News Clips (these clips are old - just here as an example of the kind of page/mini-site the SunCoast section an be)Public TV Fans Speak Up Before Board
- TAMPA - Public access TV advocates came out in force Thursday night to plead to have $355,000 in annual county funding restored before 30 programs are canceled this fall.-- Public
Access TV Funding Cut Convention
Budget Miffs GOP Leaders Convention
price tag is shock TAMPA - Hillsborough County's election office mistakenly told a county commission candidate in early July that she had qualified for the 2002 vote.-- On Tuesday, Jacqueline Knight's petitions, with about 1,400 signatures, were tossed out because there is no affidavit on file that Knight only would collect the signatures of qualified voters in her district. The affidavit is required before any signatures are collected, said Pam Iorio, supervisor of elections. Knight was never given the affidavit, Iorio said. 7/25/02 Commission Amends Public Access TV Contract - TAMPA - Public access television in Hillsborough County has survived for at least a while.- County commissioners voted Wednesday to amend its contract with Speak Up Tampa Bay, the nonprofit that operates the station.- Speak Up has been in trouble with commissioners for months, but a show in March featuring White Chocolate, a character who hosts a raunchy talk show that sometimes includes video of nude women, was particularly bothersome.7/25/02 Red
tide hits Pinellas County beaches Age
Bias Trials Begin The Economic Questions Of Recycling - ... ... As The New York Times noted, ``In truth, most of the glass and plastic we virtuously sorted was not being recycled anyway. Lacking markets, the city found it cheaper to toss them in with regular trash and ship it all to landfills. So the program was as pointless as it was expensive.'' 7/19/02 Teacher
sets sights on House Judge
issues late verdict on Krewe Private school bus plan is costly - District officials hoped businesses could cart students for less in the age of choice. But four bids came in high. 7/11/02 Hearings
to begin Monday on speed in manatee waters Officer who said peers raped her fired St. Pete, Clearwater Get EPA Cleanup Grants- ...The state Department of Environmental Protection grants are used to assess and clean up leaks from federally regulated underground storage tanks to help revitalize areas. 7/3/02 Lawsuit
claims USF professor is senior member of terror group Al-Arian's
story tests our sense of fair play He finds he can't get out of prison unless he finds a country to take him, but he can't find one while still in prison.6/13/02 Attorney:
INS walks out on review of imprisoned Palestinian Judge
dismisses lawsuit against USF professor Suit
against Al-Arian dismissed State
budget plan includes millions for SPC Local
projects benefit from Byrd's role in House New
water high on yuck, low on yum PSC
approved $8 average rate increase for Gulf Power Speak
up to protect Boyd Hill Nature Park School
Board to revamp whistle-blower policy Indigent
health plan needs support Financial
woes might slow desal facility Touch-screen
prize A
Touch Better Jeb Bush & Florida's cabinet to meet at City Hall in St. PetersburgSeptember 24, 2002, from 9am to ?
Florida Voices for Animals
for more information, contact:
Gael R. Murphy - Educational Coordinator
Florida Voices for Animals, Inc.
PO Box 17523
Tampa, FL 33682
(813) 969-3755
flvoices@aol.com
Last Demo: Everyone, also, don't forget, that Saturday morning is the MOD Demo @ the University of Tampa-have to be there by 7:15.A FVA member has organized the Demo, Sophia C., and she has posters, literature, stickers, etc. Please be there to support Sophia in her endeavor. Be there or be square!!!!
Demonstration at USF Medical School
Bruce B. Downs, between Fowler and Fletcher Tampa, FL
At the overpass, which crosses between the Veteran's Hospital and
the USF Medical Library
Saturday, April 27, 2002
12:00 noon to 2:00pm
(Note: for Sarasota folks)
Objective: Florida Voices for Animals, Sarasota in Defense of
Animals, and USF's Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
will hold a demonstration against the use of dogs, pigs, and other
animals for classroom practice at the University of South Florida.
We strongly oppose the continued exploitation of the thousands of
animals who suffer and die in wasteful,scientifically unsound
research, and in callous, unnecessary classroom procedures.
From, "The Nature of Wellness", 1999:
"Increasing numbers of scientists agree that the only way to
deal with our mounting health problems is to abolish the medieval
ritual of experimental research on animals and engage in Real
Medicine: a medicine based on prevention, clinical research (the
observation and treatment of human beings suffering from human
diseases) and, above all, logic and common sense."
Contact: Gael Murphy
Florida Voices for Animals
Phone: (813) 969-3755
Email: flvoices@aol.com
Occupied Clearwater, the First Scientology City
I just moved back to Arizona after living in Clearwater Florida for 18
months. I moved so I could get my civil rights back.
Scientology has taken over Clearwater. You can read about my
experiences at http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/occupied_cw.htm
Jeff Jacobsen
Oil-drilling
fight is far from over
Big brother Surveillance system in TampaFaceprint
software getting a hard look
For those of you who do not know me my name is Bill Hamilton. I have been a longtime volunteer at WMNF Radio in Tampa. On July 4, Greg Musselman, Phil Lee (too both WMNF programmers) and I discussed how we might pressure the Tampa City Council to rescind its approval of the use of face recognition technologies in Ybor City. Since then we have talked to many friends and now propose a multi-pronged approach. First, we have written Charles Miranda's office and asked that we (all of us) be put on the agenda for the July 19th council meeting for ten minutes. I am not certain he will grant our request so I ask those of you who share our concerns to call or e-mail his office in support of our request. Miranda's phone number is 274-8189. His e-mail address is hazel.pines@tampagov.net. Ms. Pines is his administrative assistant.
It would be helpful to also contact the offices of other city
council members.
Linda Saul-Sena's e-mail address is rhonda.smalls@tampagov.net. Gwen Miller's is tracy.davis@tampagov.net. Rose Ferlita's april.schiff@tampa.gov.net. Bob Buckhorn's bob.buckhorn@tampagov.net. Mary Alvarez's mary.alvarez@tampagov.net. And Shawn Harrison's shawn. harrison@tampa.gov.net. The Public Safety Committee is chaired by Buckhorn with Ferlita and Saul-Sena as members.
All the correspondence I receive will be forwarded to
bigbrotheriswatchingyou@sociologist.com. The password is
abbiehoffman. Please feel free to log in and read and forward
whatever you like.
...Bill, 7/8/01
(Top)Upcoming Taco Bell demonstrations in Tampa / St. Pete
Hello all, The Taco Bell boycott is spreading quickly, with over 40
actions led by workers, students and community activists nation-wide
to date. Recent actions have included a week-long campaign to raise
awareness of the boycott at UCLA and three creative demonstrations in
Madison, WI, Naples, FL (led by students from Fordham University in
NY) and Charlottesville, VA. (see the CIW website for more
details at ciw-online.org)
more to come...
Pinellas County, Fla., Solicitation Ordinance Violates Law, Nonprofit Organizations Say in Lawsuit Posted May 16, 2001
Public Citizen, Greenpeace and Others Sue County Contending Ordinance
Covering Charitable Organizations Violates First Amendment
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Pinellas County, Fla., ordinance requiring
charitable organizations to register with the county before soliciting
donations from residents is unduly burdensome and violates the First
Amendment and the Commerce Clause, according to a lawsuit filed today in
federal court in Tampa.
Not only does the law require charitable organizations to provide highly
detailed, burdensome and invasive information as a condition of
obtaining and keeping a license to solicit contributions from Pinellas
County residents, but it even gives the county discretion to deny groups
the right to solicit donations based on a review of the wording of
solicitation letters - a form of censorship, the suit says. The
law also requires nonprofits to register with the county simply because
they receive an unsolicited contribution via the Internet, thereby
sweeping within its reach charitable groups worldwide that have no
connection whatsoever with the county.
The suit was filed against Pinellas County, Fla., by Public Citizen,
Greenpeace, American Charities for Reasonable Fundraising Regulation,
and the Nonprofit Federation, a division of the Direct Marketing
Association that represents hundreds of nonprofit groups. The groups
filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of
Florida. A copy is available at http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/PinellasComp.htm.
"These types of licensing and reporting requirements impose
tremendous and unnecessary costs on groups like ours, both to collect
the information and to put it into the specific place on the individual
form for each jurisdiction where we are supposed to register and
report," said Joseph A. Zillo, Public Citizen's chief operating
officer. "We already fully report to the IRS in a very
detailed Form 990, which is available on our Web site and will be sent
to anyone who asks for one. The information on the 990 is more
than any contributor could reasonably want to know, and we cannot fathom
why states and localities would think they need anything more.
Even so, we have registered with and supplied extensive information to
dozens of states across the country, including Florida. To expect
charities to register in and report to thousands of local governments
nationwide on top of that is just too much. We cannot do it."
Although the Pinellas County ordinance went into effect in 1993, the
county has grown increasingly aggressive in recent years in attempting
to enforce it, sending letters to charities across the country
threatening sanctions if they do not register and pay the requisite
filing fee. Several aspects of the ordinance are particularly
burdensome and invasive, far exceeding what other jurisdictions and the
IRS require.
For example, the ordinance and permit application form require the
charity to state whether any of its directors, officers or employees are
related to any other director, officer, owner or employee of the
organization or to that of any of the group's vendors or suppliers.
Similarly, the law requires disclosure of whether any director, manager,
or specified official have ever been employed by or a member of another
organization registered in Pinellas County. Such requirements
would force charities to take the unusual step of investigating not only
the employment and professional histories of its various directors,
officers and employees, but also the relationships among its employees,
consultants, mail houses, office supply stores and other entities with
whom the groups contract. Also troubling for many charities is the
ordinance's requirement that charitable groups turn over for the
county's review copies of written solicitations and phone scripts,
opening the groups up to potential censorship by the county.
The law requires detailed information about each solicitation, including
the contemplated receipts and expenses of the solicitation, the
proportion of contributions that will go to the object of the
solicitation, and the distribution plan for the contributions -
information that can be difficult to compile and that changes
frequently. The ordinance imposes detailed financial reporting
requirements, demanding reporting of such information as expected gross
revenue, contributions and fundraising expenses, anticipated
management and general expenses. As Zillo said, "We do not
even keep our books at the level of specificity or in the categories
demanded by the Pinellas County ordinance. We would have to hire a
new staff and overhaul our accounting system to be able to report the
kind of financial information the ordinance requires - neither of which
we are able or willing to do."
Moreover, changes in information on a registration form, as occasioned
by the appointment of a new officer or director, the hiring of a
relative by an entity with which the charity contracts or the
development of new solicitation materials, must be updated for the
county within 15 days.
The complaint sets forth several legal bases for the challenges.
The plaintiffs rely on the First Amendment - which the Supreme Court has
held protects charitable solicitations - in asking the court to strike
down both the registration and reporting requirements. The groups
also rely on the Commerce Clause in contending that the reporting
requirements are unreasonably burdensome and therefore interfere with
interstate commerce. With respect to the county's attempt to
regulate the Internet, the groups cite not only the First Amendment and
the Commerce Clause, but the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment, which governs whether the county has jurisdiction to regulate
charities' use of the Internet.
Pinellas County and the state of Florida are not alone in seeking to
regulate charitable solicitations. Thirty-eight states and the
District of Columbia require charitable organizations to register if
they intend to solicit. The nature of what must be reported varies
widely, forcing charities to struggle to keep up with mounting
registration fees and staggering piles of paperwork.
"One of the reasons that we are filing this lawsuit," Zillo
said, "is that as cities and counties have begun to impose greater
and more disparate reporting requirements on charities, the effort to
comply with the numerous competing sets of registration and reporting
requirements has become increasingly onerous, costly, time-consuming and
difficult. We believe it is time to take steps to stop this trend
before it truly overwhelms us." ### Public Citizen is a nonprofit
consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more
information, please visit www.citizen.org.
This page: As you can see, this and the other regional pages are only suggestions /invitations of what could be. If you know of an individual or group that would like to attend to this page or know of any sites that this page can link to please contact us. thanks.
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