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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Daily Clips for July 13, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

Gulf oil spill sealed at last? Dome placed on well

Staff Report

Miami Herald

Robots lowered a new, tighter-fitting cap onto a gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico late Monday -- a move that might give BP the ability to stop the flow of oil completely.


McCollum campaign is down to $800,000 and scrambling for public financing

By Lee Logan

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Bill McCollum's campaign for governor is one major TV advertising purchase away from going broke as it heads into the last six weeks before the Aug. 24 Republican primary, according to an affidavit filed Monday by McCollum's campaign manager.


Gelber backers accuse Aronberg of misleading tactics in Democratic AG primary

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

Related editorial: Slick campaigning on BP: Despite Aronberg's claims, Gelber isn't tainted

Attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg has taken the offensive in his Democratic primary battle with fellow state Sen. Dan Gelber, deploying a pair of tactics that has Gelber supporters crying foul.


Political parties wage war of inches in Florida

By Josh Hafenbrack

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

It's a dogfight for little more than a dozen seats.


Rick Scott's deceitful, heartless ploy

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott's latest effort to burnish his credentials as a "pro-life leader'' are deceitful and lack any sense of decency.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rejection of Argenziano & Skop Prompts Calls for PSC Reform

Staff Report

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

Gov. Charlie Crist is considering candidates for appointment to the Public Service Commission.


Mel Martinez to be Fla. chairman for JPMorgan Chase

By Richard Burnett

Orlando Sentinel

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has hired former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez as chairman of Chase Bank's Florida market and its operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

POLITICAL RACES

Campaign finance battle heats up

By William March and Catherine Whittenburg

Tampa Tribune

A court filing by Bill McCollum's campaign for governor shows how much he's depending on public campaign financing in his battle against self-financing millionaire Rick Scott.


Court decision critical for Bill McCollum's chances in GOP Primary

By Mitch Perry

Creative Loafing

Florida's public finance laws ("derided as welfare for politicians") will make Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum eligible for taxpayer funds matching dollar-for-dollar what his richer opponent, Rick Scott spends over the $24.9 million limit, which could happen within the next week or so.


Gubernatorial candidate Scott speaks to Lee group

By Betty Parker

Ft. Myers News-Press

After watching Rick Scott's ads on television for weeks, many who saw him up close and personal for the first time at a speech in Fort Myers on Monday said they now have a different view of the Republican candidate for governor.


McCollum on the stump

By Daniel Carson

Panama City News Herald

Attorney General Bill McCollum brought his gubernatorial campaign to Panama City on Monday, as the former congressman met with Port Panama City officials and spoke with a small crowd of supporters later in the day at Smitty's Barbecue.


Meek emphasizes 'city of commerce' in campaign

By David Hunt

Florida Times-Union

With the Aug. 24 primaries approaching, candidates are making the rounds.


Greene urges Dems to back him for Senate

By Bill Cotterell

Florida Capital News

U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene said Monday that Democrats have a better chance of taking Florida's seat back from the Republicans if he is their nominee.


Rubio raises $4.5 million in second quarter to set state record

By William March

Tampa Tribune

Marco Rubio has announced his Senate campaign raised $4.5 million in the second quarter of 2010, the most ever raised in a three-month period by a Florida political candidate.


Thrasher faces juggling role in election

By Brandon Larrabee

Florida Times-Union

For any party chairman in Florida, the coming four months would offer a full plate: a U.S. Senate seat, the governor's mansion and all three Cabinet positions are open.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Ruling a step toward fairer elections

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

Circuit Judge James Shelfer of Tallahassee deserves credit for striking from the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that was the Legislature's not-too-subtle attempt to undermine two other proposals which, if passed, would change the way lawmakers configure legislative and congressional voting districts in Florida.


State Reapportionment: Tallahassee Sought to Clarify

Editorial

Lakeland Ledger

When legislators in Tallahassee tell you they are going to "clarify" something for you, beware.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Feinberg, Crist assure economic victims of oil spill that claims will be paid

By Steve Bousquet

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Related: National Guard troops poised, awaiting calls from counties to help with oil spill

Related column: What does 'taking responsibility' really mean?

The independent manager of $20-billion in claims from the Gulf Coast oil disaster reassured Panhandle business owners and officials Monday that their losses will be covered, but first they have to be proven.


Money in the water? Coastal property owners file lawsuit over oil spill

By Bruce Ritchie

Florida Tribune

The sight of oil washing up on Florida's beaches and the empty restaurants, souvenir stores and bait shops already has led to the filing of numerous lawsuits -- creating perhaps a sense that attorneys are closing in like sharks at the smell of blood, or money, in the water.


Offshore Drilling in Gulf Officially Halted...Again

By Eric Mack

Public News Service Florida

Offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has officially been suspended, for the second time.


First lady: Fla. Panhandle wonderful despite spill

The Associated Press

Northwest Florida Daily News

First lady Michelle Obama visited the Florida Panhandle on Monday to shine a spotlight on a tourism industry battered by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.


Some question anti-drilling positions of Florida crisis-specialist Bob Graham

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post

When a presidential commission to study the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster began listening to testimony Monday in New Orleans, it marked the latest crisis-driven assignment on a federal blue-ribbon panel for former Florida Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham.


The right call

Editorial

Gainesville Sun

Gov. Charlie Crist's call for a special legislative session seeking a constitutional ban on oil drilling in state waters was met immediately with critics' charges that the governor is playing election-year politics with the issue.

EDUCATION

Accuracy of FCAT results in question

By Dave Weber and Leslie Postal

Orlando Sentinel

Five Florida school districts are formally questioning the recent results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and have asked the state to delay calculating annual school grades based on the test scores.


FCAT scores were inflated due to a scoring change

By Topher Sanders

Florida Times-Union

School districts throughout the state saw their Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test writing scores go through the roof this year, but the state is telling educators and parents that it's not because of an academic breakthrough.


FCAT Scoring Questioned by Superintendents

By Gabrielle Sena

WUSF Public Radio Tampa

Education officials are seeing some extremely low scores on this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.


Hillsborough students improve on Advanced Placement tests; Pinellas follows state trend

By Ron Matus

St. Petersburg Times

Hillsborough students performed slightly better on this year's Advanced Placement exams even as more students took the college-caliber tests, the latest scores show.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Financial Advice For Those Living Paycheck to Paycheck

By Gina Jordan

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

It's swimsuit and vacation season, and while some are working to shed pounds for the beach, others are going on a debt diet, hoping to shed unwanted financial fat.


Investors snap up Florida banking bargains

By John Hielscher

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

As bank failures in Florida continue to mount, new players are swooping in.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Seniors will see more affordable drugs with health-care reforms

By Marissa Cevallos

Orlando Sentinel

Seniors at a Monday morning health-care forum wanted to know if the new health-care law will help them pay for prescription drugs and whether the government could afford the changes to Medicare.


Is Florida a bike haven or hazard?

By Dan Tracy

Orlando Sentinel

Florida is one of the most bike-friendly states in the country, a new study claims.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida is not Arizona

Editorial

Ft. Myers News-Press

A news-press.com story Monday started by asking the question: "Should Florida copy Arizona's immigration law?"

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Supreme Court blocks double-dipping judge from returning

By Gary Fineout

Florida Tribune

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday blocked an Escambia County judge from returning to the bench, saying in a ruling that "a judgeship is not an office that can be temporarily forsaken at will for personal benefit."

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