News & Public Affairs

Florida Democrats ponder their fate

11/21/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, 2008 election, Barack Obama, Democrats

Although Barack Obama won the state of Florida and key bay area counties like Hillsborough and Pinellas, he carried few local candidates on his coattails. The Florida Democratic Party won a total of one legislative seat in the 2008 elections, and there has been talk that Chairwoman Karen Thurman may be challenged for her job next month. Jon Ausman, a member of the Democratic National Committee, based in Tallahassee, says the problem with Democrats not making larger inroads in Florida is...

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St Pete Mayor and City Council get flu shots listen

11/21/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Health, flu season, immunization

To draw attention to flu season, St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker and several members of the City Council received influenza immunizations this morning. They hope it encourages others to do the same. Jolene Bivens is with the American Lung Association of Florida Gulfcoast Area and promoted their Faces of Influenza campaign. Visit the website [Facesofinfluenza.com](http://www.facesofinfluenza.com) to see if you belong to a population that should get a flu shot.

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Howard Dean's influence on the '08 elections listen

11/20/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Howard Dean, Democrats, politics

Howard Dean will soon leave his post as the head of the Democratic National Committee. His tenure was at times controversial, such as his 50 state strategy of investing resources to state parties everywhere, and not just in so called “Blue” States. In Sunday’s *New York Times Magazine,* political reporter Matt Bai wrote an article called, “The Other Winner”, in which he detailed how Dean had unleashed new progressives in the party. WMNF spoke with Bai early Wednesday and asked him ab...

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Demand at food banks up 25 percent

11/20/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Food banks, economy

As the number of the unemployed rise, the country’s food banks are also struggling to feed more people who are now unemployed or just down on their financial luck. Today the region’s biggest food bank, America’s Second Harvest of Tampa Bay, conducting its 14th annual Empty Bowls Luncheon at Lykes Gaslight Park. The *Wall Street Journal* reported today that food banks historically have depended on donations from food manufacturers and large supermarket chains. But in recent years, produ...

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Labor journalist: Not so quick on the auto bailout

11/20/08 Robert Lorei
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Tags: Big Three Automakers, UAW, wages, benefits, single payer health care

Good afternoon, welcome to WMNF’s Radioactivity, I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up: we’ll meet a Catholic priest who is one of the country’s leading peace activists, Father John Dear. We’ll also speak with a journalist about the latest on the possible bailout for the auto industry. But first some listener comments about yesterday’s interview with Steve Yerrid, the lead attorney in the group of Florida lawyers who sued the tobacco industry 10 years ago on behalf of the state of Florida and won $15 b...

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Interview with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Father John Dear

11/20/08 Robert Lorei
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Tags: peace, non-violence, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., School of the Americas

John Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist and the author of more than 20 books including *A Persistent Peace, Put Down Your Sword, Transfiguration, You Will Be My Witnesses, Living Peace, The Questions of Jesus and Mohandas Gandhi.* Dear has served as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and as a coordinator of chaplains for the Red Cross at the New York Family Assistance Center after 9/11. From 2002-2004, he served as pastor of four churches in New Mexico. He has traveled...

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City Council debates use of foreclosure revenue

11/20/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Tampa City Council, foreclosures, economy, mortgage crisis

Tampa City Council officials were expected today to rubberstamp a proposal by Mayor Pam Iorio that will allow the city to receive $13.6 million to address the foreclosure crisis. But one City Councilman’s objections led to a much longer debate this morning at Council chambers. Cindy Miller is director of the Growth Management and Development Services for the city of Tampa. She says the plan is to purchase or refurbish approximately 110 properties, with a concentration of homes in the S...

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Tampa City Council rejects bid for new night club in Ybor listen

11/20/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Tampa City Council, Ybor City, wet zoning, nightclub

Despite the worsening economy and the fact that Ybor City remains a ghost town four nights a week, the Tampa City Council today rejected a wet zoning for a new restaurant/nightclub in the heart of the historic entertainment district. The proposed club would have been at the corner of 7th Avenue and 17th Street. Joseph Diaz was speaking for the property’s owner, Sussex Holdings. The building in question has been vacant for nearly three years. Diaz said in that time there has been no int...

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Fairness Doctrine on trial at Tiger Bay listen

11/20/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Tiger Bay, Fairness Doctrine, Media

From its adoption in 1949 until it was repealed in 1987, the fairness doctrine required that all broadcast media address controversial issues that are of concern to the public and present contrasting points of view. Should it be brought back? That was the debate this afternoon at the [Suncoast Tiger Bay Club](http://tigerbay.org/). Jim Barrens is a community organizer and he runs a website called [The Justice Factory](http://thejusticefactory.org/). In part because AM radio now is dominat...

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Will St. Pete annex Tierra Verde? listen

11/20/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: St. Petersburg, Tierra Verde, annexation, St. Petersburg City Council

Tomorrow the St. Petersburg City Council will decide whether to annex about 18 acres of Tierra Verde. Yesterday the Pinellas Planning Council voted against recommending the controversial annexation. St. Petersburg City Council member Jim Kennedy is on the Planning Council but voted in the minority. This afternoon WMNF asked Kennedy about the possible Tierra Verde annexation. “It’s on the agenda and probably will be ultimately decided tomorrow.” Tune in to the WMNF Evening News tomorrow ...

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