AltWeeklies Wire
Going Inside Both Presidential Campaigns in Floridanew
I spent a week volunteering for both campaigns to get a perspective most reporters must speculate about from the outside. And because I wanted unvarnished access, not a public relations tour, I engaged in the ethically murky but necessary practice of concealing my role as a reporter.
Orlando Weekly |
Adriana Ruiz |
10-23-2008 |
Politics
The Orlando Police Beatnew
Oct. 3, 7:10 a.m.: Orlando criminals have evolved since our last edition, wherein I chronicled the bungled efforts of some dunderhead who couldn't figure out how to smash a glass window.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
10-17-2008 |
Commentary
Happytown: The Come Out With Pride 2008 Packetnew
As much as we love broad strokes and low-hanging fruit around here -- along with expletives in lieu of real words -- even we weren't sure what to make of the thick packet we were issued by Come Out With Pride 2008 in advance of this past weekend's queer festivities.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes and Bob Whitby |
10-17-2008 |
Commentary
Tags: gay pride parade, Young Democrats
Attorney Lawson Lamar Finally Has a Challengernew
Mercedes Leon, a 45-year-old Republican, is running against him. But she faces long odds.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
10-17-2008 |
Politics
Happytown: Mayor Buddy Dyer and Same-Sex Partnersnew
Last week, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that the city will henceforth offer same-sex partners the benefits it awards to married couples (though not to straight unmarried couples, because they're living in sin). And it only took our "progressive" mayor and his Democrat-dominated city council five years to do it.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes, Deanna Morey and Adriana Ruiz |
10-17-2008 |
Commentary
The Orlando Police Beatnew
Sept. 26, 8:16 a.m.: Some jackass snatched a woman's purse while she was at a bus stop.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
10-17-2008 |
Commentary
Orlando City Council Watchnew
District 1 commissioner Phil Diamond was out with the flu, which meant there would be no reassuring winks, no thoughtful contention and a generally arrhythmic pacing to this week's civic confab.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
10-15-2008 |
Commentary
Tags: Orlando, city council
Election '08: Meet the Also-Ransnew
Third-party candidates often languish in obscurity and find it hard to raise money or even gain a place on the ballot in many states. In Florida, however, ballot access is easy. So that means come Nov. 4, you'll have a lot of choices –-- 13, to be exact, plus one write-in.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
10-15-2008 |
Politics
Happytown: Judge Smacks Down Orlando's Ban on Feeding People in Parksnew
On Sept. 26, Judge Gregory Presnell struck down the city's ban on feedings in public parks. He ruled that the feedings, organized by Orlando Food Not Bombs, were political speech protected by the First Amendment.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes and Deanna Morey |
10-07-2008 |
Commentary
Happytownnew
Want to send your kid to school with a healthy salad you picked up from a deli? Maybe a brownie from your neighbor's bake sale? Too bad, hippie. Your "food" has no place in the public schools.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes, Justin Strout and Bob Whitby |
10-01-2008 |
Commentary
Happytown: Palin, Same-Sex Marriage, and Morenew
The latest Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters indicates that only 55 percent of the 1,427 voters questioned support the superfluous Amendment 2, the so-called marriage amendment.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes and Deanna Morey |
09-18-2008 |
Commentary
In Orlando, Taxes Are Going Up While City Services Are Being Cutnew
Orlando's city government responded to its current budget crisis -- a $31.4 million deficit -- the way most cities do: They blamed everyone and everything else for their fiscal problems.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
09-18-2008 |
Commentary
Orlando Council Watch: Paying Attention to Gov't So You Don't Have Tonew
Given current budget woes, there was a lot of whimsy this time around as the sitcom characters of The Dais gathered for another civic powwow.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
09-18-2008 |
Commentary
The Orlando Police Beatnew
Aug. 29; 1:01 p.m.: A 42-year-old battered an Old Navy rent-a-cop who busted him shoplifting. Officer Baker concludes his report with the following bit of redundancy: "The arrestee was arrested."
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
09-12-2008 |
Commentary
Happytown: What Happens When Knights Get Angry?new
A group of jockish University of Central Florida Knights fans have recently taken offense to the city's paper of record, the Orlando Sentinel, with regard to its handling of the death of wide receiver Ereck Plancher. You may recall the paper’s "coach won't talk to us!" martyrdom and laugh a little.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes, Deanna Morey and Bob Whitby |
09-12-2008 |
Commentary
