Okay, where do we to start today in feeling disgust towards the people we're supposed to revere?
How about the Lakeland Police Department, where nearly a dozen police officers had sex with a "civilian" crime analyst? The AP's Tamara Lush has the best story on that.
You've got Peter Jamison in the Times following up on his exclusive story regarding how Hillsborough County Sheriff deputies left a jail inmate go nearly 36 hours without treatment for a fatal stroke. None have been disciplined.
And then you've got the case of local GOP bigwig Hoe Brown, who was told two months ago by city of Tampa officials that he should down a trailer park, but did nothing about it. On Monday city officials visited the site in Seminole Heights and shut it down because the living conditions were deemed to be inhabitable. It's also been discovered that Brown installed trailers without proper inspections or permits.
But other than Democratic City Councilwoman Yolie Capin, no other public officials dare say anything critical of Brown, who is the chair of the Tampa Port Authority….
Meanwhile…House Republicans seem pretty convinced that whatever bill they pass before August regarding immigration won't contain any pathway to citizenship provision. That's despite a new poll of 1,000 Republican primary voters that say that they would accept even a flawed immigration bill rather than nothing at all.
There are mayoral debates seemingly every day now in St. Petersburg. Yesterday Mayor Bill Foster was asked if he would allow music impresario and developer Bill Edwards's company to take over the Mahaffey theater if he knew that one of his other companies would get a record fine from the Federal Trade Commission regarding a violation of the "Do Not Call" telemarketing rule.
Rick Kriseman (who has taken in over $100,000 in his campaign so far) also debated Mayor Foster Tuesday night at an LGBT sponsored forum.
And while Edward Snowden tries to live outside of a Moscow airport, a new poll says more Americans believe he's a whistleblower vs. a traitor. Activists critical of NSA surveillance will protest tomorrow afternoon in front of the building that houses the printers for the Tampa Bay Times.
This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2013.