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The Pinellas County Commission voted yesterday to revoke funding it approved last year for a radio station serving St. Petersburg’s Black communities. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the decision came days after Commissioner Chris Latvala raised concerns about the station’s association with the Uhuru Movement. The commission approved the expenditure in November, as part of its first round of small allocations to nonprofits from the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal COVID-19 relief program. Of the more than $2 million dollars allocated to 34 Pinellas organizations, about $37,000 went to the African People’s Education and Defense Fund, which is an Uhuru-affiliated nonprofit.
Hillsborough County’s elected state prosecutor, who was suspended by Governor Ron DeSantis, is filing an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the governor in a renewed bid to get his job back. Andrew Warren filed a notice of appeal in the case yesterday. He is seeking to bring it to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. DeSantis suspended Warren last year over the prosecutor’s signing of statements that said he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition treatments, as well as policies about not charging people with some minor crimes.
The Hillsborough County School Board held a workshop on Monday to hear a fourth proposal for the rezoning of school boundaries. Meghan Bowman reports, a final consensus has not been reached.
Yesterday a panel of the Florida House took a first step toward shifting to partisan school-board elections. It also backed a proposal that would limit school-board members to eight years in office instead of the current 12. The Republican-controlled House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee voted 13-to-5 along party lines to support putting a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 31) on next year’s ballot about changing to partisan school-board races. If the proposal is ultimately approved by the Legislature and voters, school-board candidates could run with party affiliations starting in 2026.
A vigil was held yesterday for the three Michigan State University students killed on campus by a gunman Monday night. Donna Warder reports.
Meanwhile, here’s a report on another vigil from a different mass shooting. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida. Gerard Albert III reports on a memorial vigil at the nearby Pine Trails Park.
The gunman who carried out a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York is scheduled to be sentenced today. Donna Warder reports.
Billionaire Elon Musk says that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter “probably toward the end of the year.” Speaking today via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him. He said: “I think I need to stabilize the organization and make sure it’s in a financial healthy place.” Forbes estimates Musk’s wealth at just under $200 billion dollars. The Forbes analysis ranks Musk as the second-wealthiest person on Earth, just behind French luxury brand magnate Bernard Arnault.
The U.N.’s humanitarian aid and refugee agencies say they’re seeking $5.6 billion to help millions of fleeing Ukrainians in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country nearly a year ago. Charles de Ledesma reports.
A new survey shows fully half of Americans indicate they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a point of view. The study by Gallup and the Knight Foundation also found that many Americans question whether journalists care about the best interests of their followers. The findings dug deep into why many Americans distrust the news. It found the number of people believing the news is biased is increasing, people following the news closely is decreasing and many Americans are feeling the effect of information overload. In one consolation, local journalists fared better.
A year ago, the new president of USF ended a process to request information from developers for their ideas for a piece of land north of campus called the USF Forest Preserve. To find out how conservation efforts have been going in the last year, WMNF’s Tuesday Cafe spoke with Christian Brown from the group Save USF Forest Preserve.
This daily digest of news headlines was produced at the studios of WMNF Tampa by Taylor Lovejoy.
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