News & Public Affairs
Graham, Meek blast Crist for opposing Sotomayor listen
07/22/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Sonia Sotomayor
Former Florida Senator Bob Graham blasted Governor Charlie Crist today as being out of the mainstream in Florida for opposing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Crist announced yesterday he had not met with the Judge, but said her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee convinced him that he "cannot support" her appointment.
Mel Martinez last week became one of the first of what could be many GOP Senators to announce their support for Sotomayor.
But Crist’s opponent in his ...
1 commentsSeeking Justice For James Richardson
07/22/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
In 1967 an Arcadia farm-worker, James Richardson, was accused of poisoning to death his seven children. In an era where white sheriffs and prosecutors were quite powerful, few in the public believed that this African American was telling the truth- that he didn't commit the crime.
Evidence that he was innocent and which pointed to other suspects was suppressed or withheld from the defense. Eventually, after a series of investigative reports carried in the Miami Herald and co-written by Ch...
Be the first to commentTent City in Hillsborough moves closer to reality listen
07/21/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tent City, Pinellas Hope, Hillsborough Cares
A proposal by Catholic Charities to host a tent city for homeless people east of Tampa moved forward today. In a land use meeting, the Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 - against staff recommendations - to consider an exemption to housing and zoning codes.
Catholic Charities has proposed using 12 acres of church-owned land off East Hillsborough Avenue near I-4 for about 250 tents and 6-foot by 8-foot wooden sheds known as casitas. It would be similar to the Pin...
Be the first to commentSarasota official apologetic after payoff is exposed listen
07/21/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
In Sarasota Monday, Police Chief Peter Abbott publicly apologized for a series of events that began after the City attempted to buy off a Latino man, after a video at the country jail surfaced that showed he had been kicked by a Sarasota Policeman.
Juan Perez was taken to the Sarasota County Jail after he was arrested on a charge of disorderly intoxication on Friday, June 26th. Perez speaks very little English. A video depicted Sarasota Police Officer Chris Childers kicking Perez when it ...
Be the first to commentAn Insider's View Of Morocco
07/21/09 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Morocco, Laila Lalami
Good afternoon, Welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up today we'll hear from an award-winning author who writes about the complexity that currently exists in the Middle East- a complexity rarely talked about in the West.
But first some listener comments about last Thursday's program on which we heard from a former public relations executive for the Cigna health insurance corporation- who is now blowing the whistle on the way private health insurance companies operate here in t...
Be the first to commentReport: House bill would insure nearly 3 million Floridians by 2019 listen
07/21/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: health insurance
amilies USA, an advocacy group supporting health care reform, released a report today that says if a new bill becomes law, nearly 3 million uninsured Floridians would have coverage by the year 2019.
The House Bill, known as America’s Affordable Health Choice Act, is currently being looked at by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill has passed through two committees in the House.
The Congressional Budget Office last week said the bill would ultimately insure 37 million people...
Be the first to commentReport: Florida faces tough economic path listen
07/21/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: economy
As the recession continues and the unemployment rate has now risen to its highest level in the Sunshine state since the Ford administration, a new report paints a bleak look at the economic future of the state.
The study comes from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy (FCFEP) in Tallahassee, which conducts independent research on state fiscal issues.
Their report begins by listing some dubious statistics. Such as, that the state’s high school graduation rate and its heal...
Be the first to commentAgreement on Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium delayed listen
07/20/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
The City Commission of Sarasota today refused to sign an interlocal agreement with Sarasota County regarding the transfer of Ed Smith Stadium. That means a possible deal to make the region the spring training home of The Baltimore Orioles is still up in the air.
Sarasota City and County Commissioners have worked for several years on trying to keep the Cincinnati Reds in town. When that didn’t work out, they tried to court the Boston Red Sox, but to no avail.
Now, they’re trying to bring...
Be the first to commentCone Ranch panel defeats proposal to end consideration of land sale to private owners listen
07/20/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Cone Ranch, ELAPP, Adnan Khashoggi
The advisory panel tasked with recommending to the Hillsborough County Commission whether to sell Cone Ranch met for the second time this morning. In a four-to-three vote, the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel narrowly defeated a motion that would have guaranteed that the property north of Plant City would stay in county hands. But that does not mean the panel will accept a proposal to sell the land to private owners.
After only one ful...
Be the first to commentSCLC Florida Chapter breaks with national headquarters listen
07/20/09 Mitch E, PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
A state chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) has broken away from the national organization and started its own civil rights group.
The Florida chapter of the longtime civil rights group announced that it has joined the newly-formed National Christian Leadership Conference. Sevell Brown, the chapter's former president, says he will serve as head of the new group.
The move highlights an ongoing rift between the chapter and the SCLC, which was co-founded by the l...
2 commentsMark Weisenmiller on the career of Walter Cronkite listen
07/20/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Marc Weisenmiller is a reporter based in the Tampa Bay Area, who works for the British-based Economist Magazine. He’s also the author of a biography on newscaster Chet Huntley, who as part of the Huntley-Brinkley report was one of the direct competitors of Walter Cronkite throughout the 1960’s.
In fact, as Weisenmiller discusses, Cronkite and the CBS Evening News did not become the news rating leader until 1970.
Mark Weisenmiller is the author of the book, *Chet Huntley: Newscaster Fro...
Be the first to commentMighael Greger, MD
07/20/09 Carol Roberts, MDRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: nutrition, vegan diet, food additives, food safety
Our guest today on Alternative Health is Michael Greger, MD.
Dr. Greger is the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture for the Humane Society of the United States. He has testified before Congress and was an expert witness in Oprah Winfrey's infamous "meat defamation" trial. He is a graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture and Tufts University School of Medicine.
Visit humanesociety.org/nutrition for more information.
Be the first to commentFrank Brogan selected as State Chancellor listen
07/17/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Board of Governors, education, higher education
The board that oversees the state university system chose its new chancellor this afternoon. Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan was selected by the Board of Governors after a search committee interviewed the two remaining finalists today at the Tampa Airport Marriott.
Several members of the search committee said that Frank Brogan’s experience in Florida’s education and political climate gave him the edge over former Ohio higher education leader, Rod...
Be the first to commentHundreds speak at Hillsborough budget hearing listen
07/17/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Commission
Last night in Tampa, an estimated 700 people crowded into the All People’s Life Center to plead for key programs or personnel that are currently on the chopping block in Hillsborough County.
The County government is staring at a $140 million dollar deficit, and is set to cut at least 500 jobs, and furlough many other employees.
Over 180 people signed up to speak for as long as 3 minutes. Randall Cruise said he didn’t want school and summer programs cut.
Joseph Faulk said his canoe...
Be the first to commentOrigins of the mortgage crisis listen
07/17/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Mortgage crisis
In her new book, "Our Lot", journalist Alyssa Katz goes back to the origins of the mortgage crisis that has wrecked the economy. She describes the real estate bubble as a decades-long product of social and financial engineering by the U.S. Government to make the American dream of home ownership possible for those who had never been able to attain it before.
Both community activists and Wall Street bankers played pivotal roles. Katz writes about 2 prominent such people in her opening chapt...
Be the first to comment
