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Week in Review
By Times staff writer LIGHT RAIL APPROVED IN THEORY -- The Federal Transit Administration on Monday approved a 20-mile light rail system that would connect downtown Tampa with Hyde Park, the Westshore Business District and New Tampa. The move clears the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority to buy right of way, seek permits, design and build the rail system. But HARTline must find the $985-million it estimates the system will cost to build. And that will be no small task for the cash-strapped agency that runs the county's bus system and trolley. "Just because you get the approval doesn't mean it's going to happen or that it's going to happen right away," said Ed Crawford, a spokesman for HARTline. "It means six years worth of study required to get through the federal process." Local officials connected to the federal study, which involved developing a workable corridor with suggestions from citizens in dozens of community meetings, say the approval provides the first step in creating a new means of transportation in Tampa. "This is historic," said Hillsborough Commissioner Jan Platt, chairwoman of the HARTline board of directors. HARTline has no money set aside for a light rail system. However, last year it helped win approval of legislation that would enable charter counties, such as Hillsborough, to ask voters for approval of up to an additional penny in sales taxes, primarily for transit. Hillsborough commissioners would have to approve a referendum and thus far have expressed unwillingness to do so. In fact, commissioners are backing legislation that would give them broader discretion on how the money would be spent. HARTline would like to be able to use a portion of the penny tax to help pay for light rail by matching the local money with federal dollars they believe would be available. At the same time, they are also looking for other sources of money, including having the state expand its transportation funding to transit. * * * NORTH TAMPA RAPE -- Police on Wednesday arrested a 49-year-old man they say robbed and sexually assaulted one elderly woman, then robbed another elderly woman at knifepoint. Police say Leon Wilder, 8427 N Highland Ave., knocked on the front door Wednesday of a 78-year-old woman who lived near him. The two knew each other because Wilder had done repair work for her in the past. Police said Wilder told her he was there to return money she had lent him, but instead he brandished a hammer and demanded money. He took money from her purse and, when the woman tried to leave, he hit her twice on the head with the hammer and sexually assaulted her, investigators said. Wilder fled the area on foot. The woman was treated for minor injuries at St. Joseph's Hospital. Wilder faces charges of armed sexual battery, aggravated battery on an elderly person, home invasion robbery and lewd and lascivious offense committed in the presence of an elderly person. * * * BUSH VISITS CAHOON SCHOOL -- A group of students at Cahoon Elementary School listened Monday as Gov. Jeb Bush read them Stuart Little and ended the story session with a challenge. "Will you read an hour for every hour of television you watch?" he asked. "Except for the weekends. You can take the weekends off." The governor used his visit to Cahoon Elementary to announce an initiative called Read to Learn, which he hopes will teach students to read well enough to avoid repeating third grade as a result of reforms he has put in place. The law requires third-graders who fail the reading part of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to repeat third grade. And based on last year's FCAT results, as many as 50,000, or one-third, of Florida's third-graders could be in jeopardy of failing this year. "The era of social promotion in Florida has ended," Bush said. "There is no job in the future of this state, of any worth, that does not require higher literacy skills." Bush said up to $41-million is available for the Read to Learn initiative from a combination of state and federal funds. A $300-million federal grant will fund teacher training in more effective methods.
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