Florida Cuts Public Broadcasting Funding

Public broadcasters in Florida are smarting over $4.7 million in funds cut to public media outlets in the state.

In the Tampa Bay area, local radio and TV stations will lose a combined $1 million in grants, including more than $500,000 to WUSF TV and radio, $435,000 to WEDU-Ch. 3 and $62,000 to Tampa community radio station WMNF-FM. The GOP-dominated Florida legislature had already budgeted a 30 percent reduction in the funds provided to the state's 26 non-profit public radio and TV stations, forcing organizations scrambling to deal with a long-expected downturn in donations and memberships to conserve further. But Gov Rick Scott's (R-FL) veto zeroes out funding completely beginning with the start of the state's fiscal year on July 1, ending a funding arrangement which has stood for 35 years.