News & Public Affairs
Norman Finkelstein on Israel-Palestine conflict listen
04/30/10 Doris NorritoWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Israel, islam, Jews, GazaPalestinian Territories, Palestine
A lecture by Norman Finkelstein concluded a week long program on “Demystifying the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”. Finkelstein gave a recent history of the invasion of Gaza. He said the reaction to the democratic elections held in Gaza in 2006 is the “ghost that won’t be buried.”
Finkelstein quoted Mary Robinson, the former high commissioner for human rights who went to Gaza after the invasion.
Finkelstein considers Sarah Roy the world’s leading authority on the Gaza economy. Roy has de...
Be the first to commentTBARTA Talks transit-oriented development, rail on Bruce B. Downs listen
04/30/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: TBARTA, HART, Pam Iorio, David Armijo, Transportation, transit
Imagine going days without getting into your car – having a bus or rail line within steps of your door to get you to work, and being able to walk to nearby restaurants. Many cities already have this type of layout, something planners call transit-oriented development. Today the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority Board heard from Bob Hunter, head of the Hillsborough City-County Planning Commission, on the concept.
Hunter said that the commission is trying to amend Hillsborough’s comp...
Be the first to commentCrist leaves Republican party listen
04/30/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, Kendrick Meek, SB6, Wengay Newton, Dick Greco, US Senate race
It’s official: Governor Charlie Crist is running for US Senate with no party affiliation. He announced it in Downtown St. Petersburg yesterday to a mostly adoring crowd.
The announcement comes after months of speculation as to whether Crist would stay in the Republican party and face ultra-conservative GOP Senate hopeful Marco Rubio in the primary, or go independent. The former would have meant campaigning against a once unknown opponent who now leads him in the polls by nearly thirty poin...
Be the first to commentCrist announces Senate run with no party affiliation listen
04/29/10 Kate Bradshaw & Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, US Senate race, Kendrick Meek, St. Petersburg
Minutes before 6 p.m., Governor Charlie Crist announced he was dropping out of the Republican Primary for the U.S. Senate and would run without party affiliation instead.
WMNF's Kate Bradshaw brings us this live report from Straub Park in St. Petersburg
Free Speech Radio News coverage
Be the first to commentSen Bill Nelson wants pause in exploration until cause of oil spill determined listen
04/29/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Nelson, Barack Obama, Gulf Oil Spill
The massive oil spill in the Gulf is now increasing at five times the rate as previously thought, 5,000 barrels a day.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson is filing legislation to "suspend certain activities in the outer Continental Shelf " until an investigation into the cause of the spill. The Democrat from Florida also wrote a letter to President Barack Obama asking that oil expl...
2 commentsOil rig explosion causes disaster in Gulf Of Mexico
04/29/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Thursday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: drill baby Drill, oil drilling, Gulf of Mexico, BP, alternative energy, energy independence, SACE
Last week on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a $600 million exploratory oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, sank into the Gulf of Mexico following an unexplained explosion two days earlier that killed eleven workers. The fire that followed the explosion burned for 36 hours before the entire rig broke apart and sank, exposing a drilling opening in the Gulf floor that officials now say may be leaking approximately 5,000 barrels a day from three different leaks. The rig was set up 50 miles offs...
Be the first to commentOfficials give rosy view on oil spill recovery efforts listen
04/28/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Gulf Oil Spill, NOAA, US Coast Guard, British Petroleum
Today officials from British Petroleum and several government agencies updated the press on their latest efforts to curb the impacts of the growing oil slick in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry had a rosy view of the cleanup effort which includes burning a portion of the spill. Landry did say however that the event was unprecedented.
Landry added that to call the leaking oil well seeping at a rate of forty-two thousand gallons a day a catastrophe would be...
Be the first to commentNorman Finkelstein will speak about Middle-East tomorrow at USF, will be protested listen
04/28/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Norman Finkelstein, Bob Kuntz, Israel, Palestine, USF, Laila Abdelaziz
Tomorrow, noted Middle East expert Norman Finkelstein will give a lecture on the Israel-Palestine conflict at the University of South Florida in Tampa. But the appearance of the controversial professor will be protested by a pro-Israel group. Finkelstein’s lecture is being organized by five student groups, including the Muslim Student Association at USF and one of their members Laila Abdelaziz.
But not everyone is thrilled with Finkelstein’s visit to USF. Bob Kuntz is president of Shalom I...
3 commentsCrist will announce independent Senate run tomorrow in St Pete listen
04/28/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Charlie Crist, US Senate race, Marco Rubio, Kendrick Meek, St. Petersburg
Governor Charlie Crist is set to announce tomorrow in St. Petersburg that he will run for the U.S. Senate with no party affiliation. Crist will make the announcement that he is dropping out of the Republican Primary in Straub Park beginning at 5pm.
Crist trails former state House speaker Marco Rubio by wide margins in most recent polls on the Republican Primary. But the two are running virtually neck-and-neck in a three way race, with the leading Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek in thir...
Be the first to commentSo-called jobs bill unanimously passes Florida House listen
04/28/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: jobs, Florida Legislature, Will Weatherford
A series of tax breaks and incentives to businesses has passed the Florida House. The bill, SB 1752, passed unanimously. Supporters like Republican Will Weatherford from Wesley Chapel call it a "jobs bill."
Even though like all his colleagues Representative Perry Thurston ultimately voted for the so-called "jobs bill," the Democrat from Ft. Lauderdale warned that it does little for poor Floridians, who "will not see this as a jobs bill."
The cost of the bill is expected to be $200 milli...
Be the first to commentSwiftmud debate freeze pumping cap listen
04/27/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: swiftmud, Southwest Florida Water Management District, cold weather, record low temperatures
In January, more than a week of record low temperatures caused farmers to pump groundwater to keep frost from killing their crops. Sinkholes ensued. Today, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) tossed around the idea of capping the amount of water area farmers can draw from the aquifer that lies below much of Florida. Richard Owen, the district’s Deputy Executive Director, told SWFWMD's Board that this winter made for a perfect storm.
“We had an unprecedented climatic ev...
Be the first to commentAlex Sink has an economic plan for Florida if she becomes Governor listen
04/27/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
At this point, the leading Democrat running for governor of Florida is Alex Sink, the state’s chief financial officer. She recently unveiled her economic strategy, called the Business Plan for Florida.
Be the first to comment*I hope your listeners will look on my website, alexsink2010.com, for the complete details of my economic plan. But basically, there are proposals around how we revive our economy in the short term, and get more pe...
Oil Spill in the Gulf could reach Florida's East Coast listen
04/27/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: oil spills, oil drilling near Florida's coast
The U.S. Coast Guardand BP are still struggling to contain an oil spill that started leaking thousands of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. This began after an explosion last week, that sank Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig. The Coast Guard Estimates that over 42,000 gallons of oil are draining into the gulf daily, and covers over 1500 square miles. W...
Be the first to commentFlorida House passes bill allowing utilities to raise rates for renewable energy listen
04/27/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: renewable energy, RPS, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Today, the Florida House passed a bill that may mean more renewable energy in the state. The bill will allow utilities to raise rates by up to $386 million over the next three years for clean energy. That could translate to an additional dollar per month for a typical energy customer.
Susan Glickman is a lobbyist for the environmental group Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Be the first to comment*The Florida House of Representatives passed [H...
Rally for Israel listen
04/26/10 Doris NorritoWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Obama, Palestinian Territories, politics, American foreign policy, Jerusalem, West B ank, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Culture, occupation, Bethlehem
We have to understand we’re in the Middle of World War III. So far, the only one that doesn’t get it is the White House.
Bob Kunst spoke to a group of Israel supporters beside the statue of the World War II sailor kissing his sweetheart. The rally was to show love and support for America and Israel, and against the Obama politics threatening to divide [Jerusalem](http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_main/defaultnew.asp?lng=2...
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