November 3, 2025 • 21 mins
TOP STORIES - Records detail the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office cheating investigation as new questions emerge. Plus, major construction projects are reshaping downtown Clearwater, and the company behind Tropicana Field’s massive roof repair calls it their largest and most important U.S. project. Also in today’s show: Tampa Bay restaurants and food pantries respond to the SNAP benefits halt, evacuees from Jamaica arrive in Tampa, and the Miami Dolphins part ways with GM Chris Grier.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, what's going on. Let's get to today's SOP stories. Chris,
Good Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The investigation into the Hillsborough Sheriff's office cheating scandal still
has a lot of unanswered questions. Investigators found that Robert
Rausch's role as someone who just helped out went far
beyond just editing and proofreading. Evidence suggests that he was
the main author of dozens of academic papers submitted by
(00:23):
at least six members of Sheriff Chad Cronister's command staff
as their own work. And of course, the ensuing scandal
led to four resignations and two firings. So the Tampa
Bay Times went through thousands of pages that were released
that shed light on this investigation into the academic dishonesty.
Most who lost their jobs used papers written by Rausch
(00:46):
to advance their careers and earn promotions. So the documents
showed that the Sheriff's investigators went and visited this guy
where he lives in New Hampshire, and he offered excuses.
He said that these were supposed to be business reports
and that he didn't view them as academic papers. They
also paid him money for these services through apps like
(01:10):
Venmo or PayPal.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
But he couldn't remember how much. Oh, of course not so.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I was talking to somebody over the weekend who works
in the department, just to kind of get an idea,
you know, what's going on there, what's the vibe like.
And for the most part, the rank and file don't
really care all that much. But there's no question people
got passed over for promotions because these people got them
and they cheated obviously. But the one thing that I
(01:36):
thought was interesting was them now being either fired or resigning.
It's going to open up some slots for a younger
generation to come in who hopefully hasn't made mistakes like
these and take over in some of those leadership positions.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So that should be interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But generally it's a bit of a stain on sheriff
chech ronisters what's been a very successful career as the
sheriff in Hillsborough County.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, hopefully this prevents this sort of thing from going
on in the future, because obviously it shouldn't be promoting
people now who don't know how to do their own work.
Downtown Clearwater is undergoing a construction boom and it's going
to include the addition of a hotel, high rise, apartment building,
a parking garage, and a streetscape project. The city put
out a release saying that construction could begin on the
(02:27):
multiple projects that will redevelop key downtown areas that will
also provide needed parking. The ten story hotel, along with
retail and the parking garage will be on the eastern
edge of the park south of Clearwater Main Library. Then
there will be another high rise built on the site
of the former city Hall, and then another parking garage
(02:49):
with four hundred spaces will be constructed across Osceola as
part of the makeover, and city Hall also will be
fixed up. They're going to be doing a thirty one
million dollar rediv development project there and they're also doing
an upgrade to the PSTA Clearwater Station, So that's the
sun Coast trendsit Authority of breaking ground on the site
(03:11):
that will be the new Clearwater Station will be a
lot more modern and it will replace the old aging
Park Street terminal.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
There's only so much redevelopment you can do in downtown
Clearwater because the Church Scientology owns pretty much all of it.
So it's notable that at least a few things are
getting done. But again, we've talked about this time and
time again. It's just so frustrating because there is so
much potential. We've seen what's happened in Saint Pete, what's
happened in Tampa, what's happening in Ebors City. I mean,
go down the list. Clearwater, there's just a block on
(03:42):
progress because the Church of Scientology bought everything up and
doesn't want to do anything with all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, it's really going to be interesting to see how
the surrounding area gets developed. And then you're going to
have this like central spot where they have their big,
you know, Scientology building, and then there are all the
businesses and shops that were bought up on the property storefronts. Yeah,
I mean they're just gonna leave that empty and have
this sort of like blight in the middle of Craculus.
(04:09):
So that's gonna be interesting because you know, at one
point Scientology promised to do a bunch of things yea,
and then they had these disputes with the city and
then they essentially bought up these properties, closed them down
and have left them vacant yep.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And there's apparently nothing the city can do about it.
We're just sitting here with downtown Clearwater kind of empty
in parts aside from these new spots. And you could
see there was a note in the report that there's
been a lot of foot traffic since the Coachman Park
redevelopment project. It's drawn a lot of visitors. So there's
just again a ton of potential down there. There's only
(04:44):
so much that you can do.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
The eighteenth panel out of twenty four was installed on
Tropicana Field's roof, so when you look at the roof,
it's like little sections like maybe if you cut an
orange right right, have little slices, which makes perfect sense.
Canfield that's right and exactly right. So they are ahead
of schedule to get this thing opened in April when
(05:06):
the opening day of the new season starts on April sixth.
So there was a story that looked into how these
things were constructed. There's a French company, the Surge Ferrari
Group that helped design it. There's some teflon that goes
over it to protect it from damage, and the material
is made at a facility in Germany and then shipped
to China where they finish it and then bring it here.
(05:29):
It was initially sort of like when you see it
go of, it'll be like a beige color, which I
guess is how the original one looked when it first opened.
I don't recall how it looked exactly, but I guess
the sun turns it white right over time, Yeah, over time,
it actually makes it look brighter in the way we
know it before the hurricane.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I drove by it on Friday, and you can
see the progress that's being made. There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What I thought was interesting, well, first of all, the
crews working on this. Usually it takes about three years
I guess to produce all of this stuff. They've done
it months, so they really sped the project up to
try to get this done before opening day.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
And the new roof. This is great news. It's expected
the last twenty years. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So even though the Trafficganna Field's probably only hit me around,
they ask a couple more. So glad we spent all
that money, got a roof that's gonna last twenty years
and we'll be tearing it down in probably three maybe four.
And it can handle up to one hundred and sixty
five mile per hour winds, which is really good. Although
(06:29):
we saw with Hurricane Melissa, some of these storms these
days getting up a little higher than that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I don't know if that's ever happened in the Gulf. No, no, no, right,
So I don't know if we're necessarily gonna have to
deal with that. But hey, the way things have been
changing weatherwise, yep, who.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Really knows exactly. Chris Trankman with Today's Top Stories.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Chris, thanks so much you time now for today's Top Stories,
brought to you on my friends over at the Holland
Group Retirement and Wealth Advisors. You worked hard to save
for your future. They can help you make the most
of it. Find them online at Askdthethhollands dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So Saturday mark the first day that Snap benefits were
no longer distributed nationwide, leaving local businesses and organizations scrambling
to help fill the gap for families in need. Pia
Golf is an example. Her restaurant, Pias has been around
for twenty years, and she decided that she was going
to give meals back to the community in a way.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
That will help people who need them.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And this is not unique to this area or areas
in South Florida's all over the state. On Sunday, a
lot of churches put out the call to their congregations
asking people to donate so that people who ordinarily depend
on the money from the SNAP benefits can get the
food that they need. And the good news here is
(07:45):
that there was a court ruling late last week that
ordered the administration to continue the funding of SNAP, and
on Sunday, the Treasury Secretary indicated that they may be
setting up something to resume funding by as early as Wednesday.
But in the meantime, you're seeing the reaction from people
in the community all over Florida, yep, to help people
(08:06):
who don't have enough money to pay for food.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, there are some questions as too, how exactly it
will work if the USDA is able to send out
those emergency funds based on this court order. You've got
some states, red and blue states that are declaring states
of emergency over this. They're using state money to help
temporarily cover the cost. Florida is not one of them,
(08:33):
and so that has put extra pressure on local organizations.
You've got you know, different food banks places like that
that were already stretched kind of thin because with high
costs here in Florida, everything from housing costs to groceries
and you know all the different things in between insurance
that has led a lot of people to turn to
(08:55):
food banks and those kinds of organizations for some help.
This year, you add in the government shutdown, and you've
got those federal workers who have been in need of
some assistance, and now those who were on SNAP on
food stamps, and you've got a big problem. So the
organization's doing everything they can. And then you've got these
local businesses, restaurants places like that stepping up, offering kids
(09:19):
free meals, bag lunches, things like that. It really is
great to see, but hopefully those SNAP benefits can get
back up and going at some point this week. A
second plane full of American evacuees from Jamaica are finally
home after landing at Tampa International Airport over the weekend.
This is according to Gray Bowl Rescue. About one hundred
(09:41):
and thirty passengers landed from Kingston, and because of airport
complications in Kingston and all the delays, they arrived about
nine to thirty at night. The first flight carried one
hundred and seventy passengers that arrived Thanks to GRABUL arranging
for these evacuees to show up through donated funds. They're
a Tampa based foundation. They're founded by an Army and
(10:03):
Navy veteran. They go to war zones and other sites
and natural disasters to help get Americans out when government
intervention isn't enough. Yeah, it's a big operation. They did
in Jamaica. Three hundred and forty Americans. That's a lot.
And you also had twenty eight Floridians who were airlifted
back to the state they were stranded in Jamaica. That
(10:24):
was an operation that sounded like was done by the state,
by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. So you had
multiple different operations happening to get people out of Jamaica
and some of those hard hit areas. I mean, a
group like Great Bull Rescue the only chance those Americans
might have to get out of there right now because
local officials they're trying, but it's just it's so much
(10:46):
of an undertaking.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
There's just so many people that need help.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, it's in such a bad place right now, with
so much catastrophic destruction, it's very difficult to reach some
of those areas.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, and it could be some time before everybody gets out,
and they're obviously finding more and more people who were.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Killed in the storm.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's taken a lot longer, I think than normal to
find that out, simply because of access to places where
the storm.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Did a lot of damage. Yeah, the terrain and the destruction.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, you're dealing with again, one of the strongest
storms of all time, and certainly they're seeing it on
the ground there.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
A Florida man charged with driving under the influence was
already dressed for arrest, according to police.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Port Saint Lucy officers say they made an arrest of
on Halloween just after midnight Friday, an eighteen year old
wearing a prison inmate Halloween costume was pulled over after
leaving a party and was allegedly behind the wheel intoxicated.
So they say they would rather get dispatched for people
(11:46):
who put out cool decorations, they come and check them out,
not show up for duys. But in this case, the
guys save themselves some times. Yeah, he's already in the outfit. Yeah,
he's ready to go.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Very easy to process that eighteen year old, to get
him all set up, because he was already dressed for
the occasion, so that that worked out well for law Enforce,
not so much for him.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, I guess he has street cred now. Yeah, but
you know it's no longer a costume.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
He's not going to get the real thing.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
So Friday Friday morning, when I was in my Halloween costume,
dressed as a Florida woman who had just gotten arrested,
my hair, I made my hair like a big, huge mess.
I had mask gara like smudged down my face, lipstick
all over my face, like to do a picture. When
I got here, I passed two cops and I was
going probably a little I was probably going a little
too fast on one of the side roads that I
(12:34):
take to get here, and I was like, oh my gosh,
I cannot get pulled over this morning. And I didn't,
but yeah, oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Mean I looked a total mess. I would have been like,
this is my Halloween costume. I am not drunk. I'm
not coming home from a vendor. I'm going to work.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They would have said, ma'am, get out of car. We
need you to do a couple of little exercises.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
It would have been pretty funny. It would have been
a good story.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
But of course I never see cops on my way
to work, and that morning when I was a disaster,
I saw them.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
That's funny, all right. Chris Chrenkman with today's top stories. Chris,
thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Thank you for today's top storages, brought to you by
my friends over it on koshore. For a simple, accurate,
non invasive test that detects all cancers, call eight seven
seven twenty four tests now.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Good morning, Natalie, good morning. Well we've got to shutdown.
Still lingering and relief though, may be on the way
for the millions who rely on Snap benefits to help
buy their groceries, although nothing is set in stone. On
CNN State of the Union yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson
said that the food assistants payments may be back as
soon as Wednesday. That said, no one's holding their breath,
(13:38):
so local food banks and other nonprofits are stepping up,
but they need help. Organizations feeling the squeeze holding more
and more drives even though everyone seems to be hurting
in this economy. For those going without Snap, Federal Food
Assistants Pantry of Broward's Maureen Luna says that they do
in fact need volunteers, preferably sixteen or older.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
In the senior population there are living on fixed incomes,
so the struggle for them is they aren't going to
make more money.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Twenty two percent of households in Miami Dade are using SNAP,
thirteen percent in Broward, to the tune of about a
half million people. And this is people on all age spectrums,
from young in their twenties to those sixty plus.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, you've got a growing need.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
And this was already the case leading into this situation
with SNAP benefits. Because you have the government shutdown, you
have a lot of people impacted by that. I think
there was already a pretty significant need just in communities.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
In inflation and stuff like that. How expensive everything is.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, housing costs, insurance, just the affordability issues that we've
experienced in the state over the past couple of years.
So I think you already had a high demand for
what these different organizations are able to provide. You add
in the government shutdown, you add in this issue with
food stamps, and now you've got that are growing. And
(15:01):
I thought there were a couple of members of Congress.
One was Clay Higgins of Louisiana who said that Americans
on food assistants should stop smoking crack. There there was
a Newsmax host Rob Schmidt who claimed that some Americans
use their Snap food benefits to get their weaves and
(15:22):
their hair done instead of buying food. You know, look,
are there people who are getting some of those benefits
who maybe shouldn't be getting them.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
There's always going to be some of that with these
different kinds of programs.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But when you really take a look in, first of all,
you talk to the different organizations who are helping out,
and also you take a look at the demographics of
the people who are getting a lot of these these benefits.
You've got last single moms, You've got seniors, You've got
you know, all kinds of different people who if you
met them, you would probably be surprised like, wow, they
(15:56):
need food as systems well.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
And when Reed and I talked to the CEO of
Feeding Tampa last week, he was saying that you know,
people in the service industry, people who work in like
the tourism industry, hotels and all those types of places,
people that we count on for the economy here, that
some of those people don't make enough money to survive
and they're on Snap benefits. So it's not that people
are lazy and not working at all. Yeah, they just can't.
(16:19):
They just can't afford everything right now.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Right right. Again.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That's not to say there aren't some instances I'm sure
of waste fraud abuse.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I mean that's with every government program.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I think to generalize like that, I don't think
it's helpful and I think, you know, puts the stigma
on these people.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
You know, you find a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
They don't want to have to go to these you know,
charitable organizations to get help right now. They just don't
have any options. You know, what are they gonna do?
Make their kids start?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Like no? You know. So that's where the community comes
into play.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And it does seem like between the different organizations and
South forth in the Tampa Bay area and a lot
of restaurants and businesses stepping up to help, that is
pretty cool to say.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
It is it is, but we need more of that,
like FP and L not rates and home insurance is
going down, the cost of living salaries maybe going up.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
That's an idea.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Yeah, don't hold your breath for all that or the
Snap benefits being paid right. Broward County continues to push
for residents to donate relief supplies to hurricane victims in
Jamaica and other Caribbean nations ravaged by Hurricane. Melissa Oliver,
mayor Jamaica Console General, says that supplies are a lifeline
to those in need.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Far worse and even what you see in the images.
So the recovery is going to be it's going to
be long, it's going to be hard. We've just started.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Roward is collecting batteries and canned food, tarps, water tents, diapers.
They have six locations set up, including at Trade Winds
and Central Parks. Phone towers by the way are down
and about seventy percent of Jamaican residents do not have electricity.
Global Empowerment Mission on their website gem dot org they
(17:59):
do have a lane that you can actually put in
information on family members or relatives or employees that you
haven't had any contact with and they can help track
them down on the islands. Community leaders in Miramar are
also organizing to help storm weary Jamaican's groups, including Food
(18:19):
for the Poor. They've been sending emergency kits even before
the storm actually hit. There are supplies due to fly
there on flights throughout the week and as needed. And
of course you can donate to so many different facilities,
including the Red Cross, and we've got Gray Bull Rescue.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We've got.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Oh my gosh support Jamaica dot gov and you can
go to our website and you can find a whole
list of organizations that are reputable that you can participate
and volunteer with, give your time, your effort or money
which is definitely needed.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I feel like Jamaica, the situation there the after Metha
Hurricane Melissa kind of slipping from our focus right now
because of the shutdown on snap benefits, all that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Kind of shuff.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
I have newsa on a lot, and I've noticed that
they're barely covering it anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, but that doesn't mean that that island doesn't need
a ton of help after getting hit by perhaps the
most destructive storm, the most powerful storm we've ever seen
here in the Atlantic basin. All right, let's get to
one more quick story, which I have a lot to
say about.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
The shake up at the top of the Dolphins headquarters
after last week's loss to the Ravens. Cheer Stephen Ross
announced online that he and general manager Chris Greer had
agreed to mutually part pace.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, that's not what happened. Uh huh.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Coach Mike McDaniel, meeting the media right after that news broke, I.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Know we always choose the day after losses to ask
about your conversations with Steve Ross, but I wanted us.
Have they deviated it all from the normal this game
and the next talk with this one and has his
tone over time changed with the Mountain losses? No?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, he went on to say, no, aside from the
fact that I'm on my knees begging for my job
in those meetings. No, it's been basically the same look exactly.
The Miami Dolphins had to make this move. I don't
mind them keeping Mike McDaniel around for the rest of
the season. I would have a problem if they kept
him around going beyond this season, and there are some
reports so that's what they want to do, that they
want to keep him around as head coach.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
He is not head coaching material.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He has not built a culture in that locker room
that you see from Andy Reid or Mike Vrabel and
the Patriots or these other successful coaches that have a
culture of accountability and hard work and all of that.
It's been a mess in that locker room for too long. Now,
(20:44):
I think getting rid of the GM that was the
first step. But now I think at the end of
the season, you got to find a way to get
rid of the head coach and honestly find a way
to move on from to it because I don't think
he's a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And then there was Steven A.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Smith on ESPN who questioned why Chris Greer, who's black,
was let go before McDaniel or Tua, kind of alluding
to race being an issue there, which I think is
just insane. I mean, he's been with the organization twenty
five years, nine years as GM, no postseason wins. How
(21:18):
much more time do you want to give him to
turn this thing around?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Jimmy Kelly's going to be interim general and he's not
blonde and blue.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I know some of these hot takes sometimes, all.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Right, Natalie Rodriguez with Today's top Stories. Natalie, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You got it. The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio WFLA.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at ryangormanshow dot com,
All right, what's going on. Let's get to today's SOP stories. Chris,
Good Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The investigation into the Hillsborough Sheriff's office cheating scandal still
has a lot of unanswered questions. Investigators found that Robert
Rausch's role as someone who just helped out went far
beyond just editing and proofreading. Evidence suggests that he was
the main author of dozens of academic papers submitted by
(00:23):
at least six members of Sheriff Chad Cronister's command staff
as their own work. And of course, the ensuing scandal
led to four resignations and two firings. So the Tampa
Bay Times went through thousands of pages that were released
that shed light on this investigation into the academic dishonesty.
Most who lost their jobs used papers written by Rausch
(00:46):
to advance their careers and earn promotions. So the documents
showed that the Sheriff's investigators went and visited this guy
where he lives in New Hampshire, and he offered excuses.
He said that these were supposed to be business reports
and that he didn't view them as academic papers. They
also paid him money for these services through apps like
(01:10):
Venmo or PayPal.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
But he couldn't remember how much. Oh, of course not so.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I was talking to somebody over the weekend who works
in the department, just to kind of get an idea,
you know, what's going on there, what's the vibe like.
And for the most part, the rank and file don't
really care all that much. But there's no question people
got passed over for promotions because these people got them
and they cheated obviously. But the one thing that I
(01:36):
thought was interesting was them now being either fired or resigning.
It's going to open up some slots for a younger
generation to come in who hopefully hasn't made mistakes like
these and take over in some of those leadership positions.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So that should be interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But generally it's a bit of a stain on sheriff
chech ronisters what's been a very successful career as the
sheriff in Hillsborough County.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, hopefully this prevents this sort of thing from going
on in the future, because obviously it shouldn't be promoting
people now who don't know how to do their own work.
Downtown Clearwater is undergoing a construction boom and it's going
to include the addition of a hotel, high rise, apartment building,
a parking garage, and a streetscape project. The city put
out a release saying that construction could begin on the
(02:27):
multiple projects that will redevelop key downtown areas that will
also provide needed parking. The ten story hotel, along with
retail and the parking garage will be on the eastern
edge of the park south of Clearwater Main Library. Then
there will be another high rise built on the site
of the former city Hall, and then another parking garage
(02:49):
with four hundred spaces will be constructed across Osceola as
part of the makeover, and city Hall also will be
fixed up. They're going to be doing a thirty one
million dollar rediv development project there and they're also doing
an upgrade to the PSTA Clearwater Station, So that's the
sun Coast trendsit Authority of breaking ground on the site
(03:11):
that will be the new Clearwater Station will be a
lot more modern and it will replace the old aging
Park Street terminal.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
There's only so much redevelopment you can do in downtown
Clearwater because the Church Scientology owns pretty much all of it.
So it's notable that at least a few things are
getting done. But again, we've talked about this time and
time again. It's just so frustrating because there is so
much potential. We've seen what's happened in Saint Pete, what's
happened in Tampa, what's happening in Ebors City. I mean,
go down the list. Clearwater, there's just a block on
(03:42):
progress because the Church of Scientology bought everything up and
doesn't want to do anything with all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, it's really going to be interesting to see how
the surrounding area gets developed. And then you're going to
have this like central spot where they have their big,
you know, Scientology building, and then there are all the
businesses and shops that were bought up on the property storefronts. Yeah,
I mean they're just gonna leave that empty and have
this sort of like blight in the middle of Craculus.
(04:09):
So that's gonna be interesting because you know, at one
point Scientology promised to do a bunch of things yea,
and then they had these disputes with the city and
then they essentially bought up these properties, closed them down
and have left them vacant yep.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
And there's apparently nothing the city can do about it.
We're just sitting here with downtown Clearwater kind of empty
in parts aside from these new spots. And you could
see there was a note in the report that there's
been a lot of foot traffic since the Coachman Park
redevelopment project. It's drawn a lot of visitors. So there's
just again a ton of potential down there. There's only
(04:44):
so much that you can do.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
The eighteenth panel out of twenty four was installed on
Tropicana Field's roof, so when you look at the roof,
it's like little sections like maybe if you cut an
orange right right, have little slices, which makes perfect sense.
Canfield that's right and exactly right. So they are ahead
of schedule to get this thing opened in April when
(05:06):
the opening day of the new season starts on April sixth.
So there was a story that looked into how these
things were constructed. There's a French company, the Surge Ferrari
Group that helped design it. There's some teflon that goes
over it to protect it from damage, and the material
is made at a facility in Germany and then shipped
to China where they finish it and then bring it here.
(05:29):
It was initially sort of like when you see it
go of, it'll be like a beige color, which I
guess is how the original one looked when it first opened.
I don't recall how it looked exactly, but I guess
the sun turns it white right over time, Yeah, over time,
it actually makes it look brighter in the way we
know it before the hurricane.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I drove by it on Friday, and you can
see the progress that's being made. There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What I thought was interesting, well, first of all, the
crews working on this. Usually it takes about three years
I guess to produce all of this stuff. They've done
it months, so they really sped the project up to
try to get this done before opening day.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
And the new roof. This is great news. It's expected
the last twenty years. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So even though the Trafficganna Field's probably only hit me around,
they ask a couple more. So glad we spent all
that money, got a roof that's gonna last twenty years
and we'll be tearing it down in probably three maybe four.
And it can handle up to one hundred and sixty
five mile per hour winds, which is really good. Although
(06:29):
we saw with Hurricane Melissa, some of these storms these
days getting up a little higher than that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I don't know if that's ever happened in the Gulf. No, no, no, right,
So I don't know if we're necessarily gonna have to
deal with that. But hey, the way things have been
changing weatherwise, yep, who.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Really knows exactly. Chris Trankman with Today's Top Stories.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Chris, thanks so much you time now for today's Top Stories,
brought to you on my friends over at the Holland
Group Retirement and Wealth Advisors. You worked hard to save
for your future. They can help you make the most
of it. Find them online at Askdthethhollands dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So Saturday mark the first day that Snap benefits were
no longer distributed nationwide, leaving local businesses and organizations scrambling
to help fill the gap for families in need. Pia
Golf is an example. Her restaurant, Pias has been around
for twenty years, and she decided that she was going
to give meals back to the community in a way.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
That will help people who need them.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And this is not unique to this area or areas
in South Florida's all over the state. On Sunday, a
lot of churches put out the call to their congregations
asking people to donate so that people who ordinarily depend
on the money from the SNAP benefits can get the
food that they need. And the good news here is
(07:45):
that there was a court ruling late last week that
ordered the administration to continue the funding of SNAP, and
on Sunday, the Treasury Secretary indicated that they may be
setting up something to resume funding by as early as Wednesday.
But in the meantime, you're seeing the reaction from people
in the community all over Florida, yep, to help people
(08:06):
who don't have enough money to pay for food.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, there are some questions as too, how exactly it
will work if the USDA is able to send out
those emergency funds based on this court order. You've got
some states, red and blue states that are declaring states
of emergency over this. They're using state money to help
temporarily cover the cost. Florida is not one of them,
(08:33):
and so that has put extra pressure on local organizations.
You've got you know, different food banks places like that
that were already stretched kind of thin because with high
costs here in Florida, everything from housing costs to groceries
and you know all the different things in between insurance
that has led a lot of people to turn to
(08:55):
food banks and those kinds of organizations for some help.
This year, you add in the government shutdown, and you've
got those federal workers who have been in need of
some assistance, and now those who were on SNAP on
food stamps, and you've got a big problem. So the
organization's doing everything they can. And then you've got these
local businesses, restaurants places like that stepping up, offering kids
(09:19):
free meals, bag lunches, things like that. It really is
great to see, but hopefully those SNAP benefits can get
back up and going at some point this week. A
second plane full of American evacuees from Jamaica are finally
home after landing at Tampa International Airport over the weekend.
This is according to Gray Bowl Rescue. About one hundred
(09:41):
and thirty passengers landed from Kingston, and because of airport
complications in Kingston and all the delays, they arrived about
nine to thirty at night. The first flight carried one
hundred and seventy passengers that arrived Thanks to GRABUL arranging
for these evacuees to show up through donated funds. They're
a Tampa based foundation. They're founded by an Army and
(10:03):
Navy veteran. They go to war zones and other sites
and natural disasters to help get Americans out when government
intervention isn't enough. Yeah, it's a big operation. They did
in Jamaica. Three hundred and forty Americans. That's a lot.
And you also had twenty eight Floridians who were airlifted
back to the state they were stranded in Jamaica. That
(10:24):
was an operation that sounded like was done by the state,
by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. So you had
multiple different operations happening to get people out of Jamaica
and some of those hard hit areas. I mean, a
group like Great Bull Rescue the only chance those Americans
might have to get out of there right now because
local officials they're trying, but it's just it's so much
(10:46):
of an undertaking.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
There's just so many people that need help.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, it's in such a bad place right now, with
so much catastrophic destruction, it's very difficult to reach some
of those areas.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, and it could be some time before everybody gets out,
and they're obviously finding more and more people who were.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Killed in the storm.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's taken a lot longer, I think than normal to
find that out, simply because of access to places where
the storm.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Did a lot of damage. Yeah, the terrain and the destruction.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, you're dealing with again, one of the strongest
storms of all time, and certainly they're seeing it on
the ground there.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
A Florida man charged with driving under the influence was
already dressed for arrest, according to police.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Port Saint Lucy officers say they made an arrest of
on Halloween just after midnight Friday, an eighteen year old
wearing a prison inmate Halloween costume was pulled over after
leaving a party and was allegedly behind the wheel intoxicated.
So they say they would rather get dispatched for people
(11:46):
who put out cool decorations, they come and check them out,
not show up for duys. But in this case, the
guys save themselves some times. Yeah, he's already in the outfit. Yeah,
he's ready to go.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Very easy to process that eighteen year old, to get
him all set up, because he was already dressed for
the occasion, so that that worked out well for law Enforce,
not so much for him.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, I guess he has street cred now. Yeah, but
you know it's no longer a costume.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
He's not going to get the real thing.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
So Friday Friday morning, when I was in my Halloween costume,
dressed as a Florida woman who had just gotten arrested,
my hair, I made my hair like a big, huge mess.
I had mask gara like smudged down my face, lipstick
all over my face, like to do a picture. When
I got here, I passed two cops and I was
going probably a little I was probably going a little
too fast on one of the side roads that I
(12:34):
take to get here, and I was like, oh my gosh,
I cannot get pulled over this morning. And I didn't,
but yeah, oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Mean I looked a total mess. I would have been like,
this is my Halloween costume. I am not drunk. I'm
not coming home from a vendor. I'm going to work.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They would have said, ma'am, get out of car. We
need you to do a couple of little exercises.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
It would have been pretty funny. It would have been
a good story.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
But of course I never see cops on my way
to work, and that morning when I was a disaster,
I saw them.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
That's funny, all right. Chris Chrenkman with today's top stories. Chris,
thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Thank you for today's top storages, brought to you by
my friends over it on koshore. For a simple, accurate,
non invasive test that detects all cancers, call eight seven
seven twenty four tests now.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Good morning, Natalie, good morning. Well we've got to shutdown.
Still lingering and relief though, may be on the way
for the millions who rely on Snap benefits to help
buy their groceries, although nothing is set in stone. On
CNN State of the Union yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson
said that the food assistants payments may be back as
soon as Wednesday. That said, no one's holding their breath,
(13:38):
so local food banks and other nonprofits are stepping up,
but they need help. Organizations feeling the squeeze holding more
and more drives even though everyone seems to be hurting
in this economy. For those going without Snap, Federal Food
Assistants Pantry of Broward's Maureen Luna says that they do
in fact need volunteers, preferably sixteen or older.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
In the senior population there are living on fixed incomes,
so the struggle for them is they aren't going to
make more money.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Twenty two percent of households in Miami Dade are using SNAP,
thirteen percent in Broward, to the tune of about a
half million people. And this is people on all age spectrums,
from young in their twenties to those sixty plus.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, you've got a growing need.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
And this was already the case leading into this situation
with SNAP benefits. Because you have the government shutdown, you
have a lot of people impacted by that. I think
there was already a pretty significant need just in communities.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
In inflation and stuff like that. How expensive everything is.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, housing costs, insurance, just the affordability issues that we've
experienced in the state over the past couple of years.
So I think you already had a high demand for
what these different organizations are able to provide. You add
in the government shutdown, you add in this issue with
food stamps, and now you've got that are growing. And
(15:01):
I thought there were a couple of members of Congress.
One was Clay Higgins of Louisiana who said that Americans
on food assistants should stop smoking crack. There there was
a Newsmax host Rob Schmidt who claimed that some Americans
use their Snap food benefits to get their weaves and
(15:22):
their hair done instead of buying food. You know, look,
are there people who are getting some of those benefits
who maybe shouldn't be getting them.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
There's always going to be some of that with these
different kinds of programs.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But when you really take a look in, first of all,
you talk to the different organizations who are helping out,
and also you take a look at the demographics of
the people who are getting a lot of these these benefits.
You've got last single moms, You've got seniors, You've got
you know, all kinds of different people who if you
met them, you would probably be surprised like, wow, they
(15:56):
need food as systems well.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
And when Reed and I talked to the CEO of
Feeding Tampa last week, he was saying that you know,
people in the service industry, people who work in like
the tourism industry, hotels and all those types of places,
people that we count on for the economy here, that
some of those people don't make enough money to survive
and they're on Snap benefits. So it's not that people
are lazy and not working at all. Yeah, they just can't.
(16:19):
They just can't afford everything right now.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Right right. Again.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That's not to say there aren't some instances I'm sure
of waste fraud abuse.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I mean that's with every government program.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I think to generalize like that, I don't think
it's helpful and I think, you know, puts the stigma
on these people.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
You know, you find a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
They don't want to have to go to these you know,
charitable organizations to get help right now. They just don't
have any options. You know, what are they gonna do?
Make their kids start?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Like no? You know. So that's where the community comes
into play.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And it does seem like between the different organizations and
South forth in the Tampa Bay area and a lot
of restaurants and businesses stepping up to help, that is
pretty cool to say.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
It is it is, but we need more of that,
like FP and L not rates and home insurance is
going down, the cost of living salaries maybe going up.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
That's an idea.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Yeah, don't hold your breath for all that or the
Snap benefits being paid right. Broward County continues to push
for residents to donate relief supplies to hurricane victims in
Jamaica and other Caribbean nations ravaged by Hurricane. Melissa Oliver,
mayor Jamaica Console General, says that supplies are a lifeline
to those in need.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Far worse and even what you see in the images.
So the recovery is going to be it's going to
be long, it's going to be hard. We've just started.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Roward is collecting batteries and canned food, tarps, water tents, diapers.
They have six locations set up, including at Trade Winds
and Central Parks. Phone towers by the way are down
and about seventy percent of Jamaican residents do not have electricity.
Global Empowerment Mission on their website gem dot org they
(17:59):
do have a lane that you can actually put in
information on family members or relatives or employees that you
haven't had any contact with and they can help track
them down on the islands. Community leaders in Miramar are
also organizing to help storm weary Jamaican's groups, including Food
(18:19):
for the Poor. They've been sending emergency kits even before
the storm actually hit. There are supplies due to fly
there on flights throughout the week and as needed. And
of course you can donate to so many different facilities,
including the Red Cross, and we've got Gray Bull Rescue.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We've got.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Oh my gosh support Jamaica dot gov and you can
go to our website and you can find a whole
list of organizations that are reputable that you can participate
and volunteer with, give your time, your effort or money
which is definitely needed.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I feel like Jamaica, the situation there the after Metha
Hurricane Melissa kind of slipping from our focus right now
because of the shutdown on snap benefits, all that.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Kind of shuff.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
I have newsa on a lot, and I've noticed that
they're barely covering it anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, but that doesn't mean that that island doesn't need
a ton of help after getting hit by perhaps the
most destructive storm, the most powerful storm we've ever seen
here in the Atlantic basin. All right, let's get to
one more quick story, which I have a lot to
say about.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
The shake up at the top of the Dolphins headquarters
after last week's loss to the Ravens. Cheer Stephen Ross
announced online that he and general manager Chris Greer had
agreed to mutually part pace.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, that's not what happened. Uh huh.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Coach Mike McDaniel, meeting the media right after that news broke, I.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Know we always choose the day after losses to ask
about your conversations with Steve Ross, but I wanted us.
Have they deviated it all from the normal this game
and the next talk with this one and has his
tone over time changed with the Mountain losses? No?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, he went on to say, no, aside from the
fact that I'm on my knees begging for my job
in those meetings. No, it's been basically the same look exactly.
The Miami Dolphins had to make this move. I don't
mind them keeping Mike McDaniel around for the rest of
the season. I would have a problem if they kept
him around going beyond this season, and there are some
reports so that's what they want to do, that they
want to keep him around as head coach.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
He is not head coaching material.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
He has not built a culture in that locker room
that you see from Andy Reid or Mike Vrabel and
the Patriots or these other successful coaches that have a
culture of accountability and hard work and all of that.
It's been a mess in that locker room for too long. Now,
(20:44):
I think getting rid of the GM that was the
first step. But now I think at the end of
the season, you got to find a way to get
rid of the head coach and honestly find a way
to move on from to it because I don't think
he's a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And then there was Steven A.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Smith on ESPN who questioned why Chris Greer, who's black,
was let go before McDaniel or Tua, kind of alluding
to race being an issue there, which I think is
just insane. I mean, he's been with the organization twenty
five years, nine years as GM, no postseason wins. How
(21:18):
much more time do you want to give him to
turn this thing around?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Jimmy Kelly's going to be interim general and he's not
blonde and blue.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I know some of these hot takes sometimes, all.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Right, Natalie Rodriguez with Today's top Stories. Natalie, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You got it. The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio WFLA.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at ryangormanshow dot com,
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