News & Public Affairs
HART Board approves tentative light rail plan listen
10/18/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, Kevin Beckner, penny transit tax, Hillsborough County, CSX
Hillsborough County may be getting light rail. Today officials presented findings from a fifteen month transportation study, and transit board members, though skeptical of the fine details, approved of the recommendations.
More than a year in the making, the pages of the alternatives analysis contain a clue to how life in Hillsborough County may change in the coming decades. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority head planner Mary Shavalier says it irons out numerous factors involved...
Be the first to commentElectric Vehicles
10/18/10 Jon ButtsRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
Our guest on the Sustainable Living Program today researches and writes about Electric Vehicles (EVs), hybrid, and Plug-in-Hybrid cars. Bradley Berman just had two articles published in the latest Home Power Magazine. It looks like Nissan and Chevrolet will be rolling out their new Electric Cars before the end of this year, with almost all the other car makers to follow. These seem to be a little pricey, but there are several federal, state, and local incentives--depending on where you are....
Be the first to commentMarch For Forgotten Children listen
10/18/10 Lachelle RoddyWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Guardian ad Litem, foster care
Tampa's first March For Forgotten Children was held at the Curtis Hixon Park on Saturday. WMNF’s Lachelle Roddy reports, the Guardian ad Litem program and The Voices for Children sponsored this event to draw attention to the needs of foster children.
The Guardian ad Litem Program caters to the 800 foster care children in Hillsborough county. Marchers carried life-size cut outs of these children in the hopes of getting new volunteers. Catherine St. John said she joined the march to suppor...
Be the first to commentHaitian Presidential forum in St. Petersburg listen
10/18/10 Sarah CurranWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Haiti, elections, Eckerd College, St. Petersubrg
As the small Caribbean nation of Haiti shook on January 12, 2010, the hearts of people all around the world shook with it. Over 200,000 people lost their lives to the disaster and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure laid in ruble. Now the country is hoping a new president will raise a new and more powerful Haiti out of the ashes.
“I am watching My country and it is dying”
Haitians like Beatrice Abbott gathered at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, last Saturday, to h...
Be the first to commentFarmworkers and their supporters march in Tampa listen
10/18/10 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Publix, labor, social justice, fair wages, farm workers
Last Friday during rush hour, A group called Tampa Bay Fair Food organized a march from downtown Tampa to the Publix Greenwise Market in Hyde Park to protest Publix Super Market's policies regarding fair food practices and farmworker rights.
Fresh from their victory last week in reaching an agreement with Pacific Tomato Growers, one of the nation's oldest and largest tomato producers, dozens of Immokalee farmworkers traveled to Tampa on Friday to participate in a marc...
Be the first to commentHillsborough County unveils major solar power installation on its Tampa courthouse listen
10/15/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: solar, photovoltaic, green jobs, renewable energy, Hillsborough County, Kathy Castor, Al Higgenbotham, Pat Frank, solar power
This morning the Hillsborough County’s Old Main Courthouse building unveiled a solar photovoltaic system that will now power 40% of the building’s energy needs thanks to a federal stimulus grant. Nationwide, 2.7 billion dollars have been set aside for energy efficiency as part of the 2009 Recovery Act. Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner announced that Hillsbo...
Be the first to commentDemonstrators march for farmworkers rights in Tampa listen
10/15/10 Kelly Benjamin & Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Publix, labor, social justice, fair wages, farm workers
Advocates for farmworkers rights are demonstrating at this hour in downtown Tampa. WMNF's Kelly Benjamin is on the scene for this report and will bring you the full story Monday.
Be the first to commentThree major Senate candidates joust in Tampa listen
10/15/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, Marco Rubio, US Senate race, 2010 elections, Florida Politics
The three most well-known candidates for Florida’s open US Senate seat debated in Tampa today. All three appear to be zoning in on their desired voting bloc.
The US Senate race has seventeen registered candidates, but many are calling it a three-way race. The three major candidates are staying on message as election season hits the final stretch. Susan McManus is a political science professor at the University of South Florida. She says it’s pretty clear whom each is trying to target.
A...
Be the first to commentAl-Arian heads back to court asking for dismissal of criminal contempt listen
10/15/10 Samar Jarrah, Ahmed Bedier, and Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Sami Al-Arian, Linda Moreno, True Talk, civil liberties
Former USF professor Sami Al-Arian heads back to court later this month. A Tampa jury acquitted Al-Arian of a number of terrorism-related charges in December 2005 and did not reach a verdict on others. In order to avoid a re-trial, Al-Arian pleaded guilty the following year to nonviolent support to individuals the government claims are associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was supposed to be deported, but was called to testify in an unrelated case in Virginia. Because his plea deal di...
Be the first to commentTop US education official praises Hillsborough Schools listen
10/14/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Arne Duncan, Florida schools, public education, Kathy Castor, Barack Obama, Gates foundation
Most people agree that public schools in the US aren’t exactly churning out a high number of rocket scientists each year. What they can’t agree on is how to boost student success. The top education official in the country was in Tampa today showering praise on Hillsborough County public schools, which he says have been taking on all of the tough challenges facing schools.
Over one million students drop out of high school in the US each year. During a Tampa visit today, US Secretary of Educ...
Be the first to commentIs foreign money influencing our elections?
10/14/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Last week Think Progress reported how foreign money could be going into accounts that are used to run political ads that influence domestic elections within the US. Groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove's American Crossroads are spending more than $200 million to run ads in dozens of key races across the country, yet these groups do not have to disclose who their donors are. Rove and the Chamber deny any wrongdoing.
<http://www.americanprog...
1 commentsTampa City Council rejects panhandling ban - for now listen
10/14/10 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: mary mulhern, thomas scott, panhandling, tampa city council
Today the Tampa City Council considered banning roadside panhandling on city streets. But they put off the decision.
Concerned residents on both sides of the panhandling debate filled City Hall this morning to speak out on whether or not Tampa should ban panhandling and street vending at intersections and alongside city streets.
Spencer Kass is the President of the Virginia Park Neighborhood Association and asked the City to crack down on panhandling. "Our concern is that the City of T...
Be the first to commentInterview with the president of the nation's largest teachers' union
10/14/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: teacher's union, Roekel, standardized tests, low income
Good afternoon, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up today, we'll talk about the controversy over whether the US Chamber of Commerce is funneling foreign money into election campaigns this year.
But first: an interview with Dennis Van Roekel, the President of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher's union. The union represents more than three million teachers nationwide.
The nation's teachers unions are a frequent target, especially by supporte...
Be the first to commentLA Gov. Jindal stumps for Rubio in Tampa listen
10/13/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, Tampa, Florida politics, 2010 elections
Today two key endorsements in the race for Florida’s open US Senate seat hit the airwaves – one was predictable, the other, not so much. On the heels of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement that he’s backing non-party candidate Charlie Crist over Democrat Kendrick Meek, a Republican governor from another gulf state stumped for Rubio in Tampa today.
The gulf oil disaster was once only a boon for Democrats, who generally oppose offshore oil drilling. But Republicans like Louisiana governor B...
Be the first to commentLocal Officials Stump for Transit Tax listen
10/13/10 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: pam iorio, thomas scott, transportation
Local elected representatives have been making the rounds this week stumping for the transportation sales surtax referendum that is up for a vote on November 2nd in Hillsborough County. Kelly Benjamin has more:
The referendum, if passed, would approve a penny-per-dollar sales tax in Hillsborough County to overhaul Hillsborough's transportation system. It is consistently ranked one of the worst in the nation for commuters. The tax would fund improvements to local roads, expanded bus service...
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