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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Friday, June 18, 2010

Daily Clips for June 18, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

Oil hits more beaches in Panhandle

Staff Report

St. Petersburg Times

Related: BP's CEO takes a lashing from Congress, but not blame

Related editorial: Attack the U.S. oil addiction

Pie-sized tar patties washed up on Okaloosa County shores Thursday, beaching Panhandle swimmers as cleanup workers turned to nighttime hours to pluck splotches of weathered oil off some of the state's most pristine coast.


Gulf oil leak video could haunt Obama

By Alan Fram

The Associated Press

Related: Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns

Related: Obama's spill recovery chief will be part-time

Will the Gulf oil leak cam engulf President Barack Obama?


Scott and McCollum are kick off GOP gubernatorial primary with steel-toed boots

By John Frank and Steve Bousquet

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

The battle lines in the GOP primary for governor became sharper Thursday as the candidates made the contest official and escalated a heated race with a new round of nasty attacks.


Florida's craziest election ever?

By Gary Fineout

Florida Tribune

A governor bolting his own party to run as an independent. Two wealthy candidates pouring in millions of their own money for television ads. Throw in a strip club owner and Tea Party candidates jumping into legislative races.


Feds seek dismissal of health care overhaul suit

The Associated Press

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Justice Department has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by 20 states challenging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Troubling trend: Florida public schools being "sponsored" by churches, gun dealers

By J. T. Orlando

The Happiest Place On Earth

The assault on non-sectarian public education in Florida continues. In Polk County, for example, schools have sought money from the community to make up for funding deficits.


Pilots Triumphant Fighting Spirit

By Daniel Tilson

Progress Florida

Here's a story worth some very special attention in Florida, a "right to work" state that stands squarely in opposition to workers being organized into labor unions - unions that might protect them from the kind of corporate crap that has contributed to the state's outrageous unemployment statistics and economic disrepair.


Marco Rubio: The Act Is Getting Old

By Iinkberries

Beach Peanuts

Ever since the BP oil disaster everyone's noticed that Dick Cheney has been awfully quiet. While that's true, it doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't had his views "represented."


Opportunity in disaster? Freeze the assets of the oil spill perpetrators

By Gimleteye

Eye on Miami

As a routine strategy, "managing expectations" is the best way to deal with disaster. Up to this moment, that has been Plan A in the Gulf of Mexico.


Who Has Meg Whitman's Ear?

By Damien Filer

Calitics

Certainly, she's listening to her campaign manager, Jillian Hasner. Most California voters probably have no idea Hasner's husband is Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, one of the most rightwing politicians in the largest southern state, where even the political middle is far to the right of California.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Howard Troxler on corruption in Tallahasssee (audio interview)

By Robert Lorei

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Our next guest, Howard Troxler, has been writing a lot recently about corruption in state government.

POLITICAL RACES

McCollum touts tax freeze, Crist open to gay adoption, as candidates address news execs

By Adam C. Smith

St. Petesrburg Times

Eager to rev up his suddenly troubled campaign, Bill McCollum on Thursday vowed as governor to mandate all local governments freeze property taxes for at least two years.


Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Greene first ran for Congress as a Reagan Republican

By Beth Reinhard

Miami Herald

U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene "grew up as a Democrat," but said the conservative climate of Harvard Business School, the oil crisis of the late 1970s and the battered Carter administration drew him to the GOP in 1982.


Scott accuses McCollum of elections law violations

By William March

Tampa Tribune

The Rick Scott campaign for governor has accused Bill McCollum of illegally raising money for a secretive political group running television ads attacking Scott.


Rubio faces foreclosure on Tally home; his campaign says it's resolved

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is facing foreclosure on a Tallahassee house after missing five months of mortgage payments, according to a lawsuit filed in Leon County Circuit Court.


"912 Candidate" Bernard Sansaricq challenges incumbent Alcee Hastings for Congress

By Marcos Restrepo

Florida Independent

Haitian native Bernard Sansaricq, who was president of the Haitian senate and a human-rights defender, remains the sole Republican challenging incumbent Rep. Alcee Hastings for the congressional District 23 seat.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Amendment 4: Power to the people, as founders intended

By Winston C. Perry

Orlando Sentinel

I would like to present to every concerned and responsible Florida voter the many reasons that voting yes for Amendment 4 on Nov. 2 is the smart, politically correct thing to do for the future good of Florida.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Pensacola Rep. Jeff Miller wants Barton to resign

By Malia Rulon

Tallahassee Democrat

Related: Oil expected on Bay County shores by weekend

Related: Oyster harvesting ongoing in Apalachicola Bay

Pensacola Rep. Jeff Miller called Thursday for fellow Republican Joe Barton of Texas to step down from his leadership position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after Barton apologized to BP chief Tony Hayward.


Airborne scientists look for signs of more oil near Florida

By Ihosvani Rodriguez

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Related: 100 dime-size tar balls wash ashore on beach east of Pensacola

At several points, the Coast Guard C-130 surveillance aircraft dipped to 1,200 feet as it cruised up and down Florida's West Coast and in circles above the Gulf of Mexico.


Environmentalists worry about growth-management changes

By Brandon Larrabee

St. Augustine Record

Lawmakers passed this year on renewing the state's growth-management agency, raising fears among environmental groups that the Department of Community Affairs could be weakened in the 2011 session.


St. Lucie plasma biomass plant permit approved, possibly nation's largest

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

A state air pollution permit has been issued to a proposed biomass electric plant in St. Lucie County, which could become the first of its kind in the nation and the largest in the world.


FPL hiding data, group alleges

By Mary Ellen Klas

Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau

A group of Florida Power & Light whistle-blowers complained to the head of the utility company's parent this week, alleging the company hid information from regulators, fraudulently kept two sets of books, exaggerated its need for new generating plants and ``illegally and improperly used its resources at ratepayer expense.''


Supreme Court ruling on beaches opens door to taking claims

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in Florida's favor in a challenge to the state law that establishes restored beaches as public property.


Haridopolos at helm of clean energy summit

By Jim Ash

Florida Today

Seizing on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and backed by a developer who wants to build a mega solar city in Southwest Florida, incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos announced Thursday that he will moderate a renewable energy summit next month.


Incoming Florida Senate president blames Crist for death of energy bill

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Thursday, while announcing his plans to moderate an energy conference in Orlando in August, blamed Gov. Charlie Crist for the failure of a renewable energy bill during the legislative session.

EDUCATION

Florida tuition: still a good deal

Editorial

Miami Herald

Despite complaints from Florida university students and their parents about having to pay more in tuition and fees than ever before, the state's higher education system remains a great bargain.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State announces May unemployment numbers

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

Florida labor officials are hoping that May's unemployment report improves for the second straight month.


Florida Department of Children and Families under federal scrutiny over wages and hours

By Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times

Long hounded by tales of underpaid and overworked employees, the Florida Department of Children and Families is once again under investigation for denying fair wages to its workers, the U.S. Labor Department confirmed Thursday.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

$1B for FL Medicaid in jeopardy

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

Extra Medicaid funding worth $1 billion to Florida is in jeopardy following a defeat in the U.S. Senate Wednesday on a procedural vote of 52 to 45, with all Republicans and 12 Democrats in opposition.


Poll: Public thumbs up for Obama health law

The Associated Press

St. Petersburg Times

The vital signs are improving for President Barack Obama's health care plan.


Drywall's toxicity was known in 2006 but kept secret

By Aaron Kessler

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

At least a half-dozen home builders, installers and environmental consultants knew as early as 2006 that foul smells were coming from drywall imported from China -- but they did not share their early concerns with the public, even when homeowners began publicly complaining about the drywall in 2008.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Modern Day Slavery

The Progress Report

Think Progress

On Monday, the State Department released its 10th annual report on "Trafficking in Persons," which assesses the efforts that 177 countries are undertaking to combat human trafficking, or "modern day slavery."

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Beachfront owners lose Supreme Court case over property rights

By Kimberly Miller

Palm Beach Post

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a financial blow to Florida's waterfront homeowners today ruling they are not entitled to compensation when sand restoration projects leave private beachfront property open to the public.

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