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Editorials
Not a good excuse
When Tampa fire Chief Pete Botto took the city van for personal use and failed to log in vacation hours, he called it an oversight. However, it is the public's money, and he should be investigated.

More security for nuclear sites
Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy requested more money to maintain safeguards at U.S. nuclear weapons facilities. Often criticized in the past for lax security, the facilities are seen by some as particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks. But DOE's request for $26-million "to adequately protect the public, our workers and the environment" was rejected by the White House.

Bishop takes positive step
Bishop Robert N. Lynch took an important step Sunday toward confronting the sex abuse scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic Church. He urged parishioners who believe they were abused by priests to go directly to the police, a reversal of the church's historical practice of handling such allegations in-house. This course is the only lawful one to follow, and the public expects no less.

Letters
Remodeling job works to erode taxpayer trust
Re: Hasty remodeling project costs taxpayers $1.1-million, April 20.


Bill Maxwell
Midtown needs outrage to make it better
St. Petersburg's Midtown will never become a viable place as long as current community leaders, which includes most clergy, and thugdom remain on the stage and continue their old habits.
 

Columns today
Howard Troxler
Veto of phone bill not an easy move
Some people will accuse Gov. Jeb Bush of taking the popular, election-year route on Tuesday when he vetoed an act of the Legislature that would have raised telephone rates for millions of Floridians.

Robert Trigaux
Children's (lack of) financial knowledge begins at home
The latest snapshot of the financial illiteracy of our nation's high school seniors is out. The results are sorry indeed.

Bill Maxwell
Midtown needs outrage to make it better
St. Petersburg's Midtown will never become a viable place as long as current community leaders, which includes most clergy, and thugdom remain on the stage and continue their old habits.

John Romano
Mac mellows with age? You can't be serious!
The years have been kind to John McEnroe. The calendar, obviously, knows better than to mess with him.

 

Perspective
Taking jobs, alienating customers
For weeks Americans have been told that the outsourcing of high-tech jobs is good for our economy. So said Greg Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a recent report signed by President Bush. So, too, writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in articles praising the rise of call centers in India used for everything from making airline reservations and reading medical X-ray films to providing tech support for American computer firms.

Philip Gailey: Democrats fall off campaign finance reform wagon
Well, what do you know. Soft money is back, and it's making hypocrites of all those Democrats who fervently championed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, not to mention those Republicans who objected to the law's restrictions on issue advocacy.

Bill Maxwell: Who is for the farm worker?
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is touting legislation to improve the lives of Florida's 300,000-plus farm workers, who endure institutional and systemic injustices each day in our fields and groves and their personal lives.

Robyn E. Blumner: For some defendants, an American gulag
In Bernard Malamud's masterpiece The Fixer, inmate Yakov Bok was subjected to psychological torture in a Soviet gulag through the humiliations of constant shackling and repeated strip searches.