Gulf Coast Live: Babies Born Addicted to Prescription Drugs / Republican State Representative Dane Eagle

According to local experts, the number of babies in Southwest Florida born addicted to prescription opiates has shot up 800% in the last eight years and they say the mothers don’t fit the typical profile of a drug addict.

Nationally, the number of babies born addicted has tripled in the last decade. We’ll explore what’s behind the trend, how Florida officials are responding and how Lee Memorial health System has become a national model for dealing with the problem.

As state lawmakers prepare to convene this year’s legislative session on March 5th, we talk with freshman Republican State Representative Dane Eagle.  In November, he won the election to represent State House District 77 which includes Cape Coral.  

Learn more about Rep. Eagle’s background, political ideology, and legislative priorities going into the 2013 state legislative session.

The show will be live at 9AM on 90.1 FM

Call in: 1-877-428-8255
Email: gulfcoastlive@wgcu.org
Click here to go to the show’s page

Intersection: Election-season politics with Dick and Lou

It’s the final weeks before the November elections, and few regions are as important to the presidential race than Central Florida.

The I-4 corridor is considered the swing region of this swing state, which offers 29 electoral votes … more than any other swing state.

90.7 political commentators Dick Batchelor and Lou Frey explain how the presidential election in Florida might shape other important races … like Florida’s senate race. We’ll also discuss new text messages that reveal the behind-the-scenes politics of Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.

Plus, the Intersection team continues our look back at our favorite interviews as part of our 5-year anniversary. This week: a 2009 interview with Michael Jackson’s keyboardist.

Tune into Intersection and then share your perspective here. The show airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online here.

Intersection: Gram Parsons and country rock

Gram Parsons was a pioneer in the 1960s and 1970s of country rock.

He’s best-known for his work with the International Submarine Band, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and he traces his roots to Central Florida.

This week on Intersection 90.7’s Mark Simpson talked with WESH-TV journalist Bob Kealing about his new book, “Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock.”

Also, WUSF journalist John O’Connor gave an update from the Republican National Convention.

Are you a fan of Gram Parsons?

Listen to Intersection and then share your perspective on Florida Talks. The show airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online here.

Intersection: Poor communication behind poor FCAT scores?

Shockingly low FCAT writing scores likely were the result of miscommunication among state educators, school districts and those who grade the tests, new Orange County schools superintendent Barbara Jenkins says.

“The belief is … that what was conveyed to school distirsts and what was conveyed to those who scored the writing may have been somewhat different,” Jenkins says this week on Intersection.

A state investigation will determine what caused FCAT writing scores to plummet so much state educators held an emergency meeting where they reduced the passing grade so school funding would not be drastically affected. Jenkins speculated that when state educators informed school districts the writing part of the FCAT would receive more scrutiny, what they told school districts was different from what they told those who grade the tests.

Jenkins acknowledged criticsm is growing for standardized testing as a means of measuring student achievement. In the wake of the low FCAT writing scores many have questioned whether too much standardized testing detracts from learning. State educators instituted tougher FCAT standards in preparation for new nationwide standards that take effect in 2015. Jenkins says the new nationwide standards will depend less on standardized testing and quiet the debate.

“Standardized testing as we have it today doesn’t really get at all of the brilliance of our students,” she says.

Where do you stand on standardized testing?

Intersection airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The show is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. or Listen online and then share your perspective here on Florida Talks.

Intersection: Florida election controversy

It wouldn’t be an election year without election controversy in Florida.

A program meant to remove non-citizens from voter rolls identified a 91-year-old World War II veteran as a possible non-citizen. Some 52,000 possibly dead voters were identified. Also, a federal judge ruled against part of the state’s new election law.

All the controversy likely will influence the presidential election if the election is close, which it likely will be, say 90.7 political commentators Dick Batchelor and Lou Frey this week on Intersection. Florida is a battleground state with 29 electoral votes, more than any other battleground state. The state favored Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, Republican George W. Bush in 2004 and was a toss-up in 2000.

In 2012 every Florida vote will count, Batchelor and Frey tell 90.7’s Mark Simpson.

“This issue could come back, and Florida could be a pivotal state again, unfortunately building on a reputation that is not very good to begin with,” says Batchelor, referencing Florida’s 2000 voter recount.

Listen to Intersection and then share your perspective here on Florida Talks. The show airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30. Or listen online.

Intersection: Does FCAT measure student achievement or detract from education?

FCAT writing scores released this month were shockingly low. State educators called an emergency meeting where they lowered the passing grade so school funding would not be drastically affected. This left many wondering about the credibility of Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test as a measurement of student education.

This week on Intersection 90.7’s Mark Simpson talks with an expert panel about where these low FCAT scores leave public education in Florida. Kathleen Shanahan, chairwoman of the state Board of Education, says the FCAT is a necessary measurement of student achievement.  But Gayle Hodges, Winter Park High School physics teacher, and Mike Cahill, president of the Orange County teachers’ union, say too much testing can detract from education.

How does the FCAT affect your child’s education? Tune into Intersection and then share your perspective here on Florida Talks. The show airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online.

Intersection: Chairman of the Florida Republican Party

The Tea Party’s rise reflects popular American concern for government spending and debt, says Lenny Curry, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

Curry discusses the Tea Party, election year and Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law this week on Intersection. He says that while the Tea Party has left the Republican Party divided during an election year, he believes the party will remain influential.

“I think that most people have a little Tea Party in them, whether they identify themselves as such or not,” he says. “They want to see government operate at the proper size and get spending under control.”

Curry acknowledged the Trayvon Martin shooting has touched a nerve but said debate over the Stand Your Ground law shouldn’t distract from other issues during the election year, such as the economy. Martin, 17, was shot dead in February in Sanford by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder, has evoked the Stand Your Ground law in his defense.

“The issues we should be talking about going into this national election are job creation and economic opportunity,” he said. “This has touched a nerve, but there are many other issues.”

Also this week on Intersection filmmaker Sabrina Lee discusses her new documentary, which follows a group of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on a fly-fishing trip in Montana. The film, “Not Yet Begun to Fight,” is screening this week at the Florida Film Festival.

Tune into Intersection on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The show is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online and share your perspective here on Florida Talks.

Intersection: The political implications of Trayvon Martin’s death

Trayvon Martin’s death takes place during an election year in a critical swing state. The story of the 17-year-old shot to death by a neighborhood watchman in Sanford has come up in the White House, Congress and Tallahassee.

90.7’s political commentators Dick Batchelor and Lou Frey discuss the political implications of Trayvon’s death this week on Intersection. They say it’s unusual for a president to weigh in on a racially charged crime story such as this. 

Trayvon was black and his shooter, George Zimmerman, is half-white and half-Hispanic. Zimmerman says he shot Trayvon in self-defense and has not been arrested. President Barack Obama said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

“It’s sort of like pouring gasoline on a fire that’s already raging,” Frey says of the president’s remark, although he adds that politically the remark probably does well in the polls and, “as you said, this is an election year.”

How do you think Trayvon’s death might shape election-year politics? Intersection airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The show is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online and share your perspective here on Florida Talks.

Intersection: Orlando’s mayoral candidates

Orlando’s volunteer crime watch program stretches city resources and helps keep neighborhoods safe, Orlando mayoral candidate Phil Diamond says.

Diamond and Orlando mayoral candidate Mike Cantone appear this week on Intersection as part of a special two-week series of interviews with the city’s mayoral candidates. Incumbent Buddy Dyer faces three challengers in his bid for re-election April 3.

Diamond supports expanding Orlando’s volunteer crime watch program and using volunteers to help with the city’s code enforcement. He says his position has not changed since the death of Trayvon Martin, the teen gunned down in Sanford by a neighborhood watchman.

“The kind of thing where you’re talking about in Sanford wouldn’t have occurred with a citizen on patrol that is part of the program that is run by the Orlando Police Department because those people don’t carry guns,” he says. “They’re supposed to call 911 or the police department.”

Cantone expresses skepticsm for large expansion projects such as the new Medical City in Lake Nona and Creative Village, a development of businesses, retail and housing proposed for the site of the old Amway Arena. Cantone says more planning is required to ensure a trained workforce is in place for these expansions.

“We should have been working to build this workforce for years before construction started,” he says.

Intersection airs Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The show is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or tune in online and then share your perspective here on Florida Talks. Visit Intersection’s website to hear past interviews with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and candidate Ken Mulvaney.

Intersection: Orlando’s mayoral candidates

Ambitious expansion projects such as SunRail, the Amway Center and new Medical City in Lake Nona are even more important in today’s economy, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says.

Dyer faces three challengers in his bid for re-election April 3. This week on Intersection 90.7’s Mark Simpson interviews Dyer and challenger Ken Mulvaney as part of a two-week series of interviews with Orlando’s mayoral candidates.

The incumbent mayor addressed criticism his expansion plans for Orlando sometimes are too ambitious. The region’s economy was based on home building and tourism. Projects such as the Medical City will infuse Orlando with needed, higher-wage jobs, he says.

“The recession is probably the best example of why we need to diversify our economy,” Dyer says.

Mulvaney countered the city lacks the educated workforce the Medical City will require.

“I don’t think we’ve done enough to educate the people in Orlando about the jobs of the future,” he says.

Also this week on Intersection, Simpson talks with the parents of Trayvon Martin, the teen gunned down in Sanford by a neighborhood watchman.

“He was my hero,” the teen’s father Tracy Martin says. “He was everything to me.”

Tune into Intersection Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. The show is rebroadcast Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. Or listen online and share your perspective here on Florida Talks.