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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Daily Clips for January 26, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

Republicans want voters to reconsider smaller classes

By Shannon Colavecchio and Jeffrey S. Solochek

St. Petersburg Times

Having already spent $16 billion to reduce class sizes -- and facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit -- leading Republicans including Gov. Charlie Crist want voters to reconsider their 2002 vote in favor of smaller classes.


Crist's ambitious education budget draws instant criticism

By Brandon Larrabee

Florida Times-Union

Despite an overall budget gap that could reach $3 billion, Gov. Charlie Crist unveiled a record $22.7 billion education budget Monday that would increase per-student state spending.


Crist says he'll propose corporate tax cut, is optimistic about budget

By William March

Tampa Tribune

Gov. Charlie Crist expressed optimism today about the state budget and the state economy, and said he'll propose a corporate tax cut, targeted at small businesses, to help create jobs.


Rubio has edge over Crist in latest poll

By Jim Ash

Tallahassee Democrat

Speaker Marco Rubio, the conservative Republican from West Miami who is challenging Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, has taken his first lead, according to the latest poll.


Obama, Biden will hold town hall meeting Thursday in Tampa

By Alex Leary

St. Petersburg Times

President Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting Thursday afternoon at the University of Tampa.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Lawmakers push for full casinos in Florida resorts

By Mary Ellen Klas

Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau

Ellyn Bogdanoff has given up. Once one of the most ardent opponents of gambling expansion in the Florida House, the Fort Lauderdale legislator is now ready to open the doors to full-fledged casinos because, she says, Florida ``is losing the battle'' to the Seminole Tribe.


Many wonder if Obama can deliver on promises

By Ron Hurtibise

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Republicans and independents are souring on President Barack Obama in large numbers, but they aren't the only ones expressing concerns.

POLITICAL RACES

House primaries today

By Kathy Steele

Tampa Tribune

Democratic and Republican voters today will choose candidates to represent Florida House District 58, a diverse swath of the city's midsection stretching from Town 'N Country to Old Seminole Heights.


Poll: GOP primary for US Senate seat in Fla. a tie

By Brent Kallestad

The Associated Press

Former Florida legislator Marco Rubio has closed the gap in the race for the state's Republican U.S. Senate nomination and is in a virtual dead heat with Gov. Charlie Crist, according to a poll released Tuesday.


Standing O for Rubio

By Louis Cooper

Pensacola News Journal

If Marco Rubio had been performing a rock concert in Pensacola on Monday, he might have changed Tom Jones' lyric to, "It's not unusual to be loved by everyone."


Former Governor Bob Martinez Weighs in On Florida GOP Senate Race (includes audio)

By Sean Kinane

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

The question of who will represent the GOP in the race Florida's open US Senate Seat late this November signifies, to many, a rift among republicans both in the Sunshine State and nationwide.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Fair Districts Battle Ahead

By Mike Vasilinda

Capitol News Service

Florida lawmakers have already spent almost 3 hundred thousand dollars on the effort to redraw the state's legislative and congressional districts, and the redrawing won't take place for another two years.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

CBS urged to scrap Super Bowl ad with Tebow, mom

By David Crary

The Associated Press

A national coalition of women's groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plan to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message.


Southern Christian Leadership Conference Picketed by Members

By Robbie Brown

New York Times

Several dozen members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights group founded by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gathered here from across the South on Monday to demand the resignations of two board members accused of financial and ethical violations.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Rock Mines threaten Everglades Restoration Plans (includes audio)

By Joshua Lee Holton

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Limestone rock mining in Florida provides critical components for housing and highway construction. But environmentalists have some concrete concerns as rock mining impacts the Florida Aquifers and Everglades restoration.


EPA to step up NO2 monitoring in Florida

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironements.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday established a new hourly nitrogen dioxide standard and proposed additional monitoring requirements for the pollutant.


Public Service Commission chooses director

By Mary Ellen Klas

Miami Herald

The Florida Public Service Commission on Monday named Tim Devlin, 58, to be its new executive director and steer the agency into an era of reform.


Water Conservation: Good Politics - Save Water

Editorial

Lakeland Ledger

As 2010 moves along, Floridians can expect the campaigns for state offices to begin heating up.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Sink, McCollum now both want to regulate rogue debt collectors

By Aaron Deslatte

Orlando Sentinel

Nearly three months after pledging to better regulate rogue debt-collectors, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum are still finger-pointing over who should take on the task.


Haridopolos asks state to investigate homeowners' claims big banks used bailout money to fatten bottom line

By Jim Turner

TC Palm

Florida Senate President designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, says if Congress isn't going to call out banks out for allegedly reducing home equity lines of credit to homeowners simply to improve their bottom line, then the state should.


Buchanan proposes '10 jobs plan

By Marc R. Masferrer

Bradenton Herald

An unemployed person has enough to worry about -- paying the bills, looking for work, wondering if they will have a roof over their heads.


Fair deal on foreclosures: Chance for Legislature to address a state crisis

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

The Legislature has at least one good idea for dealing with the home foreclosure crisis that has sapped the state's economy, overwhelmed the courts and devastated families.


Time to rein in the big banks

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Wall Street, in characteristic fashion, is arguing that President Barack Obama's banking reform plans are populist exercises that would not have prevented the financial crisis of 2008.


Senate President Jeff Atwater's no-new-taxes pledge is self-serving

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Atwater, a Republican banker from North Palm Beach, surely knows better.

EDUCATION

Gov. Crist proposes increase in money for schools

By Ron Matus

St. Petersburg Times

Despite a still-rocky economy, Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday he'll push for an increase in Florida's education budget.


State Kicks Off Week-Long Reading Initiative (includes audio)

By Lynn Hatter

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

The Florida Department of Education kicked off its statewide reading initiative Monday at the Capitol.


Bad economy may be fueling Lake County homeschooling trend

By Denise-Marie Balona

Orlando Sentinel

When 7-year-old Annabelle Kirkpatrick studies fractions and converting pints to quarts, she and her mom go into their kitchen and start cooking.


'Quality Counts' rating doesn't tell all

By Mark McGriff

Gainesville Sun

State leaders are already bragging about Florida's No. 8 ranking in Education Week's newest Quality Counts report on the nation's schools.


Obama proposes easing student loan terms

By Bart Jansen

Tallahassee Democrat

President Barack Obama on Monday proposed making it easier to repay student loans, a move designed to spur college education and offer financial relief to the middle class.


Move away from FCAT to improve schools

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

Frances Haithcock, Florida's chancellor for K-12 public schools, is the rare public official who has the courage to tell parents the painful truth: Earning a high school diploma doesn't necessarily prepare a student for college.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Health workers return from Haiti trips

By Beth Reinhard and Cammy Clark

Miami Herald

Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday paved the way for nurses from outside Florida to fill in for colleagues in Miami who want to go to Haiti in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake.


Frontline defense

By Diane Chun

Gainesville Sun

The University of Florida is home to a new research facility, prepared to function as an early warning system for emerging diseases and linking investigators around the world.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

The antidote to money in politics: knowing its source

By Howard Troxler

St. Petersburg Times

After the big U.S. Supreme Court ruling the other day, there were a lot of warnings that American elections are going to be taken over by (gasp!) corporations.

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