Car vs Protester: driver released and protester arrested.

On Saturday a protester was hospitalized and arrested after being struck and carried off by a vehicle that had driven through a demonstration in Hyde Park. About 50 people had gathered to show support for activist and veteran Jae Passmore, who sustained a leg injury and a concussion a week ago during another Black Lives Matter rally where she was… Read more »

NAACP press conference

Rights groups and Hillsborough law enforcement agencies agree to reforms

The Hillsborough Branch NAACP, local ACLU and several law enforcement agencies from across Hillsborough County are working together to repair trust between police and the community. In a press conference Wednesday morning, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced five reforms the law enforcement groups agreed to. Listen: Chronister said implicit bias training would be enhanced… Read more »

Truck drives into Tampa activist at Black Lives Matter protest

Over the weekend several Juneteenth marches and celebrations continued across the Tampa Bay area. On Sunday one march landed in front of Meat Market in Hyde Park Village, which was hosting brunch despite an employee recently testing positive for COVID-19. Former Hillsborough County Commission candidate and military veteran Jae Passmore was struck by a car… Read more »

Hillsborough County Florida coronavirus

Hillsborough Commission approves full-time body cameras for Sheriff’s deputies

The Hillsborough County Commission voted Wednesday to fund full-time body-worn cameras for Hillsborough Sheriff’s deputies. Sheriff Chad Chronister said he now prefers cameras that record whenever a deputy is working instead of ones that record only when a deputy draws a weapon. “But I think there’s an outcry for our public, as we know, to… Read more »

Black Lives Matter counter-protests “Back the Blue” rally

More than a dozen Black Lives Matter marches gathered across Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg last weekend with about 2,000 in attendance at the Bayshore Boulevard march on Saturday. In response to three weeks of global protests against police brutality, about 50 law enforcement advocates held a rally in support of officers. WMNF was on… Read more »

Author of “American Prison” Discusses Conditions For Prisoners in the U.S.

Radioactivity with Rob Lorei Listen Here: Select 06/12/19 from the drop down menu Radioactivity: Interviews & Live Call-In Intro: Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up— Corporations are making a good profit housing prisoners– what’s it like to be a guard in a private, for profit prison? It’s a growing business and… Read more »

Activists Protest Killing of Civilians by Border Patrol

Last Wednesday in Tampa’s Ybor City a group of about a dozen people protested the killing of people in Mexico by US Border Patrol agents. The Associated Press is reporting this morning that: “U.S. authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the first hours of the new year to repel about 150 migrants who tried… Read more »

Capone & Ness Vs. Trump & Mueller

They could barely conceal their excitement. The two authors had already spent nearly an hour talking exuberantly about their new book. Now they were both eager to continue and answer a provocative question they admittedly had prompted, “Are there parallels between Al Capone & Eliot Ness Vs. Donald Trump and Robert Mueller?” With mere seconds… Read more »

mural art border wall U.S. Mexico immigration

Human rights activists will hold vigil at U.S. Border Control office in Ybor City

The emotional scars from separating children from parents seeking asylum at the U.S. – Mexico border is just one type of violence migrants face; another is being shot by armed Border Patrol agents. This Friday afternoon, immigration activists will hold a vigil in front of the U.S. Border Control office in Ybor City. Ana Maria… Read more »

Apple iPhone / privacy

Privacy concerns over police using dead man’s finger to unlock phone?

On WMNF’s MidPoint Monday we discussed privacy concerns that arise from police trying to use a dead man’s finger to unlock his phone; we also heard part of President Donald Trump’s speech at the National Rifle Association. In March, Linus Phillip was shot and killed by police at a gas station in Pinellas County. Officers say… Read more »

Bob Gualtieri takes the heat in sometimes contentious immigration debate

In January, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri held a news conference in Largo, where it was announced that Pinellas and 16 other law enforcement agencies in Florida would now have “housing agreements’ with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would allow federal agents more time to pick up arrested undocumented immigrants from local jails. The… Read more »

Blake High School Students Plan Walkout Tomorrow to Protest Gun Violence

Radioactivity 2 22 18 Good morning, Welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. After last week’s massacre at the high school in Parkland, high school students from around the country have been organizing walkouts, meetings, protests- calling for laws to protect students from gun violence. This week the Parkland students took part in massive protests and… Read more »

MidPoint for Thursday, Jan 4 – State Sen. Darryl Rouson and Marijuana Policy Project’s Morgan Fox

With the announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he is rescinding an Obama-era policy that had discouraged federal prosecutors from bringing charges of marijuana-related crimes in states that have legalized sales of the drug, MidPoint spoke with Morgan Fox from the Marijuana Policy Project. We followed that up with a discussion with St. Petersburg… Read more »

Andrew Warren

Hillsborough State Attorney announces plan to take guns away from domestic abusers

The State Attorney in Hillsborough County has announced a new initiative to take guns away from domestic abusers; during a press conference Wednesday morning Andrew Warren said he would use existing laws and work with police to help reduce the number of domestic violence victims. Listen:   At the press conference, Warren was accompanied by… Read more »