News & Public Affairs

GOP House candidate says Sansom has to go listen

06/09/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, Ray Sansom, Northwest Florida State College, indictments, Fabian Calvo, Richard Corcoran, Kathryn Starkey

A Republican candidate for a House seat in Pinellas County is calling on Ray Sansom to resign from the Legislature.

Fabian Calvo owns a Real Estate Investment Trust and a property management company in Clearwater. He also hosts a daily radio show on WTAN 1340 AM in the afternoon.

And he’s now one of three candidates to enter the District 45 seat currently held by Tom Anderson of Dunedin, who will leave the seat next year because of term limits.

Calvo says that Sansom, currently await...

Be the first to comment

New GOP Senate candidate critical of peers listen

06/09/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, Senate, Mel Martinez, Charlie Crist, Bob Smith

Yesterday Sarasota resident and former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith announced that he is a candidate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate next year in Florida.

In the first of a two-part interview, WMNF spoke with Smith today about his candidacy. We began by asking him about the Obama administration’s moves so far in 2009 – Smith says the biggest issue he worries about is what he says has been the "intrusion into the private sector."

Stay tuned for the second half of this intervie...

Be the first to comment

Single payer supporters meet with Sen. Max Baucus

06/06/09 Mary Glenney

Tags: Politics, health care, single payer system

Dr. Margaret Flowers, co-chair of the Maryland Physicians for National Health Program. and Brigitte Marti, a French expert on health care Systems, were our guests.

Margaret and Brigitte have met with Sen. Max Baucus and Sen. Ted Kennedy’s staffs regarding a single payer health care system. They will give us an update on the meetings and Brigitte will share her analysis of European healthcare systems.

PNHP.org [GuaranteedHealthCare4All.org](http://www.guaran...

Be the first to comment

Crist signs growth-management bill listen

06/02/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, growth management

As we reported last night, without ceremony Gov. Charlie Crist has signed Senate Bill 360, also known as the Community Renewal Act, into law. The bill was sponsored by Bradenton Sen. Mike Bennett, who is also a developer.

Bennett says the rewrite of growth-management regulations will bring common sense to outdated and frustrating rules, untie the hands of developers and jolt a badly stalled economy with a burst of new construction.

Hillsborough County environmental activist Denise La...

1 comments

Survey: Americans hungry for immigration reform listen

06/02/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, immigration reform

Pro-immigration groups from South Florida and around the country will gather in Washington later this week to pressure President Barack Obama to address immigration reform in his first year in office.

To convince the President and members of Congress that comprehensive immigration reform, and not handling illegal immigrants punitively, is what the American people want, advocates today released new poll numbers.

Pollster Peter Brodnitz is with the Benenson Strategy Group. He said 67 perc...

Be the first to comment

Dan Gelber drops out of Senate race listen

06/01/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, U.S. Senate, Dan Gelber, Kendrick Meek, Dave Aronberg, Corrine Brown

There’s been some movement in the race for the Democratic nomination for Senate next year.

Over the weekend, Miami Beach Sen. Dan Gelber confirmed that he is dropping out of race for Senate, in which he was running against South Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek.

Gelber made his comments to a netroots appearance in Miami on Saturday, where he said when the Democrats get into a contested primary, the winner generally loses in the general election to the Republican on the ballot.

Last ...

Be the first to comment

Indictments pile up against Sansom; House colleagues react listen

05/29/09 Seán Kinane
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, Ray Sansom, Northwest Florida State College, indictments

This week, ousted Speaker of the Florida House Ray Sansom had more charges added to his indictment. A grand jury charged Sansom and his developer friend Jay Odom with perjury.

The St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald reported on emails between Odom, Sansom, and the president of Northwest Florida State College about using state funding to construct an aircraft hanger. On the day he became House Speaker, Sansom took a position with the College, whose president, Bob Richburg, was also i...

Be the first to comment

New endorsements: St. Pete mayor's race heats up listen

05/29/09 Seán Kinane
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, Larry Williams, Bill Foster, Scott Wagman, St. Petersburg mayor

In the crowded race for mayor of St. Petersburg, two potential frontrunners picked up endorsements this week.

Yesterday former City Council member Bill Foster announced that he received the endorsement of the Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association. In a letter, Sun Coast PBA President Mark Marland said, “Bill Foster has the experience, leadership and motivation to lead St. Petersburg in a bright and prosperous direction.”

Another candidate, bus...

Be the first to comment

Study: Uninsured are costly for those with insurance listen

05/28/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Health care, politics, reform

The average U.S. family and their employers paid an extra $1,017 in health care premiums last year to compensate for the uninsured, according to a study released today by an advocacy group for health care consumers.

Families USA, which supports expanded health care coverage, found that about 37 percent of health care costs for people without insurance — or a total of $42.7 billion — went unpaid last year. That cost eventually was shifted to the insured through higher premiums, according to...

Be the first to comment