Here is a link to many coronavirus resources As students in Hillsborough County return to classrooms Monday, some local leaders fear it might be more than books they bring home with them. Listen: Sen. Janet Cruz, Rep. Susan Valdes and Hillsborough School Board member Karen Perez held a news conference over Zoom Monday morning to… Read more »
Three conservation organizations have sued the federal government for not protecting the nearshore habitat for a threatened fish, the Nassau grouper. The groups say the Nassau grouper is threatened by pollution, ocean acidification, sea-level rise and other impacts of climate change. In their lawsuit filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service Tuesday, the environmental groups… Read more »
Over the weekend, the City of Tampa unveiled findings about community opinions of the city’s police force. Mayor Jane Castor responded to the results of Tampa’s Community Policing Workshop. The survey was conducted and results were announced by a USF professor, who we’ll heard from on WMNF’s MidPoint. Listen to the show here. The results… Read more »
Protesters gathered in Tampa Friday to show support for Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man killed by police in Kenosha Wisconsin last week. Demonstrators gathered to protest ongoing police killings of Black people and violence against protestors. Listen: Dolores Bartels said before this year she’d never been scared to be alive. But as police killings… Read more »
August 27, 2020 The 2020 Regional Equity Report, released by the Tampa Bay Partnership, in collaboration with the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay and United Way Suncoast, reveals dramatic inequities for the region’s Black residents, both within Tampa Bay and compared to a set of 19 benchmark communities across the country. An analysis of… Read more »
August 26, 2020 What if a Category 5 hurricane struck the Tampa Bay region? How would the events unfold, and what would the region look like in the aftermath of the storm? In 2009, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) developed the Tampa Bay Catastrophic Plan: Project Phoenix, a plan to address the challenges… Read more »
When Attilio Teruzzi, Mussolini’s handsome political enforcer, married a rising young American opera star, his good fortune seemed settled. The wedding was a carefully stage-managed affair, capped with a blessing by Mussolini himself. Yet only three years later, after being promoted to commander of the Black Shirts, Teruzzi renounced his wife. In fascist Italy, a… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources In an emergency meeting of the Hillsborough School Board Friday morning, members voted 5-2 to open schools Monday after a week of online-only classes, despite previously voting to hold four weeks of online classes. Listen: Following a tumultuous week of judicial back and forth, board members convened… Read more »
Some professional hockey players have called for the Stanley Cup Playoffs to be halted in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protests. In a tweet Thursday afternoon, player Evander Kane tweeted today that players with the league’s Hockey Diversity Alliance “have formally requested the @NHL to suspend all playoff games today.” We the @TheOfficialHDA have formally… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources On Thursday a judge lifted a stay on his ruling against Florida’s order for schools to open to in-person instruction this month. On its Facebook page, the Florida Education Association says this means that local school districts can make reopening decisions based upon safety considerations, not on… Read more »
On Thursday the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Governor Ron DeSantis exceeded his authority when he appointed a judge to a vacancy on state’s highest court. It’s because Judge Renatha Francis had not been a member of the Florida Bar for at least 10 years. That’s a requirement of being a Florida Supreme Court Justice…. Read more »
The Florida Department of Health in Pasco County announced Wednesday that two of its beaches are under a water quality advisory. Based on water sampling done on Monday (24 August 2020), Robert J. Strickland Beach and Gulf Harbors Beach were issued a water quality advisory “based upon criteria for evaluating the presence of enterococci (intestinal bacteria)… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources Pinellas County opened for in-person learning Monday with six positive COVID-19 cases reported after the first day. But multiple classrooms and buses have been quarantined and the number of students and staff who were potentially exposed could be much larger. According to a person who has seen… Read more »
Duke Energy released details Tuesday about new solar / battery storage projects in Florida; the plans include battery storage at St. Pete’s John Hopkins Middle School. The energy utility described the project at the school as a “5-megawatt microgrid of solar-plus storage.” John Hopkins M.S. is a special needs emergency shelter in South Pinellas County…. Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources The Hillsborough and Pinellas County school boards met Tuesday, one day after a judge said education commissioner Richard Corcoran’s order to reopen schools in August was unconstitutional. The ruling was discussed at the meetings but no action was taken. On Monday a Leon County judge ruled in… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources The Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center announced in a press release Tuesday that the county is expected to pass the mark of 100,000 tests for coronavirus this week. According to the state’s official COVID-19 dashboard, 35,802 Hillsborough residents have tested positive, resulting in 1,618 hospitalizations and 534 deaths… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources Many Florida students, teachers and school staff are attending in-person classes during a deadly pandemic. Some students went back to in-person classes Monday morning in Pinellas and Pasco Counties. This week Hillsborough students and teachers start the year online. Manatee County students have been back for a… Read more »
“If you’re an artist, the art world is not a good place for you. If you’re an accountant, the art world is a good place for you.” Says Peter Harris who also happens to be an artist, film-maker, and musician. His work often involves experimenting with new ways of making self-portraits, many of… Read more »
Early showers and an overcast sky cooled Tampa Road in Oldsmar as demonstrators gathered for a rally showing their support for America’s favorite federal agency. Oldsmar resident Victoria Cuevas helped organize the rally, held just outside the city’s Post Office. The 71-year-old said it the first time in her life she’d participated in anything like… Read more »
The City of Pinellas Park will give away backpacks, face masks and school supplies on Saturday only. Below is the press release from Pinellas Park: The City of Pinellas Park Hosts K-12 Backpack Give-a-way Event PINELLAS PARK – The City of Pinellas Park will be hosting their first ever drive~thru K-12th grade backpack give-a-way… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources Lakewood High School math teacher Melissa Ostrowski loves her family and her students. In a normal year, she’d see her sister and 2-year-old niece at least once a week. Every month, a visit with her grandparents. And in a normal year, she’d be there for the birth… Read more »
Find the latest storm info here. Here’s where you can get sandbags in the Tampa Bay area for Tropical Storm Laura; we’ll update this as we get more info: Polk County: Sandbags will be provided to Polk County residents at all Roads and Drainage maintenance units and another site in Poinciana from 8 a.m…. Read more »
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump has released a previously unreleased video of a red truck striking and injuring a Black Lives Matter activist during protests during the Juneteenth weekend in Tampa. Tampa Police have so far not arrested the driver of the truck that struck demonstrator Jae Passmore. In the short video below you can… Read more »
On Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis along with his wife Casey DeSantis spearheaded a round-table discussion in Altamonte Springs, Florida to discuss COVID-19 and mental health. It was the second in a series of similar discussions hosted by the DeSantises in the last two weeks. Governor DeSantis shared statistics related to the… Read more »
Here is a link to many coronavirus resources Ahad Aziz had his plane ticket ready. Like every other semester, he’d be flying from his home in Oregon to start school at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Then, just a few weeks before takeoff, he found out he didn’t make the cut. Last week, Florida Southern… Read more »
