Welcome to Florida

Our episode begins with a trip to Warm Mineral Springs . Our guest is Kathryn Ziewitz, co-author of "Green Empire: The St. Joe Company and the Remaking of Florida's Panhandle."  The St. Joe Company, a legacy of the Dupont empire, at one point possessed 5% of all the land in Florida along with banks and railroads. It was run from Jacksonville with an iron fist by a true Florida villa...

Craig Pittman is ON YOUR SIDE! Our guest is Florida Times-Union columnist Mark Woods. Find Mark's book, "Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America's National Parks." In the episode we discuss: Jacksonville consolidation Axe Handle Saturday Norman Studios Mandarin Museum

One of America's worst polluters resides in Escambia County in the Panhandle. Florida has a rich tradition of surfing which we're focusing on in this episode with Tom Warnke, a longtime Florida surfer and founding member of the Surfing Florida Museum.    "Welcome to Florida" is presented by WindstormProducts.com the world's leading online retailer of hurricane hardware. No...

Looking for (more) undeniable proof of climate change and how Florida's current approach to "resiliency" is inadequate? Look to sea turtles . Our guest this week is the former longtime food critic at the Miami Herald, 1st generation Cuban and now host at WLRN radio in South Florida, Carlos Frias. Our subject: croquetas. 

This episode's subject is Trapper Nelson, the Wildman of the Loxahatchee, the Tarzan of Florida. Our guest is historian and author James Snyder who lives on the Loxahatchee River not far from where Trapper Nelson did.  Snyder wrote a book about Nelson, "Life and Death on the Loxahatchee," which he describes as "part biography, part murder mystery." "Welcome to Florida...

What environmental problems would Craig Pittman like to see Ron DeSantis address in his second term as governor? These ones . Craig's not holding his breath. Our guest this week is Clay Henderson. His new book, "Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation" details the century-plus effort to conserve land in Florida for nature, recreation and human health. Another hurric...

This week's episode publishes on election day so if it takes you a while to get around to listening, we understand. Founded in 1947, Everglades National Park celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Our guest this episode, James Kushlan , is a former Everglades researcher and author of the book, "Everglades National Park." He's also written books about birdwatching in South F...

You can't see it, but you can smell it, and the problem is becoming worse with each successive storm in Florida: wastewater and sewage discharges . Our guest this week was born in Russia and currently lives in Miami Beach. Anastasia Samoylova is  a photographer who traveled the state recording what she saw and has shared those images in a new book titled: Floridas: Anastasia Samoylova & W...

Craig Pittman was recently invited by the New York Times to write an opinion column regarding Ron DeSantis' approach to combating climate change. It's a topic he has covered regularly at the Florida Phoenix . While better known for their connections to Macon, Georgia, the Allman Brothers were a Florida band, with brothers Duane and Gregg growing up in Daytona Beach and the band forming i...

When it comes to homeowners in Florida and hurricane damage, it's buyer beware . Our guest is Ralph Krugler, historian at the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse and Florida barefoot mailman historian. The Barefoot Mailmen operated in the late 19th century walking the mail to residents along the Florida frontier on the east and west coasts of the state. Here's a great Sunshine State "did you...

A vote for Ron DeSantis is a vote for more Hurricane Ian's. Craig explains . This episode's guest is Samantha Chapman , a professor of biology at Villanova University and a researcher of mangroves around the world, but particularly in Florida. Craig relied on her expertise in a previous story he wrote about how climate change is increasingly allowing mangroves to migrate into areas they...

Developers and road builders want to plow through a state forest in the Panhandle to bring more people to the Gulf Coast. Patrick Smith wrote "A Land Remembered" in 1984. The historical fiction novel followed a Florida cracker family as it entered the state in the 1850s and successive generations went on to build a fortune here through ranching, citrus and land development. Countless peo...

How do land developers almost always get what they want in Florida even if state law or local residents don't support them? Bribes . Our guest this episode is David Sloan, Key Lime pie researcher , author , baker and founder of the Key Lime festival in Key West . David's newest Key Lime book, "Key Lime Pie: An Intriguing History of Key West's Native Desert," was released t...

County officials in Sarasota have amended their COMP plan to allow for greater development into rural areas. Our guest is historian and Miami native and resident Paul S. George. George wrote the definitive account of the wild environment of land speculation which took place in Miami during the early 1920s, resulting in the first of many Florida land "busts." George leads a variety of bus...

Florida's history of racial violence is examined in this episode. Our guest is Tameka Hobbs, Executive Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute at Edward Waters University. She authored the book "Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida" and lectures on this topic through the Florida Humanities . Among the numerous critical discussion points you may want mo...

Twelve years of work attempting to find common ground between developers and conservationists in southwest Florida goes down the drain because the developers cheaped out. Our gest this week is Moni Basu who visited the Spiritualist community in Cassadaga and wrote about her experience for Flamingo Magazine . What Basu found differs greatly from advertisements popularizing Cassadaga as the "Ps...

The Gas and Oil Party (GOP), wants Floridians to believe that it's possible to both promote drilling in the Gulf of Mexico AND protect Florida beaches from the inevitability of oil spills which is, of course, ridiculous . This week's guest is Jamin Wells a professor and researcher at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Wells is helping lead a project analyzing the deep involveme...

Craig Pittman is taking after Ron DeSantis and "firing" people in state government he doesn't think are getting the job done. Our guest this week is flamingo researcher Tony Pernas. Pernas recently helped found the Florida Flamingos Working Group to help determine if flamingos are a native bird to Florida, or purely an exotic escapee and occasional migrant. "Welcome to Florida&...

The annual state python hunt which is open to the public wrapped up recently; Craig took a look at the efficacy of these contests for his latest "Florida Phoenix" column. This week's guest is Richard Gonzmart, fourth generation owner of the Columbia Restaurant with its original location in Ybor City . Richard explains how the two sides of his family - one from Cuba, one from Spain -...

Our episode begins with Craig's latest Florida Phoenix column on how state Republicans are trying to connect fighting climate change and transitioning to clean energy with the culture wars in order to delay action. Our guest is Florida woman Deb Rogers, author of the book "Florida Woman." The novel uses the escaped monkeys of Central Florida as a plot device. Rogers researched the m...

Florida isn't serious about water quality, if it were, it wouldn't keep allowing developers to install septic tanks. Our guest this week is Jennifer Lemmer-Posey, an author of two books about the circus as well as a curator at the Circus Museum at The Ringling in Sarasota . Jennifer tells us how the circus came to Sarasota for its winter quarters and what the future of the circus is. Thi...

Every see that "King Ranch" decal on the side of a Ford pickup truck? King Ranch is a real thing and up to no good in Florida . Our guest this week is a longtime collector of Florida related memorabilia and material culture and promoter of the annual Floridania Fest - which celebrates such things - Ken Breslauer. The Floridania Fest just passed its 30th anniversary and Ken joins us to di...

This week's episode begins with a look at how the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants will impact Florida . Our guest is historian and author Cesar Becerra who published an historical novel, "Orange Blossom 2.0," about Mary Brickell and the founding of Miami in the summer...

This week's episode is all about the St. Petersburg Pier where Craig Pittman was married! That was 30 years ago and took place at the "old" Pier, the inverted pyramid pier. This week, we're talking to Raul Quintana, St. Pete's city architect, who was instrumental in overseeing the planning, design and project management for the fabulous new St. Pete Pier which opened in su...

An innocent mistake or a devious plot to sell 18,000 acres of conservation land from under the nose of Florida residents without anyone noticing? You be the judge . Our guest this week is Florida author Rick Kilby whose latest book, "Florida's Healing Waters: Gilded Age Mineral Springs, Seaside Resorts and Health Spas,"  details an era from the state's history where wealthy nor...