ST. PETERSBURG — An old analog clock, hung crooked over the rolls of newsprint, let the night’s sparse crew know they had time yet until deadline. On a Saturday night, nearing 8 o’clock, it was still quiet in the reel room, beneath the dormant presses.

Ladda Peterson laid a pattern of red tape on the blank, white bales, setting them up for an unbroken scroll. The halls were hollow as staffers burned vacation time, but like everybody still here, she was used to making do with less. As always, the press crew was ready: “Bombs” of ink, thick and pungent as classroom paint, were hooked up. Ribbons of paper were strung along rollers. And the next day’s pages were beginning to arrive.

What starts in spiral notebooks has for six decades come here, to the Tampa Bay Times’ printing plant, to be stamped into something you can hold. Phone calls and tips turned into stories, the first drafts of the first draft of history — those get combed over and neatened on digital pages. In a dizzying overnight transformation, stories end up folded on front yards before early light.

About 9 p.m., in a room as bright as airport security, machines hissed and burned Sunday’s pages into perfect stamps. Headlines appeared ghostlike on anodized aluminum plates. Each is designed to snap onto cylinders, so ink can press onto rubber and rubber onto newsprint, just so.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/narratives/2021/03/03/the-end-of-an-era-as-tampa-bay-times-plant-prints-its-final-papers/

As they start their two-month session, Republicans in the Florida Legislature are seeking to address some of Donald Trump’s biggest grievances, showcasing that the former president’s political clout remains immense in his home state.

Trump’s favorite targets — Big Tech, China, Antifa and election fraud — are also at the top of the agenda for the GOP-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

State lawmakers will consider bills imposing new regulations on social media companies, cracking down on rioting, targeting Chinese espionage and responding to Trump’s myth that voting shenanigans cost him the election.

Trump has inspired a new generation of Republican politicians who are looking to make their mark and boost their status with conservative voters, said state Rep. Evan Jenne, co-leader of House Democrats.

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-trump-legislative-session-20210302-mqhaqdyqh5emfox3ogvtb4kx44-story.html
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

On the 2021 legislative session's first day, Gov. Ron DeSantis borrowed from a Merle Haggard song in his State of the State address Tuesday: "When you mess with the men and women of law enforcement, you are walkin' on the fightin’ side of me."

The governor was highlighting one of his signature proposals (HB 1/SB 484) that he first announced in September, known as "anti-riot" legislation.

But just a few hours later, activists from around the state converged on the Historic Capitol building to protest the measures, calling them unconstitutional and even "racist."

In the crowd, protesters held picket and cardboard signs decrying the bill and waved flags, including one representing the Black Lives Matter movement and another with the symbol of Antifascist Action, also known as Antifa.

Read more: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/2021/03/02/anti-riot-legislation-draws-protesters-state-capital-hb-1-sb-484-legislation-session/6877090002/

Let’s stipulate something at the outset: There was no circumstance under which President Biden’s American Rescue Plan would get Republican support. Not if it came in under $1 trillion. Not if it was stripped of funding for the arts or Planned Parenthood. Not if no one whispered the words “minimum wage.”

This was fated from the moment the second hand struck A-Democrat-Is-President o’clock, and Mitch McConnell dusted off his old playbook.

Like Barack Obama, Joe Biden responded to a crisis he inherited by proposing a large stimulus that polls very well, even among Republicans. But as in 2009, Republicans see no upside to working with the new president. If the economy bounces back, they figure, Biden will get credit regardless. But by withholding their votes and making the bill partisan, they can take some bloom off the rose. After all, hadn’t Biden promised to unite the country?

In 2009, this worked splendidly. Obama’s overtures to Republicans watered down the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act until it was too small and too loaded with inefficient tax cuts to quickly juice a languishing economy. Republican messaging about a convoluted process and out-of-control spending stuck, laying the groundwork for GOP gains in 2010.

You’re watching what they hope will be the sequel.

Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/democrats-must-decide-whether-they-want-to-govern-or-let-republicans-hold-them-hostage/Content?oid=28897731

Cruises are still months away from resuming, but once they do, things will be very different. Those differences will be found beyond the full-service buffets and improved air sanitation onboard; in fact, many ports are questioning if they want to return to the pre-pandemic way things were.

As ships grow larger and cruising becomes more popular, cruise ports the world over have struggled with overtourism. Even prior to the pandemic, destinations like Venice, Barcelona and Boracay moved to lower the number of cruise passengers stopping at their ports.

The trend has rapidly spread since the pandemic all but shut down tourism in most places.

Speaking at an event announcing an expansion of the Aster Cayman medical city, Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin explained that the nation was trying to move beyond its reliance upon the cruise industry. “We’re trying to diversify the whole tourism industry. What I foresee, certainly if we [the People's Progressive Movement party] retain [control of] the government, is less focus on growing cruise tourism. I think we have a very clear signal from just about every source that the great numbers that we’ve had since the cruise industry began in earnest and have always been the objective.”

Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2021/03/03/after-a-year-of-without-cruise-tourists-some-ports-are-questioning-if-they-want-them-to-ever-return

Traditionally held in Washington, D.C., this year's annual Conservative Political Action Conference — described by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper as "Woodstock for election liars" — found new turf at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando. Lucky us.

While a four-day lineup of conservative politicians, pundits and Fox News favorites discussed the future of the Republican Party inside, hundreds of grinning, maskless right-wingers gathered outside to proudly proclaim their support for former President Donald Trump — who was scheduled to make his first public speech since leaving the White House on Sunday.

On Saturday, "Stop the Steal" architect and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone was met with warm welcome by the mostly maskless jubilee of Trump supporters. Stone was even caught dancing to a pro-Trump rap on Saturday, in front of a pickup truck painted with an unrealistically ripped version of Trump on its side.

Florida's part-time Grim Reaper, real estate attorney Daniel Uhlfelder, secured funding to fly a "Welcome Insurrectionists. RemoveRon.org" banner over the Orlando hotel, in a reference to last month's right-wing Capitol riot and the movement to unseat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from office in 2022.

Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/cpac-in-orlando-was-full-of-sound-and-fury-a-tale-told-by-nationalists-signifying-what-exactly/Content?oid=28895022

Chicago will allow bars and restaurants to boost indoor capacity to 50% and remain open until 1 a.m. in the latest move from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to ease COVID-19 restrictions and help businesses.

The indoor dining limit, which takes effect immediately, will now be 50% capacity or 50 people, whichever is fewer. Lightfoot also will allow liquor stores to sell alcohol until 11 p.m. and boost the number of people allowed at indoor fitness classes to 20, the city said.

“Because people are still adhering to the public health guidance, it makes all the difference in the world,” Lightfoot said in a news conference announcing the changes. “Thanks to your efforts, we are one step closer to putting this pandemic in our rearview mirror.”

Bars that want to serve alcohol indoors must either serve food or partner with a restaurant or business that provides food to its patrons. Tables are capped at six customers for both indoor and outdoor dining and must be spread out with 6 feet of distance between parties. Diners must keep masks on except when eating or drinking.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-chicago-coronavirus-restaurants-bars-fitness-restrictions-20210302-pcgu6fa2zjayzcyvphqagyhhhe-story.html

‘Inclusive’ or ‘impractical?’ Limits on Kelly’s role in fundraising at issue in race to lead state Democratic Party


The race for the reins of the Democratic Party of Illinois heated up on Monday with the release of a legal opinion contending that U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly may be ineligible to serve in the top state party post.

The congresswoman’s team called that “suggestion” both “false and offensive.”

Kelly released her own legal opinion conceding that, as a federal elected official, she would be barred from raising or spending money for state or local campaigns, something the Matteson Democrat suggested would empower other party leaders.

“I will not only make sure we follow the letter of the law, but have an inclusive, team-approach to all decisions that involve the party’s finances,” she said in a statement.

“This is something that’s at the core of how I plan to lead our party.”

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2021/3/1/22307793/robin-kelly-michelle-harris-illinois-democratic-party-chair-madigan-yarbrough

Acknowledging she, too, has been “sexually harassed in a workplace setting,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday sympathized with three women who have come forward to accuse New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment.

The mayor didn’t say when she was sexually harassed in the workplace or by whom. Nor did she say what job she held at the time or whether she filed a complaint against her alleged harasser.

Top aides offered no further details on the mayor’s remarks.

Lightfoot simply used her personal experience to explain why she feels a personal connection to three women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment and why she believes this “Me, too” moment cannot be ignored.

“Every woman who has been sexually harassed in a workplace setting, as I have been, understands how difficult it is for a woman to come forward and to speak her truth,” the mayor said.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2021/3/2/22309938/lightfoot-sexually-harassed-workplace-cuomo-allegations-victims

Source: Chicago Sun Times

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was discharged Tuesday from rehab at the Northwestern-affiliated Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, where he had spent over three weeks, following an undisclosed illness and surgery.

The 79-year-old founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, who was hospitalized for eight days in January, disclosed he had been unable to walk when transferred to rehab on Feb. 6.

“When I entered the rehab center, I was unable to walk. Today, I walked out returning home, and work strengthened. I look forward to returning to work to continue to make a difference in racial injustices, and I look forward to the next march,” said the civil rights leader.

“Thank you, with an abundance of appreciation and gratitude to the Ryan Rehab staff. They are the best. The doctors, medical team, and therapist have provided me a healthy recovery.”

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/2/22310311/civil-rights-leader-rev-jesse-jackson-discharged-rehab-3-weeks-had-been-unable-walk-illness-surgery

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Full title: Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson discharged from rehab after 3 weeks; had been unable to walk after illness, surgery