By Jim Bleyer When Congress approved the creation of “opportunity zones” as part of Donald Trump’s 2017 tax code overhaul, it didn’t have half-billionaire Jeff Vinik in mind as the legislation’s sole beneficiary in downtown Tampa. But a cabal of enablers—Senator Rick Scott, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, and …
By Jim Bleyer The federal investigation into shady land deals in Hillsborough County includes several targets besides County Commissioner Ken Hagan and his family, Tampa Bay Beat has learned. Those being investigated include private citizens as well as other public officials, according to our source in Tallahassee. No specific …
By E. Eugene Webb PhD, from Bay Post Internet It seems like the proclamation of former baseball Commissioner Bud Selig still haunts Tampa Bay. At the height of St. Petersburg’s struggle to acquire a major-league baseball franchise in the late 1980s Selig notably said, “St. Petersburg is not …
By Jim Bleyer It may be the prohibitive favorite (again) to win professional hockey’s coveted Stanley Cup but the 2019-20 edition of the Tampa Bay Lightning are set up for more failure and heartbreak when its season kicks off Thursday. Thanks to former General Manager Steve Yzerman, …
By Jim Bleyer Another heavy hitter has weighed in against the specious, politically-motivated Hillsborough County transit tax. In an amicus curiae brief to the Florida Supreme Court, Associated Industries of Florida asserted that the entire $15 billion transportation sales tax levy should be tossed. District Court Judge Rex …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay Since the legal appeals were filed in the All for Transportation/Hillsborough County tax litigation, the Florida House and Florida Senate have filed amicus curiae briefs with the Florida Supreme Court requesting the Court to strike the entire All for Transportation charter …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay Almost $760,000 has been paid to the New York baseball lawyer Irwin Raij by Hillsborough County in its pursuit of a new Rays baseball stadium. The handsome sum was paid from October 2014 through July 2019. Raij was paid hundreds …
By Jim Bleyer The guilty pleas entered last week by former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox and a confidante is not the end of public corruption investigations in Florida. That’s the word from Lawrence Keefe, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, and sources at the Federal …
Like the Wicked Witch of the West, Jeff Vinik sent his surrogate monkeys to sell the illegal Hillsborough transit tax. By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay All for Transportation (AFT) has been dishonest from the start. It tried to create a false narrative last June …
By Jim Bleyer Two months ago the attendance-challenged Tampa Bay Rays could at least boast of a fiercely loyal, though modest, fan base. No more, thanks to Rays owner Stu Sternberg striking out with a far-out proposal to play half a season in Tampa Bay and the other half in …
