Welcome to Florida

"What the f*uck happened here!?!" If you're a nature lover in Florida, chances are you've said - or screamed - these words upon discovering a beloved tree or beach or meadow destroyed without warning by your city or county, a developer or a resident. We begin the episode exploring "what the f*uck happened here" in Port St. Lucie. Our guest is writer John Birdsall who...

You can't tell the story of Florida without the story of Hurricane Andrew. That's what we're doing on this episode with the help of longtime University of Miami professor, Hurricane Andrew survivor, and author of "In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew," Eugene Provenzo. "Welcome to Florida" is presented by Windstorm Products , a Florida small business and the world&apos...

We start the episode discussing the "Path of the Panther" documentary which you can see now on Disney+. Our guests are authors Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal whose book "A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save our Vanishing Birds" takes special interest in the Florida Seaside Sparrow. Follow the Gyllenhaal's on their blog, flyinglessons.us . On this episode, we mentioned Whit...

At "Welcome to Florida" we love celebrating Florida's ecology and wild animals as well as educating and introducing people to the same. That is much the same mission as the Florida Master Naturalist program . If you love this podcast, chances are, you'd be interested in taking one or more of their courses. Jeanne Murphy from Sensing Nature ecotours in Pinellas County is a long...

Lawn "care" giant TruGreen used its bought and paid for Florida legislators to sneak through a provision in the state budget forbidding cities and counties from regulating the use of fertilizer in summer months, fertilizer often spread by TruGreen, fertilizer which contains phosphorous and leads to blue-green algae blooms and the poisoning of Florida's water. Our guest this week is...

Another episode, another example of trouble with the water in Florida . Our guest is Florida native, author, historian and professor Sara McNamara whose recently published book, "Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South," details how the enclave of Cuban migrants evolved through the years and how it is distinguished from Cuban communities in Miami. If this subject interests you, previous...

This week's episode takes us back to 1998 when wildfires ravaged Florida . Our guest is Florida State professor, journalist, author and 8th generation Tallahassee resident Diane Roberts. Her book, "Dream State: Eight Generations of Swamp Lawyers, Conquistadors, Confederate Daughters and other Wildlife" details her family's history across the backdrop of the state capital. She i...

The state's elected officials continue ignoring the causes of climate change to the peril of everyone living in Florida. This week's episode focuses on oysters and a new documentary from a pair of native Floridians about the collapse of oyster reefs globally, Apalachicola Bay in particular. We mentioned the Chiles Hospitality Group's conservation efforts including its oyster shell r...

We discuss Florida's water quality problems in almost every episode of the show. Here's a new one: lead pipes . Did you know Florida receives only 5% of its electricity from solar power? Not good for the Sunshine State. That's why we receive an "F" from the Center for Biological Diversity when it comes to solar generation. Our guest this episode is James Fenton , Director...

Following the terrible manatee die off in 2021, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to take the drastic measure of supplementing the mammals' diet with human provided lettuce. How is the program working ? Speaking of manatee, the reason they're dying is because blue green algae blooms are preventing the seagrass they feed o...

What is ESG ? It's Florida Republicans latest effort to distract from the spiraling living conditions in the state created under their watch by scaring white voters into believing a "woke agenda" threatens their way of life. This week's episode centers on Eatonville, the first all-Black town in America , incorporated in 1887. Craig recently focused one of his Florida Phoenix co...

Runaway, reckless development in Florida not only threatens the state's beautiful land, but its sky as well . Our guest is Julie Albert, right whale conservation program coordinator for the Marine Resources Council. To volunteer for whale watching, contact the Marine Resources Council above, or the Blue World Research Institute here . Information on the Right Whale Festival in Fernandina Beac...

A state legislator wants to take away the ability to manage water quality from local governments and give it to the state because the current law disadvantaged his nephew . Seriously. Our guest this episode is Zach Zacharias, history curator at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach. He recalls for us the story of the discovery of The Daytona Beach Mastodon . Journey with us to Ice Age F...

Martin Luther King Jr.'s time in St. Augustine, and St. Augustine's central place in the Civil Rights Movement, are among the most important and least discussed aspects of Florida history and civil rights history. There are obvious and surprising reasons for that. Flagler College history professor and civil rights author Michael Butler helps us understand what happened in St. Augustine d...

Advocates for Florida Springs had to take the state Department of Environmental Protection to court for the terrible job its been doing protecting the state's drinking water from polluters. This week's guest Bob Kealing has joined us before to talk about Tupperware and Elvis . His latest book, "Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida" takes us back to 1964 and t...

Florida's State Attorney General is a villainous political hatchet queen . As Agriculture Commissioner, Nikki Fried was the last Democrat elected to a statewide office in Florida. We discuss the role of the state Agriculture Department from concealed carry firearm permits to state forests, invasive species, gasoline and Big Sugar. Fried was elected on February 25, 2023, as chair of the state...

This episode begins in Eatonville, home of Zora Neale Hurston, where, not surprisingly, developers are up to no good . Our guest is lifelong Pensacola resident and longtime Pensacola newspaper reporter and editor Carl Wernicke. We discuss Pensacola's past, present and future, Matt Gaetz, what he loves about Pensacola, and how the city is, and isn't, changing. Craig's from Pensacola...

This episode tackles one of the most confusing eras in Florida history, a critically important series of events, but one little acknowledged or studied: the Seminole Wars. There were three Seminole Wars, the first in the 18-teens and the final in the 1850s. Our guest is Joe Knetsch, historian and author of numerous Florida history books with an emphasis on the Seminole Wars.

A treat today as Miami born, bred and based documentary filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman join the show. Corben is the director and Spellman the producer for Rakontur, their company which has produced such favorites as "Cocaine Cowboys" and "The U." Their latest project, "God Forbid" begins with a pool boy at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach and ends w...

This episode begins with a rare conservation win in Florida against development. Savor the flavor.  Our guest is author, historian and professor emeritus in anthropology at Florida A&M University John Foster. Foster has written numerous books on early Florida tourism and Harriet Beecher Stowe's role in it. We discussed Harriet Beecher Stowe at the Mandarin Museum .

This episode of "Welcome to Florida" begins in Stuart . Our guest this week is author and historian Gary Mormino. Gary's most recent book, published in 2022, is titled "Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes and Florida's Turning Point."   The book covers Florida in the first decade of the new millennium where an extraordinary sequence of stories f...

The governor is touting his environmental record again, to which Craig Pittman cries foul.  Follow Chadd Scott's travel writing at "My Favorite Florida." Our guest this week is Marshall Jon Fisher, author of "Seventeen and Oh: Miami, 1972 and the NFL's Only Perfect Season." Fisher was a 9-year-old living in Miami in 1972 following the Dolphins success week-by-week wit...

Craig's dad died recently and he shares a story about his father's work which would eventually dovetail into his own. Our guest this week is author and historian Jim Clark whose book "Red Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper's Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary" introduces us to a giant of 20th century Florida history. State rep, U.S. Senator and House member,...

"Welcome to Florida" Season 4 begins with an extraordinary Florida adventure! Warren Richey paddled a sea kayak around Florida .

On January 1, 1923, dubious claims of a sexual assault from a white woman against an unidentified Black man in the small community of Rosewood between Gainesville and Cedar Key set off a sequence of events that would leave untold numbers of people killed and Rosewood burned to the ground. The event was completely forgotten and erased, except by those who experienced it and lingering myths and rumo...