Welcome to Florida

The Florida legislature, the best legislature corporate money can buy, has done the bidding of phosphate giant Mosaic, endangering public safety and making the polluting company less accountable for the harm it creates. Florida artist Christopher Still is best known for his Florida history mural cycle at the State House in Tallahassee. An exhibition of his paintings can be seen at the Tarpon Sprin...

A federal judge ruled that the State of Florida and its Department of Environmental “Protection” violated the Endangered Species Act resulting in the mass manatee die-off of 2021. This occurred primarily in the Indian River Lagoon.  Before Daytona Beach, auto racing's capital was one beach north, Ormond Beach . Ormond Beach Councilman Harold Briley is a student of this history and shares it w...

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Rodney Barreto appears to have lied under oath during his senate confirmation hearing about a proposed development project he attempted. Our guest this episode is Kristina Agard from the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Key West.  Since opening in 2007, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's Eco-Discovery Center has provided visitors and...

The Florida legislature is spending valuable time this session attempting to enact a law preventing chemtrails and human manipulation of the weather, something that doesn't exist except in the mind of loony right-wingers.  Something that does exist in Florida is black bears. Arix Zalace is a long-time Panhandle resident and Co-Founder, Director & Board Member at The Paper Bear nonprofit w...

A proposed home development in Alachua County threatens the Floridan Aquifer.   John Quarterman is the Suwannee Riverkeeper working with a group of concerned citizens in north central Florida and south central Georgia to protect a vast, interconnected basin of waterways flowing into the Suwanee River and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico. Check out our new "Florida Black History" YouTube...

A peanut farmer wants to swindle choice gopher tortoise land out of state conservation protection under the guise of a land swap, and Florida officials seem open to the idea. Voice your opposition .  Craig's seventh book, "Welcome to Florida: True Tales from America's Most Interesting State" is now available. His former colleague at the "Tampa Bay Times,"  Colette Ban...

Craig highlights the WORST bill working its way through the legislature this session. It's a "Christmas wish list" for developers and polluting industries. Fernandina Beach vs. Rayonier. Find you state senator and call him/her to oppose SB 1118. Jason Garcia's GREAT newsletter and podcast about Florida politics. Our guest this episode is Mark Mustian , founder of Word of South...

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials are again pursuing a black bear hunt for the state. Citizens don't want it, and the last one was a disaster. Read Craig's column and send your comment to state officials in opposition . The Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island is Florida's oldest bar. Thea Seagraves from the Amelia Island Museum of History joi...

Craig wants America's most hated man, unelected shadow president Elon Musk, to keep his hands off our National Parks . ( Resistance Rangers ) Longleaf pine once covered an area of over 90 million acres from Virginia to Texas along the Southeastern coast and well inland. Today, only about 5% of that original habitat remains . Karl Etters works at Tall Timbers Plantation in Tallahassee , an org...

Alcoholic, womanizing, Islamophobe U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also a climate denier. He has instructed the armed forces to ignore climate impacts and has demanded the Pentagon cut funding on military installations aimed at combating the effects of climate change, including at bases in Florida . The Montbrook Fossil Site roughly 45 minutes south of Gainesville in Levy County has become...

A combination of increasing and increasingly devastating hurricanes along with skyrocketing property insurance prices have resulted in an amazing demographic event in Florida. Our guest this week is Michael Sipos from the Florida Sea Grant who joins us to talk about mullet.   Make it a point one year to attend the Seminole Tribal Fair & Pow Wow held each late January at the Seminole Hard Rock...

Donald Trump's threatened tariffs would be another nail in the coffin for Florida's citrus industry. You can support the "Welcome to Florida" podcast by becoming a $5 a month "patron" at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida.  Greg Asbed from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers joins us on this episode to discuss the history of working conditions for agriculture workers, es...

Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling , potentially endangering Florida's beaches and economy from the spills that inevitably follow drilling. In 1960, Cuban parents began sending their children, unaccompanied, to Miami on Pan-Am flights to get them out of the country and away from Fidel Castro. This program was called "Operatio...

The federal government in the closing days of the Biden Administration failed to secure a protection for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Stories like this can be found in our weekly "Florida Conservation Newsletter" exclusively available to "Welcome to Florida" patrons at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida . Marineland opened south of St. Augustine on the Atlan...

Ron DeSantis wants the state to assume responsibility of Everglades restoration from the federal government. Terrible idea for the Everglades . Our guest this episode is Susan Anderson, outgoing executive director of the Apalachicola Riverkeeper . Susan grew up on the river and shares what makes it special and the numerous threats it faces. "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive...

The Cape Sable seaside sparrow is one of the most endangered birds in the continental United States, numbering only 2,000 or so individuals, all living in the Everglades. Conflicting water management aims in South Florida pitting Big Sugar against the environment is resulting in the state taking drastic measures to pursue survival of the species. In 1960, African American equal rights activists in...

Buyer beware when it comes to a new organization promoting itself as a gopher tortoise conservation solution. Miami's Criteria Recording Studios has produced a staggering volume of hit music from James Brown's "I Feel Good" to Eric Clapton's "Layla," Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," the Eagles' "Hotel California," Jimmy Buffett's &quo...

Craig takes a look back at the most amusing and unusual Florida news stories from 2024. Fred Rogers studied in the Music Department at Rollins College in Winter Park before going on to host "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS. Fred Rogers' nephew, Daniel Crozier, teaches in the Music Department at Rollins and shares stories of his uncle and how the famous TV personality got to...

Craig Pittman has a wish list of gifts he hopes Santa brings Florida's environment. Our guest this episode is poet, essayist, and professor of English at Florida State University David Kirby . His latest anthology of poems is titled "The Winter Dance Party."  In the episode, Craig quoted an Elizabeth Bishop poem you can read here . Thank you to all of our patrons at Patreon.com/Welc...

In Port St. Joe, a 62-year-old woman was handcuffed, arrested, and spent a night in jail as part of a politically motivated attack on local residents investigating damage done to a wetland by the city. The St. Johns River is Florida's longest, flowing south to north along the eastern half of the state. Lisa Rinaman is the St. Johns Riverkeeper , an advocate for the river, and joins us to disc...

What should Florida and its residents be doing to prepare for the next hurricane season? The Orange Blossom Trail was a popular tourism promotion in mid-century Florida to bring newly middle-class Americans with their cars from the Midwest and Northeast to the middle part of the state traversing along U.S. Route 441 running 400-plus miles from the state line with Georgia to Miami. Photographer Jos...

Add little Milton in the Panhandle as another Florida town that  threw out its pro-development, pro-industry city council in what can now be called a statewide trend. Famous 20th century "Beat" author Jack Kerouac spent the final years of his life in Orlando and St. Pete. Bob Kealing shares this history in his book, "Jack Kerouac: Where the Road Ends." Kerouac is best known for...

Based on his first-term record as the most anti-nature president in American history , Craig sees the Florida environment as a big loser of Donald Trump's second term in office. In 1983, contemporary artists Christo and Jean-Claude created a massive installation of pink fabric in Biscayne Bay titled 'Surrounded Islands.' The couple's foundation recently donated archival items r...

Timber company Rayonier wants to develop a toxic bioethanol producing plant near downtown Fernandina Beach. Explosions at these plants are not uncommon. A local group, No Ethanol Fernandina , is fighting the effort. Miccosukee Indian J ohn Tigertail leads airboat tours of the Everglades just like his father and grandfather did . Information on the 2024 Miccosukee Indian Arts and Crafts Festival De...

Craig and I open this episode discussing a return to the White House of the worst environmental president in history. Our guest is David Morton, author of "Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida's Film and Television Industry."  Florida was an epicenter of film and television production in the early 20th century, and again in the 50s and 60s, but politics has often derailed e...