News & Public Affairs

Martinez, Castor weigh in on president's plans for GM & Chrysler listen

03/30/09 Mitch E. Perry
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WMNF spoke with U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Tampa area Congresswoman Kathy Castor about their reactions to the president’s ouster of General Motors CEO Rick Waggoner, as well as more financial contributions to GM and Chrysler to keep them afloat.

Whether General Motors will be able to re-tool and reinvent itself remains to be seen. If the company does survive, the longtime auto giant will no doubt be pared down significantly.

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Obama canvass takes place in South Tampa listen

03/23/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, economy, Barack Obama, Wall Street

Following appearances on The Tonight Show and 60 Minutes in recent days, President Barack Obama will address the American public tomorrow night in prime time in his second scheduled news conference.

Obama’s mission on achieving some of his major goals took a hit last week – first with the outrage over bonuses given to executives at A.I.G., followed by the Congressional Budget Office announcing on Friday that the president’s budget could create record deficits in the years to come. Tha...

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Hillsborough facing $100M deficit next fiscal year listen

03/18/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Economy, Florida budget, Hillsborough County

The budget director for Hillsborough County said today the County is looking at a $100 million-plus deficit next fiscal year.

Eric Johnson said that based on lower property tax rolls, the county had been anticipating a 6½ percent reduction in revenues later this year. But he said more recent economic news has virtually doubled that reduction to 13 percent. And Johnson said economic projections indicate the County will not see 5 percent growth in property taxes for at least the next five y...

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Major rally for public education set for Wednesday listen

03/17/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, economy, education, Legislature

More than a thousand people are expected to protest tomorrow at the state capitol to protest multimillion-dollar cuts to local school districts' budgets.

Over the past year and a half, the Hillsborough County school district has absorbed more than $82 million in cuts, according to Jeanne Clements, president of the Hillsborough County Teachers Association. She says at that same time, new schools have opened, more staff has been hired, and more students have been absorbed into the school dis...

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Congressman Meek on AIG bonuses: "It sickens me" listen

03/16/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Kendrick Meek, Congress, economy

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are blasting bailed out insurance giant AIG over the $165 million in bonuses for executives announced this weekend. Those are the same executives whose record losses forced the company to request government assistance in the first place.

Miami area Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek says Congress needs to act soon to address the taxpayer funds going to AIG – which now amounts to $170 billion.

Meek is running for the Democratic nomination ...

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State educators lament fiscal situation in Tallahassee listen

03/16/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Economy, politics, education

The Florida State Board of Education held a workshop where members heard from a variety of state educators today.

The administrators all acknowledged the tremendous challenges they are facing with reduced funding, but most said they were thinking positively.

Sanford Shugart, president of Valencia Community College, told Board member Roberto Martinez that the resource allocation model in the state has been broken for a long time.

Michael Greco is the superintendant with the Osceola D...

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Bill would eliminate impact fees in Florida until 2012 listen

03/16/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Economy, politics, development, impact fees, growth

A bay area senator angered environmentalists before the legislative session began when he filed a bill that would block the collection of developer impact fees for three years.

Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, says the way impact fees are imposed is totally unfair and inappropriate.

Hillsborough County Environmental activist Denise Layne says Bennett’s bill and other proposals aim to deregulate the building process this year.

The foreclosure crises has hit Florida hard, with some economist...

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Senator: Unemployed should take drug tests for benefits listen

03/12/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, economy, Legislature, unemployment

Unemployment is now at a 16-year high in Florida, as the Sunshine State has lost more than 355,000 jobs over the past year.

For many who have lost a job, it’s a blow to the ego to have to ask for government assistance. But if one bay area legislator has his way, they may have to submit more than their personal information and their pride to collect unemployment.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, has introduced a bill that would require random testing for one of every 10 people who apply...

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Michael Lind on Obama listen

03/06/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Michael Lind, politics, economy

As the stock market continues its downward spiral, some conservative critics are blaming President Obama, not yet in office 6 weeks yet.

In an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal called “Obama’s radicalism is Killing the Dow,” Stanford University Economics Professor Michael J. Boskin writes that the Wall Street sell-off is a product in part of the realization that our new president’s policies are designed to radically re-engineer the market-based U.S. economy, not just mitigate ...

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Florida unemployment rate continue to rise listen

03/06/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Economy, unemployment rate

The number of unemployed people rose in the Tampa bay area to nearly 10 percent in January. Officially, the number was 9.7 percent, while in Florida, unemployment is now at 8.6 percent. That’s 3½ percent higher than a year ago.

Nationally, the unemployment rate is now at 8.1 percent.

Rebecca Rust is an economist with the state agency for Workforce Innovation. She says Florida has nearly 356,000 jobs, a negative job growth rate at 4 ½ percent, larger than the national 2 ½ percent n...

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