Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren and Jacksonville’s Melissa Nelson Thursday joined prosecutors from around the country to announce new initiatives aimed at accountability and reducing racial disparity in the justice system. The two participated in the Prosecutorial Performance Indicator project aimed at using detailed data sets to track the success of prosecutor offices and… Read more »
Florida residents and environmental activists gathered online today voicing opposition to a proposed fish farm in the Gulf of Mexico near Sarasota. The testimony comes less than a week after Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced legislation to clear the way for offshore fish farming. Listen: Gulf Coast waters west of Sarasota County could soon be… Read more »
On Saturday, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday morning, U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) said she should be confirmed quickly. Scott spoke on a conference call with reporters organized by the Trump Victory campaign. “I applaud President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the… Read more »
September 29, 2020 Good Morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Our guest today is Jonathan Alter, an award-winning historian, columnist and documentary filmmaker. An MSNBC political analyst and former senior editor at Newsweek, he is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies; The Promise: President Obama, Year One; and The Defining Moment:… Read more »
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said it will not file charges against an activist who jumped on the hood of a car as it drove through a June protest in Tampa. His attorney said he shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place. Listen: Jason Stuart Flores might not be facing prison time any… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources There is a lot of debate about whether Tampa Bay area counties and cities should continue with ordinances mandating masks or other face coverings to slow the spread of coronavirus. On MidPoint we heard public comments from Pinellas County residents during a commission meeting earlier in September… Read more »
A New Port Richey police officer who provided department information about Black Lives Matter protests to a “Back the Blue” activist is no longer employed by the city’s police department. Listen: According to the New Port Richey Police Department, Corey Oliver is a former officer with the department. City Manager Debbie Manns told WMNF his… Read more »
London’s Notting Hill circa early 80s was yet to be gentrified. The ubiquitous Portobello Road did bring hoards of tourists and suburbanites looking for an actual antique treasure. But the throngs who crowded the ramshackle market on a Saturday were equally delighted to witness a never-ending parade of crusty-hippy-types; rasta youths sporting fierce dreads; skinny-wasted-silk-scarf-draped-wannabe-Keefs… Read more »
Before they marched, they prayed. Protesters marched with renewed vigor this week after a grand jury in Kentucky chose to not bring charges against officers who killed Breonna Taylor. Listen: After four straight months of near-daily, peaceful marches, tensions were among the highest they’d been Thursday night. Wednesday, a Tampa Bay Times reporter tweeted a… Read more »
Contaminated water at the former Piney Point phosphate plant is nearing the site’s capacity, putting all of Tampa Bay at risk for an environmental crisis. Manatee County Commissioners heard from the site’s manager and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Tuesday as officials struggle to come up with a plan. Listen: Time is quickly running… Read more »
A coalition of more than a dozen social justice groups from across the state slammed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Tuesday during an online press conference. The groups say that proposals DeSantis made Monday for new laws targeting protesters would “embolden police attacks and terrorize anti-racism and Black Lives Matter organizers in Florida.” St. Petersburg’s Ashley… Read more »
The candidates for Florida House District 64 met in a virtual candidate forum Friday. They fielded questions ranging from Medicaid expansion to budget priorities in what is one of the more unique races for the state legislature. Listen: District 64 covers part of northwest Hillsborough County and northeast Pinellas. Each candidate hoping to fill the… Read more »
The Florida Department of Transportation is holding another round of online meetings this week to discuss three proposed toll highways through rural parts of the state. The meetings started with the Northern Turnpike Connector Task Force discussing some of the input they’ve received from the public. Listen: Thousands of Floridians have weighed in on the… Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died Friday. We spoke with Amy Weintraub, reproductive rights program director with Progress Florida. Listen to the full show here. “I was shocked. I was just heartbroken, I got to tell you. For someone who I didn’t know personally, her death hit me hard. I cried and I was… Read more »
Benjamin Lorr – The Secret Life Of Groceries – The Dark Miracle Of The American Supermarket What does it take to run the American supermarket? How do products get to shelves? Who sets the price? And who suffers the consequences of increased convenience end efficiency? In his alarming exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources There has been discussion about the success of Sweden’s “herd immunity” approach to the Coronavirus pandemic on WMNF/Radioactivity this week. Some listeners have claimed that the Swedish government’s plan has been successful. Below is a review of some COVID-19 data. It includes the two leading pandemic countries,… Read more »
First Daughter and presidential advisor Ivanka Trump visited Tampa’s Ybor City today. She stopped at La Segunda Bakery before joining former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for a fireside chat at the Columbia Restaurant. Listen: After touring the century-old Ybor institution and literally rolling up her sleeves to help make a loaf of La Segunda’s… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources After hours of public comment Tuesday, the Pinellas County Commission voted unanimously to extend the county’s local coronavirus emergency. The county’s rule requiring face coverings in public remains in place. Dozens of residents weighed in on both sides of the mask issue. Largo resident Virginia Frizzle wants… Read more »
Hillsborough County School District Superintendent Addison Davis says some schools are living beyond their means and staffing cuts have to be made. But Davis is getting pushback as some say teachers should take precedence over technology. Listen: With just a few months on the job under his belt, Davis has already spent more than $12… Read more »
Democratic presidential nominee and former vice-president Joe Biden Tuesday made his first stop in Florida since accepting his party’s nomination. Biden gave a speech and held a roundtable about issues facing veterans inside Tampa’s Hillsborough Community College. Enthusiastic supporters of both candidates met on the streets just outside the school’s Dale Mabry campus. Listen: Flags… Read more »
Tampa and Hillsborough County are both set to adopt new budgets this week. Both are also set to increase law enforcement spending as activists in the area call for some of that money to be diverted to social programs. Listen: City and county governments are preparing to finalize their first budgets since widespread calls have… Read more »
The Tampa Bay Partnership Regional Equity Report revealed startling economic gaps among the region’s white and minority residents. Black residents are 30% less likely to own a home than their white neighbors and twice as likely to live in poverty, the study found. The median wage of Black workers in the region is 21% of… Read more »
September 10, 2020 Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and today – September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day. NPR reported this morning that: Teen and youth anxiety and depression are getting worse since the COVID lockdowns began in March, early studies suggest, and many experts say… Read more »
Martha Graham’s Cold War frames the story of Martha Graham and her particular brand of dance modernism as pro-Western Cold War propaganda used by the United States government to promote American democracy. Representing every seated president from Dwight D. Eisenhower through Ronald Reagan, Graham performed politics in the global field for over thirty years. Why did… Read more »
A Black Lives Matter activist in Pasco was arraigned Friday on charges he battered a New Port Richey police officer in July and obstructed the officer without violence. Marlowe Jones will plead not guilty to the charges and maintains he, and other activists, are being targeted by New Port Richey police. Listen: Despite facing a… Read more »
