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Progress Florida -- Progressive Solutions for Florida

Friday, July 9, 2010

Daily Clips for July 9, 2010

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Election Reform Push (includes video)

By Capitol News Service

WEAR TV Pensacola

Excerpt: Progress Florida's political director says taking big money out of the game will make lawmakers more accountable to their constituents. "This changes our system so that instead of candidates for congressional office relying on major donations from huge corporations, like BP and Goldman Sachs for example, they can rely more on small dollar donations from their constituents."

FEATURED STORIES

Fla. governor calls special oil drilling session

The Associated Press

Tampa Tribune

Related editorial: Draw a clear line in the sand

Gov. Charlie Crist has called for a special session of the Legislature to permanently ban offshore oil drilling in Florida waters.


Crist calls special session on offshore-drilling ban, rankling Republicans

By Josh Hafenbrack

Orlando Sentinel

Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday called the Florida Legislature into special session July 20 to 23 to consider a constitutional ban on near-shore oil drilling, a move Republican legislative leaders called a political ploy that won't accomplish anything.


Judge blocks Florida Legislature's redistricting amendment from November ballot

By Marc Caputo and Lee Logan

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau

A judge on Thursday struck down the Legislature's proposed constitutional amendment concerning political districts because, he said, it is too confusing for voters to understand.


Scott doesn't need to get to work -- he needs a tutor

By Daniel Ruth

St. Petersburg Times

Related editorial: Scott wants to buy Governor's Mansion, not campaign for it

It's merely an idle guess, but it could have happened this way.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

The economy is a perfect storm for Amendment 4, Florida Hometown Democracy

By Gimleteye

Eye on Miami

I'm looking forward to the midnight mailers from shadowy political groups funded by the Growth Machine that will try to sabotage Amendment 4, Florida Hometown Democracy, in the final weeks leading up to the November election.


Energy Independence Day Postponed In Sunshine State - Again

By Daniel Tilson

Progress Florida

Get ready for your electric bills to skyrocket. And if you're thinking maybe you'll go solar, don't count on any help from the government.


Florida GOP To Residents: "Boil In Oil!"

By Inkberries

Beach Peanuts

Over the weekend, President Obama announced that the Department of Energy will award $2 billion to solar energy companies to help speed the economic recovery and create jobs.


Eleventh Circuit restricts feeding homeless in Orlando city parks

By JT Orlando

The Happiest Place on Earth

In a blow to efforts to help the homeless nationwide, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the City of Orlando's efforts to stop feeding the homeless in city parks.


Oily Incentives for a Disappearing Beach Real Estate Market

By Beach Blogger

Pensacola Beach Blog

The BP oil spill has pushed Pensacola Beach real estate sales off a cliff.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Will Greer's lawyer be political party pooper?

By Mike Thomas

Orlando Sentinel

Cheney Mason is the patron saint of hapless defendants who seemingly have no defense.


Campaign for Fair Elections targets Tallahassee, Rep. Allen Boyd

By Brett Ader

Florida Independent

Two leading groups pushing for the public financing of elections have begun a multi-million dollar campaign to spur Congress to move forward on proposed legislation that aims to curb the overwhelming influence of money in politics.

POLITICAL RACES

Charlie Crist's missed opportunities on the environment

By Mitch Perry

Creative Loafing

Kendrick Meek accurately calls himself the only U.S. Senate candidate who's been consistently against offshore drilling.


Lindsay Lohan's posse includes unsavory Florida Senate candidate

By Alex Pareene

Salon

Jeff Greene is a self-funded billionaire candidate in the Democratic primary for senator from Florida.


David Rivera hits up 4,000 FIU employees for campaign cash

By Beth Reinhard and Carrie Wells

Miami Herald

State Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican and budget chief who has steered state funding to Florida International University, solicited all 4,000 FIU employees to donate to his congressional campaign, prompting the provost to issue a campuswide warning Thursday about using public resources for political activities.


Gubernatorial candidate Scott touts his tough past

By Jeremy Wallace

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Rick Scott, the former hospital company CEO turned frontrunner in the Republican primary for governor, made his first campaign stops in the region Thursday touting his business background as an elixir for what ails government.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Judge rules against putting Amendment 7 on Nov. ballot

By Bill Cotterell

Florida Capital News

A circuit judge ruled today that the constitutional amendment Florida legislators devised in response to two redistricting proposals can't go on the November ballot for a public vote.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Haridopolos calls Crist's energy plan a 'fantasy'

By Jim Waymer

Florida Today

Forcing Florida to get 20 percent of its energy from solar, biomass and other renewable sources could save jobs when the space shuttle program ends, business and environmental leaders said Thursday at an energy summit.


Court rejects bid to restore drilling moratorium

By Michael Kunzelman

The Associated Press

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the federal government's effort to restore an offshore deepwater drilling moratorium, opening the door to resumed drilling in the Gulf while the legal fight continues.


Beach cleaners only skimming oil off surface sand

By Jay Reeves

The Associated Press

A problem lurks under the sand on the Gulf Coast, but some argue the best thing to do is -- nothing.


Amid gulf oil spill, Florida still looks in vain for a state energy policy

By Robert Trigaux

St. Petersburg Times

Once upon a time Florida went looking for an energy policy but got terribly lost along the way.


Oil spill: BP turns around on reimbursement for Escambia cleanup

By Bart Jansen

Pensacola News Journal

BP has agreed to reimburse Escambia County for nearly the full amount the county has spent responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after initially refusing to pay for almost half of the county's expenses, Escambia officials said Thursday.


Alternatives, Baby, Alternatives: How to win the offshore drilling debate

By Chris Kromm

Facing South

One of the most striking things we learned meeting with community leaders in the Gulf Coast recently is how deeply conflicted coastal residents are about offshore oil drilling.


Crist, FWC release birds into wild after rescued from oil spill

By Jim Ash

Florida Capital News

Gov. Charlie Crist and officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released a flock of three Pied-billed grebes, victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe.


Jacksonville council president pledges to investigate root cause of St. Johns fish kill

By Virginia Chamlee

Florida Independent

Recently inaugurated Jacksonville City Council President Jack Webb threw his hat in the political ring due to a "palpable sense of discontent with government," and is now pledging to focus his attention on determining the root cause of fish kills in the ailing St. Johns River, which many suspect is runoff from industry giants Georgia-Pacific and JEA.


Owner agrees to sell vital land along manatee sanctuary

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The owner of 57 acres near the Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River tentatively has agreed to sell his land to the state for $10.5 million, a landowner representative said Thursday.


Oil spews; useful info capped: Government and BP stingy with data on harm, claims

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

Just before the Fourth of July weekend, Escambia County officials couldn't get the data they needed from the Environmental Protection Agency to inform tourists and residents whether it was safe to swim in the waters just off the Panhandle county's beaches.


Nobody checked

Editorial

Gainesville Sun

The Deepwater Horizon disaster destroyed the fiction that offshore drilling is safe.

LGBT

Judge rules US gay marriage ban unconstitutional

By Ros Krasny

Reuters

In a victory for gay rights in the United States, a U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts ruled on Thursday that a federal ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

EDUCATION

FCAT scores to arrive next week

By Harriet Daniels

Gainesville Sun

The most recent FCAT scores for about 18,000 Alachua County students are expected to arrive in the mail to parents starting next week.


Alex Sink says Florida's grad rates are low

By Cristina Silva

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Politifact

Like any good Democrat, gubernatorial hopeful Alex Sink has a habit of highlighting the state's mediocre public education record.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

34,000 Floridians lose jobless aid this week amid political impasse

By Jeff Ostrowski

Palm Beach Post

Unemployment benefits will expire for about 34,000 Floridians this week because the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill to keep the payments flowing.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Mammogram data show trouble

By Dave Gulliver

Health News Florida

Most Florida hospital outpatient departments are performing either too many mammograms, exposing patients to unnecessary risks, or too few, and missing signs of cancer.


WellCare can sue former execs

By Jim Saunders

Health News Florida

WellCare Health Plans is now free to sue the three former executives who ran the Tampa-based company into a financial scandal, under a federal judge's ruling Wednesday.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

McCollum criticizes DOJ Arizona lawsuit as 'highly political'

By Luke Johnson

Florida Independent

Related: The economic impact of immigration

Florida Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Bill McCollum criticized the U.S. Justice Department's lawsuit against the state of Arizona on Wednesday, even as McCollum himself has a lawsuit -- along with 12 other state attorney generals -- over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which President Obama signed into law in March 2010.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS


Rothstein law partner was paid $500,000 the day Rothstein fled

By Peter Franceschina

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

On the day Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein fled to Morocco last October, his law partner Stuart Rosenfeldt was paid $500,000.

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