News & Public Affairs
Occupy Tampa complies with police order to remove their shade, but vows to stay listen
10/14/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Occupy Tampa, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy DC, Occupy St. Pete, occupation, protests, protesters, protest, Tampa Police, ACLU of Florida, ACLU, First Amendment
Friday morning police told Occupy Tampa to take down parts of their sidewalk camp outside Curtis-Hixon Park. Tables and canopies have been removed, but the protesters are still allowed to stay and sleep.
Last Sunday night a police officer told Occupy Tampa that they could stay on the sidewalk. But two nights later [police told protesters they had to leave the sidewalk](http://www...
Be the first to commentACLU awaits challenge of a Florida law that requires welfare applicants to take a drug test listen
09/30/11 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Louis Lebron, ACLU, Rick Scott, DCF, welfare
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is awaiting ruling on whether or not drug testing welfare recipients is constitutional. The law that took effect in July is being challenged by a single father who refused to subject himself to an unwarranted drug test.
Louis Lebron is a 35-year-old UCF student and single father. He is also the sole caregiver to his mother who has a disability. And he’s a veteran of the Navy. When he was told he would have to take ...
Be the first to commentPreliminary welfare drug test results contrary to Governor Scott's claims
08/26/11 Lisa Marzilli, Beth BellLast Call Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: ACLU of Florida, Baylor Johnson, Governor Rick Scott, mandatory drug testing, welfare, CNN, T.J. Holmes, Tampa Tribune, ACLU
On today's Last Call we were joined by Baylor Johnson, Online Advocacy Coordinator for the ACLU of Florida who talked about the mandatory drug testing of welfare recipients in Florida, ordered by Governor Rick Scott. The program went into effect July 1.
This week the Tampa Tribune published preliminary findings ...
3 commentsHow will Tampa police handle Republican National Convention protests? listen
07/29/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Republican National Convention, RNC, Tampa Police, ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, John Dingfelder, 2012 GOP Convention
In fewer than thirteen months, Downtown Tampa will be swarming with protesters, politicos, and news teams from across the country who will be in town for the Republican National Convention. Police are already preparing for the onslaught – and so are civil liberties advocates.
The RNC has been heralded as an economic boon to any city it comes to, and Tampa is certainly no different. The question is, will the convention also leave in its wake the usual legacy of crackdowns on protesters and ...
4 commentsJesse Jackson urges East Tampa residents to fight Florida's controversial elections laws listen
07/27/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Jesse Jackson, Rainbow-PUSH coalition, elections, Voting rights, state legislature, Arthenia Joyner, Alex Sink, ACLU
Many Floridians are up in arms about changes to state election laws. Critics say the new laws aim to restrict turnout among those who tend to vote Democratic, especially low-income minorities. Yesterday one of the most well-known civil rights champions was in East Tampa urging residents to fight the new laws with all their might.
As fellow civil rights activists urged the crowd to do battle against changes to the way Florida votes, the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat on stage in a throne-like c...
Be the first to commentPublic employees sue FL Gov. Rick Scott over order to drug test state workers listen
06/01/11 Sean KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: ACLU, Rick Scott, drug testing, drugs, unions, state workers, public employees
A public workers union and a state employee from St. Pete are suing Governor Rick Scott because of an executive order requiring random drug testing of all state workers. A lawyer from the ACLU of Florida is joining with Peter Walsh, a Miami trial lawyer, to represent the plaintiffs.
3 comments"Executive order 11-58 calls for random drug testing. It requires the state to set up a regime of random drug testing for all state empl...
Controversial elections law not yet valid in Hillsborough, four other counties listen
05/20/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Early voting, elections, Hillsborough County, voting rights act, Rick Scott, ACLU, 2011 Legislative session, voting
Governor Rick Scott has set off another firestorm of criticism when he signed a law yesterday that overhauls elections in Florida. The law goes into effect immediately, except in Hillsborough and four other counties in the state.
Hillsborough County was once found to have polling practices deemed racially discriminatory under Section 5 of the [Voting Rights Act of 1965](http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_...
Be the first to commentFlorida ACLU reacts to controversial elections bill passed by the Legislature
05/19/11 Mitch PerryLast Call Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Danielle Prendergast, Florida ACLU, ACLU, elections, 2011 legislative session
Danielle Prendergast from the ACLU of Florida speaks about the controversial elections reform passed by the Florida Legislature.
Be the first to commentBipartisanship on both sides of Florida's redistricting process listen
05/18/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Fair districts, voting rights, elections, Florida politics, ACLU, Darryl Rouson, Dan Gelber, redistricting, gerrymandering
Progressives may not be happy with many of the outcomes of the 2010 midterm elections, but many see the two Fair Districts amendments voters adopted as a victory. But Not everyone is happy that they passed, and there’s even a bipartisan effort to challenge the law, which changes the way legislative districts are drawn.
Some say Florida voters overwhelmingly elected Republicans to the state legislature because the GOP’s election year strategy brought...
Be the first to commentThe ACLU perspective on legislation being considered in Tallahassee
03/16/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: ACLU, Danielle Prendergast, abortion, reproductive freedom, school vouchers, right to privacy
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. Coming up we'll talk about the ongoing state legislative session from the perspective of the American Civil Liberties Union. (later we'll open the phone lines.) Our guest is Danielle Prendergast, PhD who is the Director of Public Policy for the ACLU of Florida. We'll look at reproductive rights, privacy, the proposals to direct tax dollars to public schools and other legislation affecting the Bill of Rights.
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