Click here to subscribe for free to the best daily news roundup in Florida.

Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Monday, July 19, 2010

Daily Clips for July 19, 2010

FEATURED STORIES

House may have votes to put amendment on ballot banning oil drilling

By Mary Ellen Klas, Lee Logan, Steve Bousquet and Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Related: BP means Bitter Politics, as GOP leaders and Crist battle over drilling ban and oil spill

Related: Feds let BP keep oil cap closed for another day

Related column: Is Crist's drilling ban necessary, or a 'political stunt'?

Fearing a major victory for Gov. Charlie Crist, Florida Republican leaders are prepared to take drastic action -- even blocking a historic vote on a constitutional amendment banning offshore oil drilling.


Crist, GOP bitterness might swamp session on drilling

By Catherine Whittenburg

Tampa Tribune

A proposed offshore drilling ban may quickly drown this week in a flood of election-year rancor between GOP lawmakers and a governor who abandoned their party.


Florida Democrats hopeful for campaign season

By Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee Democrat

Florida Democrats showcased their "new face" for the 2010 campaign season Saturday with predictions that the economy, corruption and the Gulf oil spill will persuade voters to reject the Republicans who have run the state for almost 20 years.


2010 -- an election year that could alter the Florida political landscape

By Steve Bousquet

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Thanks, Jeb Bush. And thanks, Dubya and Karl Rove, too, for planting the seeds of this wildly chaotic political year more than seven years ago. You really left a mark.


The do-nothings

Editorial

Gainesville Sun

How fortunate for the Republicans who run the Florida Legislature that the BP oil leak has been stopped.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

Editorial cartoon of the week

By Andy Marlette

Pensacola News Journal

FLORIDA POLITICS

Floridians will decide best

By Gov. Charlie Crist

Pensacola News Journal

This week marks three months since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that has spewed over 100 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.


Laws already ban drilling off Florida

By Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul

Florida Today

Related editorial: Let people decide

The tragic Deepwater Horizon oil spill demands urgent action to bring relief to Gulf Coast residents who have seen their way of life and their livelihood disrupted by the worse environmental disaster in our nation's history.


Let voters decide on a ban on drilling

By Eric Draper

Miami Herald

There are many compelling reasons why the Florida Legislature should allow voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to include a permanent ban on oil drilling within 10 miles of Florida's coast. Gov. Charlie Crist has called legislators to Tallahassee for a special session on this question this week.


Not all lawmakers focused on drilling ban

By Bill Cotterell

Pensacola News Journal

The agenda for the upcoming special legislative session is simple but the politics of it are complex.


Blocking Florida's coastal protections

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul calls Gov. Charlie Crist's push for a voter referendum to ban near-shore oil drilling "smoke and mirrors" and suggests that he won't even have House members vote on the measure during the special session that begins Tuesday.

POLITICAL RACES

Unexpected obstacles hinder Kendrick Meek's campaign

By Beth Reinhard

Miami Herald

Up early Sunday for a 12-hour campaign marathon through South Florida, Democrat Senate candidate Kendrick Meek said he saw three commercials for his deep-pocketed rival before he could even get out the door.


Democrats raise $700K for state party at Hollywood dinner

By Beth Reinhard and Patricia Mazzei

Miami Herald

With Florida in the throes of the wildest and most wide-open election in decades, Democrats girded against a Republican-friendly political climate and gathered Saturday for one of the state party's most successful annual fundraising dinners.


Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek tone down attacks

By Anthony Man

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

It's not a great time for Democrats.


Kendrick Meek: Politician emphasizes experience

By William E. Gibson

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The leading Democrat in Florida's nationally watched U.S. Senate race is a former state trooper, a civil rights demonstrator, a foil to Jeb Bush, a frequent travel companion to Bill Clinton and a lawmaker who once led the charge for reducing classroom size.


U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene is a billionaire businessman who touts his outsider status

By Jim Stratton

Orlando Sentinel

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene had just finished a meeting on the Space Coast, when he was stopped by a reporter.


Once a clear favorite, McCollum now chasing Scott in GOP gubernatorial race

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

When Republican Bill McCollum declined to run for a second term as attorney general and instead entered the gubernatorial race in May 2009, he made a Charlie Crist-type commitment to "access and inclusion."


McCollum pirches education plan during Palm Beach County visit

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post

Republican governor hopeful Bill McCollum unveiled an education plan Friday that would reward top teachers and make it easier to fire poor ones -- proposals similar to the ones that drew howls from teachers unions and a veto from Gov. Charlie Crist this year.


Candidate Rick Scott's focus seems fixed -- on Arizona

By Beth Reinhard

Miami Herald

More than 1 million people in Florida are out of work. The oil spill is wreaking environmental and economic havoc. The state is one hurricane away from catastrophe.


Big money flows through area to aid McCollum's fight vs. Scott

By Christopher Curry

Gainesville Sun

In a heated GOP gubernatorial primary, the traditionally Democratic stronghold of Alachua County has become a strategic hub for the state Republican establishment's battle against deep-pocketed former hospital executive Rick Scott.


Attorney general candidates debate whether health care is a right or a privilege

By Janet Zink

St. Petersburg Times

A lawsuit challenging the federal health care legislation provoked the most conflict during a forum Friday for Florida's attorney general candidates.


Florida incumbents rarely lose, records show

By Brandon Larrabee

Florida Times-Union

There's one thing that's unquestionably difficult for legislative incumbents to do when it comes to Florida elections: Lose.


Congressional candidates aggressively raising funds

By Patricia Mazzei, Amy Sherman and Lesley Clark

Miami Herald

The last campaign finance reports the public will see before some voters start filling out their primary ballots show a massive money fight shaping up in one of the most closely watched congressional contests in Florida.


GOP congressional candidates' fundraising falters

By Mark K. Matthews and Mark Schlueb

Orlando Sentinel

National discontent with Congress hasn't translated into dollars for Republican candidates looking to unseat Central Florida's two freshman Democrats.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Debate heats up on Amendment 4

By Ron Rae

Tampa Tribune

Hot topic: Referenda required for adoption and amendment of local government comprehensive land use plans.


Hometown Democracy a way to fight over developemnt, corruption

By Lesley Blackner

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Just look around Broward County, with commissioners being investigated for corruption, one commissioner in jail for taking favors from developers, and now 12 people arrested in a massive mortgage scam - and it is clear we need change.


Fair districts, not self-interest

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

A Florida trial court has checked the arrogant abuse of power by the Legislature when it stuck a jumbled constitutional.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Where will spilled Gulf oil go? Three months later, officials and residents are still asking

By Ben Chambers

Palm Beach Post

Starting today, Florida oceanographers will have good reason to ask, "Where's Waldo?"


Nature's burden: Clean up bulk of Gulf oil spill

By Rene Schoof

Miami Herald

BP now faces a Herculean task of cleaning up the region's oily mess.


DEP chief Mike Sole is Florida's point man on the oil spill

By Craig Pittman

St. Petersburg Times

Right now, Mike Sole ought to be busy restoring the Everglades.


Solar advocates push legislature to address renewable energy next week, but the prospects are dim

By Travis Pillow

Florida Independent

A newly formed coalition of alternative energy advocates is calling on the Florida Legislature to act on several proposals during the upcoming special session, but lawmakers have said that action next week appears unlikely.


US set to announce Everglades restoration project

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

The federal government says it will announce a major restoration project for a portion of the Florida Everglades.

EDUCATION

State should examine high-stakes test scores

By Bill Archer

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Florida school superintendents -- including Volusia superintendent Margaret Smith -- are right to push for a third-party examination of anomalies in Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores that have some districts seeing as much as a 90-point drop.


McCollum's education proposal would remove tenure

By Brent Kallestad

The Associated Press

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum announced his education platform Friday, saying he wants to make it easier to fire teachers by eliminating tenure and base their pay raises on classroom performance instead of seniority.


National standards for K-12 learning: Common sense, or a waste of money?

By Kevin D. Thompson

Palm Beach Post

Education standards always have been an uneven patchwork of guidelines, varying from state to state and often confusing teachers, students and parents.


School day snooze: Do your kids complain that classes start too early? They may be right

By Kathleen McGrory

Miami Herald

With school starting at 7:30 a.m., Camonique White admitted it was difficult not nodding off in her first-period honors chemistry class.


'Zero tolerance' on FCAT

Editorial

Pensacola News Journal

The latest concerns about the accuracy of data on FCAT grading reflects widespread concerns about the whole process.


FCAT results ... audit chain troubling as scores are sorted out

Editorial

Naples Daily News

Public confidence in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) takes yet another hit.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Jobless Rate Declines for a Third Month as Unemployment Benefits Run Out for Thousands

By Gina Jordan

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

The state's employment numbers show some bright spots in figures released Friday by the Agency for Workforce Innovation.


Orlando-area jobless rate worsens, but Florida's improves

By Jim Stratton

Orlando Sentinel

Florida's statewide unemployment rate dipped to 11.4 percent last month, welcome news to the state's battered labor market but also a reminder that any economic recovery will be a long slow march.


Scripps Florida: Hyped bio-tech boom went bust

By Stephen Goldstein

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Elected officials come and go. But their policies, good or bad, may affect us for years.


Stimulus funds Florida Tech research

By Mackenzie Ryan

Florida Today

In November, Florida Tech graduate student Stephanie Vos will travel to Antarctica to help research predatory crabs, which are thought to be migrating south and could devastate marine species found on the bottom of Antarctic seas.


A larger Crist family cost state only slightly more

By Bill Cotterell

Ft. Myers News-Press

Security to protect Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, his wife and two stepdaughters cost $1.8 million in the last 12 months, slightly more than the previous year.


Foreclosures bring wealth, rebukes for Florida lawyer

By Susan Taylor Martin

St. Petersburg Times

You could call him the foreclosure king of Florida.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Uninsured face ruin as lawyers debate

By Mary Jo Melone

Health News Florida

Joanie Pape of Navarre, 48, lost her job as a bank branch manager in January. With it went her health insurance, including coverage for her children, both students at Pensacola Junior College.


Feds charge 94 Medicare fraud suspects in Miami, other cities

By Jay Weaver

Miami Herald

Federal authorities early Friday charged 94 people with plotting to fleece $251 million from Medicare by filing phony claims with the taxpayer-funded healthcare program. Agents arrested 36 people.


Florida hospitals join forces to cut readmissions

By Linda Shrieves

Orlando Sentinel

Eighty-one hospitals in Florida are teaming up with one important goal: to reduce the number of infections and complications that occur after surgery.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Racism In The Tea Parties

The Progress Report

Think Progress

In passing a resolution condemning the racist elements within the Tea Party this week, the NAACP set off a media firestorm over the merits of its charge against the right-wing movement.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Rothstein case: Financial adviser reaches $6 million settlement

By Jon Burstein

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A Miami-Dade County financial adviser has reached a $6 million settlement with the bankruptcy lawyers sifting through the wreckage of Scott Rothstein's massive Ponzi scheme.

No comments:

Post a Comment