Florida May Get Its First Gay Legislator

Broward voters could send the Florida's first openly gay legislator to Tallahassee in this year's elections. Mark LaFontaine is one of four candidates who have declared their intentions to run in District 92, which takes in Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lazy Lake, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Wilton Manors.........here

Dunedin, Florida: 6 Storks On The Roof

Dunedin Daily Photo

Golfer Whacks Hawk At Florida Golf Course

Golf courses are interesting examples of peculiar human habitats that are as likely to attract wildlife as they are to kill it. The wide open green spaces, abundant greenery and water, and scattered trees must make it seem like attractive habitat to many a species, and it is not uncommon to find many birds.......here

Naples Botanical Garden seeks your help

Imagine, in late 2010, everyone in our community will be able to immerse themselves in gardens from around the globe, wind their way through seven different pristine native habitats of Southwest Florida and delight in watching children explore treehouses, waterfalls and a secret garden.....here

Florida 10,000 BC

Before everything we know, prehistoric people hunted mammoths, built large pyramid mounds along our coast, and lived in fear of the saber cat, lion, and bear. On March 8th and 9th, 2008 the Florida State Fairgrounds Special Events Center will go back in time to a different land, when the Tampa Bay Fossil Club presents, Florida, 10,000 B.C.!........here

Flight To Growth On Florida Coast

Florida's Forgotten Coast, which stretches about 100 miles along the Gulf of Mexico from Mexico Beach east to St. Marks. Mom-and-pop motels, bait shops and undeveloped beaches dot the coast south of the Apalachicola National Forest. Big changes may be in store for this often overlooked area: A new $330 million international airport, pushed by the St. Joe Co. and political leaders over the objection of environmentalists, is scheduled to open in early 2010 on a 4,000-acre site north of Panama City.......here

Florida Golf Development, Eagles Coexist

Bobby Ginn gave up the nicest lots in his luxury golf course community to a couple that just flew in and made themselves at home. Three years later, Ginn is happy with the deal. So, apparently, are the bald eagles nesting with a multimillion-dollar view: They recently had babies.........here

Help Honor Rep. Robert Wexler with Backbone Award

Please go and show your support. The meeting will be held at Le Club at Century Village in Deerfield Beach. Exit I-95 at Hillsborough West. March 10th, at 7 p.m.......more

Clinton Cribs from the Bush Florida Stolen Election

If you wanted to compare the playbook of the Clinton campaign since New Hampshire, you'd find the right precedent in the Bush v. Gore race, only Clinton would be channeling Bush, not Gore........here

Florida Farmworkers Tell Burger King: Yes, You Will

This week, the group launched a national campaign to get Burger King to boost wages and use their economic clout to ensure better treatment of farmworkers: They've been asking for years but haven't gotten what they want. So the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is bringing out its big guns: a high-profile, multi-faceted national campaign and the threat of a boycott designed to persuade Burger King to pay a penny more a pound for tomatoes and "eliminate slavery and human rights abuses from Florida's fields.".......more

Florida: 2007's Top 10 Biting Breeds

To reinforce the current debate regarding a Florida state proposed law to ban dangerous breeds, two counties have released dog bite data. What is important to remember when looking at dog bite statistics is to understand, What constitutes a bite?..........here

The Car Culture In Tampa

The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority is hosting the first round of public workshops for a master plan to improve mobility within its seven counties: Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota. The authority has two years to approve a plan. The first workshop is Monday in Temple Terrace.......here

Republican Ronda Storms

Sen. Ronda Storms has introduced legislation that city officials say would severely hamper their efforts State to revitalize neighborhoods like East Tampa and Tampa Heights. Storms, a Republican from Brandon, has proposed limiting to 15 years the life of special taxing districts intended to boost economic development in blighted areas.......more

Mr. Snel Goes to Washington

This week, Snel was one of 500 bicycle activists attending the 2008 National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for pro-bicycle legislation. 500 bicycle lobbyists?.......here

McCain/Clinton 2008

The idea of a third party alternative has long been a dream of progressives in America. It has also too often been a fantasy and a distracting albatross. Particularly since the Bill Clinton era of centrist sell-out - but really going back to the Reagan period of Democratic cowardice, the McGovern campaign of entrenched Party power acting shamelessly toward their nominee, and certainly the Johnson debacle in Vietnam - progressives have been looking to ditch the shell of the former New Deal now doing business as the corroded (and corrosive) Democratic Party........more
Four More Years

Tampa Bay Historical Markers

The Birth of Ybor City
In Oct. 1885, John T. Lesley sold to V. Martinez Ybor & Co. the first tract of land on which was built the original Ybor City. Purchased for $9,000 cash, Tampa citizens underwrote $4,000 of this amount to the new owners in pledged land and notes.....here

Florida's New "I Believe" License Plates

Ronda Storms bill (SB 2010) to create an "I Believe" license plate, which would feature a crucifix and send proceeds to Faith in Teaching, a group "dedicated to funding education in Florida's faith based community."..........here

New Conservation Initiative Launched for Florida's Wild Dolphins

The journalism class of Plantation High School is joining the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), as well as state, federal and international partners, in a campaign to raise awareness among youth of threats to dolphins, manatees and the marine environment throughout the State......here

Hypocrite of the Week: Florida Governor Charlie Crist

As far as Republican governors go, Charlie Crist appears to be a pretty good guy. He comes across as fair, smart, even-handed and independent in his thinking, and he has even broken ranks with conservatives from time to time to do what he perceives to be the right thing.......more

Hillary And Florida Senator Bill Nelson In The Backroom

Howard Dean told Florida Senator Bill Nelson in a private conversation today that he wouldn't agree to funding a revote in the state, despite the Senator' demand today that the DNC fund a rerun of the Florida contest. Nelson, a major Hillary supporter, said today that a revote might be the only way to get Florida's voters heard, a declaration that was taken by Dem party insiders as a sign that the Hillary camp is moving towards calling for a revote and is floating that message through him......here

No Florida "Re-Vote"

Many people agree and have written about it in blogs and columns online. But the feeling isn't unanimous. An electronic grassroots effort to oppose the move to count Florida is growing. A chain email says Barack Obama could be 'bamboozled out of the presidency' if the Florida primary votes count. It urges sympathetic voters to write to the DNC and request that they stick to their original plan of not seating Florida delegates at the convention.......more

Victor Dimaio, of Tampa, announced Thursday he may file a legal injunction that would prevent Florida from holding a re-vote. Just last year, Dimaio sued to have Florida's delegates seated at the convention.

The New York Times Selling The Florida Panhandle

But this, too, is Florida — and no, not the Everglades. It’s the truly Southern, less developed, oft-overlooked Panhandle. And its treasures, though quiet, are bountiful. The Florida Panhandle comprises about 12,000 square miles of diverse settings, from densely wooded state parks and oyster-rich river basins to small towns as neat as stage sets and dazzling Gulf Coast beaches with sand dunes as white as sculptured marble........more

Vultures Wreaking Havoc On Bartow, Florida

An army of ravenous vultures is invading this quiet Polk community, ripping shingles from rooftops, chewing on the rubber linings of car doors and windows, and leaving behind an overwhelming stench from their waste.......here

Florida's Wild Side

To penetrate the narrow, overgrown channels that weave into the mangrove swamps at the southwestern tip of Florida, speed is of the essence. Relax the throttle too much, our guide explained, and we would get stuck in the pungent tidal mud that lurked just inches beneath our flat-bottomed boat......more