It’s a given that when your city and region host a mega event, such as a Super Bowl, an Olympics or a national political convention, local officials will be hustling to max out on the experience and the exposure. Sure, occupied hotel rooms in late August is an economic bonus for this market, but more [...]

Among those agreeing with Gov. Rick Scott that it’s no big deal to allow those with concealed weapons permits to pack heat in the convention event zone is RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “I understand the mayor’s (Bob Buckhorn) frustration, but in the end the Secret Service is going to decide, and I would rest easily [...]

In a previous incarnation, I was the media relations manager at the University of South Florida. Part of my job was to make the rounds of the different colleges to explain our public relations and communications mission and encourage faculty to partner for the greater good. As in, let’s not hide our achievement lights under [...]

Emily Padgett, a 20-year-old University of Florida sophomore who loves writing and sports, is the initial recipient of a UF scholarship established in the name of the late Tampa Tribune sports editor Tom McEwen. The scholarship is to be awarded yearly to a student in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications, typically to one interested [...]

Maybe at age 80, Richard Lugar shouldn’t have tempted a “Last Hurrah” scenario. The relatively reserved, notably polite Indiana senator had served six terms–but being known as a reasonable conservative with across-the-aisle appeal was no longer a political plus. Now his last race will be recorded as a blow-out, primary loss to a Tea Partier [...]

Interesting response by Mitt Romney to President Obama’s insinuation that Romney might not have authorized the successful raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound. Romney’s retort: “Any thinking American would have ordered exactly the same thing.” Oh? Recall that Vice President Joe Biden was not alone among inner-circle thinkers in giving a candid “don’t go” [...]

We now know that JPMorgan Chase, that notoriously well-run bank that really knows how to hedge against financial risk, recently lost $2.3 billion in acknowledged “sloppy” trading. Speculation, so to speak, is now rife about what might be done about it. Six words: Glass-Steagall, Dodd-Frank and Volcker Rule. Would that we could bank on it.

You often hear the term “debt to society.” As in, a convicted prisoner has paid his “debt to society” via his incarceration and now needs some societal “help” to adjust. Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts had a column on the subject recently. Several points. *People deserve a second chance. *Society needs to help those who [...]

* “He (President Vladimir Putin) sees himself as a historical figure already, a man who prevented the collapse of the country. The problem is, now he has to meet the real demands of people who are 30 years younger than him.”–Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations. * “Europe wouldn’t [...]

When it comes to evaluating teachers, a subject of unquestioned importance as well as increasing controversy, we should all be able to agree on this: The previous system needed replacing. Too often it was a nominal process with principals–who may or may not have been competent enough to help–doing evaluative drive-bys. With tenured teachers, it [...]