FEATURED STORIES
For Gov. Charlie Crist, a battered image and uncertain future
By Steve Bousquet and Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Charlie Crist's final year as governor begins like no other: with perilous poll numbers, his optimism worn thin and his shell of political Teflon deeply scratched.
Polls suggest Crist needs to win back conservatives in Senate race
By Josh Hafenbrack
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
After years of enviable approval ratings and bipartisan accolades, Gov. Charlie Crist discovered a political problem in 2009: He has no base.
McCollum, other GOP AGs criticize 'Nebraska Compromise'
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has joined a dozen Republican AGs from other states in complaining to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about the extra love that Nebraska is getting in the Senate version of the health care reform bill pending in Congress.
Sansom's court battles could be nearing an end
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
A state appeals court today refused to reinstate a perjury and official-misconduct indictment against former House Speaker Ray Sansom, probably ending his criminal court troubles.
State budget pictures bleak as lawmakers head back
By Shannon McCaffrey
The Associated Press
If you thought state budgets were in bad shape last year, just wait: 2010 promises to be brutal for lawmakers - many facing re-election - as they scramble to find enough money to keep their states running without raising taxes.
Politics 2010: Economy, U.S. Senate race are major factors in Florida
By Michael Peltier
Naples News
Budget issues and insurance matters will hold center stage in a 2010 election year as the state continues to deal with tough budget times made more precarious by the inevitable exhaustion of federal stimulus dollars.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Jim Morin
Miami Herald
FLORIDA POLITICS
2009's winner and loser could switch roles in 2010
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Welcome to 2010, which stands to be the busiest and most unpredictable political year Florida has seen in decades.
Crist thrives amid down times in state
Steve Bousquet and Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Midway through his term, Gov. Charlie Crist finds his sunny optimism tested almost daily as his state slips deeper into the worst recession in modern times.
Greer faces more calls to resign
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
A dozen of the Florida Republican Party's top money men added their voices Wednesday to the rising chorus of GOP activists demanding party chairman Jim Greer's resignation.
Job creation: Top priority for state legislature is clear
By Mike Haridopolos and Dean Cannon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
When the throngs gathered in Times Square to herald a New Year of hope, many Floridians were glad to close the books on 2009.
'Shadow warrior' Rep. Dean Cannon girds to cement power grip
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Dean Cannon was fresh out of law school and burned out on politics.
Wexler leaves Congress, pursues challenge of Middle East peace-making
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Robert Wexler helped persuade skeptical Jewish voters to support Barack Obama in 2008.
Whig party leaders hope to offer voters more options
By Bill Thompson
Ocala Star-Banner
Not long ago Paul Truesdell had an epiphany: The number 3 is critical to how people, especially Americans, organize their lives.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer: 'We had a pretty good year' -- but foes disagree
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer won't talk about it, but his dogged push for commuter rail and new sports and arts venues has cemented his legacy as the biggest builder to hold the office in decades.
POLITICAL RACES
Florida should give Obama another vote in the Senate
By Stephen Goldstein
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida Republicans and Democrats are in disarray. Whichever party unites by November will win the U.S. Senate seat once held by Mel Martinez.
State, local offices up for grabs this year
By Betty Parker
Ft. Myers News-Press
The new year promises plenty of campaign activity, not only for statewide contests where every state post offers an open race with no incumbent, but for local politics and elections as well.
First Coast political scene heats up in 2010
By David Hunt
Florida Times-Union
Campaigns for everything from school boards to the U.S. Senate will criss-cross Northeast Florida during a busy 2010, a year political insiders predict will be defined by tight financing and outraged voters.
Conservatives in Tea Party stir: A fight of the right, by the right and for the right
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Conservative Tea Party activists hope to make a political mark in 2010, but an Orlando attorney's effort to run candidates under the "Tea Party" label in Florida is being met with suspicion and outright hostility by many in the movement.
BALLOT INITIATIVES
Amendment 4 is the Floridians' Declaration of Independence
By Greg Gimbert
Destin Log
Florida voters should be on the lookout for the politicians and speculators who are ramping up their Founding Fathers spin against the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment.
Hometown Democracy showdown set for 2010
By Christian Conte
Jacksonville Business Journal
After years of behind-the-scenes battles, Amendment 4, also known as the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, will be on the Florida ballot in November 2010.
State legislative districts to be redrawn in 2010
By Bill Cotterell
Pensacola News Journal
One big chore awaiting state legislators in 2010 is legislative redistricting.
State will redraw a meandering district
By Kimberly C. Moore
Florida Today
It takes Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, three hours to travel from his home to the north end of his Florida House District 29 near Mims and back.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Hill proposes Senate bill to help convicted civil rights protestors
By Brandon Larrabee
Florida Times-Union
A push to make it easier for civil rights protesters convicted under segregation-era laws to get their records wiped clean will continue in the 2010 legislative session.
Officer is fired after he joins the Ku Klux Klan
The Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
An Alachua County Sheriff's Office corrections officer who acknowledged being a member of the Ku Klux Klan has been fired for belonging to a subversive or terrorist organization, a violation of the agency's code of ethics.
Florida National Guard to have largest deployment since WWII
By Timothy J. Gibbons
Florida Times-Union
The largest contingent of Florida National Guard soldiers to be deployed since World War II will head out of the state this week -- first to training in Texas, then to the battlefield.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Looking back on 2009, and ahead to 2010
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Here's a look at the Top 10 environmental stories from around Florida's Capitol in 2009 and a look at how those issues may play out in 2010.
Tragic year in Florida for panthers
By Bill Sargent
Florida Today
For the endangered Florida Panther, 2009 will be remembered as a tragic year for road kills that went down to the last day.
Court records reveal trouble at Turkey Point
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
When Coleen Ware walked into Turkey Point, she was shocked to see that the indicators showing control rod positions looked like something out of an early '70s sci-fi movie.
Florida officials look at bag ban
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
When he gets to the register, Drew Martin always has to explain.
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Starting this month, Florida fishermen no longer can keep red snapper or 11 species of shallow-water grouper from the Atlantic.
Species return as Kissimmee River restoration makes progress
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Biologist Lawrence Glenn knows how to sell the concept of spending $1 billion to bring the Kissimmee River and its wetlands back from the dead.
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Boat propellers have sliced up underwater sea grass beds all around Florida, impairing the environment needed to nurture marine wildlife.
Seize the sunshine, save the environment
Editorial
Miami Herald
While the economic slump has had a negative effect on almost every aspect of life in South Florida, it has given our natural world a breather.
Near-Shore Oil Drilling: Deep-Sea Tech Wrong for Florida
Editorial
Lakeland Ledger
Floridians and their legislators have had many reasons to be skeptical since proposals surfaced rapidly to open near-shore waters to exploration and drilling for oil.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
The struggle to save citrus in Florida
By Tom Bayles
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Citrus growers are starting out the new decade in what many of them view as their final fight for survival.
While others believe the economy will improve, Floridians still wary
By Michael Peltier
Naples News
The new decade is upon us (though some may bicker on when it actually begins) and all indications are that things are going to get better.
State workers hung on in '09, and it could have been worse
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
It's been a fairly tough year for state employees.
'Space Caucus' vows to ease blow of shuttle layoffs
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and members of the "Space Caucus" are vowing to cushion the blow of at least 3,500 layoffs when the shuttle fades into history as early as next year.
Seminole Casino operators, politicians hope agreement reached with state soon
By Steven Beardsley
Naples News
It's easy to forget that Seminole Casino Immokalee was once a modest bingo hall.
Editorial
Miami Herald
Florida has yet to see its mortgage delinquency rate bottom out, with an estimated 456,000 home foreclosures still pending.
State needs honest fight for jobs
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
Florida's job loss is the state's biggest issue, and legislative leaders are right to put a better employment climate at the top of their agenda.
EDUCATION
School districts gear up to comply with class size amendment in 2010
By Katherine Albers and Leslie Williams Hale
Naples News
Related: Money again on the minds of school district administrators in 2010
Of all of the issues facing local school districts in 2010, no issue is more important than the class size amendment.
Bright Futures will make students pay for dropped classes
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Many college students are receiving an unwelcome surprise during their holiday break: a bill for classes they didn't finish.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
13 state AGs threaten suit over health care deal
By Meg Kinnard
The Associated Press
Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska's political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Prosecutor: Court decision hurts his case against Sansom
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
An appellate court on Thursday sent the criminal case against state Rep. Ray Sansom back to a lower court, where a prosecutor acknowledged his case is weakened and he may not have enough to proceed.
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Florida needs a strategy for fighting juvenile crime that is more effective and sustainable than shipping teenagers to adult jails and prisons.
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