Free Republic

With no end in sight for a 10-day-old government shutdown, Coast Guard helicopter mechanic Bradley Jones prepared for an overnight shift on New Year’s Eve worried that his family’s mounting bills won’t get paid. Like more than 1,100 other Coast Guard personnel living and working in the Tampa Bay area, Jones, 26, got a temporary reprieve when the Trump administration and the service branch came up with a reported $75 million to fund paychecks due Jan 1. But beyond that, there are no guarantees. And for a force whose motto is Semper Paratus — Latin for “always ready” — the...

A man visiting Busch Gardens Tampa Bay was injured by celebratory gunfire on Wednesday. According to Tampa police, 36-year-old Scott Deel of Florahome, Florida was walking inside the theme park with his wife when he felt pain in his shoulder around 10 p.m. His wife then noticed he was bleeding. Investigators said the source of the pain was a bullet, most likely a result of celebratory gunfire from outside the park, but they are unsure where. it occurred around the same times fireworks were set off at Busch Gardens. The park's security responded, and gave him first aid. Tampa firefighters...

Red State and Federalist contributor Brandon Morse “found” a surprising political bent to the crustaceans he was after when he went crabbing last week in Tampa Bay. One of the crabs he caught had been Sharpie’d on its underside. Its message? Not very kind! Morse side-stepped talking with a reporter from the Tampa Bay Times in favor of lettings crab advocates speak for the anti-Hillary Clinton creature, retweeting statements in an attempt to gain insight into this underserved undersea demographic.

An unanswered question in the Florida gun debate: What to do with existing guns? That’s the scary ass headline hovering over a tampabaytimes.com article written in the aftermath of Florida’s new gun control legislation. The implication is clear: Dems don’t think it’s enough to ban “assault weapons” (which the new bill does not do). Something must be done to disarm MSR-armed civilians. No really . . . When the Senate debated SB 7026— the gun legislation that just landed on Gov. Rick Scott’s desk — Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando sponsored an amendments that would have banned the “sale or transfer”...

Turns out that many businesses who advertise during the NFL games are beginning to realize that the fans are real upset. I mean, who would have thought that even Anheuser Busch would begin feeling the wrath of the fans? So they decided put out this toll free number for anyone who wants to express their opinion on what they think of the way multi-millionaire players and multi-billionaire owners of the NFL are protesting during the national Anthem. If your angry, then call Budweiser and let them have it. I did, and I will admit it made me feel better....

ST. PETERSBURG — Andy Park wanted to see if a man could get into the woman's restroom at Target. The retailer's "inclusive" restroom policy — allowing people to use whatever restroom corresponds with their gender identity — has been under fire since last week. It's a small flare-up in a larger firestorm around new laws banning transgender people from bathrooms that don't match the sex on their birth certificate. Park, 57, hid a camera phone in his shirt pocket, went to the Target a quarter mile from his home and asked employees there if he could use the women's restroom....

AVON PARK (FOX 13) - The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said it has arrested a suspect in the shooting that left an adult and child injured on Saturday. The victims, one being only 5 years old, were attending a 'Stop the Violence' community event at Aline McWhite Park when they were hit by gunfire around 5:30 p.m. Deputies said it was a group of men near the park who began firing shots for unknown reasons. People attending the event at the park ran from the gunfire, but the child and a 20-year-old woman were shot.

Domesticated swine and Western Civilization go back a long way together. The domestic pig was being raised in Europe by about 1500 BC. Rome improved pig breeding and spread them throughout their empire. The early Christians increasingly abandoned the Jewish ban on the eating of pork by about 50 AD and it’s been the celebrated ‘other white meat’ ever since. Pigs and the discovery of the New World went hand in hand. Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493 at Queen Isabella’s insistence. Hernando de Soto brought America’s first thirteen pigs to Tampa Bay, Fla.,...

Hernando De Soto's route through Florida is as elusive to modern archaeologists as the gold the famed Spanish explorer sought throughout the southeastern United States. Ever since De Soto's 600 men set foot on the shores of Tampa Bay, arriving from Cuba almost 500 years ago, historians have debated the exact direction of his failed treasure-hunting expeditions as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina. But in north Marion County, an archaeologist has found what his contemporaries deem rarer than the gold De Soto was seeking — physical evidence of the explorer's precise journey through Marion County and enough information...

The sixteenth century Spaniard, Hernando de Soto, is remembered by historians for his exploration of the southeastern United States, which began in Florida. A former mercenary soldier in the conquest of Central and South America, he hoped to increase his notoriety and fortune by leading an expedition through parts of North America. In the end, De Soto’s army spent over four years and covered 4,000 miles in its quest for gold and new territory to colonize. Neither resulted from his efforts. With approval from the Spanish Crown, De Soto assembled his expedition. He financed the endeavor himself with the understanding...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has notified CNN that he is prepared to sue if the cable network airs a documentary about college campus rape on Sunday as scheduled, according to a letter obtained by ESPN. "The Hunting Ground" debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The documentary, in part, highlights the rape investigation against Winston while he was at Florida State and features the first public interview from Winston's accuser, Erica Kinsman.

The Indianapolis Colts, already reeling with injury and performing below expectations, received even more terrible injury news on Tuesday: quarterback Andrew Luck suffered abdominal injury in the team's victory over Denver. Luck is expected to miss two to six weeks. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano announced the injury on Tuesday afternoon, saying Luck suffered a lacerated kidney and a partially torn abdominal muscle on a fourth-quarter scramble. This is in addition to the report from earlier this season that Luck had been playing with multiple fractured ribs. The Colts are in a bye week this week, then face the Falcons,...

Teravainen and Antoine Vermette scored 1:58 apart late in the third period, and the Blackhawks rallied to stun the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Wednesday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time. The Lightning, who won the best-of-7 series 4-3, either will host the Chicago Blackhawks, who have won the Stanley Cup twice in the past five seasons, or visit the Anaheim Ducks, who won it in 2007, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBC). Tampa Bay defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games to win the 2004 Stanley Cup.

Big business has come out in favor of same-sex marriage. Exactly 379 corporations and employer organizations urged the Supreme Court to strike down state bans on gay marriage, according to a friend-of-the-court brief obtained by The Huffington Post. The document was expected to be filed late Thursday morning. “Employers are better served by a uniform marriage rule that gives equal dignity to employee relationships,” reads the brief, filed by global law firm Morgan Lewis. “Allowing same-sex couples to marry improves employee morale and productivity, reduces uncertainty, and removes the wasteful administrative burdens imposed by the current disparity of state law...

After nine seasons in Tampa Bay, Joe Maddon is moving on. He won’t manage the Rays in 2015. After nine seasons in Tampa Bay, Joe Maddon is moving on. He won’t manage the Rays in 2015. Joe Maddon will no longer be the Tampa Bay Rays’ manager. The team issued this statement from owner Stuart Sternberg this afternoon: “Joe Maddon has exercised an opt-out in his current contract, a contract which was not scheduled to expire until after the 2015 season. We tried diligently and aggressively to sign Joe to a third contract extension prior to his decision. As of...

Sami Osmakac toyed with the idea of blowing up Tampa Bay bridges or the sheriff’s office. The defense is arguing that Sami suffers from mental illness. The Tampa Tribune reportedL Sami Osmakac toyed with the idea of blowing up the bridges crossing Tampa Bay or detonating bombs at the sheriff’s office and police departments before settling on a plan to plant explosives in Tampa’s Hyde Park party district and then spraying first responders with automatic gunfire, according to recently released court documents. The planned January 2012 attack, Osmakac said in a “martyrdom video,” would be “payback for Sheikh Osama Bin...

An altercation between two couples at a Wesley Chapel movie theater Monday led to a shooting that left a man dead, authorities said. The suspect was identified as Curtis Reeves, a retired Tampa police officer. He has been arrested on a charge of second-degree homicide. According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Chad and Nichole Oulson got into an argument with Reeves and his wife, who were sitting behind them during previews for the 1:20 p.m. showing of the war movie Lone Survivor. Argument started over cell phone Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said the argument began when Reeves became upset...

The first rule of public relations disasters is to change the narrative as quickly as possible. With that in mind, I’ll give Family Glazer a cookie for their rapid response in turning the 4-12 stench that was sooooo last season into a Loviefest. Well done. New coach Lovie Smith is a proven winner with local ties, and having a team that competes for the playoffs every year would certainly be refreshing. Call me jaded, though, on at least one big point. I’m not sure even winning automatically will fill Raymond James Stadium every Sunday and beyond. I think fans are...

I always believed that giving to a good cause or helping victims of a disaster was a noble thing to do. I mean, “There but for the grace of God go I”, right? With the recent uncovering of scandals within the government, more and more investigators are digging to uncover other cases of fraud and mismanagement. Is nothing sacred anymore? A recent investigation exposed by CNN, The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Tampa Bay Times have found that there are dozens and dozens of charities that basically do next to nothing for the causes they raise money for. 50...