News
Judge denies banton's request to perform
The show apparently won't go on for Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton, who has been on house arrest in Broward County since bailing out of the Pinellas County Jail on Nov. 10. Banton, 37, whose real name is Mark Myrie, wants to perform a live concert in Miami on Dec. 26. U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli denied that request Tuesday, saying whatever financial pressures Banton faces do not outweigh the risk that he might flee. Banton's attorney Wednesday asked the judge to reconsider, saying the 24-hour security detail ordered to monitor Banton as a condition of his release costs $20,000 a month. Plus, there's the cost of preparing for his upcoming drug trafficking retrial. Banton's security detail does not object to him doing the concert and would be present for the show, his lawyer says. The prosecutor does object. No word on whether he would attend.
Some trails closing temporarily
The Southwest Florida Water Management District will temporarily close trails during November and December in the Flatwoods and Morris Bridge areas of the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve in Hillsborough County. Off-road bicycling and hiking trails in Flatwoods Park will be closed Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 for wildlife counts. The closures will not affect paved trails. Off-road bicycling and hiking trails and the parking area within the Morris Bridge Park bicycle area will be closed intermittently between Nov. 30 and Dec. 23, except for weekends, Mondays and holidays. The district will use heavy equipment to establish fire lines to prepare the area for prescribed burns.
Nonprofit cafe needs music help
The Trinity Cafe, located inside the Salvation Army building in downtown Tampa, has long offered homeless people free gourmet lunches and service from a wait staff of volunteers. Music came courtesy of an old radio tuned to jazz or rhythm and blues. Then the receiver died. Someone provided an iPod, but the nonprofit cafe still needs an Apple docking station with a speaker system loud enough to fill the room. "Music takes people back to good times in their lives,'' says program director Cindy Davis, who is hoping for a donation. For information about how to help, go to www.trinitycafe.org.
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