Depression! Politicians ponder PSTA passenger plunge, then laugh it off

The mood was somber at the  Finance Committee meeting at PSTA headquarters on January 18th. As the Guardian previously reported, ridership in the just completed fiscal year is down 15% in two years. The plunge continues in the new fiscal year, and is headed for a 22% ridership decline over three years. Passenger revenue is also…

Ethics commission sets new legal standard at politician’s request

Today, the Florida Commission on Ethics (FCE) granted a 30-day extension to Hillsborough county commissioner Ken Hagan to amend a petition he filed for recovering attorneys fees and cost. The matter concerned an ethics complaint filed by Dover resident George Niemann, a complaint Hagan believes was malicious and unfounded and which the FCE previously dismissed…

The politically connected serial predator at Poynter

Barry S. Edwards is a member of the Poynter Foundation board of directors and (according to their bio of him) also a “frequent guest on several of the local Tampa Bay market political shows.”  However, while a professor at FSU twenty years ago, Edwards was a serial predator, unlawfully and immorally preying on multiple students…