Tampa Bay news & politics: Week in review
July 18, 2009 at 6:30 am by Wayne Garcia
I’m starting a new Saturday feature to wrap up news and blog posts you might have missed during your busy week. Here’s a look at the Week in Review:
New book blasts sportswriters for ‘hysteria’ regarding steroids – Mitch Perry. The WMNF anchor writes about a new book that lays the blame for steroid-mania at the foot of writers who aren’t aggressive. “The writers, the supposed experts, watched over the last 20-30 years as steroids became a very, very common substance. And they didn’t see it.”
Economic report calls Florida “a state in trouble.” The single most depressing (and real) assessment of Florida’s economic shortcomings we’ve ever seen. A must-read. (The graph above is from the report.)
POTUS and the Pope — Peter Schweitzer. Our contributors asks: if the US bishops are sideways with Barack Obama over his abortion stance, why is the pope so warmly receiving him?
Shadowy 527 group unloads YouTube attack ad against governor candidate Alex Sink (video). A Gainesville GOP leader is the face of the anti-Sink political group.
Bankruptcy judge sets auction date for Creative Loafing alt-newspaper chain. It is likely that two groups will bid in late August for ownership of Creative Loafing, pitting the company’s current management against lender Atalaya.
Political Whore Podcast #13: St. Petersburg mayoral candidate John Warren. The longshot, last-minute “community investor” and preservationist talks about lessons from history and how he would let downtown business owners handle panhandlers.
Crappy stadiums keep All Star Game from being played in Florida — Jim Johnson. Only two MLB cities have not hosted the mid-summer classic, Tampa Bay and Miami.
Pot, meet kettle: Sen. Jeff Sessions (once accused of being a racist) questions Sonia Sotomayor about being prejudiced. In 1986, Sessions was dinged by the Senate Judiciary Committee that he now sits on for a federal judgeship. The reason: He was tied to making racial comments.
Former Tampa Tribune columnist Dan Ruth has a new blog.
Hillsborough’s Moral Courage Award regains respect by ditching Ralph Hughes’ name — George Niemann. By our contributor who attended and spoke at the meeting where the mega-right winger’s association with the moral courage was discussed.
The Audacity of Pork — Kelly Cornelius.
