Emergency managers across the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to Florida are monitoring the progress of a north-northwest-moving storm system predicted to strengthen and possibly strike the Florida Panhandle as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday.

Call me too ignorant, too cynical or too old, but online voter registration, which went into effect in Florida Oct. 1, feels like Big Trouble.

Not many people who witness the death of something as personal and iconic as Caulkins' orange grove was during the last century, actually get to see it reborn in a profoundly significant way during the next century.

Probably we're not going to stop singing the National Anthem every time somebody gathers a crowd and produces a bouncing ball. But I can dream.

Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, moving toward a November runoff with incumbent Mayor Rick Kriseman to get the mayoral job back, is in Washington, D.C. Friday "listening and learning" at the thousands-strong Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference.

Much as I hate deputizing the hypocrisy posse to chase down a Republican, hypocrites in positions of influence deserve a good public "outing" no matter which way they lean.

Martin County, already down $371,802 for violating Florida's public records laws, was ordered this week to pay Lake Point rock mine near Lake Okeechobee another $130,107.

During a special meeting last Thursday, Coral Gables city commissioners and residents took it in turn to lambaste Florida Power and Light Co. for virtually everything Hurricane Irma did to collapse and darken the sweltering Miami-Dade city.

There's no part of Gov. Rick Scott's job more heavily criticized during his seven years in office than the friends and supporters he's appointed to leadership posts, generally as a lucrative prize for loyalty.

As if hurricane-affected St. Petersburg residents need another reason to participate in a free sign-up for FEMA benefits ... now there's Jameis Winston.