News & Public Affairs
Attorney General candidates toe party lines on health care legislation listen
07/16/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Attorney General, attorney general's race, Dave Aronberg, Dan Gelber, Pam Bondi, Jeff Kottkamp, Holly Benson, immigration reform, Jim Lewis, Bill McCollum
This election year is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, but one statewide race has yet to see any major drama. Contenders for the Attorney General’s office fielded questions on a range of issues today at a Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon, though one candidate was glaringly absent.
Five of the six prospective Attorneys General showed up at the Straz Center. Absent was Republican Pam Bondi, who reportedly had to be a witness in court. The candidates took up is...
Be the first to commentObama calls temporary cap on oil gusher good news listen
07/16/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP, BP oil spill, BP oil disaster, Gulf Oil Spill, Barack Obama
Yesterday BP began testing its new well cap that has temporarily stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. This morning at the White House, President Barack Obama met with members of the press to give an update on progress on the cap.
3 comments“Now, our scientists and outside experts have met through the night and continue this morning to analyze the data from the well integrity test. What they're working to determine is whether we can safely shut in the well using the new cap without ...
Tampa City Council supports short high-speed rail extension from downtown to airport listen
07/15/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: high-speed rail, light rail, commuter rail, Tampa, Tampa City Council, Barack Obama, Mary Mulhern, transit
In January, President Barack Obama came to Tampa to announce that federal stimulus funds would be used to pay for half the cost of a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. There are three stops planned for the Orlando area – including their airport, one in Lakeland, and one in downtown Tampa. But Tampa officials are concerned that the bullet train will not go to Tampa International Airport.
Today City Council unanimously supported a resolution put forward by Council member Mary M...
3 commentsHillsborough County faces another budget squeeze listen
07/15/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Commission, Kevin Beckner, Rose Ferlita, economy, budget, budget cuts
Well, thanks to our listener-supporters, WMNF may have narrowly avoided downsizing, but one can’t say the same for Hillsborough County. The County Commission is facing more tough decisions on how to deal with a bleak financial outlook.
Hillsborough County’s budget faces a $65 million gap. Today county budget director Eric Johnson told the commissioners that almost 300 positions will need to be cut from the county payroll to help make up for it. Last year, that number was 571. Johnson said ...
Be the first to commentHillsborough Commissioners vote not to ban fertilizer use in summer listen
07/15/10 Matthew CimitileWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: fertilizer, fertilizer ordinance, environment, water
Hillsborough County Commissioners voted 5-2 this morning not to ban the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus during the summer rainy season. They made their decision in their role as the board of the Environmental Protection Commission in front of an audience filled with fertilizer representatives and environmentalists.
After months of debates and delays, Hillsborough County Commissioners decided not to follow the precedent set by Sarasota and Pinellas Counties. Hillsbor...
Be the first to commentTwo state lawmakers call for AZ-style immigration law listen
07/14/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: immigration, immigration reform, immigration laws, Paula Dockery, Kevin Ambler, Jim Norman, Charlie Crist, special session, Arizona, SB 1070, racial profiling
An Arizona-style immigration law is one step closer to getting onto the books in Florida. Today two state legislators called on their colleagues to take up three bills related to undocumented immigrants. State Rep. Kevin Ambler, a Tampa Republican who is sponsoring the House bills, said there is overwhelming support for a crackdown on so-called illegal immigration.
2 comments"A special session is a very appropriate venue for us to bring an issue forward that is at the forefront of voter's minds. An...
Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates endorses Kendrick Meek for Senate listen
07/14/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Planned Parenthood, abortion rights, Kendrick Meek, 2010 election, US Senate race
Today the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates announced that they are endorsing Democrat Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate. Stephanie Kunkel is their executive director.
Be the first to commentInterview with Emily White on Lonely: A Memoir, Part I listen
07/14/10 Dawn Morgan ElliottWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: author interview, books
Emily White is a lawyer-turned-author who wrote Lonely: A Memoir, earlier this year. WMNF spoke with White and began by asking why she wrote a book on the topic of loneliness.
Be the first to comment"I knew that loneliness was probably fairly widespread, and I couldn’t understand why no one was writing about it in the first person. There was lots of third person stuff, where they talk about a lonely person, objectify the lonely person. But not having any first person material available made me feel stigmatize...
Local leaders to Crist: oil misconceptions are killing us listen
07/13/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP oil spill, BP oil disaster, Charlie Crist, Kelly Kirschner, Anderson Cooper
Governor Charlie Crist heard from local officials in St. Petersburg today on their concerns about the oil disaster. Their biggest fear is widespread misconception that Tampa Bay’s Beaches are covered in crude.
Frank Chavis, founder of Bay Star Restaurant Group, based in Indian Rocks Beach, had a suggestion for the governor.
1 comments"I want you to get Anderson Cooper on St. Pete Beach or Clearwater Beach. I'm sure there are some hotels out there. Get him out there for a week and let him tell th...
Governor Crist remembers George Steinbrenner listen
07/13/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: George Steinbrenner, Charlie Crist, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees
Yankees owner and philanthropist George Steinbrenner died in Tampa today after suffering from a heart attack. Florida Governor Charlie Crist had some words to say about a man known both for his toughness and his generosity.
Before answering reporter questions about the gulf oil disaster at the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg this morning, Governor Crist said it was sad to hear the news of former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s passing.
Crist also noted that despi...
Be the first to commentOpponents of transit tax organize in Hillsborough listen
07/13/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County, transit Tax, Transit Referendum, tea party
In November, Hillsborough County voters will be able to decide whether to raise their sales tax rate by a penny in order to fund a range of transit options including light rail. Several community groups and business organizations support the transit tax. But today at County Center in downtown Tampa, a new group opposing the tax was unveiled.
Sharon Calvert is treasurer of NoTaxForTracks.com and president of the Tampa Tea Party. She is opposed to November’s ref...
5 commentsClean energy advocates declare America's Independence from oil listen
07/13/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: oil spills, clean energy, renewable energy, energy independence
With spreading oil polluting the Gulf of Mexico, some groups say this July the US should declare its independence from dirty fossil fuels by using policy to develop clean and renewable energy.
The gulf-wide impact of the massive oil spill drew clean energy advocates to St. Pete Beach to offer their alternatives to oil, as many dismay over the overwhelming cost of the environmental disaster. Karissa Gerhke with USF’s St Pete’s [Student Environmental Association](http://www.stpt.usf.edu/coa...
1 commentsSmall Farms Conference & Local Food Groups
07/12/10 Jon ButtsRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
On today’s Sustainable Living Program we talked about two new food and garden related groups, and the upcoming Florida Small Farm Conference that takes place in Kissimmee July 31 and August 1.
A good friend of WMNF and this program, Robert Kluson, with the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, talked about the Small Farm Conference, and all of the valuable programs and other resources that will be available.
Will Allen, one of the featured people in the movie ‘Fresh’, will be the Key...
Be the first to commentDemocratic US Senate hopeful tours bird sanctuary listen
07/12/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP oil spill, Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, Jeff Greene, Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, Marco Rubio, US Senate race
Today one of the front runners in the race for Florida’s open US Senate seat paid a visit to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. And it was more than a day at the beach for senate hopeful Jeff Greene.
Democrat Jeff Greene has only been on the campaign trail for just over two months. Yet the self-funded senate hopeful appears to be catching up to once presumed Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek in the polls.
So what does this have to do with the pelicans, bluebirds, vultures and hawks recuper...
Be the first to commentChihuly Collection of glass art opens in St Pete listen
07/12/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Chihuly, St. Petersburg, Arts, Morean Arts Center
Downtown St. Petersburg added another art destination over the weekend with the grand opening of the Chihuly Collection presented by the Morean Arts Center. It’s the first and only permanent collection of the prolific glass artist from Seattle.
"Isn't this an incredible room? I mean these pieces, and this is one of those great testimonies to Dale. He took tremendous risks when he was developing these chandeliers."
Before the grand opening on Sat...
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