The south Pinellas County beach community of Gulfport might consider banning single-use plastic straws; at the city council meeting Tuesday evening, a law student is introducing the idea of a straw ban in Gulfport restaurants. A similar ban passed in Ft. Myers Beach last year and is being considered in nearby St. Petersburg because of… Read more »
In less than 2 years industrial facilities dumped more pollution than allowed into Florida waters 270 times; that’s according to a new report from the Environment Florida Research & Policy Center called Troubled Waters. During a press conference Thursday morning along the shore of Hillsborough Bay at Ballast Point Park, Tampa-area Congress member Kathy Castor… Read more »
Journalism graduate students at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg have found low levels of lead in drinking water samples taken in the homes of middle school students in South St. Pete. WMNF News interviewed one participant, Andrea Perez, a Master’s student at USF St. Pete. “Dr. Bernardo Motta, he is the director of… Read more »
A statewide fracking ban bill failed again this year in the Florida Legislature; we heard why and found out what its chances are for next year on MidPoint Monday. WMNF spoke with Jennifer Rubiello, state director for Environment Florida. Listen to the full show here: Watch:
After Florida voters overwhelmingly supported amending the state constitution in 2014 to earmark funds for conservation lands, the state legislature came up short with the implementation; that’s the contention of several conservation organizations that sued the state to enforce the conservation lands Amendment 1. WMNF News interviewed their lead counsel, David Guest. Listen:
Putting a ban on offshore drilling in the Florida Constitution Florida voters may get a chance to ban oil and gas drilling in waters near the state’s coast. The Florida Constitution Revision Commission will take a final vote by May on whether to enshrine a ban in the state constitution on the 2018 ballot. Sixty-percent of… Read more »
In northwest Hillsborough County there’s a 400-acre chunk of land that environmentalists hope to save as a way to keep recharging the drinking water aquifer; Monday night in the Hillsborough County Center there’s a land use meeting, in part to talk about the future of this land near Keystone that also includes a shooting range…. Read more »
Environmentalists are hoping to save a wilderness preserve in Pasco County from being bisected by a new road; and now that the county’s budget has come out, supporters of the Serenova preserve say they plan to ask the feds to deny permitting because the cost estimate for the Ridge Road Extension has nearly doubled. WMNF… Read more »
There is one possible amendment up for consideration by the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission that would ban all fossil fuel drilling in Florida waters; our guest in the studio was Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director of the Center For Biological Diversity. The Constitutional Revision Commission is formed every 20 years and its members are mostly picked by… Read more »
Construction has begun on a Publix supermarket along the north edge of the University South Florida campus in Tampa; but an environmental advocate is concerned about how many old-growth oak trees have been destroyed. Louise Raterman is a USF alumna and lives near campus. “I was in the neighborhood and I suddenly saw equipment just… Read more »
A new report on sea-level rise by the Union of Concerned Scientists concludes that several Tampa Bay communities will see more and more sunny-day flooding over the next few decades; we also hear from two of the candidates running for Florida governor about climate change and sea-level rise. Here’s how Republican Adam Putnam responded last May… Read more »
Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is one of several people running for the Democratic nomination for Florida Governor; Levine is on a nine-city bus tour that brought him to the living room of a South Tampa house Thursday morning. Levine said two of his major accomplishments as mayor dealt with climate change resiliency and… Read more »
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is one of four major Democrats running for the party’s gubernatorial nomination this August. During his appearance on MidPoint on Thursday, he doubled down on what the Gwen Graham campaign believed was an attack on their candidate when he said this week that “I’ve actually done something with my life… Read more »
Radioactivity 1 10 18 Welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up—how well is the state of Florida doing when it comes to protecting the environment? How are average workers doing? Is the state creating good paying jobs? How well are we educating children? Providing health care for those who need it? We’ll hear from… Read more »
A Tampa activist is helping refugees in Europe; Dezeray Lyn works with several activist groups including Food Not Bombs Tampa and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. She’s assisting refugees now in Western Europe through her group Love Has No Borders, documenting the crisis and providing medical and other assistance. WMNF interviewed her in early January. On… Read more »
Trump moves to vastly expand offshore drilling off US coasts By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press, with additional reporting from JoEllen Schilke, WMNF WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday moved to vastly expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans with a plan that would open up federal waters off the California coast… Read more »
There are always so many leftovers from Christmas and the holidays. Cookies (haha just kidding, these aren’t ever left over), gift wrap and packaging, ham, tofurkey, burnt out lights, last minute gifts you thought were a good idea and then you realized oh no, this won’t work, and so on. What to do with it… Read more »
A federal judge has ruled in favor of phosphate mining in Florida and against a coalition of environmental groups trying to slow the expansion of mining in West Central Florida. WMNF News interviewed Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Listen: “The plaintiffs in this case were the Center… Read more »
Environmentalists in Pasco County are concerned that protected wilderness may fall victim to another highway project. And they’re organizing a protest Saturday morning to stop the Ridge Road extension and save the Serenova Wilderness. WMNF News interviewed Dan Callaghan with Florida Peace Action Network. Their protest to save the Serenova Wilderness and Starkey Preserve is… Read more »
Congratulations to #MeToo for winning Time Person of the Year- This is not only a moment, but a movement that is absolutely at the right time to try to save this country. For starters, all of us, not only women, need to save this country from the tax reform abomination that is racing through Congress…… Read more »
