The headlines were not good for our animal friends yesterday.
The state of Florida has decided that dogs are no welcome in its brewpubs and tasting rooms, and nobody but like nine killjoys across the state who hate puppies is happy about it. This issue is in the way the state defines food — it seems by their definition, beer qualifies. I can only assume this is gonna work like the smoking ban in New York City bars did in the beginning, i.e. the regulars will continue to bring their dogs until one jerk in each brewery rats the brewery out, and the brewery gets fined, and it becomes too expensive to continue to allow clandestinely. Thanks, jerk.
Pinellas deputies found out that it was a crossing guard that ran over that gopher tortoise in Dunedin, and after determining it was an accident decided to close the case without pressing charges. Personally, I would keep an eye on the guy who's a crossing guard despite a tendency to get easily distracted and accidentally run over things.
Red tide has reportedly killed at least 97 manatees so far. But don't worry, this is totally the usually occurring red tide, and this always happens. (It's not, and it doesn't.)
And finally, the MTV VMAs: Still a thing!
This article appears in Aug 16-23, 2018.