Thursday's good; I mean, it's OK, but it's not Friday. It's like going into a restaurant, and the server asks what you want to drink, and you're like, "do you have Friday?", and they're like, "sorry, no, we have Thursday," and you're like, "sure, fine, I guess." And you try to be fine with it, but it colors the entire meal, really.

The fiscal year isn't even over yet, but Hillsborough County has already logged record tourism tax revenue, up 5.45 percent over last year. It's probably because of the extra bed taxes incurred while taking three days and nights to drive from one end of the county to the other.

An arrest was made in the weekend stabbing of a USF football player in Ybor City, even as Columbia Restaurant Group magnate Richard Gonzmart warned against demonizing Tampa's historic-slash-stumbly-party-district. I don't want to further feed a more generalized fearmongering or anything, but, sociologically and statistically speaking, Mr. Gonzmart is right: Occasionally, a stabby asshole might show up where other people are, no matter where that might be.

Hey, Pam Bondi wants to do something right: process Florida's thousands of untested rape kits in a more timely fashion. What a great, new and novel idea everyone nationwide had two decades ago and has been suggesting loudly ever since!

And finally, a new report found more sharks than ever are roaming the U.S. southeastern coast between North Carolina and Florida. They've obviously swallowed the shark tourism slogan "all of the tasty Germans, none of the painful finning" hook, line and sinker. (Heh. I know, I'm going.)

This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2015.