FEATURED STORIES
Gov. Rick Scott to rescind order to cut payments for disability services
By Michael C. Bender and Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he would rescind his order to cut state payments for disability services after House and Senate leaders agreed to fill a $174 million deficit.
Scott's lawyer admits he gave Fla. Supreme Court wrong info in high-speed rail argument
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott’s legal counsel Thursday told the Florida Supreme Court that he made an inaccurate representation on the amount of money already spent on the state’s high-speed rail project — a key detail that may have helped cinch the governor’s victory in a constitutional tug-of-war.
Critics lash Florida elections bill as 'voter suppression'
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The latest House makeover of Florida election laws stirred intense controversy Thursday as unions and grass roots political groups complained that it would suppress 2012 voting in a state Barack Obama won in 2008.
Ex-justices blast proposed court reform
By Aaron Deslatte and Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A cadre of current and former Florida judges and former Gov. Bob Graham slammed House Speaker Dean Cannon's proposed Supreme Court make-over Thursday, labeling the powerful lawmaker's quarrel with the courts a power grab that could do lasting damage.
Florida Medicaid reform embraces controversial push toward managed care
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
More HMOs. Less care for transplant patients. Lawsuit limitations.
GOP proposals to roll back regulations over water and growth rile environmentalists
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Signaling major rollbacks in Florida's development permitting and water quality rules, a series of bills loathed by environmentalists and lauded by business leaders moved close to final passage in the Florida Legislature Thursday.
BEST OF THE BLOGS
Rick Scott "Trusts BP To Do The Right Thing," Do You?
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
Is Florida Gov. Rick Scott poised to let BP and Transocean off the hook for last year's Gulf oil spill as far as Florida is concerned? It sure looks like it.
The Grim Truth Behind Florida Senate Renewable Energy Bills 2078 and 1724
By Jesse Roche
MillionSolarRooftops.com
The Florida legislative session is in full swing and there are several renewable energy bills and amendments swirling around as various interests jocky for position.
Florida Census-- Congressional Districts in Perspective
By Steve Schale
Steve Schale
The hardest thing about crunching census data is figuring out where to start, which is clearly the case when it comes to Florida’s Congressional districts.
Eradicate the State
By Alberto Pupo
The Examiner
The chainsaw is coming down on the Florida poor and middle class.
Florida Backlash Against Scott Has Begun
By Buck Banks
Pensito Review
In just 100 days in office, Gov. Rick Scott has managed to turn a majority of Floridians against him and his autocratic style of — if we can call it that — governing.
FLORIDA POLITICS
FL Governor Rick Scott's First 100 Days
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
Florida Governor Rick Scott's first 100 days in office are not exactly getting rave reviews from some quarters.
Scott's decision to sell Solantic stake fails to stem ethics questions
By John Kennedy and Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
Rick Scott's pending deal to sell his family's share of Solantic did little Thursday to stem the cascade of ethics questions clouding the multi-millionaire Republican governor's first months in office.
Fla Dems want to know more about Scott’s assets
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A day after Rick Scott agreed to sell his family’s shares of Solantic, the chain of urgent care clinics that engulfed the governor in a swirl of ethics questions, Florida Democrats say they want to know more about the multi-millionaire’s assets.
Panel approves voter registration rules
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A sweeping elections bill was approved 12-6 by a House panel Thursday, over opposition from unions and voter advocacy organizations, who accused Republicans of trying to tamp down voter participation in next year's elections.
Partisan sniping occurs as Rick Kriseman's Pinellas-focused bill stalls
By Jodie Tillman
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Pinellas County likes the idea of merging two planning agencies.
Today in Tallahassee: guns, abortion, sexting
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Spring break is almost here for the Legislature, but not before members take votes today on guns, abortions, splicing the judiciary and sexting.
Principles left at door of Capitol
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
The Florida Legislature has the largest Republican majority since Reconstruction, so it's no wonder that the rhetoric in Tallahassee focuses on cutting the size of government and regulation.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Florida Senate moves to put local governments, not state, in charge of growth management
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A sweeping rewrite of 26 years of growth management law received swift approval from the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee on Thursday, opening the way for the most substantial change in Florida development law in decades.
Scott to hold Cabinet meeting, tour Panhandle on oil disaster anniversary
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet will hold their next meeting in the Panhandle on Tuesday, the eve of the one-year anniversary since the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
LGBT
Randolph bill that would ban discrimination against LGBT Floridians ‘never even put on the agenda’
By Brett Ader
Florida Independent
Legislation that could fight discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Florida has stagnated, according to state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando.
EDUCATION
Expanded school voucher plan advances in Florida Senate
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
A plan to expand school choice by creating education savings accounts — dubbed by some as “vouchers for all” — won a favorable vote from the Florida Senate’s education committee this morning.
Teachers protest Rick Scott's policies
By Cara Fitzpatrick
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Several hundred teachers braved the rain Thursday to protest what they called an attack on teachers by Gov. Rick Scott, who has championed merit pay and changes to public employees' pensions.
It's been an important week for struggling schools
By Jackie Alexander
Gainesville Sun
For Beth LeClear, principal of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Elementary School, the week of FCAT testing stays busy.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Budget disagreements leave a sour taste in Capitol
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander seems a little more dour these days, especially when budget talks broke down, but he said the Republican Senate and House will likely come to an agreement by session's end, May 6.
Gov. Rick Scott lawyer to Supreme Court: My facts were wrong on high speed rail
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
It's likely too late to make a difference now, but Gov. Rick Scott's attorney on Thursday sent a letter to the Florida Supreme Court admitting he got a key fact wrong when he argued on behalf of the governor in a lawsuit challenging his decision to kill the high-speed rail project between Tampa and Orlando.
Florida lawmakers propose new rules for local pension funds
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In a year when lawmakers are slashing state oversight and regulations, there is one area where they are moving to add a layer of more rules — local government pensions.
Gov. Scott announcement suggests good news for Florida unemployment
Associated Press
South Florida Sun Sentinel
For the first time since taking office three months ago, Gov. Rick Scott is holding a news conference to personally announce Florida's monthly unemployment rate.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Florida's Republicans face tough Medicare vote
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
With the future of Medicare and Medicaid at stake, Florida Republicans face a tough vote on Friday on a budget plan that would revamp and scale back popular health care programs for the elderly and the poor.
Sen. Medicaid bill headed to floor
By Jim Saunders
Health News Florida
With negotiations looming with the House, the Senate Budget Committee approved a massive Medicaid overhaul Thursday that would try to slam the brakes on health-care spending.
Scott calls for pill regulation
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Gov. Rick Scott, whose mantra throughout his campaign and early months in office has been deregulation, today called on Congress to tighten federal restrictions on companies that make and sell addictive prescription drugs.
House tees up FMA’s malpractice relief bill
By Jim Saunders
Health News Florida
With lawmakers getting "lobbied to death" on the issue, a House committee Thursday expanded a bill that would help doctors and hospitals fight medical-malpractice lawsuits.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
House committee OKs immigration bill despite prayers
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
Hispanic protestors knelt in prayer Thursday as a House committee approved an Arizona-style immigration bill allowing police to check the legal status of anyone they reasonably suspect is in the country illegally.
Florida Senate faces political minefield in immigration reform
By Patricia Mazzei
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
For evidence of the political minefield that is immigration reform, look no further than the Florida Senate.
Gun law to let people go packing in public an affront to cops and citizens alike
By Sue Carlton
St. Petersburg Times
The news was huge. A new law would allow people to roam Florida packing pistols on their hips, for all the world to see.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Senate joins House in push for Supreme Court overhaulBy Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times
The House of Representatives has stood on its own in its push to add three justices to the Florida Supreme Court and create two divisions, one for criminal cases and another for civil -- until now.
House debate begins on courts overhaul plan
Associated Press
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Democratic members of the Florida House branded Speaker Dean Cannon's proposed overhaul of the court system as a politically motivated court-packing scheme on Thursday as debate on the bills began.
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