The 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment Rough Riders will host their annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Ybor City this Saturday, March 14, 2009. The parade will begin at 8:00 pm...........here
Today, Tampa Mayor, Pam Iorio announced the members of a citizen's task force that will work with the City of Tampa and TECO Energy to develop energy conservation policies for our community.............here
Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair’s lawsuit against Kevin Beckner, who beat him in 2008 at the polls, reeks of sore loser rather than a principled stand for the truth..........more
Ridership continues to grow on Amtrak's Silver Star serving Tampa on its New York-Miami route, bucking nationwide projections of lower ridership because of the recession and a decline in gasoline prices..............more
Saying not enough is being done to preserve Tampa's crumbling architectural legacy, a councilwoman wants the Iorio administration to get tougher with private property owners who allow historical buildings to deteriorate..........more
Beat a 2-year-old girl unconscious, causing her to stop breathing. He was arrested about 12:10 p.m. Sunday on one count of aggravated child abuse. Sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. Sunday, Lopez wrapped a white towel around the girl's arms and torso and also wrapped her in a blanket. He then struck her repeatedly..................here
South Tampa residents are crying about Gasparilla. Over 30 people showed up at a meeting to complain about the day long invasion and parade..........here
Fresh from their release of No Line on the Horizon and a week performing on Letterman, U2 has announced a world tour of stadium shows. U2tours.com says the band will play Tampa's Raymond James Stadium on Oct. 9.........here
If Rick Baker is playing coy about political future, he wasn't too shy today when he met with Kathleen Shanahan, an uber-connected former chief of staff to Jeb Bush and Dick Cheney. Unsure of what the meeting was about, but Baker met with Shanahan at Atwater's, the popular restaurant in the heart of St. Pete's Midtown.........more
Tampa Artist Inc. is a Fine Art Non-Profit organization that is dedicated to assisting and promoting local area artists through exhibitions/events and linking local Tampa artists to other artists in the Tampa and St. Pete community...........here http://www.cristinafernandez.us/
Tampa Electric today announced that it has signed a contract to purchase solar power supplied by Energy 5.0’s Florida Solar I facility, a proposed 25-megawatt solar PV electric generating station, for a 25-year period beginning in 2011...........more
For the 5th year in a row, Legislators have announced they will seek to abolish local control of wetlands permitting, especially by our Environmental Protection Commission. Who are this year’s lucky sponsors of the amendment/bill? Why Hillsborough County’s own Rep. Rich Glorioso, and Rep. Faye Culp............more
Riding a bike on a cold day is never easy when you factor in wind chill. Today I dressed in a number of layers as I prepared myself for the 14.5 mile bike ride along the Upper Tampa By Trail...........more
Immokalee is the tomato capital of the United States. Between December and May, as much as 90 percent of the fresh domestic tomatoes we eat come from south Florida, and Immokalee is home to one of the area’s largest communities of farmworkers........more
Dr. Hiram J. Hampton owned and operated the Tampa Heights Sanitarium in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, advertising his services........here Local lore oft repeats the story that the Hamptons' backs are turned deliberately to the city.
As the state legislature considers the final approvals to start construction on SunRail, it's time to rally the troops.This is a grass-roots group consisting of Floridians who believe Central Florida needs to expand its transit offerings - starting with SunRail...........here
I despise Fidel Castro and everything about his "revolution."Castro has enslaved and deprived an entire nation of hope, democracy and freedom for half a century. I despise all that he is, just as I despise all dictators. Imagine living in a country where every basic freedom is denied and the state decides at every turn what's good for you and what's not good..........more
Club Czar in Ybor City returns to its roots for one night this week to celebrate Tampa's golden days of drag. The reunion event will star the same queens who performed there in the early 1980s when the bar, then called El Goya, was the only gay nightspot in Ybor...........more
Loved...Admired...Hated!!! Charismatic to some and revolting to others. Joe Redner is most often associated with owning one of the most famous nude clubs in America...
While walking around the Ybor Saturday Market the other day, I ran across a booth selling one of my favorite things: hot sauces!.............more 3 Mile Sauce and Salsa
Florida's CSX deal..from $491 million in 2006, to $650 million in 08, to 2.6 billion this year. And as this powerful editorial in The Ledger today points out....no one in the Republican legislature really pays much attention to it..........more
Peter Bordwell, whose 156 rabbits and four cats were confiscated for improper confinement six weeks ago, was in court Friday pleading for his kittens back..........here
Rep. Adam Hasner apparently opposes freedom of speech for Muslims. A group of Florida Muslims wants to go to the capitol during the session and lobby on behalf of education, healthcare and the economy...........here
It is amazing how much damage President Barack Obama has done to this country in his first 3 weeks of power. Most presidents govern… Obama rules..........here
Here is a list of the hypocrites who were so bold, so principled about their opposition to the stimulus bill. Instead of spending their time trying to help fix a problem, they complained for political capital........here
Adam Putnam, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Tom Rooney, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ginny Brown-Waite, Cliff Stearns, Bill Posey And John Mica.
With Democratic Party career politicians Gelber and Meek repeating the same tired old imperial foreign policy platitudes as the Republicans on the Middle East that will keep us in perpetual war that is draining our economy at the very time we are sinking into another Depression, the Democratic nomination race for U.S. Senate is shaping up as just another right wing echo chamber that shuts out any discussion of an alternative foreign policy and will deny Florida voters a fundamental choice that is at stake in next year’s election. Matt Damon has the potential to add that voice to the debate, and actually be electable...........more
A hundred years ago, it served as a horse stable for Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Most recently, it housed a micro-brewery. Today, the 103-year-old building in Ybor City is reinventing itself again, this time as a model for sustainable development..........more
Creative Loafing has a new website and I’m one of their contributing writers. They invited me to their launch party and I thought it’d be fun. That’s what I get for thinking. I put on my hot mama jeans, did my hair, and even applied some goddamn makeup. One of my favorite Republicans, Jim Johnson, said he’d meet me there so I stuck the boys with my mom for the evening and took off for South Tampa..........more