FEATURED STORIES
House Democrat: Speaker Dean Cannon tried to trade favorable treatment for support on court bill
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Senate committee passes Supreme Court overhaul plan
House Speaker Dean Cannon's attempt to play hardball Monday with his top priority court reform bill wasn't the first time the speaker has used political pressure and dealmaking to advance his plan.
Florida budget talks stall under accusations of negotiating in bad faith
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A squabble over spending turned tense Monday when the Florida Senate's budget chairman accused the leader of the Florida House of negotiating in bad faith and attempting to hamstring Senate President Mike Haridopolos' run for U.S. Senate.
Corporate income tax cut postponed, might be dead
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
Leading senators sent mixed signals about the fate of Gov. Rick Scott's signature corporate tax cut proposal after a skittish committee temporarily postponed consideration of the measure at its last scheduled meeting Monday, leaving the idea's future in doubt.
Florida state budget cuts spark outcry from poor, mentally ill
By Linda Shrieves
Orlando Sentinel
Florida lawmakers are headed into final rounds of state budget negotiations this week, but the proposed cuts have sparked an outcry from advocates for the poor and the mentally ill.
Stunts, threats and the possible meltdown of the 2011 session
By Gary Fineout
Florida Tribune
Despite sweeping to new heights last year, the potential meltdown of the 2011 session proves that having everyone with an R after their name doesn’t lead to harmony or complete agreement.
Immigrants rally statewide
By Laura Wides-Munoz
Associated Press
Hundreds of immigrant activists and supporters are organizing protests this week across Florida to protest two tough immigration bills being debated in the Legislature.
FLORIDA POLITICS
Proposed bills would make voting harder for many Floridians
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
College students seeking to vote at their campus precinct will find it harder to do.
Does Florida have a voter fraud problem?
By Gary Fineout
The Fine Print
As the GOP-controlled Legislature pushes ahead with a widespread elections bill, those pushing the bill deny that it has anything to do with targeting voters who could be voting Democratic in next year's crucial presidential election.
An assault on the voters
By Deirdre Macnab
St. Petersburg Times
2011? Some of us feel as though we're time traveling back to the Stone Ages.
Assessing (the ulterior motives of) the House Redistricting Committee
By Peter Schorsch
Inside The Lines
To those of us closely following the reapportionment process, last week’s announcement of the House Redistricting Committee was the legislative equivalent of the annual unveiling of which films are nominated for Academy Awards.
Scott spending more than $7.3 million a year on spin doctors
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott – whose mantra is “Let’s Get to Work” – is paying $7.3 million to 126 aides for image-boosting and spin, according to a report released by Florida TaxWatch today.
Gov. Rick Scott evades question about killing Citizens Insurance
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times
Asked to explain his secret push to kill Citizens Property Insurance within four years, Gov. Rick Scott today balked.
Public deserves to see pension accounts
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Perhaps it's not surprising that, amid the 2006 bull market, the entire Legislature was hoodwinked into surrendering one of Florida's core values: transparency in government.
Today in Tallahassee: Abortion limits
By Jodie Tillman
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Abortion takes top billing on the House agenda today as Republicans push through measures that put new limits on when women may get the procedure.
POLITICAL RACES
Florida Democratic lawmakers on outside looking in, expect GOP backlash in 2012
By Ryan Mills
Naples Daily News
They introduce legislation. It’s ignored.
Florida Senate hopeful looking to follow Marco Rubio’s lead
By David Cantanese
Politico
He’s a young, little-known former state lawmaker who is steadily piling up praise from the chattering class as the most authentic conservative candidate in the race for Florida’s Senate seat.
Common decency in short supply
By Daniel Ruth
St. Petersburg Times
Ambition does funny things to people, like turning them into backstabbing, duplicitous oafs with all the loyalty of The Godfather's Tessio.
Jeb Bush endorses Hogan for Jacksonville mayor, despite abortion clinic bomb ‘joke’
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Jacksonville mayoral candidate Mike Hogan is today claiming the endorsement of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, despite Hogan joking that bombing an abortion clinic “might cross [his] mind” during a candidate’s forum in February.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
NWF: Oil Spill Data Kept Secret
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, is not a happy fellow these days, because the effects of the BP oil spill on wildlife along the Gulf Coast are his concern.
Phosphate company asks PSC to reconsider its role in allowing nuclear cost recovery
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Tribune
One of the state's largest power users is asking the Public Service Commission to play its traditional watchdog role in overseeing nuclear cost recovery by utilities.
Bill would make it easier for billboard companies to cut down trees
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
One of the biggest problems facing the billboard industry is the tree.
EDUCATION
Broward School Board to tackle $150 in cuts
By Carli Teproff
Miami Herald
With state funding cuts, inflation and federal stimulus money running out, the Broward school district is looking at cutting nearly $150 million from its $1.9 billion budget.
Dade school district: Bill would hurt graduation rate
By Patricia Mazzei and Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Last year, 28,500 Miami-Dade high school students enrolled in a night school class – many of them to retake a math or English class they failed, needing the credit to graduate.
Top educator OKs plan for Jacksonville struggling schools
By Topher Sanders
Florida Times-Union
Duval County Public Schools will likely be able to move forward with its plan to improve its four most struggling schools after getting the state's top educator's blessing Monday.
Skipping school may cost families their homes
By J. David McSwane
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
For students whose families live in public housing, ditching class could soon mean much more than detention.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Gov. Scott says he's confident Fla. will cut corporate tax
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
Gov. Rick Scott's plan to phase out Florida's corporate income tax flopped in a Senate committee Monday, but the Republican governor said he is confident he can persuade conservative lawmakers.
Gov. Rick Scott pushes corporate tax cut plan but Senate committee balks
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
With the clock ticking on the session, Gov. Rick Scott's pledge to cut corporate income taxes got a last-minute rescue Monday, but senators are still balking at the price tag.
Florida budget negotiations begin in earnest
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
Budget negotiations between the House and Senate kick off this week, initiating what can be a contentious process.
House and Senate unwilling to compromise on unemployment compensation
By Brent Henzi
Florida Tribune
While the House and Senate battle over the state budget, another standstill has developed over which chamber has a better proposal for unemployment compensation changes.
As state leaders push for higher rates, property insurers enjoy robust year
By Robert Trigaux
St. Petersburg Times
In keeping with his mantra that smaller government is better government, Florida Gov. Rick Scott reportedly wants to do away with state-backed Citizens Property Insurance.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
‘Parental Notice of Abortion’ bill moves forward with tight restrictions on judicial bypass
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Florida Senate Judiciary committee today passed the “Parental Notice of Abortion” bill with new language that would restrict which courts a minor has access to when seeking a judicial bypass of parental notification.
PIP bills stall in House, Senate
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
An insurance-backed effort to make it easier for the industry to deny personal injury protection claims stalled in both chambers Monday following a withering assault from attorneys who represent motorists, physicians, chiropractors and other providers.
'Politicized' high court won't hear health overhaul, yet
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it won't fast track Virginia's challenge to the Obama administration's divisive health overhaul, a decision as significant for what it did not say as for what it did.
Federal report alleges Florida mismanaged AIDS Drug Assistance Program funds
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
A January 2011 federal report provided to The Florida Independent on the condition of anonymity alleges that federal audits and site visits show that Florida’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS failed to use “available resources in the best interest of people living with HIV and AIDS” while administering its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides HIV/AIDS medications to low-income citizens.
Bondi announces plan, like McAuliffe's, to pay for drug database with cash seized from criminals
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Criminals could foot the bill for the state's prescription drug database under a plan launched by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Tampa Bay's Medicaid patients up for grabs
By Richard Martin and Letitia Stein
St. Petersburg Times
Hospitals in the Tampa Bay region that long have vied for patients now may band together to take on a bigger competitor: the managed care industry.
Leave the exam rooms, lawmakers
By Mona V. Mangat, M.D.
Tampa Tribune
The doctor-patient relationship is critical to the delivery of quality health care.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Tampa Bay protesters rally at Capitol ahead of immigration bill debate
By Katie Sanders and Patricia Mazzei
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A swarm of protesters bused in Monday from the Tampa Bay area called on God to prevent lawmakers from rolling ahead with an immigration crackdown, warning it will divide their families and lead to racial profiling.
Latino leaders oppose Arizona-style immigration bill in Florida Legislature
By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles
Orlando Sentinel
A group of Latino leaders from Central Florida traveled to Tallahassee on Monday to oppose an Arizona-style immigration bill being considered by the Legislature.
ACLU calls on Justice Department to review rollback of felons’ voting rights
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to review state clemency rules approved in March that would end the automatic restoration of civil rights, including the right to vote, for former felons.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Senate offers to trade court realignment for budget progressBy Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
In a gesture to appease House Speaker Dean Cannon, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander agreed Monday to fast-track a major realignment of the Florida Supreme Court, adding language to another bill that would break the court into two separate divisions.
Private-prisons lobbyists count more than reality
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Seven years ago, a prison riot exploded in Palm Beach County that ought to give pause, in 2011, to legislators determined to outsource South Florida’s state prisons to private, for-profit corporations.
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