(ITOTD= Inconvenient Truth of the Day)

Tropical Storm Fay hit Key West late this afternoon, and the National Hurricane Center in Miami warns that the storm could strengthen into a hurricane before by the time it reaches Florida’s coast.

CNN reports that a hurricane warning was issued Monday for southwestern Florida, from Flamingo to Anna Maria Island. The warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.

Monroe County emergency officials suspended their evacuation efforts for the Florida Keys, saying it was time for everyone to stay indoors.

Fay’s intensity on her projected path is still uncertain but forecasters are cautioning that the storm is still threatening and must be taken seriously.

Baseball update: Hurricane Fay’s threat leaves status of the Rays vs. Angels game tomorrow night.  MLB officials are meeting today to decide the status of the game. Angels manager Mike Scioscia said that the team is staying in Florida and if Tuesday’s game is postpones, they play a double-header on Wednesday.

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A Florida biologist saved the life of an enormous 375 black bear yesterday, preventing it from drowning by pulling it out of the Gulf of Mexico. The bear had wandered into a residential development in the Florida panhandle 40 miles south of Tallahassee when state officials were called in to capture it. After the bear was hit by a tranquilizer dart, it bolted straight into the water of the Gulf of Mexico before the drugs could take effect, running the risk of losing consciousness and drowning in the water. Saving the day though, Adam Warwick, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision, jumped in after the bear to keep it from going under and losing its life. Warwick pulled the wild animal back onto land from about 75 feet offshore and it was safely transported to the Osceola National Forest near Lake City, FL.

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It’s June 27th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action…

The New York Times has compiled an interesting interactive map which shows carbon emissions state by state, also subdivided by type of emissions, which makes it clear that it’s difficult for all fifty states to agree on one way to cap emissions.

For example, California is in the top five polluters for the areas of industrial, transportation, commercial and residential pollution, but not for electric.  Meanwhile, Illinois is in the top five only for industrial.  So while Illinois may propose emissions standards for anything other than, say, coal or manufacturing, California would counter with standards only for power companies.

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Florida announced today a plan to buy U.S. Sugar Corporation, the country’s largest producer of cane sugar, so that the Everglades may return to their natural state.  In a $1.7 billion deal touted by environmentalists as the ”largest ecological restoration in the country’s history,” the sugar factory would cease production, allowing water to flow once again from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida bay, which would in turn revitalize the Everglades.  From The New York Times:

Under term of the tentative deal, U.S. Sugar would continue farming and processing for six more years before closing the business and allowing 187,000 acres of land to return to its natural state. For its part the state would pay U.S. Sugar $1.7 billion.

Governor Charlie Crist said the deal was “as monumental as the creation of the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

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A teenage girl named Crystal has turned to Youtube to share her story of being raped. According to CNN, Crystal is among dozens of young people who are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to talk about sexual assault.

Sadly, the comments which appear below the Youtube video are disgusting. Many think the girl is putting on an act, while others support the attacker. Everything about this makes me sick: the fact that a girl who claims she was raped has no where to turn but to the internet, that people commenting on the video think rape is funny, and that rape even happens at all. I’m really not sure what to make of all of this.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

“The First Time I Every Saw Your Face” May Be the First Time You Hear About Ewan MacColl

California’s Gay Marriage Ban Overturned & 5 Ways To Take Action

* * *
Nicole Hughes:

“Bottlemania” Book Takes Bottled Water Industry To Task

Arnold Tells Automakers To “Stop Whining” About Tougher California Emissions Standards

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Department of Energy Forecasts Large Increase In Wind Power Usage

Edward Norton & Gavin Newsom Speak To Congress About Environmental Building Practices

* * *

Jon Popham:

Spencer Tunick Strips Hundreds Naked

Lichtenstein Sculptures At Fairchild Garden In Miami

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Giulia Rozzi:

Does Being Ethical Pay?

Is the Anti-Female Genial Mutilation Campaign Offensive?

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

A Global Look At Media On Pangea Day

Everything Cinema: Brody Takes On the Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard

The Roy Lichtenstein monumental sculptures exhibit is coming upon the last two weeks of its unique run at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami. The installation features ten Lichtenstein monumental sculptures ranging from eight to thirty feet high and including some of the late, great pop artist’s most famous works, including House II and Brushstrokes, showcased within the gorgeous, lush surroundings of the Botanic Garden.

The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami - Dade County’s oldest cultural institution and one of the premiere Botanic Gardens in the world, has presented the exhibition as part of its annual Art and Flowers series. The premiere was last December during the world famous Art Basel Miami Beach international art show.

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Robert Rauschenberg has passed away at the age of 82. The prolific American artist who defined the term multimedia died yesterday at his home on Captiva Island, Florida. The cause of death was heart failure according to Arne Glimcher, director of the Pace Wildenstein gallery in New York, which had represented Rauschenberg.

Robert Rauschenberg was a pioneer in pushing art beyond the not so cozy confines of Abstract Expressionism. His works incorporated a multitude of untraditional materials including consumer items and even junk the artist would find on the street. Said the departed:

“I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.”

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Many drivers in Tallahassee Florida will sadly have to say goodbye to their testicles. Their fake bull testicles that dangle from their truck and car trailer hitches.

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban. Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like “Truck Nutz” and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

The Florida Senate voted last week to add the measure to a broader transportation bill, but it is not included in the House version.In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories. [Reuters]

Truck Nutz (which may just be my new favorite word) are described on their site as “a high-quality, novelty, automotive accessory that hang from any bumper and let folks show the world their Nutz”.

Personally I think there are things that are far more offensive like, oh I dunno, selling guns?

Is it not ones constitutional right to express themselves through plastic balls? Is it censorship to take a persons nutz away? Want to know more abut protecting free speech? and check out change.org .