News & Public Affairs
Some Pinellas County state Legislators defend the 2012 session, others slam it listen
04/25/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pinellas County Legislative Delegation, Rick Kriseman, Darryl Rouson, Jim Frishe, Dennis Jones, Jeff Brandes, Ed Hooper, Jack Latvala, Education Funding, USF, USF Polytechnic, Florida Polytechnic, Trayvon Martin, Stand Your Ground
This year’s regular legislative session resulted in an boost to public education funding and paved the way for the creation of Florida’s 12th public university. Legislators representing Pinellas County recapped all things good and bad to come out of Tallahassee this year at a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club luncheon Wednesday.
Both chambers of the Florida legislature have a Republican super-majority. Democratic State Representative Rick Kriseman, who has announced he won’t be running for another...
Be the first to commentTampa City Council won't get list of Republican Convention law enforcement agencies yet listen
04/25/12 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, Tampa City Council, Clean Zone, Republican Convention, Lisa Montelione
Tampa is proposing a revision to its so-called Clean Zone ordinance that, if approved, would regulate behavior near downtown during August’s Republican National Convention. One change is to change the name of the area now called the “Event Zone” and to make it smaller. A memorandum from the city attorney’s office to City Council on Monday outlines other changes including that “Public Gathering Permits” will last all day and a free application must be completed by June 11th. Permits will not b...
Be the first to commentRichard Eskow on Social Security, Medicare, Taxes and the Bank Bailout
04/25/12 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: socail security, medicare, privatization, Wall Street, Richard Eskow, Wells Fargo
GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO RADIOACTIVITY. I’M ROB LOREI. COMING UP TODAY WE’LL TALK ABOUT THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET SYSTEM—KNOWN AS MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY….We'll also talk about the state of the economy.
BUT FIRST THREE LISTENER COMMENTS ABOUT YESTERDAY’S PROGRAM. YESTERDAY WE INTERVIEWED NANCY ALTMAN WITH THE STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY CAMPAIGN ABOUT THE TRUSTEES REPORT SHOWING THE FUND WILL BE SOLVENT UNTIL 2033—THREE YEARS LESS THAN WAS PROJECTED LAST YEAR.
HERE’S WHAT THREE LISTENER...
Be the first to commentInter-faith group calls on the United Methodists to divest from 3 major companies doing business with Israel listen
04/24/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rachel Corrie, Caterpillar, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Palestine, Israel, BDS, Divest, United Methodist Church
Today is the first day of the United Methodist Church’s general conference in Tampa. Some church members and other human rights activists are asking the denomination to pull investments from companies whose products aide in Israeli violence against Palestinians. About 30 supporters wore yellow to a press conference at a downtown Tampa hotel this morning to symbolize hope for the end of suffering in Palestine. Opponents of the divestment measure argue that positive investments should be used ...
4 commentsIs Social Security Going Broke?
04/24/12 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Social Security, trustee's report, surplus, deficit, Nacy Altman, Strengthen Social Security Campaign
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. The McClatchy News Service is reporting: "The nation's Social Security and Medicare programs are sliding closer to insolvency, the federal government warned Monday in a new report underscoring the fiscal challenges facing the two mammoth retirement programs as baby boomers begin to retire.
Medicare, which is expected to provide health insurance to more than 50 million elderly and disabled Americans this year, is expected to start opera...
Be the first to commentReligious coalition calls on Tampa City Council to reduce unemployment listen
04/24/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Lisa Montelione, Harry Cohen, Frank Reddick, Tampa City Council, unemployment, jobs, HOPE
Members of a religious political action group in Hillsborough County called on Tampa City Council members Monday night to introduce ordinances that would boost employment rates in the area. The Hillsborough Organization for Prosperity and Equality (HOPE) proposed two measures for council members to consider at the Mount Calvary Seventh Day Adventist Church in Tampa. One would require employers to delay background checks until after an interview. After seeing dozens of hands raise from the ...
Be the first to commentPalestinian Playwright Uses Peaceful Methods to Challenge Israeli Occupation
04/23/12 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Monday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour, Beautiful Resistance, non-violence, Bethlehem, peace activist, Alrowwad, Israeli occupation, human rights, water
Good morning, welcome to radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up today we'll speak with a Palestinian peace activist. Award-winning Palestinian playwright Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour (Abed) is the initiator of “Beautiful Resistance” and director of Alrowwad, an independent center for artistic, cultural and theater training for women and children. Located in Aida Refugee Camp, Alrowwad aims to replace the ugliness of violence with the beauty of creativity. By telling about the success of “Bea...
Be the first to commentAt Tampa conference, United Methodist Church may consider withdrawing investments supporting Israeli military listen
04/23/12 Mike MadisonWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Israel, Palestine, United Methodist Church, Tampa, BDS
Despite decades of conflict, there's still now settlement in the territorial conflict between Israel and Palestine. Some members of a major Christian denomination meeting in Tampa this week are trying to get the church to withdraw investments from major companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The United Methodist Church holds a conference every four years to determine policy for its 12 million members. Thousands of leaders will discuss the church’s stances on such ...
2 commentsHabitat for Humanity installs solar water heaters in Clearwater homes listen
04/23/12 Olivia KabatWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: solar energy, alternate energy, Habitat for Humanity, Solar Source, Solar Hot Water Heaters, Homeowners
Some homes that are being built in Clearwater for Habitat for Humanity will be getting solar hot water systems. The installations are provided for families in need.
The solar contractor, Solar Source, is installing 15 solar hot water systems to Habitat for Humanity in Pinellas County. Jeremiah Rohr, lead instructor for Solar Source says the installations are an energy-efficient way to reduce 85% of water heating costs.
Be the first to comment“Basically Habitat for Humanity was looking for a way to reduce…w...
Friendship Trail Bridge has friends trying to save it from demolition listen
04/23/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Friendship Trail Bridge, Gandy, Gandy Bridge, Kenneth Cowart, Neil Cosentino, Hillsborough County Commission
A group of Tampa Bay area residents is fighting the clock to save the old Gandy Bridge as a pedestrian and bicycle trail. The group, led by architect Kenneth Cowart, has until the next Hillsborough County Commission meeting to come up with plans enticing enough for the board to take the doomed Friendship Trail Bridge off the chopping block.
Earlier this month Hillsborough County Commissioners were set to vote on the demolition of one of Florida’s oldest bridges. But they didn’t. Instead,...
1 commentsTampa City Council passes update to summertime fertilizer restrictions listen
04/20/12 Samuel JohnsonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Water, Fertilizer, Environment
Tampa has an ordinance that restricts the sale and use of fertilizer during the summer months to cut down on water pollution. Thursday the council unanimously made minor changes to that ordinance.
The city council chamber was full of citizens and members of interest groups wearing pink stickers. The stickers reminded the council that they agree with the fertilizer ordinance and that it shouldn’t be watered down. The ordinance is intended to inhi...
Be the first to commentTrayvon Martin shooter will be released on $150,000 bond listen
04/20/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman
update: Zimmerman posted bond and was released Monday
The man charged with murdering teen Trayvon Martin in February was granted a $150,000 dollar bond by a judge in Sanford this morning. But George Zimmerman will not be released today.
Zimmerman’s release will be delayed while his defense attorney tries to make arrangements to move his client out of the state. Mark O’Mara, told the judge that he feared for his client’s safety. Zimmerman will also have to wear an electronic GPS moni...
Be the first to commentTampa Mayor Buckhorn says RNC gun loophole is the "stupidest damn discussion" listen
04/20/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bob Buckhorn, Trayvon Martin, RNC, Clean Zone, Tiger Bay
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn got put on the hot seat about logistics surrounding the upcoming Republican National Convention today by members of a non-partisan political club. At a Tiger Bay of Tampa luncheon, the Mayor responded to concerns about the city’s precautions.
To thwart Buckhorn’s concern that there could be chaos from groups like the so-called “anarchists” during the convention in August, Tampa City Council is considering a “Clean Zone”. If passed, it will cover downtown and near...
Be the first to commentCommunity hopes to replace "stand your ground" law with Trayvon Martin Law listen
04/20/12 Atecia RobinsonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, Beaulah Baptist International Church, stand your ground law, laws, shooting, gun control, National Bar Association, NRA
On Thursday afternoon more than 100 people rallied a t a church in Tampa supporting the family of Trayvon Martin. Martin's parents were at the Beulah Baptist Church but didn't speak.
Many people called for a reassessment of the “stand your ground law” that allows a person being threatened to use deadly force, rather than retreat.
In the meeting organized by...
Be the first to commentProblems with dispersants and effects on corals are some lingering concerns of 2010 BP oil disaster listen
04/20/12 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP, BP oil spill, Gulf oil spill, Gulf oil disaster, Deepwater Horizon, National Wildlife Federation
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded two years ago today in the Gulf of Mexico. It killed 11 workers and led to the worst maritime oil disaster in the U.S. The National Wildlife Federation has released a report called A Degraded Gulf Of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Two Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster. Yesterday, we heard the [first half](http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/national-wildlife-federation-warns-of-continued-pollution-2-...
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