FEATURED STORIES
Florida attorney general questions legality of health reforms, but faces complaints of grandstanding
By Michael C. Bender
Palm Beach Post
A proposal to require Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine to the federal government amounts to a "living tax" and could violate the federal and state constitutions, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Tuesday.
Major GOP donors call for Jim Greer to step down
By Adam Smith
St. Petersburg Times
This may be the biggest shoe to drop yet against Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer: A host of the most veteran and accomplished GOP bundlers in Florida are calling on Greer to resign now or be ousted.
Crist and Sansom made headlines
By David Royse and Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
As a year bookended by special sessions comes to a close, we take a look back at a difficult year marked by the worst sustained economic downturn in decades and the highest unemployment since Reubin Askew was governor.
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
A year ago, Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom was stubbornly defending his new high-paid position at Northwest Florida State College, his reward for quietly steering millions in public money to the school.
Indiscriminate tax cuts not the answer
Editorial
Miami Herald
Facing an 11.5 percent unemployment rate and a home foreclosure crisis, Floridians are desperately seeking a long-term fix to this stubborn recession.FLORIDA POLITICS
Top 10 list of things that didn't happen in the Sunshine State
By Mark Lane
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Everybody's running lists this week of things that happened in 2009.2010 RACES
Miami Herald
Charlie Crist is off his game. Way off his game, which was spectacular when it was good.Cuba critical of all 4 Florida Senate candidates
The Associated Press
Miami Herald
Cuba's official media lashed out at all four main candidates to become Florida's next senator - Democrats and Republicans alike - saying Tuesday they will do nothing to improve relations between Havana and Washington.CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Collier, Lee counties helping state restore voting rights to felons
By I.M. Stackel
Naples News
Southwest Florida elections officials are working to update their voter records.JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
State's top court orders foreclosure mediation program
By Duane Marsteller
Bradenton Herald
Florida will create a state-wide "managed mediation" program designed to help more homeowners avoid foreclosure, the state's top court said Monday.
Tampa Bay nation's worst in October home price index
By James Thorner
St. Petersburg Times
Tampa Bay's housing market relearned a hard lesson in October: Foreclosures may be good for bringing out home buyers.
Florida consumers said to be gloomy
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Consumers in Florida remained wary this past month despite a growing optimism nationally, according to separate measures of consumers' moods released Tuesday.
Obama has NASA's future on short-term agenda
By Bart Jansen
Ft. Myers News-Press
President Barack Obama will chart a course for NASA within weeks, based on the advice of a handful of key advisers in the administration and Congress.EDUCATION
Proposal for federal school funds is flawed
By Andy Ford
Orlando Sentinel
Mike Thomas has an opinion, and he isn't shy about sharing it. He's passionate, humorous and typically examines all sides of an issue.
Fewer Central Florida teachers try for national certification
By Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
The number of Central Florida teachers earning prestigious national certification plummeted last school year because of budget cuts.HEALTH AND SENIORS
Fla. AG may challenge health-care bill
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
Attorney General Bill McCollum called on other state legal officers Tuesday to review a "tax on living" in the pending federal health-care proposals.
Klein faces tough crowd on health care overhaul
By Kathy Bushouse
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The congressional debate on overhauling the nation's health care system may have taken a break for the holidays, but U.S. Rep. Ron Klein faced some pointed questions about the plan on Tuesday.
Fla. child abuse deaths rise in bad economy
By Kelli Kennedy
The Associated Press
About 200 children were fatally abused in Florida in 2008, a roughly 20 percent increase from 2007.
Local elderly lose services in county, state squabble
By Will Hobson
Panama City News Herald
Some elderly people in Bay County who fall and can't get up can't call for help through their Health Watch monitoring units anymore because of a discontinued grant.
South Florida pain-clinic doctors also treat drug addicts
By Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
State regulators stripped Dr. Michael I. Rose's power to write prescriptions two months ago, after health officials found that the pain-clinic doctor had prescribed enough painkillers to put one patient ``at risk of death from overdose.''JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Suit seeks $3.8 million from Rothstein colleague
By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
In the first lawsuit targeting a former Scott Rothstein colleague, a bankruptcy trustee on Tuesday sued attorney Steven N. Lippman, asserting he pocketed $3.8 million in bonuses, unpaid loans and reimbursements for home furnishings, country club fees and other expenses he wasn't entitled to.
Annual assessment blasts conditions at reform school that houses Northeast Florida Youth
By Jim Schoettler
Florida Times-Union
Breakdowns in security and inadequate medical treatment for students at a troubled high-risk reform school in Marianna are among the many criticisms leveled against the state-run facility in an annual assessment of the program.
Overtime served: Reforming Florida's violent incarceration mentality
Editorial
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Like other law enforcement officials in the state, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson is sowing undue fear and misinformation about legislative proposals that would reform the state's overly harsh and unsustainably costly prison system.