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Bob Buckhorn responds to Tampa Bay Times story on TPD targeting black bicyclists

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Three days after the Tampa Bay Times‘Ā Ā explosive story that blacks in Tampa are being racially profiled and over-policed by law enforcement, Mayor Bob Buckhorn has finally issued a response. The upshot is that he says the Tampa Police Department will implement a new tracking system to monitor “every traffic stop, ticket, and warning issued, including those for cyclists.” Buckhorn also says all officers will be reminded of appropriate policies and procedures for issuing citations to cyclists, and he and Chief…

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Civil rights groups oppose police body camera bill, alarmed by public records exemptions

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Civil rights groups are sounding the alarm about public records exemptions in a police body camera bill moving through the Senate. A coalition that includes the ACLU intends to argue Thursday the exemptions are so broad they prevent disclosure of evidence of police misconduct ā€œeven in the most egregious circumstances,” Groups includingĀ Ā  Latino Justice, Organize Now, and Emerge USA say they support police-worn body cameras because they believe they will reduce instances of excessive force but that the exemptions defeat…

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Dennis Baxley on why he reversed his vote on gay adoption: ‘I simply can’t affirm homosexuality’

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Speaking to talk-show host Bill Bunkley on Tuesday afternoon, Ocala House Republican Dennis Baxley stood by his decision to reverse his vote on a bill that would provide incentives to state workers who adopt children from foster care — while also repealing part of state law that in the past banned same-sex couples from adopting. “If you get it wrong you need to own it and you need to seek forgiveness, and thatā€™s where I’ve been with this,” Baxley told…

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Mitch Perry Report for 3.24.15 — Election season ends in Tampa tonight

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

The city of Tampa’s uneventful election season comes to a halt tonight. By 8 p.m. we should have a winner in the only City Council race that remains undecided — the District 6 battle between Guido Maniscalco and Jackie Toledo. I hate the overuse of the term “Seinfeld” to describe something as being about nothing. So I’ll refrain from calling this a “Seinfeld election season,” but really, what have been the big issues in the city that have been discussed…

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ACLU attorney says House bill to prevent gay adoptions in Florida is unconstitutional

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Last week the House Health & Human Services Committee approved a proposal that would allow private adoption agencies to object to “performing, assisting in, recommending, consenting to, or participating in the placement of a child if a placement violates the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.” The measure, sponsored by Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur, would also essentially endorse discrimination, allowing any agency that denies placing a child in a home with a same-sex couple from losing its license…

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Colorado first-grader suspended for making finger gun

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Another example of zero-tolerance critique has cropped up in the news this week. A first-grader in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was suspended for pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun at another student. Six-year-old Elijah Thurston said ā€œbang, bangā€ at the other child as he made the gesture. In a climate where school shootings are becoming all too normal, the schoolā€™s reaction to suspend the young boy for a day may not seem too harsh. But consider that even…

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Kathy Castor to be part of congressional march on Selma bridge this weekend

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Kathy Castor of Tampa will be of one of approximately 100 members of Congress who will participate in the 50th anniversary of the march on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma ALĀ this weekend. The original march on the Edmund Pettis Bridge was one of the crucial civil rights marches that led to the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. “I’m very honored to be making that trip with my colleague and civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta,” Castor…

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