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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Daily Clips for April 7, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

Crist bucks GOP leadership, vetoes bill to lift lid on fundraising

By Marc Caputo and Steve Bousquet

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Related editorial: The stench from Tallahassee

Gov. Charlie Crist angered Republican legislative leaders Tuesday by vetoing a bill that would have resurrected their access to potent partisan fundraising machines known as leadership funds.


Crist, Seminole Tribe sign gambling deal that seems to offer winning hand for lawmakers

By Dara Kam

Palm Beach Post

Gov. Charlie Crist, the Seminole tribe of Florida and once-reluctant lawmakers have signed off on a gambling deal guaranteed to bring at least $1 billion to the state over the next five years.


Education bills head for Fla. House floor votes

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

Three hotly debated education bills are heading for what appears to be final passage in the Florida House.


House proposes changes for health care

By Catherine Whittenburg

Tampa Tribune

State House lawmakers proposed Tuesday to let private companies oversee the care of nearly all of Florida's 2.7 million Medicaid beneficiaries, but force those companies to spend most of the government money on patient care.


Three Florida Democrats oppose offshore drilling

By Lesley Clark

Miami Herald

Florida Democrats have sent letters to President Barack Obama, protesting his plans to expand oil and gas drilling as close as 125 miles off Florida's coast.

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Senate panel pushes vote to drop ban on state funds for religious institutions

By Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Separation of church and state is a celebrated American principle, but Republican lawmakers say Florida has too much of it.


Bill would create ethics standards for workforce boards

By Richard Mullins

Tampa Tribune

In Tampa, the Workforce Alliance is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for spending irregularities, while a senior official was recently fired, and the agency's president resigned after reports of extravagant spending of taxpayer dollars.


House votes for sales-tax holiday

By Jim Ash

Tallahassee Democrat

The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to jump-start the Florida film industry with a $55 million tax credit and to revive a popular, back-to-school sales-tax holiday.


Lawmaker: Keep Florida exports stamp off goods sent to Cuba

By Robert Samuels

Miami Herald

Continuing his perennial campaign against the Castro regime, Miami Republican Rep. David Rivera wants to prohibit the state from distributing a ``virtual stamp of approval'' on goods being exported from Florida to Cuba.

POLITICAL RACES

Rubio's call to change Social Security puts him in line with experts, if not voters

By Alex Leary

St. Petersburg Times

From as far back as Barry Goldwater in 1964, political candidates have risked backlash in Florida for suggesting changes to Social Security.


Kendrick Meek, Candidate for US Senate (audio interview)

By Robert Lorei

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Our guest on the first part of today's program is south Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek


First-quarter fundraising numbers trickle in from some statewide candidates

Staff Report

St. Petersburg Times

First-quarter 2010 fundraising numbers are trickling in, although candidate reports aren't due until next week.


Campaign watch: Beaven picks up vets support against Mica

By David Hunt

Florida Times-Union

Meet Heather Beaven. She's a Democrat gathering some steam in the race against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Everglades land deals and Big Sugar battles head to Florida Supreme Court

By Andy Reid

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Land buying in the name of Everglades restoration already amassed more than 233,000 acres -- twice the size of Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Tampa combined.


Water bill squeaks out of committee amid opposition

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

SB 550, dubbed the "mega-water bill" that includes springs protection measures, barely passed a Senate committee on Tuesday after development groups raised concerns about its septic tank requirements.


Key chairman says there is still time for DCA

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The chairman of a key House council said Tuesday there is plenty of time in the legislative session to approve a bill that would reauthorize the Florida Department of Community Affairs.


Top 10 at-risk land purchase areas listed

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Florida's largest springs are ranked by the Florida Forever Coalition as the top-ranked state purchase area at risk for development.


Democrats from Florida oppose Obama's drilling plan

By Jim Turner

TC Palm

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, and two other Florida Democratic members of Congress, have sent a letter to President Obama objecting to his plans to allow drilling off the state's coastline.


PRO AND CON: Energy independence or slaves to Big Oil?

By David Batt and Dave Rauschkolb

Destin Log

Florida is on the brink of decisions that could forever endanger our clean waters, our clean beaches and our valuable tourism-based economy.


Offshore Drilling and Florida's Gulf: How Much Oil Is There?

By Scott Finn

WUSF Public Radio Tampa

In the long-running debate over offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, one question always comes up: how much oil and gas is really out there?

EDUCATION

Thrasher defends his education bill

By Marcia Lane

Florida Times-Union

State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, calls the teacher merit pay bill "a pretty positive piece of legislation," and as far as he's concerned there's no need to mend fences with St. Johns County educators, parents and School Board members who are angry they were not consulted beforehand about the monumental legislation.


Hurting teachers can't help students

By Karen Aronowitz

Miami Herald

If you want children to be great test takers, support Senate Bill 6. If you want them to receive a quality education -- think again.


Q & A: The facts about Florida's merit pay plan for teachers

By Josh Hafenbrack and Leslie Postal

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Florida is poised to become the first state in the nation to tie teacher pay to student test scores.


Teachers in successful Jacksonville school not sold on new education proposal

By Mark Woods

Florida Times-Union

The state likes to point to a Jacksonville elementary school as a shining example of a successful turnaround.


Legislators offer alternatives to FCAT

By Amanda Nalley

Tallahassee Democrat

The do-or-die mandate that high-school students pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test before they graduate may become a thing of the past.


Bar may get higher for Florida's middle school civics students

By Hannah Sampson

Miami Herald

Hoping to educate students to not look foolish if quizzed by a talk show host, Florida lawmakers are poised to enact a law that would force kids to pass a middle school civics test in order to get to high school.


'Flagship' cut from bill that would rank universities

By Ron Word

Gainesville Sun

A bill that could have given the University of Florida its first official flagship ranking had the term flagship removed from its language when its Senate sponsor changed the bill allowing other universities to seek the status of being an elite university.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Crist announces $1 billion gambling deal with Seminoles

By Mary Ellen Klas

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders announced their $1 billion gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe on Tuesday, saying the long-sought agreement would inject needed cash into Florida's budget and free the tribe to create jobs as it expands its gambling empire.


Florida citrus faces new threat: black spot

By Kevin Bouffard

Tampa Tribune

Florida citrus growers already struggling with the costs of controlling the fatal citrus greening disease face a new economic threat from black spot, a fungal disease discovered last month in Immokalee.


Need a job? Sen. George LeMieux is looking to help

By Abel Harding

Florida Times-Union

Looking for a job? Florida's junior Senator is looking to help out.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

House wants Medicaid do-over

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

Seeking dramatic changes in Florida's Medicaid program, House leaders late Monday released a proposal that would require almost all beneficiaries statewide to enroll in managed-care plans --- including seniors who need long-term care.


Patients with preexisting conditions helped in new health care law

By Sean Kinane

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

The new health care reform law signed last month will not cover all Americans. But one large group will get some relief


Boyd defends health-care vote: 'Give it a chance'

By Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee Democrat

U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd defended his health-care vote and called for honest debate of the new law Tuesday.


Florida students write proposal to ban smoking in vehicles carrying kids

The Associated Press

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Florida Legislature is getting a breath of fresh air.

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