Beyond the News WFLA Interviews

Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard, showcase and home to parades, has an array of vivid flowers and shrubs in its median. But a storm in December brought surge and salt-water intrusion that damaged much of the landscape. Now the city of Tampa is undertaking its biggest replanting along Bayshore in six years. We speak with City of Tampa horticulturist Ken Akins about the project. See omnystudio.com/listene...

The Manatee Viewing Center at the Big Bend power plant south of Tampa has had more than a thousand manatees for most of the winter so far. On December 29th, they set a new all-time record with 1100 on hand. Cherie Jacobs with TECO Energy explains the factors behind the increase. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Tampa Bay area veterinary surgeon reaches a milestone. Dr. Rizal Lopez DVM of the SPCA in Pinellas County has performed 25,000 spay and neuter surgeries over his career. We speak with Dr. Lopez about the importance of spaying and neutering pets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Five children from the Tampa area were stuck in Gaza when the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. A non-custodial family member took them to Egypt as their mother in Florida begged for help to find them. Project Dynamo discovered their whereabouts and wnet to get them. Guest host Read Shepherd speaks with Project Dynamo founder Bryan Stern about the rescue. See omnystudio.com/listen...

Hillsborough County's Pet Resource Center is offering free spaying and neutering appointments for up to 200 bully breed dogs between February 12 and 23. But you need to sign up now. The free services also include microchipping, heartworm testing, and vaccines. Listen for more information about the Operation Pit Stop program here in this interview with Ginette Campos. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

The official numbers are still a few days away, but preliminary figures show 2023 is Tampa's warmest year on record, narrowly beating out 2022. We speak with Meteorologist Eric Oglesby at the National Weather Service for the Tampa Bay area in Ruskin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Falica was killed December 18th in a hit-and-run crash. He had served 40 years as a postal carrier with the United States Postal Service. Friday (29th), his fellow carriers will drive a procession of postal trucks from the Sulphur Springs post office, to the spot where he lost his life, as a way of honoring their longtime colleague. We speak with Tampa Postmaster Jacquelyn "Jackie" Villemaire...

New Year's resolutions may be falling out of favor, especially among younger adults. But one expert says it may be a matter of taking smaller steps to change. We speak with St. Leo University psychology professor Tammy Lowery Zacchilli. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two big recycling questions for Christmas... what to do with cooking grease and with all the wrappings from presents? We speak with Daniel Gallagher and Shawn Yang of Hillsborough County Government for some ideas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An unusual winter low is due to move across Florida Saturday, dumping several inches of rain and bringing the possibility of flooding and severe weather. We speak with emergency management officials in Pinellas and Pasco counties about what people should expect. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the first Christmas shopping season in which shoppers may consult with artificial intelligence to make their buying decisions. A University of South Florida marketing professor says that AI can help both consumers and retailers make better choices about purchases and inventory. We speak with Dr. Dipayan "Dip" Biswas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hillsborough County Commissioners are expected to renew a grant program targeting technology companies in Israel that want to open U-S operations. The $100,000 would support the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator. We speak with FIBA's co executive director Rakefet Bachur Phillips. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists with Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota have been returning corals to Florida Bay, after they were removed because unusually high temperatures were causing the coral to bleach. The corals have been kept in onshore farms in the Keys and near Sarasota. There's also a promising sign with some corals resisting bleaching in the heat. We speak with Mote Program Manager Dr. Jason Spadaro. See...

What can shoppers and retailers expect during the holiday shopping season? Carol Osborne is a senior instructor of marketing and promotion at the Muma College of Business, University of South Florida in Tampa. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hillsborough County Adult Day Services is holding an event Saturday, November 18, at its new Wimauma location to connect caregivers to experts and resources. We speak with the agency's Angie Toledo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saturday is Veterans' Day, and Hillsborough County is observing the day with a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park. It also serves veterans year-round. We speak with Frank Strom with the county's office of Consumer and Veterans Services, a Marine veteran, and Army veteran Tee Floyd, about services for veterans in Hillsborough County. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The historic water tower at Tampa's River Park in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood is getting some overdue TLC. City officials are pressure washing and repainting the tower for the first time since 1989. The tower was originally built to pump water by a 1920s developer and has become in icon, We speak with Adriana Colina, Tampa's Logistics and Asset Management Director. See omnystudio.com/listener...

November brings the dry, cooler season in Florida as well as the change to Standard Time. Both have an impact on watering your lawn. We speak with David Glicksberg, who is Manager for Sustainable Water Resources with Hillsborough County's Environmental Services Division. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hillsborough County Fair opens Thursday (November 2nd). Its executive director describes it as a traditional county fair. It has a rodeo, truck and tractor pull, a demolition derby, and plenty of livestock shows. We speak with Suzanne Holcomb. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Registration for the 2024 Skyway 10K foot race on March 3rd opens October 20th ats 8 a.m. This year there's no lottery and it's first-come first-serve. We speak with Joyce Bedard of the Armed Forces Family Foundation. They're the charity that uses funds raised by this race to build support structures for U.S. military families on-base. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Debate is heating up over the state's call to ban chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine on university campuses. Florida says the group's toolkit calls it part of the violent attack by Hamas that has claimed more than 1400 lives in Israel. We speak with attorney Adam Steinbaugh of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which put out a statement against the group's deactivation...

Remember last spring's sargassum bloom that threatened Florida's east coast? The University of South Florida, Florida Atlantic University, NOAA and other agencies are sharing a three million dollar grant to develop a way to forecast where sargassum blooms are going. We speak with USF researcher and oceanographer Brian Barnes, who's leading the effort. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

The St Petersburg Shuffleboard Club celebrates its 100th anniversary in January. The club is kicking off its centennial by hosting the International Shuffleboard Association World Championship, Oct. 23-27. We speak with the club's executive director, Christine Page, about how the sport and those who play it have evolved over the years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

October 19th is Missing in Florida Day. It's dedicated to families with missing loved ones, offering law enforcement, forensic and other resources to help them come to a resolution. We speak with USF forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, who's one of the speakers at that event. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're adopting a dog, why not two? Manatee County is waiving the adoption fee for dogs at its shelters in October. It's also staging a special event in Palmetto where you can watch shelter dogs at play together. We speak with Hans Wohlgefahrt, an outreach specialist for county Animal Welfare. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.