Welcome to Wednesday, and an exercise we'll call "it's still early enough to make Wednesday bearable by rearviewing Tuesday."
Pinellas County fire stations received equipment to help first responders get "behind the lines" and help in the event of a mass shooting, as the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office responded to the Vegas massacre on their end by assuring the public that its deputies are preparing for such situations. So, nothing to worry about, then — unless you're one of the first dozen shot in what some authorities seem to be normalizing as just another unavoidable element of Life in America. Response is awesome, and that's exactly these services' job. But can somebody please also talk seriously about enacting some fucking preventative measures at this point?
An employee at a St. Pete elementary school was arrested and charged with identity theft — after authorities traced an application for a credit card in a coworker's name to a computer at the school where she worked. That's what Best Buy is for.
Bradenton residents were put under a precautionary "boil water notice" yesterday after a power failure affected the city's water system. Authorities assured folks this wasn't a thinly veiled training exercise for the imminent collapse of civilization, but come on, that's exactly what they would say, right? #falseflag #endtimes #peopleontheinternetarenuts
And finally, check out this story about a pair of Tampa Bay twins who went around their neighborhood helping people with post-Irma cleanup without asking anything in return, and have the inexorably unraveling thread of your faith in humanity bolstered for another day. If you want to, you can always find something to keep your grip from slipping. We can do this.
This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 6, 2017.