Daily Clips for December 3, 2009

FEATURED STORIES

Special session kicks off
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
When lawmakers convene a special session on rail issues today, it will be a sign of how much, and how quickly, perspectives can change in Florida politics.

House GOP battle with railroad unions, Senate Democrats threatens special session bill
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A proposal that could bring billions of federal dollars to Florida for rail projects could hinge on a small number of union jobs - an issue that threatens to derail a special session that begins Thursday.

Plunging property values will cause school funding shortfall
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's real-estate market is crumbling so badly that the taxable property value for schools statewide will tumble 9.5 percent next year, state economists said Wednesday.

Florida High Court calls Grand Jury to probe South Florida
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
The Florida Supreme Court gave Gov. Charlie Crist his statewide grand jury Wednesday, authorizing a year-long probe of corruption in South Florida.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Senator keeps up fight to halt transit proposal
By Shannon Colavecchio
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
Twice in two years, proposed commuter rail in Central Florida died despite backing from powerful political and business leaders.

Fla. jury to probe corrupt politics
By Michael C. Bender
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate political corruption at the request of Gov. Charlie Crist.

Scott Rothstein wooed politicians
By Sally Kestin, Peter Franceschina and Dana Williams
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
In a New York City hotel room in late 2007, Scott Rothstein arranged to meet the Republican frontrunner for president, John McCain.

Lawmakers seek to have condo issues addressed at special legislative session
By Daniel Vasquez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Two South Florida lawmakers called upon colleagues Wednesday to add condominium issues to a special session of the Florida Legislature, pushing a bill that aims to lift the ailing housing market by helping bulk buyers of condo units.

Chances dim for Domino bill to audit $20 million grant to Port St. Lucie animation studio
By Michael C. Bender
Palm Beach Post
State Rep. Carl Domino has filed a bill that would require an audit of the $20 million economic incentive package that Florida awarded to a Port St. Lucie animation company this year.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson blasts Obama's war strategy in Afghanistan
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has stared down the Federal Reserve and taunted Republicans on the House floor for opposing health-care reforms, but now the outspoken Orlando Democrat is picking a policy fight with his own party's leader: He's blasting President Obama's basic war strategy in Afghanistan.

Photo-op corruption fight
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Florida doesn't need a statewide grand jury on political corruption, but the state could use one on political pandering. Gov. Crist would draw the first indictment.

2010 RACES

Rubio defends 'limited government' record after Crist campaign says he 'squandered' tax dollars
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
As Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Marco Rubio spoke to Florida TaxWatch today, Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate campaign accused Rubio of being a tax hiker and pork-barrel spender when he was House speaker.

Project's OK Could Help Dockery
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
State Sen. Paula Dockery gained statewide attention in 2008 and again this spring by putting together a coalition that stopped SunRail, a proposed Orlando-area commuter-rail system, which she argued would cost the state in purchase price and future liability.

Former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré turns to Puerto Rico for U.S. Senate bid funds
By Beth Reinhard
Miami Herald
Struggling to raise money in Florida for his fledgling U.S. Senate campaign, former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre is looking out of state -- to Puerto Rico.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Hometown Democracy gives power back to people
By Lesley Blackner
Palm Beach Post
The 2010 election is still a year away, and yet The Post is already editorializing against Florida Hometown Democracy, on the ballot as Amendment 4.

Vote puts transit sales tax a step closer to being on ballot
By George Wilkens
Tampa Tribune
A proposed November 2010 referendum on a one penny sales tax for light rail and other transportation improvements advanced Wednesday with a 5-2 vote of the Hillsborough County Commission.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Abuse hot line will get a closer DCF review
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Florida social service administrators will strengthen their response to calls for help to the state's abuse hot line after The Miami Herald reported that thousands of calls each month are being "screened out'' and not forwarded for investigation.

Witness immunity sought for gay service members
By Lisa Leff
The Associated Press
Gay service members who reveal their sexual orientations during congressional testimony would be immune from forced discharges under a bill introduced Wednesday, as lawmakers prepare to consider repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

State admits violations, seeks more Everglades cleanup time
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Water managers and environmental regulators have acknowledged the state is in violation of a landmark legal agreement requiring Florida to halt the flow of polluted water into the Everglades.

Legislators hold hearing on Everglades Restoration
The Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A hearing has been scheduled to discuss Everglades restoration efforts in Homestead.

Our green lawns not worth loss of sea grass beds in gulf
By Dan DeWitt
St. Petersburg Times
The Weeki Wachee River, with that spectacularly clear water and white-sand bed, is the star, the glamor-puss.

Florida delegation going to Copenhagen amid climate warnings
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
A group of 25 business and government officials is going to the United Nations climate change conference in Denmark next week to push for green jobs for Florida.

Neither utilities nor environmentalists happy with PSC goals
By Fred Hiers
Ocala Star-Banner
The Florida Public Service Commission's new 10-year energy conservation goals for the state's five investor-owned utility companies have garnered mixed reviews.

Florida wildlife officials seeking Burmese python hunters for Everglades
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
The python patrol will be back next year.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Hurricane-proofing discounts attacked by insurance industry
By Jim Saunders
Daytona Beach News-Journal
State leaders and the insurance industry have sent the message time and again to Florida homeowners.

State urged to seek biotech venture capital
By Bridget Carey
Miami Herald
Biotechnolgy research is on the rise in Florida, but the state needs to lure venture capital away from other well-known tech corridors, like Boston, Austin, Texas and the Silicon Valley in order to become an industry powerhouse.

Trade trip to Panama holds promise of jobs, mayor Rich Crotty says
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
When Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty flew to Spain in June, the trade trip sparked talks with an unnamed local transportation company and a Spanish construction outfit that economic development officials say could lead to new jobs in Orange County.

EDUCATION

'Brain drain' a concern to some if state's college costs keep rising
By Scott Travis
TC Palm
For many of Florida's top high school graduates, attending college in state, where tuition is cheap and financial assistance is generous, seems like a no-brainer.

Palm Beach County students retaking FCAT in October reaped higher scores than in 2008
By Kevin D. Thompson
Palm Beach Post
If at first you don't succeed, try again. That's what thousands of students did this fall in Palm Beach County, after they had failed the FCAT and faced the risk of not graduating.

Teachers want to revamp school prayer decree
By Kris Wernowsky
Pensacola News Journal
Vicki Kirsch, a third-grade teacher at Dixon Intermediate School in Milton, told a federal court Wednesday that an agreement to end officially sanctioned prayer in Santa Rosa County schools is at odds with her religious beliefs.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Heat turned up on free coverage
By Gary Fineout
Health News Florida
Confronted with a large budget deficit earlier this year, Sen. J.D. Alexander, the budget chief in the Florida Senate, floated the idea that state lawmakers and some state workers should start paying for their health insurance. It went nowhere.

Stearns, Grayson duel over health care study
By Bill Thompson
Ocala Star-Banner
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has touted a widely quoted Harvard University study of the uninsured to argue for health care reform, and to pillory Republicans for blocking access to coverage for 46 million Americans without health insurance.

Laid-off workers losing a lifeline
By Anna Scott
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A federal program that has helped millions of laid-off workers buy health insurance began expiring this week, and local health agencies fear it will push yet another wave of people into an already overwhelmed charity network.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Rothstein trial set for January
By Robert Nolin
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A day after disgraced lawyer Scott Rothstein's arrest, a federal judge set his trial for two weeks in January.

Supreme Court justices appear to side with Florida property owners over who owns the beach
By David G. Savage
Orlando Sentinel
Hearing arguments today in a Florida beach case, the Supreme Court justices sounded as though they agreed with property owners who said their right to a private beach could not be taken away when the state added new sand to an eroded shoreline.