News & Public Affairs

Tampa vigil and protest during Florida's execution of Manuel Valle listen

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Tags: Manuel Valle, Death penalty, vigil, ACLU of Florida, FADP, Troy Davis

Manuel Valle was executed at Florida State Prison by injection of a controversial cocktail of lethal chemicals. He convicted for the murder of Police Officer Louis Pena during a traffic stop in 1978. Mark Elliot is executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Elliot’s biggest issues with the death penalty, however, are the poss...

Tampa joins 3000 candle light vigils for Copenhagen Climate Conference listen

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Tags: Copenhagen, Climate Conference, vigil, climate change, Greenpeace, Religion

With one week left in the Climate Conference in Copenhagen, religious groups across the globe are congregating with fellow secular advocates to demand a binding climate agreement from world leaders. With about 500 events in the US, local faith based organizations in Tampa also held a vigil on Friday.

Cold and windy weather didn’t deter more than a dozen climate change advocates who huddled in front of Senator Bill Nelson’s Tampa office last Friday night. Faiths Unit...

Veterans for Peace to protest the School of the Americas this weekend listen

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Tags: veterans, peace, vigil, protest, Iraq war, Afghanistan War, SOA Watch, School of the Americas

Anti-war protesters held signs today in South Tampa; some of the signs said “Honk if you want to close Gitmo”, and “bring them home.”

Early in 2006, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid criticized President Bush's speech at US Central Command in Tampa, questioning his pre-war claims of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. Ever since then, Jay Alexander with the Tampa Veterans for Peace has been holding vigils for peace near Mac Dill Air Force Base, and asking for a moratorium on send...

Gaza Vigil held in Temple Terrace listen

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Tags: Mideast conflict, Gaza, Palestine, Israel, vigil

This afternoon, more than 200 people turned out to a silent vigil for victims of Israel’s violence in the occupied Gaza Strip.

People holding flags, posters and photos stood on all four corners of Temple Terrace’s busiest intersection, Fowler Avenue and 56th Street as rush hour traffic passed by Friday afternoon. The silent vigil for innocent victims of Israel’s siege, bombardment, and invasion of the Palestinian Gaza Strip was organized, in part, by Friends of Human Rights. Lars Underbakk...