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Daily News Clips for August 8, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Fla.'s jobs recruiter may get hefty bonus for work
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Excerpt: Integrity Florida joined with the Tea Party Network and Progress Florida in asking Scott and other state elected officials to delay any vote on executive bonuses. The letter questions the criteria, including counting jobs that have been promised instead of actually created.

Enterprise Florida's plan for $630K in staff bonuses catches flak
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Excerpt: Integrity Florida, the Tea Party Network and Progress Florida sent Scott a letter calling for a halt to the executive bonuses and calling for greater transparency by the organization, whose board is comprised of leading business executives in the state.

Groups call for delay in Enterprise Florida bonuses
News Service of Florida
Saint Petersblog
Integrity Florida, Progress Florida and The Tea Party Network want a delay in a proposal that would allot more than $630,000 in bonuses to the head of the state’s business-recruitment organization and his staff.

FEATURED STORIES

Dozens of Lawmakers Support Protesters Fight
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
Legislative support for sit in protesters at the Capitol is growing.

Who will last longer: Gov. Scott or the Dream Defenders?
By Kathleen McGrory
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Senate President won't convene a select committee on Stand Your Ground
When the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agreed to let a group of student activists spend the night in the Capitol last month, nobody expected they would stay long.

Rubio's 'folly' - the Obamacare edition
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Remember that National Review cover with the headline "Rubio's folly"? It dealt with immigration. Now Peter Wehner of Commentary Magazine writes about Rubio's hard-line on health care, saying he's joined the "suicide caucus."

Frank Brogan, chancellor of Florida's university system, leaving for Pennsylvania
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Frank Brogan knew his time as chancellor of Florida's state university system was drawing to a close, but even he didn't know he would be leaving his post or the Sunshine State so soon.

Ruling Revives Florida Review of Voting Rolls
By Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, newly empowered by the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in June that struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, has ordered state officials to resume a fiercely contested effort to remove noncitizens from voting rolls.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Changing political demographics bode well for Florida Democrats
By Joy-Ann Reid
Miami Herald
Marco Rubio raised some eyebrows last week when he said immigration really isn’t all that important an issue, at least as compared to the GOP’s impossible dream of repealing or defunding Obamacare.

Rick Scott will keynote Koch Bros-founded group's Orlando summit
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott will be the keynote speaker at Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Summit" over the Labor Day weekend at the Universal Orlando theme park.

Grayson pushes expanded family leave policies
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Rep Alan Grayson teamed up Tuesday with organizers behind Orange County's paid sick time effort to push for an expansion of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which turns 20 years old.

Mike Fasano named Pasco tax collector in ceremony, tribute recalling time in Legislature
By Rich Shopes
Tampa Bay Times
In a ceremony that was part tribute and part celebrity-style roast, Mike Fasano was officially named Pasco County's tax collector Wednesday morning.

Florida’s disgraceful distinction: corruption
Editorial
Miami Herald
Two popular South Florida mayors get popped in a federal corruption sting. We would like to say this is the exception to the rule — except the entire state of Florida leads the nation in being ethically challenged. It’s a disgraceful distinction.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

DEP assessing land for sale as concerns arise about process, budget language
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled a public hearing and webinars on its assessment of state conservation lands that could be sold, but the ongoing assessment process already is generating concerns.

Court rules against rock mining in Everglades Agricultural Area
By Jennifer Sorentrue
Palm Beach Post
U.S. Sugar cannot mine for rock on 7,000 acres it owns south of Lake Okeechobee, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Despite Lake Okeechobee dumping, dike danger continues to rise
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Lake Okeechobee keeps rising — and so do worries about an aging dike the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ranks among the most vulnerable to failure in the country.

Stop letting Florida utilities bill customers for nuclear plants that don’t get built
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
State legislators got new evidence last week that they no longer should allow electric utilities to bill customers for plants that don’t get built.

EDUCATION

Florida's Grades, Education Chiefs Keep Revolving
By Paula Dockery
Lakeland Ledger
Related editorial: Florida Public Education: School Grades A Failure
As scandals go, this was a quick one. Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned Thursday among reports of preferential treatment for the politically influential while he led the Indiana school system.

Local education leaders want input in state grading system
By Gabrielle Russon
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Following the mounting criticism of Florida's school grading system and the resignation of the state's education chief, the region's education leaders said they should be tapped to fix the state's flawed system.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

ADP report: Florida's job growth slowed in July
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's jobs report for July won't be out for another week, but based on a sneak peek Wednesday, we might want to shut our eyes.

Florida’s chief financial officer asks top insurance regulator why rates aren’t coming down
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater asked the state’s top insurance regulator Wednesday why millions of residents are not seeing lower property insurance bills if reinsurance rates are falling 15 percent to 20 percent.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Security concerns jeopardize October opening of health insurance marketplaces
By Tony Pugh
McClatchy Washington Bureau
The opening of the health insurance marketplaces in October – key to Obamacare – is in jeopardy because of looming questions about information security.

Proposal: Congressmen can decide whether to take new health care
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Associated Press
The Obama administration has tossed back in the lap of Congress a prickly political question involving health insurance for staffers and lawmakers themselves.

FL Leads in Fighting Kids' Obesity
Staff Report
Health News Florida
A report released by the CDC Tuesday shows that the rates of childhood obesity are declining in 19 states and that Florida is one of the five states showing the best results, a full percentage point drop.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

The Future of Dozier
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
The Dozier School grounds have been padlocked since 2011.

George Zimmerman's Biggest Defender: A Racist With a Criminal Past
By Mariah Blake
Mother Jones
In April 2012, two days before George Zimmerman was arrested for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, he huddled with a fellow neighborhood watch volunteer, Frank Taaffe.

What we think: With deck stacked, SYG hearing is another farce
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
For a brief moment, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford stood apart from Republican leaders in Tallahassee by saying he would convene a legislative hearing on the state's controversial "stand your ground" law in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict.

Daily News Clips for August 7, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Turnover at the top presents challenge for Scott administration
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Following two weeks in which his social services chief and education commissioner resigned, Gov. Rick Scott defended himself Tuesday against sharpening attacks from Democrats over his leadership.

Scott, Cabinet sign off on forms outlining cost of health care law
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott and the three-member Florida Cabinet have signed off on a controversial new disclosure form that critics say is intended to posture Floridians against the health care law.

Marco Rubio and the saboteurs
By Jeffrey C. Billman
Orlando Weekly
Despite four years of ginned-up apoplexy over the Affordable Care Act – the noxious town halls of 2009; “death panels”; Scott Brown’s election; the 2010 midterms; the 40-odd dead-end House repeal votes; the Supreme Court ruling; the presidential election of 2012 – it’s the law of the land.

Cabinet agrees to let USF researchers exhume bodies at Dozier
By Ben Montgomery
Tampa Bay Times
They call themselves the White House Boys, but they're old men now.

Legislature should make sensible retreat on ‘stand your ground'
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
As protests persist over Florida’s “stand your ground” law, state legislators are digging in.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Fasano appointment gets him out of Scott’s way
By William March
Tampa Tribune
The appointment of Mike Fasano as Pasco County tax collector removes from the state Legislature a populist maverick who occasionally has been a thorn in the side of his party’s legislative leaders and of the man who made the appointment, Gov. Rick Scott.

Residents back Gov. Rick Scott’s stance against Jesse Jackson
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans have repeatedly expressed indignation about critical comments made last week by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Apology? You first, governor
By Daniel Ruth
Miami Herald
How comforting it is to know that beneath his robotic exterior, Gov. Rick Scott is a man of tender sensibilities.

Florida Reps. Frankel, Murphy join trip to Israel that raises questions of influence
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Reps. Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy are in Israel for the week along with more than 30 other Democratic House members -- trips paid for by an arm of a powerful lobbying group.

Miami Lakes and Sweetwater mayors ‘stung’ by FBI for taking alleged kickbacks
By Jay Weaver, Christina Veiga and Joey Flechas
Miami Herald
In March, Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Maroño and lobbyist Jorge Forte dined at a local restaurant with a couple of supposed Chicago businessmen.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Political accusations, intrigue nag medical-marijuana group
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Libertarian political consultant Roger Stone has had a falling out with a Florida medical-marijuana group and accused it Tuesday of acting like a front for Democrat Charlie Crist if he decides to run for governor next year.

EDUCATION

State virtual school cuts teachers, support staff
By Kathleen McGrory
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Virtual School, the state's online public school, shed 177 full-time positions on Monday, spokeswoman Tania Clow said.

Virtual Schools Are Spending Millions of Taxpayer Dollars On Advertising
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
A new report from USA Today found that virtual school operators are dealing with low enrollment numbers by spending public funds on advertising.

Education event stirs questions about Common Core standards
By Khristopher J. Brooks          
Florida Times-Union
Mark Gotz came all the way from Port Saint Lucie to tell local and state educators that Florida should halt the Common Core State Standards.

Time for Florida lawmaker worried about Muslim teachings in textbooks to go back to school
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
In case you’re already tired of Shark Week and are looking to be afraid of another imaginary menace — maybe something more land-based — I have a suggestion.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State economists boost revenue estimate for next year; Scott hails debt reduction
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Florida economists Tuesday increased their projection for general revenue collections during the 2014-2015 fiscal year by $62.5 million for a total of $28.9 billion.

Florida pension plan posts strong year
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida's main retirement account for state workers, teachers and other public employees is growing by a double-digit margin.

Fewer furloughs means Fla. National Guard will be at full strength for hurricane season
Staff Report
Orlando Sentinel
The Defense Department announced today that its civilian employees -- and National Gaurd troops -- will have to take off only six unpaid days this summer, down from the 11 previously ordered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel when congressionally mandated budget cuts took effect earlier this year.

Report: Apalachicola oysters may need 5 years, 'significant' funding to recover
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Apalachicola Bay's oyster population may need five years to recover under ideal conditions and will require significant financial resources for restoration, according to a disaster report sent to federal officials this week.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State let Florida Blue but not public see who commented on hearing
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Florida regulators refused to let the public see who was commenting on a public hearing for a proposed reorganization of the state’s largest health insurer, but Florida Blue had complete access to names and email addresses.

Obamacare Questions Answered on 'Florida Matters'
By Lottie Watts
Health News Florida
We asked our readers to tell us what they thought was confusing about the Affordable Care Act, and you called, e-mailed and Facebooked us with questions.

KidCare touts enrollment growth
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida KidCare announced Tuesday that an additional 62,500 children have enrolled in the government-financed health insurance program during the past year.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Immigrants' stories underscore Rep. Castor's call for reform
By Dan Sullivan
Tampa Bay Times
They stood donning collared shirts and suit jackets, flashing shy smiles before the gaze of half a dozen TV cameras. All told stories of sacrifice in pursuit of a better life.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge: Pam Bondi does not have to answer Internet gambling casino questions
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
A Sanford judge today ruled that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi does not have to answer defense attorneys' questions under oath in a mammoth Internet casino gambling case pending in Seminole County.

Daily News Clips for August 6, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Fla. regulators OK Duke rate hike for closed nuclear plants
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Related Editorial: Nuclear woes: Customers pay even as plants are canceled
Duke Energy’s nearly 2 million customers in Florida will keep paying for the utility giant’s now-shuttered and abandoned nuclear power plants for the next several years.

Florida Secretary Of State Prepares New Voter Purge
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Election officials in Florida have begun renewing efforts to purge alleged non-citizen voters from its voter rolls.

Protect voting rights from new assaults
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
After the U.S. Supreme Court neutered a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, it didn't take long for states to resurrect efforts to put limits on voting that harm minorities.

Rubio plans to hit Obamacare hard across Florida this month
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
PolitiFact: Marco Rubio says patients won't be able to keep their doctors under Obamacare: Mostly False
Sen. Marco Rubio is taking a week off with family but is planning a hard-charging return to the Obamacare wars.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida poll: Yes on weed, Crist over Scott, split on gay marriage
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Gov. Rick Scott looks to be in trouble heading into the 2014 governor’s race should he be challenged by … Charlie Crist, according to results from the latest StPetePolls survey via William Mansell of Patch.

Protester face-off with Gaetz just 'Twitter talk'
By James Call
Florida Current
The Dream Defenders holding a sit-in at the state Capitol thought briefly Monday their executive director was going to square off one-on-one in a debate with the chairman of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

Deck stacked on 'stand ground'
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford cannot defend the "stand your ground" law on its merits, so he's stacking the deck.

President Barack Obama to address veterans in Orlando on Saturday
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will travel to Orlando on Saturday for the Disabled American Veterans' National Convention.

POLITICAL RACES

In a word: How voters see Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio run behind Chris Christie in a hypothetical 2016 presidential matchup with Hillary Clinton, a new poll shows.

George Sheldon, U.S. health honcho, might challenge Pam Bondi on Obamacare platform
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
George Sheldon, a longtime Florida political hand and a current U.S. Health & Human Services official, has been talking to political insiders and prospective donors about challenging Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2014.

St. Petersburg mayoral candidates prepare for Tuesday's televised debate
By Mark Puente
Tampa Bay Times
The stakes could not be higher today when the three major mayoral candidates take the stage for a televised debate.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Backer says passion, not politics, motivates medical-marijuana drive
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
Orlando attorney John Morgan, whose personal-injury firm employs former Gov. Charlie Crist, says he’s driving a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana out of passion, not to boost turnout for the Democratic candidate in next year’s gubernatorial race.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Nuclear Costs Continue to Rise
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Even though Duke Energy announced it will no longer ask customers to pay for a nuclear plant that won’t be built…those customers will begin paying almost a dollar a month more.

No time to lose
Editorial
Miami Herald
It’s happening again, and it’s bad. Billions of gallons of foul brown water are being flushed into two South Florida rivers to lower Lake Okeechobee and protect the Herbert Hoover Dike during hurricane season.

EDUCATION

Tony Bennett's chief of staff resigns, too
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
A top aide to former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is no longer working for the state.

Top Florida lawmakers plan to continue push against PARCC
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's top lawmakers don't intend to ease up on their pressure for the state to abandon the PARCC testing consortium just because Tony Bennett, the main recipient of their full-court press, is out of the picture.

Lawmaker Considering Legislation To Cut Down 'Islam-Bias' In Fla. School Textbooks
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
A Florida lawmaker is considering legislation that would give the public input on the content found in Florida school textbooks. His overall aim is to cut down on what he calls the “Islam-bias” in state schools.

Lowest-performing schools in Seminole, Volusia must offer longer day
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
A Seminole County elementary school must offer its students an extra hour of reading lessons this coming school year because of poor performance on Florida's key reading test.

The toll of cuts
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Given the continued high demand for admission to the University of Florida, it might seems like the university came through years of budget cuts unscathed.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Governor’s Office Quietly Announces Appointments to Oversight Board
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
A new Florida law that took effect July 1 broadened the use of public-private partnerships and created a new taskforce to oversee the arrangements.

Citizens records show 1,500 inspection errors
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Florida’s largest insurer Citizens admits in documents obtained by The Palm Beach Post that the state-run company and its contractors made errors in more than 1,500 inspections as part of a huge campaign that raised customer bills by more than $200 million a year.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

The 7 Craziest Obamacare Conspiracy Theories
By Erika Eichelberger
Mother Jones
Obamacare is going to implant you with a microchip. Obamacare is going to tax your golf club.

Leader’s departure ends tumultuous time for Florida’s program to protect nursing home, ALF residents
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
When Harold J. “Jim” Crochet, Florida’s top watchdog for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, quietly submitted his retirement papers last week, it marked the end of a tumultuous administration that prompted widespread criticism Crochet had turned the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program into a rubber stamp for the powerful industry.

In the Villages, USF Health partnership fills missing piece
By Stephanie Hayes
Tampa Bay Times
One blazing late morning at Florida's Friendliest Hometown, some 80 people line up for water volleyball, having zipped to the pool in customized golf carts that blow bubbles out the back.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

August heats up for pols on recess, as immigration forces apply pressure
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, announced Friday that, if certain conditions are met, he will support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, giving supporters of the proposed legislation an important convert to their cause in Florida.

USF may get OK to exhume bodies at Dozier school today
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet are scheduled to vote on whether to let university researchers identify human remains at a defunct reform school.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Convicted mass murderer executed in Florida
By Tamara Lush
Associated Press
A man convicted of murdering eight people in Miami-Dade County in the late 1970s was executed Monday night at the Florida State Prison, despite his lawyers' pleas that he was too mentally ill to be put to death.

State Senator asks Florida Cabinet to pardon Marissa Alexander
News Service of Florida
Florida Times-Union
State Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, wrote to members of the Florida Cabinet on Monday, asking them to support his call for a pardon for Marissa Alexander.