90.7 WMFE's Intersection

Municipal elections are being held next week- with Orlando city commission races on the ballot in three districts, while mayoral elections are being held in several cities around Central Florida. 

Issues driving voters to the polls include growth and development, housing and jobs. On this episode of Intersection, WMFE's Matthew Peddie speaks with political commentators Chris Carmody and Dick Batchelor about the issues in those races. 

We’ll also take a closer look at Gov. DeSantis’s call for a special session, vaccine mandates, and the controversy over his pick for state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo. 

Orlando is installing the first of more than 25 signs recognizing Holden-Parramore as a nationally registered Historic District. 

The City of Orlando’s Natasha Gaye, and state lawmaker Geraldine Thompson discuss the historical significance of the area and what’s being done to raise the profile of Parramore. 

And Shawn Welcome is Orlando’s newest poet laureate. Welcome has been a leading light in the city’s spoken word scene. He joins Intersection for a conversation about poetry and place.

In this episode of Intersection, LGBTQ Veterans across Florida have been pushing for Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to sign the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and more. 

WMFE's Talia Blake filled in for Intersection hoseMatthew Peddie. She talked to retired transgender US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and Command Pilot Randi Robertson about the importance of the Equality Act and her efforts to get it passed.

Plus, this weekend, the Orlando Queer & Trans Asian Association will hold a Pride of Color event at Lake Eola. We spoke with the organization’s Gabby Montoya and Nica Ramirez about the event and what it means to sit at the intersection of two marginalized communities. 

And this Halloween, if you’re watching horror movies, you might notice a theme: In a lot of slashers, there’s one girl who lives. It’s called The Final Girl. Author Grady Hendrix’s latest book--The Final Girl Support Group, looks at what happens to those women AFTER the worst night of their lives. WMFE's Abe Aboraya spoke with Hendrix about the book and more.

At the end of January, Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy made a trip to Mar-a-Lago. It marked the end of a moment in the weeks after the January 6th insurrection when it seemed like the party might have split from Donald Trump. 

The Washington Post’s Robert Costa and Bob Woodward write about the fallout from January 6th in their new book, 'Peril'. In this episode of Intersection, WMFE’s Nicole Darden Creston talks with Costa about Florida’s connections to the insurrection and Trump’s legacy. 

It’s Domestic Violence Awareness month, and Central Florida leaders are trying to better understand why some perpetrators are held accountable while others slip through the cracks. Harbor House of Central Florida CEO Michelle Sperzel and Orange County Domestic Violence Commission co-chair Dick Batchelor talk with Intersection host Matthew Peddie about tracking domestic violence cases. 

Low earth orbit is a busy place these days. WMFE space reporter Brendan Byrne joins the show for an update on the commercial space boom, celebrity astronauts and NASA’s deep space ambitions.

The theme of this year’s Come out with Pride event in Orlando is ‘Unified By Pride,’ which executive director Tatiana Quiroga says represents an incredibly diverse community. 

Quiroga says this year’s in-person event is a welcome return after the pandemic forced a change of plans last year. But the joy is tempered by reflection on a year of setbacks for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. 

On this episode of Intersection Quiroga talks about the celebration and the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community. 

Red Huber’s career as a news photographer spanned more than 4 decades. He documented the highs and lows of Central Florida from space shuttle launches to the tragedy of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Now his work is part of a retrospective exhibition. Huber and Patrick Kahn with SNAP! Orlando join the show for a conversation about a life in pictures. 

PechaKucha is back live on stage in Orlando this weekend after going on hiatus during the pandemic. Presenter Aquanza Cadogan explains how the speech and slide format showcases the transformative power of storytelling.

This week Walt Disney World kicks off more than a year of celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney didn’t live to see his dream for a Florida theme park become a reality but his vision has transformed the region's economy, landscape and culture. 

On this episode of Intersection we take a closer look at the impact of Disney on Central Florida, 50 years on from the opening of the Magic Kingdom. 

WMFE’s Talia Blake talks with author Aaron Goldberg about Walt’s vision for the theme park and what Orlando might look like without Disney. 

Theme park writer Seth Kubersky discusses the 50th anniversary celebrations and how Disney taps into nostalgia to keep guests coming back. 

George Wallace, executive director of the LGBT+ Center, reflects on Walt Disney World’s role in LGBTQ+ rights in Central Florida. 

And we listen back to an interview about how Disney’s approach to food influenced the design of his original theme park in California. 

 

Nelson Cardenas and Marisela Rodriguez are visual artists who celebrate their Hispanic heritage through their work. Cardenas pays homage to Frida Kahlo and other Latin American cultural heroes, while Rodriguez’s paintings evoke an idealized Cuba. Their works are part of an exhibition at the City of Oakland for Hispanic Heritage Month. Cardenas and Rodriguez join Intersection for a conversation about art, culture and self expression. 

The life of Volusia County resident Lee Bailey will be honored this weekend, 130 years after he was lynched. Daisy Grimes and Grady Ballenger with the Volusia Remembers committee talk about the importance of confronting a horrific chapter in the history of the country. 

How do you get more people to pay attention to Orlando artists? One way to do it is put their art on billboards. Curator Patrick Greene and painter Peterson Guerrier chat about the Corridor Project Billboard Exhibition set to debut next January.

Florida’s manatees are dying at an alarming rate with more than 900 deaths reported so far this year, and most of them in the Indian River Lagoon.  Conservation groups are scrambling to save the manatees- and lobbying to get them put back on the US fish and wildlife endangered list. 

On this episode of Intersection, host Matthew Peddie talks with WMFE environmental reporter Amy Green about what’s killing these charismatic animals and what can be done to help save them. 

The long shadow of the pandemic and the economic recession has put more Floridians at risk of losing their homes. The CDC’s eviction moratorium was removed last month, and advocates for the homeless, like Eric Gray with the Christian Service Center of Orlando, are bracing for more people to lose their homes as evictions work their way through the courts. Gray gives Intersection a tour of the center’s downtown campus which brings together a range of non-profits serving adults experiencing homelessness. And he talks about what he believes is needed to get people on a path out of poverty in the City Beautiful. 

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando and Osceola County CEO Catherine Steck McManus joins the show to talk about the uphill struggle for working families to put a roof over their heads and to stay housed.

On Saturday America marks 20 years since 9/11. Survivors and families of the victims continue to tell the stories of those who died that day.  For Anthony Gardner, whose brother was killed at the World Trade Center,  now it’s more important than ever to teach the history of 9-11 and celebrate the legacy of those who lost their lives. 

On this episode of Intersection, host Matthew Peddie talks with Gardner about his work with the National 9/11 memorial and museum, and how lessons learned from the creation of the 9/11 memorial can be applied to Orlando’s Pulse memorial project. 

While the last US troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan last month- 20 years after the war on terror began- for veterans suffering from PTSD from that conflict, the struggle is far from over. 

Neftali Rodriguez, CEO of the Camaraderie Foundation, reflects on the work that still needs to be done to support returning veterans and active duty military suffering the invisible wounds of war. 

We’ll also talk with US Rep. Michael Waltz about the road ahead for Afghan allies of the US who were evacuated and are resettling in this country.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID in Florida is starting to decline, but hospitals are still under extreme stress. 

On this episode of Intersection we talk with medical staff on the front lines of the surge about the toll the pandemic is taking. 

AdventHealth Orlando’s director of high risk pregnancy care, Dr Rachel Humphrey joins the program. She says even though she’s optimistic Florida the worst of this surge may be behind us, she’s still treating very sick patients- many of them unvaccinated.  Dr. Humprey addresses misinformation around pregnancy, coronavirus and vaccines. 

State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith is suing the Florida Department of Health to try and get daily COVID-19 case updates. Rep. Smith explains why he believes a lawsuit is the only option to get that data. 

And WMFE Health Reporter Abe Aboraya talks with ICU nurse June Brown about combating the surge and how frontline staff are doing the best they can to help patients and support their families. 

 

As the COVID-19 surge continues, the rhetoric around mask wearing shows no signs of cooling down. Meanwhile more school districts are defying the governor’s order banning mask mandates and requiring students to wear masks- at least for the next few weeks. 

On this episode of Intersection, host Matthew Peddie talks with Dr. Ross McKinney, chief scientific officer with the Association of American Medical Colleges about how Florida and other states are handling the return to in-person school. Joining the conversation is Judi Hayes, a parent of two kids in the Orange County Public School system, who discusses her concerns about the return to school, and a lawsuit against the state of Florida over the mask issue. 

State leaders are touting monoclonal antibodies as a “gamechanger” for the pandemic. But as COVID continues to fill hospitals- just how much of a difference will this therapy make? We’ll hear from the Florida Department of Emergency Management’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kenneth Scheppke.

And Dr. Jason Byrd with the University of Florida talks about the state's response plan for mass casualties and COVID, and how the state can assist overwhelmed medical examiners offices through the Florida Emergency Mortuary Operations Response System.