News & Public Affairs
Drought Summit held in Tampa listen
05/05/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Drought, water, water shortage
When the Southwest Florida Water Management District (Swiftmud) adopted modified Phase III water restrictions in December, it required Tampa Bay Water to hold a drought summit “to explore additional conservation options.” The Regional Water Shortage Management Workshop was held this morning at the Tampa Convention Center.
Tampa Bay Water is the region’s wholesale distributor to water utilities in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. It brought toget...
Be the first to commentPinellas approves land use change at nature preserve listen
05/05/09 Amy BeemanWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Brooker Creek Nature Preserve
The Pinellas County Commission met this morning in Clearwater to vote on the controversial amendments that would allow utility companies to use a portion of Brooker Creek Preserve for its water supply facilities.
The Pinellas County Commission passed four amendments today, allowing Pinellas County Utilities and Tampa Bay Water to use a portion of the 8,300 acres that make up Brooker Creek Preserve, the largest nature preserve in Pinellas County. Overlays were established, setting boundarie...
Be the first to commentAdvocates discuss reducing teen pregnancy rates listen
05/05/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Teen pregnancy, sex education, abstinence, contraception
Teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. decreased for 14 straight years until a year ago, and today advocates discussed the situation on a national conference call.
The call was sponsored by RH Reality Check, an online publication that addresses reproductive and sexual health and rights in the U.S. and around the world.
Bill Albert, the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, gave a number of reasons why he believes teen pregnancy has now incre...
Be the first to commentWho are the biggest water users In West Central Florida?
05/05/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: water, conservation, phosphate, agricultural, cement plants
Good afternoon,
Welcome to Radioactivity… I’m Rob Lorei… Coming up, we’ll talk with a Tampa Tribune reporter who’s written about the biggest water users in southwest Florida. They are not homeowners—but some of the biggest industries in Florida.
But first. some listener comments about last Thursday’s show on which we talked about the ties between factory farming and the outbreak of swine flu.
Recently local news reports have told about individual wealthy homeowners who use more th...
Be the first to commentMarco Rubio officially running for Senate seat listen
05/05/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Politics, U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist, Mel Martinez
Former House Speaker Marco Rubio became the first major Republican candidate to declare announce his intention to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated next year by Mel Martinez.
Rubio made his announcement via video on his website. Rubio said his campaign would not be negative, but for promoting ideas like tax reform, and not just tax cuts. And he alluded to the expectant entrance in the race of the most popular politician in the state, Gov. Charlie Crist.
Aubrey Jewett is a prof...
Be the first to commentIorio addresses Hillsborough MPO on transit plan listen
05/05/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Transportation, Hart, light rail, commuter rail, buses, mass transit
The question of how to sell a light rail system to Hillsborough County voters next year was discussed at the County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting this morning.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who has been the leading figure in raising the possibility of light rail finally coming to the region, was given the floor.
Iorio referred to the last serious plan for rail in Hillsborough County a decade ago. She said the biggest since her tenure as a County Commission in the 1980s was that...
Be the first to commentSink criticizes AG for TV ad listen
05/04/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Earlier this year, Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum produced a television ad about cyber crime. But McCollum was criticized because the ad was produced by the same company that worked on his 2006 campaign and there was no bidding process. Chris Mottola Consulting was paid about $136,000 for its work on the ad.
This afternoon, WMNF asked Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Alex Sink, about the ad produced by McCollum.
“As your Chief Financial Officer, I have always been an advoca...
Be the first to commentSink announces consolidation of call centers will save $2.2 million per year listen
05/04/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
The Florida Department of Financial Services’ consolidated call center in Largo is one of only two such call centers remaining in the state. Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink says the consolidation will save taxpayers 2.2 million dollars every year.
Sink was at the Largo call center Monday afternoon for a ceremonial ribbon cutting and a press conference. She says the savings from consolidating to only two call centers -- in Tallahassee and Largo -- will come in part from reduced ...
Be the first to commentFlu makes its way to Tampa Bay listen
05/04/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Swine flu, H1N1 virus, education, Hillsborough County, Pinellas County
Pinellas County today confirmed its first swine flu victim. County Health officials say a 24-year-old male who recently traveled to Mexico is now resting at home. They say his case did not require hospitalization.
Yesterday Hillsborough County officials announced that at least five suspected cases have also been sent to the Centers for Disease Control for further scrutiny, and three schools have been closed as a precaution.
Hillsborough Health Department Director Dr. Doug Holt said th...
Be the first to commentSink wants Legislature to work in Sunshine listen
05/04/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
An editorial in Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times calls for an amendment to Florida’s constitution that would require state Legislators to operate under the same sunshine laws that local government must. The editorial notes that in recent closed-door budget meetings “legislative leaders privately decided how much to spend in general areas such as social services and education.” This is even after the budget process was strongly quest...
Be the first to commentTarpon Springs environmentalist Mary Mosley dies listen
05/04/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Obituary, Mary Mosley, environmental activist
Last Friday Tarpon Springs environmentalist Mary Mosley died at the age of 70.
Ms. Mosley served as a Commissioner in Tarpon Springs in 1983 and 1984, but her greatest legacy is probably her efforts at taking on Stauffer Chemical, a phosphate processing plant.
Heidi Miller is a Tarpon Springs citizen and a friend of Mary Mosley for more than two decades.
Ms. Mosley also fought to protect dolphins. She was with the Coalition Against the United States Exporting Dolphins, and her fri...
Be the first to commentActivists demonstrate for medicinal marijuana initiative listen
05/04/09 Mitch E. PerryAlan Watts
Tags: Medical marijuana, politics
On Saturday. a half dozen supporters of legalizing marijuana demonstrated in front of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s local office in Tampa.
The protest has been an annual event, but this year there’s some momentum for activists- an attempt to get a measure on the 2010 ballot that would allow for medicinal marijuana.
In February, Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs that are established legally un...
Be the first to commentCentCom official: Pakistan is Pentagon's biggest concern listen
05/04/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Foreign policy, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
This week the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan will be coming to the White House to discuss the increasingly tenuous security situation in their countries.
According to one U.S. Central Command leader who spoke in Tampa on Saturday, the Taliban’s gains in Pakistan are now the number one concern of the Pentagon.
Rear Admiral Mike Franken, U.S. Navy Deputy Director of Strategy Plans & Policy for Central Command, spoke over the weekend at the Westshore Marriott Hotel, at a Toastsmasters...
Be the first to comment'Take Back the Night' on Mother's Day
05/02/09 Mary Glenney and Arlene EngelhardtFrom A Woman's Point of View
Tags: Domestic violence, Take Back the Night
Patty Sanphy of the Women’s Blues Review and representatives from Domestic Violence Agencies will present the annual “Take Back the Night” benefit from 5-9 p.m. Sunday at Skipper's Smokehouse. The fundraiser is for several local domestic violence agencies: CASA in St. Petersburg, The Haven in Clearwater, The Spring in Tampa, Sunrise of East Pasco and the Salvation Army DV Program of West Pasco.
Tuesday Dyer, development director of CASA, Chris Warwick, director of The Haven, and Joanne ...
Be the first to commentAmerica does not torture, does it?
05/02/09 Mary GlenneyFrom A Woman's Point of View
Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild and professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law lectures throughout the world on human rights and U.S. foreign policy. She testified before Congress about Guantanamo Bay and interrogation rules. She talked about the recently released “torture memos” and their implications for Americans today, the importance of holding those responsible accountable for their decisions and actions. For more information, visit [MarjorieCohn.com](http://w...
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