There was considerable buzz on Friday after House Speaker Will Weatherford announced that he would call for a hearing to be held next month on Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground Law, seemingly placating the angry voices around the state and the country in the wake of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin verdict.
Then we heard from Matt Gaetz, the chair of the House's Criminal Justice subcommittee, which will conduct the hearing.
"I don't support changing one damn comma of the stand your ground law," Gaetz told reporters.
Okay then. Surely this hearing will bring out some voices from law enforcement and the judiciary who have spoken critically of the law, and not the rigged task force put together by Gov. Rick Scott last year that didn't include a single opponent, right? Color me skeptical.
For all the talk about how there's finally a serious effort in Florida to get a medical marijuana amendment passed on to the Florida Constitution in 2014, that group — United for Care — is off to a slow start in collecting the nearly 700,000 signatures it needs to turn in by next February. On Saturday, CL's Terence Smith attended a meeting in Tampa where volunteers were schooled on how to persuade Floridians to sign the petition.
We're just 22 days away from the epic vote on the Pier in St. Petersburg, and on Saturday this reporter hung out with the energetic Build The Pier folks, the group of young professionals in St. Pete who believe and support the Lens design. Unfortunately, as I go to pick the story — which was originally posted Saturday afternoon — off our website ... it's not there. Hopefully it can be retrieved and re-posted.
And in case you missed it, Hillsborough County School Board chair April Griffin has dropped out of her race for the District 7 Hillsborough County Commission seat. Her main Democratic opponent, Mary Mulhern, was psyched to hear the news.