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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Daily Clips for March 24, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

McCollum files federal suit against health-care plan

By Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee Democrat

Attorney General Bill McCollum Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the federal health-care plan Tuesday -- minutes after President Obama signed it into law.


McCollum's suit could backfire politically

By Marc Caputo

Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau

Related: Individual health insurance mandate started as a Republican idea

From newspapers to blogs to cable news, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum captured the national spotlight Tuesday for leading the court fight against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.


Democrats slam McCollum's hiring of ex-law partner to handle health care challenge

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

Vowing to protect a free market for health insurance, Florida Republicans lined up Tuesday behind a potential $50,000 taxpayer-funded lawsuit challenging the changes approved by a Democratic-led Congress.


McCollum estimates out-of-date

By Carol Gentry

Health News Florida

Atty. Gen. Bill McCollum's estimate of the cost to Florida taxpayers of federal health reform is based on out-of-date numbers from Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, according to AHCA.


White House, experts: Health care suit will fail

By Brendan Farrington

The Associated Press

The White House says it isn't worried that 13 state attorneys general are suing to overturn the massive health care overhaul, and many legal experts agree the effort is futile.


Fla. House panel OKs $67.2 billion budget bill

By Bill Kaczor

The Associated Press

Hospital and nursing home reimbursements would be cut, schools would get less money per student and most state workers would see a 3 percent pay cut, while overall state spending would rise by $700 million under a proposed $67.2 billion budget bill that cleared a Florida House committee Tuesday.


Senate bill would cut back on environmental permitting process

By John Frank and Craig Pittman

St. Petersburg Times

A little-noticed jobs bill being considered by the Legislature calls for streamlining environmental regulations to the point where some development projects of up to 40 acres wouldn't need state or local permits at all.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Teacher tenure system may end Wednesday with Florida Senate vote

By Josh Hafenbrack

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

In a major shift, the salaries of Florida's 167,000 teachers could soon be tied to student test scores, rather than seniority and education level.


Children's advocates plead case

By Jim Ash

Tallahassee Democrat

Facing one of the leanest budget years in decades, children's advocates worked the Capitol on Tuesday, determined to fight social-service cuts that could top $600 million.


Lawmakers push a host of condo crisis bills, seeking solutions and political credit

By Robert Samuels

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Condo bills have flooded the Capitol.


Legislative leaders strike deal with business lobby and trial lawyers

By Aaron Deslatte

Orlando Sentinel

The Florida Legislature's top brass have cut a Solomon-like bargain with warring businesses and trial lawyers, agreeing to place new restrictions on lawsuits over injuries at tourist spots and grocery stores while making it easier to collect damages from the government.


Ron Book agrees to stop lobbying for pretrial measure

By Dan Christiansen

Miami Herald

Flagged by Broward officials for a conflict of interest, county lobbyist Ron Book has agreed to stop pushing for a new state law that county officials say would seriously undermine Broward's pretrial intervention program and cost local taxpayers millions.


Crist gets bill banning on Fla. gun fund raids

The Associated Press

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Florida House has sent Gov. Charlie Crist a bill that will prohibit lawmakers from raiding a trust fund that covers the costs of the state's concealed weapons permitting program.


Senate passes Florida-tomato safety bill

By Sara Kennedy

Bradenton Herald

Local tomato growers are cheering a bill that passed in the Florida Senate on Tuesday that is designed to ensure the safety of Florida-grown tomatoes, following a salmonella scare two years ago.


In Tallahassee today, immigration and insurance

By Lee Logan

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Heading into the midway point of the legislative session, lawmakers are ready Wednesday to tackle immigration, local-government advertising and the dissolving a massive state agency.

POLITICAL RACES

Florida U.S. Senate candidates differ on healthcare law

By Kathleen McGrory

Miami Herald

As President Barack Obama signed a sweeping $938 billion healthcare reform bill into law, two of the four candidates running in Florida's U.S. Senate race said they would fight the new legislation.


Rubio's spending targeted in ethics complaint

By Beth Reinhard

Miami Herald via St. Petersburg Times

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio misspent donations to the Republican Party of Florida and his political committees "to subsidize his lifestyle," according to a sweeping complaint filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics.


Did Crist campaign break campaign finance law?

By Adam C. Smith

Miami Herald Naked Politics

Why was former state GOP executive director Delmar Johnson charging so many Charlie Crist campaign expenses on his party credit card?


Gaetz takes Republican District 4 primary

By Tom McLaughlin

Northwest Florida Daily News

The race for the Republican nomination for the District 4 state House seat looked early on like it could be a runaway, but attorney Matt Gaetz escaped with a victory by a final margin of just 635 votes.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Voters rights watchdog group upset with official's suggestion

By Dale White

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A voters rights group says a county attorney tried to circumvent the will of the voters and the state Supreme Court and get locally mandated election audits banned by the Legislature.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

The future of water availability and desalination in Florida

By Sean Kinane

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Yesterday was World Water Day.


Federal ban on python imports would hurt pet trade, critics say

By William E. Gibson

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A proposed ban on the sale and importation of pythons and other constrictive snakes threatens the livelihood of thousands of pet shops and breeders, Congress was told on Tuesday.

LGBT

Leon County commissioners move forward with LGBT protections

By TaMaryn Waters

Tallahassee Democrat

Leon County commissioners voted 4-3 tonight to move forward with an ordinance designed to give protection to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.


'Unlawful' weddings a protest against federal law

By Nathan Crabbe

Gainesville Sun

The wedding ceremonies that took place Tuesday at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law had a few differences from the real deal.


Spin aside, Florida legislators' debate was about guns, not gays

By Tony Plakas

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"Whom would you rather have adopting: gun owners or gays?" That was Thursday's Sun Sentinel "Today's Buzz" poll.


Ban X-rated state film policy

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

Rather than revive Florida's dying film industry, the Legislature is trying to smother it.

EDUCATION

Florida Republicans push major school overhaul

By Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times

Related: Florida Senate's tenure bill still beats up on teachers

An increasingly conservative Senate pushed forward a series of Republican-led education measures Tuesday that could dramatically alter the landscape of Florida's public schools.


Dems fighting class-size limit changes

By Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee Democrat

Outgunned Senate Democrats slowed a Republican education package Tuesday, knowing they can't stop plans to relax class-size limits and give schools more power to fire teachers.


Class-size cost crunch hits Florida school districts

By Dave Weber

Orlando Sentinel

Florida's public school districts, already bracing for another cash-strapped year, are now confronting the added pressure of how to pay for thousands of teachers required by the Class Size Amendment.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State's pension fund running a deficit for first time since 1997

By Kris Hundley

St. Petersburg Times

On March 1, the state agency that invests public pension money issued a news release bragging about a 16.3 percent rebound in its portfolio in the second half of 2009.


Unease over Florida's property insurance stability growing

By John Frank

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Facing increasing criticism, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty assured state leaders Tuesday he is working to stabilize the state's troubled insurance market.


Floridians fall behind in census responses

By USA Today

Ft. Myers News-Press

Florida is lagging behind the rest of the country about 10 days after 120 million census questionnaires were mailed to every address in the United States.


Region's housing sales up

By Tom Bayles and Aaron Kessler

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Homes sales in Southwest Florida bucked a third straight month of decline nationwide, but prices in this region fell for the second straight month.


Crist, Fla. Cabinet give Legoland a leg up

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

Legoland has gotten a leg up from Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida Cabinet.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

No Case Citations in Florida Health Care Lawsuit

By Marc Ambinder

The Atlantic

Reading through the complaint filed by 13 state attorneys general, against the health reform legislation, reader @calchala was struck by something that wasn't there: the lack of any specific case citation to buttress the underlying claim that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to impose on individuals a mandate to buy health care and to punish those who don't by levying a fine.


Florida's Bill McCollum says health care lawsuit is bipartisan

Staff Report

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Politifact

That's pretty misleading when only one out of 13 attorneys general supporting the lawsuit is something other than a Republican. As such, we rate his claim Barely True.


Health Reform Challenge: More Doctors Needed

By Gina Presson

Public News Service Florida

With more people expected to gain access to health insurance under federal reform, the next hurdle may be finding doctors and other health professionals to take care of them, especially in rural areas.


Boyd defends health care vote

By Will Hobson

Panama City News Herald

Rep. Allen Boyd's vote for health care legislation Sunday was a vote against Sallie Mae.


Dick Armey: Slurs at tea-party protest 'deplorable,' not characteristic

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post

Influential tea party figure Dick Armey, in Palm Beach County for a political fund-raiser, said "deplorable" racial and anti-gay slurs at a protest in Washington Saturday were not representative of the conservative movement.


Overhaul aims to close gap in Medicare drug coverage

By Bart Jansen

Tallahassee Democrat

Even as President Barack Obama signed a landmark health care reform bill into law Tuesday, advocates for the elderly urged lawmakers to close a gap in Medicare drug coverage affecting 300,000 Floridians.


Execs working out long-term plan for Jackson

By John Dorschner

Miami Herald

While Jackson Health System renegotiates a contract with its second major union, its executives and governing board members are starting a new analysis of the public hospital system and working out a long-term plan for a "Sustainable Jackson."


Political theater

Editorial

Gainesville Sun

What happened in Republican-controlled Tallahassee after Democrats passed out a major health care reform bill this week was nothing more than political theater.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Names for judge seats go to Crist

By Karen Voyles

Gainesville Sun

The names of six attorneys who live in Alachua County are being sent to Gov. Charlie Crist to consider for two vacant county judge positions.

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