News & Public Affairs
Before dawn a dozen police respond to make sure Occupy Tampa isn't sleeping on sidewalk during the day listen
10/19/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Tampa Police, Mary Mulhern, Tim Sommers
Wednesday morning at least eleven Tampa Police cars responded before dawn to the Occupy Tampa encampment near Curtis Hixon Park. But there was no emergency. Police on the scene wouldn’t talk on tape, but protesters said the dozen or so police were there to make sure demonstrators were not asleep on the sidewalk after 6 a.m.
Last week Police gave protesters a memo implying the...
2 commentsImmigrant children may be less likely to get Florida KidCare under new rules listen
10/18/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: health care, child care, Children's issues, healthcare, Health, Medicaid, KidCare
A recent federal law is helping more undocumented immigrant children get access to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. When the CHIP Reauthorization Act renewed the program in 2009, 20 states did away with a rule that required immigrant children to wait 5 years after entering the US before they would be eligible for KidCare.
[Flori...
Be the first to commentTampa Police tell Occupy protesters to get rid of tarps but they're allowed for bedding listen
10/18/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Tampa, Tampa Police
On Monday night Tampa Police told Occupy Tampa protesters that they had to get rid of tarps at their week-long encampment along the sidewalk of N. Ashley Drive. Demonstrators had put the tarps up to protect themselves and their bedding ahead of rainstorms expected this week.
After discussions between the two groups, the police left and Occupy Tampa continued with the ninth night in a row of occupying the space adjacent to Curtis Hixon Park. The protesters took down the tarps but are using ...
Be the first to commentHillsborough's Juvenile Arrest Avoidance Program seeks to keep kids out of trouble listen
10/18/11 Atecia RobinsonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Juvenile Arrest Avoidance Program, Nuisance Abatement Program, Civil Citation Program, Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County Commission, District 6, the Tampa Bay Black Chamber of Commerce
Youth who get in trouble with the law are less likely to gain meaningful employment and complete their education. A Hillsborough County program seeks to help young people avoid an arrest record.
The Juvenile Arrest Avoidance Program is made up of Representatives from law enforcement, and the justice system. [Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevi...
Be the first to commentAFSCME Local 167 union is in contract negotiations with Hillsborough County listen
10/17/11 Atecia RobinsonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: AFSCME, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Hector Ramos, contracts, Hillsborough County Commission, Helene Marks, Lucia Garsys, labor, unions
A local public employees union is negotiating for a new two-year contract with the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners. On Friday, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or AFSCME negotiations.
Hector Ramos is the Regional Director of AFSCME’s Local 167 union. He said some of their concerns are about wage increases and overtime.
Ramos said AFSCME needs workers to be treated fairly even...
1 commentsTampa Bay Water rejects $30-million reservoir settlement; hopes for more listen
10/17/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa Bay Water, C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir
This morning Tampa Bay Water Board members rejected a $30-million settlement from HDR Engineering. But permanently repairing cracks in the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir has an estimated cost of $121 million. Board members decided that offer was too low because ratepayers would likely have to absorb the remainder of construction costs in their monthly bills. At a meeting last month, board members voted 4 to 3 to take the offer. Shortly after that vote they learned the agency requires ...
Be the first to commentGreenland melting could accelerate sea-level rise listen
10/17/11 Matthew CimitileWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: sea level rise, climate change, USF
The world's second largest ice sheet is melting. A USF geologist says because of what's happening in Greenland, there are global implications for sea-level rise.
Greenland’s ice sheet covers 80 percent of the island country’s surface and contains roughly eight percent of Earth’s fresh water. And according to University of South Florida geologist Timothy Dixon, recent melting of the ice sheet is beginning to add to global sea-level rise.
Be the first to comment“Sea level rise, it is going up about 2 millime...
Videos: Occupy Tampa to decide which park to occupy and whether to risk arrest listen
10/15/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Tampa Police
Occupy Tampa rallied Saturday in coordination with the 15 October United for Global Change and Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
Saturday will be the 7th consecutive night of occupation.
During the first General Assembly meeting Saturday Occupy Tampa put out the idea of either occupying Gaslight Park, where there were certain to be arrests, or the sidewalk outside Curtis Hixon Park, where there likely would not be arrests. Consensus will be reached at a general assembly meeting later o...
Be the first to commentOccupy Tampa complies with police order to remove their shade, but vows to stay listen
10/14/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy DC, Occupy St. Pete, occupation, protests, protesters, protest, Tampa Police, ACLU of Florida, ACLU, First Amendment
Friday morning police told Occupy Tampa to take down parts of their sidewalk camp outside Curtis-Hixon Park. Tables and canopies have been removed, but the protesters are still allowed to stay and sleep.
Last Sunday night a police officer told Occupy Tampa that they could stay on the sidewalk. But two nights later [police told protesters they had to leave the sidewalk](http://www...
Be the first to commentSt. Pete City Council candidates stress social reform in front of a crowd of 300 listen
10/14/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: St. Petersburg City Council, Charlie Gerdes, Bob Kersteen, Steve Kornell, Wengay Newton, Gershom Faulkner, Brent Hatley
Voters in St. Petersburg are gearing up for the November 8th city council general election. Last night five of the candidates squared off in a forum in the city’s mid-town area where they fielded questions about boosting opportunities for youth and African-American people.
The 4-district city council race brought 300 residents to Mt. Zion Progressive Church. It was...
Be the first to commentAt Eckerd College environmentalist Bill McKibben warns about climate change listen
10/14/11 Sarah CurranWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: 350.org, Eckerd College, climate change
Environmentalist Bill McKibben is the author of what is regarded as one of the first books for the general public on climate change. More recently he helped found the grassroots 350 movement. McKibben spoke to a packed hall Wednesday night as part of Eckerd College's Presidential Events Series.
The generally young audience came to hear McKibben speak about climate change. And this isn't a first for him.
Along with dozens of books about the environment, McKibben most recently wrote ...
Be the first to commentAt USF Norman Finkelstein offers solution to Israel-Palestine conflict listen
10/13/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Israel, Palestine, Palestinian Territories, Norman Finkelstein, USF
The United Nations Security Council has yet to vote on Palestine’s bid for statehood. Political scientist Norman Finkelstein spoke to students at the University of South Florida in Tampa last night, and said supporting a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict shouldn’t be controversial.
A self-described atheist, Finkelstein told a crowd of about 50 at the Marshall Center that “God helps peopl...
Be the first to commentHillsborough County Commission trash talk is just talk for now listen
10/13/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Mark Sharpe, Al Higginbotham, Ken Hagen, Les Miller, Hillsborough County Commission, recycling, trash
Wednesday Hillsborough County Commissioners set out to decide how to breathe some new life into the county’s business of taking out the trash. But the board couldn’t agree on how to proceed.
They went back and forth for three hours. Mitch Kessler, the county’s solid-waste consultant, recommended the board open the 3-company near-monopoly to competitive bidding. But co...
Be the first to commentOccupy Tampa challenge police orders to leave and win, for now listen
10/13/11 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Tampa Police
As we reported yesterday, on Tuesday evening Tampa Police officers asked members of the protest group Occupy Tampa to abandon their 24-hour-a-day protest or risk arrest for trespassing. But After challenging the orders, protesters remain.
On Tuesday Tampa Police cited city code 22-8, an ordinance banning the obstruction of streets and sidewalks. H...
6 commentsDespite warning from police Occupy Tampa's 3rd overnight ends without incident; will there be arrests tonight? listen
10/12/11 Seán Kinane & Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Tampa Police
Tuesday night in downtown Tampa, the Occupy Tampa protesters prepared for their third night sleeping on a public sidewalk outside Curtis Hixon Park. But officers from the Tampa Police Department showed up to warn them that, despite whatever agreement was previously made between the police and protesters, they could not continue to sleep there.
Tampa Police told Occupy Tampa protesters last night [they could not sleep on the sidewalk along North Ashley Drive](http://www.wmnf.org/news_storie...
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