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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Daily Clips for April 14, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

Crist lists more problems with SB 6 put still won't say whether he'll veto it

By Cristina Silva and Steve Bousquet

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Related: Bush calls Crist, asks him to sign SB 6

In the midst of the most intense lobbying he has faced as governor, Charlie Crist faces a stark choice: sign a bill opposed by thousands of Florida teachers or veto it and alienate major forces in the business community and the Republican-led Legislature.


Republican concedes; Deutch keeps Wexler's South Florida congressional district Democratic seat

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post

Democrat Ted Deutch won the nation's first congressional election of 2010, allowing his party to retain the overwhelmingly Democratic Palm Beach-Broward District 19 seat that "fire-breathing liberal" Robert Wexler represented for 13 years.


GOP gets big bucks from interest groups

By Aaron Deslatte

Orlando Sentinel

Florida Republicans overcame a months-long streak of financial scandals by flexing their Rolodexes, grossing over $7 million from utilities, theme parks and other interests like U.S. Sugar in the first three months of this year.


Chances appear better this year for abortion limits, school prayer and school vouchers

By Dara Kam

Palm Beach Post

Related: What the bills on the social conservatives' agenda would do

Abortion, school prayer and school vouchers are perennial issues that conservative lawmakers try to advance and Democrats consistently oppose.


Health reform challenge heads to court today

By Kris Wernowsky

Pensacola News Journal

The first hearing in a nationwide lawsuit that seeks to strike down key elements of the recently enacted health care reform law is set for today in Pensacola.


Crist Advisers See Path to Senate Outside GOP

By Peter Wallsten and Valerie Bauerlein

Wall Street Journal

Hounded by conservative activists as too liberal, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is being advised by some close supporters to abandon his lagging Republican primary bid for a U.S. Senate seat and run instead as an independent.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Senate panel rejects Crist's pick for health care chief

By Marc Caputo

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

In a mix of health care politics and acrimony in the state Capitol, a Senate panel Tuesday unexpectedly rejected Gov. Charlie Crist's hand-picked chief to oversee the state's mammoth Medicaid program.


Legislature, Crist on collision course over insurance bill

By Paul Flemming

Tallahassee Democrat

The Legislature is setting a collision course with Gov. Charlie Crist on a bill that would allow insurance companies to raise rates up to 20 percent a year on individual policyholders without regulatory approval.


Crist's Fla. PSC appointees getting Senate hearing

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

Gov. Charlie Crist's two new appointees to the Florida Public Service Commission are set for a Senate confirmation hearing.


Abortion bill seeks parental notification

By John Frank

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Kelli Stargel still remembers what it was like to be 17 years old and pregnant.


Dog tracks and jai alai frontons offered tax break

By Mary Ellen Klas

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

A Florida Senate committee offered a last-ditch handout to Florida's ailing dog tracks and jai alai frontons Tuesday, passing a bill to give them a tax break to make it easier to compete with the growing gambling presence of the Seminole Tribe.

POLITICAL RACES

Contentious education bill becomes test for statewide candidates

By John Frank

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Staff Writer

At a recent campaign pitch to the Florida Farm Bureau, attorney general candidate Holly Benson fielded this discordant question: "Where do you stand on Senate Bill 6?"


McCollum closes fundraising gap with Sink

By Lee Logan

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum continues to close the financial gap with Alex Sink in Florida's gubernatorial race, but the Democratic chief financial officer still holds a large cash advantage.


Obama critic enters Fla. gubernatorial race

The Associated Press

Miami Herald

At least one Florida Republican didn't like his choices for governor in the GOP primary. So he's going to run himself.


Rubio stumps in Central Florida

By Jim Stratton and Christine Show

Orlando Sentinel

Marco Rubio, up in the polls and boosted by a huge fund-raising quarter, brought his campaign for U.S. Senate to Central Florida on Tuesday, rallying supporters in downtown Orlando before heading into Lake County for a stop in the Villages and a spot on FOX News.


Mike Huckabee wouldn't be surprised if Marco Rubio ran for president in 2012

By Aaron Sharockman

St. Petersburg Times

He hasn't yet been elected to the U.S. Senate.


Charlie Crist tries to link Marco Rubio with indicted ex-state Rep. Ray Sansom in new TV ad

By Aaron Sharockman

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Politifact

Gov. Charlie Crist, facing an exceedingly difficult Republican U.S. Senate primary, has launched a second blistering television attack against former House Speaker Marco Rubio.


Garcia plans 2nd run for Congress

By Lesley Clark

Miami Herald

Former Miami-Dade Democratic party chief Joe Garcia resigned Tuesday from the Obama administration to jump into a hotly contested race for a congressional seat in Miami.


Gaetz wins

By Tom McLaughlin

Northwest Florida Daily News

Staunchly Republican Northwest Florida showed it remains red to the core Tuesday as GOP candidate Matt Gaetz was elected to succeed Ray Sansom in state House District 4.


A narrow victory for Lowe triggers recount

By Chad Smith

Gainesville Sun

Craig Lowe got more votes, but he's not mayor-elect just yet.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Florida voters could have a crowded ballot this fall

By Gary Fineout

Florida Tribune

Voters in Florida this fall could be confronted with the most crowded ballot in a decade.


"Hometown Democracy" opponents raise nearly $1 million

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The new group opposing Amendment 4, the "Florida Hometown Democracy" amendment to the Florida Constitution, raised nearly $1 million in its first quarter of existence with most of its contributions coming from business and development interests.


Amendment weakening church-state separation inches closer to Florida ballot

By Sean Kinane

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Today the state House and Senate moved a step closer to including an amendment to November's ballot to repeal a ban on state funds to religious institutions.


Heard endorses Amendment 4 on land use changes at Martin County rally

By George Andreassi

TC Palm

Martin County Commissioner Sarah Heard endorsed Amendment 4 Tuesday during a rally for the ballot initiative that would require voters to approve all land use changes.


Hometown Democracy ad

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

Florida Hometown Democracy supporters will rally today in Martin County.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida Forever Endangered

By Steve Newborn

WUSF Public Radio Tampa

We're at the midway point in the legislative session in Tallahassee, and one of the programs whose future is in doubt is the state's pioneering land-buying program, Florida Forever.


DEP holds hearings on ranking land projects

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

With more than 100 land-buying projects facing a review and ranking by the state, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is encouraging project supporters to participate in a pair of public hearings over the next four weeks.


Twenty-year-old deadline extended by bill amendment

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

A petroleum tanks cleanup bill in the House has been amended to extend the deadline for tank site owners to replace older tanks that could leak.

LGBT

A decade after lawsuit, debate over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' still reverberates

By Deirdre Conner

Florida Times-Union

He had planned to be a face in the crowd.


Jackson Now Permits Same-Sex Visitations

By Todd Wright

NBC 6 News Miami

It's a clause nearly two decades overdue and takes up only a couple of lines in a medical log.

EDUCATION

Merit-pay frenzy: 'I've never seen it this intense,' Crist says

By Leslie Postal and Josh Hafenbrack

Orlando Sentinel

The deadline for Gov. Charlie Crist to decide the future of a landmark teacher merit-pay bill ends in just days - and the push to convince him to sign or veto the legislation is in full frenzy mode.


Crist still undecided on teacher bill

By Ron Word

Gainesville Sun

Gov. Charlie Crist said he still hasn't made up his mind on Senate Bill 6, the controversial teacher merit pay legislation that ties future teacher pay to student performance and eliminates teacher tenure.


Merit-pay mail swamps Crist's office

By Paul Flemming

Tallahassee Democrat

A Friday deadline for action on a teachers' merit-pay bill is enveloping the Capitol with lobbying efforts on both sides.


Business, Bush ratchet up pressure on Crist to sign bill

By Brandon Larrabee

Florida Times-Union

Business groups and former Gov. Jeb Bush's foundation pushed Tuesday for Gov. Charlie Crist to sign a controversial teacher pay bill at the same time a rival for the state's open U.S. Senate seat called on the governor to veto the measure.


Myths and facts of Senate Bill 6, an overhaul of teacher pay and contracts

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

Opponents and supporters of a controversial teacher bill accuse each other of using scare tactics and half-truths to push their point.


Veto Senate Bill 6

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, already distrusted by conservatives, will likely be pilloried if he vetoes the legislation eliminating tenure for teachers.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

South Florida home repossessions set new record

Staff Report

Miami Herald

Lenders repossessed nearly 9,200 properties in South Florida during the first quarter of 2010, a 25 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.


Impending foreclosure clash: banks vs. builders

By Doug Sword

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The predicted wave of commercial real estate foreclosures could harm the struggling economy in Florida even more than in other boom states.


President to Outline His Vision for NASA

By Kenneth Chang

New York Times

President Obama will seek to promote his vision for the nation's human space flight program on Thursday, just two days after three storied Apollo astronauts -- including Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the Moon -- called the new plans "devastating."


State-backed Citizens Insurance says it could weather up to $14 billion hurricane

Staff Report

Palm Beach Post

State-backed property insurer Citizens Insurance is flush with cash and can weather a 25-year storm, and wouldn't have to levy assessments until it has a $14 billion storm, the agency told the governor and Cabinet Tuesday.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Battle over federal health care reform could target FSU

By Gary Fineout

Florida Tribune

Attorney General Bill McCollum's push to block federal health care reform may now have an unintended target.


Medicare fraud targeted in bill by South Florida congresspeople Klein and Ros-Lehtinen

By John Lantigua

Palm Beach Post

In the heart of the Medicare fraud capital of the nation, two South Florida members of Congress declared war Tuesday.


Medicaid overhaul: What's going on?

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

In a surprising turnaround from last week, a top Senate health chairman Monday called off two meetings that had been scheduled to scrutinize a House proposal for overhauling the Medicaid system.


Arnold vote: Policy or politics?

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

When a Senate committee voted today against the confirmation of Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Tom Arnold, the question started swirling in the Capitol: Was it because of policy or politics?


Mental Healthcare Coverage

By Gina Jordan

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

Saying mental health is just as important as physical health, a bill taken up by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Tuesday would require companies to offer coverage for mental and nervous disorders.


Medicaid proposals misguided

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Competing proposals for overhauling Florida's Medicaid program have two things in common.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Political fundraiser Mendelsohn could face tax charges

By Jon Burstein

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to ask a federal grand jury to indict embattled Broward political operator Alan Mendelsohn on criminal tax charges.

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