FEATURED STORIES
By Alex Leary
Related: Crist and Rubio tax claims are (still) false
Fox News Sunday cast it as a "rough and tumble battle," and for 40 minutes, Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio gave a national audience just that, arguing about a lot of things that ultimately were about two: money and President Barack Obama.
By Lesley Clark
For nearly a year, Rep. Kendrick Meek has traversed Florida, persuading voters to sign a petition to get him on the ballot and, he says, in the history books.
By William March
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum grabbed national attention and praise from Republicans last week with a lawsuit challenging the health care reform bill.
By Mary Ellen Klas
As Florida legislators hit the halfway mark in their 60-day session, they are following a simple election year recipe: sprinkle in a little policy, then pour on plenty of politics.
By Jim Ash
Florida is on the verge of becoming the first state in nation with universal merit pay for teachers, a sign that the stars are lining up for conservative Republicans and that the influence of the powerful Florida Education Association may be on the wane.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Chan Lowe
Read the artist's commentary here.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
By Brandon Larrabee
As lawmakers left Tallahassee Friday, they were halfway home.
By Steve Bousquet
You've heard the old axiom about the Florida Legislature: "The House proposes and the Senate disposes."
By Aaron Deslatte
Osceola State Committeeman Mark Cross, a longtime party activist who ran unsuccessfully for chairman last month, is urging fellow Republicans to ask Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the elections bill lawmakers passed this week.
By Stephen Goldstein
One example of anything may be written off as a mere isolated instance. A second similar one may even be dismissed as a coincidence.
By Dara Kam
After repeatedly emphasizing his commitment to "open and transparent" government during a committee meeting Thursday evening, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander attached a last-minute prison-privatization amendment to the state's spending bill without any warning to anyone it would affect, including the Department of Corrections.
By John Frank
A powerful special interest and two influential state lawmakers united Friday to push a measure that critics contend will make it harder to get out of jail before a trial.
By Robert Samuels
The bills come with some of the most tragic stories heard in the Capitol -- parents who've lost children and children who've lost their faculties, all at the hands of public officials and civil servants.
Staff Report
A locally sponsored bill that establishes standards and procedures for the use, monitoring and reduction of unnecessary restraint and seclusion on students with disabilities passed unanimously through a key House committee this week.
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Major issues facing the Florida Legislature at the midpoint of its 60-day annual session:
By Ron Word
The Florida House and Senate have a short week ahead this week and will only be in session Wednesday and Thursday.
Editorial
Refusing to acknowledge the obvious need for more revenue and a fairer state tax system, the Republican-led Florida Legislature is once again cobbling together a roughly $68 billion state budget with duct tape, bailing wire -- and considerable help from the feds.
Editorial
Florida legislators have a long and shameful record of raiding state trust funds and dedicated funding sources -- taking whatever they deem necessary to balance the budget while avoiding the appearance of raising taxes.
POLITICAL RACES
By Beth Reinhard and Lesley Clark
Related: Rubio, Crist both stretch truth over taxes during debate
Crist vs. Rubio: Florida GOP Heavies Face Off
Time Magazine
Crist, Rubio face off in 1st Fla. Senate debate
The Associated Press
New poll shows Crist falling further behind Rubio
Miami Herald
Little difference between tea party and Grand Old Party
Salon
GOP to scout Tampa for 2012 convention
Tampa Tribune
A Republican committee, exploring possible sites for the 2012 Republican National Convention, will descend on the Tampa Bay area this weekend.
By Bill Rufty
The Republican Party must move back to the conservative and ethical principles it had when it won control of Congress in 1994 and the Florida Legislature in 1996 or it will lose the right to those principles, state Sen. Paula Dockery told an applauding crowd Saturday night.
By Ron Hurtibise
Three more candidates have surfaced for U.S. House seats that include parts of Volusia and Flagler counties.
BALLOT INITIATIVES
By Dale White
The president of Florida Hometown Democracy, a group pushing a proposed state constitutional amendment that would empower voters to ratify or veto changes in their communities' growth management plans, rallied her local fan base Saturday.
Staff Report
It's no surprise that the Florida Association of Counties voted yesterday to oppose Florida Hometown Democracy/Amendment 4, a citizen's reform which will appear on the November ballot.
By Mariella Smith
It's not surprising that TBARTA (Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority) passed a resolution opposing Amendment 4, also known as Florida Hometown Democracy.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
By Kevin Spear
As the nation's top regulator of offshore drilling, Elmer "Bud" Danenberger was nearing retirement last year when he began to get word of a major rig accident halfway around the world.
Editorial
So, as Florida's drilling supporters drool over royalty millions, they will do well to remember that beach-related tourism accounts for roughly $50 billion a year, or 10 percent of the state's entire economy.
Editorial
Five weeks remain in the legislative session, and until the handkerchief drops on April 30, Tallahassee remains capable of mischief.
Editorial
Every legislative session, pro-growth lawmakers try to weaken growth rules. This year the pretext is to restore lost construction jobs, as if a worthy motive validates the false assumption that state and local governments have somehow stopped developers.
LGBT
By Chad Smith
A Washington D.C.-based group that advocates for the separation of church and state has lodged a complaint against a Gainesville church that has taken a seemingly blatant political stand against a mayoral candidate.
EDUCATION
By Tim Nickens
Related column: Legislation will drive away our best teachers
Bill takes a narrow-minded approach to education
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Three bills, three fates for Florida's universities
Gainesville Sun
Changes dim Bright Futures appeal
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Rising sales boost education spending
Tampa Tribune
Florida changing its view of alternative high school diplomas
Florida Times-Union
Parents upset over plan to cut bilingual program
Tampa Tribune
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Education reform bill contains too many flaws
Bradenton Herald
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
By Bill Cotterell
Florida's unemployment rate hit a record 12.2 percent in February and probably topped 20 percent, when "discouraged workers" who opt for part-time jobs and those who have given up hope of finding work are counted.
By Jim Stratton
Florida's unemployment rate climbed to 12.2 percent in February, the highest since officials began tracking the number 40 years ago, while in Metro Orlando, the rate fell a tenth of a point to 12.5 percent.
By The Palm Beach Post
In another reflection of the state's weak economy, Floridians' personal income fell by 2.7 percent from 2008 to 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday.
By Kevin Wiatrowski
Tampa and other Florida communities soon could get some help spending millions in federal housing money ahead of a September "use-it-or-lose-it" deadline.
By Anthony Clark
Florida's cash-for-appliances rebate program is scheduled to last 10 days, but based on responses in other states, is projected to run out of its $17.6 million in funding on the first day.
By Jeff Schweers
When Brevard County tourism officials flew to London to sell the Space Coast to foreigners, they stayed at a four-star boutique hotel known for its award-winning restaurant and designer rooms in the fashionable West End theatre district, nine miles from the convention site.
By Paige St. John
A Florida property insurer that bought hurricane protection from its own Bermuda company has been ordered to attempt to recover the money, following a Herald-Tribune report about the transaction.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
By Bill Cotterell
Floridians strongly oppose the new national health-care plan -- so U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who voted for it, has some political repair work to do before 2012, according to a statewide survey released Saturday.
By Alex Leary
Just before signing the health care bill, President Barack Obama paid tribute to the "historic leadership and uncommon courage of the men and women of the United States Congress, who've taken their lumps during this difficult debate."
The Progress Report
Last Tuesday, President Obama signed his landmark health care overhaul -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- into law, making it the most extensive social legislation enacted in decades.
By Frank Rich
There were times when last Sunday's great G.O.P. health care implosion threatened to bring the thrill back to reality television.
By Lesley Clark
A breast cancer awareness program for young women championed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is included in the healthcare bill that President Barack Obama signed into law.
By Dana Treen
Less than 45 minutes after opening for the first of its twice-weekly free medical clinics for the poor, a nurse at the Barnabas Samaritan Medical Clinic in Fernandina Beach posted a "clinic-full" sign telling new patients they would have to come back another day.
By Jim Saunders
Speaker Larry Cretul and other House leaders put a bulls-eye on the Florida Department of Health during the first day of this year's legislative session.
By Scott Finn
A new grant will allow several public broadcasters in Central Florida, including WUSF Public Broadcasting, to hire eight people for a special project focusing on in-depth health reporting.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Staff Report
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Florida Offender Alert System marked its second anniversary Friday.
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