News & Public Affairs
Beckner reopens benefits debate in Hillsborough County listen
01/21/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Health care benefits, LGBT, Hillsborough County
On Thursday, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner says he’ll bring up the idea of giving health care benefits to the unmarried domestic partners of county employees.
Nadine Smith is executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida. On Tuesday afternoon her group sent out a mass e-mail to supporters urging them to call and email county commissioners in support of Beckner’s idea.
But just by calling for a discussion, Beckner has touched off a backlash of sorts. ...
Be the first to commentCenter for Constitutional Rights on future of Gitmo listen
01/21/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Guantanamo Bay, constitutional rights, detainees
Aides to the new president are preparing an executive order that would begin the process of shutting down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Late last night, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at Guantanamo. They would also review the case of all remaining detainees – nearly 245 of them.
Shayana Kadidal is the managing attorney for the Guatanamo Project for the Center of Constitutional ...
Be the first to commentObama Inauguration watching parties held around town listen
01/20/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Barack Obama, inauguration
At least six inauguration-watching parties occurred throughout the Tampa Bay area today. More than 1,000 enthusiastic supporters watched President Barack Obama deliver his inaugural address on the screen of the Tampa Theatre. Nearly 200 people watched at the Bible Based Fellowship Church in Carrollwood. WMNF’s Seán Kinane has this report.
Before the church aired television coverage of Obama taking the oath of office, a pane...
Be the first to commentListeners comment on Barack Obama's inauguration
01/20/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Barack Obama, inauguration
GOOD AFTERNOON, I'M ROB LOREI WELCOME TO WMNF’S RADIOACTIVITY. ON THIS INAUGURATION DAY. WE’RE GOING TO HEAR FROM SEVERAL LOCAL RESIDENTS WHO ARE IN WASHINGTON FOR THE INAUGURATION. AND LATER WE’LL OPEN THE PHONE LINES.
With 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars lost in the stock market's tumble, newly inaugurated President Barack Obama emphasized that his biggest challenge is to repair the tattered economy left behind by outgoing President George W. Bush.
"Our time ...
1 commentsAuthor looks at changing face of America listen
01/20/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Culture, race, ethnicity
In the words of Atlantic Magazine, the election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of "whiteness" as the touchstone of what it means to be American.
In the current issue, music critic and Vassar Professor Hua Hsu’s cover story entitled “The End of White America?” reflects on a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, that those groups currently categorized as racial minorities - blacks and Latinos, East Asians and South Asians – will ...
Be the first to commentMLK Day in Tampa has special resonance listen
01/20/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Barack Obama
Monday afternoon, the Tampa parade honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day began right in front of the WMNF studios on MLK Jr. Blvd. WMNF was there to capture the flavor of the crowd on a historic holiday coming one day before the inauguration of the first black president of the United States.
Naturally, the link between Dr. King and Barack Obama was ever present, as several people in the audience admitted they never thought they’d see the day a man of color was elected to the highest offi...
Be the first to comment200 attend Bye Bye Bush Bash listen
01/19/09 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: rise up tampa bay, blueberry patch
More than 200 people attended the Bye-Bye Bush Bash! Help Shoe Bush Out of Office event on Jan. 17 at the Blueberry Patch in Gulfport.
RiseUpTampaBay in collaboration with Code Pink, Florida Peace Action Network, St. Pete for Peace, Veterans for Peace and 9/11 Truth planned the celebration of President George Bush’s departure from office. The main organizer of the event was Michael Fox, the state organizer for Progressive Democrats of America and a member of Rise Up Tampa Bay, a coalitio...
Be the first to commentHistorical perspective on the inauguration of Barack Obama
01/17/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Barack Obama, inauguration
Music and spoken word, including poetry, to point to the historic occasion of the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. Doris Kearns Goodwin talked about Abraham Lincoln, the war and his personality.
Be the first to commentRick Warren will deliver invocation at inauguration
01/17/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Barack Obama, inauguration, LGBT, Rick Warren
Adele Stan, well-known columnist and blogger, commonly posts on Huffington Post and American Prospect and writes for Mother Jones and The Nation. She is particularly known for discussing the intersection of religion and politics. We discussed the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.
Be the first to commentAlternative visions of peace
01/17/09 Mary Glenney and Arlene EngelhardtFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Art, entertainment, culture
Edie Daly (Energetic Edie) and Christina Bellamy of AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project or Alternative Visions of Peace) provide a monthly full-weekend workshop for women inmates at Coleman Prison. They talked about the work they do at the prison and the upcoming art show and sale to benefit the project.
The Art Show runs from Jan. 25 through Feb. 5 at Studio 620, 620 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. There will be a Performance Art Celebration and Opening Reception Jan. 25 from 3 to 6 p....
Be the first to commentKathy Castor on inauguration of Barack Obama listen
01/16/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Kathy Castor, Barack Obama
Before she left for Washington, D.C., to be sworn in for her second term in Congress last week, Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor spoke to reporters in south Tampa. Castor was asked if she had a different sense of optimism because there will be someone new in the White House.
“Yes, I’m absolutely thrilled to begin to work with President Barack Obama. And I look forward to January 20th, being on the platform there representing my great community as President Barack Obama is sworn in, looking out...
3 commentsSami Al-Arian to go on trial on contempt charges listen
01/16/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Sami Al-Arian, civil liberties, Race, racism, immigration, ICE, Muslims, USF, human rights, terrorism
A federal judge in Virginia ruled today that Sami Al-Arian should stand trial in March for criminal contempt.
The ruling was a blow to the former USF professor, who was released on bail by Judge Leonie Brinkema back in September after being incarcerated in numerous prisons and jails since his arrest in February 2003 on federal terrorism charges.
Mel Underbakke is with the group Friends of Human Rights. She says she was one of nearly two dozen supporters of Al-Arian from Tampa in the ...
Be the first to commentCouncilman Jamie Bennett is running for St. Pete mayor listen
01/16/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Jaime Bennett, St. Petersburg politics
From the steps of St. Petersburg‘s City Hall, City Councilmember Jamie Bennett today announced he’s running for mayor of St. Petersburg.
Bennett is one of what could many candidates who will vie to replace Rick Baker, who is leaving City Hall this fall because of term limits.
Businessman Deveron Gibbons, real estate investor Scott Wagman, former City Councilman Bill Foster and Minister Sharon Russ have already announced their intent to run.
But today was Bennett’s day to bask in the...
1 commentsPat Kemp and Deborah Cox-Rousch at Tiger Bay listen
01/16/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Deborah Cox-Rousch, Pat Kemp
The newly elected Republican and Democratic Party chairs for Hillsborough County faced off this afternoon in front of the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa.
Deborah Cox-Rousch is the new Republican Party chair and Pat Kemp is her Democratic counterpart.
Deborah Cox-Rousch owns a catering business and told the Tiger Bay audience that there was a simple reason why she decided to run for Republican chair.
“The one thing that really changed my mind was on Fox News ...
Be the first to commentMore problems at Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Office listen
01/16/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, Buddy Johnson, Phyllis Busansky
Hillsborough County election officials said today they have discovered 440 uncounted ballots, more than two months after the official results were submitted to the state for certification.
Craig Latimer is chief of Staff for newly elected Supervisor Phyllis Busansky. He says that the uncounted ballots came from two ballot boxes located at the Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church, and actually could have affected a City Council race there.
The second place candidate – and now Council memb...
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