Next month, St. Pete City Council will consider an ordinance to comprehensively look at how the city deals with all kinds of disposable plastics: from straws, to bags and polystyrene containers. In a committee today the focus was entirely on plastic straws: should there be a ban – as requested by environmentalists – or a… Read more »
Polk County School Board Member Decries Power of Tallahassee Over Education
Read MoreMidPoint for Thursday, May 24 - Barry Edwards and what to do about making making Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa safer
Read MoreLess than a month into his candidacy, David Straz shakes up campaign staff
Read MoreBusinessman Starts Petition Drive to Ban Assault Style Weapons in Florida; And David Straz Runs for Mayor of Tampa
Read MoreRemodeled Riverfront Park is backdrop for Bob Buckhorn's State of the City address
Read MoreNo decision yet on noisy shooting range's request for rezoning
Read MoreDavid Straz says running a retail campaign for Tampa mayor 'is going to be pretty easy'
Read MoreMidPoint for Thursday, May 3- "Conspiracy" author Ryan Holiday
Read MoreHillsborough Commission delays decision on expanding to 9 single-member districts
Read MoreHillsborough County extends the waiting period in gun purchases.
Read MoreDavid Straz gets closer to announcing his candidacy for Tampa Mayor
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Hillsborough tax collector says Florida rule costs county millions
A few years ago the state Legislature made county tax collector offices perform some motor vehicle and driver license services. But that means the local offices are losing millions because the fees they charge don’t cover the expense. Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden wants that fixed. “The problem is the fact that the state… Read more »
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ACORN Founder Wade Rathke Subject of New Film The Organizer Talks About Community Organizing
Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. ACORN was once the largest political movement of low and moderate income people in the US- but it was destroyed by an attack- from conservative media. We’ll look at the history of ACORN this morning and hear from its founder Wade Rathke who will be in St…. Read more »
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MidPoint 4/19 – Former U.S. Rep Alan Grayson & Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White
Alan Grayson will soon be announcing his comeback for a seat in the U.S. Congress, though what district in Florida he’ll be representing is still unknown. The Orlando-area firebrand, who was defeated in his last race for the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2016, has been steadily raising money for over a year now in… Read more »
St. Pete begins discussion on best way to reduce plastics
On Thursday morning St. Petersburg City Council began its discussion on how to reduce or eliminate plastic straws – and it may expand to other single-use plastics. No decisions were made at the meeting of the council’s Health, Energy, Resiliency and Sustainability Committee, but it seems likely the city will choose between phasing in a… Read more »
MidPoint April 12- Pat Kemp, Linda Saul-Sena & Taryn Sabia on transit
While a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line running from Wesley Chapel to St. Petersburg continues to be the major proposal that the Tampa Bay area transportation community is rallying around, there are a number of critics of the proposal, and three of them participated in Thursday’s MidPoint program. Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp says… Read more »
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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 »
St. Pete businesses unveil voluntary plastics-reduction program; environmentalists want more
This Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council will begin to discuss how to reduce the amount of single-use plastics in the city; and Tuesday morning a coalition of restaurant owners and civic groups unveiled a new campaign for businesses to voluntarily reduce the use of plastic straws. But for some environmentalists, that doesn’t go far… Read more »
New documentary on St. Pete sewage crisis
There’s a new documentary on the wastewater dumping problem in St. Petersburg; it’s called St. Pete Unfiltered, and we spoke with the filmmaker. The documentary looks at a series of massive dumps of sewage, partially treated sewage and stormwater into Clam Bayou, Tampa Bay and other waterways and land areas. Joining us at the WMNF… Read more »
MidPoint for Thursday, April 5- Tampa political reporter William ‘Windy’ March
Windy March is the Dean of political reporters in the Tampa Bay area. Full stop. He toiled for the late Tampa Tribune for 30 years (1984-2014), the last 20 as the chief political reporter. Since then he’s become a weekly columnist and contributor on Hillsborough County politics for the Tampa Bay Times. On the program,… Read more »
Gun safety groups ask Sarasota City Commission to take action on gun violence
In 2011 the Florida Legislature passed a bill that was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott that penalized local governments and elected officials that tried to pass gun safety rules that are stricter than state law. But ten south Florida cities are challenging that “preemption” law. And now, gun safety advocates like the Brady… Read more »
Law student pushing for plastic straw ban in Gulfport
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 »
Ed Turanchik lays out his vision to become Tampa’s next mayor before hundreds in Tampa Heights
Although the next mayor of Tampa may not be known for more than a year, Ed Turanchik is sure off to a swift start. The 62-year-old attorney and civic activist has already raised over $100,000 since entering the race in late January (including more than $41,000 in his political action committee), and had a crowd… Read more »
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MidPoint for Thursday, March 15 – John Judis and Tampa mayoral candidate Topher Morrison
Journalist and author John B. Judis was our guest for the first part of this edition of MidPoint. Judis is an editor at large at Talking Points Memo and the author of The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics. His piece, “The Two Sides of Immigration Policy,” was published in last… Read more »
