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Poet’s notebook: Chris Christie in Wonderland

There once was a turtle  Whose first name was Myrtle Swam out to the Jersey shore. The above words were the first lines of poetry I can remember, because back in the 1930s, when local accents were frowned upon, our grade school teachers in Brooklyn worked hard (“woiked hahd,” we’d say) on erasing ours. Of…

by Peter Meinke

State backs off Planned Parenthood…or does it?

As it turns out, Governor Rick Scott's administration may have been a bit off-base in its claim that three Planned Parenthood clinics in Florida were performing abortions at later points in pregnancies than the Agency or Health Care Administration allows, and even admitted as much — or so we thought. Last week, the AHCA demanded…

by Kate Bradshaw

Pier dismantling begins; Friday event will honor the pyramid

The bulldozers and backhoes are cranking at the head of the St. Pete Pier. The inverted pyramid, constructed in the early seventies, is still there, mind you, so those of the opinion that the building is an icon can go pay their last respects. Mayor Rick Kriseman's office on Wednesday announced an event that will…

by Kate Bradshaw

Oh. Yes. Bad Lip Reading releases GOP debate video

Bad Lip Reading, which is just like it sounds, made the 2012 election in our book. BLI's past achievements have included: • A surreal video very inaccurately dubbing words over Herman Cain's campaign videos, speeches and B-roll. ("Ricky?") • One for Newt Gingrich. ("I will strip for wildflowers and a basket of peaches.") • Skewerings of former Rep.…

by Kate Bradshaw

Sh*t happened 8/19/15: Female Rangers, stupid crimes

Good morning! Some truly inspiring news up front, and then, well, it's kind of all downhill from there. For the first time ever, two women will graduate from the U.S. Army's Ranger School at Fort Bening, Ga. They'd like to know if Donald Trump has any thoughts on how their hormonal status might've affected their…

by Scott Harrell

Florida House goes full Florida House on redistricting

After hours of talking shit about the Florida Supreme Court, GOP lawmakers in the State House passed new maps reshaping the state's congressional districts, which is why lawmakers are in Tallahassee to begin with. The state's highest court ordered lawmakers to redraw the districts after it found they had twice drawn them in ways that…

by Kate Bradshaw

Overwhelming opposition to St. Pete historic preservation ordinance? Maybe not.

The debate over whether to make it easier for some St. Petersburg neighborhoods to designate themselves as historic comes to a head Thursday. St. Pete City Council will weigh the ordinance, which has seen mounting opposition, including robocalls from the Pinellas Realtor Organization. The policy's proponents are calling such attempts to misinformation campaigns that deceive residents…

by Kate Bradshaw

Tampa event to highlight Obama climate milestone

President Obama's Clean Power Plan was years in the making. It aims to drastically produce emissions from power plants across the country by 2030. It's no wonder environmentalists are rejoicing, but, so, too, are some political leaders. On Tuesday at 10 a.m. on the steps of Tampa City Hall, city leaders as well as representatives…

by Kate Bradshaw

The Weekend Shift: A mother’s argument for choice

It’s likely we’ll have world peace before we all agree on whether abortion should be legal or not. But we don’t have to agree. We just have to keep it legal. Those who work hard to chip away at Roe v. Wade, or disparage the work of Planned Parenthood, forget that abortions don’t have to…

by Amy Beeman

Do This: The Weekend Top 10

1980s band preside over Madeira Beach’s new concert park, a Jack Nicholson double feature, Summer of Rum, SARTQ, Becca McCoy’s down-home cabaret show, a Flannery O’Connor play and more.

by Julie Garisto

Buckhorn media liaison announces own replacement

If you've ever worked as a reporter, you know how media relations people — the gatekeepers to many of our elected officials, high-level corporate officials as well as candidates — are a mixed bag. Some genuinely want to help you any way they can and will tell you everything you need to know; some are…

by Kate Bradshaw

Sh*t happened 8/14/15: Port of Tampa redesign, FEMA, panthers

Here's the stuff from yesterday. Be careful with it; some of it's kinda enrage-y. Port Tampa Bay unveiled some pretty seriously ambitious redevelopment plans for 9 million square feet of land north of the Florida Aquarium. Meanwhile, Jeff Vinik just told his people to add a waterslide and a zip-line to something downtown. FEMA came…

by Scott Harrell

Bush v. Gore might actually be a thing again, Florida

The 2016 presidential election is starting to look like political Nick at Night. Well, you know, if you replaced wistful nostalgia with a resigned shrug followed by an embrace of what's familiar. There's a Clinton, a Bush, a Trump, possibly a Biden and now, maybe, a Gore. A handful of news outlets have reported that…

by Kate Bradshaw

Dark & Sinful: Spoiler alert

I, like millions of people, watched the second season of True Detective because the first season was awesome. And I, like many of those millions, have one question: What the fuck, HBO? If you didn’t watch the new season, consider this entire column a spoiler alert. [Editor’s Note: If you didn’t already get the hint…

by Erica Dawson

Sh*t happened 8/13/15: Glenn Beck is an idiot, and other unassailable truths

You're nearly there. (For the case of this blog, "there" means "the weekend, during which you'll likely have to work at least a little, because that's what we've let happen to civilization.") Just in case you're a St. Petersburg resident who didn't go anywhere near the internet yesterday: Irrelevant crybaby neoconservative ghost Glenn Beck called…

by Scott Harrell

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