News & Public Affairs
High seas may threaten Gulf recovery listen
06/28/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP oil spill, BP oil disaster, Thad Allen, US Coast Guard, hurricanes, Charlie Crist, OPEC, Bill Nelson
Today Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said the relief well BP is drilling had gotten to a depth of more than sixteen thousand feet and is on target to be functional by August. But high seas could delay the effort to stop the gulf oil gusher by as much as two weeks.
In a press conference today, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the oil spill recovery effort is unprecedented and so getting it right won’t be easy.
Be the first to comment"The damage continues to unfold over the cours...
Tom Iovino on hurricane preparedness listen
05/26/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: hurricanes, hurricane preparedness, Hurricane season, global warming, BP oil spill
As the Governor’s Hurricane Conference draws to a close in Fort Lauderdale, government officials are stressing preparedness ahead of what hurricane experts say will be an especially active hurricane season. They’re predicting fifteen named storms in total, eight of those being hurricanes and four of those being major hurricanes. Pinellas County spokesperson Tom Iovino said today that despite inaccurate forecasts in the past...
Be the first to commentHurricanes, sea level rise and creating sustainable communities listen
02/09/10 Matthew CimitileWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: climate change, sea level rise, hurricanes
As a peninsula surrounded by water and prone to extreme storms, Florida is one of the states with the most to lose if sea levels rise to the degree experts predict. With 4500 square miles of land below 5 feet of sea level, any rise in levels will submerge coastal land while increasing the risk of flooding to populations, according to the EPA. Tim Frazer is a coastal hazard specialist at the University of Idaho who presented results on Sarasota County’s coastal exposure.
“We started this ...
Be the first to commentCould Tampa handle a hurricane like Katrina? listen
01/06/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: hurricane preparedness, hurricanes, environment
Today at The Tampa Bay Catostrophic Planning Summit, disaster experts from nine counties considered what would happen if the Tampa bay region were hit by a category 5 hurricane as harrowing as Katrina.
If Tampa sustained a category 5 hurricane, experts predict $250 billion in losses to property and infrastructure. Hurricane Phoenix may be a simulation, but Florida’s vulnerability to the worst effects of such a storm are very real. [The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council](http://www.tbrpc....
Be the first to commentTampa Bay planners prepare for the worst: A category five hurricane listen
01/05/10 Joshua Lee HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: recovery plan, hurricane preparedness, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, hurricanes
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina still haunts America, as many recall the failure of FEMA, the levees, and government response to the disaster. Now other coastal cities like Tampa are learning from the tragedy, and are investigating how to prevent a similar collapse of communication and infrastructure from happening in the future.
Today planning officials from all levels of government met at the Tampa Quorum hotel to explore how the Tampa Bay Region could r...
Be the first to commentConserving the coast in the face of climate change listen
10/26/09 Matthew CimitileWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: climate change, Conservation, sea-level rise, hurricanes, desalination
A panel discussion addressing climate change’s impacts to Florida’s coastal ecosystems and strategies to adapt to warmer conditions and rising seas was hosted by the Audubon Society in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Though scientists have reached a consensus over the causes and likely effects of climate change, how to adapt to a warmer world remains fuzzy. That’s especially the case in areas where some of the greatest changes will occur, the coast. For many scientists and environmentalists ...
Be the first to commentFlorida senator wants to hurt wayward insurance companies listen
02/03/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Property insurance, State Farm, hurricanes
Last week, the largest private property insurer in Florida, State Farm Insurance, announced it is pulling out of the market, saying the company cannot raise premiums high enough to offset the risks from hurricane.
The final blow was the rejection of a 47 percent homeowners insurance rate increase last month by the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation.
In response, Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey is proposing two specific pieces of legislation. One bill would be to prevent State Fa...
Be the first to commentFinancial historian Niall Ferguson on insurance fund
11/25/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: National Catastrophe Fund, hurricanes, insurance
Niall Ferguson is a financial historian, and the author of the acclaimed new book, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. In the second part of our interview, WMNF asked him about insurance, and what he thinks of the idea for a National Catastrophe Fund, something Florida lawmakers say is the only way to fully address the issue of insurance in the hurricane prone state.
Be the first to commentSink addresses Institute for Business conference listen
11/14/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Catastrophe fund, insurance, hurricanes
The Tampa-based Institute for Business & Home Safety is holding its annual conference at the Convention Center this week. The conference for people in the insurance industries is on property loss reduction. This morning’s keynote speaker was Alex Sink, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer.
In response to the eight hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004 and 2005, state lawmakers set aside $250 million for the [My Safe Florida Home](ht...
1 commentsEffect of climate change on Caribbean nations studied listen
09/17/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hurricanes, Gustav, Ike, Caribbean
Hurricane Ike killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean before reaching the United States. Gustav, which slammed the U.S. two weeks earlier, killed more than 70 people in Hispaniola and Jamaica when it was still a tropical storm.
Ramon Bueno is co-author of a recent Tufts University Study entitled, “Caribbean and Climate Change: The Costs of Inaction.” He spoke to WMNF today.
For more information go to sei-us.org.
Be the first to comment