Bradley George

Just days before officials began shutting down large gatherings to slow the spread of COVID 19, David Brancaccio, host of the Marketplace Morning Report, visited downtown St. Petersburg for a live event.

He joined Florida Matters Host Bradley George at the Palladium as part of the Aresty Speaker Series, and touched on a wide variety of topics from the effect coronavirus was having on the global economy, as well as Brancaccio's ongoing Econ Extra Credit project, in which he is reading a chapter a week from an open source economics textbook.

The pastor of a Tampa church who hosted two large Sunday services, even busing people in, has been arrested after the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office issued a warrant for his arrest.

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River Church violated Hillsborough County's safer-at-home order, which went into effect March 27, said Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister.

The coronavirus pandemic is not only taking its toll of the nation’s healthcare system, but also its businesses. This week, Florida Matters takes a look at small businesses, which are particularly hard hit.

Host Bradley George spoke with Alsace Walentine, co-owner of Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg and Eileen Rodriguez of the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida.

Many small businesses have closed or cut staff due to coronavirus. But federal and state help is available.  

Floridians are going to the polls on March 17 for the state’s presidential primary. This election cycle, WUSF is focusing on the issues rather than the political horse race.

To do that, WUSF has teamed up with reporters at NPR member station WMFE in Orlando for I-4 Votes, a collaboration covering the election issues that matter to those living along the I-4 corridor.

Port Manatee has opened an office in Chile. The South American nation is one of the state's top trading partners. Chile and Florida exchanged nearly $8 billion worth of  goods in 2018, according to Enterprise Florida.

Transit riders in the Tampa Bay region will soon be able to pay bus fares with a smart card or mobile app. It’s one of the building blocks to creating a regional transit network. 

Tampa-based Bloomin’ Brands says customers are increasingly choosing delivery over dining out. The company, which owns Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, and Carrabba's has poured millions of dollars into restaurant renovations. And it’s trying to entice diners with a loyalty program. 

Look at your phone or TV bill and you'll see something called the Communication Services Tax. The state collects it. So do many cities and counties. It also applies to streaming services, and that's why two of Florida's largest media companies-The Walt Disney Company and Charter Communications-are lobbying to change it. 

106 Iowa Democrats filled a St. Petersburg church Monday night to help pick their party's presidential candidate. It’s the first time the Iowa caucuses were held outside the Hawkeye State.

Here's an Iowa caucus story with a Florida twist: For years, only Iowans within that state could participate. But now snowbirds and students living in Florida will hold caucuses of their own.  

State Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, says Florida should do more to attract film and TV productions.

Gruters has sponsored a bill (SB 530) that would allow studios to get a rebate on some of the expenses they incur while filming in Florida. Productions would have to hire a Florida-based crew and spend 70 percent of their production time in the state to be eligible.

The Federal Government is looking for thousands of workers to help with the 2020 Census in Florida. The latest once-in-a-decade population count is different in a number of ways.

Paul Anderson says the 2020s will be a decade of growth for Port Tampa Bay.  

He can see that growth from his fourth-floor office in Tampa’s Channelside district, which overlooks drydocks and cruise ship berths.  

We've heard it for years: driverless cars are the way of the future. But there’s lots of work to be done before self-driving cars rule the road.

Students and faculty at Florida Polytechnic University are trying to solve one of the trickiest problems: how to make a machine driver think like a human, but better.