Wimauma Mamas

Today's episode is a little heavier than most. We combined our News in Florida and the Around the World & Nation segments to talk about the child detention center in Homestead, Florida. This particular topic will NOT be easy to hear about. If you feel that you cannot listen to it, you can skip ahead to our Hillsborough Closeup segment after the recap. Here's what we talk about in today's episode: Public Service Announcement: You may have heard about how Amendment 4, the law that says that re-enfranchised ex-felons and reversed a Jim Crow-era law that kept 1 in 5 black Floridians from voting, is going to be virtually unenforceable because of a bill that the state legislature passed to require them to pay their fines. It's not going into effect until July 1st. Anyone that might be affected by the new bill should register to vote before July 1st! News in Florida/Around the Nation: WARNING- this segment will not be easy to hear about. It is about the for-profit child detention center in Homestead, Florida that is operated by Caliburn International Corporation. We talk about what life is like for the children right now and how their situation is about to get even worse because of the cuts to aid. Then, we discuss the financial and political side of the story. We tried to stay as closely as possible to the facts, but there comes a point where you have to say that you don't accept this. We cannot accept this and we should make it clear to our representatives that they shouldn't accept this, either. Hillsborough County Closeup: After the hard-hitting segment before, we thought we might lighten things up by talking about how your child can become a firefighter and what that process looks like. In our last podcast, we talked about how we don't have enough fire stations for the amount of people we have living in Hillsborough County. These guys are out risking their lives for us. We should do what we can to support them. All About Science: Debbie follows our theme of talking about firefighters and fire stations by talking about how fires get started. We do live in the lightning capital of the world, after all. Did You Know: Fran has been talking about voting and why people don't vote. In today's episode, she talks about voter suppression based on some of the bills our state legislature has passed and that Governor DeSantis has signed, including one that makes it harder for Floridians to vote on amendments to our state constitution. And finally, we had a wonderful interview with Barbara Scinta about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and how Florida could be the state that ratifies it.

On our fourth episode, we talk about: News in Florida: The state legislature has a long history of taking money from the affordable housing fund. We need to make it clear to our representatives that we will not accept this any longer. Hillsborough County Closeup: Hillsborough County has a shocking lack of fire stations for the amount of people we have. This is a serious problem and the Hillsborough Fire Fighter's Union has sounded the alarm on more than one occasion. We have to make sure that our representatives make this a priority. Around the World/Nation: The Department of Education has wasted $1 Billion on charter school waste and fraud. It's more ridiculous than you might think. This is taxpayer money that could be going toward improving our public education and yet, it gets wasted instead. Our representatives support charter schools, but the more we look into the logistics of charter schools, the less we think they should. We need to tell them to stop wasting taxpayer money on charter schools and start putting it toward improving our public education. All About Science with Debbie: With the nationwide measles outbreak, vaccines have also gotten more attention. There is no cure for measles once you get it, but there is a way to prevent it from happening in the first place. There are so many misconceptions about vaccinations and we hope this information can help clear them up. Did You Know with Fran: Fran has been doing a series on voting and why it matters. In the last podcast, she talked why people don't think their vote matters. In this episode, Fran addresses the intimidating ballot and what voters can do to understand it better. And finally, we had a wonderful interview with Hud Richards, the past president of the South County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), about how we can prepare for the upcoming hurricane season. Unfortunately, we don't think about these things until it is too late. We have the opportunity right now to prepare.

On our third episode, we talk about:Recap: What it was like to attend the hearing about the TECO's decision to invest in a fracked gas plant and how it made us think about our civic duty and what we're trying to do on this podcast. News in Florida: Florida paid Cubic $3.6 million in taxpayer money to get them to drop the bid to update our SunPass tolls. It turns out this was for nothing and that the company that got the bid--Conduent--wasn't a good choice to begin with. We dig into why this decision was made and what it means for us. Hillsborough County Closeup: We dig into traffic in the SouthShore area and our lack of transportation options. Mind the Gaps: In our Around the Nation segment, we take a look at the gender pay gap and how we can fix it. All About Science: We have a new segment! We are happy to welcome Debbie to our team. In her debut segment, she takes a look at what global warming will mean for our economy right here in Tampa Bay.Did You Know: Fran is back with a segment on why voting matters and why it's dangerous when people don't think it does. lnterview with CEO of Enterprising Latinas (ELI): And finally, we had a fabulous and enlightening interview with Liz Gutierrez, who is the founder and CEO of ELI, an organization that empowers the women in Wimauma to shape their own futures. ELI invests in these women who in turn are an investment for Wimauma. They are reshaping Wimauma's downtown and our businesses. And you know how we're always talking about how we don't have transportation here in Wimauma? ELI has a solution to that problem: hot pink buses.

This episode is shorter than usual but it's still power-packed. In this episode, we talk about: Update on Medicaid: Apparently the fact that Florida has one of the worst healthcare systems in the country doesn't stop our lawmakers from continuing to make bad decisions. Farmers, Food Stamps, and Federal Funding: The White House is looking to cut food stamps. What does this mean for our Wimauma farmers? What can we do about it? Lead in our schools: The Hillsborough County school district found lead in its water. Find out why this happened and what we can do to stop it from happening again. Fort Lonesome: the name speaks for itself. Check out our earlier interviews with the Sierra Club. In our next podcast, we will give you an update about how the hearing went.

Ordinarily, we would upload an interview at the end of a podcast episode. However, in this special two-part interview series with the Sierra Club, we talk about something that requires immediate action. In this first part, we interviewed the chairman of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club, Kent Bailey about how climate change is not only an environmental issue but one of concern for the economy and national security. Moreover, TECO is considering raising electricity prices by 4 percent to pay for a billion-dollar investment in a fracked gas plant. In other words, our electric bills will go up to pay for something that will end up costing us more in the future! We have a chance to hold TECO accountable at a Fracked Gas Plant Hearing on Monday, March 11th @5PM at the Hilton Garden Inn in Riverview. We will be there and we hope you will join us. This is our chance to show them that we will not accept this. In the words of Mr. Bailey, "silence becomes consent" after this hearing.

Ordinarily, we would upload an interview at the end of a podcast episode. However, in this special two-part interview series with the Sierra Club, we talk about something that requires immediate action. In this second part, we interviewed the Florida Beyond Coal Organizer for the Sierra Club, Gonzalo Valdes about why TECO is planning on investing in fracked gas and what that means for us. TECO is considering raising electricity prices by 4 percent to pay for a billion-dollar investment in a fracked gas plant. In other words, our electric bills will go up to pay for something that will end up costing us more in the future! We have a chance to hold TECO accountable at a Fracked Gas Plant Hearing on Monday, March 11th @5PM at the Hilton Garden Inn in Riverview. We will be there and we hope you will join us. This is our chance to show them that we will not accept this. In the words of Mr. Valdes, "anybody who is a TECO rate payer or a Floridian that doesn't want to see our state go underwater" should be at this hearing.

We are the Wimauma Mamas (and papa!), here to talk to you about what matters most right here in Florida and the South Shore Area. We take a small look at big problems. We are all the same. We all want clean drinking water, safe foods free of pesticides, and good schools for our children. Roads that we could travel on would be a bonus, too! We want to empower you to take action on the issues that impact us all. A lot of it involves letting our representatives know that they should make these issues a priority. The mamas (and papa!) will help you get the answers that you need. On our debut episode, here's what we talk about: Wimauma Mamas: who are we?News in Florida: Medicaid and a cutback that might knock Florida's healthcare ranking from 48th in the nation to 50th. Spoiler alert: it involves dumb decisions by our state legislatureHillsborough County Closeuo: A case study on when activism works right here in Wimauma and the South Shore area. One of the recurring themes in our podcast is how the South Shore area does not get the representation it needs. Emergency vehicles use the Opticon system to change the traffic lights from red to green. This helps the flow of traffic and it could help save your life or the life of a loved one. However, SR 674 does not have the device! What can we do to change this? Around the World/Nation: The unspoken crises in the U.S. and around the worldWhat's a Wimauma?Why our traffic is the monstrosity that it isAn interview with Andrew Davis, a former candidate for Hillsborough County Commissioner, about how we can fix the monstrosity that is our traffic. We always hear about why local issues matter but we never really follow through on it. Our apathy is what allows our local politicians to make the decisions that they do. We cannot accept this any longer. Our hope is that when we present you with this information, you are motivated to contact our representatives to make sure that we see some change. We live in a representative democracy and we must make sure that we are represented.