News & Public Affairs

Palin visits Clearwater, attacks Obama listen

10/06/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: 2008 Election, Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden

With just over four weeks to go and trailing in many battleground states, campaign advisors for John McCain admitted over the weekend that they would more aggressively attack Barack Obama. GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did not disappoint this morning in Clearwater.

An estimated 6,000 people showed up in Coachmen Park, many before dawn, for an event that began shortly after 8 a.m. A number of local Republicans, including Gov. Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, at...

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Discussion on role of women in politics listen

10/03/08 Arielle Stevenson
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Tags: Arthenia Joyner, Mary Anne Stiles, Pam Iorio, Sandra Murman, Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, USF

Today in Tampa, USF held its third annual Women in Leadership and Philanthropy Conference. The forum on the role of women in politics featured four prominent women experienced in the field of politics: Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, Florida Sen. Arthenia Joyner, attorney Mary Anne Stiles and former state House representative Sandra Murman.

The four used brutal honesty in all their answers and didn’t sugar coat any of the realities of being a woman in the political area. Attorney and lobbyist Mar...

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Congressional challengers weigh in on bailout listen

10/03/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: 2008 election, Gus Bilirakis, Kathy Castor, Eddie Adams Jr., Richard Emmons, Bill Mitchell, John Kalimnios, Andrew Pasayan, Tiger Bay Club

While incumbents Kathy Castor and Gus Bilirakis were in Washington casting their votes against the Wall Street bailout bill that passed the House today, the challengers who are trying to win their seats debated at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club.

Castor was the only one of nine House Democrats from Florida who bucked party leadership and voted against the bill. Challenging Castor for her District 11 seat is Republican Eddie Adams Jr., who said he also opposed the bailout.

Five Florida Republi...

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Bush Legacy Tour coming to Tampa listen

10/03/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Bush Legacy Tour, politics

The Bush Legacy Tour was in Sarasota today, and will be in Ybor City Saturday morning.

The 45-foot-long bus converted into a museum, is dedicated to the failures of the Bush administration, its organizers say.

The Bush Legacy Tour is a project of the group Americans United for Change. The bus will be parked in Ybor City, next to the Saturday Morning Market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Groups announce protest of bailout scheme listen

10/02/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Wall Street bailout, Uhurus

Today, a coalition of seven groups from across the ideological spectrum encouraged people to join a march on St. Petersburg City Hall on Saturday. The demonstration will protest the Wall Street bailout passed by the Senate on Wednesday night.

Omali Yeshitela is the Chair of the African People’s Socialist Party. Yeshitela was one of several people who offered alternative plans, saying that financial resources should go directly to the people.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz...

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Tampa City Council asked to fight TECO rate increase listen

10/02/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Tampa City Council, TECO, utility rates, Public Service Commission

Tampa Electric Co. will soon go before state regulators to request a combined 31 percent rate increase, 22 percent of which is designed to cover higher fuel costs.

Responding to citizens concerns, the Tampa City Council got involved today. Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said THAN, the group representing all of Tampa’s neighborhood associations, has written to the mayor and the City Council asking that they lobby the Public Service Commission to prevent such a rate increase from happening....

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Ronda Storms on Sarah Palin listen

10/02/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: 2008 Election, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, debate, Ronda Storms

A huge television audience is expected o watch the Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis tonight between Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin.

More intensity was added to this already highly anticipated event yesterday, when some conservatives went ballistic with the news that moderator Gwen Ifill is authoring a book that includes a section on Barack Obama, though Ifill said yesterday she has yet to write the chapter on Obama. The book is scheduled to be published on Inaugu...

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Disability complaint filed against Hillsborough schools listen

10/01/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: disabilities, Florida Board of Education, Hillsborough County Schools, NAACP, education, African American

Hillsborough County schools are violating federal requirements by not providing adequate services to students with disabilities, according to a coalition of advocacy groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities and the NAACP held a press conference in downtown Tampa this morning to announce they have filed a class-action administrative complaint against the Hillsborough County School system alleging systemic violations of a federal law.

The...

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Moral Courage winner returns award listen

10/01/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Moral Courage Award, Ralph Hughes, Hillsborough County Commission, Eileen Hart

Two weeks ago the Hillsborough County Commission voted to rename the Moral Courage Award for political activist Ralph Hughes. Today, in protest, 1996 winner Eileen Hart returned her award to the commissioners.

Hart is a Florida native who spent 12 years fighting the Tampa Bay Water Wars with the Keystone Civic Association to ensure diversified sources of water.

Hart told WMNF this afternoon that she couldn’t believe the County Commission, would change the award in honor of Hughes, the e...

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Report says health care premiums outpace income in Florida listen

10/01/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Health care, health insurance

A new report released today shows that health care premiums rose an estimated 3-1/2 times faster than earnings for Florida’s workers in the last 7 years.

Ron Pollock with Families USA, a health care advocacy group in Washington, introduced the report, “Premiums vs. Paychecks: A growing burden for Florida’s Workers."

Pollock said earnings for Florida workers only went up by 20.2 percent during the same period. And he said the coverage for Floridians is "thinner" now – meaning fewer benef...

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