News & Public Affairs
Tampa Mayor Buckhorn says region needs transit options including rail listen
03/26/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bob Buckhorn, Tampa, RNC, rail, transit, transportation
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn gave his annual State of the City address Tuesday morning.
He used the example of a squirrel causing a power failure at a water treatment plant last month resulting in a city-wide boil water notice to emphasize the importance of investing in infrastructure.
Buckhorn said Tampa Bay should be a region with a first class transportation system with mobility options.
“That means bus rapid transit, that means HOV and it darn sure means rail.”
Buckhorn also sai...
Be the first to commentFull text of Sen. Marco Rubio's GOP response to State of the Union
02/13/13 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Marco Rubio, RNC, Barack Obama, State of the Union
Here is the text of the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, as prepared for delivery by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and provided to the Associated Press by the press office of the speaker of the House.
Good evening. I'm Marco Rubio. I'm blessed to represent Florida in the United States Senate. Let me begin by congratulating President Obama on the start of his second term. Tonight, I have the honor of responding to his State of the Union address ...
Be the first to commentPeeping cops now against the law in Tampa listen
12/20/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, RNCCTV, police, Tampa Police, privacy, Republican convention, surveillance cameras
Tampa City Council members approved changes today to an ordinance making it a crime for Tampa Police officers to use surveillance cameras to look into private residences. The move is a response to concern that cameras purchased for the Republican National Convention last summer could be used inappropriately by law enforcement.
The change expands a current Tampa city ordinance against peeping Toms to include officers using the surveillance equipment who could have the ability to use camera...
1 commentsTampa City Council to workshop pros and cons of Republican convention surveillance cameras in August 2013 listen
12/06/12 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, CCTV, RNCCTV, surveillance, Tampa Police, Tampa, Republican National Convention, Republican convention, Tampa City Council, Mary Mulhern, Jane Castor
Thursday Tampa City Council approved changes to an ordinance reinforcing that it would be a crime for Tampa Police to use surveillance cameras purchased for the Republican convention for unauthorized peeping on residents inside their homes. But they put off a decision about whether the cameras will be a permanent part of the city’s landscape. There’s been ongoing friction between council and the mayor’s administration about who has the authority to authorize deployment of the cameras. To help...
Be the first to commentOccupy Tampa member arrested for writing in chalk on sidewalk challenges the charges listen
11/20/12 Lisa KauffmanWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Nathan Schwartz, Occupy Tampa, Tristan Lear, First Amendment, Tampa, Tampa Police, RNC, Event Zone, Clean Zone, Republican convention, Bank of America
In May an Occupy Tampa member was arrested for writing in chalk on the sidewalk outside the Bank of America building in downtown. Nathan Schwartz had a pretrial hearing at the Hillsborough County Courthouse Monday afternoon.
Schwartz is challenging his arrest because he thinks chalking is just exercising First Amendment rights.
Be the first to comment“There was the clean zone ordinance that was getting passed, the event zone ordinance that got passed by city council,...
RNC planner says convention in Tampa was a success listen
11/15/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, Republican National Convention, Al Austin, Tampa Bay Host Committee
August’s Republican National Convention in Tampa was criticized by activists for its overwhelming police presence and militarized feel. But organizers say the convention was a triumph for the Tampa Bay area.
It’s been more than two months since droves of excited Republicans left Tampa thinking they had nominated the perfect guy to hoist President Barack Obama out of the White House. Even though Mitt Romney didn’t win the election, Al Austin, chair of the [Tam...
Be the first to commentRepublican convention stakeholders look back on what went right and wrong in Tampa listen
10/10/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, Republican National Convention, Republican Convention, Tampa Police, John Bennett, ACLU, cameras
It’s been more than a month since the Republican National Convention left Tampa and local groups and city officials are looking back at how the event played out. In some circles, the consensus is that it went well, but some people still think police presence was overkill.
At an ACLU forum Tuesday night at the Stetson University College of Law campus in Tampa, executive director of the West Central Florida Federation of Labor, Cheryl Shroeder said the excessive militarization of downtown...
Be the first to commentStill no decision on Tampa's RNC surveillance cameras listen
10/04/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council, Tampa Police, Jane Castor, Mary Mulhern, Frank Reddick, Harry Cohen, Lisa Montelione, RNC, surveillance cameras
More than 100 surveillance cameras are still monitoring parts of downtown Tampa. Tampa Police want to keep them. Some council members want to move them. And Some want to flip the off switch. But in a meeting today, council member Frank Reddick found that there wasn’t much he and his colleagues could do.
Be the first to comment“Recently the Mayor stated it’s his decision what to do with these cameras – whether they going to stay downtown or go somewhere else. So, it seems to me that we have limited authority...
Should they stay or should they go? Tampa City Council ponders RNC surveillance cameras listen
09/20/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Tampa City Council, RNC, security cameras, privacy, civil liberties, Tampa Police
Tampa officials have to figure out what to do with the more than 100 security cameras they purchased with grant money from the Republican National Convention. City council members grappled over security and privacy concerns amid frustration that they may have signed on for more than they bargained for.
Months before the Republican Convention landed in Tampa, city council members were hard at work planning for security. A secured “[event zone](http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories?tag=Event+Zo...
Be the first to commentTampa Police evict squatters who took abandoned house before Republican convention listen
09/07/12 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: RNC, Republican National Convention, housing, homelessness, Romneyville
A couple who took over an abandoned house in Tampa just before the Republican convention was evicted this morning by Tampa Police.
Tyler Mitchell is an activist who was there to help the squatters, who did not want to be interviewed.
Mitchell said the police did not have legal standing to evict the residents, but they let the Police into the home.
Be the first to comment“We are at 208 East North Street in Tampa, Florida. This is a site where there was a housing ...
