News & Public Affairs
Sarasota officials consider tax for ball park listen
01/23/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Sarasota, Ed Smith Stadium, Cincinnati Reds
A revised plan to keep Sarasota as the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds remains in question today.
On Tuesday Sarasota County officials opted to delay a vote until next week on whether to set aside $18-million in tourist tax dollars to help rebuild Ed Smith Stadium.
The total cost of rebuilding the park would be $41-million – that’s $13-million cheaper than a plan for a new park that was voted down by Sarasota City residents last fall.
A supermajority, or four County Commi...
Be the first to commentHuckabee tries to compete in Florida listen
01/23/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday
Tags: 2008 election, Mike Huckabee
GOP Presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee strongly denied this morning that he has any plans of skipping next week’s Florida primary.
Published reports in the past few days have indicated that some staffers are working without pay and others have already left the campaign because they’re not getting paid.
Huckabee acknowledges that money is tight, but says he’ll be in Florida every day until next Tuesday, and is hoping to win Florida’s presidential primary.
Huckabee says he won’t...
Be the first to commentBarsamian on Saudi Arabia listen
01/22/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Middle East policy
David Barsamian is the host of Alternative Radio, which airs every Thursday morning on WMNF. Last Friday, Barsamian spoke at the Musicale in Tampa. He discussed the current situations in Pakistan, Iran and, in this excerpt, President George W. Bush’s recent trip to west Asia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a monarchy that the corporate media often describes as “moderate.”
Photo credit: Seán Kinane/WMNF
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Be the first to commentSaul-Sena comments on her letter to Ikea listen
01/22/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council, IKEA
Last July, the Tampa City Council approved plans for the construction of an Ikea retail store near Ybor City. The lone vote against the chain furniture store was council member Linda Saul-Sena.
Last month, Saul-Sena sent a letter to Ikea criticizing the design of the site plan. She said the design should be more environmentally friendly and she threatened to embarrass Ikea by posting video of the site on YouTube. The letter was on City Council letterhead, which upset fellow council member ...
Be the first to commentAmendment 1 detractors say government services will suffer listen
01/22/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Amendment 1, Florida
In one week, Floridians go to the polls to vote on Amendment 1, a property tax cutting proposal that would reduce revenues for local governments. A coalition of opponents of Amendment 1 met this morning at Tampa’s Lowry Park along the Hillsborough River to convince people to vote no on Amendment 1.
Tampa City Council Member Linda Saul-Sena is the chair of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Committee. Saul-Sena said she is concerned that if Amendment 1 passes, the city’s Parks and Rec...
Be the first to commentA first, MLK Day parade marches on MLK Blvd. listen
01/22/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated yesterday across the country and in the Tampa Bay area; major parades were held in both St. Petersburg and Tampa.
Because of construction in West Tampa, the parade was held for the first time in East Tampa along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Community activist Michelle B. Patty said the day was important for all Americans.
Lily May Lovett grew up in Florida and said MLK was a crucial figure in giving Black Americans the civil rights t...
Be the first to commentSharon Jones - Blues Musician in concert for WMNF
01/19/08 Mary GlenneyWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday
Sharon Jones, a blues musician, is finally being discovered. Amy Winehouse uses her band, the Dap Kings, on her album and on tour.
Be the first to comment***Dissent: Voices of Conscience***
01/19/08 Mary Glenney/Arlene EngelhardtFrom A Woman's Point of View Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Iraq War
Col. Ann Wright, activist and author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience. In her book, Wright writes about dissent and truth of power to protest government actions she and other insiders believed were illegal. During the runup to war in Iraq, this retired army colonel resigned her State Department post and demonstrated it is possible to do the right thing.
Be the first to commentFlorida Primary and Amendment 1
01/19/08 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View Listen to this entire show:
Today's guest is Sally Phillips, an activist with the Democratic Party; our topics: the Florida Primary and Amendment 1.
Be the first to commentRubio speaks at Suncoast Tiger Bay Club listen
01/18/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Amendment 1, Marco Rubio
The Speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives, Coral Gables Republican Marco Rubio, spoke today at the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club in St. Petersburg. With early voting under way and the presidential primary election less than two weeks away, WMNF asked Rubio for his position on Amendment One, the property tax reduction measure on the ballot.
St. Petersburg City Council member Herb Polson said he would vote against Amendment One.
Kim Black is president of the Pinellas County Classroom Te...
Be the first to commentUSF considers budget cuts, layoffs listen
01/18/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Budget Cutbacks, USF
The University of South Florida will cut nearly $26-million from its budget this fiscal year, and school officials say they expect more cuts in the next fiscal year.
USF President Judy Genshaft made the comments in a webcast last night. Genshaft says she is implementing immediate measures to cope with the budget crises state and nationwide.
Several state universities have already put caps on incoming students to deal with their funding woes.
St. Petersburg House Democrat Bill Heller ...
Be the first to commentFrench journalist on Middle East situation listen
01/18/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Middle East policy
President Bush returned to Washington this week after his eight-day trip to the Middle East, his first since being elected in 2000.
The trip received mixed reviews, with many critics calling it too little, too late.
Charles Enderlin is the Middle East Bureau Chief for the French television network France 2. His new book is called, The Lost Years: Radical Islam, Intifada, and Wars in the Middle Easat 2001-2006. WMNF spoke with him earlier this week about the Bush visit and whether the...
Be the first to commentConsumer advocate says Allstate should back down listen
01/18/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Yesterday Allstate Insurance filed an appeal after the state of Insurance Regulation expanded its freeze on the company from doing any future business in the state until it complies with a state investigation into how it sets homeowners’ insurance rates.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Wednesday announced that Florida would ban Allstate from writing any new car insurance policies, after it has failed to comply with subpoenas. The subpoenas were issued in connection with hearings th...
Be the first to commentRedevelopment of Tropicana Field on city agenda listen
01/17/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field
Today, the St. Petersburg City Council voted 7-1 to send developers a request for proposal to redevelop the Tropicana Field property.
The Tampa Bay Rays, who want a new waterfront stadium built at the current site of Al Lang Field, are keenly interested in redevelopment of the Tropicana site. The Rays say they can only afford to pay about a third of the cost of the new stadium. The team wants hundreds of millions of dollars from the redevelopment of the government-owned land at the Tropic...
Be the first to commentChanging Florida's Property Tax Structure
01/17/08 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Amendment 1
This afternoon we heard two sides in the debate over Amendment One, which will be on the Jan. 29th ballot.
The amendment, if passed, would increase the homestead exemption, provide up to $500,000 in portability of Save Our Homes tax savings, give a tax break to small businesses and limit annual tax increases on non-homestead property to 10 percent.
We heard reports from WMNF's Sean Kinane and Reif Russell Anderson on debates held this week in Tampa and Largo regarding Amendment One. Th...
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