No health insurance? A few options in Pinellas County

Because my 4-year-old son and I have been without health insurance since I lost my job in January, and neither I nor his mother can afford coverage under COBRA, I’ve spent the better part of today online and on the phone endeavoring to locate a low- or no-cost provider where my son can receive a health screening to satisfy the requirements of his preschool.

After searching the Pinellas County Health Department website, I called the Lealman South Connection Center, where I spoke with a woman who gave me the number of the clinic at Northeast High School.  Success. I made an appointment for them to see my boy next week — free of charge.

For those who are in circumstances similar to my own, here are a few options in Pinellas County for health services:

Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc. — Services, including health check-ups, are provided for a fee based on household income. The representative from the Pinellas Park location said the cost ranges from $25 minimum to a max of $75. She added that the Pinellas Park center will hold a Back-to-School Fair on Saturday, August 15, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pinellas County Human Services — Mobile Medical Unit II — Offers free health services to the uninsured, regardless of income. The MMU 2 also has a Back-to-School Health Fair scheduled at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Clearwater on Saturday, August 15, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In addition, the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center (1344 22nd Ave. S., St. Petersburg) will host a Back-to-School Care Fair on Saturday, August 8, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Florida KidCare — A low-cost health insurance program for children ages 0-18. Call 1-888-540-KIDS (1-888-540-5437) or the Pinellas County Health Department at (727) 824-6900 for an application.

Finally, here is a list of Pinellas County Health Department offices.

Movie Review: The Ugly Truth

My former employer, Creative Loafing, has been kind enough to ask me to review films on occasion. Here’s the first, my take on the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth, starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl.

What’s happening with St. Petersburg’s Crystal Bay Hotel?

Each weekday I drive my son to his preschool, winding south along Park Street and into Pasadena. And each day I pass the wide-angled structure once known as the Crystal Bay Hotel, which now sits weathered and dilapidated at the corner of Park and Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

And I’ve begun to wonder: What has happened to the plans to renovate the Crystal Bay and transform it into the three-star Park View Hotel?

In a St. Petersburg Times story dated February 25, 2007, Paul Swider reported that real estate developer Norman Kerr had purchased the 90-year-old hotel that January, began calling it the Park View, and had started repairs on the prominent landmark.

Hula Hula says “aloha” to its Gulfport home

Just got off the phone with Annette Vedsegaard-Ross, who confirmed that Hula Hula, the Floridiana/Hawaiian-themed store she owns along with husband Stephen Ross, will close its Gulfport location for good at the end of July.

I profiled Hula Hula in Creative Loafing (where I worked as copy editor until January) in December, and mentioned them as one of 25 must-sees in downtown Gulfport in CL‘s Urban Explorer’s Handbook in March 2008.

Vedsegaard-Ross, who is currently on vacation with her husband in St. Augustine, cited a “lack of traffic” along Beach Boulevard as one of the main reasons for move, adding that if she and Ross wanted to work full-time, they would probably stay. However, as patrons to Hula Hula already know, the husband-wife team prefer to keep what they call “island hours,” and encourage people to phone ahead just to make sure the shop is open.

Vedsegaard-Ross said she and her husband originally planned to look for a new location upon returning to Gulfport, but they that have since decided to take the summer off and instead focus on their upcoming antique shows, including Retro-Rama and the Floridiana Festival, both of which will be held at the Gulfport Casino. They are also starting a new endeavor, Antiques in the Park, which will be held at Clymer Park in Gulfport the first Saturday of the month in November, January, March and May.

Hula Hula will be open this Saturday during the Gulfport Art Walk, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m. For store hours, call727-421-0441.

Should journalists get it right, or get it first?

UPDATE (at bottom of post): Letter writer to Romenesko accuses Jarvis and Arrington of falsely accusing Damin Darlin (author of the NYT article that started this kerfuffle) of attacking bloggers.

Nothing like a battle between mainstream media and bloggers over journalism ethics to add some juicy drama to the weekend. Here’s the quick and dirty:

The New York Times runs a story taking tech bloggers (including TechCrunch) to task for running stories without verification.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington fires back, accusing the Times of having already made up its mind about what kind of story it was going to run before it interviewed him.

And Jeff Jarvis weighs in, declaring that “process journalism” — reporting what is known or believed to be true as it is learned — is replacing the myth of perfection, wherein reporters get the story verified beyond any doubt before packaging and presenting it to readers.

Ah, but there’s the rub: What is the potential harm in reporting what falls into a category that’s perhaps a notch or two below what is “believed to be true”? Arrington makes the argument that TechCrunch’s post on rumors of Apple being in talks to acquire Twitter was based on a previously reliable source. Furthermore, he argues, the very act of reporting a rumor is a way of verifying by beating the bushes, so to speak:

Marco Rubio vs. Charlie Crist

In Slate, Christopher Beam looks at what the 2010 Senate-seat showdown between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist would mean for the GOP:

Yes, he’s more conservative than Charlie Crist. He’s pro-life, anti-stimulus, and anti-gay marriage. But he favors reaching out to independents as much as anyone. And as a Hispanic, he represents the GOP’s best hope to avoid losing an entire demographic the way it lost African-Americans.

In other words, the Crist-Rubio matchup is not a perfect test for whether the Republican Party should moderate. The lines are not clearly drawn. Sure, one is center-right and one is conservative. But the conservative belongs to a largely moderate/liberal demographic and has carved out a niche for himself as the ideas guy—two qualities that soil an otherwise pure litmus test.

Some say Rubio will hurt Republicans by bruising Crist. (Crist is still far ahead in the polls and won the coveted endorsement of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.) But that’s in the short term. In the long run, the GOP needs Rubio, both as a charismatic young conservative and as one of the party’s rising Hispanics. Putting his face out there will pay dividends in the future, even if it damages Crist now. Republicans might even hear a new idea or two.

Newsweek's new look called "cluttered"

From Michael Kinsley, writing in the New Republic:

The new Newsweek, judging from the first issue (which [Editor Jon] Meacham calls “a model of the form”), bizarrely resembles the old Newsweek more than the new Newsweek Meacham describes. It is cluttered with departments and headlines and labels and tiny features, all of which imply some hierarchy or order in the editors’ minds, but only add to the chaos in the readers’. Its longer pieces follow all the stale conventions of newsmagazine prose.

Portland to the New York Times: Thanks but no thanks

Because love is a two-way street, Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin gently but firmly tells The New York Times that its courtship of Portland will only end in heartbreak:

Here’s the problem: You’re making us something we’re not. Most of us don’t have time for a weekend at the Ace Hotel, or the wardrobe for First Thursday. Sure, we talk about racial tensions, but we haven’t conquered them. We still aren’t sure what to do with either our mayor or our major-league ambitions. …

…Besides, frankly, we’re just not that into you. Sure, we love curling up with you on Sunday mornings, sipping our Stumptown and taking a glimpse into a world where people talk about “frenemies,” “man dates,” and where their parents’ parents went to college. But, at heart, we’re simpler folks. You’ll eventually grow bored of our easy commutes and healthy living. One of these days, we’re going to wake up to discover you’ve dumped us for Detroit or Houston.

When journalists are laid off

Severed heads. A bloodbath. A wake. Sacrifice. Put them all together and you get one blogger’s rather dramatic story of journalists who lost their jobs at the Baltimore Sun.

NPR ombudsman explains The Soloist coverage

An astute listener notices that NPR has been devoting considerable air time to Dreamworks’ new film The Soloist, coinciding with advertising time Dreamworks purchased with NPR to promote the film.

Alicia G. Shepard, NPR’s ombudsman, acknowledges that while it looks like “pay for play,” “a firewall exists between the editorial and marketing sides of NPR to prevent NPR sponsors from influencing programming.”

Shepard explains that producers receive a list of funding credits a week in advance of each show’s airing, so that they may remove those spots from running near shows that would give the appearance of a conflict: