Free Republic

TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Times, Florida's largest newspaper, on Tuesday purchased the Tampa Tribune from Revolution Capital Group, saying it intends to create one financially secure, locally owned daily newspaper in the Tampa Bay region. "The continued competition between the newspapers was threatening to both," Tash said in a statement. "There are very few cities that are able to sustain more than one daily newspaper, and the Tampa Bay region is not among them." At a subsequent news conference, Tash noted that people today get their news from an almost infinite variety of sources. "There are many, many voices...

The renowned Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg is turning to new funding options as officials acknowledge their traditional source, theTampa Bay Times, can no longer finance its parent organization. The nonprofit Poynter Institute is recruiting new philanthropy experts, launching a massive fund-raising drive and exploring land sales as financial support from the St. Petersburg-based newspaper is "no longer viable."

Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) - The Tampa Tribune endorsed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who the newspaper said is an “innovative problem-solver with rock-hard conservative credentials,” over Mitt Romney, whom it called the “safer choice.” Sunday’s endorsement from the city’s second-largest newspaper that leans conservative comes two days before Florida’s primary election in which Romney is favored to win. Despite potential areas of weakness from the former House speaker, the editorial said Gingrich is the best Republican candidate to “take the fight” to President Barack Obama. “Sure, he can be grandiose. His personal life has been, to put it kindly, complicated....

TAMPA - The Tampa Tribune laid off 18 newsroom employees today as the newspaper works to reduce its costs and cope with a worsening advertising economy. The job cuts included top managers, mid-level editors, photographers, reporters and some of the paper's most visible faces, including longtime columnist Dan Ruth, who has worked more than 36 years in the newspaper industry, and editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau. "We have tried to make these cuts so the results are not so obvious to the reader," said Janet Coats, executive editor of the Tribune. At the same time, she said "We've tried to...

It's over. I don't know for sure, of course. But my guess is the sun is going to come out this morning. I'm thinking that when I open the back door, Tennessee the dog is going to follow her usual routine and charge outside in the direction where the squirrel is usually sitting and then stand there jumping up and down as the squirrel chatters down from the tree. It seems unlikely the power company will have shut down and I won't be able to make coffee. Hopefully, Mother Trib will be lying out there on the lawn and there...

John McCain won the endorsement of the Tampa Tribune Saturday, a key newspaper in the battleground state of Florida. The paper, which leans conservative but chose not to endorse a candidate in 2004 over dissatisfaction with President Bush, said the "uncertain times require McCain's tested vigilance." "McCain brings a lifetime of useful experience, including his grueling captivity in Vietnam and long Senate service. He believes in federalism, a strong defense and disciplined self-interest," the paper wrote. "McCain has been willing to cross party lines to work on tough problems. He co-authored a campaign finance law that failed to fulfill its...

John McCain won the endorsement of the Tampa Tribune Saturday, a key newspaper in the battleground state of Florida. The paper, which leans conservative but chose not to endorse a candidate in 2004 over dissatisfaction with President Bush, said the "uncertain times require McCain's tested vigilance." "McCain brings a lifetime of useful experience, including his grueling captivity in Vietnam and long Senate service. He believes in federalism, a strong defense and disciplined self-interest," the paper wrote. "McCain has been willing to cross party lines to work on tough problems. He co-authored a campaign finance law that failed to fulfill its...

John McCain Leads in Latest Florida Poll John McCain- 49% Barack Obama- 47% Survey USA, a prominent national polling firm, shows John McCain leading Senator Barack Obama in the state of Florida. The Survey USA Florida poll was conducted after the final presidential debate on Thursday October 16th. Tampa Tribune Endorses John McCain for President "McCain brings a lifetime of useful experience, including his grueling captivity in Vietnam and long Senate service. He believes in federalism, a strong defense and disciplined self-interest. McCain has been willing to cross party lines to work on tough problems. He co-authored a campaign finance...

ASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — Federal law enforcement authorities said in court documents unsealed on Friday that they suspected a group of Islamic charities in Northern Virginia of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more from Saudi Arabia to help finance terrorist attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.The authorities said in documents that they suspected that the network of charitable and educational institutions known as the Saar group in Herndon, Va., used an elaborate system of domestic and overseas financial transactions to "blur the trail" of its revenues and disguise the fact that it was sending money to aid...

A powerful but phony argument against creating personal accounts within Social Security is that the retirement program cannot afford it. The so-called transition cost to go to a partially private system is often estimated to be $2 trillion. Per person, that's about $6,700, not counting babies and others who don't pay tax. But instead of getting angry, taxpayers should be wondering why it costs so much to get some folks partially off Social Security and how much more it's going to cost for everyone to stay aboard. They'll find that letting a younger worker own a tax-funded retirement account is...

Over the course of the past two days I have had a running email dialogue with the Tampa Tribune's token liberal columnist, Daniel Ruth, regarding a column he wrote downplaying Jeb Bush's chances for president in the future. The FR posting and column is: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1364659/posts I thought I'd share the content of the dialogue with all of you since it is comical and shows some insight into the mind of a liberal journalist. You've got to read his column first to appreciate the emails. The emails are as follows: Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 5:22 PM To: Ruth, Daniel J....

How much of a beaten, beleaguered, hapless lot of lost pols are the Democrats after Tuesday's ballot box mugging? Curly Howard didn't get slapped around as much by Moe as did this crowd of Gallup Poll panhandlers. Good grief, the Washington Generals score more often against the Harlem Globetrotters. But wait! It gets worse. The Iraqi air force had more bench strength than this party, which has about as much of a future at the moment as Yasser Arafat - only less so. It's one thing to lose an election as John Kerry did. It's quite another to look into...

TAMPA -- In a break with tradition, The Tampa Tribune, a Republican standard-bearer for decades, refused Sunday to endorse anyone for president for the first time since 1964. The newspaper has solidly supported every Republican presidential nominee since 1952, except for Barry Goldwater, but withheld its endorsement this year, calling the decision "achingly difficult" and blaming shortcomings of both candidates. Editors instead published an unusual full-page editorial with harsh criticism of the war in Iraq and President Bush's economic policies. "President Bush told us that he was 'a uniter, not a divider,' but shortly after taking office, his administration took...

A man speaking to two women for a moment in a front yard comprised a "social gathering" subject to a fine. By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET, Times Staff Writer Published November 18, 2003 NEW PORT RICHEY - Raymond Pemburn says he is blessed with friends. They call the 89-year-old widower in the morning, or take him to lunch, or stop by to chat if they see him outside. Sometimes they gather for dinner at his home. He just never imagined having a handful of visitors would get him in trouble with his condominium association. Today the Pointe West Condominium Association board...

Filed at 10:02 p.m. ET TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --The St. Petersburg Times will pay more than $33 million over 12 years for the rights to rename a hockey rink for the newspaper, according to terms released Friday after questions were raised about the deal. The Tampa Bay Lighting hockey team and the Times initially decided to keep the terms of Tuesday's agreement private. Both said the arena would be the only major sporting venue in the country named after a newspaper. ``Like most business contracts of such scope it had a confidentiality clause,'' said Paul Tash, editor and president of...

BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE TAMPA TRIBUNE From the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, 7/9/02 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tampa - For a long time now, the Tampa Tribune has allowed its Journalists to attack members of the Tampa Bay Islamic Community, with no actual substance to their claims. They have been relying heavily on unsubstantiated claims from unnamed sources and anonymous foreign intelligence agents with questionable motives. The standard that is being applied in this smear campaign clearly lacks journalistic integrity. This incitement against Muslims and Arabs has led to much personal and communal suffering and hardship, and their...

Group protests Tribune coverageUSF students were among protesters objecting to the reporting of The Tampa Tribune By Chris O’DonnellNews EditorJuly 15, 2002 If the “ship them all back” remarks hurt Muslim USF junior Layelle Saad, she hid it well. Instead, Saad, a member of Students for International Peace and Justice, continued getting her message across, refusing to let the comments of an elderly passerby who interrupted her interview deter her. The coverage of Muslim issues in The Tampa Tribune, Saad said, is biased and often a thinly disguised attack on Muslim religion, culture and on leaders of the Muslim community...

Newspaper: Israel ties Tampa university professor to Jihad Tuesday, June 25, 2002 Associated Press TAMPA - A professor who has been under investigation for providing financial support to terrorists is a founding member of the governing council of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Tampa Tribune is reporting. In a story in Sunday's edition, the newspaper cited unnamed current and former Israeli intelligence officials interviewed in Tel Aviv who said Sami Al-Arian as a founding member of the Majlis Shura. The panel functions like a Jihad board of directors and appears to have been formed in the early 1990s, about...