Much has been made of new House Speaker Marco Rubio’s spending spree – especially for staff salaries. Changes and upgrades are to be expected – and like everything else – they never cost less. But how do you justify paying $175,000 for a chief of staff, when the CHIEF of the STATE — the governor [...]
The Outback Bowl remains a New Year’s Day winner. It sells out; it garners good ratings; it showcases the Tampa Bay area; and it provides marquee match-ups – witness this year’s Penn State-Tennessee pairing. And in the ever-evolving, naming-rights game, it even sounds like a bowl game. Which is no gimme these days. Increasingly, bowl [...]
USF continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary in the most fitting fashion – by continuing to grow. In quantity and quality. From less than 2,000 students to 44,000. From nothing to more than $300 million in sponsored research grants. And don’t forget this is an institution that once suffered such unkind appellations as “Sandspur U.” [...]
*A sure, if not jolly, sign that a Hyde Park residential construction project has been around a while: The red Christmas bow on the Port-a-let. *There are, of course, all manner of Christmas-week rituals – most of which seem to involve malls and the spirit of last-minute shopping. Then there’s that occasional, very special, very [...]
There was no apparent epiphany for Sen. Bill Nelson on his recent road trip to Damascus, even if he did discern a “crack in the door” for better relations with Syria. But his diplomatic freelancing did achieve his goal. His resume now includes another “fact-finding” sortie to the Middle East and a — however confusing [...]
In the post-Karl Rove era, the Republican Party will have a lot of soul-searching to do if it wants to reverse the message sent in last month’s mid-term elections. Syndicated, conservative columnist David Brooks recently offered up some sound advice for GOP strategists looking to re-tool the party’s approach to the issues – and the [...]
He hasn’t been sworn in yet, but already Gov.-elect Charlie Crist has made a major comeback. As soon as the pricey-gala news had hit the populist fan, he admitted it was a dumb idea. Not good for a kinder-gentler Republican hybrid. And then he hits one out of the park with the appointment of Bob [...]
Like most of you, I don’t tune in regularly to watch the “Mayor’s Hour” on CTTV, Channel 15. Truth be told, I mostly happen upon it when channel surfing. Anyway, I do make an effort to watch in December. That’s when Mayor Pam Iorio invites her father, John Iorio, to spend some quality culinary time [...]
When Plant High School won its 4-A state championship game against defending champ Ponte Vedra Beach Nease two Saturdays ago, it was the first state football championship for a Tampa team since Richard Nixon was a rookie president. But this wasn’t just a long-awaited win for a Tampa team. It was also an urban “Hoosiers,” [...]
The word is “resegregation,” and we’ve been seeing it more and more, often in bold headlines. It has most recently surfaced in the run up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual decision on the merits of suits filed on behalf of parents challenging efforts to keep schools racially balanced in the school districts of Louisville [...]
