Ballot Measures
4:56 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

What Religious Leaders Think About Florida's 'Religious Freedom' Amendment

Credit Ashley Lopez/ WLRN
Pastor Guillermo Marquez Sterling in Coral Gables is afraid Amendment 8 will hurt religious freedom in the state.

In November, Floridians will decide whether or not to remove a state ban that prohibits the use of tax money for the funding of religious groups.

While the Catholic Church in the state remains one of the biggest proponents of this so-called “Religious Freedom” amendment, some religious leaders are weary of the measure.

Guillermo Marquez-Sterling, a pastor at the United Church of Christ in Coral Gables, says he’s concerned that, if Amendment 8 passes, if tax money could fund religious organizations, religious institutions like his will actually lose some of their freedom.

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Education
4:07 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

How WLRN Talked Education With 17 Million People

Credit Tell Me More
Sarah Gon­za­lez of WLRN's StateIm­pact Florida, Michel Mar­tin of NPR's Tell Me More and John O’Connor, also of StateIm­pact Florida, at the Octo­ber 10 Twit­ter Edu­ca­tion Forum at WLRN studios in downtown Miami.

Last week’s Twit­ter Edu­ca­tion Forum, hosted last week in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Tell Me More was a huge success. Not only did it pro­vide a plat­form for a dynamic and diverse con­ver­sa­tion about edu­ca­tion reform in the US (and one that we plan to con­tinue), but it also reached a whop­ping 17 mil­lion peo­ple–and count­ing. (That’s right. They’re stilll Tweet­ing. They just can’t stop!)

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Dustin Dwyer is a reporter for a new project at Michigan Radio that will look at improving economic opportunities for low-income children. Previously, he worked as an online journalist for Changing Gears, as a freelance reporter and as Michigan Radio's West Michigan Reporter. Before he joined Michigan Radio, Dustin interned at NPR's Talk of the Nation, wrote freelance stories for The Jackson Citizen-Patriot and completed a Reporting & Writing Fellowship at the Poynter Institute.

Dustin earned his bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida. He's also lived in Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington D.C. He's always happy to explain - with detached journalistic objectivity - why Michigan is a better place to live than any of the others. 

Election Communion Day
3:03 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

South Dade Church Offers Election Night Solace For Campaign-Battered Souls

Credit Laura Coburn
Forget Election Here: South Florida's only church for election night services is St. Andrews Episcopal in Palmetto Bay.

Reconciliation. Redemption. Binding up the nation's mostly self-inflicted wounds. There's going to be a need for all of that after this bitter election cycle is over.

And that need is where Election Communion Day comes from. More than 300 churches in 44 states have signed on to conduct services and offer communion right after the polls close on Election Day.

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Cuba
2:55 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

Cuba Softens Travel Restrictions With A Big Catch

Credit Fotos Gov/Ba/ Flickr
Raul Castro has promised to ease Cuba's travel restrictions for some.

Today the Cuban government announced that Cubans will no longer need an exit visa from the state in order to leave the country for travel, etc. However, the government simultaneously cracked down on travel for high skilled workers.

As of January 14, 2012, Cubans will only need a visa from the country they are traveling to in order to leave the country. 

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Election 2012
2:35 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

Politics Tuesday: Debates Matter, Especially in Florida

Credit klootch1 / flickr
After tonight's presidential debate, the candidates come to Lynn University for the final debate.

President Obama and Mitt Romney meet in their second presidential debate tonight in Hempstead, NY. Then, Boca Raton becomes the center of the political universe next Monday, October 22 when Lynn University hosts the final encounter between the two candidates before election day.

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Lynn University Debate
2:02 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

Lynn University Invites Tweeters To "Lounge" Around During Debate

Credit C. DiMattei

Lynn University students are rolling out the digital red carpet for political watchers in advance of the last Presidential Debate of 2012.

The small Boca Raton university is hosting the final face-off between President Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Monday, October 22nd.

Lynn spokesman Joshua Glanzer says the university enlisted a core group of student volunteers to interact with Twitter and Facebook users within the school's new Social Media Lounge.

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Edward Schumacher-Matos is the ombudsman for NPR. His column can be found on NPR.org here.

Having spent more than three decades as a reporter and editor in the United States and abroad for some of the nation's most prestigious news outlets, and having founded his own newspapers, Schumacher-Matos has a deep understanding of the essential role that journalists play in upholding a vital democracy. He also intimately understands the demands that reporters and editors face every day.

Immediately prior to joining NPR in June 2011, Schumacher-Matos wrote a syndicated weekly column for The Washington Post and was the ombudsman for The Miami Herald. Earlier, he founded four Spanish-language daily newspapers in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and the Rio Grande Valley; served as the founding editor and associate publisher of the Wall Street Journal's Spanish and Portuguese insert editions in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal; and reported for The New York Times as Madrid Bureau Chief, Buenos Aires Bureau Chief, and the paper's NYC economic development reporter.

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Schumacher-Matos was part of the team that won a 1980 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident. He began his varied career covering small towns for the Quincy Patriot Ledger south of Boston, and as a "super stringer' for The Washington Post, in Japan, South Korea, and New England.

For nearly the last four years, while writing his Post and Herald columns, Schumacher-Matos was also at Harvard University. He was the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies at the Kennedy School of Government; a Shorenstein Fellow on the Press, Politics and Public Policy; and director of the Migration and Integration Studies Program. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of IE University Graduate School of Business in Madrid and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. He also is active in the Council on Foreign Relations, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, and the Inter American Press Association.

Schumacher-Matos received his Master of Arts degree in International Politics and Economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Literature from Vanderbilt University. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Japan.

Growing up in a military family, he volunteered to join the Army during the Vietnam War. His service in Vietnam earned him the Bronze Star. He was born in Colombia and came to the United States as an immigrant child.

Topical Currents
1:00 pm
Tue October 16, 2012

A Social & Political History of the Mammogram

10/16/12 - Tuesday's  Topical Currents is with Atlanta-based radiologist Dr. Handel Reynolds.  He’s written the book, THE BIG SQUEEZE:  A Social and Political History of the Controversial Mammogram.  Also on the program is Dr. Roger Khouri, who heads the Miami Breast Center.  He’ll discuss new techniques in breast reconstruction for those who’ve had mastectomies.  Of course, we’ll take your calls.

 

Politics
11:46 am
Tue October 16, 2012

Elections Supervisor: “Perfect Storm” Of Long Lines Ahead For Voters

Credit leonvotes.org
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho

At the urging of the Obama campaign, Florida voters are showing up at elections offices around the state to fill out absentee ballots.

This comes on the heels of elections supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties advising voters to get absentee ballots and mail them.

The reason: long ballots and possibly long waits.

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