Welcome to Florida

A developer - and county council member - in Volusia County wants to build a motocross track on conservation land in the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Author and historian Robert Redd joins us to discuss his recent book, "100 Things to do in Daytona Beach Before You Die."

Congressional Republicans are trying to make it easier for developers to pave over wetlands in Florida. Byron Donalds is attempting to do the same thing from inside the state. "Romper Room" was a wildly successful television show that attempted to bring kindergarten to TV. It ran more than 40 years on station's across the country. Wayne Hicks, author of "Did All My Friends Have...

The Boy Scouts organization in Hernando County wants to sell roughly half of a 1300 acre natural area it owns and uses for outdoor recreation for potential development. Our guest this week is long-time Florida cave diver Tom Morris . Morris was featured in the famed "Water's Edge" PBS cavediving documentary. Morris tells us about the volume of caves in Florida, what causes them, and...

Lee County planning officials wanted to exclude public comment from rezoning decisions; residents laughed out loud ! Roseate spoonbills are one of Florida's iconic wading birds. Florida Audubon Executive Director Julie Wraithmell joins us to discuss the gorgeous pink bird.

On this episode we celebrate Florida's lifestyle magazine, 'Flamingo' magazine , as it enters its next 10 years of publication. Our guest is the magazine's founder and editor Jamie Rich.

The Hope Florida scandal involves Ron DeSantis, Casey DeSantis, and Ashley Moody, but the figure at the center of the theft is Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.  Amaris Castillo's parents run the Orlando Latin Market bodega in St. Pete. Several years ago, she began sharing stories of the bodega online ; that effort has become a new book, "Bodega Stories," published in Septemb...

Florida's public school textbooks downplay the impacts of climate change and protect industry from blame.  Between the late 1600s and the U.S. Civil War, freedom seekers from across the South fled south, and by sail, to the Bahamas and Caribbean. This escape route from slavery is what is known as the Saltwater Underground Railroad . Our guest this episode, Stefan Moss, is a historian research...

A Florida university wants to build an airstrip in the Ocala National Forest.  George Siegal is a former weatherman turned documentary filmmaker. Upon moving to Florida, he was shocked by the state's casual attitude toward hurricane preparedness. His documentary, "Built to Last: Buyer Beware," catalogues the numerous ways in which Floridians ignore hurricane preparedness and how you...

The super wealthy have found a new way to exploit Florida's undeveloped land: private auto racing clubs . You know them, you probably hate them, they're lovebugs - the little black bugs that get all over your car during spring and fall. Our guest on this episode,  Norman Leppla , University of Florida professor of integrated pest management and biological control, is the nation's le...

Florida wants to take almost $200 million from the federal government earmarked for electric vehicle charging stations and instead waste the money pursuing flying cars. Seriously. Pamela Colloff spent a decade investigating the life and crimes of Paul Skalnik. Skalnik, among other things, was a longtime jailhouse snitch whose phony testimony was relied upon by Pinellas County prosecutors for decad...

The Florida Department of Environmental "Protection" refuses to investigate a Key West utility company that has been injecting waste water underground only to have it surface elsewhere. Everyone knows 1980s PBS TV painter Bob Ross , but most people don't associate him with Florida. Ross was born, raised, lived and died in Central Florida. The Bob Ross Art Workshop & Gallery in N...

The state kept an "enemies list" of outspoken environmental advocates with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission using government and law enforcement databases to illegally track and investigate the citizens. This shocking abuse of power demonstrates how developers and industry run this state and the degree to which the ruling party in Tallahassee will go to maintain that power imbala...

Ron DeSantis first ran for governor promising to solve Florida's water quality problems. Every day in office since then, up nearly to his last, he has broken that promise. Kenneth Sulak joins us on this episode to talk about gulf sturgeon . Sulak spent decades researching this ancient and endangered fish in the Suwanee River and Gulf of Mexico.

Craig takes us to the little fishing village of Cortez on the Gulf side for his latest "Florida Phoenix" column. Tom Gaskins Cypress Knee Museum was a popular roadside attraction in Palmdale during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The business hung on until 1998 , but Disney and the interstates have mostly disappeared these quirky, small, once-cherished tourist stops. Writer Amy Bennett-Williams f...

Craig Pittman surveyed a variety of Florida water experts with advice for the dictator about his algae problem. In the 1940s, 50's, and 60's, bald eagle populations nationally were collapsing. The poison DDT, widely used in crop dusting, was eventually determined to be the culprit. A retired man in Florida, Charles Broley , banded bald eagles throughout mid-century; his research was esse...

Invasive Burmese pythons continue swallowing the Everglades while the state wastes money on concentration camps. Ma Barker and one of her sons engaged federal agents in an hours-long gunfight near Ocala in the 1930s. Wayne Hughes is a tour guide at the Ma Barker House and tells us the story. "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to your Florida Conservation Newsletter, a...

A species of moth thought to be extinct was r ediscovered by researches in Florida . Florida's role in the American Revolution is little known or discussed. That is our topic for this episode with historian David Head . "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive our weekly "Florida Conservation Newsletter" for only $5 per month.

Our friend Jason Garcia from "Seeking Rents" takes a first look at everything wrong with the legislature and governor's proposed property tax break. Florida Keys historian Brad Bertelli joins us on this episode to talk about the old wrecking industry that made Key West one of the wealthiest cities in America at the turn of the 19th century. "Welcome to Florida" patrons rec...

The state is about to miss a critical deadline by which it was supposed to have cleaned up water flowing out of the Big Sugar plantations into the Everglades. Join Craig, Chadd and Jason Garcia from the "Seeking Rents" podcast for their next live, in-person event June 12th at Happy Medium Books Cafe in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville. The event is free and begins at 6:30. RSVP...

Seafood dealers, commercial fisherman, and conservationists came together to stop the governor's reckless plan to extend the recreational red snapper fishing season. Independent local journalism is a pillar of democracy. American democracy has evaporated in conjunction with a rapid decline of local media sources in the past 25 years. One of those local media sources in Florida, The Gabber new...

Florida didn't always used to be this way. Unregulated development. Runaway sprawl. Developers controlling the state. What happened ? Chadd Charland is running for State House in District 15 (all of Nassau and parts of Duval counties). "Welcome to Florida's" next live event comes Friday, June 12th, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM at Happy Medium Bookstore Cafe in Jacksonville ! It's...

What should be done with the site when the Everglades concentration camp closes? Chadd Charland is running for State House in District 15 (Nassau and parts of Duval counties). Diego Waisman spent years visiting and photographing South Florida's mobile home parks. He produced a book from the experience titled "Sunset Colonies: A Visual Elegy to South Florida's Mobile Home Communities...

Jason Garcia hosts the "Seeking Rents" podcast and writes the "Seeking Rents" Substack newsletter . Both investigate government corruption in Florida. Both are essential for Floridians interested in state government and politics. This episode was recorded at Tombolo Books in St. Pete in advance of our first co-hosted live event.

Martin County wants to prevent a slaughterhouse from being built there. The state says it doesn't have a say in the matter . Another example of state overreach crushing home rule. Chadd Charland is running for State House in District 15 (Nassau and parts of Duval County) on a platform of equity, the environment, and public education. See "Welcome to Florida" and Jason Garcia from th...

Join "Welcome to Florida" along with Jason Garcia from "Seeking Rents" for our first in-person event. May 7 we'll be at Tombolo Books in St. Pete and May 9, we'll be at Austin's Coffee in Winter Park. Full details and RSVP here! Chadd Charland is running for Florida State House in District 15 (Nassau and parts of Duval counties). Follow his campaign . The Suwanee...