News & Public Affairs

Pinellas transit officials want to brand improvements before asking residents to pay for them listen

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Tags: PSTA, transit, light rail, transportation, Ken Welch, Brad Miller, SunRail

Pinellas County is slowly moving forward with plans to ask voters to pay for a major transit overhaul. A study released this year lays the groundwork for both light rail and increased bus service to support it. At a transit meeting yesterday, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller said the ideas need to be discussed with possible riders.

“To help us digest all of these plans that are going on whether they’re long term or shor...

The Governor gives the go-ahead to commuter rail in Orlando

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Tags: Sunrail, Rosemary Guidreau, Rick Scott, high-speed rail, Orlando, Lakeland

Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up today we’ll talk about Governor Rick Scott’s decision last Friday to okay a commuter rail project in the Orlando area called Sunrail. Just a few months after he killed a $2.7 billion high-speed train linking Tampa and Orlando, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday said he was giving the go-ahead for Sunrail - a $1.3 billion dollar Orlando-area commuter rail system that will cost state and local taxpayers even more money than high speed rail...

Floridians get SunRail; Colbert gets his super PAC

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Tags: Rick Scott, SunRail, Food Not Bombs, Stephen Colbert, super PAC

Federally subsidized high speed rail wasn't good enough for Governor Rick Scott, but apparently SunRail is. Today the Governor endorsed the controversial Central Florida commuter rail project which is expected to cost close to $3 billion. On today's Last Call we heard excerpts from Scott's presser announcing his decision to approve the project.

We also checked in with WMNF reporter Kate Bradshaw, live on the sce...

Florida Representative Bill Heller on why he opposed the rail bill listen

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Tags: transit, special session, rail, TBARTA, high-speed rail, Sunrail

State Representative Bill Heller voted against the rail bill that Governor Crist signed today. The Democrat from St. Petersburg says he supports mass transit, but opposes the multi-million dollar handout to the rail company CSX.

Rail deal passes in legislature

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Tags: high speed rail, Tampa-Orlando, CSX, Sunrail, Sen. Paula Dockery, Ed Turanchik, Connect Us, light rail, trolley, TBARTA

A bill that would clear the way for commuter and high-speed rail systems is heading to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's desk.

Final passage came yesterday in the Florida Senate on a bipartisan 27-10 vote to close out a 6-day special legislative session. It easily passed in the House on Monday.

Crist is a strong supporter of the bill (HB 1B) and is expected to sign it into law.

The measure includes liability protection for the giant CSX corporation, which backers said was needed to...