FEATURED STORIES
House, Senate approve austere budgets
By Steve Bousquet and Marc Caputo
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
As the Senate and House adopted austere budgets marked by deep cuts in health care and schools Thursday, transplant surgery survivor Mary Ellen Ross had an urgent plea for lawmakers.
Protestors deliver pink slips to Scott, criticize plans to ‘starve the unions’
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
The first floor of Florida’s Capitol was flooded with hundreds of protestors delivering pink slips to Gov. Rick Scott today.
Florida House, Senate pass budgets, but pension highlights big differences
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
The state Senate and House passed their proposed budgets Thursday, setting up a showdown between the two chambers whose spending plans sit more than $3 billion apart.
Senate slashes hospitals, others
By Jim Saunders
Health News Florida
The Florida Senate today approved a proposed 2011-12 budget that would slash hundreds of millions of dollars for hospitals, mental-health services and the Medically Needy program.
Is House speaker's court reform a redistricting sneak-attack?
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Lawyers and Democrats teamed up Thursday to blast a plan pushed by House Speaker Dean Cannon to conduct reconstructive surgery on Florida's judicial system, labeling it a stealth attempt to "stack" the court ahead of the 2012 redistricting process.
BEST OF THE BLOGS
In Florida We Don’t Have Recourse to Recall
By Buck Banks
Pensito Review
Down here in Florida we gaze wistfully northward to Wisconsin.
Florida Dem chair pins party’s hopes on redistricting, won’t rule out gov run
By Joy-Ann Reid
The Reid Report
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith believes Florida’s misshapen districts have hampered Democrats’ ability to win elections, almost more than any other factor.
Rick Scott's Bottom Line: Hail To The Chamber!
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
Just in case there are any Floridians left who really believe Rick Scott has their best interests in mind, he's taken part in an "infomercial" with the Florida Chamber Of Commerce and their President, Mark Wilson to boldly prove otherwise.
AFL-CIO’s Rich Templin Calls for Floridians to Fight Back
By Kenneth Quinnell
Florida Progressive Coalition
On Tuesday night, Florida progressive bloggers were invited to participate in a conference call with a new group called Fight For Florida.
Is Rhee the Answer? Or Did Someone Fill the Bubble In Later
By Jake
Rantings From Florida
When Gov. Rick Scott began his transition to Tallahassee, everyone wondered what sort of government experts this private sector leader would seek out for guidance.
FLORIDA POLITICS
Florida Legislative Session First-Half Report: Yuck!
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
There were a lot of interesting dynamics going into the 2011 legislative session.
Disapproving Scott Voters Switch Parties
Staff Report
News 4 Jax
Groups of Republican voters who once favored Gov. Rick Scott said they're suffering from voter's remorse.
Some Hispanics concerned over Scott invitation
By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott will be a speaker later this month at the second annual Hispanic Business Conference in Orlando, but his appearance isn't proving to be a popular choice.
Florida lawmakers plan for deep budget cuts and government worker layoffs
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida's tough economy knifes through separate spending proposals approved Thursday by the Republican-led House and Senate, with deep cuts to schools, health and social programs used to cover an almost $3.8 billion budget shortfall.
Democrats: House Speaker Dean Cannon's court reform proposal is attempt to stack deck for redistricting
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The day after House Speaker Dean Cannon revised a plan for revamping the Florida Supreme Court, some Democrats charged the proposal is all about packing the court with judges sympathetic to Republicans in advance of redistricting.
House votes to deregulate many businesses
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida House voted Thursday to strip government oversight of more than a dozen professions, including auctioneers, yacht brokers and talent agents.
Florida bill would crack down on panhandling
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Tampa City Council members have struggled to agree on a solution for the city's panhandling problem.
Retirement bill could lead to ‘triple-dipping’
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Senate Bill 2100 aims to re-revise several key provisions of Florida’s retirement system, but according to its critics, including state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, the bill could allow for state-sanctioned “triple-dipping” of retirement benefits.
Today in Tallahassee: Pace slows, vouchers get a hearing
By Patricia Mazzei
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After two days of grueling budget debates, state lawmakers will take on a lighter workload today.
POLITICAL RACES
George LeMieux says record will carry him in Senate bid
By Abel Harding
Florida Times-Union
George LeMieux says he’s counting on his voting record to distinguish himself from what is likely to be a crowded field vying to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson.
Likely presidential candidate Barbour visits Tallahassee
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a likely Republican presidential candidate, made a trip to the most important swing state's Capitol, but he wouldn't answer the most important question on the minds of political insiders.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
U.S. House votes to rescind EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases
By John Amick
Florida Independent
The U.S. House voted 255-172 in favor of restricting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental groups say Bennett is wrong about their support for his bills
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Tribune
Environmental groups say, despite statements by a Senate bill sponsor, they're opposing bills that they say would gut state oversight of growth management.
Dead dolphins, turtles still washing ashore along gulf coast
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
A lot of dead dolphins continue to wash ashore along the Gulf Coast and now a lot of sea turtles — most of them rare Kemp's ridleys — are washing up dead too, federal officials said Thursday.
New aerial images deepen concerns about Gulf seafood safety
By Sue Sturgis
Facing South
New aerial images from the Gulf of Mexico are deepening concerns about whether seafood currently being harvested from those waters is safe to eat.
Group: Oil spill imperiled inch-long seahorses
Associated Press
Miami Herald
An environmental group is asking the federal government to list an inch-long seahorse that lives in the Gulf of Mexico, off Florida and in the Caribbean, as endangered or threatened, saying last year's BP PLC oil spill pushed it closer to extinction.
Lawmakers change bill to allow Pinellas County sales ban on nitrogen fertilizers
By Janet Zink and Patricia Mazzei
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Good news for Pinellas County: Its summer sales ban on nitrogen-based fertilizers can remain in place.
Legal action seeks to slow rush to build new nuclear reactors across the South
By Sue Sturgis
Facing South
A coalition of public-interest groups filed a legal challenge today with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking to halt the fast-track approval process for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor that utilities are planning to build across the South.
LGBT
Service chiefs move ahead on gays in military law
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The chiefs of the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps say they will implement the new policy on allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
EDUCATION
Florida Senate votes to loosen class size limits
Associated Press
Ft. Myers News-Press
The state Senate has voted to loosen Florida's class size limits.
Expand 'virtual' schools, say lawmakers
By Patricia Mazzei
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
More students could learn from a laptop in their bedroom rather than a whiteboard in a brick-and-mortar classroom under a pair of proposals in the Florida Legislature that would dramatically expand virtual school.
Senate plan would slash university system chancellor's salary
By Jodie Tillman
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
State university system chancellor Frank Brogan could see his salary cut by more than a third under a Senate plan to eliminate the foundation of the Board of Governors.
Florida Board of Education hires firm to help replace Education Commissioner Eric Smith
By Rebecca Catalanello
St. Petersburg Times
The state Board of Education hired an Iowa search firm Thursday to help find a replacement for departing Education Commissioner Eric Smith.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Florida schools, health care face $4 billion in cuts
By Kathleen Haughney and Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida lawmakers approved austere, competing budget cuts for public schools, health care and public workers Thursday as hundreds of protesters crowded the Capitol building, decrying Gov. Rick Scott's fiscal prescription for the state.
House debates pension plan
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
Related: Senate approves pension plan
House Democrats argued passionately today against a Republican proposal to require public employees to pay 3 percent of their salaries into the state retirement plan, a major policy shift that some of the critics labeled immoral.
House passes bills eliminating, reducing state licensing requirements for professions
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Auto repair shops, auctioneers, dance studios, movers and telemarketers are among the many types of businesses the state has long regulated to make it harder for unscrupulous operators to rip off consumers.
Big companies, big tax breaks
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
When Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes," he didn't know about General Electric.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Halfway through; what’s next?
By Jim Saunders
Health News Florida
Just past the halfway point of the 2011 session, the Florida House and Senate approved competing budget plans Thursday that rely heavily on cutting health- and human-services programs.
Targeting the disabled — A heartless, impractical move
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Late last week, Gov. Rick Scott blindsided tens of thousands of disabled Floridians and their caregivers by signing an executive order to immediately cut their funding.
Amendments to shift taxpayer funding from crisis pregnancy centers to family planning fail
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
As the Florida House and Senate discussed their budget proposals yesterday, Democrats in both houses introduced amendments that would have cut funding for so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel women against abortions, into family planning services provided by country health departments.
Who gets cheap health insurance? The Florida Legislature
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Tribune
Republicans pushing for changes in the state’s health insurance program for its employees have complained the state may be spending too much money for a program that is out of line with what private companies offer.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Latinos Rise in Numbers, Not Influence
By Don Van Natta Jr.
New York Times
Over the last decade, Florida’s Hispanic population has exploded, especially in central Florida, where the number of Hispanic residents in Orange County jumped 84 percent.
Bill unlinks job licenses from rights restoration
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A bill that would take occupational licenses out of the civil rights denied to ex-convicts has unanimously cleared the House Judiciary committee.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
House panel OK's revamp of high courtBy John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
House Speaker Dean Cannon's latest push to revamp the Florida Supreme Court sailed through the House Judiciary Committee Thursday in a 12-6 vote along party lines - with Democrats ridiculing the measure as unneeded and chiefly a partisan payback.
Another 1st District Court of Appeal ruling challenged
By Lucy Morgan
St. Petersburg Times
Lawyers for a Lakeland firefighter have asked the Florida Supreme Court to step into yet another decision made by the 1st District Court of Appeal in a case heard while the appeals court was building a controversial $50 million courthouse.
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