PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Progress Florida befuddled by Hasner’s ‘progressive Sharia-compliant Islam’ statement
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Florida Independent
When asked today about GOP U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner’s recent warning about the dangers of “progressive Sharia-compliant Islam” coming to the U.S., Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo took issue with Hasner’s linkage of the word “progressive” to Islamic law, calling his remarks “befuddling” and part of the right wing’s “platform of fear.”
FEATURED STORIES
Fla. House, Senate prepare to close gap in budget plans
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
Life gets more complicated for Florida lawmakers in the second half of the legislative session.
Unusual leadership style colors Gov. Scott's first 100 days
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Smiling and a bit out of breath, Gov. Rick Scott posed for pictures after finishing a mile-long run to raise awareness for Special Olympics.
Tallahassee: A lonely place for Democrats
By Aaron Sharockman
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
Rep. Jeff Clemens, a freshman Democrat from Palm Beach County, walks into the state Capitol each day, waits for an elevator to his barren 14th floor office, and over the hum of his minifridge thinks.
Amendment to create restrictive tax cap
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Without much attention or fanfare, the Florida Legislature is almost certain to approve a constitutional amendment mandating one of the nation's most restrictive caps on taxes.
Poll results put Scott and the Legislature on notice
By Thomas Tryon
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature won the polls that matter the most -- the general elections in November.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Artists commentary: Heartless
Related editorial: Too high a toll
FLORIDA POLITICS
Scott remakes Governor's Office to focus on jobs
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Halfway through the 60-day session, Gov. Rick Scott and Republican lawmakers are rapidly remaking the Office of the Governor to focus singularly on creating jobs.
Governor gives much-criticized bureaucrat a special job
By Justin George and Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times
Nearly a month ago, Gov. Rick Scott gave an unadvertised $78,000 job to Carl Littlefield, a career bureaucrat who quit his latest job 17 days after he was appointed rather than face questions about his handling of a controversial group home.
Fla. Gov.Scott's team, media in "Twitter war"
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
It used to be that if the governor's office wasn't happy with what a reporter had written, someone would pick up the phone or email to protest.
Gov. Scott issues executive order for agencies to check which rules can be repealed
Associated Press
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott is ordering Florida agencies under his control to look at their rules and regulations to see which ones can be changed or repealed.
I'd rather not live in a national punch line
By Carl Wernicke
Pensacola News Journal
There used to be a saying among government officials when faced with having to explain any particular shortcoming of Florida: "Thank God for Mississippi." Or Alabama.
Tampa incident underscores politicians' heightened security worries
By Tia Mitchell
St. Petersburg Times
Whenever he feels the powers-that-be are heading in the wrong direction, Guyton Thompson picks up the phone and gives them an earful.
Legislature continues its power grab
Editorial
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Midway through the state's annual lawmaking season, the GOP-led Legislature continues moving to seize power from the governor, the courts, local government, even from the people who elected the legislators.
Unnecessary elections reform
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
Members of the Florida House surprised the state's elections supervisors when a committee passed a bill that would enact sweeping election reforms few people anticipated.
POLITICAL RACES
Poll: Only a third of Florida independents approve of Obama's performance
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
President Barack Obama is in trouble in Florida as he begins his re-election campaign.
Budget battles will loom over elections
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's budget fights have a recent history of being recycled as campaign fodder down the road.
LeMieux's newly minted Senate campaign tripped up by social media
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
George LeMieux took the social media approach to promote his entry into the Senate race last week.
Former Gov. Crist might campaign again
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is not slamming the door shut on his political career just yet.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
EPA agrees to study new water standards in Florida
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to an independent review of federal water quality standards for Florida that were adopted last fall.
Japan's crisis adds fuel to Florida nuclear fears
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Once, the thousands of 12-foot-long rods now being stored in 40-foot-deep pools of water at Florida Power & Light Co.'s two South Florida nuclear plants helped power the state's electric grid.
Nuclear Power: Going Coastal
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
The updated hurricane forecast from those intrepid prognosticators at Colorado State University has historically been Florida’s version of “Gentlemen, start your engines.”
Report: U.S. Slips in Clean Energy Race - FL Implications
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
Germany has pushed the U.S. down a notch, according to rankings listed in a new report that tracks investments in the clean-energy sector.
LGBT
US gay-marriage ban under assault but still potent
By David Crary
Associated Press
These are frustrating, tantalizing days for many of the same-sex couples who seized the chance to marry in recent years.
EDUCATION
Rick Scott's Education Adviser Caught Up in Cheating Scandal
By Michael Cohen
Broward New Times
Despite the rising contempt for Gov. Rick Scott, this one kind of flew under the radar.
Florida school districts rush to revamp teacher evaluation
By Tom Marshall
St. Petersburg Times
>From poor to great in four months.
Voucher programs finding new life
By Lilly Rockwell
News Service of Florida
Lawmakers are poised to expand the state's school voucher programs instituted more than 10 years ago that enable more students to attend private schools.
State to debut FCAT changes
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
While the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests may be routine to students, this year the exams, which begin today, come with a lot of changes.
School testing: Florida hires eyes to stop FCAT cheaters
By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post
The state has a message to potential cheaters on this year's FCAT exams: We're watching for you.
Classroom warning signs
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Legislature have been patting themselves on the back for quickly adopting legislation to evaluate teachers based on student test scores.
Passing the buck on higher education
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
It's reasonable to keep raising historically low tuition at Florida universities until it hits the national average.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Another pension bill now in play over union opposition
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related: Latest pension overhaul shows how political wind has turned against unions
A House panel agreed Friday to revamp city pension requirements for police and firefighters — advancing another union-opposed bill in an already tough legislative session for public employees.
Sweetheart union deal made law by Jeb Bush now on GOP chopping block
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida's ruling Republicans are poised to kill a pension deal that now weighs heavily on cities' taxpayers but originally was handed to powerful police and firefighter unions for helping elect former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Early Budget Passage Is Expected
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
Today begins the sixth week of the nine-week legislative session.
Haridopolos open to local government revenue caps
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
The Florida Senate has already passed a “smart cap” proposal, which imposes a constitutional limit on state spending. The House is working on its version, as well as a separate constitutional provision that would cap local property taxes.
Florida Senate reconsiders, will protect SunPass discounts
By Jerome R. Stockfisch
Tampa Tribune
Hillsborough commuters will continue to enjoy a 25-cent break on SunPass tolls after the state Senate backtracked on a proposal that could have cost some drivers hundreds of dollars more a year to crisscross the county.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Gov. Scott's cuts drop the torch for the disabled
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
This week, Gov. Rick Scott took time out from his busy schedule to look at Palm Beach County's ocean beaches and voice his support for sand renourishment.
Prescription drug monitoring database set to go forward
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Despite continued objections from Gov. Rick Scott, a prescription drug monitoring database on hold since December is set to launch.
Pharmacies, not doctors, biggest source of pain pills
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida cannot throttle rampant illegal traffic in pain pills by banning doctors from selling narcotic drugs, as Gov. Rick Scott and some state legislators propose.
Legislators push to limit lawsuits against Florida nursing-home industry
By Kate Santich
Orlando Sentinel
Advocates for Florida nursing home residents already are fighting to protect a statewide ombudsman program, but now they have a new battlefront — proposed legislation that would severely limit lawsuits against nursing homes for negligence and wrongful death.
DCF strives to avoid errors of past overhauls
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
Barely three months into his job as head of the state Department of Children and Families, Secretary David Wilkins described what he found there as "total systemic failure of the child welfare system."
'Least effective legislator' Scott Randolph scores victory over powerful doctor lobby
By Aaron Sharockman
St. Petersburg Times
The man Speaker Dean Cannon just called "one of the least effective" legislators in the House, Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, scored a major win today by stripping a medical malpractice bill of a provision that would have allowed defendant doctors to interview plaintiff's other physicians without notice.
Florida women's health providers angered over GOP effort to kill Planned Parenthood grants
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
While the nation braced Friday for a possible shutdown of the federal government, Democrats on Capitol Hill complained that Republicans were fixated on an age-old sticking point: abortion.
Anti-abortion legislation goes too far
Editorial
Miami Herald
Pro-choice advocates are right to point out the irony of the “uterus rebellion,’’ the flippant name for the flap over the ban of the word uterus in the Florida House.
Unconscionable
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
State legislators are determined to balance the budget with no new taxes, no matter who suffers.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Five year wait to have civil rights restored 'like a slap in the face,' rehabilitated felons say
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
It has been five years since Desmond Meade first applied to have his civil rights restored. Now, the Miami law school student will have to wait at least another six months, then start the process all over again.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
House budget plan would shift criminal justice funding to Southwest and Central FloridaBy Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
When the state House and Senate begin conferences to reconcile the differences in their budget plans, one issue on the table will be a House proposal to change the funding formula for local prosecutors and public defenders.
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