PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
By Rob Shaw
Move over, "Drill, Baby, Drill.'' Make way for, "Spill, Baby, Spill.'' That's the name of a new website - http://www.spillbabyspill.com/ -- sponsored by a group called Progress Florida, which opposes drilling off the coast of Florida.
By Tristram Korten
Excerpt: Meanwhile, Progress Florida, a statewide nonprofit that has long opposed offshore drilling, launched SpillBabySpill.com as a clearinghouse for real-time oil spill information. It also features "BP BFF of the Week," to highlight public officials who supported the oil expansion agenda. The premiere BFF is U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio.
FEATURED STORIES
By Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan
Related: Current shift could spare Florida of oil
Related: Gulf oil spill's economic impact will be long term
USF researchers confirm oil plume deep in gulf
St. Petersburg Times
The sight of an oil slick spreading across the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is bad enough.
By Steve Bousquet and John Frank
When he signs the state budget on Friday, Gov. Charlie Crist will be waiting for just one major piece of legislation from the 2010 session: a highly controversial abortion bill.
By Bill Cotterell
Today is the deadline for Gov. Charlie Crist to sign the $70.4 billion state budget, and he is expected to use his veto pen vigorously.
By David M. Herszenhorn and Carl Hulse
The House voted Thursday to let the Defense Department repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a major step toward dismantling the 1993 law widely known as "don't ask, don't tell."
BEST OF THE BLOGS
By Inkberries
It's been over a month since the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11, injured many others and caused the still gushing oil "spill" that threatens to devastate wildlife, along with the fishing and tourism industry in Florida.
By Steve Schale
I'll admit it, I am an unabashed fan of Bob Graham.
By Rick Outzen
The Pensacola City Council cut off BP Civic Affairs Director Liz Castro three pages into her PowerPoint presentation after the community liaison failed to answer simple question about the boom decontamination operation BP wants to establish at Pensacola Shipyards on Bayou Chico.
By Brian S.
Incertus
FLORIDA POLITICS
The Associated Press
Gov. Charlie Crist has signed bills banning bong sales, cracking down on rogue debt collectors and helping lure baseball teams to Florida for spring training.
By Jim Turner
Gov. Crist signed a bill, co-sponsored by Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, that closes a loophole in the state's screening and licensing process that had enabled ex-felons to work with children, the elderly and disabled.
POLITICAL RACES
By Luke Johnson
A Republican-linked interest group under investigation by the Nevada Secretary of State, Alliance for America's Future, has bought more than $906,000 in negative television advertising targeting Florida GOP candidate for governor and former health care executive Rick Scott.
By Lesley Clark
With the Gulf oil spill threatening Florida's pristine beaches and public support for offshore oil drilling waning, Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek of Miami has accused his rivals of backing oil drilling at one time or another, and says he's the only candidate to consistently oppose expanded offshore exploration.
By Scott Powers
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando has raised more campaign cash from people living in California and New York than fellow freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas has raised in Orange County.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
By Bruce Ritchie
A BP official said Thursday that it was too soon to know whether the "top kill" operation aimed at ending the gush of oil from the damaged oil well off the Louisiana coast was working.
By Dara Kam
Florida and Palm Beach County officials say the success or failure of the unprecedented "Top Kill" experiment to staunch the massive oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico won't have any impact on their preparation for the disaster.
By Gary Fineout and Bruce Ritchie
Since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, there has been a rapid change in how many politicians view the need for offshore drilling, especially the need for drilling in Florida waters.
By Jamie Page
Pensacola City Council members cleared the air with BP officials Thursday night over their displeasure with the oil company's unannounced relocation of its oil spill response staging area from Pensacola Naval Air Station to Bayou Chico.
The Progress Report
Thirty-eight days after BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and killed eleven workers, fifteen to 40 million gallons of toxic crude have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
By Jim Waymer
As many as 14 hurricanes could form this year in the Atlantic, four more than the long-term average, federal forecasters said.
By Bruce Ritchie
A biomass power plant proposed by Gainesville was narrowly approved Thursday by the Florida Public Service Commission after nearly being voted down in February. The commission split 3-2 in favor of the plant.
LGBT
By John Kennedy
Gov. Charlie Crist's switch on the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy Thursday left the no-party Senate contender caught in a crossfire of criticism from his Democratic and Republican opponents.
By Lesley Clark
Related: Kendrick Meek: Crist only cares about self preservation
EDUCATION
The Associated Press
A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators' jobs faltered Thursday -- perhaps for good -- to election-year jitters among moderate Democrats over deficit spending and only lukewarm support from the White House.
By John Kennedy
Already ridiculed by the Legislature's ruling Republicans, Gov. Charlie Crist is poised to further antagonize many of those in his former party when he signs Florida's $70 billion budget today.
By Iricka Berlinger
Third-grade students can now let out a sigh of relief after finding out their FCAT scores Thursday.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
By Gary Fineout
Gov. Charlie Crist could act sometime Thursday on the $70.4 billion budget that state lawmakers adopted during their spring session.
News Service of Florida
A chunk of the $1.25 billion Florida won in federal economic stimulus money for high-speed rail is in the state's hands now, transportation officials said Thursday.
Editorial
Reacting to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Congress has chosen to reprimand Wall Street with new regulations that amount to more than a sharp rap on the knuckles but far less than a thorough flogging.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
By Marty Clear and Carol Gentry
The nurse accused of causing an outbreak of hepatitis C in Hillsborough County last year through sloppy practice has finally been identified by state health authorities in an order suspending her license.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
The Associated Press
The head of the Florida House's criminal justice committee says he's considering the introduction of an Arizona-style law against illegal immigrants.
Alex Leary and Adam Smith
No one would have expected a Republican from Fort Myers to jump into the battle over illegal immigration in Arizona.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
The Associated Press
A federal judge is set to begin sorting through more than 40 claims on real estate, bank accounts and other assets linked to admitted Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein.
