State: Public schools get small voucher money windfall

Public schools get small voucher money windfall

wire services
Published October 25, 2003

TALLAHASSEE - Excess voucher money will give a small boost to Florida public schools.

The vouchers, funded with corporate tax credits, were not as popular this year as lawmakers expected. So they voted Thursday to shift $38-million back to public schools, which have complained of underfunding this year.

Here's how much each school district in the Tampa Bay area will get: $2.6-million for Hillsborough, $1.7-million for Pinellas, $830,000 for Pasco, $262,000 for Hernando and $217,000 for Citrus.

VA facility's nurses honored for safety efforts TAMPA - Using crash test dummies, mechanical body parts and space age machines that help people learn to walk without falling, staffers at the Patient Safety Research Center are on the cutting edge.

Nurses who run this safety research facility through the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa were recognized Friday for their innovative work with an award that's the first of its kind.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center gave the VA research facility at 11605 Nebraska Ave. its first-ever Magnet Prize.

This research center is devoted solely to studying how to prevent patient injuries in and outside of hospitals.

The safety issues they mainly study involve helping patients who are prone to falling down and preventing nurses and patients from being injured while patients are moved. This facility also is a leader in research on hospital bed rail entrapment, which can lead to injury or death.

Crowd gathers in memory of man shot by officer

ST. PETERSBURG - Seven years after TyRon Lewis' death, nearly two dozen people gathered Friday night to remember the man whose shooting death sparked civil disturbances in south St. Petersburg in 1996.

Lewis's sister, DeAnne, laid flowers on a concrete street marker at 16th Street and 18th Avenue S, the intersection where the 18-year-old Lewis was shot and killed by a St. Petersburg police officer on Oct. 24, 1996.

Chimurenga Waller, president of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, said conditions that existed when Lewis died still exist, including crime and poverty in the neighborhoods surrounding where Lewis died. Waller said they would continue to fight for economic development in the area, and carry on Lewis' memory.

Domestic battery charge brings jailing of attorney

An attorney in the Florida Attorney General's Office in Tampa was being held in the Pinellas County Jail late Friday on a charge of simple domestic battery, records show.

Danilo Cruz-Carino, 34, 7119 32nd Ave. N, was booked into jail Friday at 11:49 a.m. Information about the arrest was unavailable Friday night.

Cruz-Carino is an assistant attorney general, based in Tampa.

Police auctioning seized property at 9:30 a.m.

ST. PETERSBURG - If you're in the market for a car or commercial restaurant equipment, the St. Petersburg Police Department is the place to be today.

At 9:30 a.m., the city will begin taking bids and selling property seized from people arrested and charged with felonies. Inspection of property begins at 8:30 a.m. at 1300 First Ave. N.

On the auction block are more than 60 items and 17 vehicles, including a 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche and a 2003 Honda Shadow 750 motorcycle.

Payments must be made with cash, cashier's check, personal check or money order. A $500 deposit is necessary to hold property that sells for more than $500.

Homeless protest in park over lack of shelter beds

ST. PETERSBURG - About 100 people gathered in Williams Park on Friday night, sipping sodas and eating peanut butter crackers, collectively protesting what they called the city's lack of shelter beds.

People began arriving shortly after dark, some carrying blankets to sleep along the sidewalk until dawn. Advocates hope the protest will prompt city officials to build a new shelter downtown.

City officials say they work hard to meet the needs of the homeless, and several City Council members said they will consider building another shelter.

In the park, local advocates took turns shouting through a megaphone, preaching to and thanking the people who sat together on park benches and in circles on the grass.

Michael Douglas, a 37-year-old homeless man, said he wouldn't have missed it.

"I think it shows that homeless people have rights, too," he said.

Organizer Steve Kersker said he plans a protest every week until December. Other than the arrest of one drunken person, the event was without incident, police said.