News & Public Affairs
Is Europe a role model for ending our political and economic troubles?
01/27/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: health care, social safety net, European Union, electoral reform, codetermination
Welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up: Is Europe a model fror getting this country out of its economic troubles? We'll meet the author of a new book who says yes, it is. But first some listener comments about yesterday's program on which we talked about last week's Supreme Court decision granting more power to corporations to influence elections.
In his new book, Europe's Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age (University of California Press), pol...
1 commentsCastor says Obama will announce high-speed rail grants in Tampa tomorrow listen
01/27/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: high-speed rail, kathy castor, Bill Nelson, economic stimulus, Barack Obama
President Barack Obama is coming to Tampa tomorrow with Vice President Joe Biden. Tampa-area member of Congress Kathy Castor says Obama will announce $8 billion in grants for high-speed rail. Florida has applied for $2.5 billion to build a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa. Castor, a Democrat, will be with President Obama tomorrow when he announces bullet train funding in Tampa.
In an audio statement today, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson predicted that if Obama does announce that F...
Be the first to commentDistrict 58 primary voters turn out to select nominees listen
01/26/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Janet Cruz, Pat Kemp, District 58
Today, voters in State House district 58 are choosing their parties’ candidates to replace Representative Mike Scionti. today. Polls are open until 7pm in the district that includes parts of West Tampa and Seminole Heights.
Carlton Lofton wore a shirt and held a sign supporting Democrat Janet Cruz at the West Tampa Convention Center on Columbus Drive.
At the American Legion on north Florida Avenue, another Cruz supporter, Thomas Nixon, said that as of noon there had only been a few vot...
Be the first to commentSWFWMD funds well repairs listen
01/26/10 Mark AndersonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: swiftmud, water, water usage
The Tampa Bay area experienced its longest cold snap on record earlier this month. To protect their crops from the freeze, strawberry growers pumped billions of gallons of water from Florida’s aquifer onto their fruit. The massive water use created a record 60-foot drop in aquifer levels, drying up hundreds of residential wells and creating sinkholes. Today, the Southwest Florida Water Management Board approved spending up to $250,000 of public money to repair the private wells.
The 11-da...
1 commentsResponses to Supreme Court reversal of corporate election spending ban
01/26/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: corporate power, Campaign contributions, Citizen's United v FEC, WMNF, Rob Lorei
On today's show we'll discuss last Thursday's decision by the US Supreme Court granting freedom to corporations to spend money on behalf of candidates during an election.
Last Thursday, the US Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on independent corporate expenditures in Citizen's United v FEC. Before Citizens United, corporations were not allowed to spend money from their general treasuries to call for the election or defeat of federal candidates close to Election Day, even if they ...
1 commentsRock Mining: An economic asset, or environmental hazard? listen
01/26/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: mining, Sierra Club, Everglades, Transportation
Florida’s economy is known for its housing market, which takes tons of concrete to maintain. Roads that span the state also require limestone for construction, but environmentalists say there’s a high cost of mining the rocks for housing and highway projects.
Swamp lands in South Florida are cheap. They aren’t ideal for commercial development, and no one can build a house on wetlands. The wetlands also provide a pristine aquatic resource, but limestone reserves held deep beneath their sur...
3 commentsBackyard Fish & Chickens
01/25/10 Jon ButtsRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
We started today’s program with Carlos Martinez, an Aquaculture Researcher with the University of Florida, with information about raising Tilapia (commonly known as Nile perch) in our backyards. According to Carlos it can be fun, a great learning experience, and can provide fish for the dinner table. Learn more at UF’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences web site http://www.ifas.ufl.edu.
Next up, Pam the ‘Goat Lady’ Lunn joined the program to talk about raising chickens in your...
1 commentsRock Mines threaten Everglades Restoration Plans listen
01/25/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Everglades, mining, reservoir, restoration
Limestone rock mining in Florida provides critical components for housing and highway construction. But environmentalists have some concrete concerns as rock mining impacts the Florida Aquifers and Everglades restoration.
Earlier this month Obama administration officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the Picayune Strand Restoration project. It will attempt to restore a natural water flow th...
Be the first to commentCongressman Bill Young Speaks at Suncoast Tiger Bay and Hints at Plans for Re-election listen
01/25/10 Concetta DeLucoWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Young, 10th District, Pinellas County, Congress, healthcare reform
At the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club meeting this morning, US member of Congress Bill Young discussed a variety of contemporary issues and hinted at the possibility of his run for re-election against State Senator Charlie Justice.
At least a hundred Tiger Bay Club members packed in the room at the Hilton in Largo to hear Bill Young speak. Young, a Republican, represents Florida’s 10th District, parts of Pinellas County. He has held his seat in US House of Representatives for 40 years and is a f...
Be the first to commentGovernor Crist Includes Florida Forever Funding in FY '10-'11 Budget listen
01/25/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Forever, Florida budget, Charlie Crist, Bob Martinez
On Friday, Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced that he wants to reinstate funding for the Florida Forever program in next year’s state budget.
Since 1963, the state has spent more than $7.5 billion to protect around 3.8 million acres of Florida land. Last year, though, amid economic strife, the state eliminated Florida Forever program funding from its budget.
Bob Martinez is one of four former governors who co-chair the [Florida Forever Coalition](http://supportfloridaforever.org/...
Be the first to commentFormer Governor Bob Martinez Weighs in On Florida GOP Senate Race listen
01/25/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bob Martinez, Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, 2010 Senate Race, 2010 Senate Primaries, GOP
The question of who will represent the GOP in the race Florida’s open US Senate Seat late this November signifies, to many, a rift among republicans both in the Sunshine State and nationwide.
WMNF spoke with one veteran of Florida politics about how former state house speaker Marco Rubio has been gaining on governor Charlie Crist in the polls.
This year’s GOP senate primary has moved into the national spotlight. It pits Rubio, an ultra-conservative who appeals to right wing extremists,...
Be the first to commentOcean acidity is increasing according to a new study listen
01/25/10 Matthew CimitileWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: acidification, climate change, science, oceans
In addition to making oceans warmers, greenhouse gasses like CO2 in the atmosphere are making oceans more acidic. More acidic oceans could hamper the growth and survival of shell-building organisms like corals and clams. By comparing pH readings from seawater in the northeastern Pacific Ocean between 1991 and 2006, a team of scientists found the first direct evidence of ocean acidification across an entire ocean basin.
WMNF sat d...
1 commentsTBARTA board discusses funding, cooperation listen
01/22/10 Arielle StevensonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: TBARTA, Mass Transit, light rail, Pam Iorio, Ken Welch
A lengthy agenda awaited board members at this morning’s Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA) meeting. At the top of the list was approving $4 million for the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization to study how to link transportation projects between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. R.B. Johnson chairs the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority board and says this memorandum is historic:
*Now I would say that a perfect illustr...
Be the first to commentOmali Yeshitela celebration at USF St Pete listen
01/22/10 Tom BaurWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: African American, civil rights, Uhurus, Omali Yeshitela, Joe Waller
In 1966, Joe Waller was so fed up with the City of St Petersburg’s refusal to remove a repugnant racist mural that he tore it down and fled with the police close behind. But last night, he was honored in the same city.
The mural Waller tore down depicted what many felt were grotesque images of black musicians playing for a white audience. Joe Waller, who later changed his name to Omali Yeshitela, was arrested that day and spent nearly 3 years on one of Florida’s...
6 commentsEthics complaint filed against Commissioner Kevin White listen
01/22/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: ethics, Kevin White, Hillsborough County Commission
An ethics complaint was filed today against Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White. A citizen alleges White committed a conflict of interest yesterday when he voted on a measure in which he clearly had a financial stake.
That was the result of the County’s historic motion to sue White yesterday. White was the only negative vote. But political consultant [Chris Ingram](http://www.411communicat...
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