St. Petersburg firefighter fighting for benefits after cancer hit

Firefighter suing city of St. Petersburg after being denied benefits for cancer diagnosis

Aug 16, 2019

Lt. Francis applied to the city for the benefits on July 1. The lawsuit says that despite the fact that Lt. Francis met all the prerequisites for obtaining the benefits, his application was rejected because he was diagnosed before July 1 when the law went into effect.

A local firefighter is suing the city of St. Petersburg after he says he was denied benefits he should have received after his cancer diagnosis.

Back in May, Governor DeSantis signed a bill granting firefighters certain benefits upon receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Lt. Jason Francis has been employed by the city of St. Petersburg's Fire Department for more than 16 years.

"I've always wanted to do it," Francis said.

He said he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in January of 2019. He had to undergo surgery to have his thyroid and dozens of lymphnodes removed.
read it here

Man Arrested For Beating Veteran With His Own Walker!

Arrest Made in Elderly Veteran's Beating
Breaking: Police say a man was arrested in Tampa on charges related to the beating of a St. Pete man with his own walker.
St. Pete Patch
By Sherri Lonon (Patch Staff)
September 8, 2016

St. Petersburg Police received two separate donations of $600 to help Hardeman during recovery. An anonymous donor also reportedly provided Hardeman with a new walker to replace the one involved in the attack.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The search for a man accused of beating an elderly St. Petersburg veteran with his own walker ended in Tampa Thursday.

According to St. Petersburg Police, officers brought Harold Stewart, 37, into custody and also located the Dodge Durango connected to a Sept. 2 attack.

During that attack, Stewart is accused of approaching Jeffery Hardeman, 66, as he neared the entrance to the 201 34th St. N. Walmart in St. Petersburg around 1 p.m. Police say Hardeman, a disabled Army veteran, was using a walker at the time.

According to authorities, Stewart asked Hardeman for the time. “The younger man then put the elderly man in a choke hold, threw the elderly man to the ground and began punching him,” an earlier email from the police department said. “The younger man also used the elderly man's walker to proceed to beat the elderly man.”
read more here

Mom of Marine Who Committed Suicide Comforted by Stranger

Man Gives Car To Woman Who Lost All Hope After Marine Son Killed Himself: 'I Know What It's Like'
Inside Edition
by Deborah Hastings
August 1, 2016

Her son, a Marine who served overseas, committed suicide one year ago, Nunez told Newberry. He had PTSD and shot himself, leaving behind two young children. The woman, who is in her 60s, “was talking about killing herself,” Newberry said. “She said, ‘I don’t have any friends.”

Now you have a friend, Newberry told her. “I’m going to come out here every day and talk to you.”

He had been noticing her every day for the past few weeks — a tiny woman walking past his auto shop, burdened by bags of groceries or totes bulging with belongings.

She works as a janitor at a high school just one street over from Richard Newberry’s tire and auto store in St. Petersburg, Florida.

On Friday, as Newberry was inside doing paperwork, the woman “stopped and looked in at me and I could tell she was upset,” Newberry told InsideEdition.com Monday.

So he walked outside and began to speak to Ernestina Nunez, asking why she seemed so distraught. read more here

Man charged in St. Petersburg shooting

Reminder: Over 23 million veterans in this country, things like this are rare.

Military veteran arrested on 1st-degree murder charge
WFLA News
By WFLA.com web staff
Posted: Apr 13, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG, FL. - A 34-year-old Bay area man is facing a variety of charges stemming from a fatal shooting that occurred late Saturday night in St. Petersburg.

Jason Michael Faber was arrested just before midnight following a short pursuit. He is being held without bond at the Pinellas County Jail.

According to a St. Petersburg Police Department report officers were dispatched to the 4300 block of 7th Ave. North just after 10 p.m. in response to a shots fired call. When they arrived they found three men suffering from gunshot wounds.

An investigation revealed that Faber served in the military and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to his wife the suspect believed the people he shot were dealing drugs. Ms. Faber did not know what led up to the incident and was unaware of any provocation between her husband and the two men.
read more here

Stand Down for Homeless Veterans event

Homeless military veterans find help, hope at VA medical center
Tampa Bay Times
John Woodrow Cox
Times Staff Writer
Saturday, April 5, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — At the end of a long, fluorescent hallway, a deputy emerged from the bustling office and told Harry Cooper his turn had come.

Cooper stood and leaned down to the camouflage backpack he'd been given earlier that day. Already stuffed with fresh clothes and toiletries, he added the contents of his pockets: a wallet, a lighter, a pack of 305-brand cigarettes and a chain of keys with one painted like the American flag. He removed his baseball cap, too, revealing a long, white pony tail that matched his handlebar mustache. On the dark green hat, two words were printed in bold black letters: "VIETNAM VETERAN."

On Saturday morning, Cooper, who is 67, had come bearing a burden to the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center. He was released from prison in late 2011 and had been clean from the drugs and alcohol that sent him there for nearly a year. But he still owed about $3,300 in court costs and fines. A judge was about to decide what should be done about it.

Another deputy escorted him to a lectern in a nearby conference room. Public Defender Bob Dillinger stood next to him.

"These are Agent Orange hands," Dillinger told the judge. He motioned to Cooper, who held up a pair of disfigured clumps at the end of his wrists.

The makeshift courtroom was part of the medical center's Stand Down for Homeless Veterans event, meant to help them with everything from housing to health care to employment.
read more here

Lawyer from St. Petersburg on FOX talking about PTSD

Good story but can't help it. This says that 1995 was "7" years ago.

St. Petersburg, FL
(PRWEB)
December 05, 2012
Wade R. Bosley Appears on The Tom Sullivan Show on Fox News

Oftentimes, the press calls experienced attorneys to give their opinion about a case that is getting current news coverage. Recently, Attorney Wade R. Bosley from Bosley and Bratch was asked to appear on The Tom Sullivan Show in order to shed some insight on a Veteran’s Affairs (VA) issue. Mr. Bosley works specifically with veterans who are not getting the VA benefits that they are entitled to after serving their country in the military. He has been practicing this kind of law since 1995, so he has almost 7 years of experience to put to any case. He deals mostly with veterans that have physical and mental disabilities and will take on cases for these servicemen and servicewomen even if those disabilities are not combat-related.
read more here

Fallen soldier Brittany Gordon as 'uncommonly brave and uncommonly kind'

Mourners recall soldier Brittany Gordon as 'uncommonly brave and uncommonly kind'
Tampa Bay Times
By Kameel Stanley
Times Staff Writer
October 28, 2012

ST. PETERSBURG — Cedric Gordon spent many days alone in his living room, hoping he would never see a stranger in uniform walking to his door.

As the father of a deployed soldier, it could only mean something bad.

But Gordon, St. Petersburg's assistant police chief, tried to put it out of his mind. He learned to comfort himself.

His baby served in an elite unit. People were praying for her. What were the chances she wouldn't make it home in December from her first overseas assignment?

On Oct. 13, Army Spc. Brittany Bria Gordon, an Army intelligence analyst, was killed when a suicide bomber attacked her unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan, becoming the first female soldier from Tampa Bay to die in the recent wars.

The 2006 St. Petersburg High graduate, the only daughter of Cedric Frank Gordon and Brenda Thompson Gordon of St. Petersburg, was 24.

"I kept asking God: Why Brittany? Why my daughter? Why my baby girl?" Gordon told a standing-room only crowd gathered for his daughter's funeral Saturday at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church. "But I know that knowing God is better than knowing why."
read more here

Spc. Brittany B. Gordon "Her Dream was to serve"

Iraq Veteran graduates with matching gown for guide dog

For Iraq veteran, graduation day at USFSP marks the end of a long journey
By Kim Wilmath
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, May 4, 2012

ST. PETERSBURG — Mike Jernigan slid into a seat in the front row of the classroom.

He wore a bow tie and a crisp button-down shirt. Green slacks and freshly shined brown leather shoes.

He smiled, bounced his foot on the floor.

"This," he said, "is the conclusion of an arduous journey."

It was his last class.

That journey spanned more than 10 years and thousands of miles. It took Jernigan from an aimless youth in St. Petersburg to the battlegrounds in Iraq. He's changed now, physically and in so many other ways.

He left St. Petersburg able to see, for instance, and with an uninjured brain. But he also left a frustrated 20-something, immature and unsure of himself.

Now, finally graduating from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg this weekend, Jernigan, 33, says he's a better man.

"If I could go back and do it all again," he said, "I'd do it the same."

The camera battery is charged, and Jernigan's cap and gown is ready — with a matching gown for his guide dog, Brittani.

read more here

St. Petersburg officer hits, kills man in wheelchair

St. Petersburg officer hits, kills man in wheelchair
By TBO.COM
Staff
Published: February 19, 2012

A St. Petersburg police officer struck and killed a man in a wheelchair early Sunday morning in the 6400 block of 38th Avenue South.

The officer, who was in a marked patrol car when the incident occurred at 4:20 a.m., was not injured.

The victim was identified as 45-year-old Harold Charles Fleming, 6153 39th Ave. N., in St. Petersburg.
read more here

An American war story

An American war story

By John G. Hubbard, special to the Times
In Print: Sunday, October 30, 2011

DUNEDIN

He is finally home. He is a soldier in the Army. He went to Afghanistan for 15 months the first time. He went to Afghanistan for 12 months the second time. It now appears that he has been assigned to a stateside position that will probably keep him in the States for the next three years.

He is about as nice a young man as you could find. He is as decent and caring a person as you could know. He is an Army doctor and has seen the effects of war and the results of armed conflict on U.S. soldiers and on the people of Afghanistan.

On his first tour of duty he was stationed on the side of a mountain in Afghanistan bordering Pakistan where he was regularly subjected to mortar attacks. I was talking to him one night and in the middle of our conversation he told me he had to interrupt the telephone call because he had to go get in a trench since the base he was in had just come under mortar attack. He was there for 15 months and saw things that no one who is not, or ever has been in the military service should ever have to see.

His name is Scott and he is married to my daughter, Jennifer. They presently have a 3-year-old son who was born in the middle of his first tour in Afghanistan. The Army gave him leave so that he could come home and be present at the birth of his child. I thought that was a great kindness and showed a compassionate side of the Army that I did not know existed. Four days after his son's birth, Scott had to return to Afghanistan.
read more here

St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie about being a Veteran

St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie on their cardboard signs

By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, September 2, 2011

ST. PETERSBURG — The city is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising — on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.

The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not.

"Most of the people who fly the cards say they're homeless or veterans, but most aren't veterans or homeless," said Robert Marbut, the city's consultant on homelessness. "But they are making a lot of tax-free money."

But the proposal raises many questions: How would the police check the accuracy of those claims? Can the city really regulate what people write on signs? And after the city's successful crackdown on the homeless and panhandling population, who's left to break the new law?
read more here

St. Petersburg targets homeless veteran who lives in backyard shed

St. Petersburg targets homeless man who lives in backyard shed

By Luis Perez, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Aug 05, 2011

Times Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG — He's lived for years in the dirt alley off 18th Street and Burlington Avenue N, the white-bearded homeless veteran everyone knows as C.J.

His real name is Jon Bradshaw. For some, he is the neighborhood's trusted watchman. Those folks turned a blind eye when someone built a wooden shed so Bradshaw, 69, could lay his head.

Others view Bradshaw, often seen nursing a can of Natural Ice, as a neighborhood scar — an unwanted reminder of the old homeless tent city under Interstate 275.

Amid the city of St. Petersburg's much publicized crackdown on the homeless, an angry neighbor alerted a city code inspector to Bradshaw's makeshift home.

The resulting battle has pit neighbor against neighbor, and thrust Bradshaw from his life in the shadows into the city's high-profile effort to rid downtown streets of the homeless.

"I'm being treated like the poor fox running from the hounds," Bradshaw said. "I'm getting weary."

When William Bechtel bought his one-story wood-frame house on Burlington Avenue in 2008, he says Bradshaw came with it. The neighborhood was rougher then. Bradshaw shooed away prowlers and thieves.

"He helped me out, man," says Bechtel, 52, an audio technician.

Bechtel, whose father was a war veteran, sympathized with Bradshaw, who says he served in the U.S. military during Vietnam but refuses to offer specifics.
read more here
St. Petersburg targets homeless man

Last year a homeless veteran passed away. He lived in a shed behind a church. People said he was homeless but that was not really true since he was surrounded by love. One more thing is that after this story came out, a Marine in Iraq had some down time and was continuing searching for his father. He found him. He knew his Dad was loved and cared for. When we decide that we don't want them in our neighborhood maybe it would be a good idea to think about the fact these homeless veterans were willing to die for all of us. Read the story about the other homeless veteran and know what is possible if we care enough about them when they come home needing us.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet

A simple casket with an American flag for Vietnam Veteran Andrew Elmer Wright.

A simple bouquet of flowers was placed with a simple photo a church member snapped.

By all accounts, Andrew was a simple man with simple needs but what was evident today is that Andrew was anything but a "simple" man.

A few days ago I received an email from Chaplain Lyle Schmeiser, DAV Chapter 16, asking for people to attend a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran. After posting about funerals for the forgotten for many years across the country, I felt compelled to attend.

As I drove to the Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, I imagined an empty room knowing how few people would show up for a funeral like this. All the other homeless veteran stories flooded my thoughts and this, I thought, would be just one more of them.

When I arrived, I discovered the funeral home was paying for the funeral. Pastor Joel Reif, of First United Church of Christ asked them if they could help out to bury this veteran and they did. They put together a beautiful service with Honor Guard and a 21 gun salute by the VFW post.

I asked a man there what he knew about Andrew and his eyes filled. He smiled and then told me how Andrew wouldn't drink the water from the tap. He'd send this man for bottled water, always insisting on paying for it. When the water was on sale, he'd buy Andrew an extra case of water but Andrew was upset because the man didn't use the extra money for gas.

Then Pastor Joel filled in more of Andrew's life. Andrew got back from Vietnam, got married and had children. His wife passed away and Andrew remarried. For some reason the marriage didn't work out. Soon the state came to take his children away. Andrew did all he could to get his children back, but after years of trying, he gave up and lost hope.

A few years ago, after going to the church for help from the food pantry, for himself and his cats, Andrew lost what little he had left. The tent he was living in was bulldozed down in an attempt to clear out homeless people from Orlando. Nothing was left and he couldn't find his cats.

Andrew ended up talking to Pastor Joel after his bike was stolen again, he'd been beaten up and ended up sleeping on church grounds in the doorway. Pastor Joel offered him the shed in the back of the church to sleep in so that he wouldn't have to face more attacks.

The shed had electricity and they put in a TV set, a frying pan and a coffee maker. They wanted to give Andrew more but he said they had already given him enough.

Pastor Joel told of how Andrew gave him a Christmas card with some money in it one year. Pastor Joel didn't want to take money from someone with so little, but Andrew begged him to take it saying "Please, don't take this away from me" because it was all he had to give and it meant a lot to give it to the Pastor. Much like the widow with two cents gave all she had in the Bible, Andrew was truly grateful for what little he had been given from the church.

What was soon made clear is that Pastor Joel gave him even more than he imagined. Andrew took it on himself to be the church watchman. While services were going on after Andrew greeted the parishioners, he would travel around the parking lot to make sure the cars were safe. At night he made sure any guests of the church were equally watched over. Pastor Joel not only gave him a roof over his head and food, he gave him something to make him feel needed.

More and more people came to the service and there was a lot of weeping as Pastor Joel spoke. What was very clear this day is that Andrew was called a homeless veteran but he was not homeless. He found one at the church. He lost his family and his children, but he found a family at the church.

From what was said about Andrew, he was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD and he wanted no help from the VA. Too many of them feel the same way and they live on the streets, depending on the kindness of strangers to help them out. Andrew wasn't one of the panhandlers we see in Orlando. He refused to beg for money and he wanted to work for whatever he was given. His health got worse but he still did what he could. Right up until March 16, 2010 when Andrew passed away, no matter what happened to him during his life, Andrew proved that this veteran was not hopeless, not helpless because he found the fulfillment of hope in the arms of strangers who took him in and he found help as he asked as well as gave.

The legacy of this homeless veteran is that he touched the lives of so many hearts and will never be forgotten.
read more here

Soldier from St. Petersburg killed in Afghanistan

DOD Identifies Army Casualties


The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died June 27 in Konar, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Killed were:

Staff Sgt. Eric B. Shaw, 31, of Exeter, Maine; and

Spc. David W. Thomas, 40, of St. Petersburg, Fla.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13665

linked from ICasualties.org

Other deaths in the last couple of days

06/28/10 AP: Marine killed in Afghanistan had Michigan ties
Cpl. Daane Adam DeBoer, 24, was killed Friday by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol, said his father, David DeBoer of Valparaiso, Ind. He said the military notified family in Indiana and Michigan of his son’s death the same day.

06/28/10 DoD: Army Casualty Identified
Staff Sgt. Edwardo Loredo, 34, of Houston, Texas, died June 24 at Jelewar, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

06/28/10 DoD: Marine Casualty Identified
Sgt. Joseph D. Caskey, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pa., died June 26 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

06/28/10 DoD: Air Force Casualties Identified (1 of 2)
Spc. Blair D. Thompson, 19, of Rome, N.Y...assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky...died June 25 at Konar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked their unit using rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

06/28/10 DoD: Air Force Casualties Identified (2 of 2)
Spc. Jared C. Plunk, 27, of Stillwater, Okla...assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky...died June 25 at Konar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked their unit using rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

06/28/10 DoD: Marine Casualty Identified
Lance Cpl. William T. Richards, 20, of Trenton, Ga., died June 26 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

06/29/10 DoD: Army Casualty Identified
Pfc. Robert K. L. Repkie, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., died June 24 at Forward Operating Base Farah, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

06/29/10 DoD: Army Casualty Identified
Spc. David A. Holmes, 34, of Tennille, Ga., died June 26 at Sayed Abad, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 810th Engineer Company, Swainsboro, Ga.

06/29/10 DoD: Army Casualty Identified
Sgt. John M. Rogers, 26, of Scottsdale, Ariz., died June 27 at Forward Operating Base Blessing, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

06/30/10 DoD: Army Casualty Identified
Staff Sgt. Brandon M. Silk, 25, of Orono, Maine, died June 21 of injuries sustained when the helicopter in which he was travelling made a hard landing. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

go here for more

http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx

St. Petersburg Marine, 26, dies in Afghanistan

St. Petersburg Marine, 26, dies in Afghanistan
By Katie Sanders and Rita Farlow, Times Staff Writers
Posted: Mar 16, 2010 08:18 AM


A 26-year-old Marine corporal from St. Petersburg died in Afghanistan on Sunday.

Cpl. Jonathan D. Porto was serving in the Helmand province, according to the Department of Defense.

Military officials would not say how he died, citing privacy rules, but did say it was an accident.

He joined the Marines in March 2008 and was promoted to corporal Dec. 1, said Lt. Timothy Irish.

He was deployed to Afghanistan in December, where he served as a small-arms repair technician for the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/war/article1080185.ece

St. Petersburg firefighters accidentally run over victim

St. Petersburg firefighters accidentally run over victim they were sent to help
By Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer
Posted: Sep 24, 2009 05:36 PM


ST. PETERSBURG — The callers to 911 Thursday afternoon said there was a man bleeding from the face near the fire station. Two firefighters piled into Rescue 5 to go help him. They opened the garage bay door, turned on the emergency lights and pulled forward.

Then they heard a "thump."

The firefighters accidentally ran over the very person they were sent to help.

"They never even saw him," said St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata.

Authorities said the man who was run over is Ted Allen Lenox, a 41-year-old homeless man. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was at Bayfront Medical Center Thursday night.

read more here
St. Petersburg firefighters accidentally run over victim

A far cry from City Hall

A far cry from City Hall

Harry Kitchen once ran for St. Petersburg mayor. Today, much of his time is spent seeking handouts.
click link for more

St. Petersburg woman uses defibrillator to save man

St. Petersburg woman uses defibrillator to save man outside Sweetbay grocery store
By Kameel Stanley, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Aug 25, 2009 11:12 PM
ST. PETERSBURG — A 33-year-old woman helped save a 73-year-old man's life Tuesday night when she used a defibrillator to get his heart beating again.

Jennifer Trombly of St. Petersburg had just walked out of a Sweetbay Supermarket about 6 p.m. when she heard a commotion and saw a man lying on the ground outside the store.

When the man stopped breathing, bystanders began performing CPR.

Trombly, whose 9-year-old son has a condition that can cause him to go into a life-threatening arrhythmia, raced to her car and got her personal automated external defibrillator, or AED.
read more here
St Petersburg woman uses defibrillator to save man

Victim in St. Petersburg rape sues law firm

Victim in St. Petersburg rape sues law firm
In Print: Thursday, July 23, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG — A woman who was raped in a downtown restaurant last year has sued the company that owns the building, saying the firm should have provided better security.

At 3 a.m. Aug. 3, three men armed with handguns forced their way into the Table restaurant at 539 Central Ave., stole money and raped one of the employees.

Now the woman says the building's owner, the law firm of Rahdert, Steele, & Reynolds, should have realized the building is in a high-crime area, and that workers exit and enter in a dark alley, sometimes late at night. The lawsuit says the firm should have provided security guards, video surveillance and better lighting.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/article1020849.ece

St. Petersburg offering nonprofits $338,000 in grants to help homeless

St. Petersburg offering nonprofits $338,000 in grants to help homeless
By Jackie Alexander, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, July 22, 2009


ST. PETERSBURG — With the help of city grants, groups like Boley Centers can help homeless people get off the street.

St. Petersburg is offering $338,000 in grants the next budget year for local nonprofits to help the homeless.

Miriam Williams, the chief executive officer at Boley Centers, said it was able to hire a case manager with a $25,000 grant this year. As a result, about 35 people have received help getting benefits and finding places to live.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article1020399.ece

Doctors win law suit against Bay Pines VA

Federal jury orders Department of Veterans Affairs to pay $3.7-million for retaliation at Bay Pines hospital
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jul 02, 2009 12:07 PM


TAMPA — A federal jury on Thursday decided the Department of Veterans Affairs retaliated against four employees at its Bay Pines hospital in St. Petersburg and awarded them $3.73-million in damages.

The four employees, three of them doctors, accused the VA of a broad pattern of discrimination against employees who file employment discrimination complaints.
go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article1015241.ece