Joe Maddon was going to exercise a provision in his contract that allowed to opt-out under certain conditions,  such as Friedman leaving the Rays. So Maddon took off as well, stunning…

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In 2013, Clearwater state Sen. Jack Latvala introduced a succinctly written bill that would have brought Florida into compliance with nearly every other state in the country in allowing for the sale of 64-ounce growlers to be sold in Florida craft breweries. The straight-forward legislation amounted to only two lines on a piece of paper. But soon the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association (FBWA) intervened, and a nearly 12-page amendment to his modest bill was soon attached by state Sen. Maria…

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