This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants). Two places have spoiled us for pizza over the years – Capogna’s which we featured a couple months ago and the other – Post Corner on south Clearwater Beach. Try their hamburger and onion pizza; it’s the best – very good (and large) salads too.

At last, statewide regulation for Lyft, Uber

Good for the Florida legislature. They have ended some 67 different sets of rules under which ride sharing services Lyft and Uber have operated. Since its existence some three years ago this blog has been advocating for a level playing field for Lyft and Uber. We confess that we have a different definition of level playing field than Tampa’s Louis Minardi who fronts the Florida Taxicab Association. We can only imagine Minardi’s definition goes back to the good old days in Tampa when palms were greased for choice cab stands and airport service. Hats off to St. Pete’s State Senator Jeff Brandes whose tenacity finally got this through the house and senate.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We lead off this week’s political commentary by falling on our sword – apologies to Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson for inadvertently transposing his first and last names last week. Easy to do when a guy has two names that can be either first or last names, but not an excuse for our lack of attention to detail.

2. Keep your eye on Tallahassee this week where legislators are back sliding on requirements that folks who “need” medical marijuana have known their physician for more than five minutes. Also, a troubling bill allowing grocery store liquor sales has gained momentum.

3. Acting a lot like a spoiled kid that didn’t get his way, Scientologists tried to torpedo a distribution of county bed taxes to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium after the CMA refused to sell them a piece of property the city wanted. And the Ft, Harrison navy wonders why the majority of Clearwater residents don’t trust them.

4. Can’t say enough nice things about Kenny G’s impromptu concert on a Delta flight out of Tampa which raised a couple thousand bucks for Relay for Life.

5. The Tonight Show’s Ed McMahon famously referred to New Year’s Eve drinking as “amateur night”. The same thought came to mind last week with Record Store Day. With all the hullabaloo, that’s probably the one day a year hard core aficionados stay away from vinyl emporiums.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Five guys we hated to see let go by ESPN: super baseball analyst Jim Bowden; former Buc Trent Dilfer; perhaps the best NASCAR guy alive, Dr. Jerry Punch; Jayson Stark, a jewel of a baseball writer; and NFL expert Ed Werder. On the other hand, they cut Len Elmore – what took them so long? More on ESPN’s bloodletting in next week’s blog.

7. Factoid: Only three network TV shows ended their run while still on top of the ratings. They were I love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld.

8. Add Las Vegas to the cities on major league baseball’s radar for relocation/expansion. The city’s reputation for gambling is not as onerous as it once was now that we gamble on everything from the Super Bowl to how long it will take to get from the courthouse to the roundabout during spring break.

9. Never since Poor Richard’s Almanac has there been more sensible thinking than in the 5:05 Newsletter. Witness this recent pearl of wisdom: According to a new study, cats may have more potential than dogs to sniff out bombs. The problem is cats just won’t bother to tell you.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you were taught English or American History by the legendary “Uncle Russ” Cantwell at CHS.

MLB observations at the one month mark

First: some good news, bad news. Bad news: the Toronto Blue Jays are stumbling just as badly as predicted by our predictor par excellence, Achmed Walled. The front office has to be kicking themselves for bringing back Jose (.129 at this writing) Bautista who’s having the worst year since Cuba’s Fulgencio Bautista in ’59. Our other pick to not click, the Washington Nationals, have been a pleasant surprise – so far. Keep an eye on their suspect bullpen, Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth – guys they need to perform. And the injuries won’t last forever, so don’t sleep on the Mets. As for the Rays – just about what everybody thought – struggling to stay at .500.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: HOW CLEARWATER COULD HAVE AVOIDED SCI-TI STIGMA, PT. 2