News & Public Affairs
Castor discusses College Cost Reduction Act
01/14/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: College Cost Reduction & Access Act, Pell Grants, college aid, Dream Act
Last September, President George Bush signed into law the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. This afternoon, U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Manatee counties, explained the act to about 40 students on the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College.
Castor said the new law would raise Pell Grants to about $5,400 over the next five years, the first time in over a decade the amount has been raised. She cal...
Be the first to commentNew GOP poll shows four-way dead heat listen
01/14/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Republican Primary
Early voting began today throughout Florida in advance of the Jan. 29 primary.
Although the Democratic race has lost much of its luster, 57 delegates will be apportioned to the Republican who takes the state.
A new poll out today says any one of four Republicans could win in Florida.
Peter Brown is assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. He said the Poll shows McCain with 22 percent, Guilian at 20, and Romney and Huckabee at 19 percent each.
It’s dramatically dif...
Be the first to commentGuiliani stumps in Bradenton listen
01/14/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Republican Primary, Rudy Giuliani
Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani is holding a Town Hall meeting in Clearwater at this hour. Later, he’ll make an appearance in Lakeland.
It’s one of six campaign stops Guiliani is making in the Sunshine state, part of a 700-mile bus tour that will end tomorrow in Florida.
On Saturday, Guiliani made two appearances on the Gulf Coast. The first was late Saturday afternoon in Bradenton, where an overflow crowd of over 500 people packed into the Senior Enrichment Center.
...
Be the first to commentNew Hampshire Primary
01/12/08 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View Listen to this entire show:
Arnie Arneson, host of Political Chowder, analyzes the New Hampshire Primary, including superb feminist analysis.
Be the first to commentNew candidate for Florida State Song is chosen listen
01/11/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida state song
Florida’s state song, Old Folks at Home, better known as (Way Down Upon the) Suwannee River, contains lyrics that many people consider racist so a campaign to pick a new state song was undertaken. The winning candidate was unveiled today.
The King High School chorus performed one version of the song, Florida - Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky today at the Tampa Convention Center during a meeting of the Florida Music Educators’ Association. The song received the most Internet votes am...
Be the first to commentClass-size amendment may get an overhaul
01/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday
Tags: class size
Class size reduction limits that Florida voters approved in 2002 could be loosened through a new constitutional amendment introduced today by a tax and budget overhaul panel.
The commission's Governmental Service Committee voted 6-1 to introduce the proposed amendment. It will return to committee for more discussion, possible modification and approval before going before the full commission, which could put it on the November ballot.
Former Tampa state Sen. Les Miller cast the only dis...
Be the first to commentHistorian looks at McGovern candidacy listen
01/11/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bruce Miroff, Democratic Party
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is up for grabs until after Feb. 5, when 22 states vote.
A new book looks back at how a loss by another Democratic candidate for President – George McGovern- ended up creating an identity crises for liberals torn between their convictions and the political calculations required to win elections. That's a dilemma that has plagued Democrats for some time.
Bruce Miroff is professor of political science at the State University of New York ...
Be the first to commentMental health advocates meet in Tampa listen
01/10/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: mental health care, jails
There is such widespread incarceration of people with mental illness that jails have become the largest mental health care providers in many communities, according to a report released in November by the Florida Supreme Court.
The report on how the state’s courts and social support systems manage citizens with mental illness recommends that mentally ill patients be moved out of jails and into treatment facilities that are almost always less expensive. An advocacy group for people with ment...
Be the first to commentHyde Park development gets green light listen
01/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hyde Park, development
A controversial rezoning for a nine-story condominium and retail project in Tampa’s Hyde Park District was approved by the City Council today on a 4-2 vote.
The developer, Wasserman Real Estate Capital, plans to build a $100-million upscale complex of retail shops and two condominum towers that will add 163 residencies to the neighborhood, considered one of Tampa’s classiest.
But there has been opposition from local residents and the city’s Architectural Review Commission (ARC), which ...
Be the first to commentCouncilman introduces Green Building ordinance listen
01/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council, green building
Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder formally produced his Green Building ordinance today to the public.
Acknowledging that it’s just a first draft that could use improvements, the Councilman stressed that now is the time for Tampa to begin instituting policies to create a more sustainable community.
Such an ordinance is still a ways away from being enacted. Most of the City Council expressed general support for it, but Councilman Thomas Scott expressed legal concerns.
Dingfelder em...
Be the first to commentSt. Pete moves to crack down on panhandlers listen
01/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: St. Petersburg City Council, panhandling
The St. Petersburg City Council today voted unanimously to create an ordinance that would expand a ban on panhandling in downtown St. Pete.
The boundaries begin west near the Holocaust Museum and east to the Pier, while going north to the Vinoy Hotel. Downtown mainstays like Baywalk are also included.
City Attorney John Wolfe told the Council he was comfortable how the lines have been drawn. Wolfe said the ordinance is being crafted on what Ft. Lauderdale has done, and the boundaries...
Be the first to commentPolitical scientist analyzes Democratic Party fight listen
01/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bruce Miroff
Bruce Miroff is a professor of political science at the State University of New York at Albany. Miroff is also the author of the new book, The Liberals Moment, which looks back at the 1972 candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern.
Miroff echoes a comment made by Hillary Clinton at a debate last year – that whomever becomes the nominee will take a united party against a wounded Republican Party led by George W. Bush.
We’ll speak to Miroff tomorrow about the 1972 can...
Be the first to commentIs Clinton media coverage sexist?
01/09/08 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillary Clinton
The Nation magazine columnist Katha Pollitt was our guest for the first part of today's call-in program. She discussed media coverage of the presidential candidates, including recent coverage of Hillary Clinton's show of emotion.
Was the coverage sexist?
Columnist Pollitt just wrote the piece "Hillary Shows Feeling, Is Slammed," which states: "Hillary Clinton, long criticized as cold, shows a bit of feeling and is attacked as overly emotional. It's the latest installment of the ongoin...
Be the first to commentTampa Obama supporters remain optimistic listen
01/09/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Barack Obama, New Hampshire, primaries
Among the citizens most disappointed by last night’s results from New Hampshire were the Barack Obama supporters who gathered at the Hip Hop Soda Shop in north Tampa.
Dozens of people gathered in the early evening at Fowler Avenue restaurant to watch the election results and celebrate another Obama victory.
But that did not happen. Before the polls closed, however, the feeling of optimism was thick in the air as supporters discussed what they would do next to try to bring the Illinois s...
Be the first to commentN.H. victory buoys Clinton supporters listen
01/09/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida, primaries, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton has consistently led the polls in Florida for the Democratic nomination over the past year. The first Florida poll released since Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa shows the race tightening in the sunshine state.
The Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion Survey conducted for the Southern Political Report shows that Clinton’s double digit lead over Obama has dwindled to 8 points, 40 –32.
Clinton has many supporters in the Tampa Bay area. Former Gubernatorial candidate Bill Mc...
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