Billy Manes, Staff Writer
Hailing from more parts of Florida than he would care to admit (‘70s poverty/
single mom/gypsy style), Manes finally landed in Orlando at the end of 1997
following a few years as editor of now-defunct Knight-Ridder alt-weekly Break
Magazine in Tallahassee. He immediately began freelancing for Orlando
Weekly on matters of music and culture, a gig that eventually led to a regular
weekly column (or, rather, two: The B-List and, later, Blister) detailing his
broken nights of nightlife for nearly a decade. In 2005, on a whim, Manes ran
for mayor in Orlando, a fete that led to his current position of staff writer for
the Weekly in 2006. Since then, Manes has retired his columns – save
the political bi-weekly Council Watch and laugh-a-minute political rambles of
Happytown™ – in favor of investigative and policy reporting, winning various
writing plaudits from Orlando Weekly readers, Watermark and Orlando
Magazine. In his spare time, he likes listening to Duran Duran with his three
miniature pinschers. Don’t you?
Email: bmanes@orlandoweekly.com
Billy Manes Archives
- Happytown: Florida Action Watch holds Koch Bros. Protest
Highlight: Tea Party blogger calls Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell “rude, radical and unprofessional”
| 5/22/2013
- Happytown: Is the manufacturing sales tax cut constitutional?
Bill passed with less than 2/3 required supermajority
| 5/22/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 5/22/2013
- Happytown: Another Tallahassee Medicare scandal
Feds sue hospice provider tied to Florida Senate President Don Gaetz for Medicare fraud
| 5/15/2013
- Happytown: Mother of all sick-time protests
Advocates send Mother’s Day video to Gov. Rick Scott urging him to veto House Bill 655
| 5/15/2013
- Lizz Winstead bites back
The political pundit and creator of The Daily Show discusses the feminist elite, slut-shaming, and the difference between essay and memoir
| 5/8/2013
- Happytown: 2013 Legislative session draws to anticlimactic end
State legislature fails to come up with plan for Medicaid expansion but at least it killed the parent-trigger bill
| 5/8/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 5/8/2013
- Florida House rejects federal health care money
Proposed House plan calls into question the possibility of a Senate compromise
| 5/1/2013
- More time for booze?
Orlando drinking hours debate resurrected
| 5/1/2013
- Attorney John Morgan backs marijuana legalization
Local celeb-attorney is new chair of statewide marijuana advocacy organization United for Care
| 4/24/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 4/24/2013
- Final countdown in Tallahassee
Measures being bandied about in state legislature as session winds down: sharia law, alimony and “unborn quick children”
| 4/24/2013
- Gun-control free zone
State House passes memorial bill telling Congress that Florida will resist or overturn federal gun-control measures
| 4/24/2013
- Alan Grayson does a Reddit.com Ask Me Anything
Congressman talks about Social Security cuts, refuses to post photo of himself with a cat
| 4/17/2013
- Obstinance-only medication
State goes to ridiculous measures in efforts to thwart expansion of Medicaid
| 4/17/2013
- 'Til Death Do Us Part...
The battle for a statewide domestic-partnership registry isn’t just a policy fight. It’s personal.
| 4/9/2013
- 'Til Death Do Us Part...
“You need to stop lying. I’m not going anywhere, but I really need you to stop lying,” I told Alan, my partner of 11 years, while he sat in a...
| 4/12/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 4/10/2013
- Happytown: Parent-trigger bill passes Florida House
Proponents say law would give parents more power over failing schools; opponents say it’s an attack on public schools
| 4/10/2013
- Happytown: State House wants to block sick-time ordinances
Florida House votes in favor of bill that would pre-empt sick time ordinances by invalidating them before they pass at local level
| 4/10/2013
- Orlando Weekly's guide to the 2013 Florida Film Festival
Central Florida’s annual festival of film and food returns for its 22nd year
| 4/3/2013
- Bill of Goods
Senate Bill 58 would prevent foreign or religious laws from being used in stat courts
| 4/3/2013
- Happytown: More state bills attack reproductive rights
Three new initiatives clear Tallahassee subcommittees this session
| 4/3/2013
- Happytown: Tuition hike proposed for state schools
House Speaker Will Weatherford suggests 6 percent increase for all public universities
| 4/3/2013
- Happytown: Healthy Kids program seen as replacement for Medicaid expansion
Sen. Joe Stuart says proposal would save state $127 million
| 3/27/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 3/27/2013
- Happytown: Gay men can't give blood
Local man starts petition to change longstanding ban
| 3/27/2013
- Happytown: Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's odd resignation
Carroll's ties to a company that ran so-called internet cafes
| 3/20/2013
- Happytown: Koch Bros. want to buy Tribune
If it's true, it could put Orlando Sentinel in the hands of conservative political dabblers
| 3/20/2013
- Bill of Goods
Senate Bill 306 – Professional Sports Facilities
| 3/20/2013
- Bills of goods: Senate Bill 258 – Florida Clean Indoor Air Act
Bill would allow municipalities to restrict smoking
| 2/27/2013
- Happytown: Dove World Outreach protests pansexuals at Firestone
Religious zealots threaten to rain on pansexual parade
| 3/13/2013
- Happytown: Will Weatherford attacks state pensions and Medicaid
New Florida House Speaker flails and flip-flops on his stance on critical safety-net issues
| 3/13/2013
- Happytown: Priorities of the People Town Hall
Englewood Neighborhood Center hosts event to discuss issues that affect Florida's working class
| 3/6/2013
- Happytown: Rick Scott visits Beefy King
Florida Governor visits Orlando, eats a sandwich, talks about education and sequestration
| 3/6/2013
- What's in store for Florida's 2013 legislative session
Legislators prepare to duke it out over more of the same: abortion, workers' rights, education, voting issues and campaign finance reform
| 3/6/2013
- Happytown: Rick Scott's Medicaid about-face
Governor's announcement that he's expanding Medicaid surprises and disappoints his supporters
| 2/27/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 2/27/2013
- Happytown: Mark Schmidter in jail again
Judge Belvin Perry puts Fully Informed Jury Association member back in jail for "jury tampering"
| 2/27/2013
- Charter Schools: still sucking after all these years
Orange County School Board Chair Bill Sublette says 23 of 34 charter schools in county are "responsibly run"
| 2/20/2013
- Bills of Goods
SB 872 – Animal shelters or animal control agencies
| 2/20/2013
- The latest on Orange County's texting scandal
Will LOLTEXTGATE be Mayor Teresa Jacobs' lasting legacy
| 2/20/2013
- Bill of goods: HOUSE BILL 403
Bills filed for the 2013 legislative session in Tallahassee that we think you should know about
| 2/13/2013
- Happytown: Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican savior
He loves Pitbull, state's rights and Jesus
| 2/13/2013
- Happytown: No sick time for you
Bill proposed that would prevent municipalities from enforcing worker protections
| 2/13/2013
- Happytown: Fast tracking Florida foreclosures
Tallahassee bill could put people at risk of not being able to fend off foreclosure
| 2/13/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 2/6/2013
- Bill of goods: House Bill 325 – School Safety
Bills filed for the 2013 legislative session in Tallahassee that we think you should know about
| 2/6/2013
- Happytown: DPAC/FTA call truce
Two organizations strike agreement to work together
| 2/6/2013
- Happytown: Pam Bondi exposed?
Mayor Buddy Dyer invites the state AG to take part in an undie run
| 2/6/2013
- Alt.pets
Interviews with people who own unusual animals
| 2/6/2013
- Happytown: Orlando gets C-plus for transparency
Florida PIRG says city could be better at making government docs and policies more accessible to public
| 1/30/2013
- Happytown: Mayor Buddy Dyer to run downtown in underpants
Dyer joins Belle Isle Mayor Bill Brooks in a Cupid's Undie Run for Children's Tumor Foundation
| 1/30/2013
- Bill of goods: House Bill 325 – School Safety
Bills filed for the 2013 Florida legislative session that we think you should know about
| 1/30/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 1/30/2013
- DPAC's dramatic pause
Performing arts center's public rift with local theater producer calls its mission into question
| 1/22/2013
- Happytown: Activists demand answers in texting scandal
Petitions call for criminal investigation of actions of Orange County commissioners
| 1/23/2013
- Happytown: Gov. Scott's about face on voting fiasco
Florida governor backs away from bill that made voting such a headache for voters in 2102
| 1/23/2013
- Happytown: Domestic partnership bill introduced in state legislature
Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, introduces bill for consideration in 2013 session
| 1/16/2013
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 1/16/2013
- Read our lips: New taxes in 2013
An epic fall off the fiscal cliff has been averted, but your taxes are still going up
| 1/9/2013
- Same text, different day
Orange County LOLtextgate case reveals more business as usual
| 1/9/2013
- Remakin' Plakon
Everybody's favorite ousted legislator, former Rep. Scott Plakon, is planning his return to politics
| 1/9/2013
- Alan Jordan, Sept. 20, 1962-April 8, 2012
Husband of Orlando Weekly's Billy Manes, dreamer
| 1/2/2013
- Dr. Richard Isay, Dec. 13, 1934-June 28, 2012
Revolutionary psychiatrist and gay-rights champion
| 1/2/2013
- Happytown: One out of five Florida nursing homes on state watch list
Families for Better Care says there should be more public outrage about nursing-home oversight
| 1/2/2013
- Happy New Year, Gov. Rick Scott
Governor rings in 2013 with dismal poll numbers
| 1/2/2013
- Happytown
Sad-song saga of the gold-plated Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
| 12/26/2012
- Local anesthesia
Ten stories that rocked Central Florida in 2012
| 12/26/2012
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 12/26/2012
- Happytown: Guns in our dumb state
Florida gloats about gun ownership as another mass tragedy hurts the nation
| 12/19/2012
- Last Minute Gift Guide: Rock & Roll Heaven
Just because you're an old drunk, it doesn't mean you're off the hook
| 12/19/2012
- Happytown: Ken Detzner is listening
That voting reform law that ruined everything may have come from a bad place
| 12/19/2012
- Tallahassee's conflicted interests
Why real ethics reform will never happen in Florida
| 12/19/2012
- Happytown: Merry Charlie Crist-mas, Democrats!
To absolutely noone's surprise, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist makes the official announcement that he's changing parties
| 12/12/2012
- Happytown: Florida Family Policy Council protests public school nondiscrimination policy
John Stemberger's conservative organization says Orange County's attempt to be inclusive will lead to crossdressing and pedophilia in public schools
| 12/12/2012
- Happytown: More Affordable Care Act foot-dragging
Health care advocates draft letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sibelius urging feds to force Florida to take part in federal exchange
| 12/5/2012
- Happytown: Bright Futures security breach
Private information belonging to nearly 200,000 students eligible for Bright Futures scholarships exposed in October
| 12/5/2012
- Happytown: Orange County Textgate continues
Electronically challenged county still clinging to public records kept on commissioners' cell phones
| 12/5/2012
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 12/5/2012
- Happytown: Ethical quandaries
Republican Party of Florida continues to implode and hell freezes over as League of Women Voters praises Republican leadership in Tallhassee
| 11/28/2012
- Happytown: A requieum for a Twinkie, more on elections aftermath
Hostess goes out of business and takes 280 Orlando jobs with it, Gov. Rick Scott demands some answers about who made this elections mess, the final tallies on the amendment votes
| 11/20/2012
- Happytown: Poor Rich White Lady and Dorworth's out the door
A Q&A with the worried woman who fretted on your TV all during campaign season; a recount votes state Rep. Chris Dorworth out of office
| 11/14/2012
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 11/7/2012
- Happytown: Endorsements
Read our picks for this political season, then go vote like your life depends on it
| 10/31/2012
- The Amendments
Our guide to the confusing mess of constitutional amendments appearing on your ballot
| 10/31/2012
- Whistlestops: Karen Castor Dentel vs. Scott Plakon and Linda Stewart vs. Bob Brooks
Two prominent state House races frame the current disparity between left and right
| 10/24/2012
- Happytown: Bogus ballots in Palm Beach County, Dems name Rep. Scott Randolph to replace Earl K. Wood on the ballot
Like so many abacuses rattling our anxious dreams, we're finding the calculations leading up to Votepocalypse Now more confusing and volatile with each day we...
| 10/24/2012
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 10/24/2012
- Kaleigh Baker is back in town
She's got a new backing band and a more mature sound, and she's bringing it to the Beacham to play a show with Thomas Wynn and the Believers and...
| 10/17/2012
- Republican challenger William McBride takes on state Rep. Darren Soto
Senate District 14 candidates lean toward caution and constituent ethnicity, at least on the surface
| 10/17/2012
- Happytown: The Home Defenders League tackles foreclosure in east Orlando and Tom Perriello tackles Mitt Romney's math
We're all poor now!
| 10/17/2012
- Happytown: Orange County's LOLTEXTGATE
The county accidentally sends Mayor Teresa Jacobs' private texts to a 'Sentinel' reporter, then gets mad at the reporter for reporting on them
| 10/10/2012
- Council watch
Billy Manes pays attention to city government so you don't have to
| 10/3/2012
- The Center prepares for growth
Orlando's LGBT community center brings in new blood and broader attitudes to prepare for a presence beyond the 'gay' label
| 10/3/2012
- Happytown: Saunders vs. Peña
Democrat Joe Saunders faces Republican opponent Marco Peña in the race for newly drawn state House District 49
| 10/3/2012
- Happytown: Orange County man cited for not hooking up to OUC; scientists create bullet-detection technology.
Orange County doesn't want you going off the grid and Weapon Detect doesn't want you bringing loaded guns into public spaces.
| 9/26/2012
- Happytown: Rick Scott's listening tour, Digital Domain goes bankrupt
Gov. Rick Scott visits Fern Creek Elementary and Digital Domain sinks like the Titanic
| 9/19/2012
- Album Reviews
Reviews of albums by Band of Horses, Dinosaur Jr., and Pet Shop Boys
| 9/19/2012
