PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Oil spill prompts Florida voters to oppose drilling
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Excerpt: "This action lays to rest the falsehood that offshore drilling, with today's technology, is safe," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida, an advocacy group that opposes drilling. "The catastrophe playing out in the Gulf, we think, will lead to a sea change in public opinion among Floridians."
Oil spill drastically changes public opinion over offshore drilling
By Brandon Larrabee
Florida Times-Union
Excerpt: "We're seeing a sea change in public opinion the likes of which only happens after a catastrophe," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida, an organization that opposes offshore drilling.
FEATURED STORIES
With no clear plan, experts brace for worst on Gulf oil spill
By Jennifer Lebovich, Michael Newsome and Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Nineteen days after oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, experts appeared Sunday to have no certain plan for sealing anytime soon a runaway well 5,000 feet below the gulf's surface.
By Josh Hafenbrack
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
He may be a lame duck governor with no political party, but Charlie Crist has one big weapon in his arsenal: the veto pen. Expect him to use it.
Abortion debate could continue, even with Crist's decision
By Deirdre Conner
Florida Times-Union
Whether Gov. Charlie Crist vetoes a controversial abortion bill or not, it might not really matter.
Republican Party of Florida releases $7.3 million in American Express statements
By John Frank
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: More questionable expenses, beautiful resorts courtesy of the GOP
Gov. Charlie Crist took chartered helicopters and his wealthy wife let the Republican Party pay for her airfare. A top GOP official charged $368,000 in a single month. And another party staffer collected enough credit card rewards points to earn a diamond-studded watch.
Cannon, Haridopolos and oil drilling in Florida waters: Never say never
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
State Rep. Dean Cannon of Winter Park spent part of the fall, winter and early spring steering a public inquiry into the profits and perils of offshore drilling.
Like Gulf of Mexico oil spill, lobbyists' pretty lies spread
By Julie Hauserman
St. Petersburg Times
The butterflies are so fragile. I can't stop thinking about them as I sit at the state Capitol and listen to the men in suits talk money, talk deals.
Regulator Deferred to Oil Industry on Offshore Rig Safety
By Eric Lipton and John M. Broder
New York Times
Related: Republicans' Calls for Offshore Drilling Have Grown Quieter
Federal regulators warned offshore rig operators more than a decade ago that they needed to install backup systems to control the giant undersea valves known as blowout preventers, used to cut off the flow of oil from a well in an emergency.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Andy Marlette
Pensacola News Journal
FLORIDA POLITICS
Florida GOP credit-card receipts reveal where donors' $7 million went
By Aaron Deslatte and Josh Hafenbrack
Orlando Sentinel
Mired in controversy over its spending, the Florida Republican Party released thousands of credit-card receipts Friday that showed donor money was used to allow the party's elected officials and top staffers to travel and dine in high style.
Florida GOP releases 2,400 pages of credit card records
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
The Florida Republican Party just did the biggest document dump state politics has seen in years, releasing more than 2,400 pages of American Express credit card records for the three years that Jim Greer was party chairman.
Mundane becomes monumental in Tallahassee
By Brent Batten
Naples News
During its legislative life bill number 1143 moved through the Florida House of Representatives in an unremarkable manner befitting a law that sought no more significant ends than to wipe some obsolete legislation off the books, change the distribution of traffic fines and otherwise tweak public health care.
Legislator pushed for change in law that would benefit company that hired her
By Abel Harding
Florida Times-Union
On Tuesday, the Jacksonville City Council will hold a public hearing on legislation that would ban machines that display spinning reels or any slot-like machines in Duval County.
Miami-Dade to lose key players in state legislative delegation
By Robert Samuels
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
Miami-Dade's legislative delegation, an experienced, powerful group that delivered state dollars to South Florida for local projects, will face heavy turnover -- and possible loss of clout -- this fall.
Florida's House: Leaders and letdowns
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Related editorial: Florida's Senate: Leaders and letdowns
Central Florida's House members distinguished themselves in markedly different ways in this year's legislative session. Here's our take on how they did:
Five bills Gov. Crist should veto
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
As an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, Gov. Charlie Crist is liberated.
Bill favors lobbyists over the public
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
So much for Republican leaders' promises to streamline government.
POLITICAL RACES
Bush backs Rubio, rips Crist in speech
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In one of his first political campaign appearances since he left the Florida governor's office, and an indication of his political re-emergence, former Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed Marco Rubio in a speech to a gathering of Tampa Bay area Republicans on Friday.
Democratic Senate candidates scuffle against each other and governor for recognition
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Lifelong Republican Charlie Crist's rebranding as a no-party candidate for U.S. Senate makes Democratic activist Allen Robbins nervous.
Florida Democratic U.S. Senate race gets a bit spicy
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing
Jeff GreenA Mason-Dixon poll released on Thursday that includes all three of the major U.S. Senate candidates mixed into one survey shows Charlie Crist leading with 38%, Marco Rubio at 32% and Kendrick Meek at 19%.
Two GOP stalwarts embrace Crist
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
When Gov. Charlie Crist flew to Louisiana on Tuesday to view the massive oil spill, he invited two Republican stalwarts from the Florida Senate to go with him.
Charlie Crist hasn't changed, but attacks have
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Politicians are sometimes compared to dogs. But that's unfair ... to the dogs.
Millionaire Scott's ads buy quick results against McCollum in GOP primary
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Rick Scott unexpectedly jumped in the Republican governor's race, quickly dropped $4.7 million of his own cash and bought enough advertising to get a bounce in the polls.
McCollum appearance draws local names
By David Hunt
Florida Times-Union
About 100 people packed into the Duval County GOP headquarters on Thursday for a speech from state Attorney General Bill McCollum, a gubernatorial candidate.
Health care reform votes might make Democrats vulnerable in midterm elections
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
As the waiter delivered a heaping tuna salad sandwich and waffle fries, Bill Jones cut to the chase about U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
Tea party activist urges others to run for office
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Alarmed by what they see as increasing threats to the nation, a small group of South Florida tea partiers wants to act.
BALLOT INITIATIVES
Amendment stops mindless development
By Jude Reichenthal
Ft. Myers News-Press
Amendment 4, known as "The Hometown Democracy Amendment," is a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution sponsored by Florida Hometown Democracy, a non-partisan, grass-roots group.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
BP / Gulf Oil Spill - How Big Is It?
By John Amos
SkyTruth
Related: BP / Gulf Oil Spill - MODIS Satellite Image - May 9, 2010
Quite a lot bigger than the estimate being uncritically quoted throughout the media of 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) per day.
Radical options examined to halt oil
By Harry R. Weber and Ray Henry
The Associated Press
A day after icy slush clogged the massive box they hoped would contain an out-of-control oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials on Sunday said they may try again -- this time with a smaller box.
Florida may file lawsuits as early as Monday to fight cap on Gulf oil leak claims
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida may file lawsuits as early as Monday against either BP or others associated with the massive leak still spewing oil into Gulf of Mexico waters less than 100 miles off the state's coast, Gov. Charlie Crist hinted Sunday.
By Al Gore
New Republic
The continuing undersea gusher of oil 50 miles off the shores of Louisiana is not the only source of dangerous uncontrolled pollution spewing into the environment.
Lawmakers seek oil-spill probe, help
By Deborah Barfield Berry and Bart Jansen
Tallahassee Democrat
Gulf Coast lawmakers spent the past week calling for investigations into the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill and pressing for federal help for fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by the disaster.
Group: Oil Industry needs a Plan B for Cleanup Technology
By Gina Presson
Public News Service Florida
While the first of the oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon spill washed onto the Louisiana coast Thursday, Florida Gov. Crist asked Pres. Obama for a $50-million National Emergency Grant to help fund cleanup in anticipation of the oil hitting Florida beaches.
Florida voter poll shows near reversal in oil-drilling stance
By Jim Ash
Ft. Myers News-Press
Florida voters have changed their minds dramatically about offshore drilling since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig disaster that threatens the coast with a massive spill, according to a poll released this morning.
BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill puts oysters in limbo
By Audra D.S. Burch
Miami Herald
Most mornings, the men and women who harvest oysters for a living arrive at the Apalachicola Bay before sunrise. They load into plywood skiffs and mine the waters looking for paydays in an epic race against the will of an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil threatens Panhandle's rare and fragile creatures
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
White sand dunes taller than a two-story building surround Little Redfish Lake, where a downpour last week caused the unusual body of water to spill into the Gulf of Mexico like an overflowing bathtub and wash a smooth path across the beach.
Tampa Bay officials prepare for oil hitting here
By Robert Napper
Bradenton Herald
The scenario: a catastrophic oil spill at Port Manatee after a storage tank fails, dumping 50,000 barrels of oil into Tampa Bay.
'Green monster' is returning to St. Johns River
By Ron Littlepage
Florida Times-Union
The focus now, understandably, is on the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but don't lose sight of what's happening with the St. Johns River.
Editorial
Miami Herald
It took the 1989 massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska to nudge Congress into passing the Oil Pollution Act in 1990, which made oil companies responsible for paying all spill cleanup costs.
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Septic tanks are Florida's dirty little secret.
LGBT
Rentboy escort: I gave `sexual' massages to antigay leader George Rekers
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Related column: George Rekers' explanation is one for the ages
An antigay psychologist's recent trip to Europe with a gay male escort from Miami has captivated readers and viewers around the world.
Anti-gay 'expert' carries unsavory baggage
By Mike Thomas
Orlando Sentinel
As someone opposed to stereotypes -- for example, the stereotype of deviant, child-molesting homosexuals put out by some social conservatives -- I will refrain from drawing any conclusions about the inner conflicts of those who seem just a bit too obsessed with, well, homosexuals.
It's time to carefully consider LGBT protections
Editorial
Tallahassee Democrat
In re-shaping the 21st century human-rights agenda to legally define equal protection for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trangender individuals, advocates in Leon County are working from the local level up.
EDUCATION
Florida high schools boosting graduation rates by removing struggling students from rolls
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
Florida high schools have been boosting their graduation rates for years by transferring thousands of struggling students to adult-education centers and then removing them from school rolls as if they didn't exist.
St. Johns County School Board looking to address issues of SB6
By Marcia Lane
Florida Times-Union
Senate Bill 6, the controversial school reform bill sponsored by state Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, died when Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it in April.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Sink urges BP to help protect Florida businesses
Staff Report
St. Petersburg Times
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink urged BP officials on Saturday to quickly do more to protect Florida businesses in the wake of the oil spill.
Bill allowing insurance rate hikes awaiting Crist's decision
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A bill that could raise some insurance premiums for property owners and reduce the costs of processing claims for insurance companies is waiting for Gov. Charlie Crist's signature or veto.
Condo financing in Florida to get boost from Fannie Mae
By Paul Owers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Only about 40 of the 253 condominiums at Regent Park in downtown Hollywood are occupied by people who own them.
Pushing Wall Street Reform Across The Finish Line
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Last week, after three successful efforts by Senate Republicans to block the beginning of the final debate on Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) Wall Street reform legislation, the chamber unanimously agreed to begin the process of commencing a 30 hour debate, filing amendments, and ultimately holding a vote.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Protesters want Crist to veto abortion bill
By Neil Johnson
Tampa Tribune
About 20 people showed up at a state legislator's office today to protest a controversial abortion bill passed last month, urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto it.
WellCare's political spending eyed
By Jim Saunders and Mike Wells
Health News Florida
A New York-based investor is pushing to require WellCare Health Plans --- a major contributor to Florida politicians and parties --- to disclose more information about how it spends company money on political activities.
Editorial
Florida Today
Florida Republican lawmakers angered over federal health care reforms that mandate individuals carry health insurance have no problem forcing their own mandates on women seeking an abortion.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
By Mark Schlakman
Tallahassee Democrat
The Arizona immigration legislation signed into law on April 23 has captured the nation's attention.
License to frustrate: Get-tough ID policies could snag all Floridians
By Michael Mayo
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
No matter how you feel about illegal immigration, and no matter how much we want to protect ourselves from terrorism, the hellish bureaucratic scenes now unfolding at DMV offices across South Florida serve as a reminder: Be careful what you wish for.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Obama to name Elena Kagan to Supreme Court
Staff Report
NBC News
President Barack Obama will nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, positioning the court to have three female justices for the first time, NBC News reported late Sunday.
Age, gender could tip balance in high court pick
By Mark Sherman
The Associated Press
The most important number in President Barack Obama's consideration of a Supreme Court nominee may be 50.
Ban on funding religious groups may head to Fla. Supreme Court
By Cristina Silva
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
A high-stakes First Amendment battle that could either halt state funding to all church-run social service programs or create an unprecedented flood of government-backed sectarian groups may soon come before the Florida Supreme Court.
Attorney: Former Rothstein law partner is target of federal investigation, expects to be indicted
By Peter Franceschina
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
One of the lawyers who goes way back with Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein is a target of a federal investigation and expects to be indicted, the former partner's attorney told a judge during a Friday court hearing.
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