Former St. Pete senator launches Florida Policy Project

After spending 12 years in the State Legislature as a moderate Republican unafraid to work across the aisle and call out leadership, Jeff Brandes believes there is much more to accomplish.

The former lawmaker, a St. Petersburg native, recently launched the Florida Policy Project (FPP) to advance research-based initiatives he championed in Tallahassee from 2010 to 2022. Focus areas include affordable housing, transportation, criminal justice and property insurance reform.

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The Catalyst interview: Laura Jane Grace

Powerful and raw, the songs written and recorded by the Florida punk band Against Me! are honest without fail, whether they’re political, personal or something else altogether.

From the earliest indie albums, Reinventing Axl Rose (2002) and Searching For a Former Clarity, the band carved its own unique niche in punk – lead singer and songwriter Laura Jane Grace played acoustic guitar, which gave even the most aggressive songs an organic nature, along with the more traditional electric. Against Me! briefly signed with major label Sire and cut the moderately successful, Butch Vig-produced New Wave. Major tours of the U.S.A., and the planet, followed.