Florida law says political signs "shall be removed by the permittee within 30 days after the date of revocation or cancellation of the permit for the sign," but I'm hoping those candidates whose candidacies died on Tuesday night can take a couple of hours away from their Labor Day weekend to pull out their signs that are scattered throughout the Tampa Bay area. Consider it a public service, which is what being in office is all about, right? (I've found that these signs can be recycled, however, as doormats.) We'll have to deal with signs promoting Dipa Shah, April Griffin and a slew of other candidates for the next couple of months, but c'mon vanquished candidates, man or woman up and help get rid of the clutter.
A new report by a progressive group out of Seattle and promoted by the Orlando-based Organize Now says that a true living wage for somebody living in Florida with bills to pay is more than double the current minimum wage of $7.93 an hour. It also calls for the state to expand Medicaid.
Good luck with that, but it is interesting to note that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has reached a deal with the Obama administration to extend the state's Medicaid program to half a million low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act, becoming the 27th state to do so.
The Tampa Trib's fine reporter, Mike Salinero, reports that activist George Niemann has filed an ethics violation against Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan. Interesting news, but if you're regular readers of this blog you could have read about it a week ago.
Can we talk a little sports here? College football is back, and damn that's exciting. The national time of hibernation was broken last night as the SEC Network made its debut on cable systems throughout the nation, and it was great to hear Brent Musberger on the mic doing last night's University of Texas A&M-South Carolina game. The 75-year-old sportscaster was booted off of doing the top ESPN/ABC games this year, but doing SEC games isn't a bad demotion.
The Rays host the Red Sox this weekend at Tropicana Field. Does anyone believe the Rays can come back and take a wildcard spot? The lack of enthusiasm is deafening...
Meanwhile, the St. Pete City Council last night became the latest local government to support the Move to Amend movement. CL's Ashley Whitney has more.
Although the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee recently voted to oppose the Greenlight Pinellas initiative, the folks over at Yes on Greenlight want to remind you that there are many other Republicans in the county who are strongly behind it.
