News & Public Affairs
Drones over Florida? Part 2: federal legislation could limit law enforcement use listen
02/25/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: FAA, drones, unmanned aircraft, Miami-Dade Police, privacy rights, Orange County Sheriff, Polk County Sheriff, Ted Poe, Zoe Lofgren, Preserving American Privacy Act
As the Federal Aviation Authority prepares to open six test sites for unmanned aircraft, or drones, members of Congress are reintroducing legislation that would regulate their use. Last week, we brought you the first part of our series on drones focusing on proposed regulations in Florida. The federal legislation would provide privacy security in much the same way. The proposal is welcomed by anti-drone activists like Nick Mottern with the group Know Drones wh...
Be the first to commentMessage to St. Pete motorists: Free Bradley Manning listen
02/25/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bradley Manning, Overpass Light Brigade, Tampa Light Brigade, activism, WikiLeaks
If you were driving south on I-275 Saturday night in St. Petersburg, you may have passed by a pedestrian overpass with this message in lights: "Free Bradley Manning."
Events were planned Saturday on at least five continents to mark the 1,000th day Manning had been in detention, charged with leaking tens of thousands of g...
Be the first to commentProposed Sarasota bicycle and pedestrian plan listen
02/25/13 Olivia KabatWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: biking, pedestrians, safety, traffic, Sarasota, bicycle
This month Sarasota County is holding several meetings to present a draft plan for bicycle and pedestrian routes. People who attend can comment on the new draft plan.
It’s part of an initiative for Sarasota to have a safer, more effective transportation system. Beth Rozansky, Sarasota County transportation planner says community safety is the number one topic on everyone's mind.
Be the first to comment“Similar to what a lot of other communities identified when they went out for outreach on plans, the number...
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn says transit merger is not TBARTA's problem listen
02/22/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bob Buckhorn, transportation, HART, PSTA, TBARTA
Even though the idea of a cross-bay merger is off the table for now, the boards of the transit agencies in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties still say they want to work on some projects together. After a state mandated merger study, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority had requested the state fund a second study taking a deeper look into possible cost savings. HART filed a separate report requesting no further studies. During a Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority meeting, o...
Be the first to commentEnvironmental group could sue to protect two Florida species from the dangers of sea level rise listen
02/22/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: environment, Center for Biological Diversity, Florida, US Fish & Wildlife, endangered species
An environmental group hopes the threat of a lawsuit could help to protect two Florida species that face threats because of rising sea level.
Wednesday the Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not adequately protecting a bird known as the MacGillivray’s seaside sparrow and a reptile called the Florida Keys mole skink.
Jaclyn Lopez is a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s office in St. Petersburg. ...
Be the first to commentSome transit officials want lawmakers to support gas tax hike listen
02/22/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: gas tax, tax, TBARTA, transportation, transit, Sarasota
Some transit officials want the Florida legislature to let localities increase their local gas tax as much as ten cents per gallon. A Sarasota planning official suggested several possible ways to boost revenue during the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority meeting Friday in Tampa.
Michael Howe, executive director for the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization is pushing for a 2-cent increase to local gas taxes every year for the next five ...
Be the first to commentDrones over Florida? Part 1: state legislators aim to protect privacy listen
02/21/13 Janelle Irwin & Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: FAA, drones, unmanned aircraft, Miami-Dade Police, privacy rights, Orange County Sheriff, Polk County Sheriff
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are already being used in Florida -- and more may be coming. Last week the Federal Aviation Authority announced it is looking for six places to test unmanned aircraft. And Florida could be on that list. So we decided to take an in-depth look at how drones are being used in Florida – and how they might be used in the future. In this first part of a series we examine how some Florida lawma...
Be the first to commentHillsborough County Commission's Beckner declares annual men's health day in county listen
02/20/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: men's health, Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County Commission, Moffitt Cancer Center, health
A growing number of men in Hillsborough County lack health care. Wednesday Commissioner Kevin Beckner set March 9 as Men’s Health Forum Day in Hillsborough county during a commendation of Moffitt Cancer Center for hosting the annual men’s health screening event.
Be the first to commentSmall business owners bash Hillsborough Commission for approving Bass Pro development subsidy listen
02/20/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bass Pro Shops, Bass Pro Shop, Ken Hagan, Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County Commission
Hillsborough County Commissioners approved a $6 million road project that will rein in a Bass Pro Shop in Brandon. During their meeting Wednesday, 12 supporters of small business spoke in opposition to the subsidy. Bill Place, owner of Ace Golf stores in the Tampa Bay area, was disappointed in the commission’s decision, but not surprised.
Be the first to comment“Bass Pro has competitors too and those competitors ought to be here if they decide not to be. The telling this is, they said Florida is their top ma...
All four regions of Tampa Bay met water quality standards in 2012 listen
02/20/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: water, Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, nitrogen, fertilizer, pollution, seagrass, fertilizer ordinance
The water quality in Tampa Bay continues to improve.
Tuesday the Tampa Bay Estuary Program released results of their 2012 water quality survey and for the fourth time since assessments began in 1974 all geographic regions of the bay met quality targets.
Ed Sherwood is senior scientist at Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
Be the first to commentFlorida Senate committee puts domestic partner registry bill on hold listen
02/19/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Senate, domestic partners, domestic partnership registry, LGBT, marriage equality, Steve Kornell, Tampa, St. Petersburg
A bill to extend some rights to domestic partners was put on hold Tuesday in the Florida Senate Children and Families Committee.
During public comment, St. Petersburg City Council member Steve Kornell asked senators to support it.
Some of the Republicans who oppose the domestic partnership registry bill said they support expanding rights, but this bill goes too far and is too similar to marriage.
The bill’s sponsor Senator Elanor Sobel, a Democrat from Hollywood, said she would brin...
Be the first to commentUSF environmentalists demand climate change action at U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's Tampa office listen
02/19/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: USF, environment, Sierra Club, climate change, sea level rise, Keystone XL pipeline, Phil Compton
Two dozen students and environmental activists marched on U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s Tampa office Tuesday demanding he address climate change. The environmentalists are fed up with Rubio’s reluctance to accept that there is a problem. Activists also want Rubio to switch his position on the Keystone XL pipeline.
The pipeline would carry oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada into the U.S. in Nebraska. That’s something environmentalists worry could contaminate land if the pipe were eve...
Be the first to commentThe 10th Anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq Is Next Month
02/19/13 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Good morning- welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Author David Corm writes: "On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq that would lead to a nine-year war resulting in 4,486 dead American troops, 32,226 service members wounded, and over 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians. The tab for the war topped $3 trillion."
Last night on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC program [a documentary based on David Corn's book HUBRIS appeared]( http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/18/1...
Be the first to commentMarch is Bike Month
02/18/13 Jon ButtsSustainable Living and Alternative Health Listen to this entire show:
Tags: solar power, solar, nuclear, nuclear power, Bike Month, bicycling, biking
We started today's program with Arnie Gunderson, a nuclear engineer with the nonprofit group Fairewinds, who gave us a little more information about Crystal River and what's next. Arnie talked about what happened that finally shut down the Crystal River Nuclear Power plant and our future options. He felt that solar electric was a good option, but that solar thermal to heat water was a quicker return on investment. Solar thermal central power plants and wind power on our coast lines, connected...
Be the first to commentAttorney David Cobb Wants to Overturn the Sureme Court's Citizen's United Decision
02/18/13 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Monday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: corporate power, Supreme Court, Citizen's United, David Cobb, Move to Amend
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up today we'll talk with attorney David Cobb who is a national spokesperson for Move to Amend. Cobb will be speaking tonight at 7PM at the Unitarian Church in downtown St. Petersburg on his group's effort to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision. Cobb, who is a former green Party presidential candidate, contends that the Citizen's decision held that corporations now have equal politica...
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