News & Public Affairs
How will St. Pete budget crisis affect services and employees?
05/27/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: unions, St. petersburg, sanitation, city services, wages, benefits
Good afternoon, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. This fall St. Petersburg residents will elect a new mayor. The campaign is under way and most of the discusion seems to be centered on the future of the major league ballpark and what to do about structural problems at the Pier.
But some city workers want to ask the candidates about the city's budget problems and how will they deal with possible layoffs and cuts in city services.
Our guests are two union activists who represent ...
Be the first to commentActivists protest California ruling banning same-sex marriage listen
05/27/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: LGBT, same-sex marriage
Six hours after the California Supreme Court refused to overturn Proposition 8, which bans same sex marriage in the Golden State, approximately 50 people gathered at Joe Chillura Square in downtown Tampa to protest the legal decision.
Activists said the theme of the evening was a call to action.
Karen Doering is a board member with Organizations United Together (OUT). She called the California Supreme Court ruling, "unthinkable."
Doering said it was time for the LGBT community and th...
1 commentsFriendship Bridge Report Meeting listen
05/26/09 Amy BeemanWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Friendship Bridge, recreation
Hillsborough and Pinellas County’s Public Works departments met today in Tampa with the Friendship Trail Oversight Committee to hear the report about the options for saving the Friendship Trail Bridge.
Structural investigations of the Friendship Trailbridge last year, also known as the Old Gandy Bridge, led to its closing in December due to public safety concerns. Now, committees, engineers, and community leaders from both sides of the bay are working together to find a way to save the st...
Be the first to commentHillsborough Schools settle on secular academic calendar listen
05/26/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County School Board, school calendar
Last week, the Hillsborough County School Board approved an academic calendar that keeps Good Friday as a normal school day. Some community members wanted the religious day to be a school holiday.
In 2005, the Hillsborough School Board caused a stir by eliminating all religious holidays -- except Christmas, which falls during winter break -- from its academic calendar. Last week the board voted 6-1 to continue a non-religious calendar for at least two years, according to Chair Carol Kurde...
Be the first to commentStetson professor reacts to Sotomayor nomination listen
05/26/09 MitchE. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Luz Nagle is a professor at the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. She is also a former judge in her native Columbia. WMNF asked her today her opinion about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
Be the first to commentTampa activists to protest California Court ruling on gay marriage listen
05/26/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
R. Zeke Fread Day is coordinator and the organizer of Decision Florida, a group that will be holding a demonstration at 7 tonight against the California Court’s ruling.
The group will demonstrate against the ruling in California to maintain the ban on same-sex marriages. The protest will be held at Joe Chillura Square in Tampa.
In St. Petersburg, there will be a protest in front of Club Nautico at the intersection of 66th Street and 49th Avenue North at 6:30 p.m., weather permitting.
Be the first to commentReaction to Sotomayor selection for high court listen
05/26/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama
Although President Barack Obama’s choice of Sonia Sotomayor seems to be energizing his base and antagonizing his opponents, some liberals have mixed reactions to the selection.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the author of the new book, The Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent.
Many liberals have grown increasingly concerned about Obama’s talk of "indefinite detention" in...
Be the first to commentWhy is single payer being left out of health reform debate?
05/26/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Health care, politics, reform
For the next two months politicians in Washington will be debating whether and how to reform the nation’s health care system. The United States is the only leading industrialized nation without a national health care system.
In this country, some 45 million Americans are without health insurance on any given day. And without health insurance, people are forced to get treatment in emergency rooms at a much higher cost to themselves and society. The U.S. has a lower life expectancy rate and...
Be the first to commentChildren's Home staff talks about need for foster care parents
05/26/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: child abuse, parenting classes
Good afternoon. Welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up: we’ll talk about foster care with two representatives of the Children’s Home. And later we’ll hear a discussion about why single payer is being kept out of the debate on health care in Congress.
But first some listener comments about last Thursday’s program which included an interview with a St. Petersburg woman who is on a peace mission to the Gaza Strip being sponsored by Code Pink. We also had a discussion about torture...
Be the first to commentMcManus on Dockery's possible entry into the governor's race listen
05/26/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, Legislature, governor's race, Paula Dockery, Charllie Crist, Jim Greer, Charles Bronson
The St. Petersburg Times reported today that Lakeland Rep. Paula Dockery is considering a run for the Republican nomination for governor next year.
In a press release, Dockery says that her future intentions have been on running for the District 12 Congressional seat that is open with Adam Putnam stepping down to run for Agriculture Commissioner.
But she writes, “I have been surprised and flattered by numerous e-mails, phone calls and letters encouraging me to run. It's become very ap...
Be the first to commentGreenpeace slams climate change bill in House listen
05/26/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Energy, climate, Greenpeace
Last week, California Democratic Representative Henry Waxman was able, despite strong Republican opposition, to get an energy and climate bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee that he chairs.
Instead of elation by environmental groups being pleased to see this bill get through the first of several committees in the House, there is a lot of disappointment.
Kert Davies is research director for Greenpeace USA, based in Washington. Last week, the group said on its website th...
Be the first to commentCyclists on statewide trek stop in Tampa listen
05/25/09 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rita Hattab, Gear Up Florida
Twenty-four bicyclists toured Florida to raise funds for non-profit centers for people with disabilities between May 16 and May 30. The cyclists visited MacDonald Training Center in Tampa on May 21.
The center is one of the leading non-profit serving 600 adults with developmental disabilities to live empowered lives for over 50 years in Tampa Bay.
With the contribution of Gear Up Florida, the training center will purchase touch screens for the computers.
“Every year these fine yo...
Be the first to commentThe Burns Sisters headline at Florida Folk Festival
05/23/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Entertainment, Burns Sisters
We caught up with two of the ever delightful Burns Sisters, Marie and Jeannie, and talked about their first appearance at the Florida Folk Festival. They also brought us up to date with their lives and their activism.
For more information, visit Burnssisters.com.
Be the first to commentThe Supremes reign supreme – and rain on Women’s Parade
05/23/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Women's issues
Did you catch Monday’s Supreme Court Decision with AT&T and Hulsteen? Sharyn Tejadi, National Partnership for Women and Families discusses that decision and the discrimination against women in the workplace – pregnant or not.
Since this decision relates so much to the Ledbetter decision of last year, she discusses pay discrimination against women in general, some of the measures in congress trying to correct some of the problems, and the need to get some progressive judges on the Supreme...
Be the first to commentMemorial Day/Florida Folk Festival musings
05/23/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Whether you are at White Springs or here in Tampa Bay, keep your umbrellas – and probably your canoes – ready! Features women from the Florida Folk Festival. Included Zora Neal Hurston and many women musicians from the Florida archives.
Be the first to comment
