Please take a moment to read the following appeal from my friend Kelly Benjamin:
As some of you know, I am a part time freelance reporter for various news outlets such as WMNF, Free Speech Radio News, and Earth Journalism News. I’m currently working on a story dealing with the push to save the last remaining living forest in Palm Beach County, Florida from development by Scripps, a biotech company that was given hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Scripps intends to build a Biotech Research Labortatory in the Briger Forest but has been opposed by environmental activists, some of whom were arrested earlier this week for staging Florida’s first “tree sit” in an effort to stop development in the forest.
I’m trying a new experiment in ?ommunity powered reporting?in order to fund this story. I’ve posted a story pitch at Spot.us, a website that the public can commission and participate with journalists to do reporting on important and perhaps overlooked topics. If I can get 25 people to donate $15.00 (or 30 people to donate $12.50, etc), I can produce this important story next week.
Please check out the story pitch below and if you feel it’s worth $10.00 or $15.00, (or $5.00 if you’re low on cash) please click the “FUND THIS STORY” button at the Spot.us site. The story will be available online with photos and video and heard locally in Tampa on the WMNF News (and possibly nationally on Free Speech Radio News).
Here’s the link:http://spot.us/pitches/864-florida-s-first-tree-sit-aims-to-stop-biotech-develpment-in-last-forest-in-palm-beach-florida
Contributions are tax deductible and Spot.us partners with news organizations to distribute the content.
THANK YOU! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email or my cell813-300-1434.
Sincerely,
KellyA FEW PAST STORIES I’VE REPORTED:
UN Climate Conference Begins in Cancun
http://fsrn.org/audio/un-climate-change-conference-begins-cancun/7816Class Warfare Evident in and outside UN Climate Talks
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8534Poor People’s Campaign fights racism in Benton Harbor
http://fsrn.org/audio/poor-peoples-campaign-fight-racism-and-manufacturers-benton-harbor-michigan/6940Battle Rages over Indigenous Rights and REDD
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/9125Homeless Coalition tries to get accurate picture of very big problem
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/9251US Social Forum and March to Fulfill the Dream (for Tavis Smiley Show)
http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/guests10/062510/MarianKramer.htmlIn Seminole Heights, Garden Activists Call for Food Not Lawns
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8802Derrick Jensen on Tea Party victories
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/906eEast Tampa Residents Critical of Police Response
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8817Richard Heinberg on BP Oil Leak and a Post-Carbon world
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8534FWC holds Emergency Meeting on Gulf Oil Spill
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8602Homeless Heroes in Hillsborough County
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8694Local Sustainability Discussed at Green Business Summit
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8992Naomi Klein on non-violence and climate justice in Copenhagen
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8037Poor People’s March hits Detroit
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8694Immokalee Workers March on Publix
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8480Cuban Environmentalist Roberto Perez Rivero on Climate Change
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/8025Backward Step on Climate (St. Petersburg Times)
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/article1065488.eceWard Churchill and Fred Hampton, Jr. decry spying on activists 2010-06-25
At US Social Forum Max Rameau talks about housing justice 2010-06-24
Guerrilla generator shows tap into Tampa’s underground music scene 2010-08-16
Hillsborough County Commish Candidates duke it out in East Tampa 2010-08-13
Green Florida meets to discuss Tampa community garden ordinance 2010-08-05
Tampa City Council rejects panhandling ban – for now 2010-10-14
