Emails & Opinions

Joe HendersonApril 19, 2017

If you’re keeping score (and I know you are), Tuesday was a bad day for the Florida Senate. That august body served up a double serving from the “This Is Why People Hate Politicians” buffet. There was the eye-popping, ear-insulting, are-you-kidding-me story that Sen. Frank Artiles employed the vilest racial insult to describe a pair […]

Peter SchorschApril 19, 2017

My father-in-law being a U.S. Marine, I’ve learned not to use the past tense to describe his service. Even at 67 years old, my father-in-law is a Marine, not was a Marine. Republican state Senate Frank Artiles is a Marine, not was a Marine. Volunteering to serve our country shows Artiles has far more courage than I’ve […]

Peter SchorschApril 19, 2017

Some call it the “beer glass bill.” I wonder if it shouldn’t be called the “beer glasses for beer taps” bill. Here’s the skinny: Lawmakers are moving legislation to allow beer distributors to give away glasses from brewers imprinted with product names and logos to bars and restaurants. Now, they have to be sold. Those in […]

Florence SnyderApril 19, 2017

The men and women who take care of Florida’s forests and parks have a serious case of hair on fire, and the Legislature would do well to listen to them. Trained professional foresters and the people at parks ‘n rec are easily among Florida’s best ambassadors. These stewards of “Real Florida” have been instrumental in […]

Peter SchorschApril 19, 2017

Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica. PRO-POT FORCES WANT MORE RESTRICTIONS? WAIT, WHAT? Legislating can be a complex convoluted mess. I get that. But the complex convolution has hit an apex when the pro-Amendment 2 forces are lobbying – […]

Guest AuthorApril 18, 2017

Since 1970, the size of Florida’s prison population has grown by more than 1,000 percent, and its corrections system is now the third largest in the nation. Under the state’s rigid mandatory minimum laws, more people are being sent to prison for a longer amount of time, with an annual average cost of $20,553 per […]

Peter SchorschApril 18, 2017

Perhaps they’ve been reading the rash of vitriolic emails and op-eds from Florida for Care, or the equally brutal reporting and editorializing from the Tampa Bay Times this past weekend. Maybe it was the litany of emotional public comment at Tuesday’s hearing. Whatever it was, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee – led by the […]

Peter SchorschApril 18, 2017

“What are we waiting for?” bellows a crinkly-eyed Burgess Meredith and moments later the Greatest. Training. Montage. Song. Ever. (Courtesy of Bill Conti) starts to play. As any boxing/movie/sports/Sylvester Stallone fan recognizes, I am, of course, referring to the goose-bump inducing scene from Rocky II in which Adrian, who has just woken from an inexplicable […]

Martin DyckmanApril 18, 2017

He would put it off as long as he could, aides said, and trembled when he finally had to sign a black-bordered death warrant. Despite his profound opposition to capital punishment, LeRoy Collins sent 29 men to their doom during his six years as Florida’s governor. He was in anguish each time. To some people, […]

Peter SchorschApril 18, 2017

Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Sunburn for 4.18.17 – All the King’s men & women; Rick Scott hearts Lake O.: Latvala magic at Tiger Bay; Brad Drake is a hero By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica. — 2018 WATCH — FIRST IN SUNBURN […]

Emails & Opinions
Donald Trump. Image via AP.

Joe Henderson: There’s only one ethical course for Senate to take. Ethics? Oh, wait …

Of course, Frank Artiles should resign. Does the Senate have the steel to make that happen?

Devil is in the details of ‘beer glass’ legislation

Florence Snyder: Richard Corcoran, please show some love to our real life Smokeys

Sunburn for 4.19.17 – Just another slow day in the Capitol

Ewan Watt, Jordan Richardson: Lessons in lockup — what Florida can learn from Texas

House Democrats wake up on weed

Win, Gwen. Win.

Martin Dyckman: Clemency and Florida’s overbearing ‘politics of death’

Sunburn for 4.18.17 – All the King’s men & women; Rick Scott hearts Lake O.: Latvala magic at Tiger Bay; Brad Drake is a hero