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<\/a><\/p>\nNo comment on Alex Pretti shooting<\/p>\n
The biggest news over the weekend was the shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Pretti was shot and killed during a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE officials and officials from the Donald Trump administration have framed the shooting as justified, portraying Pretti as an armed individual who sought to \u201cmurder federal agents<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Eyewitness accounts and video taken by onlookers appears to contradict some of the official statements, with no evidence so far that Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse for a local VA, had brandished his weapon and video strongly suggesting he had been disarmed and subdued before the first of 10 shots were fired.<\/p>\n It is the second time this month ICE agents have shot and killed a U.S. citizen, and Pretti\u2019s death has fueled further unrest in Minneapolis and prompted protests in cities across the nation.<\/p>\n Yet St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch has, as of Monday morning, not yet commented on the shooting or on protester calls for the St. Petersburg Police Department to cancel its 287(g) agreement<\/a> with ICE, which authorizes cooperation with the federal agency in cases involving a lawful criminal investigation.<\/p>\n That\u2019s in stark contrast to David Jolly, a Democrat running for Governor, who spoke out at a church service<\/a> he attended Sunday following the Saturday shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know what we say,\u201d Jolly began, his words slow and deliberate. \u201cAn American citizen practicing civil disobedience was disarmed and then shot 10 times in the street and his body lay lifeless. And he was murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n Jolly said it was important to be \u201con the right side of history\u201d and said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem should be removed from office. He called for an investigation into ICE practices and possible civil rights violations.<\/p>\n Welch\u2019s silence so far is important because he is expected to seek re-election amid a political committee funding deficit only made worse by the alleged theft of more than $200,000<\/a> from Welch\u2019s committee, The Pelican Political Action Committee.<\/p>\n Welch was outspoken following the police shooting of George Floyd, but is somehow silent now. His silence could further trouble his campaign. At the very least, it\u2019s noteworthy. Though it is worth pointing out that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who isn\u2019t facing re-election, also has not so far publicly commented following Pretti\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Maria Scruggs uses doctored image<\/p>\n The only candidate who has actually filed to run for St. Pete Mayor this year is Scruggs. She has run for public office several times before \u2014 including once against Welch \u2014 and has been unsuccessful as many times. She\u2019s not expected to be a competitive candidate against those expected to run, including Welch, former Gov. Charlie Crist and St. Pete City Council member Brandi Gabbard.<\/p>\n Still, she did something this weekend that is amusing, if not all that impactful to the overall race.<\/p>\n Scruggs posted an image Sunday that is clearly generated by artificial intelligence. And it\u2019s bad AI at that. The image shows Scruggs walking down a sidewalk waving to dozens of adoring onlookers, from various ages, genders and racial demographics. It doesn\u2019t take careful analysis to spot the problems.<\/p>\n A sign being held up from the crowd gets Scruggs\u2019 last name correct, but lists her last name as \u201cMarva.\u201d And the shirt she\u2019s wearing in the image misspells the name of the city she wants to lead as \u201cSt. Petlersburg\u201d (note the \u2018L\u2019 in the spelling).<\/p>\n Using AI-generated images is quickly becoming a norm, so if it were just bad AI, that would be one thing. But Scruggs\u2019 caption with the photo seems to imply it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no substitute for showing up,\u201d the caption begins<\/a>.<\/p>\n But it seems for Scruggs there is a substitute, and its initials are A.I.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just say, if someone needs a fake image to document their support, they probably don\u2019t really have much to begin with.<\/p>\n Where are the City Council candidates?<\/p>\n There are fewer than seven months until the city\u2019s municipal Primary on Aug. 18, yet there aren\u2019t very many candidates seeking election to City Council, despite there being several open seats.<\/p>\n Even-numbered seats are up for election this year. District 2 representative Gabbard\u00a0and Gina Driscoll in District 6 are term-limited out of office after this year. Lisset Hanewicz in District 4\u00a0 and District 8 Council member Richie Floyd are up for re-election.<\/p>\n Three candidates have filed for Driscoll\u2019s seat, guaranteeing a competitive race there. Floyd has filed for re-election, but so far no one has filed to challenge him. Hanewicz has not yet filed for re-election, but is expected to do so, and no one has yet filed to challenge her.<\/p>\n No one has filed for Gabbard\u2019s open seat, which is unusual.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more unusual is that we usually hear rumblings of people considering runs. They talk to people, gauging interest and determining whether a bid is viable. Running for office is quite the task, even for local races, so one would like to enjoy some reasonable confidence before taking the leap.<\/p>\n Those are the conversations that typically get around to me or one of my colleagues. Yet we haven\u2019t been hearing about people asking around testing the waters.<\/p>\n Maybe folks are waiting to see what happens with the Welch situation. Maybe people are waiting until the last minute, securing campaign pledges so they can launch with a big number.<\/p>\n Regardless, it seems unlikely no one wants the job. Still, we\u2019ll be watching for filings daily now that 2026 is well underway. And if you\u2019re mulling a bid, give us a shout.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s at least one race to watch<\/p>\n District 6, meanwhile, is off to the races. Former Mayor Rick Kriseman had already endorsed<\/a> a candidate to replace Driscoll in District 6, with a nod to Children\u2019s Network of Hillsborough County CEO Terri Balliet. Now, she and Linsey Grove, a nonprofit consultant who owns and runs The Hypatia Collaborative, both had decent fundraising quarters in the final three months of 2025.<\/p>\n Grove raised more than $5,700, while Balliet brought in upwards of $5,100. Balliet has raised about $20,000 more than Grove overall, however. And the third candidate, Jameka Williams, entered the race far later, reporting just $1,000 raised in the fourth quarter from just one donor.<\/p>\n Charlie Crist is getting warm receptions<\/p>\n Crist was not only an attendee at the Russian Heritage\u2019s 30th annual St. Petersburg Winter Ball, he was a prime-time speaker. Welch, whom Crist is expected to challenge this year, was there too, but sources tell Florida Politics his welcome was not quite as warm.<\/p>\n That may have been a result of Welch\u2019s timing. He came early and left early, speaking at a point in the evening when people were still mingling and not paying particular attention to the speaker\u2019s podium. One person told Florida Politics there wasn\u2019t a lot of engagement with Welch\u2019s speech because of the timing.<\/p>\n But even though Welch\u2019s attendance was brief, it seems Crist was commanding more attention than the incumbent Mayor. Crist was spotted mingling with former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, who gave Crist a hug.<\/p>\n This is adding to what is becoming a trend as campaign season draws near \u2014 Crist and Welch have been finding themselves guests in the same rooms, and that\u2019s only going to continue. Earlier this month, Crist and Welch were photographed a few people apart<\/a> during a groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Pete Science Center.<\/p>\n For those familiar with the Science Center issue, Crist\u2019s presence at the groundbreaking says a lot. Crist helped secure funding<\/a> to revitalize and reopen the center. Welch previously attempted to block it<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an issue worth watching, if history is any indication. When Welch first sought election to St. Pete Mayor in 2021, polling showed a sizable majority of voters would be more likely to support a candidate who supported reopening the Science Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what feels like another lifetime, I launched the precursor to Florida Politics, SaintPetersBlog, with a regular column…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64596,3300,3347,64720,3067,65234,5756,2346,6773,8123,3175,7357,202,204,18455,203,199,201,200,6774,3525],"class_list":["post-132740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-alex-pretti","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-george-floyd","tag-gina-driscoll","tag-jameka-williams","tag-jane-castor","tag-ken-welch","tag-linsey-grove","tag-lisset-hanewicz","tag-maria-scruggs","tag-richie-floyd","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayoral-election","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-terri-balliet","tag-yolanda-brown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CMCB_8679_R2-30-Mile-Offshore-Display-Ad-and-ENL-Ad_1_251106_728x90.png\")
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