PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
By Lucy Morgan
Envision a well-financed news organization created by big oil companies. Or big power companies. Or gambling casinos. Or a political party. Or anyone else who could afford the tab.
FEATURED STORIES
By Mary Ellen Klas and Steve Bousquet
As state lawmakers grapple with how to close a $3.2 billion budget gap and shrink unemployment ranks, Florida's leading candidates for governor are playing it safe.
By William March
Bruised from a pummeling in polls and conservative media for six months, Gov. Charlie Crist is fighting back in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
By Carl Hiaasen
It must be like a bad dream for Marco Rubio.
By Sally Kestin
Job losses, home foreclosures and the worst economy in decades have forced many Americans to cut back or do without.
By Bill Cotterell
The head of the Florida Democratic Party filed a legal complaint Friday accusing the state Republican Party of illegally juggling its state and federal financial reports.
By Jac Wilder Versteeg
To win federal Race to the Top money -- awarded for innovation in education -- Florida is negotiating with teachers at gunpoint.
By Don Van Natta Jr. and Damien Cave
When Gov. Charlie Crist announced Florida's $1.75 billion plan to save the Everglades by buying out a major landowner, United States Sugar, he declared that the deal would be remembered as a public acquisition "as monumental as the creation of the nation's first national park, Yellowstone."
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Chan Lowe
Read the artist's commentary here.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
By Ron Word
As the first week of the 112th session of the Florida Legislature wrapped up, the biggest issues on the minds of lawmakers, lobbyists, department heads and the general public were where budget cuts will take place and how large will they be.
By Josh Hafenbrack
The Florida Senate has come out with a new Seminole Indian gambling deal -- and this time, the chamber is telling Gov. Charlie Crist and the tribe: Take it or leave it.
By Bill Kaczor
A Mickey Mouse license plate courtesy of Walt Disney World? How about a tag emblazoned with McDonald's golden arches, Nike's swoosh or, maybe, a Coke or Pepsi logo?
By Laura Frazier
Cameras set to snare red-light runners at busy intersections: Are they lifesavers or moneymakers?
By Mary Ann Lindley
The concept of investing in a better state -- in our universities, early-learning efforts, preventive health and public safety programs -- and getting something valuable back in the long run seems to remain beyond consideration, even though it could be done with a more fair and broad-based tax structure.
By Aaron Deslatte
On the eve of a budget-balancing session in which they'll have to tap federal stimulus cash for the third year running, Florida's Republican legislative leadership held a press conference to call on Washington to rein in its expanding fiscal waistline.
Editorial
Think members of the Florida Legislature were willing to take the proverbial bullet by opposing the National Rifle Association and its defense of a state trust fund as a Second Amendment issue?
POLITICAL RACES
By Brandon Larrabee
The GOP primary candidates are debating. Not the issues, mind you. They're debating where they will debate the issues.
By Adam C. Smith
A fired-up Charlie Crist charmed a hometown crowd in St. Petersburg Saturday, and made it abundantly clear we'll be hearing a lot about Marco Rubio's state GOP credit card spending in the coming months.
By Howard Troxler
When faced with a choice among wild political speculations, my rule of thumb is: Which would be more fun?
By Pat Rice
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's political party has largely abandoned him.
By William March
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a hard-line conservative who's challenging the national Republican Party leadership, came to Tampa on Saturday backing conservative U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio.
By Andrew Abramson
U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek on Friday called for a simple majority vote and reconciliation process to approve President Obama's health care reforms.
By Beth Reinhard
Republican state lawmakers have found religion. At a time when railing against deficit spending is the latest fashion, GOP leaders in Tallahassee are preaching a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Staff Report
State Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, is trying to appeal across party lines with an eye toward the general election.
By Alex Leary
The phone rang past 10 on a Saturday night. U.S. Sen. George LeMieux had a scoop: Florida was getting a nuclear aircraft carrier. "This is huge news," he told a reporter.
By Matt Dixon
You could say Al Lawson knows insurance.
BALLOT INITIATIVES
By Aaron Deslatte
After a tutorial on the state's redistricting software with sometimes combative but consistently confused reporters, bloggers and lawyers, Senate President-designate Mike Haridoplos said he expected a lawsuit to try and knock the Fair Districts Florida constitutional reforms off the November ballot.
Editorial
Florida voters have two ways to test the commitment to democracy of every voting bloc from Tea Party conservatives to "post-racial" liberals. One: Participate in the 2010 Census. Two: Vote in favor the Fair Districts amendment proposals at the state and federal levels.
Editorial
Florida voters thought they had good reasons 18 years ago to limit terms in the Legislature to eight years.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
By Zac Anderson
Related: Energy's newest hybrid model
Even after downsizing, Crist's plan to save Everglades by buying sugar land is under siege
Miami Herald via Palm Beach Post
Backers of military in Florida oppose extensive drilling in Eastern Gulf
Palm Beach Post
State report raises doubts about renewable energy goals
Florida Tribune
State could shrink cleanup list
Florida Tribune
Killing Pythons, and Regulating Them
New York Times
Promise of drilling jobs is an empty one
Tallahassee Democrat
LGBT
By Alex Holt and Hadas Gold
Related editorial: Military takes one step toward fairness, holds back on other front
'Nontraditional' family values films may be excluded from tax credit
Palm Beach Post
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
By Mark K. Matthews
In the latest sign that his NASA vision is in peril, President Barack Obama will announce today his plans to host a space summit in Florida on April 15.
The Associated Press
At last, the unemployment crisis seems to be easing. That's the good news.
By Doug Sword
The hit to property values this year will not be as large as earlier forecast, but the recovery of those values will take longer, a new state forecast says.
By Jim Ash
The decision was easy for Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders as they watched the economy sputter and voters seethe in an election year.
By Cristina Silva
Florida officials last March heralded the arrival of $91.1 million in federal assistance devoted to uplifting neighborhoods struggling with abandoned and foreclosed homes.
By Rachael Lee Coleman
Revenue-starved condominium and homeowners associations struggling to keep the taps running and the lawns mowed have found a novel way to squeeze money from units that don't pay what they owe.
Editorial
Florida homeowners have learned to live with the risk of hurricanes.
EDUCATION
By James Kirley
Beginning next school year, computers will replace pencil and paper for all high school students taking the mathematics portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
By Katherine Albers and Leslie Williams Hale
Florida's education system fires more new teachers than the national average, but is slower to fire teachers who have been granted contracts, similar to tenure in other states.
By Shelly Rossetter
Related: Understanding Terms Used By Educators and Students
Students face tests in, out of classroom
Tampa Tribune
Dump FCAT in high school, rely on college placement exams
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Success of rally for college funding unclear
Miami Herald
HEALTH AND SENIORS
By Jim Saunders
When legislative committees discuss health-care issues, lobbyists fill the seats and line the walls. There's big money at stake for their clients -- and themselves.
By Sara Kennedy
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan complained Friday that health insurance for the average family is too expensive, but said the Democratic reform proposal is flawed because it would not adequately control costs.
By Fred Tasker
Related editorial: Tough love for Jackson
By Cynthia Washam
Health News Florida
Time for House to push through health care reform
St. Petersburg Times
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
By Steve Bousquet
When Gov. Charlie Crist signed the law in 2007 that abolished touch screen voting in Florida, one exception remained.
By Cristina Silva
Mentally ill patients are being placed on waiting lists for treatment because Florida's mental health institutions are crowded with illegal immigrants.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
By Kaila Randolph
There has been much uproar regarding the Citizens United case, in which the Supreme Court blocked the ban on corporate campaign spending, and Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's questionable finding.
By David Ovalle
For the government's bribery case against suspended Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones to stick, prosecutors will have to prove that mega-developer Armando Codina expected a favorable vote in exchange for his $12,500 check to her charitable cause, legal experts say.
By Robert Samuels
The bill seemed like a no-brainer: asking Broward voters if they would like an anti-corruption unit to investigate public officials behaving badly.
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