Gary Ashwill

June 28, 2005 - Gov. Jeb Bush has vetoed three bills designed to check the governor's power to hand out multi-million-dollar contracts for state government work. The bills were passed nearly unanimously in the Republican-dominated legislature, raising the possibility that the legislature could vote to override Bush's veto.

June 27, 2005 - The Hillsborough County (Fla.) commission recently voted "not to acknowledge, promote or participate in gay pride events." Right after the July 15 vote, two gay literature displays in the Tampa public library were taken down (a similar display at another library was taken down before the vote).

June 27, 2005 - Courtesy of the Texas Observer: "I've already yielded more than a cheerleader at a drive-in." -Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) on the Senate floor.

June 27, 2005 - Everyone has heard about Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the 1964 killings of civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, but most of the suspects (including the triggerman, Wayne Roberts) were from Meridian, a town with its own

June 21, 2005 - Amtrak isn't the only transportation system whose service to small-town and rural areas is at risk. "The Greyhound has always been the savior of small-town America," notes the St. Petersburg Times. But not for long.

June 21, 2005 - The recent spate of thefts and lost records at banks and credit companies, which have rendered millions of consumers vulnerable to fraud and identity theft, is nothing new. From Inner City Press:

June 20, 2005 - Bob Geary of the Independent Weekly reports that payday lending in North Carolina is alive and well. This upstanding "industry" preys on people living paycheck-to-paycheck, giving them "advances" on future wages with effective interest rates of up to 400 percent.