News & Public Affairs

Thursday May 23, 2013

White House denies allegations that Benghazi talking points were changed 12 times

Conservative news outlets have claimed the Obama administration altered talking points on the 2012 Benghazi attack 12-times. Other allegations have surfaced claiming the words Al Qaeda were removed. The White House is denying those claims saying there was only one change made to the CIA-approved talking points and that was only changing "consulate" to "diplomatic post." Spokesperson Jay Carney also says officials released only the information that could be confirmed as it was received.

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Medium

Florida Supreme Court hears arguments on redistricting

Florida Supreme Court justices are weighing whether to end a lengthy legal battle over new political districts.

Thursday lawyers for the Republican-led Legislature asked the high court to throw out a lawsuit that says legislators violated strict new standards when they drew up new districts for the state Senate. The maps were adopted last year.

Raoul Cantero, a former Supreme Court justice hired by the Senate, contends that the Supreme Court has already upheld the map once and that the ...

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Medium

Is Obesity Caused By Politics?

Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei.

Coming up we’ll talk with a doctor who thinks that our obesity epidemic has a political cause.

But first- several listener comments about yesterday’s program. Yesterday we had two guests on the whole hour who were experts on gun violence. Here’s what several listeners had to say afterward, and there’s a comment about yesterday’s Democracy Now.

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The obesity rate in the US is skyrocketing . Almost 36% of Americans...

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Happening in downtown Tampa - the homeless, a new apartment tower and transit

Tampa Bay Times editorial writer John Hill discussed the recent conflict between members of the Tampa City Council and Mayor Bob Buckhorn about potential further crackdowns on the homeless.

Also, we discussed a new apartment complex being proposed by developers in downtown Tampa that has elicited some strong opposition locally, and we discussed Senator Jack Latvala's latest bid to study a potential merger between the transit agencies of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

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Medium

How Does the Nation Reduce Gun Violence?

Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. Coming up for the hour we’ll have two leading experts on gun violence. We’ll open the phone lines and take your phone calls.

First- this past weekend the NRA held it’s national convention in Texas….

As the convention opened—one of the Keynote speakers—Glenn Beck gave this talk to an audience in Houston.

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Conservative commentator Glenn Beck speaking to a group last week in Houston.

Our guests today are Ladd Everitt, Director...

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Medium

$3 billion tourism industry celebrated in Tampa

Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in the Tampa Bay area. The region’s tourism marketing team is trying to make sure Hillsborough County continues to grow its slice of the pie. During a luncheon Wednesday celebrating tourism week in Tampa, new Tampa Bay & Company president and CEO Santiago Corrada said he wants to popularize Tampa as a destination for visitors.

“We have a great region here and our biggest obstacle is that a lot of folks don’t know what a great region it is. So, w...

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The Spy Catcher

Joe Navarro retired from the FBI in 2003…since then he’s built a world-wide reputation as an expert on terror, as a teacher and as a prolific author. As Fidel Castro was tightening his grip on Cuba, shortly after the failed Bay of Pigs, Joe’s family brought their 8 year old son to America. At age 23, working as a policeman, the FBI recruited Joe and he may be the youngest agents ever hired… For 25 years he chased terrorists, and spies and liars. Joe was a pioneer in the FBI’s use of Behavio...

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A conversation with Paul Shapiro, Vice President of Farm Animal Protection, Humane Society of The United States

Paul Shapiro—Vice President, Farm Animal Protection, at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)—recounts his formative years as an animal lover and advocate, including launching Compassion Over Killing and how that organization’s undercover video investigations in the pre-Internet age served as an important precursor to the more sophisticated ones later undertaken by HSUS, Mercy For Animals, PETA and others. On a related note, he also discusses so-called “Ag-Gag” laws and other related...

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Community rallies around Bartow girl arrested after science experiment

More than 150,000 people have signed a petition asking district attorneys in Bartow not to file charges against a teenager charged with setting off a bomb at her school. It sounds bad, but critics of 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot’s arrest last month say the explosion was only the result of a science experiment gone wrong.

Tammi Coles created a Facebook page to raise support for Wilmot.

“If she were doing that at home … it would have gotten a stern warning from her mother and that would ...

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