I honestly believe the Tampa Bay Times online voter guide this year is the most useful one we've ever done. You can filter to races you're eligible to vote in and save your picks. And 96% of candidates participated. tampabay.com/voterguide (Tampa Bay Times)

What’s in today’s DayStarter? Christopher Spata asks if St. Petersburg’s rudest shop owner is hurting more than people’s feelings. Don’t miss another (free) edition: tbtim.es/daystarter

In October, Clearwater police officer Nicolas Paloma was fired and arrested on sexual battery charges. In the months since, three women have come forward and told police he stopped them and pressured them into sex acts, reports obtained by the Times show. tampabay.com/news/clearwate…

Once again, Stephanie Hayes tickles me in pondering the weird lengths we will go for free stuff. If only for this wonderful sentence: "Now, there was a time in life when I would have ignored this tacopportunity." Tampa Bay Times tampabay.com/opinion/2024/0…

This is a gif of a cane toad eating a chicken bone.

Condos are a cornerstone of Florida's housing market. But new safety rules passed after the Surfside building collapse threaten to change condo life as we know it. Help Tampa Bay Times report the story: tampabay.com/news/real-esta…

Protect this man at all costs

Friday is National Cuban Sandwich Day! Tag us in your favorite photos of you enjoying a Cuban Sandwich, and use #UnlockTampaBay to be featured on our page! #NationalCubanSandwichDay

IYKYK 😏 But if you don't, hint: it's National Cuban Sandwich Day! And Tampeños know that salami ALWAYS belongs in a real Cuban sandwich. Looking at you, City of Miami. 👀

It’s National Cuban Sandwich Day, and the quest for Tampa Bay’s best cuban sandwich MUST include a stop at Bodega St. Pete. This Latin food walk-up is a local favorite on Central Ave and doesn’t disappoint! 🤟😋🇨🇺 #BodegaOnCentral #StPete #NationalCubanSandwichDay

It's National Cuban Sandwich Day! A made-up holiday created by my colleague Christopher Spata because he has an impish way with poking fun at stuff like this. But Maggie Duffy Alexis has our back with great choices (salami always, Miami folks) Tampa Bay Times tampabay.com/life-culture/f…

NEW: A little-known foundation with the same Oklahoma address as the Folds of Honor charity that formerly pitched golf courses on JD State Park is behind the current plan, the state of Florida tells Max Chesnes. But now it's withdrawing the proposal. tampabay.com/news/environme…

Two people were arrested Monday on charges that they illegally harvested 801 pounds of saw palmetto berries. What are these berries? And why would someone steal 800 pounds of them? Those Qs, answered Tampa Bay Times 👇🍇 tampabay.com/news/environme…

Still a lot of unanswered questions on this saga, so if you have information you’d like to share, please do. My DMs are open for tips + requests for my Signal #

I've given them so much money already, why are they pursuing me lol tampabay.com/news/business/…

NEW: Lawyers spent a week drilling into TECO’s requested rate hikes, with days so long they took swigs of room-temp cold brew to stay sharp. During questioning, TECO confirmed its proposal would shift millions of costs from big companies to residents: tampabay.com/news/business/…

This Florida employee was tasked w/ making maps depicting golf courses, pickleball courts and a hotel, but leaked the plans to warn people. “It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks,” he said today. tampabay.com/news/environme…

Why many brick and mortar Trump stores popping up around Florida are run by circus and carnival folk. (And why you can find bootleg Pikachu plushies alongside MAGA hats) tampabay.com/news/florida-p…

They have creepy food and creepy monsters and movie-themed houses: What Christopher Spata saw at Universal Orlando Resort Halloween Horror Nights #HHN24 and lived to tell about it Tampa Bay Times Business by Tampa Bay Times (meanwhile, why is getting startled fun?) tampabay.com/life-culture/e…

So it wasn’t just me.