Daily Clips for December 11, 2009

FEATURED STORIES

Civil rights group calls for Florida voting changes
By Lee Logan
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Even though Election Day last year went relatively smoothly across Florida, a civil rights advocacy group that focuses on elections warned that stricter voter registration laws could prevent thousands of eligible voters from joining the rolls in upcoming elections.

Rebellion stirs as state GOP leader gets vote of confidence
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer got a strong vote of confidence Thursday but the rebellion against him continued to fester, with a longtime party fundraiser calling for his resignation.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Ocala Organizes
By Bud Chiles
Worst To First
Sometimes you get surprised. My surprise came yesterday in the form of Marions United, a progressive movement for educational change.

Teabagger hate splinters GOP
By Sinfonian
Blast Off!
As has been well-chronicled here and elsewhere, last April in Pensacola I witnessed the Tea Party (or "teabagger") movement firsthand, up close and personal.

Two Florida cities among America's most unequal cities
By Jacqueline Dowd
The 13th Juror
If you're feeling like the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, you may be on to something.

Elevating Tamiami Trail and Everglades restoration
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
The photo was taken yesterday at the ceremony to commence elevation of one mile of Tamiami Trail: the first construction project for the Everglades that is only for the Everglades and not for cities or agriculture.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Greer gets vote of confidence as GOP chief
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
The Florida Republican Party's executive committee gave a ringing vote of confidence today to embattled state Chairman Jim Greer, who has been under fire from many county GOP leaders for taking sides in hotly contested primary races.

Alan Grayson says it is time for a Democrat with guts (audio story)
By Virginia Hoffman
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Orlando-area member of Congress Alan Grayson appeared in Sarasota on Sunday for a Democratic Party fundraiser.

Feds dig into cash, politics
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Floridians can only hope that the cadre of federal agents that descended on Tallahassee this week will stick around a while.

2010 RACES

Rubio is accused of cap-trade switch
By Beth Reinhard
Miami Herald
Against the backdrop of the climate change summit in Denmark this week, U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is hammering rival Charlie Crist's ``cap-and-trade scheme'' -- though Rubio voted for a bill backed by the governor requiring state officials to devise such a plan.

Crist calls Rubio a flip-flopper over stimulus money
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio says that if he had been governor, he would have accepted some of the federal stimulus dollars he so often criticizes. Gov. Charlie Crist says that makes Rubio a flip-flopper and a hypocrite.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida revokes felons' rights after accidentally restoring them
By John Frank
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet quietly signed orders rescinding civil rights from 11 felons after the state had mistakenly restored them.

A license to promote ignorance
By Daniel Ruth
St. Petersburg Times
Florida routinely ranks somewhere between Dogpatch and Haiti when it comes to our educational system, and now a drool of rednecks may well win the opportunity to officially advertise the state's ignorance on yet another specialty license plate.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

A Fake Scandal
The Progress Report
Think Progress
As delegates from countries across the globe gather at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the world is waiting to see if international leaders will commit to the bold reductions in carbon emissions needed to curb the effects of global warming.

Environment Florida warns new climate bill could mean Florida drilling; asks LeMieux to join Nelson in opposition
By Lesley Clark
Miami Herald
Environment Florida is panning the approach senators have taken in a new Senate climate control bill, saying it could lead to drilling off the Florida coast.

Wading birds' breeding rebounded over past decade -- good news for Everglades
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Wading birds, the most beautiful residents of the Everglades and key measuring sticks of its biological health, have been breeding in numbers last recorded more than a half-century ago.

Protect Florida's fish: Only a fishing ban can save red snapper, 8 others until rebound
Editorial
Miami Herald
Florida's signature fish, red snapper, has been overharvested for years in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Dispute Over State Fund Heads to Legislature
By David Royse
Lakeland Ledger via News Service of Florida
Whether Florida's $150 billion in investments should be watched over by trustees with more financial expertise who can devote more time to the job will be an issue for the Legislature next year.

EDUCATION

Chiles III walks in Ocala supporting children's issues
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
Lawton "Bud" Chiles III continued his walk across Florida on Tuesday as part of his "Worst to First" campaign to highlight children's issues such as education, health care and juvenile justice.

Florida's education department pushes school districts, unions to back Race to the Top grants
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
The Obama administration has laid $4.35 billion on the table for education reform, and Florida wants its share.

Merit pay might bring Florida $700M for education
By Leslie Postal and Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Florida is pushing hard to win up to $700 million in federal grant money, in part by tackling a controversial reform that has failed in the past -- revamping the way teachers and principals are evaluated and paid.

High-school students opting for virtual lessons
By Iricka Berlinger
Tallahassee Democrat
Fourteen-year-old Glorisa Merritt wakes up early each morning.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Senator Bill Nelson's prescription amendment stalled (includes audio)
By Tom Baur
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Today, Senator Bill Nelson's office said the Democratic and Republican leaders on both sides of the aisle are unlikely to let his amendment to the health care reform bill come up for a vote.

Consultant hired to run Medicaid
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Health News Florida
Roberta Kelley Bradford, the incoming Medicaid director for Florida, will be paid $150,000 a year at a time when the program has a deficit of $462 million.

Matter of life, death
By Robert Steinback
St. Petersburg Times
I am scheduled to begin dying on Feb. 1, 2010.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

For Judges on Facebook, Friendship Has Limits
By John Schwartz
Gainesville Sun
Judges and lawyers in Florida can no longer be Facebook friends.

Josephus Eggelletion pleads guilty to money laundering, will resign
By Amy Sherman
Miami Herald
Suspended Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion pleaded guilty Thursday morning to one count of money laundering in West Palm Beach federal court.

Massive drywall lawsuit is filed
By Aaron Kessler
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A massive omnibus lawsuit -- with 2,000 homeowners led by New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton -- was filed in Louisiana federal court on Thursday targeting one of the primary players in the Chinese drywall phenomenon.