Donald Trump in Sarasota

Part of Tampa Bay cleanup canceled due to Donald Trump rally

Part of a major Tampa Bay cleanup effort scheduled for Saturday will be canceled because of a Donald Trump rally; the presumptive Republican nominee for president will speak at the Tampa Convention Center and it means that volunteer divers won’t be able to clean up a pier along Bayshore Boulevard. Tom Damico is environmental program coordinator… Read more »

Extremely high number of Walmart calls to police raises concerns. Is Walmart foisting cost of security onto taxpayers?

http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_160516_110617_radioactivityM1_348.MP3 BY Rob Lorei We start Radioactivity Monday with the latest episode of Florida This Week, a news and public affairs show, hosted by Rob Lorei, that is broadcast on local PBS station WEDU on Friday Nights. This week’s panel of political experts and insiders discuss the biggest stories in Florida news and politics:  A… Read more »

Eric Ward and Bob Buckhorn

Tampa Police Chief takes questions from council on “biking while black”

The Tampa Police Chief answered questions Thursday morning from members of City Council about last month’s Department of Justice report that found police disproportionally stopped black bicyclists. The report concluded that despite evidence of “stark racial disparities” there was not racial discrimination because of “race-neutral motivations.” City Council member Lisa Montelione asked Chief Eric Ward how… Read more »

Andrew Joseph with Tampa For Justice

Tampa for Justice wants civil rights investigation of police

Last week the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that although the Tampa Police Department issued disproportionately more tickets to black bicyclists that it was not intentional and therefore not racial discrimination. That study was done by Justice’s COPS program – Community Oriented Policing Services. We played a summary from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District… Read more »

Eric Ward and Bob Buckhorn

Tampa Police didn’t racially discriminate when handing out more citations to black bicyclists: DoJ

The Tampa Police Department issued disproportionately more citations and tickets to black bicycle riders – but it was not intentional racial discrimination; those are some of the conclusions of a Department of Justice report released Tuesday morning. It found 73 percent of bicycle stops in 2014 and the first eight months of 2015 involved black bicyclists, even… Read more »

Religious group protests Hillsborough Sheriffs rejection of civil citations for minors caught with pot

Demonstrators gathered outside the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office in Ybor City  Thursday afternoon, calling on Sheriff David Gee to reverse his decision to arrest minors caught with small amounts of marijuana instead of issuing them civil citations. The vigil was put together  by The Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality, also known as  HOPE, which is made-up of various religious groups through out the county…. Read more »

HOPE affordable housing criminal justice reform

Hillsborough Sheriff says no to civil citations for juveniles caught with marijuana

On Monday in Tampa, The Hillsborough County Sheriffs office said in a letter recited at a meeting of interfaith congregations that it will not extend its civil citation program for misdemeanor marijuana possession to juveniles. At the annual Nehemiah action meeting for The Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality, an interfaith coalition of over 20… Read more »

Apple iPhone / privacy

Chomsky, Snowden and Greenwald talk about privacy, terror

On MidPoint we heard part of a conversation about privacy and terrorism between Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowdon. Privacy, security and terrorism On Friday at the University of Arizona College of Behavioral Sciences in Tucson three well-known thinkers on issues like privacy and terrorism got together for the first time for a two-hour conversation. Well,… Read more »

Frank Reddick

Ballot initiative could add strong police investigative panel to Tampa charter

Community groups concerned about police accountability want to add a strong police review process to the Tampa City Charter. In a press conference Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the Hillsborough NAACP, several groups unveiled a petition for a Civilian Investigative Panel that would have subpoena powers, a staff and a budget. Tampa City Council member… Read more »

Year in Review: Stories that had us talking in 2015

As the year 2015 comes to an end this week, we take time to review some of the top stories that had us talking this year. Gay marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court in June and COP 21 was signed in December. However, unfortunately in 2015 there was an increase in gun violence, police… Read more »