Culture & Society
The Endangered Species Act has a target on its back
On a remote beach south of Tallahassee last week, a sizeable crowd gathered to watch legendary marine biologist Jack Rudloe release two rescued juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtles into the wild. Kemp’s ridleys are the world’s most endangered sea turtles; these two were fixed up and ready to go after getting caught in fishing line. […]
“The people will protect the dogs:” New campaign ad targets greyhound racing cruelty
Every three days, a greyhound dog dies on a Florida racetrack. This is according to a new online ad urging voters to end the practice with a vote on the November ballot. The ad begins with an unidentified man in dark sunglasses and a dark shirt looking at the camera. “They’re dogs, they’re not people,” […]
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson calls for special legislative session to fix public beach access mess
U.S. Sen Bill Nelson on Friday called for a special session of the Florida Legislature to repeal the law that is causing controversy and legal problems over the public’s access to the state’s beaches. “This isn’t what Florida is about,” Nelson said in a Friday morning press conference on the Panhandle’s Santa Rosa Beach. “Beachgoers […]
The public deserves to hear confession from gunman who killed students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, judges order
Two judges ruled Thursday that the public deserves to know details from the confession of Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in the South Florida community of Parkland, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. But no information will be released until Cruz has had time to appeal the ruling. According […]
Our governor’s secret job
Gov. Rick Scott — and the governors before him — has a job. That job is a public job, not a secret job. Yet voters who hired Scott for the top political and government job in Florida for the most part aren’t being told what the governor is doing and where he is all day, […]
New “Love Vote” website promotes poignant stories of Floridians who can’t vote
In Florida’s last midterm general election in 2014, nearly half of the state’s registered voters (49 percent) chose – for whatever reason – not to come to the polls. Meanwhile, more than a million people in Florida are legally ineligible to vote. Now, a New York City-based filmmaker and school teacher has created a website to align the disenfranchised […]
Conservative student group that hosted AG Jeff Sessions, chanting ‘Lock her up,’ has 23 Florida chapters
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed a crowd at a high school leadership summit Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., when the audience began chanting the phrase “lock her up.” Sessions laughed and joined in once. He was there to speak to Turning Point USA, a national student-centric conservative group that’s growing in Florida. The group […]
Advocacy group challenges Florida’s “fake” concern over women’s health
Pro-choice advocates will be in Tallahassee next week to petition Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Health to demand more accountability for how a state-funded network of women’s clinics spends taxpayers’ money – and whether clinic workers peddle religious views. The network of not-for-profit women’s clinics – known as the Florida Pregnancy Care […]
LGBTQ community rocked by series of Florida murders
In the past five months, four transgender women of color and an African-American gay man – possibly tied to the same drag show touring circuit – have been murdered in Florida. The murders are spreading fear through the LGBTQ community, with activists banding together to demand more action from state leaders and from law enforcement. […]
Traffic gridlock: Critics say pricey, exclusive toll lanes (“Lexus Lanes”) hurt the poor. Will it change with a new governor?
Vexing traffic congestion seems to be an issue in all of Florida’s major urban regions, yet it has not received much attention from the seven major candidates for governor this campaign season. Plenty of people have criticism for Gov. Rick Scott’s approach, which saw the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) over the past eight years […]
Activists call for Tampa Bay prosecutor to file charges in shocking ‘Stand Your Ground’ shooting case
In the wake of the shooting death of Markeis McGlockton last week in Pinellas County, a coalition of activist groups are calling on Pinellas/Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe to file charges against the shooter, 47-year-old Michael Drejka. Drejka, who is white, shot and killed McGlockton, a 28-year-old African American man, outside a convenience store […]