Flashpoint

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

A television anchor's worst nightmare
2008-01-16 04:16:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Somebody in CBS's control room apparently secretly taped Katie Couric as she anchored the network's New Hampshire election  coverage. It's not Katie reading the election results. It's Katie being herself, kvetching about the clip-on microphone, whining a little about her scripts and using language that would get Katie in big trouble if it actually made it into the newscast.  The clip is posted on satirist Harry Shearer's blog, "My Damn Channel".  What's the problem with that? With at least three live cameras aimed at you, there's not exactly an expectation of privacy.  Except that there is.   After sitting in the anchor chair for a few years, one develops an acute awareness of whether you are ON AIR or OFF AIR.  In the latter state, which occurs during commercial breaks and taped segments, only about a half dozen people in the studio and control room are privy to your rants...
More About: Television , Nightmare

"Change candidates" taking over local politics, too.
2008-01-12 19:19:00
This Sunday morning on Flashpoint, I'm featuring two recently elected City Council members from opposite ends of the Bay. Neither Mary Mulhern of Tampa nor Wengay Newton of St. Petersburg was expected to win their respective races. Both overcame opponents backed by more powerful and entrenched interests.  Their reward? Being invited on Flashpoint. Oh yeah. They've got nothing left to prove.  Alexis Muellner of the Tampa Bay Business Journal also weighs in on the looming recession that looms darkest over the Tampa Bay economy.  We're doomed, but try to enjoy your weekend anyway. Let me know what you think of my guests and the show by leaving a comment here or emailing me at bmclaughlin @wfts.com
More About: Politics , Change , Candidates , Local , Taking

Denver or Minneapolis: Where's the main attraction this summer?
2008-01-11 03:56:00
By Brendan McLaughlin 43 consecutive white guys. National party conventions have been a vestigial organ on the body politic for decades. The name of the  presidential nominee is no longer in doubt and the gavel to gavel television coverage usually insures a neatly scripted and crushingly dull affair.  This summer could be different.  Regardless of how you feel about Barack or Hillary, the Democratic National Convention in August is likely to be the moon launch of American Politics. As we watch the two leading Democrats go through the paces of their rather conventional campaigns, it's easy to forget how remarkable it is that they're even factors in this race.  If one of them is in Denver to accept their party's nomination to lead the nation, the World will pause to take notice. The Republican Convention may give us our best president yet. But the Democrats are poised to change history by adding the name of a black man or a wh...
More About: Summer , Main , Attraction , Minneapolis

Barack Attack on the web
2008-01-09 22:57:00
It's pathetic that it's even necessary to debunk such a blatantly hysterical and racist rumor, but I've heard from too many people rattled by an email claiming Barack Obama is a radical Muslim who refuses to observe the Pledge of Allegiance.  The viral email slur cluttering inboxes everywhere expresses dismay at how the Senator from Illinois threatens to sneak into the White House for the glory of Allah.    I understand why amoral political enemies would wage this kind of attack, but I'm not sure why are so many of us are eager to forward these lies on to others without considering the source.   My recommendation? Run it by snopes.com for a reality check. Most every internet urban legend I've encountered is examined there. Snopes may not be an all-knowing oracle, but the authors appear to be relatively diligent and impartial. Maybe that's the genius of these misinformation campaigns. The claims are so absu...
More About: Attack , Atta

Could "Rush-hour pricing" save the world?
2008-01-08 21:19:00
I've always been intrigued with the idea of charging people more (or less) to use public expressways depending on the time of day and expected traffic flow. Some cities have already implemented hi-speed scanning stations that deduct tolls from moving cars- sort of like a Sunpass that doesn't require you to slow down. This essay heard on NPR's "Marketplace" this week disputes the argument that "Rush -hour pricing" is elitist... forcing poorer commuters to side roads or off-hour drive times. Commentator Tyler Cowen goes further claiming the sliding scale for tolls will not only reduce traffic jams that eat up countless hours of our lives, but will reduce global warming and even help the real estate market.  Wouldn't it be cool if The Bay Area could be an innovator in solving the problem of gridlock, serving as a model to the nation and the world? Wouldn't it be cool if The Bay Area could be an innovator in something? 
More About: World , The World , Save , Hour

This Sunday on Flashpoint
2008-01-06 01:06:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Sorry for the late post. This Sunday on Flashpoint, Wayne Garcia of Creative Loafing breaks down the results of the Iowa Caucus and has interesting insight into how they might affect the upcoming election in Florida, January 29th.  The shank of the show will focus on Downtown Tampa and why the long promised revitalization of the urban core is taking so long. There's much to crow about, but this show asks the question:  Is all the unrealistic hyperbole about the wonders of downtown Tampa actually undermining its progress?  Blogger, Tommy Duncan and Tampa Downtown Partnership president Christine Burdick hash it out. See you Sunday Morning at 11:00 on ABC Action News.  

Can you distain consumerism yet still love getting presents?
2008-01-02 04:30:00
Here's the haul from Christmas 2008: "The United States of Arugula: The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution" I should be reading more great fiction, but David Kamp's sharply written account of how Americans went from steak and potatoes to fois gras and orzo is too much fun to put off. If it came down to one person, it might be Julia Child. Far from the blathering hemophiliac depicted in that Saturday Night Live skit, Child brought the techniques of French cooking into almost every American kitchen and set the table for every celebrity chef from Emeril to Rachel Ray (though Ray herself might not even claim the mantle of "Chef"). A Sheepshead!  That was the net catch from a half day of inshore fishing on the Tampa Bay. Our Captain worked like the devil to find us some snook or redfish, but short of using explosives and a cast net (which I understand is illegal in Florida) there was no getting the scaly buggers on boar...
More About: Love , Presents , Consumerism , Resent

Random bits of gratitude as 2007 draws to a close
2007-12-22 03:50:00
By Brendan McLaughlin -Thanks to Steve Otto for his spot on recommendation for the best cuban sandwich in The Bay Area. Faedo's on 15th Street in Ybor made me the best I've ever had. But you buried the lead, Steve. The Deviled Crab was even better- more of a round crab cake, it had an obscene amount of honest-to-God crab meat. -Thanks to Metropolitan Ministries. I'm not thrilled about having a massive social service complex three blocks from my house and I have my suspicions  about faith-based initiatives, but I've also seen the throngs of working poor streaming through that tent to pick up some groceries and a toy for the children. They're treated with dignity by dedicated and hardworking staff and volunteers. They deserve (and desperately need) our help. -Thanks to Judd Apatow for making some of the most sophomoric and hilarious movies in 20 years.  My expectations walking into Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad and 40 Year Old Virgin were admittedly low, but I...
More About: Random , Gratitude , Close , Bits

Empty lots and broken parking meters
2007-12-19 03:40:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Living on the inner fringe of downtown Tampa gives one a close-up view of a very confused city. Unfortunately, that closer view doesn't make the situation much clearer. Gleaming condo towers continue to go up in defiance of the housing slump, but at night, just a smattering of windows are lit.  The businesses at the street level fret and wait for the trendy new urbanites who will move in and shop and dine and spend, while the army of the homeless seems to expand daily. I have no regrets about fleeing the suburbs last year. Living 3 1/2 miles from work is priceless and my new neighbors are more pleasant and interesting than I could have hoped. What astonishes me is to see prime lots on quiet shady streets within walking distance of the Performing Arts Center and Ybor City covered with trash and weeds.  I walk past beautifully tiled Art-Deco store fronts on North Franklin street  that sit empty and decaying. Tampa has precious litt...
More About: Parking , Broken , Meters , Empty

Creepy, but kinda cute
2007-12-18 05:40:00
Paris Hilton will be carrying one of these around in a basket by Easter.
More About: Cute , Kinda , Creepy

Bubba's Back
2007-12-15 20:21:00
Like it or not, The Love Sponge is back on local radio. In addition to his afternoon drive time show on Howard Stern's Sirius Satellite Radio channel,  Bubba "The Love Sponge" Clem returns to free and local  radio January 8th. Cox Radio's 102.5 "The Bone" will feaure Bubba from 6 to 10 am weekdays. He'll also be simulcast on a Cox station in Jacksonville. The tricky part for Bubba will be to purge his schtick of sexual and scatalogical material in the morning and then go back to his unexpurgated material in the afternoon. The 10 second delay dump button will be close at hand. Some will wonder why I'm featuring Bubba on Flashpoint. The easy answer is that he has made and continues to make news. In 2004, he drew a record breaking fine from the FCC and spent two years unemployed before Howard Stern came to his professional and financial rescue.  Bubba is also a smart and engaging personality however you might disapprove of his radio act.  I also...
More About: Back

When "Bad News" doesn't begin to describe it.
2007-12-14 03:20:00
By Brendan McLaughlin The report of a robbery in which two young women were doused with gasoline and torched was ghastly enough. The two employees of a Nationwide Insurance office  in Lake Wales apparently didn't have enough money to satisfy the suspect, so he sent them to the hospital with burns over most of their bodies.  Then the details came in and the story defied the stoicism and gallows humor that newsrooms engender. A witness described seeing the women fleeing the building with their clothes and skin burned off. One of the women was six months pregnant and went into labor after the attack. We were all sickened by it, but one of our otherwise focused  young producers seemed particularly rattled. No wonder- He's human, and the husband of a young woman expecting their first child.  The suspect, Leon Davis Jr. turned himself in. We'll find out more about all this,  knowing the story could get worse yet.
More About: News , Bad News

Battle of the Media Bands is a wrap
2007-12-13 21:52:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Thanks to all our friends and family who came out to support last night's Battle of the Media Bands . The excellent ensemble fronted by BayNews9; and 103.5 radio took home the B.O.M.B.I.E., but in all modesty, the ABC Action News band seemed to get more people on their feet.  I had to get back to anchor the 11:00 pm news, so I missed singer and multi-instrumentalist, Eric Deggans and his St. Pete Times Band who probably topped us all. Rock on.  
More About: The Media , Wrap

Battle of the Media Bands: It's the B.O.M.B.
2007-12-11 20:56:00
The Annual Battle of the Media Bands rocks the house tomorrow night (Wednesday) at Jackson's Bistro on Harbor Island beginning at 6:00 pm. The St. Petersburg Times featuring Eric Deggans will represent along with Bay News 9, Tampa Bay's 10 and yours truly, fronting a few songs for ABC Action News. ("Bars and Tone" would be a nice name for a media band, wouldn't it?)     Photographer, Eric Moore and me last year I know it's weird that this worthy fundraiser is being held mid-week, but live a little- it's the Holidays. If the turnout's good, I'll turn my Stratocaster up to 11 and then feed it into a wood chipper.
More About: The Media

Back to the land of the endless summer
2007-12-11 05:00:00
By Brendan McLaughlin American Airlines is sorry for my inconvenience. I know this because they told me so about fifty times. The departure time from SFO was delayed five times in 30 minute increments for a "mechanical issue".  The gate crew was so maddingly cheerful about it, I couldn't even complain about the delay without feeling like a ***. And even though flying coach has become an almost dehumanizing experience, it's hard not to respect an industry that can get you safely from coast to coast and back again for $220. Rock Crab I caught in the SF Bay off Tiburon Point Once home, it's hard to know how to feel about temperatures in the mid '80's in December. It feels great, but also suggests that Al Gore is the visionary he thinks he is. I vividly recall numbingly cold weather during the holidays as recently as the mid 1990's.  A tree nursery employee told me the other day that the absence of any real cold snap in recent years has increased the poopularity o...
More About: Summer , Back , Land , Endless

Dispatch from the Left Coast
2007-12-04 17:37:00
This post is coming at you from a FedEx Kinko's in San Francisco where I'm visiting family and friends. My mother doesn't  live at a FedEx Kinko's, she just doesn't have a fast internet connection.  This magical week between Thanksgiving and the Christmas rush is a great time to travel. Air fares are way down and the crowds at malls and theaters have not yet begun to swell.  The weather is wonderfully cool and rainy just as I had hoped. Interesting to note that I've gone from the 30th best city to walk to the 3rd best city to walk according to this Brookings Institute study.  But SF is not the best city to drive in, let me tell you.  As a young man, I used to pilot my enormous Dodge Corona across the Golden Gate Bridge to a job in Union Square and thought nothing of speeding above the choppy bay with the railing just inches to my right and a semi truck even closer to my left. Steve McQueen's chase scene in the 1...
More About: Left , Dispatch , Coast

This Sunday on Flashpoint
2007-12-01 03:25:00
The road to tax relief has been winding indeed. The first property tax cut amendment got yanked off the ballot for insufficient constitutionality. Tallahassee's second attempt, with its $240 dollar average savings was met with yawns. Now a citizen led initiative promises to cut 8 billion dollars in tax collections in the first year alone and save you $1,000 bucks.  This Sunday Morning on Flashpoint, you'll meet Pinellas physician, Dr. Gary McKalip, the mouth behind this radical new version of California's proposition 13 for Florida that would cap the tax rate for virtually all properties at 1.35%. This guy doesn't just want to starve the beast, he wants to beat it upside the head. I also interview the author of a provocative book, entitled, The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture.  USF Religious Studies instructor, Dell DeChant sees the act of  holiday shopping as a post modern religious practice. The deity in this secular cosmology is the...

What I learned at the Republican debate
2007-11-29 05:35:00
Mitt Romney got shellacked by John McCain on torture, shamed by Mike Huckabee on educating the children of illegal immigrants and embarrassed by a gay retired military man on the issue of gays in the military.   Then William Bennett came on CNN extolling the brilliance of Mitt Romney's commanding performance, again and again. Right. I believe Mike Huckabee won the debate and one poll backs me up. and our reporter Don Germaise collared him for a live interview during our 11:00 pm news.  Nice. Anderson Cooper is a delightfully unassuming and pleasant fellow. Pound for pound, the best journalist in the biz, but that's partly because he weighs about 110 pounds.  I don't love the idea of journalists interviewing journalists, but he was nice to make time for the local press. You can see our chat here. Duncan Hunter's people hounded us for an interview all week. Sorry, but when you're polling at 1% at this stage of the game, you're not a factor. But I relented an...
More About: Republican , Debate , Learned

A Tour of Tuesday
2007-11-27 16:00:00
First kids got fat, now they've got rickets? Lime jello. Stat!"Mind the Gap" lady gets thrown from the train.Maybe the Bollea's are still in love after all.Note to St. Pete's Mayor, Rick Baker. It's not nice to fool Howard Troxler.Shopping for my Christmas present? How thoughtful!  Look no further.
More About: Tour , Tuesday

This Sunday Morning on Flashpoint
2007-11-21 21:58:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney for 38 years (and for eternity going forward according to the Mormon faith) is my guest on Flashpoint this Sunday Morning .  Hard hitting interview? Not so much. I didn't think it would be  fair or productive to press Mrs. Romney about her husband's radical reversals on the issues of gay rights and abortion. I did ask her what she thought of the McCain supporter calling Hillary a ***. I also brought up the controversy surrounding  her husband's support of the Iraq war in light of the fact that none of her five sons serve in the military   See the interview Sunday morning at 11:00 on ABC Action News.

Happy Thanksgiving and pass the stuffing
2007-11-20 22:30:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Thanksgiving Day 1988, Austin Texas My wife, Sandy and our two toddlers knew almost no one in the whole state of Texas. We had moved from San Francisco to accept my first television reporting assignment. And though we were technically yankeees, our new next door neighbors welcomed us on move-in day with a 5 foot long banner printed on their home computer. "Welcome to Austin,  McLaughlins!"    With the excitement of the new job and new surroundings, Thanksgiving snuck up on me. At 30 years old, it would be my first major holiday spent away from home. Away from father's piano playing, away from my brothers' cigarette smoking and joke telling, away from my sisters' roughhousing, away from my mother's cooking. As the day approached, our neighbors, the Garretts suggested we share the cooking duties and celebrate Thanksgiving together. Capital idea, I thought. With the two families, we'd have a respec...
More About: Happy , Pass , Hank

Item
2007-11-20 03:54:00
The Florida State student awarded one of only 32 Rhodes Scholarships in the nation is my dental hygienist's son!  Congratulations Debo rah. Joe's a great kid with amazing teeth.  Have a comment for Brendan? Create an account at ABCActionNews.com.
More About: Item

This Sunday morning on Flashpoint
2007-11-17 00:00:00
-NPR's Cokie Roberts on the Presidential race. You gotta love her. -How to avoid having to poke another hole in your belt after Thanksgiving. USF Dietician, Kim May tells us how to chow down without pigging out. -How to help someone who could use a good meal this Thanksgiving.  Metropolitan Ministries president, Morris Hintzman talks about giving and receiving with dignity.  
More About: Sunday , Morning , Sunday morning

Tax me more, then tax me less
2007-11-15 03:59:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Riddle me this:  How is it possible that a property tax reduction that saves the average homeowner a paltry $240 dollars a year also sends politicians and school officials into panic mode over massive budget cuts and layoffs?   I guess a serious tax roll-back would send Florida back to the Stone Age. The problem is that the property tax relief is going to a massive number of people who are already getting a pretty sweet deal.  If you've been in your house for 10 or 20 years, your property taxes are already low- maybe unfairly low.  If you bought a house during the peak of 2005, you're getting reamed, steamed and dry-cleaned. The solution: Lower the state sales tax to 5% and apply it to everything except food and medicine.  Lift the tax exemption on services that favor the more well-to-do. Why should I pay no taxes on the aforementioned dry cleaning  while more frugal (or poor) folks pay sales tax on Tide and dryer...
More About: Then

Candidate Controversies
2007-11-13 23:19:00
If you thought LBJ's "Daisy" commercial was over the top, check out Tom Tancredo's contribution to the politics of fear. What does the Bernie Kerik saga says about Rudy Giuliani? Loyalty is way over-rated. Hillary outsmarts herself by planting softball questioners.  
More About: Controversies , Candidate

The importance of using the right tool for the job
2007-11-12 21:03:00
SOUTHWORTH, Wash. (AP) -- A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, sheriff's deputies said. The 66-year-old man had been repairing a Lincoln Continental for two weeks at his home northwest of Southworth, about 10 miles southwest of Seattle, and had gotten all but one of the lug nuts off the right rear wheel by Saturday afternoon, Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson said. "He's bound and determined to get that lug nut off," Wilson said. From about arm's length, the man fired the shotgun at the wheel and was "peppered" in both legs with buckshot and debris, with some injuries as high as his chin, according to a sheriff's office report. "Nobody else was there and he wasn't intoxicated," Wilson said. The man was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with injuries Wilson described as severe but not life-threatening.
More About: Tool

This Sunday Morning on Flashpoint
2007-11-10 03:57:00
Sunday Morning at 11:00: - Florida Aquarium president, Thom Stork crows about record attendance and record revenue for the 12 year old attraction. -Wayne Garcia and I look at still photos from the HBO movie in production that tells the story of the 2000 presidential election recount and try to guess who's Katherine Harris and who's Laura Dern, the actress cast to play the former secretary of state. It's more fun than it sounds. -Investigative reporter, Matthew Schwartz is the only interview to land an interview with Hulk Hogan and the rest of the Bollea family following the devastating crash involving 17 year old Nick Bollea that left an Iraq war veteran comatose and near death. Matthew talks about how the accident and the resulting criminal charges are tearing the Pinellas County family apart. Have a terrific weekend. -Brendan        
More About: Sunday , Sunday morning

Tool Time
2007-11-09 04:28:00
By Brendan McLaughlin Moving into a new house this year has required the skills of a handyman. Pictures need hanging. Wire shelving needs installing. Chair feet need those fuzzy stick-on bottoms. Unfortunately, my old Fisher-Price tool kit is down to a yellow plastic hammer and a nerf crescent wrench.  That?s why my friend Joe from work is such a cherished companion. Joe thinks my Fisher Price tool kit is for children. He even turns up his nose at Craftsman tools. Joe?s tools are German or Swedish. Each piece has a serial number  and  fits into a specially designed place on his tool belt.  Joe loves tools like Homer loves beer.  Having tweaked his own house  like a NASCAR mechanic, Joe couldn?t wait to turn his arsenal of power tools on my  crib.  Letting Joe build my closet organizer and install digital light dimmers throughout the house was like giving Dick Cheney the run of a fully stocked pheasant ranch (and Joe?s got better aim). As a b...
More About: Time , Tool

As Amy Poehler and Seth Myers might say... "really?"
2007-11-08 04:13:00
Glenn Beck signs a 5 year radio deal worth $50 million dollars. Really? A woman who bit her boyfriend's lip off his face was unprovoked. Really? Pat Robertson endorses Rudy Giuliani. Really?  
More About: Myers , Amy Poehler

An election, two suicides and pastors probed. Read on.
2007-11-07 03:55:00
A conservative who thinks Obama must be President I always wanted to meet this guy. Now it's too late. And another unique Tampa character commits suicide  Paula White's appearance on Flashpoint  probably did not trigger a Senate investigation of "Without Walls International Church" in Tampa, but it sure didn't help.  * Blog note: Relentless porn and viagra spam has forced our webmaster to block anonymous comments for the time being. Only those who've registered with ABC Action News can post. I know it's a pain, but if you'd take the time to register, I would dig you for it.
More About: Read , Election , Pastors , Pastor , Robe