{"id":434293,"date":"2026-10-22T02:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/434293\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T02:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:48:22","slug":"the-scoop-wed-oct-21-2026-tampa-bay-and-florida-headlines-by-wmnf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/434293\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scoop: Wed. Oct. 21, 2026, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792637302_701_The-Scoop-color-2048x2048-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-268796 size-268796 wp-post-image\" alt=\"WMNF The Scoop\" large=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year. William Reaves was put to death Tuesday by lethal injection. He was convicted of shooting and killing a sheriff\u2019s deputy in 1986. That comes as lethal injection is facing increased scrutiny following the failed execution last month of Christa Pike in Tennessee. The two states use different protocols. Florida uses a three-drug injection.<\/p>\n<p>Billy Adams asks judge for death sentence<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-florida-s-primary-election-is-tomorrow\">Tampa Rapper Billy Adam III was convicted last month of killing a pregnant woman. Now Adams is asking the judge for a death sentence. 10 Tampa Bay reports that Adams wrote in a letter that he is waving presentation of additional mitigative evidence or other arguments that could persuade the judge to spare his life. The court has not yet ruled on Adams\u2019 request, and the sentencing decision ultimately lies with the judge.<\/p>\n<p>Lakeland commissioners consider eliminating code enforcement board<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-longtime-st-petersburg-home-with-deep-connections-to-the-city-s-arts-and-literary-community-is-officially-a-local-historic-landmarkyesterday-the-st-petersburg-city-council-voted-unanimously-to-designate-the-meinke-house-as-a-local-historical-landmark-the-home-sits-at-the-intersection-of-two-distinct-creative-legacies-with-architect-and-builder-of-the-home-mark-dixon-dodd-s-and-florida-poet-laureate-peter-meinke-and-his-wife-artist-and-illustrator-jeanne-meinke-the-house-exemplifies-the-traditions-of-a-cultural-city-of-the-arts\">Lakeland commissioners proposed eliminating the citizen code enforcement broad, replacing it with a special magistrate instead. Currently, the seven-person board oversees unresolved violations regarding zoning, garbage storage, and property maintenance among others. This process allows residents to ask the board to review a hearing officer\u2019s order and they can contest the initial order within ten days. But under the new proposal, that option will be eliminated. More information can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/lakelandgov.net\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/lakelandgov.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Lakelandgov.net<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lakeland commissioners approve expansion at Lakeland airport<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-florida-s-primary-election-is-tomorrow\">Lakeland city commissioners unanimously approved a new lease agreement Monday, expanding aviation training facilities at Lakeland Linder International Airport. The expansion will allow enough additional space for a warehouse, office space, laydown space and ten more parking spaces.<\/p>\n<p>A federal proposal could lower voter turnout among people with disabilities<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule that would prohibit using federal funds to administered, establish, support or pay any voter registration campaigns, drives or similar activities. Federally funded activities provide access and knowledge to voter registration information to marginalized group including people with disabilities. If the proposal is approved, it could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmnf.org\/white-house-proposal-threatens-voter-registration-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">potentially widen the gap between voter turnout between those with disabilities and those without<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Scoop, produced by Jaila Harrigan<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WMNF anchors Juanita Hurtado Hu\u00e9rfano, Se\u00e1n Kinane, Lisa Marzilli, Hannah Lau Gleciano, Megan Fair.<br \/>WMNF News Director Se\u00e1n Kinane<br \/>WMNF reporters Juanita Hurtado Hu\u00e9rfano, Lisa Marzilli, Se\u00e1n Kinane, Daria Mironova, Megan Fair, Luiza Medeiros de Campos, Hannah Lau Gleciano, Joeniyah Carter, Jaelin Diehl.<br \/>Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Theme music, Fresh06, by Stian via archive.org \u2013 CC-BY-NC-SA 2.5<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/jamendo-001084\/02.mp3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/jamendo-001084\/02.mp3<\/a><br \/>The Scoop logo by Robin Milcowitz \/ Greener Pixels \/\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/greenerpixels.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">greenerpixels.com<\/a>\u00a0\/ WMNF<\/p>\n<p>Information from the News Service of Florida, the Associated Press, and Florida Public Media was used in this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year Florida has carried out its 18th execution this year.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47499,408,23992,3890,100604,16665,30415,135,137,136,416,14258,417],"class_list":["post-434293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-2026-elections","tag-death-penalty","tag-disability-rights","tag-federal-funding","tag-lakeland-county-commission","tag-local-government","tag-news-and-public-affairs","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-the-scoop","tag-voter-registration","tag-wmnf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434293","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=434293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}