News & Public Affairs

ACLU willing to sue if election bill passes listen

04/24/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, Legislature, election laws, voter registration, ACLU

In Tallahassee today, the House of Representatives debated a scaled down Elections Reform bill today that had received harsh criticism from activists and even Gov. Charlie Crist.

The new version removes a provision to eliminate as acceptable two forms of ID used mainly by older voters; requirements that paid petition circulators must register with the state; a requirement that voters who change their address close to an election must cast provisional ballots; and rules that would have made...

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Florida Virtual School supporters worry about funding listen

04/21/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Politics, education, budget

Not all students in Florida take all of their courses in a classroom. Many take some or all of their classes online through the Florida Virtual School. But some supporters gathered in Tallahassee today to ask state Legislature not to cut millions of dollars of funding from the online program.

Pam Birtolo, chief learning officer at Florida Virtual School, spoke with WMNF before the rally.

Florida Virtual School

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Nelson decries Legislature considering offshore oil drilling listen

04/21/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Politics, offshore oil drilling, Bill Nelson, politics

A panel in the Florida House has approved a bill that would allow oil and natural gas drilling in areas off the coast of Florida.

The bill would allow drilling to 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, where federal waters begin and drilling is now banned.

A Republican state legislator from Winter Park, Dean Cannon sponsored the bill that was approved on a nearly party line vote of 17-7.

But U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, opposes such an expansion of oil drilling off the coast of Flor...

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President Obama signs Call to Service bill listen

04/21/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Politics, civil service

This afternoon President Barack Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which will fund such service programs as AmeriCorps.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, calls it “the most sweeping expansion of national service programs in many, many years” and says it was a “big bipartisan victory.”

“We think that that happened because there are so many people both members of Congress as well as around the country who believe in the impact...

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Health care reform movement holds town hall meeting listen

04/17/09 Andrea Lypka
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Tags: Health care, politics, reform

The town hall meeting organized by the grass-roots group Florida Health Care for America Now on Thursday in St. Petersburg was one of 90 taking place in 43 states nationwide over the Congressional recess.

About 50 community members, health care providers, and various organizations shared their stories and view points on health care on April 16 at the Muvico BayWalk Theatre and demanded affordable quality health care for all.

Resident Cindy McNulty is one of the faces of the uninsured...

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Charlie Justice to challenge Bill Young for seat in Congress listen

04/16/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: U.S Senate, politics, Charlie Justice, C.W. Young

Tampa Bay area Democratic Sen. Charlie Justice has announced that he will step down next year to run for Congress in Florida’s 10th District, the congressional home of Bill Young for the past 38 years.

Justice was unavailable for comment. His campaign manager, Mitch Kates, did speak about his candidacy today with WMNF.

Young is 78 years old, and District 10, which covers Pinellas County from Dunedin down to St. Petersburg, did vote for Barack Obama last fall. But Daryl Paulson, a polit...

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Michelle Goldberg on controversial Afghan marriage law listen

04/15/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Women's issues, women's rights, politics, Afghanistan

This morning in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, hundreds of Afghan women protested in front of the Parliament building calling on the government to modify the controversial law on marital life of Shiite women.

However, as the protesting women carried banners inscribed with slogans in favor of equality between men and women, a group of men began pelting stones at protesters in an attempt to disperse them. Police cordoned off the protestors to enable them dispersing peacefully.

Wide cr...

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Tampa Tea Party draws hundreds listen

04/15/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, taxes, protests

A crowd of about 500 people gathered in downtown Tampa today as part of the nationwide Tax Day Tea Parties protesting government spending, particularly spending plans of President Barack Obama.

The event has received large coverage on conservative media outlets, like talk radio and Fox News. Their presence has become so large that in the past few days, the left leaning cable network MSNBC has held several reports about Fox’s involvement.

Although many in the audience were conservative...

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Health care town hall meeting

04/15/09 Robert Lorei
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Tags: Health care, politics, reform

This segment featured an interview with Debbie King, organizer of a local town hall meeting this week on health care.

From the group's press release:

"Florida health care advocates have invited Congressman Bill Young (R-District 10) to join a town hall meeting on Thursday April 16th to talk about why real health care reform must happen in 2009. The event will be one of 90 taking place in 43 states nationwide over the April Congressional recess. The people of Pinellas County will share...

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Bennett pulls back from plan to suspend impact fees listen

04/14/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Impact fees, politics

Bradenton area state Sen. Mike Bennett’s bill that would eliminate impact fees was substantially changed today, and will no longer freeze such fees for three years.

Bennett’s bill now would limit impact fees to $2 per square foot on residential properties and $8 for commercial properties. The bill also creates a real-estate transfer fee paid for by the grantor of the property, but exempts first time sale.

After a representative from the Florida Association of Realtors said his group opp...

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