(UPDATED) Labor Day 2017 got off to an early start in Tampa, with more than 120 activists joined striking McDonald’s employees calling for a $15 living wage and a union for fast-food workers. The protest outside the McDonald’s near the I-4 entrance/exit in Ybor City was one of 300 scheduled around the nation for Monday.
Attorney Keisha Bell has filed to run for the Pinellas School Board seat now held by two-term incumbent Mary Brown. According to a press release, Bell, 35, is a St. Petersburg native, a member of the NAACP and Pinellas County Urban League and a youth mentor. Bell is the first candidate to challenge one of three incumbents up for re-election this year (Brown, Linda Lerner and Peggy O’Shea). Retired teacher Charles McKenzie is also considering running against Brown.
Charles McKenzie, who unsuccessfully ran against Darryl Rouson for the state House in 2008, tells the Gradebook he is considering running for the Pinellas School Board against two-term incumbent Mary Brown. “I think she’s done the best job she could,” said McKenzie, 53, who lives in St. Petersburg and teaches at a Bible college in Tarpon Springs. But “I think I bring added experience and passion and some fresh ideas. I think it’s time to make a change.” McKenzie taught…
At Wednesday’s meeting of the St. Petersburg Democratic Club, there is an agenda item to remove Rene Flowers as Vice President of the St. Petersburg Democratic Club because of her endorsement of Republican Bill Foster for Mayor of St. Petersburg. In her defense, Flowers wrote a scathing memo to Jack Killinsworth, the president of the SPDC, outlining not only why she supports Foster, but also criticizing the club, the Pinellas Democratic Party and other local Democrats for their inconsistent support…
On the undercard of this November’s municipal elections are five races for the St. Petersburg City Council that range in intensity from the very exciting to the very boring. Here’s how they break down: District 2: Exciting – Incumbent Jim Kennedy is in trouble. How much trouble? I’m not sure. But, having met his opponent Steve Corsetti, I know Kennedy has a race on his hands. Corsetti is the kind of plain-spoken candidate that, for better or worse, appeals to…