News & Public Affairs
Wendell Potter: Health insurance whistleblower listen
09/28/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Wendell Potter, health care, Obamacare, Affordable Care Act
Wendell Potter made a career of covering for health insurance companies who wouldn’t cover their patients. He got tired of being a tool for one of the nation’s top healthcare providers used to ensure their bottom line. After resigning from the company in 2008, Potter became insurance providers’ worst nightmare.
At a touring free clinic in rural Virginia, Potter saw thousands of uninsured people being treated on the ground, in parking lots and even in barns. S...
Be the first to commentOctober 2011 Movement plans civil disobedience in Washington DC
09/28/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Lisa Simeone, October 2011 Movement, Freedom Plaza, Rev. Bruce Wright
Coming up today we'll talk with two members of a group that, in the tradition of pro democracy rallies in Egypt and Wisconsin, are planning to occupy a public park in Washington DC next month. Our guests are Rev. Bruce Wright from St. Petersburg and Lisa Simeone. Both are organizers with the October 2011 Movement. According to the group's press release: "The October2011 Coalition is a group of activists and organizations that support peace and social, economic, a...
Be the first to commentHacktivist group Anonymous releases personal info on NYPD officer accused of Occupy Wall Street brutality listen
09/27/11 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: anonymous, Occupy Wall Street, police violence
Tuesday, the Occupy Wall Street protests continued in Manhattan's financial district for the 11th straight day. Things have been relatively peaceful in the occupied public square after the mass arrests and pepper sprayings that took place over the weekend. But yesterday, the Hacktivist group "Anonymous" fanned some flames by releasing documents publicly on the internet related to the NYPD officer the group claims is responsible for the pepper-spraying of a group of protesting women on Saturda...
Be the first to commentHART passes $100 million budget for FY2012 listen
09/27/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, budget, millage rate, transit, Transportation, buses, bus rapid transit, unions, collective bargaining
Yesterday the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, or HART, approved a 100 million dollar budget for the next fiscal year. Members of the transit union gave up on demands for a wage increase, as well as a separate step increase. The Board also voted unanimously to raise the millage rate slightly to half a mil.
The HART Board of Directors has been torn between maintai...
Be the first to commentHillsborough Legislative Delegation supports a bill to turn taxi permits into private property listen
09/27/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: taxi cabs, permits, Hillsborough Legislative Delegation, Latvala, Jack Latvala
Tuesday the Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation took public comment, and considered five proposed local bills. The meeting is expected to last all day.
About 70 members of the public signed up to let their representatives know their demands. Four of five proposed local bills were also passed, with the exception of one that was withdrawn, related to a $6 million [com...
Be the first to commentOrlando state Rep. Scott Randolph says Democrats shouldn't put Crist on 2014 ballot for Governor listen
09/27/11 JanelleWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Scott Randolph, Charlie Crist, Alex Sink, 2014 elections, Tiger Bay Club
State Representative Scott Randolph gave some insight into what it’s like being a Democrat in a Republican-heavy legislature. He spoke at a Tiger Bay Club of Polk County meeting in Bartow Monday. Randolph said there are some alliances across party lines, but that isn’t always enough to move plans through the legislative process.
Be the first to comment“I basically told Dan, there’s n...
Postal workers rally this afternoon; and a former health insurance insider reveals the truth about for-profit health insurance
09/27/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: NALC, postal workers, Al Freedman, Alan Peacock, Joe Henschen, Wendell Potter, health insurance companies, Obamacare, Affordable Care Act, single payer
On the first part of today's program we'll talk with three members of the Letter Carrier's Union about rallies scheduled across the country today in every congressional district to oppose proposals to cut service. Our guests are all members of the National Association of Letter carriers. They are Al Freedman the state vice president, Alan Peacock who is president of the Tampa local and Joe Henschen who is executive vice president of the Pinellas Park local. FMI http://www.saveamericaspostalse...
Be the first to commentStopping toxic algae blooms in Florida's waterways; and new information on allegations that Vern Buchanan may Have funnelled money illegally to his Congressional campaigns
09/26/11 Robert LoreiLast Call Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: David Guest, Earth Justice Foundation, Marco Rubio, Vern Buchanan, nutrients, water pollution, campaign contributions
First up this afternoon - According to the Florida Independent, "Several members of Florida’s Republican congressional delegation sent a letter last week to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, urging her to withdraw what they called the agency’s “job-killing” water regulations in Florida."
The “nutrient criteria,” which were mandated under the Bush administration, aim to place stricter limits on phosphorus and nitrogen, which lead to algal blooms and fish kills in state waterways.
Citing ...
Be the first to commentProtesters at CPAC Convention in Orlando want to Pink Slip Rick Scott listen
09/26/11 Jean Henry TelcyWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pink Slip Rick, Rick Scott, Orlando
The group Pink Slip Rick protested Florida’s governor outside while he delivered the keynote address at the CPAC Convention in Orlando. Susannah Randolph, the executive director of Florida Watch Action organized the protest to raise awareness about Scott, who she describes as “anti-middle-class”.
Darden Rice, Florida Communications Director for the Protect Your Care campaign, points out what sh...
Be the first to commentWall Street Occupation continues despite mass arrests over the weekend listen
09/26/11 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Wall Street, Occupy Wall Street
The Occupy Wall Street protests continued in downtown Manhattan this weekend marking a week of peaceful protests against corruption in the US financial markets. While a few hundred camped out in the financial district, several thousand demonstrators marched through Manhattan.
On September 17, Occupy Wall Street protesters took over Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. They filled it with sleeping bags, a makeshift kitchen, a library, and a live streaming news ce...
Be the first to commentOccupy Tampa holds first protest in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street listen
09/26/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Wall Street, Tampa, protests, protesters, economy, economic justice, corruption, Campaign finance, Citizen's United v FEC, Occupy Tampa
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement for democracy that began on September 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City. A Tampa group began similar protests against financial institutions at downtown’s Gaslight Park on Saturday.
Scott Shepard drove from Lakeland to attend the protest after seeing the newly...
22 commentsTampa joins 2,000 international events for 350.org's "Moving Planet" listen
09/26/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: 350.org, bike, bike lanes, biking, carbon dioxide, climate change
The climate group 350 dot org’s main day of action this year asked people around the world to do what they could do take a day off from fossil fuel use. Last Saturday’s global event, called Moving Planet, last Saturday included more than 2000 events in more than 175 countries. Some groups in Tampa joined the global action.
Some Scientists say that [350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.](...
Be the first to commentResidents complain about abuses in Tampa Bay nursing homes listen
09/26/11 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Agency for Health Care Administration, Assisted Living Facility Governor’s Task Force, Janet Boston, USF
Recent reports of abuses in nursing homes have put Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) under a spotlight. The agency regulates 2,850 assisted-living facilities (ALF) in Florida. Several residents complained about abuses, neglect and other illegal activities in Tampa Bay nursing homes at a meeting organized by the Agency for Health Care Administration's [Assisted Living Facility Governor’s Task Force on September 23](http://ahca.myflorida.com/SC...
1 comments"Protect Your Care" protests GOP plans to cut to Medicare, Medicaid
09/23/11 Lisa Marzilli, Beth BellLast Call Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Protect Your Care, Darden Rice, Affordable Care Act, Let Him Die
This week Orlando is a hotbed of GOP activity. Thursday night the nine Republican presidential nominee hopefuls met for their 3rd debate in two weeks at the Orange County Convention Center. Saturday the candidates vying to replace Democratic Senator Bill Nelson will debate. Then, following a keynote address by Gov. Rick Scott, delegates will participate in Florida’s P5 Straw Poll.
Meanwhile, protesters planning to be outside this weekend's Republican events were informed that they would...
Be the first to commentHillsborough County approves nearly $3 billion budget listen
09/23/11 Alessandra Da PraWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: unions, Hillsborough County Commission
Last night, Hillsborough County commissioners approved a nearly $3 billion budget for next fiscal year. Union members at the public hearing in downtown Tampa say the budget undermines county workers.
Union members from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees wore green T-shirts and protested the budget that includes a nearly $50 million cut to operations...
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