News & Public Affairs
Hillborough County to hash out final budget details listen
09/15/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County, Tampa, Eric Johnson
This evening the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners is holding a public hearing on its budget for fiscal year 2011. The county faces a $65 million shortfall this year, mostly due to lagging property tax revenues. Earlier this year the commissioners were able to restore Arts Council funding, nix furlough days for the Environmental Protection Commission, and keep a popular Spanish-speaking liaison on staff in the planning department. But dozens of positions are still on the chopping blo...
Be the first to commentFlorida gets $200 million from HUD for neighborhood stabilization listen
09/09/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Kathy Castor, Pam Iorio, HUD, recession, Neighborhood Stabilization Act, Tampa
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it’s putting an additional $1 billion toward its Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program aims to protect property values in foreclosure-ridden areas. The Tampa Bay Area will get a sizable chunk of it.
Despite the muggy morning heat, officials gathered today in the grassy back yard of a foreclosed East Tampa home. The property is the future site of an apartment complex for 18 female military veterans and ...
1 commentsFlorida high-speed rail will be partnership with private company to design-build-operate listen
08/31/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: high-speed rail, kathy castor, transit, transportation, Lakeland, Orlando, Tampa, FDOT
Beginning in just a few years, you’ll be able to take a bullet train from Tampa to Orlando in under an hour. But before then the high-speed rail line needs to be built. Half of the roughly $2.5 billion dollar project has been funded through the federal Recovery Act.
The Florida Department of Transportation is hosting meetings this week in the three cities where the bullet train will stop; Today in Tampa, tomorrow in Lakeland, and Thursday in Orlando.
For a preview of those meetings WM...
Be the first to commentEast Tampa residents critical of police response to killings of two officers listen
08/03/10 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: police, African Americans, East Tampa, Dontae Morris, Connie Burton, police violence, Johnson and Kenneth Court, Tampa Police, Tampa
After two Tampa Police officers were killed in East Tampa in June, police began a several-day manhunt for the alleged shooter, Dontae Morris. But weeks after Morris turned himself in, residents of the community are still concerned about how the police acted during the search. About two dozen gathered at the College Hill library to share their experiences.
The meeting was called by the Black People's Advancement and Defense Organization, a local group created earlier this year with the miss...
10 commentsOfficials get latest on high speed rail listen
07/19/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: federal stimulus money, Tampa, Orlando Convention Center, kathy castor, Bill Nelson, Pam Iorio, Barack Obama, Joe Biden
Last January President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden came to Tampa to announce 1.2 billion dollars in stimulus dollars offered to help fund construction of a high speed rail line in Florida. Local and national officials were in Downtown Tampa this morning to hear the latest on the project which would initially run between Tampa and Orlando.
The rail line's expected completion date is some time in 2015. That may seem a long way out but Nazih Haddad, Chief Operating Officer for Florida ...
Be the first to commentTampa City Council supports short high-speed rail extension from downtown to airport listen
07/15/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: high-speed rail, light rail, commuter rail, Tampa, Tampa City Council, Barack Obama, Mary Mulhern, transit
In January, President Barack Obama came to Tampa to announce that federal stimulus funds would be used to pay for half the cost of a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. There are three stops planned for the Orlando area – including their airport, one in Lakeland, and one in downtown Tampa. But Tampa officials are concerned that the bullet train will not go to Tampa International Airport.
Today City Council unanimously supported a resolution put forward by Council member Mary M...
3 commentsThe Israeli-Palestinian conflict through photography listen
06/04/10 Andrea LypkaWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Shai Kremer, Infected Landscape, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, Rob Lorei, Andrea Lypka
Amid all of the developments in the Middle East, Shai Kremer hopes to help people understand the region through his photographs. His exhibition “Infected Landscape” opened at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa on May 29.
The New York and Tel-Aviv based Kremer documents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a conflict he has breathed and lived in for many years.
Be the first to comment*You don’t feel the war when you live in Tel Aviv, you just live a normal life like you li...
Although he is registering as independent Crist is happy GOP convention coming to Tampa listen
05/12/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: GOP, 2012 GOP Convention, Republican National Convention, Tampa, Charlie Crist
Before the announcement, Gov. Charlie Crist said he was happy the Republican National Convention is coming to Tampa. That’s despite his plans to switch his voter registration from Republican to no party affiliation today.
Be the first to commentIorio announces city reorganization and elimination of management jobs listen
03/30/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Today Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio announced a major reorganization of city government to help balance the budget.
As a result, more than 16 positions will be eliminated, saving the city more than $3 million this year. Iorio has already announced that some of those positions would be cut. Such as the vacant Convention Center & Tourism Director whose salary and benefits amount to nearly $200,000
But Iorio’s reorganization announced today will eliminate other major positions such as the stormwa...
Be the first to commentRepublican National Convention eyes Tampa listen
03/29/10 Kelly BenjaminWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Republican Party, Republican National Convention, Tampa
The Republican National Convention Site Selection Committee is in Tampa this week evaluating Tampa's bid for the 2012 Republican Convention. This morning the committee toured Channelside as local businessmen and Republican activists tried to sway the committee with free food and drinks to pick Tampa for their next convention site. WMNF spoke with Republican activist Mickeal Penson about Tampa's bid.
1 comments