David Dayen is a contributing writer to Salon.com and The Intercept, and a weekly columnist at The Fiscal Times. On today’s show, he discussed his recent piece in the New Republic where he takes issue with Atlantic magazine contributor Peter Bienart’s recent article that states that the next president – Republican or Democratic – will be more… Read more »
Today on the Sustainable Living Program we spent the hour talking about communication skills. Our guests were Stephanie Bachmann Mattei, a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and Andrew Rock, a member of the Florida Center for Mindfulness. Andrew’s also the co-founder of the Tampa Bay Climate Action Network and last week had… Read more »
Rob Lorei Today we are joined by Alan Peacock, VP of the Tampa chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, to talk about the toy drive the Letter Carriers and other labor unions will be participating in to make it easier to give a Christmas gift for needy children. On Saturday postal workers will… Read more »
Strikes, walkouts and rallies in Tampa and Saint Petersburg were part of a nationwide protest demanding a 15 dollar an hour minimum wage. Tuesday’s events in the Tampa Bay metro area culminated with a rally at Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa. The event gathered together a diverse group of supporters with a clearly defined purpose…. Read more »
By Rob Lorei Today on Radioactivity, We look at some key moments from last night’s GOP debate on CNBC and then open up the phone lines for listener comments on the who they thought the winners and losers of the debate and the performance of the CNBC moderators.
Richard Wolff, celebrated economist, professor, pundit and author, is coming to St. Petersburg’s Palladium Theater in benefit for WMNF Community Radio on Tuesday, November 10. Wolff’s analysis of capitalism from a Marxist perspective easily dismantles critics of workers’ rights and regulation by simply using data and historic analysis. Discussions about wage theft, minimum wage, and… Read more »
Hillsborough County now has a way to help employees who are getting short-changed by their bosses; the County Commission unanimously passed a “wage recovery ordinance” Wednesday morning to resolve disputes when a worker claims wage theft. During public comment, Tampa resident Mike Reedy told commissioners the ordinance would help keep disputes over wage theft by workers… Read more »
By Rob Lorei This Saturday the fifth annual St.Petersburg Science festival will be held from 10 am to 4 pm on the Bayboro waterfront at the USF St.Petersburg campus. One of the festival’s organizers,E. Howard Rutherford from USF St.Pete’s College of Marine Science, joins us to talk about the festival that aims to engage children… Read more »
Bernie Sanders delivered the goods to his base and beyond during the first live Democratic presidential debate. Last night more than 40 people showed up to watch the debate at a Bernie Sanders viewing party held at the historic Manhattan Casino located in the Deuces neighborhood of Saint Petersburg. The South Saint Petersburg viewing party… Read more »
Public policies announced by some of our presidential candidates were the topic of discussion on the program. WMNF spoke with David Dayen about breaking down the recent Wall Street Journal report that Bernie Sanders spending plans if elected president would amount to over $18 trillion. In a recent piece in The Intercept,Dayen tears apart that… Read more »
Officials in Miami-Dade County are dealing with an infestation of the Asian fruit fly; it has not spread beyond Miami-Dade, but citrus growers through the whole state still face another issue: citrus greening. To find out how greening is still affecting the crop, WMNF recently spoke with Larry Black, general manager of the Peace River Packing… Read more »
throughout most of Bernie Sanders presidential run, a lot have attention has been drawn to the fact that he is a self-described democratic socialist. But what exactly is democratic socialism? Joining us is Maria Svart, the National Director of the Democratic Socialists of America, to give insight into the this ideology that pairs democratic political… Read more »
This year signs have popped up in front of schools in Hillsborough County by a large temporary work agency seeking teachers; does this mean there’s a major teacher shortage? This week WMNF News put that question to School Board member April Griffin, who said the district is always looking to hire new teachers but they’ve… Read more »
Some members of Tampa City Council want to go against the legal advice of the city’s attorney and create a civilian board to review actions of the police – or at least appoint more members than Mayor Bob Buckhorn has in mind for a board he created by executive order. And diverse voices of citizens… Read more »
On MidPoint we looked at hydraulic fracturing in Florida and citizens’ efforts to stop it; joining us on the phone from southwest Florida was Dr. Karen Dwyer, co-founder of the Stonecrab Alliance, an environmental advocacy group. Our in-studio guest was Jennifer Rubiello, state director of Environment Florida. Tuesday in Naples the Board of Collier County Commissioners is meeting and one… Read more »
The City of Tampa will use some money from the settlement with BP over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster to help fund redevelopment on the west side of the Hillsborough River. The city’s chief financial officer, Sonya Little, told City Council yesterday that some of the funds will pay for some of the… Read more »
A month ago heavy rains led St. Petersburg to dump millions of gallons of untreated sewage mixed with stormwater into Clam Bayou. That’s an estuary shared by the city, state and the neighboring city of Gulfport. But the Mayor of Gulfport, Sam Henderson, says it’s an ongoing problem — Clam Bayou is still closed because… Read more »
There are at least three major ways that skyrocketing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are affecting the oceans and species, like humans, that depend on them; you probably already know about soaring temperatures and about rising seas, but scientists discussed the third – ocean acidification – at a roundtable panel Wednesday in Sarasota. Higher concentrations… Read more »
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has returned from what he called a “very worthwhile trip” to Cuba. During a press conference at City Hall Tuesday afternoon, Kriseman said he was blown away by the beauty and the arts in Havana. The St. Petersburg delegation met for two hours with the deputy director for American affairs… Read more »
By Rob Lorei The presidential race so far has brought a lot of attention to illegal immigration and its affect on low wage jobs, but there is growing attention on the practice of major companies using the H1B work visa to replace US workers with imported, cheaper foreign workers. The H1B visa was originally intended… Read more »
On Friday, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn announced a new Citizens Review Board to keep an eye on the city’s police department; on WMNF’s MidPoint, Seán Kinane spoke with Laila Abdelaziz, a critic who is part of a movement that thinks an independent board is needed instead. Abdelaziz is legislative and government affairs director at CAIR Florida… Read more »
By Rob Lorei Today we talk with economist James Henry about the recent drop seen in the U.S. stock markets in response to market fluctuations seen in China caused by the devaluation of its currency a few weeks ago and overvaluation of its markets amid fears of a slowing Chinese economy. Henry explains what that means for… Read more »
Update from Friday, August 28: Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has announced the creation of a Citizens Review Board to review issues related to the Tampa Police Department. The number of citations Tampa Police are issuing to bicyclists has sharply declined over the past three months; during a presentation to Tampa City Council Thursday morning the… Read more »
Today Host Rob Lorei talks with two Tampa area workers who just returned from a trip to Brazil to testify at a global hearing on the working conditions of McDonald’s workers from all over the world. Bleu Rainer, a McDonald’s employee for three years, and Nadaije Pail Jajoute, a childcare worker and wage advocate, are part of… Read more »
this Saturday marks the 10 years since Hurricane Katrina hit the northern gulf coast, devastating New Orleans as the storm overwhelmed its aged levee system and flooded 80 percent of the city, leaving over 1800 dead. Over the last few years New Orleans has experienced what many see as a renewal with as it economy… Read more »
