News & Public Affairs
Times Editor on the Future of Newspapers
02/12/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: newspapers, Nelson Poynter, local ownership, Tampa Tribune, Paul Tash, layoffs, future of journalism, internet
The St. Petersburg Times this year is celebrating its 125th anniversary, at a time when the future of newspapers is uncertain. We’ll talk with Neil Brown, the executive editor at the St. Petersburg Times in a moment.
But first- one listener comment about yesterday’s interview with Michael Scheuer, the veteran CIA officer who’s written a book called MARCHING TOWARD HELL- about the missteps the US has made in its war against Islamic militants.
Newspapers are facing tough times: reader...
1 commentsActivist touts "passenger bill of rights"
02/12/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: air travel
The Federal Aviation Authority announced earlier this week that on-time arrival performance last year was the 10th best in the past 14 years with comparable numbers.
However, they’ve only been keeping track for the past 14 years.
Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time record, followed closely by Southwest.
Ground delays continue to be a problem. An incident that grounded an American Airlines plane on the tarmac in Austin, Texas without food or water for 9 hours in late 2006 led citi...
Be the first to commentWhat will America look like in 2025? listen
02/12/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Univeristy of Tampa
What might the United States and the rest of the world look like in 16 years? Students, professors, and members of the public pondered that question this morning at the University of Tampa.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS is a Washington think-tank that, according to its website, “conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.” The director of the [Global S...
Be the first to commentCity Council argues over access to advisory boards listen
02/12/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council
A discussion on whether Tampa City Council members can attend advisory board meetings grew contentious this morning at City Hall.
Those advisory boards, known as Community Advisory Councils (CACs), are located in various neighborhoods in town, in places like East Tampa and Drew Park.
Sal Territo, an attorney with the city of Tampa, has been working on various draft proposals on new rules in recent months.
The new draft received an immediate rebuke from Councilman John Dingfelder, who...
Be the first to commentHillsborough Commissioners discuss dismal budget scenario listen
02/11/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Commission, economy, budget
Hillsborough County Commissioners began the first of many public workshops they will conduct on their fiscal year ’09 budget today – and the news was sobering.
Kevin Brickey, an economist with the county, said with the housing market continuing to deteriorate, economic forecasts are more difficult than ever before. And he listed statistics on dropping home prices in the area and the state from a variety of sources.
But existing sale have actually gone up in recent months, due to the roc...
Be the first to commentHuge difference in stimulus bills would hurt Florida schools listen
02/11/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, education, economic stimulus package, politics
According to the website ProPublica, Florida's public school districts would miss out on nearly $650 million in construction money, if the final stimulus bill resembles the Senate’s version more than the House version.
Hillsborough County schools would lose nearly $49 million, Pinellas more than $28 million, Pasco more than $12 million, and Sarasota more than $5 million.
Randall Moody is the chief lobbyist for the National Education Association based in Washington. He says the Collins-...
Be the first to commentCIA vet Michael Scheuer says Afghan war is already lost
02/11/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Afhanistan, NATO, Clinton, Bush, bin-Laden, Al Quaeda, Michael Scheuer, heroin, narco-state, Hamid Karzai, AIPAC, Israel, surge, Iraq, Iran
Good afternoon, welcome to WMNF 's Radioactivity, I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up today we’ll talk about the war in Afghanistan with Michael Scheuer, author of the book Marching Toward Hell.
But first some listener comments about the last few 1 p.m. programs. We’ll hear comments about the state’s budget problems, a possible new source of renewable energy, electioneering by a local public officials, the proposed landfill in East Pasco County, and the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo....
Be the first to commentKathy Castor named to House ethics panel listen
02/11/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Charles Rangel, Kathy Castor
Yesterday, the House Ethics Committee voted to reauthorize a subcommittee of three Democrats and three Republicans to investigate New York Democrat Charles Rangel.
The Committee is looking at Rangel’s failure to pay taxes on rental income from a house he owns in the Dominican Republic, and his use of four rent stabilized apartments in New York City.
They’re also looking at letters he wrote on Congressional stationery looking to find donors for a center named after him at City College o...
Be the first to commentTampa marks Roe v. Wade ruling
02/10/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Roe v. Wade, abortion rights
The 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade was observed today in downtown Tampa.
Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida presented Shelby Knox, a 22-yearold University of Texas graduate, under the theme “A Choice Affair: Sex, Lies and Education.”
Knox was the subject of an award winning documentary in 2005, regarding her battle as a teenager in Texas fighting abstinence only sex education.
We will air more from this speech later this week on...
Be the first to commentGovernment, business talk transportation, economy listen
02/10/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County, Tampa City Council, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce
This afternoon, Hillsborough County Commissioners, members of the Tampa City Council, and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce held their joint quarterly meeting to share ideas about issues such as transportation and the economy.
Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean warned the group that she received “depressing” news about property values Tuesday morning when sh...
Be the first to commentNew Interior Secretary rejects plan for offshore oil, gas drilling listen
02/10/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Offshore Drilling, Oil, Barack Obama, Bush administration
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has rejected a Bush administration plan to open vast waters off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to oil and gas drilling.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, the former Colorado senator blasted the process with which the previous administration went about making such a decision.
Salazar said that despite the enormous sweep of the proposal to open up as many as 300-million acres to oil and gas leasing, the Bush administration’s notice called for the ...
Be the first to commentACLU lawyer talks about torture, Guantanamo
02/10/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: ACLU, torture, Patriot Act, domestic spying
The Greater Tampa Chapter of the ACLU will hold its annual meeting tonight at the John Germany Library in downtown Tampa at 6:30 p.m. Their speaker will be Wes Macleod-Ball, the ACLU's Chief Legislative Counsel in the Washington Legislative Office and he joins us now on WMNF.
The ACLU put together a really thick book of recommendations for the Obama Transition Team and have participated in more than 100 meetings with members of the team. Wes has been an ACLU executive director in Alaska,...
Be the first to commentControversy over proposed landfill in Pasco County
02/10/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: landfill, Green Swamp, Hillsborough River, Withlacootchee River, leachate
Thursday is the day environmental activists think the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will reveal whether or not it will issue a permit regarding the proposed Angelo's Aggregate Materials Class 1 Landfill near the Green Swamp in eastern Pasco County.
Temple Terrace, Tampa, Dade City, and Zephyrhills have joined a wide cross-section of environmental interests in opposing this bad idea. Environmentalists are concerned about the potential impact on groundwater resources, the r...
Be the first to commentObama touts stimulus plan while in Fort Myers listen
02/10/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Barack Obama, economy, enconomic stimulus, Wall Street bailout, recovery plan
President Barack Obama appeared in Fort Myers today for his second Town Hall Meeting regarding his economic stimulus plan in two days.
About an hour into the President’s Town Hall Meeting, he learned that his stimulus bill had passed the Senate, 61-37. Three Republican senators were able to get him over the 60 votes needed for passage. The bill now will go into conference between House and Senate leaders.
The fact that only three Republicans out of the entire 535 members of Congress bac...
Be the first to commentGreen energy entrepreneur says those jobs do pay well listen
02/10/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Green jobs, economy, wind power, solar power
John Cheney is vice president of Sales and Business Development for MMA Renewable Ventures. The group calls itself the largest financier of solar photovoltaic installations in the U.S., with interests in biomass and wind.
Last week, WMNF spoke to Cheney about what he knew about the component of green jobs in the economic stimulus bill being debate in Congress.
Cheney discussed a report that was released last week by a coalition of labor and environmental groups that said most green jo...
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