A new proposal to address the arts and cultural needs of our community is starting to gain momentum. For so long, the talk about arts and culture has been focused on the controversial proposal to build a downtown 1700 seat performing arts center. Given the financial constraints and the failure of that project to gain […]
Killearn Estates, the northeast neighborhood of 4,000 homes, and the City of Tallahassee are in a tug a war over who is responsible for maintaining a chain of lakes that covers approximately 200 acres. It is a debate that is complicated, colored by a history of mistrust, and shows no signs of going away. It […]
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been a hot topic in my home for nearly a year. As a concerned parent, I have firsthand knowledge what these standards are doing to my children. Ever since last year, my now third-grade daughter has repeatedly expressed frustration in math. I’ve witnessed her love of math slowly […]
Now that both the City and the County has adopted a budget for fiscal year 2014, Tallahassee Reports has acquired the most recent budget documents and developed a table comparing spending trends between the two local governments since 2008. A comparison of the County and City operational spending trends since 2008 are shown in the […]
The Leon County School Board race for District 1 gained a candidate yesterday with the candidacy of incumbent Forrest Van Camp, but lost one today. Patrick Madden told Tallahassee Reports he was dropping out of the race due to Van Camp’s candidacy. He said Van Camp is “clearly the most knowledgeable, experienced and qualified” person for […]
In a surprising move, Forrest Van Camp has decided to run for re-election. Van Camp, who is the current holder of the Leon County School Board Seat 1, had previously given all indications that he would step down after his term expired. However, he filed his paperwork with the Leon County Supervisor of elections today. […]
An exclusive analysis by Tallahassee Reports of the solid waste contracts negotiated separately by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners and the City of Tallahassee with Waste Pro, Inc. over the last year has revealed two different approaches of dealing with consumers dollars. The County Approach The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) previously had […]
By Mike Farrell How serious does a conflict of interest have to become before you can call it a conflict of interest? Believe it or not, this conundrum is intended as the start of an ethical discussion. The SPJ Code of Ethics is clear: Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than […]
Over the last few months, both the County and City governments have been less than honest with millions of dollars of money belonging to the people they represent. First up, the Leon County Commission and the five-cent increase in the gas tax that was passed by a vote of 7-2 (Commissioners Sauls and Proctor voted […]
One of the many ways to evaluate the recovery of any recession is to look at the length of time it takes to reach pre-recession employment levels. In the chart to the right, the Pew Research Center, using data from the US Bureau of Labor statistics, shows a number of statistics about job recovery trends […]