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Carlton: In-house rivalry, state bears and a Starbucks ban

 
Published Aug. 7, 2015

We've seen these interhousehold rivalries before: One spouse is a die-hard Gator, the other bleeds 'Noles garnet and gold. Husband is forever loyal to his Red Sox, while wife cheers only her hometown Rays.

But this one's political. And involves a politician.

Republican Hillsborough County Commissioner and former state legislator Victor Crist says he's all in for Jeb Bush for president.

His wife, Angela Severino-Crist, however, is a Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton, Crist says.

And in the Crist household, this apparently will go beyond a few lively discussions over morning waffles.

"The two of us have not been able to negotiate terms for our fundraisers," says the commissioner. "So we may have to do a joint one."

Is that just the smack talk of political rivalry?

Crist says he is serious.

Which, should this happen, would be an epic moment in both marital and political history.

Just a smidge of good news this week for battle-scarred manatees and beleaguered sea turtles. Though for Florida's bears, not so much.

The state Department of Environmental Protection got word that four conservation groups intend to sue over the permitting of seawalls — which can block legally protected sea turtles from beach nesting that's, well, kind of necessary to keep the species going.

Up in Citrus County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to better protect the manatees at the unique Three Sisters Spring with a plan that would seriously cut back on — though not eliminate — the too-many tourists and tour operators who flock there.

But the bears? More than 1,300 licenses were sold so far to people eager to shoot them in a controversial state-sanctioned weeklong hunt of about 320 bears this fall.

The beige TECO Energy building is not the swankiest in downtown Tampa, but there is something interesting going on in the lobby.

On the walls hang a collection of bright and varied paintings from Cuba, carried home in travel tubes by longtime City Council member Charlie Miranda.

The island nation is in Miranda's blood, his father having immigrated here from Cuba, and Miranda himself traveling there many times.

The exhibit of two dozen vibrant paintings, called "Known and Unknown," includes works by Cuban abstract painter Jose Salazar Vazquez, artista independiente. It's a timely showing, given efforts to normalize relations with Cuba.

Art, as Miranda says, can only help people understand what's there.

Hey, are those coffee grounds all over Starbucks' corporate face?

In the best guy-takes-on-big-wrong story of late, a man confronted some apparently able-bodied customers who routinely took the handicapped parking space at a South Tampa Starbucks.

That got Rob Rowen banned via official letter from the ubiquitous coffee shop.

And then hastily unbanned after reporters came swarming.

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Clearly, Starbucks messed with the wrong nudge on this one. No word, though, if any of those it's-all-about-me latte lovers have been shamed into circling the block.

Contact Sue Carlton at carlton@tampabay.com.