6/18/13Tampa
TALLAHASSEE — When Amazon expands, as it wants to in Florida, state and local governments practically line up to offer to pay the company to move. Virginia officials approved $4.4 million in taxpayer subsidies so Amazon could build two warehouses in the state. California reached a deal where the online company was …
We deliver to your Facebook doorstep! "Like" us and prepare to be touched, entertained, outraged, enlightened and engaged — possibly all in one day. Then tell us what you think, so we can feature your insights in our daily #YouSaidIt section in the Tampa Bay Times.
Welcome to the new website of the Tampa Bay Times, tbt* and Things to Do. Questions? Feedback? Email us at reimagined@tampabay.com.
If you are reporting a technical issue, please include the type of device you are on (desktop, smartphone or tablet), the type of Internet browser (Safari, Firefox, etc.) and the Web page URL, if applicable.
The News Roundup section provides breaking news updates from Tampa Bay and throughout the nation and world.
7:16PM
TAMPA — Alex Sink barely lost the 2010 governor's race to Rick Scott and as she weighs whether to take him on again, there is no shortage of armchair shrinks speculating about her thinking:
• The sudden death in December of her husband, former gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, was too big a blow for her to run another grueling campaign without him.
• Sink wants to run because she needs to throw herself into something big and all-consuming after McBride's death.
• She resents all the attention on lifelong-Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist and is intent on being courted for as long as possible.
• She resents Crist so much, his expected candidacy would ensure she jumps in.
"Don't waste your time," Sink said Tuesday in a 45-minute interview with the Tampa Bay Times. "You're going to talk to people and they'll tell you I'm definitely running or that I'm definitely not. That's only because I'm not subtle enough to be giving little hints out there."
Sink will decide by Sept. 1, but she sounded anything like a retired politician merely intent on keeping her name in the mix. She spoke angrily about the direction of the state under Gov. Scott — "I mean, pick a day. Read the newspaper. This governor's incompetent" — and nearly as revolted by the prospect of Crist as the Democratic nominee.
"A disaster" is how she described the possibility....
6:29PM
At least on paper, Monday was a good night for Mayor Joe Ayoub....
5:46PM
When the Herrera family first sued the Hillsborough County school district in federal court, Judge James Moody didn't think they had a case.
"Plaintiffs’ initial complaint alleged repeated conclusions of Defendants’ 'deliberate indifference' and 'pattern, practice, and custom of failing to ensure the safety and well-being of special needs students,'” Moody wrote.
He allowed them to re-file, and they did. Now he's letting the discrimination suit proceed.
"Plaintiffs’ second amended complaint, however, includes sufficient facts of a policy, practice, or custom, which caused I.H.’s injury," he wrote in his order on Tuesday, denying the district's motion to dismiss the Nov. 1 complaint.
"For example, Plaintiffs allege that: Defendants knowingly hired a Director of ESE who had no meaningful training, certification, or background in ESE; there were multiple incidents involving injuries and deaths of ESE students in Hillsborough County before and after I.H.’s death, and that these incidents demonstrate a pattern and practice of disregarding the safety and rights of ESE students."
Federal court is an unusual venue for such a lawsuit. But if the Herreras had filed a negligence suit in state court, the award would have been limited by sovereign immunity.
Instead, they are trying to prove that the ESE services in the Hillsborough school district are so lacking that they amount to discrimination....
