News & Public Affairs
Without Walls gives food to the needy listen
04/30/09 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Without Wall International Church, feed the needy
Without Walls International Church and Road to Recovery Ministry passed out free boxes of food and provided a hot meal to about 200 needy people in Tampa on April 29.
Church members and volunteers from McDill Air Force and other organizations served food to the underserved citizens.
Sandra Salas who works for an optometrist is also a volunteer Spanish pastor at La Conexion Latina at Without Walls church. She said this event provides hope for the people as it provided hope for her an...
Be the first to commentProposal to eliminate public financing could go to voters listen
04/30/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, campaign finance reform
The Florida Senate passed a proposal backed by Melborne Republican Mike Haridopoulus today that will allow Floridians to vote on the scrapping public financing of statewide political campaigns who agree to spending limits.
Even Ben Wilcox’ Common Cause, which supports public financing of elections, has said that the law deserves to be revamped, which was originally approved by Floridians at the ballot box in 1998.
But some Democrats said what Haridopoulus wants is too much. Weston Se...
Be the first to commentFlorida Senate passes watered down energy bill listen
04/30/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, renewable energy
A bill that would require renewable energy use by utilities was passed out of the Florida Senate, but its future remains very much in the doubt in the House.
SB 1154 would require 15 percent of energy by 2020 to come from "clean energy" sources including nuclear and solar.
That’s a reduction of the original hope of Gov. Charlie Crist to have 20 percent of Florida’s energy coming from renewables by the year 2020.
Miami Beach Democrat Dan Gelber supported the bill, but acknowledged ...
Be the first to commentPaddling to Save Oceans listen
04/30/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Margo Pellegrino is paddling an outrigger canoe from the Atlantic Coast of Florida to New Orleans in order to draw attention to the plight of the oceans.
Yesterday she paddled from Sarasota to Madeira Beach and took time out from her trip to speak to the media at Tampa Aquarium this morning.
Pellegrino set out by paddling south along the Atlantic coast on April 15th from the Harbor Branch Oceanic Institute in Ft. Pierce. Pellegrino i...
Be the first to commentAll eyes on Crist as he weighs his future listen
04/30/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Charlie Crist
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to announce his political future plans within the next week or so.
The popular governor would be a prohibitive favorite if he opts for re-election next year, but he has left open the possibility that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat next year being vacated by Mel Martinez.
Preparing for Crist to declare he’s running for the Senate, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has struck first, with an ad now running in South Florida.
Crist ...
Be the first to commentLink between factory farming and swine flu outbreak
04/30/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: factory farms, pregnant pig amendment
According to the Associated Press, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of swine flu cases in the United States has topped 100, with confirmed infections in 11 states.
The CDC's count for the first time Thursday adds South Carolina, with 10 confirmed cases. The CDC update said there have been 109 cases including 50 in New York, 26 in Texas and 14 in California.
The Florida Department of Health issued a press release earlier today saying: "Currently the...
Be the first to commentNurses organize for better patient care and working conditions
04/30/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: NURSES, patient care, single-payer health care, nurse-patient ratios
Good afternoon, welcome to Radioactivity. On the first part of today's program we'll meet several local nurses who say staffing issues are affecting health care here in Florida and across the U.S. Later, we'll look at how factory farming methods might have caused the swine flu outbreak.
Tanya Runfola and Libby Devlin are with the National Nurses Organizing Committee, a group that advocates on behalf of nurses and patents, favors health care reform and was founded by the California Nurses...
Be the first to commentBill aims to restore rights of ex-felons listen
04/30/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, felon's rights, voting rights
The Florida Senate today moved a bill that would remove barriers to employment for persons with past felony convictions whose civil rights have not been restored. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Fredericka Wilson.
Two years ago, Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order that was to have automatically restored the civil rights of over 100,000 ex-felons in the state.
But the ACLU has shows that the current civil rights restoration process lacks clarity and uniformity, and is excessively ...
Be the first to commentCelebrating the Green Thumb Festival listen
04/29/09 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Green Thumb Festival, environment
The 23rd Green Thumb Festival free Earth Day and Arbor Day celebration was held in Walter Fuller Park on April 25 and 26. In its 23 year, the free family festival featured 140 exhibitors and vendors, including plant diagnostic clinic, horticultural and environmental exhibits, programs and seminars highlighting ways to landscape effectively, conserve natural resources, recycle and improve the environment.
Children's events on the stage and at the Community Center included: Hands on Planet ...
Be the first to commentUhurus offer reward to police who break code of silence and report crimes of fellow officers listen
04/29/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Last week, St. Petersburg Police announced a “gun bounty” program offering a $1,500 reward to anyone who provides information leading to an arrest and weapons charge plus the recovery of an assault weapon.
This morning, in front of police headquarters, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement announced their own $1,500 bounty program. The Uhurus are encouraging police officers to come clean with what they know about crimes committed by their fellow of...
Be the first to commentBarack Obama's first 100 days
04/29/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: campaign promises, Barack Obam politifact.com, tax breaks, Iraq
Good afternoon, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up: an assessment of the first 100 days of President Barack Obama. But first, a lot of listener comments about yesterday's program and the controversy over plans to issue religiously themed Florida license plates.
Today marks the first 100 days of Obama's term in office. What has he accomplished and what has he not done? Politifact.com, a project of the St. Petersburg Times is tracking more than 500 campaign promises made b...
Be the first to commentGreen Cities Conference to take place next month listen
04/29/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Environment, green cities
On May 21 and 22, the Green Cities conference will take place in Orlando. Members from the state’s business, government and community leaders will take part in discussing sustainable practices and designs.
Among those who will be at the event is Tim Center, director of Sustainable Florida with the Collins Center for Public Policy. We spoke to him today about the Green Cities Conference.
1 commentsAIF's Barney Bishop on offshore drilling bill listen
04/29/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday
Tags: Politics, offshore oil drilling
A plan to open the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling appears dead in the state Legislature. The issue arrived seemingly out of nowhere just a little over a week ago in the state session, and would allow the four elected statewide Cabinet members to have final authority to approve the leasing of state lands between three and 10 miles offshore for oil drilling.
The legislation was strongly supported by Barney Bishop, president of the Associated Industries of Florida. WMNF spoke with Bishop toda...
Be the first to commentHouse members critical of DCA Secretary listen
04/29/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, growth management, development
Despite criticism from the state’s top planning official, the Florida House this morning went ahead to pass a controversial growth management law today.
Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham said yesterday that House amendments to a Senate-passed bill (SB 360) he once supported would undermine growth management laws.
That led Key West Democrat Ron Saunders to tell the bill’s sponsor in the house, Daytona Beach Shores Republican Dorothy Hukill, that the body should respec...
Be the first to commentState university tuition increase going to Governor Crist's desk listen
04/29/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Education, economy, Legislature
A bill designed to eventually raise tuition at Florida's public universities to the national average is going to Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist supports the legislation that received final passage today in the House.
Democrat Marty Kiar was one of the relatively few in either state body against the bill.
Florida's tuition now ranks at or near the bottom nationally. It’s numbers like that prompted St. Petersburg Democrat Bill Heller to support the bill.
The bill would give each of th...
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