Tamara Lush, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Tamara LushAugust 29, 2017

After Confederate monument was taken down in Bradenton, a group that wants to preserve such monuments called Tuesday for it to be repaired and restored to its former place on the courthouse lawn. Save Southern Heritage and other groups held a news conference in front of the Manatee County Courthouse to demand that the local […]

Tamara LushAugust 9, 2017

When 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Florida in 2016, Gov. Rick Scott publicly offered his sympathy to the victims’ families and the LGBT community. “These are individuals. Let’s love every one of them,” he said then. Behind the scenes, gay rights advocates say his staffers went a step further, promising to […]

Tamara LushJuly 21, 2017

The Florida sinkhole that swallowed two homes last week isn’t getting any deeper, but it’s getting wider, officials said Wednesday — and one resident who’s back home after being evacuated is vowing to stay unless the hole consumes her house. “I’m apprehensive, a little nervous,” said Patty Camunas, 57, whose family lives near the sinkhole. […]

Tamara LushJune 30, 2017

At least 12 greyhound racing dogs in Florida have tested positive for cocaine, and their trainer has had his license suspended. It’s at least the second instance this year of racing greyhounds testing positive for cocaine. The dogs raced at Bestbet Orange Park in northeast Florida near Jacksonville. The state is home to 12 of […]

Tamara LushMay 12, 2017

A “body farm” where researchers can study how corpses decompose will open next week in the Tampa Bay area with the burial of four donated bodies. Officials broke ground Friday on the Adam Kennedy Forensics Field, a five-acre patch of land north of Tampa. It’s the seventh such facility in the nation and the first […]

Tamara LushMarch 6, 2017

It took about three minutes for the majority of the crowd at Florida Congressman Tom Rooney‘s town hall meeting Monday to start booing about everything from the environment to health care. “You are supporting an appropriations bill to help clean up the Everglades. You recently voted to repeal a rule that allows coal companies to […]

Tamara LushDecember 1, 2016

One of Miami’s oldest cemeteries is so close to the Fidel Castro death celebrations at Café Versailles in Little Havana that its marble angels echo with conga-line cheers from Calle Ocho. Most of the people interred at Caballero Woodlawn Cemetery-North on Southwest Eighth Street — the many Cubans buried there, for sure — hoped to […]

Tamara LushNovember 8, 2016

It’s a sunny fall day at Williams Park in downtown St. Petersburg, and Charlie Crist is in his element. “What’s your name?,” he purrs to a woman in a wheelchair, taking her hand. He beams a white smile that matches his snow-white hair, contrasting with his tan face. “May I get a picture?” he asks, […]

Tamara LushOctober 29, 2016

A massive sinkhole at a fertilizer plant should be plugged by spring, months after contaminated water and waste began flowing into Florida’s main drinking water aquifer, the company said Friday. In an email to The Associated Press, Mosaic spokeswoman Callie Neslund said the company recently finished a survey of the sinkhole cavity. “Based on the […]

Tamara LushSeptember 29, 2016

Neighbors of a huge sinkhole sending cascades of contaminated water and fertilizer plant waste into Florida’s main drinking-water aquifer are fearful and fuming that it took weeks for them to be notified about the disaster. Many are still waiting anxiously for results from tests for radiation and toxic chemicals in their well water. Meanwhile, the […]

Tamara Lush

As Confederate monuments fall, group calls for restoration

Lawmaker: Governor’s office broke promise to LGBTQs

As Pasco County sinkhole widens, some are determined to stay put

State officials: Racing greyhounds test positive for cocaine

Body farm for researchers and detectives opens near Tampa

Tom Rooney faces raucous crowd at town hall meeting

A rose for family of U.S. plantation owner executed by Fidel Castro

Ex-Gov. Charlie Crist aims for political comeback in House

Mosaic hopes to plug giant sinkhole by spring

Outcry grows over delay in warning about Mosaic sinkhole, contamination

Florida politics had 11 questions before federal qualifying week. Here are the answers.