News & Public Affairs
Beach Theatre owner looks to go nonprofit listen
04/29/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Beach Theatre, Mike France, St. Pete Beach, independent film, recession
The economy is taking its toll on small unique businesses. The Beach Theatre on St. Pete Beach is also in danger of being sold. Owner Mike France said he bought the 40-year-old movie house when it was up for sale in 2007 out of fear that someone would buy it and turn it into something other than what it was. France says a number of factors are creating a perfect storm for independent theatres across the country, but he might be able to keep the Beach Theatre open w...
Be the first to commentLocal, state officials say "super region" idea could revive flailing state economy - and that rail would have helped listen
04/29/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rick Scott, High Speed Rail, penny transit tax, Orlando, super region, economic development
High-speed rail may no longer be an option in Florida thanks to Governor Rick Scott. This isn’t stopping leaders from throughout the Tampa Bay area and along the I-4 Corridor from trying to revive local economies using a “super-regional” perspective. Hundreds of stakeholders met in downtown Tampa today to tackle the challenge of making the Central Florida Super-Region a reality.
The Tampa Bay and Orlando metropolitan areas are a little over an hour apart. Since the largest artery connectin...
Be the first to commentPETA “chicks” in bikinis protest Tampa McDonald's for chain’s chicken cruelty listen
04/29/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PETA, animal rights, farms, McDonalds
Why were two slender young women wearing yellow bikinis and waving at traffic in front of a McDonald’s on 50th street in Tampa this morning? The activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, were drawing attention to what they say are inhumane chicken-killing practices in the slaughterhouses of McDonald’s suppliers.
Arthur Andrews from Tampa was passing by and says the information he learned from the PETA spokespeople will keep him away from eating at McDonald's. ...
1 commentsState Legislature moves to restrict abortion rights in Florida
04/29/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida legislature, abortion, Planned Parenthood, Barbara Zdravecky
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Several measures that would limit access to abortions are making their way through the state legislature. Here to talk about the bills is Barbara A. Zdravecky, President/CEO, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.
4 commentsIn Tampa, pro-choice activists rally against Tallahassee anti-abortion legislation listen
04/28/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Planned Parenthood, abortion rights, 2011 legislative session, Rick Scott, ultrasound bill, Charlie Crist, abortion
Usually when you see people picketing outside Planned Parenthood, they’re protesting against abortion rights. Today the demonstrators were the organization’s supporters, and they were rallying in Tampa against six measures in the state legislature that target a woman’s ability to terminate a pregnancy.
Tampa resident Farah Stokes was in high school during the sixties, a time before Roe v. Wade. She said some of her classmates had their youth cut shor...
Be the first to commentStudents, Castor speak out against higher ed cuts in GOP budget listen
04/27/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Kathy Castor, GOP Budget, Paul Ryan, Upward Bound, Pell Grants
Two weeks ago, Republicans in the US House of Representatives passed a budget that would drastically cut health care and education. The beneficiaries of several programs on the chopping block spoke out today at Hillsborough Community College.
Tampa mother Cydney Porter left the hospitality industry to become a paralegal. With the help of a federal Pell Grant and TRIO student service programs, she expects to get her associate’s degree in January. She worries about how a proposed 62 percent...
3 commentsFlorida House passes several bills placing more restrictions on abortions listen
04/27/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: 2011 Legislative session, abortion, women's issues
The Florida House has passed three abortion related bills and is continuing debate on several others. On mostly party-line votes, the Republican-dominated House passed a bill that would make it more difficult for a minor to get a judge’s permission to get an abortion without notifying her parents.
The House also overwhelmingly passed a bill that would forbid health care plans created through the federal health care reform law from offering coverage for abortions. It doesn’t affect federal...
Be the first to commentGreenpeace USA executive director warns of nuclear power dangers and Congressman Dan Webster faces hostile crowd at townhall meeting
04/27/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: nuclear power, Greenpeace USA, Phil Radford, Chernobyl, Daniel Webster, Yucca Mountain, Crystal River, Turkey Point
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up we'll hear from the director of Greenpeace USA on the future of nuclear power. And later we'll hear some sound from a tense town hall meeting held by Congressman Daniel Webster. But first a listener comment about yesterday's interview with Sixties activist Bill Zimmerman.
Yesterday Ukraine marked the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident at its Chernobyl power plant.
On April 26 1986, the No. 4 reactor a...
Be the first to commentPinellas officials fear total loss of beach nourishment dollars listen
04/26/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pinellas County, Susan Latvala, Karen Seel, Beach nourishment, state legislature, federal budget, Rays stadium, beach renourishment
Most of Pinellas County’s beaches are constantly washing away. This happens due to a current that picks up sand and moves it south. To keep the beaches – and the millions of visitors they draw – from disappearing, the county has to constantly replenish the sand. The county funds these projects with a lot of help from state and federal money. Today Pinellas County Commission Chair Susan Latvala said dollars available for beach nourishment are quickly drying up.
Be the first to comment"In the past we just contrib...
A Sixties activist looks back at the anti-war and civil rights movement
04/26/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Zimmerman, Vietnam, peace movemnt, civil rights movement, Wounded Knee, Mayday 1971
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. In a moment an interview with veteran civil rights and anti-war activist Bill Zimmerman. He’s written a new autobiography… we’ll talk about activism in the 1960’s and early 70’s in a moment… but first a listener comment about last night’s Last Call on which we discussed new immigration laws that are being considered in Tallahassee.
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Mayday anti-war demonstration in Washington DC. Our guest was an organize...
1 commentsEve Prang Plews discusses nutrition and health
04/25/11 Eve Prang Plews & Rob LoreiSustainable Living and Alternative Health Listen to this entire show:
Tags: nutrition, health, alternative health
Eve is a licensed clinical nutritionist. her program alternates with the Sustainable Living program.
Be the first to commentAn interview with Tampa attorney Bill Flynn about proposed immigration laws being considered in the state Legislature
04/25/11 Robert LoreiLast Call Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: illegal immigrants, Dream Act, Bill Flynn, immigration, 2011 Legislative session
Immigration rights activists are taking part in a series of demonstrations in Tallahassee and across the state this week to protest the proposal to create an Arizona-style immigration law here in Florida. Bill Flynn, who specializes in immigration issues at the Tampa law firm Fowler White Boggs, joins us to talk about the legislation that's being considered in Tallahassee.
Be the first to commentLawmakers aim to reduce Citizens, the state insurer of last resort listen
04/25/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Ciitizens Property Insurance, insurance industry, Rick Scott, 2011 Legislative session, insurance
If you own a home near the Florida coast, pretty much your only option is Citizens’ Property Insurance, which was intended to be the insurer of last resort. The governor and state legislature are hoping to shrink Citizens, if not do away with it all together.
Citizens’ covers some 1.3 million homeowners. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Saturday that Governor Rick Scott wants to do away with Citizens by the end of his term. Tampa lawyer Sean Shaw, who served as the Insurance Consumer...
Be the first to commentRobert Rowen on human needs in Nepal and the ACLU's Howard Simon on how our state Legslature ignores democratic principles
04/25/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Friday)
Tags: Nepal, Global Action Coalition, hunger, Howard Simon, Florida Legislature, voting, 2011 Legislative session
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up first today Robert Rowen, founder of a local group called Global Action Coalition talks about a Nepali New Year's celebration this Friday in Tampa and his group's effort to provide food and education to school children in Nepal (phone: 813-546-9819).
Later we'll hear from ACLU Florida director Howard Simon about the state Legislature and laws being disc...
1 commentsRichard Heinberg says we've learned very little from BP disaster listen
04/22/11 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Richard Heinberg, peak oil, BP spill
As the one year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf rolled around yesterday, WMNF's Kelly Benjamin spoke with Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and former adviser to the National Petroleum Council about whether or not the United States has learned a lesson from BP tragedy:
Be the first to comment"I'd like to be able to say we did, but I'm afraid not. The incentives to keep business as usual going are so huge and the oil industry is s...
