Government and politics

Poe Springs park is going to reopen soon and, as Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Chip Skambis reports, the City of High Springs has big plans for the park. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/02/Poe-Springs-WRAP.mp3|titles=Poe Springs WRAP]

Florida’s legislative delegation is hearing about of a number of Gainesville projects today. Gainesville City Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa says she is making the case for many issues to wrap up a two-day stay on Capitol Hill, but her main focus is on improving infrastructure. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/02/MastrodicasaB.mp3] Other projects include improving RTS …

A proposed bill to privatize 27 Florida prisons met defeat on the state Senate floor today in a 19-21 vote.  The controversial bill has drawn criticism and heated discussion from both Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate. Today membes of the Tea Party, corrections workers, labor groups, the NAACP, as well …

Three Republican presidential candidates are making their case to conservatives in Washington Friday on why they are the party’s best choice. Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich are speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference , also known as CPAC to tell conservatives who they should support. Marion County Republican Party Vice …

Tuesday night’s Republican presidential primaries in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado turned out unexpectedly with Rick Santorum winning all three.  WUFT-FM’s Chip Skambis spoke with University of South Florida Political Science Professor Susan MacManus about what exactly these results mean. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/02/MacManus_Web1.mp3|titles=MacManus_Web]

Yvonne Hinson-Rawls celebrated her election victory at the Supervisor of Election’s Office Tuesday night. Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM’s Caitlin Lawrence reports on the next step for the new Gainesville district 1 city commissioner. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/HinsonRawlsFPWrap.mp3]  

Despite Republican Candidate Mitt Romney’s win, the Florida Presidential Preference Primary proved some difficulties lie ahead for Romney. Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Chip Skambis spoke with University of Florida Political Science professor Dan Smith about the biases certain southern republicans may have against the candidate. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/SmithQAFeb12012ChipSkambis.mp3]

The results are in, and turnout in Alachua County was not as high as the Supervisor of Elections Office had hoped it would be. Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter says early voting and absentee ballot turnout seemed to indicate a higher turnout on election day. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/01/Carpenter-1.mp3|titles=Carpenter 1] The …

With 8 candidates vying for the Gainesville At-Large 1 city commission seat, most candidates were not able to gain enough support to move forward to the run-off.  Realtor Donna Lutz finished fourth, but she is happy with the campaign she ran. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/01/Lutz6.mp3] She says the one thing she would like …

The City of Gainesville has a new District 1 Commissioner. Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM’s Caitlin Lawrence reports on Yvonne Hinson-Rawls’ election win. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/news/files/2012/01/Hinson-Rawls-Win-Wrap.mp3|titles=Hinson-Rawls Win Wrap]