Feb 21-27, 2007

Feb 21-27, 2007 / Vol. 19 / No. 49

It’s time to say goodbye

Chuck Shepherd's The F State will no longer be posting on creativeloafing.com. Chuck's fans can still read his column, News of the Weird, in the print edition of Creative Loafing.

by Web Editor

…is David Millner, a New Jersey-based political consultant who has done 100s of thousands of dollars of media buys and production for the Republican Party of Florida. In the 2006 elections, he produced Ronda Storms' TV ads in her successful Florida Senate race. Here's the six degrees of separation: Millner has done work for Sen.…

by Wayne Garcia

Whole Lotta Armory Finger-pointing Goin’ On

Michael Hinman over at TBBJ has a good scoop: Tampa's efforts (if you can call it that) to redevelop the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in West Tampa is mired down, with the city and the National Guard both looking at each other as if to say, "It's your turn." To quote Paul Carrack, How long…

by Wayne Garcia

He’s Not Even a Woman Yet and They’re Already Holding Him Back

Largo city commissioners will meet tonight to decide whether or not they should fire Steve Stanton because he wants to be a she. Looks like Stanton, who currently has all his original parts, is getting an early introduction to the whole glass ceiling thing.

by Dawn Morgan

Morning Roundup

Paul Harvey's got nothing on me: As Steve Stanton's job in Largo hangs in the balance, the transgendered city manager's story is really well told in this Sunday Times piece that I neglected to mention yesterday. Amazing depth of reporting. Speaking of amazing reporting … If you haven't yet figured out where and when you…

by Wayne Garcia

Afternoon Roundup

Never, ever, ever, watching the Oscars telecast again: My buddy Howard has a new blog. Today's Best Read: The Trib's and Times' conflicting interests with the Devil Rays. Mr. G doesn't like art in public places. Former sptimes'er Anne Hull wins ASNE's Batten Medal for "her five stories [that] eloquently explored the subtle effects of…

by Wayne Garcia

Harrison vs. Mulhern, 1 Week to Go

The only Tampa City Council race featuring robust attacks turns out to be in the Mary Mulhern-Shawn Harrison district. Harrison went up with broadcast television over the weekend, showing up on Saturday and Sunday morning news shows with a strong tax-cutting and spending limits message. The ads are nicely shot, but you have to question…

by Wayne Garcia

Morning Roundup

This one goes out to Shirley Lane, who retires today from the home office at Creative Loafing Media and who is the world's biggest Elvis fan: Making the missing person story readable again. Another bad public records decision from our Florida courts. Oh yeah, allll the -wingers are lining up behind Der Mitt. And the…

by Wayne Garcia

Ybor City’s Cigar Theater Opens Tonight

Ybor Cityâ€™s Cigar Theater is finally ready for its grand opening. After months of hype and hard labor, Blake and James Emery have turned the 116-year-old Oliva Tobacco Company cigar factory into a multidiscipline art space. To celebrate, the brothers are hosting four nights of art, music, theater and dance starting tonight. This first night…

by Alex Pickett

Duking it Out on Tampa Bay’s 10

CL's senior editor Eric Snider has written a great piece about mixed martial arts, a fighting and kicking and grabbing sport of great violence and excitement. This morning, he was on Tampa Bay's 10 talking about the story. Check out the video here as he and fighter Carl Ognibene beat the crap out of Studio…

by Wayne Garcia

The Tony for Set Design Goes To …

Jobsite Theater head honcho David Jenkins (himself an accomplished blogger and all-around cool tatted-up guy has an interesting rebuttal to a comment CL's performing arts critic Mark Lieb made in his review this week. Read them both, cuz what better do you have to do at work?

by Wayne Garcia

Controversial Children’s Book Uses Word ‘Scrotum’

There's a prudish controversy brewing over a Newberry Award winner that printed an apparently heretofore unprintable word for a popular male appendage. Always glad to help in such situtations, Blurbex has discovered that this isn't the first use of the word. But then again, what did readers of Encyclopedia Brown and the Wrinkled Nut Sack…

by Wayne Garcia

Afternoon Roundup

Love that judge in the Anna Nicole case: Good scoop, Kinsler: Tampa City Council candidate Frank Margarella got some 'splainin' to do. This is the big story of the week. I wish I could say it wasn't, but it is. Political explanation of the year nominee: "Yeah, in a way you can look at it…

by Wayne Garcia

Tips?

The F State is usually updated at least once a day, Monday through Friday, but there certainly may be additional posts daily, as well as weekend posts, as events dictate. Tips are welcomed, especially from north Florida and south Florida (in that Yr Editor lives in the middle). Write TheFState@tampabay.rr.com.

by Web Editor

Editor Chuck Shepherd (and “News of the Weird”)

The editor of The F State is Chuck Shepherd, creator of the weekly newspaper feature "News of the Weird," which appears in more than 250 papers and on several websites. You'll find the current weekly column, and a small archive, here. You can also get News of the Weird e-mailed to your box, free, every…

by Web Editor

Florida, as we know …

Florida, as we know, is a civilization in decline, but fortunately it appears to be declining at a slow enough pace that you and I can still live our lives and bow out before the check comes. The F State, first, is a daily guide to your neighbors — a constant reminder that you need…

by Web Editor

The Bull

Name of Kama Sutra Position: The Bull Getting into the position: The man lies flat on his back with his legs stretched out. The woman sits on him facing away and grasping his feet. Basically, this is a reverse cowgirl with grip handles. On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate position…

by Eric J. Leech

The Problem with Kids Is Their Parents (continued)

According to investigators, Natasha Smith in Dania Beach accidentally drove over her 3-yr-old in the driveway, and then, panicking, thought the thing to do was back up (like maybe that would be a do-over if she went in the opposite direction), but, obviously, that just made things worse. (Mom said the car was moving, but…

by Chuck Shepherd

Going Negative on the Cheap

You're outgunned financially by a wide margin and trying to unseat a virtual incumbent, so what do you do? Throw the first punch via cyberspace, if you're former CL arts critic Mary Mulhern. She's beating on Shawn Harrison as "the invisible man" in his eight years on the Tampa City Council. The ad was e-mailed…

by Wayne Garcia

Feb 21-27, 2007

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