Daily Clips for November 9, 2010

FEATURED STORIES Democrats jockey to take reins of state party By Adam C. Smith St. Petersburg Times Fresh off an across-the-board electoral drubbing last week, Democratic activists are jockeying to elect their first new state party chief in five years. Conflict brewing over Scott's agenda in Legislature By Mary Ellen Klas Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau When voters swept Republican Rick Scott into office and gave Republicans the kind of party dominance no governor has seen since Gov. Bob Graham was elected 32 years ago, the new governor-elect declared it the “end of politics as usual in Tallahassee.” GOP taking aim at Bill Nelson, the last Democrat standing By Mark K. Matthews Orlando Sentinel Florida Republicans walked away from last Tuesday's election in control of every major statewide office save one — the U.S. Senate seat of Democrat Bill Nelson. And if the GOP gets its way, that final stronghold will fall when Nelson runs for re-election in 2012. Crist now isolated lame duck By Jim Ash Florida Capital News With only eight weeks left in office, Crist finds himself at war with his former party, an ultra-conservative Legislature poised to override 10 of his vetoes and the possibility that his successor will cancel scores of his appointments. FLORIDA POLITICS Jacksonville City Hall probes company that Lt. Gov.-elect Carroll subleased from By Matt Dixon Florida Times-Union The company from which Lt. Gov.-elect Jennifer Carroll said she subleased office space for seven years is being investigated by Jacksonville City Hall. Carroll used the firm’s address to prove her consulting firm had a Duval County address and was eligible for a city contract program. While it's meeting next week, Florida Legislature should shut down the 'Taj Mahal' By Howard Troxler St. Petersburg Times Nobody, not even the chief judge in the $48  million "Taj Mahal" courthouse scandal in Tallahassee, lost an election because of it. Crist's Star Dims as LeMieux's Brightens By Bill Rufty Lakeland Ledger Gov. Charlie Crist so trusted his friend and advisor George LeMieux that when U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez resigned to return home to Orlando, Crist appointed LeMieux to fill out the last year and a half of his term. Fla. recount participants hold 10-year reunion The Associated Press Tampa Tribune Memories of hanging, dimpled and pregnant chads are being revived 10 years after helping make George W. Bush president. ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY Criticism runs deep for spill commission findings By Harry R. Weber Tampa Tribune Critics of a presidential commission's preliminary findings that largely supported BP's internal probe of the Gulf oil spill questioned Monday how anyone could suggest money wasn't put ahead of safety in the days before the disaster. Denied oil spill claimant: Coworkers got paid, but she didn’t By Travis Pillow Florida Independent Related: Federal agencies investigate mental and economic effects of BP oil spill I recently heard from another denied oil spill claimant who has struggled to get answers from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Her story offers further evidence of the facility’s opaque decision-making process, and sheds light on the frustrations of those seeking compensation for losses suffered as a result of the BP spill. New chief of gulf restoration effort has ties to Tampa Bay area By Craig Pittman St. Petersburg Times The man tapped to oversee the gulf coast's recovery from the BP oil spill is a Florida native who grew up swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off St. Pete Beach. EDUCATION Schools likely to get less from Florida Lottery in coming year By Gary Fineout Florida Tribune A new forecast is projecting that the Florida Lottery will produce less money than anticipated for schools next year. Dockery: Scott Will Want New Version of SB6 By Robin Sussingham WUSF Public Radio Tampa Some supporters of the controversial teacher performance bill, Senate Bill 6, hope that Governor-Elect Rick Scott will help to resurrect the measure. JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY Thousands of Florida elderly, disabled lose benefits in legal and political snarl By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post Ofelia Pimentel, 77, doesn't have words to express how worrisome the past four months have been - at least not in English. Citizens could be forced to drop nearly 200,000 policies across the state By Gary Fineout Florida Tribune Florida’s largest property insurer will have to shed nearly 200,000 policies along the coast in the next two years unless state lawmakers step in during next session. New, $2.5 billion train system would run between Jupiter and Miami By Ana M. Valdes Palm Beach Post A regional train system with dozens of stops connecting Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties through new routes and improved bus connections has received the green light from two local metropolitan planning organizations and many South Florida residents. HEALTH AND SENIORS GOP budget chief says repealing health care law won't happen until 2013 at earliest The Associated Press Orlando Sentinel The Republican in line to lead the House budget committee says the GOP needs a "better Senate" and President Barack Obama out of office before they can fully scrap Democrats' health care law. Attacking The Health Law: The GOP's Confusing And Incompatible Arguments By Jonathan Cohn Kaiser Health News Suppose I told you one of the political parties was determined to increase wasteful government spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, to pay the salaries of countless extra bureaucrats and to degrade the quality of medicine in the U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES Next CFO Atwater commits to support immigration verification program E-Verify By Marcos Restrepo Florida Independent Efforts to enact E-Verify, a program that would stop the hiring of immigrants not authorized to work in Florida, will likely return in Florida’s 2011 legislative session.