Suspended State Attorney running for re-election

Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren announced on Tuesday that he will be running for re-election. WMNF’s Chris Young reports the announcement comes amid a long legal battle with Governor Ron DeSantis.

Temple Terrace bomb threat

Tampa police are investigating after a man shot himself in the parking lot of the Florida Department of Transportation office yesterday. Police Chief Lee Bercaw said the receptionist at the FDOT office on McKinley Drive received a call just after 3:30 pm from a man outside the building making suicidal statements, saying he had a bomb – and threatening to drive his vehicle into the building. Police say they found the man sitting in a blue SUV in the parking lot. As officers approached the vehicle, the man held a gun to his head. When officers attempted to talk to the man, he shot himself. Bercaw said the Tampa Police Bomb Team was dispatched to the scene and upon searching the vehicle found suspicious items including gas and wire.

Community investment tax

Residents of Hillsborough County will get to decide whether they want to renew the community investment tax. A bipartisan compromise was reached after discussion at the public hearing. The next version of the half-penny sales tax will last only 15 years with schools only getting 5% of funds. Commissioners Pat Kemp and Ken Hagen voted “no,” saying that 5% was “grossly inadequate.”

Mandated lessons on communism

Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill yesterday that will mandate lessons about the history of communism for schoolchildren of all grades. Denouncing what he calls “communist indoctrination” in universities. DeSantis said that this bill will build upon the 2020 bill that requires schools in Florida to observe November 7th as “Victims of Communism Day.”

Information from Florida Public Media, News Service of Florida, and Associated Press was used in this report.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNF

The Scoop producer Spenser Tesch

WMNF anchors Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Seán Kinane

WMNF News Director Seán Kinane

WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Seán Kinane, Colleen Cole, Kerilyn Kwiatkowski, Jimmy Rosilio

Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

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