News & Public Affairs

MoveOn postpones clean energy rally listen

08/19/08 Seán Kinane
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Across the country today, the political activist group MoveOn held 150 rallies for clean energy. The planned rallies in the Tampa Bay area were cancelled because of Tropical Storm Fay, but WMNF spoke with Joe Illingworth, a Pinellas coordinator for MoveOn. Illingworth said the country wants clean energy rather than Sen. John McCain’s energy policy of continued oil dependence.

“…We think the problem we’re in now is because we’ve been relying on fossil fuels and fossil thinking instead of be...

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Crist's state health plan criticized listen

08/19/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Cover Florida, Charlie Crist, health insurance

About one-quarter of Florida adults younger than 65 do not have health insurance. Earlier this year, Gov. Charlie Crist initiated a program he hopes will bring affordable insurance to some of the state's 3.7 million uninsured residents.

The bare-bones health policy will cost up to $150 per month, and will have high deductibles and low limits on coverage. Critics say the program, called Cover Florida, will not help enough people.

Sterling Ivey, a spokesperson for Crist, defended the pr...

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Straight talk on legal and illegal drugs

08/19/08 Robert Lorei
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Tags: marijuana, ecstasy, 'Alchoholcaffeine

Good Afternoon, welcome to WMNF's Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up today, some straight talk about legal and illegal drugs. We’ll hear from a professor of pharmacology at Duke University who says people need access to un-biased information about drugs.

But first, two listener comments: one about Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now program and the other about the interview last week with Jack Cole, a retired law enforcement officer who thinks drugs should be legalized.

According to the *N...

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Redner proud he blocked Layne in 2004 listen

08/19/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Joe Redner, Denise Layne, Hillsborough County District 6

Election day is next Tuesday in Florida. Other than judges, there aren’t that many sexy races on the ballot.

In Hillsborough, the most interesting race is the Democratic County Commission race in District 6. It features three high-caliber candidates. Kevin Beckner is a 37-year-old financial planner who has been campaigning hard for over a year. He faces off against environmentalist and former Republican Denise Layne, and perennial candidate Joe Redner.

On Sunday, Layne told the *St. P...

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Dawson running hard for Legislature listen

08/19/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Warren Dawson, Betty Reed, District 59, Florida Legislature

It’s just a week away from Florida’s Aug. 26 primary and the campaign is in full gear.

On Saturday around noon, Tampa citizen Joe Brown was trying to persuade a motorist pulling up at the corner of Osborne and East 22nd Street in East Tampa to vote for House candidate Warren Dawson. The heat and humidity were stifling, but Brown says he believes in his friend.

Brown and another friend were helping out Dawson, a Democrat running against incumbent Betty Reed. Dawson himself was engaging ...

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Bus service takes different approach to Fay listen

08/19/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Tropical Storm Fay, hurricane preparedness

As it became obvious that Tropical Storm Fay would not have a huge impact on the Tampa Bay Area this morning, some government agencies were more nimble than others in adapting.

Yesterday, HART, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit agency, announced that it was canceling its regular bus service today. But around 9:30 this morning, the agency announced that a limited regular bus service would resume at 11 a.m.

HART’s announcement came after the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Agency (PSTA) is...

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Forclosure workshop held in St. Petersburg listen

08/18/08 Jamie Kidder
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Tags: Development, Foreclosure, Rick Baker, St. Petersburg City Council

Last Friday, hundreds of local residents showed up to the second Forclosure Assistance Workshop in St. Petersburg held by Kathy Castor and the St. Petersburg City Council.

As the state with the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, Florida is feeling the pinch of the current economic crisis.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor represents Florida's 11th District. She held a foreclosure workshop last month in Tampa, with over 600 families in attendance. One of the greatest benefits to t...

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Tampa Bay Water gives water update listen

08/18/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Tampa Bay Water, water, Tropical Storm Fay, hurricanes

This morning the agency that supplies drinking water to the nearly three million residents of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties met in Clearwater. The Board of Tampa Bay Water considered new sources for the region’s long-term water supply, the status of the current drought and damage to the region’s largest reservoir.

In June 2005, a 15-billion gallon drinking-water reservoir opened in Hillsborough County. But major cracks in the wall were discovered before the end of 2006. Tampa...

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Alex Sink on hurricane preparation listen

08/18/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Hurricanes, hurricane protection, insurance

In addition to Floridians taking safety preparations for the storm, it is also important to have up-to-date insurance informatione.

Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, spoke to WMNF this afternoon about what Floridians need to do to keep their financial business in order.

Her website is myfloridacfo.com.

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Hillsborough supervisor of elections rejects criticism listen

08/18/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, Buddy Johnson Phyllis Busansky

Voters in Hillsborough County have received Voting Guides from the Supervisor of Elections Office over the past few weeks, in anticipation of next week’s primary. But there’s criticism for that seemingly uncontroversial mail piece. That’s because in the left-hand corner of the front page of the mailer, a symbol says: “It’s up to you to vote” and next to the word vote is Buddy Johnson’s name.

Over the weekend, the St. Petersburg Times reported that two county vans have been painted with r...

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Democrats vie in Florida's 5th District listen

08/18/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Ginny Brown-Waite, John Russell, Carol Castagnero, David Werder

Three Democrats are running for the chance to face Republican
Ginny Brown-Waite in November in Florida’s 5th Congressional District. The District includes parts of eight counties, including Hernando and Pasco.

John Russell is perhaps the best known candidate in the race. It’s his third consecutive campaign. At a forum in Tampa yesterday, WMNF asked if he’s a better candidate the third time around.

One of Russell’s opponents is 69-year-old retired schoolteacher Carol Castagnero. She’s...

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Pinochet film, "The Judge and the General"

08/16/08 Mary Glenney
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Tags: Augusto Pinochet, Chile

Elizabeth Farnsworth, director/producer of a film about Augusto Pinochet's Chile and the courageous jurist who brought Pinochet to trial for serious abuses against the Chilean people. The film particularly emphasized the role of women in his life.

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Traveling on the Amazon

08/16/08 Mary Glenney and Arlene Engelhardt
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Tags: Travel, South America, Amazon

Jan Setzekorn and Sadia Ahmed talked about their travels on the Amazon and about the rights of indigenous peoples in South America.

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Uhurus urge independent review of Dawson shooting listen

08/15/08 Arielle Stevenson
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Tags: Javon Dawson, police violence, Uhurus, African American, St. Petersburg Police

Today, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement held a press conference in St. Petersburg, three days after State Attorney Bernie McCabe’s report on the shooting of Javon Dawson was released.

The report cleared Officer Terence Nemeth of any wrongdoing the in death of Javon Dawson. Since the report on the incident was released, Gov. Charlie Crist has called for a review of McCabe’s report after members of the group Justice for Javon Dawson marched in Tallahassee and got 1,700 s...

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Environmentalist: Nuclear power won't cut greenhouse gases listen

08/15/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: nuclear power, renewable energy, global warming, climate change

Not everyone agrees that increasing the number of nuclear power plants is a good way to cut down on greenhouse gasses.

Steven Smith is executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. WMNF asked Smith whether nuclear energy is a good solution to solve the problem of climate change.

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