News & Public Affairs
Human Rights breakfast listen
12/12/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: human rights
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Friday, December 12 was the 35th annual Human Rights Awards breakfast in west Tampa.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes thirty articles that apply to all people, wherever they live. It includes the rights to life, liberty, security, and free choice of employment. But those rights are under attack in many places around the world, including the United Sta...
Be the first to commentACLU's Pheneger on Detainee Abuse Report listen
12/12/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: human rights, ACLU
A Senate Armed Services Committee bipartisan report released yesterday has confirmed that top Bush-administration officials are responsible for the country’s “abusive” interrogation techniques.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force General Richard Myers, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the top-level architects of abuse of detainees at prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
The 19-page unclassified executive summary...
Be the first to commentFlorida Democratic Party blasts Ray Sansom again, but party legislators remain silent. listen
12/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Ray Sansom, Karen Thurman, Northwest Florida State College
The Brevard County newspaper Florida Today is the latest in the state to call for House Speaker Ray Sansom to quit either his controversial new college administrative job, or his House speaker position.
Newspaper editorial boards are blasting Sansom after he steered millions of dollars to his alma matter, Okaloosa Walton Community College, now Northwest Florida State College, during the last session of the Florida legislature, while he told other lawmakers there would be no money for other...
Be the first to commentMarriage-Equality Group Plans Protest At Governor's Wedding
12/11/08 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Amendment Two, Impact Florida, Marriage, Lorna Bracewell, Yasmin Jones, marriage equality
Good afternoon, welcome to WMNF’s Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up in a moment- the governor is getting married tomorrow in St. Petersburg and there will be a demonstration by groups that are angry that the Governor recently supported Amendment Two to Florida’s constitution which bans gay marriage here in Florida.
But first- three listener comments about yesterday’s program which featured a spokesperson for the National Association Of Broadcasters and three local broadcast engineers...
3 commentsNPR's StoryCorps Collects Stories in Tampa listen
12/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Beginning Friday and for the next month, NPR’s acclaimed StoryCorps program will record conversations between citizens in the Tampa Bay area.
The series has run on NPR’s Friday Morning Edition broadcasts for five years now and has collected more than 20,000 stories.
Whitney Henry Lester is with StoryCorps. She said her program will record 40-minute conversations between two people who know each other well, such as a parent and child or a teacher and student. Afterward, the participant...
Be the first to commentUSF Trustees agree to contract with faculty and ponder tuition hike listen
12/11/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: USF, UFF, Ray Sansom, labor
This morning the University of South Florida Board Of Trustees approved a new contract with its faculty union for the current academic year. The contract was ratified by the union on Wednesday.
Sherman Dorn is an associate professor of education and the president of USF’s chapter of United Faculty of Florida, or UFF. He said 98 percent of employees who voted were in favor of the contract; all members of the bargaining unit were e...
1 commentsChet Huntley remembered by local author
12/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Through the 1ate 1950s and much of the 1960s, broadcast news's preeminent anchors were the NBC team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.
Huntley, whose birthday would have been Wednesday, retired in 1970 and died from lung cancer at 62 in 1974.
He’s now the subject of a new biography written by a local author, Lutz resident Mark Weisenmiller. The book is called, "Chet Huntley: Newscaster From the West" and is published by Alka Press.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Weisenmiller came to...
Be the first to commentTampa community garden remains just a concept listen
12/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council, Community Garden
The idea of having the city of Tampa help in the creation of a community garden was again discussed at the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency’s meeting Thursday morning.
In October, Tampa Councilwoman Mary Mulhern hosted a workshop on the issue. She mentioned how community gardens are sprouting across the country as a way to grow local food at affordable prices and said it was appropriate for Tampa to become part of the trend.
Mark Huey is the economic and urban development administra...
2 commentsBeckner promises more open government listen
12/10/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Hillsborough County Commission, Kevin Beckner
Kevin Beckner was elected to the Hillsborough County Commission last month. Today, at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Tampa and the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County, he urged citizens to get more involved in the community.
“For too long we have focused on political agendas, self-interest groups, special interest groups, and too long I think some of our leaders have focused and have...
Be the first to commentBush urged to stop "midnight hour" rule changes listen
12/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bush administration, environment
Recently, some major changes to several of the country’s environmental laws and regulations were classified by the Office of Management and Budget as not “economically significant.” This classification gave federal agencies 30 more days to finalize far-reaching environmental rules prior to a Dec. 19 deadline;, after that, the Obama administration’s options will become significantly limited.
So today, representatives from some of the biggest environmental groups held a conference call, urgi...
Be the first to commentSarasota allocates $600,000 to help halt foreclosures listen
12/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, housing, foreclosure crisis, Sarasota County
Sarasota County Commissioners yesterday approved $600,000 to give direct financial assistance for families in the county facing foreclosure on their homes.
The funding – which ultimately could rise to $1 million - will be distributed in grants of up to $5,000 through a group of nonprofit organizations in the county.
Last month, deputy administrator Susan Scott said there were approximately 8,000 pending foreclosures in the judicial process and an additional 900 filings occurring monthly...
Be the first to commentParallels between Lincoln and Douglass, Part 2 listen
12/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, John Stauffer, American history
John Stauffer is the author of the just published book, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In the second part of our interview, we asked the author, who is the chair of the history of American civilization and professor at Harvard University, what the two men had in common.
Be the first to commentHow to prepare for digital TV conversion
12/10/08 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Media, digital television, converter boxes, NAB
In two months television will switch from analog to digital broadcasting.
More than 600,000 Florida households who rely exclusively on over-the-air broadcasting – receiving a television signal with rabbit ears or rooftop antennas – will be affected when the transition takes place Feb. 17. These households will need to take steps to receive a digital television signal when all full-power stations begin broadcasting only in digital as mandated by the FCC.
Cable and satellite television ...
Be the first to commentSuper Bowl security team unveiled in Tampa listen
12/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Super Bowl, FBI, terrorism
The Super Bowl will take place in Tampa in 52 days. Today local and federal law enforcement officials spoke to reporters about the security steps underway now and those that will commence leading up to the big game.
Steve Ibisen is the FBI special agent in charge of security at the Super Bowl. He said the FBI’s role is to prepare to meet any threat, including a possible terrorist attack. His agency will operate a join operations center for all law enforcement.
Susan McCormick is with I...
1 commentsGreen building at the USF St. Petersburg Campus listen
12/09/08 Colleen Krepstekies and Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: LEED, St. Petersburg, USF
The USF green building project began in 2002 and it will open in fall 2009. The new facility will be two colleges, the arts & sciences and the college of marine science with eight research labs.
The construction company, Creative Contractors, hosted a tour of its building project at the USF St. Pete Campus on Dec. 9. The hosts provided an overview of USF’s first LEED certified building. LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a program that was started by the U.S. ...
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