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Forward thinking

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published April 16, 2007

Behind on their homework

When the state Education Practices Committee meets Friday in Tampa, its agenda will include consideration of a petition by Commissioner of Education John Winn seeking "disciplinary sanction" against Jennifer Porter. It seems that although Porter pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving death in a 2004 hit-and-run that killed two Tampa children, she still has a teaching certificate.

Best in show, with bite

The 2007 Pulitzer Prizes will be announced at 3 p.m. today. Last year, no award was given in drama. This year, we're rooting for the acerbically brilliant The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane.

GONZALES GATE:

DID WE HEAR 'HELLUVA JOB'? IF YOU'RE FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF WHEN INCOME TAXES COME DUE ON TUESDAY, you can be glad you're not Alberto Gonzales. The U.S. attorney general heads to the Senate to be grilled about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys; then he'll have to worry about the House Judiciary Committee, which last week subpoenaed hundreds of pages of records related to the firings. Oh, and there's the little matter of all those missing White House e-mails about the firings, too.

Films not found at the multiplex

The fifth annual fabulous Ybor Festival of the Moving Image opens Thursday evening and continues through Sunday with a rich schedule of features, documentaries and shorts from around the globe, as well as a bounty of original visual art, installations, music and theater, in five venues. Tickets are $10 or less, with many events free.

Another jewel with Precious mettle

There's no literary sleuth we'd rather sit down to tea with than Precious Ramotswe, the wisely wry protagonist of Alexander McCall Smith's bestselling series about the Botswana No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. In the eighth book, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, in bookstores Tuesday, Mma Ramotswe finds that everyone suddenly wants to be a detective, even her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. No matter how cranky you're feeling, Precious will charm your socks off.

Talent that runs in the family

Three second-generation stars celebrate birthdays this week. On Wednesday, Hayley Mills daughter of actor Sir John Mills will be 61. On Thursday, Ashley Judd (singer Naomi's younger daughter) will be 39, and Goldie Hawn's girl Kate Hudson turns 28.

[Last modified April 16, 2007, 08:06:57]