Florida Matters

We get post-presidential election reactions from some voters we met earlier this year.

Michael Weinbaum of Winter Garden and Phyllis Young of St. Petersburg are among a group of people who live along the I-4 corridor who we asked about the issues that mattered to them.

We wanted to find out their thoughts on the vote and the most important issues facing the new president.

A week from now, voting in the 2020 election will come to an end.

Due to the pandemic-related surge in early voting and mail-in ballots, it’s been more like election season.

Election coverage has a familiar ring to it. But this year, WUSF tried something different. We wanted to put the voters at the center of our election stories.

To do that, we teamed up with our colleagues at WMFE in Orlando and a national project called America Amplified. Here, we meet a voter we connected with earlier this year.

Dwayne-ron Sharpe is a student at St. Petersburg College and he grew up in Jamaica. He recently became an American citizen, so this is his first election.

In the second half of the show, host Bradley George talks with WUSF political reporter Steve Newborn to learn about how early voting is going.

More than 700,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Florida since March. And for those who have recovered, the illness has changed their lives forever.

Health News Florida reporter Stephanie Colombini talked with several people about what it was like to have COVID-19.

We bring you three of those stories on this episode of Florida Matters.

You'll hear from Dr. Devandra Amin of Clearwater, Ambyr Lix of Land O'Lakes and Mary Ann Shea of Sarasota.

As coronavirus was spreading across the world and the U.S. entered lockdown in March, there was lots of uncertainty, especially with how the pandemic would affect business.

At the time, we talked to the owner of a St. Petersburg bookstore and the director of an organization that helps small businesses about what the coming months held for their livelihoods.

Seven months later, host Bradley George is checking back in with Alsace Walentine of Tombolo Books and Eileen Rodriguez of the Florida Small Business Development Center.

George also talked to Health News Florida Editor Julio Ochoa, who reported on the challenges facing an Oldsmar hair salon.

If you are one of the thousands of voters across the Greater Tampa Bay region who requested a mail-in ballot, it’s probably lying on your living room table or waiting in your mailbox.

And for many people, it will be the first time voting-by-mail. The coronavirus pandemic and the effort to practice social distancing has led to a boom in requests for mail-in ballots.

How exactly does the process work? What happens if you make a mistake?

And besides the top of the ballot presidential races, what are some other important races that we need to pay attention to?

Pinellas County is unique in a lot of ways.

But here’s one you might not know: it’s voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1980 -- except for the disputed election of 2000. Four years ago, Donald Trump won the county by about 5,000 votes.

That’s why the campaigns of Joe Biden and Donald Trump are paying close attention to Pinellas this year.

Host Bradley George spoke with Kaiser Health News reporter Phil Galewitz. His recent story with Margo Snipe of the Tampa Bay Times looked at how the pandemic could affect how the county swings this year.

They were also joined by Tara Newsom, political scientist and director of the Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement at St. Petersburg College.

In the 2020 election, disinformation is everywhere.

Is there a way to stop disinformation from spreading? And what can you do to protect yourself?

Host Bradley George talked with Sabrina Rodriguez, a reporter with news site Politico, and Daniel Funke, a staff writer for fact-checking site PolitiFact.

Earlier this month, Rodriguez and fellow reporter Marc Caputo covered the wild rumors, lies and disinformation about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that are spreading like wildfire in South Florida’s Latino communities via WhatsApp, Facebook, and Spanish-language media.

Funke and Tampa Bay Times reporter Steve Contorno wrote about the QAnon conspiracy theory and how it's trickling into mainstream politics in Florida.

There’s nothing like seeing live music — whether it’s in a huge arena or a dimly lit bar.

It’s one of the experiences that’s a casualty of social distancing needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Live music venues have been closed for months, and as the virus continues to spread, there’s no end in sight. No clear view of when the smallest of venues can reopen for shows. And musicians who rely on gigs for their livelihood are also suffering.

So where do we go from here?

Host Bradley George talked about the current state of Tampa Bay's smaller music venues with Tom DeGeorge, owner of Ybor City venue Crowbar; Kristopher James, a Bradenton-based musician; and Wayne Atherholt, cultural affairs director for the city of St. Petersburg.

Originally aired on Sept. 1

Monday night's extension of Florida's rent moratorium signaled another moment of relief for renters while landlords will once again be halted from evicting tenants. For the past five months, Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued late extensions for the moratorium within hours of it expiring.

But beyond the month-to-month relief, what is eventually at stake for renters and landlords is becoming clear. What happens if the statewide moratorium is finally lifted?

"We're going to be faced with a tsunami of cases, of people who are going to be facing immediate evictions. We're going to be facing an onslaught of new cases," said William Pena Wells, a St. Petersburg attorney with Gulfcoast Legal Services. "Basically here at Gulfcoast and every other agency that tries to help distressed tenants, we're going to be overwhelmed with requests."

On Tuesday's episode of Florida Matters, host Bradley George talked with Pena Wells and Stephannie Stokes, a reporter who covers housing for public radio station WABE in Atlanta.

Originally aired on Aug. 25

Florida's public K-12 schools and universities are starting a new school year and while some students will be learning online from home, others are heading back to campus.

With students back in the building, school administrators and staff are now tasked with keeping them safe and healthy.

Florida Matters host Bradley George spoke with WUSF education reporter Kerry Sheridan, University of South Florida public health professor Jay Wolfson and New College of Florida student Anna Lynn Winfrey. Winfrey is also editor in chief of New College's campus newspaper The Catalyst.