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• Photo courtesy Amway Center/Facebook

The City of Orlando and the Orlando Magic jointly announced on Wednesday that the Amway Center will serve as an early voting location for the upcoming 2020 elections.

This partnership between the City of Orlando, the Magic, Orange County and Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles is part of a larger initiative spearheaded by NBA teams around the country to increase ease of access to voting during a particularly crucial election cycle.

Around 20 NBA teams announced similar plans to convert arenas into early voting centers today, a collaborative action following the league-wide boycott of games last week as a protest against systemic racism and police brutality.

The plan is for the Amway Center to serve as a voter regist...

I’d been meaning to pay Mia’s Italian Kitchen, the newish restaurant concept by the same folks who operate Cafe Tu Tu Tango, a pre-pandemic visit, but never got a chance.

A couple of weeks ago, I got some of Mia’s good ol’-fashioned Italian comfort fare delivered and it plain knocked me out. Literally. I nodded off mere minutes after downing a zesty salad hefted with marinated cannellini beans, a couple of slices of margherita brick-oven pan pizza, a 12-ounce meatball and some roasted mushroom lasagna.

After reading the preceding passage, it’s a wonder I woke up at all. Oh, and I didn’t even mention the scarfed tiramisu or the Italian red and summer white sangrias guzzled alongside all this cibo matto. BTW: Mia’s reopened its eclectic and Sistine’d dining room on Thursday, Aug...

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• Photo via News Service of Florida

Just one week after health officials signed off on guidelines for edible pot products, Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator on Wednesday began selling THC-infused brownies, cookies, chocolates and gel caps in Tallahassee.

The edible products are appearing on shelves nearly four years after Floridians approved a 2016 constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana for a broad swath of patients and nearly three years after state legislators passed a law carrying out the amendment.

Quincy-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp., whose owners built a 10,000-square-foot commercial-grade kitchen facility in anticipation of the guidelines, was the first of the state’s medical marijuana operators to sell the edible products...

¶ Last week, we reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis supported allowing more customers at major theme parks in Orlando (“DeSantis thinks Orlando’s theme parks should allow more people in, because why not,” Aug. 27), and gave high marks to park officials for coronavirus safety measures. The expansion push came as a Deutsche Bank analysis showed Walt Disney World attendance down more than 80 percent from previous years and after Universal Orlando shut down operations at two park hotels to consolidate guests.

@Ray Brazen So DeSantis thinks more people should go to Disney, yet bars and clubs still can’t reopen. Can you say “special interests,” boys and girls?

@Diane Courtney Of course he does! He doesn’t give a crap about Florida. Have fun at Disney, everyone!

@Deni Garcia First we need t...

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• Photo via PaddyWagon Irish Pub Plant City/Facebook

Hot dogs, cold sandwiches and Hot Pockets admittedly aren’t fancy fare.

But low-budget, hassle-free cuisine might be a financial godsend for desperate bar owners who’ve been sidelined for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tavern owners throughout the state hurriedly are rehabbing behind-the-counter operations, adding triple sinks, carving out prep areas and signing up for food-handling training so they can get the go-ahead from state regulators to turn the lights back on.

“I didn’t do anything different but put a damn Crock-Pot on my bar,” Becky Glerum, owner of Paddy Wagon Irish Pub in Plant City, told The News Service of Florida on Tuesday, a day after she reopened her business.

Glerum wa...

Meet Davey!

Davey (A453031) is an 8-year-old neutered male brought to our shelter as a stray. Davey is a sweet, happy boy, especially when he’s playing fetch in our interactions yards. He enjoys chasing toys and belly rubs, and is very treat-motivated. He is neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and ready to go home the same day he is adopted. Davey is a virtual adoption candidate and available for in-person adoptions as well! If you would like to meet Davey, make an appointment to visit the shelter using the links below.

Virtual Adoptions
Book Shelter Appointment for Adoption

Throughout September, adoption fees are reduced to $10 for both dogs and cats as we are celebrate our Barks and Rec promo! The fees include sterilization, vaccinations and a microchip.

Orange County Animal S...

I’ve been married for 30 years to the same man. He’s always had anger management issues. He strangled me once a few months after our son was born and never did it again. I would have left otherwise. He’s had relationships with other women but always swore it was just online. Then, a few years back, I got into an online relationship. I never actually met this person, just as my husband claimed he’d never met the women he was talking to online. I had opened up to this person about our troubles and I talked about my husband’s anger issues and some other private things. This person encouraged me to have an affair but I kept putting him off. Finally, I told him I did it, I had an affair, it was great, etc. It wasn’t true but it seemed like that’s what he wanted to hear...

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• Photo via News Service of Florida
• Cape Coral Republican state Rep. Dane Eagle

Rep. Dane Eagle, the outgoing House majority leader who lost a bid for Congress last month, was named Wednesday to run the state agency that includes the troubled unemployment system.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Eagle, a Cape Coral Republican and commercial real estate broker, as executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The move came two days after Ken Lawson announced his resignation from the post.

Eagle will take over a department that has nearly 1,500 workers, a $1.2 billion budget and houses about 80 statewide programs and initiatives...