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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Daily Clips for April 22, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

With veto pen, Charlie Crist breaks ranks and gains clout over GOP Legislature

By Marc Caputo

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Charlie Crist was a lame duck. Boxed in. Irrelevant.


Probe casts shadow on Marco Rubio

By David Cantanese

Politico

A widening federal criminal investigation into the state Republican Party's credit card usage is unsettling the Florida GOP Senate primary, raising concerns about its potential effect on GOP frontrunner Marco Rubio's campaign and providing hope to Democrats who believe it could be the storyline that stalls the surging conservative's momentum.


Jim Greer charged big on Florida GOP credit card

By Adam C. Smith, Beth Reinhard, Marc Caputo and John Frank

St. Petersburg Times

Reeling from a criminal probe into the Florida GOP's finances, Republican leaders finally got a peek Wednesday at the spending habits of the man at the center of the long-running scandal: Jim Greer.


Republican House members send a string of pointed messages to Washington

By Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Not content to simply shape Florida law, House leaders advanced a series of bills Wednesday aimed at muzzling or stalling President Barack Obama's health, legal, environmental, space and fiscal agendas.


Lawmakers aim to take choice out of voters' hands

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Florida has been dominated for so long by one political party -- first Democrats and now Republicans -- it's hard to imagine what true competitive elections for Congress and the Legislature might look like.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

In Tallahassee today: voucher bill, red light cameras and redistricting

By Robert Samuels

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to sign a bill expanding voucher options for low-income children on Thursday, a day when local issues should be the buzz of the Capitol.


Florida joins call for a balanced federal budget

By Bill Kaczor

The Associated Press

Florida joined the call for a federal constitutional convention to pass a balanced budget amendment on a largely partisan vote Monday in the Republican-controlled House.


Bennett gives up on property insurance bill

By Michael Peltier

The News Service of Florida

A skeptical governor and a rapidly shifting political landscape appear to be the death knell for a measure allowing property insurers to raise rates without regulatory approval, the Senate sponsor said Wednesday.


Tallahassee's bad calls

Editorial

Miami Herald

With the session winding down, as legislators try to reconcile differences in the House and Senate budget proposals, there may be good news for Jackson Health System.

POLITICAL RACES

A Republican May Test Odds As an Outsider

By Damien Cave

New York Times

Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida darted out of the Tallahassee rain on Tuesday, dragging a band of reporters to his office before answering The Question: Will you leave the Republican Party to run for the United States Senate as an independent -- and why are you considering it?


Greer's cards on the table: GOP to release charge records

By Aaron Deslatte

Orlando Sentinel

Related: Crist stayed at Orlando resort on RPOF credit card

Ousted Florida Republican chairman Jim Greer's credit card history will be on full display Friday when state GOP's executive board meets amid the widening scandal surrounding party leaders' spending.


Rubio's Ethics Becoming Issue In Senate Campaign

By Ryan Grim

Huffington Post

During the two years that Marco Rubio was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, a tobacco company that was a significant donor to Rubio was uniquely spared from legislation that would have required it to abide by the state's settlement with tobacco companies.


Fla. Sen. candidate: No fear of credit card probe

By Brendan Farrington

The Associated Press

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday he has nothing to hide about his use of a credit card issued through the state GOP and that all of the party spending should be made public.


Merit-pay veto wins Crist a teacher-paid TV ad, loses him some old GOP friends

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

It's not personal, Charlie. It's just politics.


Key donors backing Crist

By Jeremy Wallace

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Even as high-ranking state Republicans distance themselves from Gov. Charlie Crist, some of his biggest GOP donors are vowing to stick with him even if he leaves the party and runs as an independent for the U.S. Senate.


GOP references remain in Crist's campaign website, contrary to allegations

By Aaron Sharockman

St. Petersburg Times

Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign "website has eliminated all references to our Republican Party."


Will Webster run against Grayson? It looks like it

By David Damron

Orlando Sentinel

Former state Sen. Daniel Webster appears to have changed his mind and will announce today he wants to take on freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Lawmakers to vote on Fla. health care amendment

The Associated Press

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A ballot proposal that would bar Floridians from being forced to participate in health care programs is heading for a vote.


Child boards, legislators reach referendum deal

By Richard Mullins

Tampa Tribune

Children's services boards in Hillsborough, Pinellas and other Florida counties may face voter referendums in the coming years - but not as early as this fall.


Ballot measure threatens Floridians' religious liberty

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Conservative Republicans, blind to the inevitable harm they would do to every Floridian's freedom, are seeking once again to undermine the state's long and pragmatic tradition of separating church and state.


Reject power grab

Editorial

Florida Today

They want their voices to be heard, and their votes to make a difference.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

House adopts fisheries, climate and nitrogen resolutions

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The Florida House adopted resolutions Wednesday calling on Congress to roll back federal environmental regulations or not adopt new ones.


Septic tanks study gets $2 million as delay language looms

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

House and Senate budget conferees have agreed to provide $2 million to the Florida Department of Health for an ongoing study of septic tank technologies.


Atlantic oil search hearing draws skeptics, boosters

By Steve Patterson

Florida Times-Union

Some of the first public discussions in decades about oil and gas exploration off Florida's Atlantic coast opened Wednesday in Jacksonville with a small crowd that saw a lot at stake.


Groups raise concerns with nuke plants' design

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Twelve national and southern environmental groups called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay action on proposed new nuclear plants, including two in Florida, because of design flaws that raise safety issues.


The bull's eye on a state environmental agency, and meek support for a solar energy program, make this legislative session disappointing

Editorial

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Legislators have two weeks left in their 2010 session to show Floridians they care about the environment.


A fiery end to Florida's drilling bill

Editorial

Northwest Florida Daily News

The biggest surprise of Florida's current legislative session is that a wild 'n' woolly fight over near-shore drilling, a fight that just about everyone expected, never happened.

LGBT

Same sex, same compassion: Obama's sensible order mostly ends discrimination

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

President Obama's order that nearly all hospitals allow patients to say who has visitation rights and who can help make medical decisions is sensible, humane and another step toward equal treatment of gay and lesbian Americans.

EDUCATION

Schools to get same amount of money next year

By Catherine Whittenburg

Tampa Tribune

Florida's public schools will receive the same amount of money per student next year that they are getting now, House and Senate lawmakers decided Wednesday.


Tougher graduation rules may leave some kids behind

By Leslie Postal

Orlando Sentinel

A presentation last fall for Florida school administrators ended with a zinger: "Florida students are pretty much last in the nation for science."


Civics requirement bill on way to Crist

The Associated Press

Miami Herald

A bill requiring middle school students to take a civics class and pass an end-of-course test is on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist.


JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY


State workers could face pay cuts

By Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee Democrat

State employees, who escaped a salary reduction last year, might get hit with pay cuts in the budget being resolved by House and Senate appropriations officers late this week.


Mortgage Foreclosures Causing Concern

By Mike Vasilinda

Capitol News Service

Bankers in Florida have been pushing legislation to reduce the amount of time it takes to foreclose on a home, but concerns seemed to have stopped the legislation dead in its tracks.


Holding Wall Street Accountable

The Progress Report

Think Progress

"We cannot let the narrow interests of a few come before the interests of all of us," President Obama said last year in a call for "an overhaul of U.S. financial regulations."

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Veto threat looms over Medicaid

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

Already tangled in questions about whether to overhaul Florida's $19 billion Medicaid program, the House and Senate face a new wildcard in the debate: Gov. Charlie Crist.


House passes DOH-shrinking bill

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

With the bill's sponsor saying it would reshape the "mission of the department,'' the House this morning overwhelmingly approved a plan to revamp --- and shrink --- the Florida Department of Health.


Healthy Start stays in budget

By Anne Geggis

Daytona Beach News-Journal

In a mark of just how difficult a budget year this is, for the first time in its 19 years of existence, the state-funded nonprofit agency for pregnant women and babies, called the Healthy Start Coalition, was slated to end.


Volunteer advocacy group cut from Florida budget

By Janine Zeitlin

Ft. Myers News-Press

Some of the state's most vulnerable residents, including foster children and mentally ill people, will likely lose an independent advocate.


Florida lawmakers move to enhance adult protection in the wake of Sarah Hunter's death

By Jeremy Cox

Florida Times-Union

A little-noticed bill would enable the Florida Department of Children and Families for the first time to ask a court to decide whether a mentally or physically impaired adult needs a guardian.


Florida medical schools, expanding enrollments, get Legislative backing

By Robert Samuels

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

These are boom times for Florida's public medical schools.


Investment in center would pay, study says

By Carol Gentry

Health News Florida

Florida could expect to gain $820 million and over 3,400 high-value jobs in the next decade if the University of Miami's Sylvester Cancer Center wins designation as an official part of the National Cancer Institute network, a UM-funded study says.


Lawmakers: Jackson Health System may get $50M -- but no `blank check'

By Marc Caputo

Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau

The Jackson Health System could get a $50 million boost from the state -- but top lawmakers warn that the money would come with strings attached.

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