Daily Clips for May 31, 2011

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Progressive to address Democratic Club
By Mark Harper
Daytona Beach News-Journal
The founder of Awake the State, a progressive grass-roots effort to fight budget cuts and "the assault on working families," plans to speak Thursday in Deltona. Ray Seaman, online director for Progress Florida, will speak to the Democratic Club of Southwest Volusia in a meeting open to the public.

FEATURED STORIES

President Obama's secret weapon in Florida: Rick Scott
By Glenn Thrush and Byron Tau
Politico
Six months ago, in the wake of the wipeout midterm elections, moderate Florida Sen. Bill Nelson privately vented that President Barack Obama, weighed down by his health reform effort and muddled messaging, was “toxic” for Democrats back home.

Elections supervisors in key counties refuse to implement new law
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related edidtorial: Vote suppression must not stand
The elections supervisor in Rick Scott's home county refuses to recognize a new law the governor signed out of concerns that the U.S. Department of Justice hasn't decided whether it violates a law protecting minority voters.

'We've done the bait and switch'
By Paul Flemming
Florida Capital News
Lawmakers and governors have used a broom to balance Florida's budget during the Great Recession, sweeping out $2.8 billion from 95 dedicated pots of money and using it to keep the state in the black.

Gov. Rick Scott's office: We didn't kick anyone out of budget signing
By Aaron Sharockman and Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A day after some Democrats were removed from Gov. Rick Scott's budget signing by sheriff's deputies because the event was "private," a Scott spokesman tried to deflect blame by claiming that Scott's office ordered no one out. Only that's not true.

Ethics reform ignored by Florida lawmakers
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
For all the major reforms Florida lawmakers took on this year, they failed to enact stronger ethics standards for public officials despite a rash of corruption cases from South Florida to Sarasota.

Did BP's oil-dissolving chemical make the spill worse?
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
BP succeeded in sinking the oil from its blown well out of sight — and keeping much of it away from beaches and marshes last year — by dousing the crude with nearly 2 million gallons of toxic chemicals.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Democrats kicked out of Gov. Scott’s budget signing: the irrefutable evidence
By Joy-Ann Reid
The Reid Report
Here’s the video evidence of the event the governor’s spokesman claims never happened.

Lawmakers call Scott's veto total and his intent, into question
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
Governor Rick Scott signed Florida's budget on the road this week, making it a campaign-style event before a friendly crowd in a Republican and Tea Party dominated part of the state.

Florida Republicans put out Scott robocall on budget
By William March
Tampa Tribune
The state Republican Party sent out a robocall in which Gov. Rick Scott pushed his position on the $69.1 billion state budget he signed Thursday, including the contention that his vetoes cut "special interest waste" and that he wants the proceeds to go to public schools.

GOP won’t let democracy get out of hand
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters, Rick Scott is now one of the country’s most unpopular governors, a dubious feat after only four months in office.

Browning can't make case
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning says he does not understand why his ex-colleagues, the state's elections supervisors, howl about the pernicious new election rules signed into law by Gov. Scott this month.

'Fair districts' for Florida is only a beginning
By Howard Troxler
St. Petersburg Times
Let's talk about fair voting districts for Florida.

How the jobs session became the politics session
By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post
It was one day from the scheduled end of a frantic legislative session, and Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, had seen and heard enough.

Conservative groups score big this year in state legislatures
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
Texas lawmakers passed a law this spring requiring women seeking abortions to get an ultrasound.

Government secrecy in Florida is out of hand
By Howard Troxler
St. Petersburg Times
We have a simple and important principle in Florida: What the government does is the public's business.

POLITICAL RACES

Medicare plays key role in Florida's U.S. Senate Republican race
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Democrats see a defining issue for 2012 in the controversial Republican plan to overhaul Medicare.

President Obama returning to Miami next month to raise money
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
President Barack Obama is set to return to Miami on June 13 for a series of campaign fundraisers.

Visiting GOP hopefuls attest to value of Florida primary
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney visited Jacksonville to raise money and solidify his standing as the perceived front runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

Bennett hopes to join Buchanan in Congress
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida Sen. Mike Bennett made his long-planned run for Congress official this week, filing his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to challenge U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, in the 11th Congressional District.

Challenge of two Miami-Dade mayoral candidates: Broaden bases
By Martha Brannigan and Matthew Haggman
Miami Herald
With the race for Miami-Dade County mayor narrowed to two candidates, the challenge for Julio Robaina and Carlos Gimenez is to broaden their bases of support while keeping loyalists on board through a summer doldrum of a campaign.

Myriad of failures led to Mike Hogan's defeat in Jacksonville runoff
By Jim Schoettler
Florida Times-Union
The day after the March 22 primary, former Jacksonville councilwoman Suzanne Jenkins got a call from a relative of Mike Hogan's asking her to endorse him for mayor.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Citizens can push for more say in government
By John Hedrick
Florida Today
Signs abound of citizen dissatisfaction with local and state governments.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Funding nil for Florida Forever
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
It was once the largest conservation land-buying program in the nation, a $300-million-dollar-a-year jewel that in the past 10 years has set aside 2.4 million acres of open spaces, parks and wildlife habitat.

Scott signs law cutting water districts' budgets; environmentalists worried
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Environmentalists said Friday they remain wary of legislation signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott that sharply reduces water managers' dollars while giving lawmakers new control over district spending.

A guide to Florida's proposed nuclear expansions
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Construction of Florida's newest nuclear reactors could start in 2013.

154 groups urge feds to act on post-BP disaster health crisis
By Sue Sturgis
Facing South
A coalition of 154 organizations sent a letter yesterday to the heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, asking them to take immediate action to address the public health crisis on the Gulf Coast triggered by last year's BP oil spill.

How long can South Florida’s hurricane luck last?
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Florida enters hurricane season 2011, which commences on Wednesday, officially pushing its luck.

Oil spill's not over
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
It's hard to say what, exactly, is causing the sick fish which now appear to be spread across a wide area of the Gulf of Mexico.

EDUCATION

More Cash for Schools Illusionary
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott’s call to use money he vetoed from the state budget to increase school funding is being called “disingenuous.”

Scott's textbook case of myopia: Three bureaucrats will now review school materials
By Bill Maxwell
St. Petersburg Times
When Gov. Rick Scott signed the state budget into law last week at the Villages retirement community, he virtually removed the concept of "public" from the process of adopting textbooks and other instructional materials for Florida's public schools.

Dade teachers may get merit pay this summer
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
The Miami-Dade school district is poised to become one of the first in the nation to launch a merit pay program — one that could propel top teachers to more than $100,000 in compensation.

Broward teachers brace for more cuts
By Rafael Olmeda
South Florida Sun Sentinel
About 400 Broward teachers can expect to be told next week that their current positions are being eliminated, Superintendent Jim Notter said Friday.

8% of Florida students default on school loans
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Forget term papers and roommate conflicts. For many students, the biggest college stress comes after they leave school.

College Students Face Drop in Bright Futures, Jump in Tuition
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
Florida students seeking college degrees during these difficult economic times now face a 20 percent drop in Bright Futures scholarship money and predicted tuition hikes.

Universities now for sale?
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
We don't what Florida State University officials were thinking when they granted the right so approve faculty hires to rich donors in return for a donation of $1.5 million.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Breaking down Florida's pension reform changes
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
On Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law significant reforms to the Florida Retirement System, the state-run pension fund for 655,000 state and county employees.

Consumers aren't happy about Scott's insurance policy
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Even though his fellow Republicans hammered him for his refusal to give in to the marketplace logic and demands of the industry, Gov. Charlie Crist never wavered during his four years in office: he was an unrelenting supporter of regulating the property insurance market.

Workforce Central Florida jobs agency gave contracts to board member, executive's mom
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Workforce Central Florida, the agency that proposed giving capes to the unemployed, has repeatedly given contracts and awards to companies linked to its board members and to at least one business with family ties to a senior Workforce executive.

Lawmakers, lobbyists to make new push for 'destination' casinos
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A movement to bring Las Vegas-style "destination casinos" to Florida fell apart this year when lawmakers could not come to an agreement on whether the state should further expand its gaming industry.

Prodded by pro sports teams, Florida clamps down on traveling workers who claim injuries
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Florida workers who travel as part of their jobs may soon have a harder time claiming benefits from on-the-job accidents — thanks, in large part, to the state's professional sports teams.

Graduates struggle to find the first rung on the career ladder
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
At a time when Kat McPadden should be thinking about how to decorate her classroom for the new school year, the recent Florida State University graduate instead is spending her days unpacking boxes back in her childhood bedroom.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Health care services for women and children among Scott vetoes, crisis pregnancy centers untouched
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Gov. Rick Scott yesterday vetoed almost $1.5 million for a handful of community health care clinics in Florida that provide adult and pediatric primary health care services, family planning, immunizations and STD and HIV screening, among other services, to low-income and minority patients.

Florida turns down $35.7M grant
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In March, Gov. Rick Scott’s staff said he would accept a $35.7-million federal health grant called the “Money Follows the Person.”

FL HMO profits for last year $675 million
By Brittany Davis
Health News Florida
With premiums and co-pays rising and insurers' spending on medical care dropping, Florida HMOs are rolling in cash.

Review of Florida's public hospitals begins
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The day after Gov. Rick Scott drew criticism for cutting some $615 million in state spending, his administration embarked on another contentious venture: taking on Florida's public hospital system.

Florida flunks in providing dental care for poor children
By Megan O’Matz
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Here’s news that shouldn’t make Floridians smile: For the second year in a row, the Sunshine State has received an F for its efforts to help provide poor children with dental care.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Tea party wants U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to step into contentious immigration debate Republicans want to avoid
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
A crack is forming in U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's tea party.

Diversity growing within U.S. Hispanic communities
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
A Pew Hispanic Center report about the country-of-origin of Hispanics in 30 U.S. metropolitan areas indicates that Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban origin or descent remain the nation’s three largest Hispanic groups, but diversity within the Latino community is increasing.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban
By Kenneth P. Vogel
Politico
A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks.

Supreme Court gives Southern states more incentive to push prison alternatives
By Chris Kromm
Facing South
The Supreme Court's ruling this week that California's prisons are so overcrowded it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment -- requiring the release of 30,000 prisoners -- is rightly being heralded as a landmark case for the rights of the incarcerated.

Six finalists chosen for two spots on the Parole Commission
By Kim MacQueen
Florida Tribune
A search committee voted Friday to send to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet a slate of six names for appointment to the Florida Parole Commission.

Daily Clips for May 27, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott signs budget, vetoes $615 million in spending
By Marc Caputo and Aaron Sharockman
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
At a campaign-style event that banned some Democrats, Republican Gov. Rick Scott fashioned himself into Florida's new veto king Thursday when he axed $615 million from the state budget before signing it.

Gov. Rick Scott's budget scene scripted down to who could attend
By Aaron Sharockman
St. Petersburg Times
Each detail of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's first budget signing was painstakingly considered.

Gov. Scott panders, veto pen in his hand
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
The governor who claimed he's not a typical Tallahassee politician demonstrated again Thursday he is no different at all.

Gov. Rick Scott signs pension reform into law
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
State employees will be required to put 3 percent of their salaries toward retirement starting in July.

Poll: Floridians warm to Obama; in U.S. Senate race, Nelson on top
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
President Obama's Florida approval rating is above water for the first time in 13 months, according to Quinnipiac University's first statewide poll since the president ordered the raid that killed Islamist terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Upholding of Arizona illegal-immigrant employment law may affect future Florida legislation
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an Arizona law that penalizes businesses for employing workers who are in the country illegally, rejecting arguments that immigration is a federal issue and paving the way for similar sanctions in Florida and other states.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

A Job Killing Budget With Veto Threats, Rick Scott: "It's Going To Be Fun!"
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
A new Quinnipiac University poll came out today, and as expected Gov. Rick Scott is now even more unpopular than he was in April.

Is Rick Scott helping Obama win Florida in 2012?
By Brian E. Crowley
Crowley Political Report
Crowley Political Report is not sure whether to admire Florida Gov. Rick Scott for sticking to his beliefs about state government or to simply note that once again Scott and his team remain clueless about what Floridians really want.

GOP Congressman Tells Televangelists U.S. Must Give Aid To Israel Or ‘Lose God’s Hand’
By Lee Fang
Think Progress
Last weekend, Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL) appeared on “Good Life 45,” a televangelist program based near his central-Florida district.

Budget Turkeys? Hah! Here’s the 2011 Turducken Awards
By Bruce Seaman
Daily Marion
You may have heard of the recently announced 2011 Turkey Watch List provided by big business front group, Florida Tax Watch.

Introducing my first infographic: Rick Scott’s First Legislative Session
By Peter Schorsch
St. Petersblog 2.0
Vision is our most dominant sense. It takes up 50% of our brain’s resources.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott signs new Fla. budget but vetoes $615M first
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott signed a $69.1 billion state budget Thursday, but before doing that he vetoed a record $615 million in spending, including money for environmental land purchases, college and university buildings, homeless veterans, public broadcasting and local projects ranging from health care to rowing.

New governor? Not hardly
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
So Gov. Scott does pay attention to his cratering approval ratings.

When going gets tough, Scott heads to The Villages
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Everyone knows that if you win the Super Bowl, you go to Disney World.

Undaunted Democratic legislator pushes recall provision again
By Gary Fineout
Florida Tribune
Undaunted by his inability to get his proposal heard this year, a St. Petersburg Democratic lawmaker is pushing ahead again with a proposed constitutional amendment that would let voters recall the governor as well as members of the Cabinet and the Florida Legislature.

Rick Scott: One and done.
By Mike Thomas
Orlando Sentinel
In March I wrote Rick Scott was on track to becoming a one-term wonder.

Scott administration filling out top positions
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Tribune
Some of the top officials in the administration of Gov. Rick Scott in the last few weeks have finally begun filling the ranks of senior management.

Wasserman Schultz calls GOP 'anti-women' and Florida's GOP women fight back
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
A group of Republican women in the U.S. House issued a statement this evening condemning remarks by Florida Rep. and DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz that the GOP is "anti-women."

POLITICAL RACES

Tim Pawlenty fills out Florida team
By Kendra Marr
Politico
Tim Pawlenty expanded his Florida finance team Thursday, adding four veterans of presidential politics in the Sunshine State.

Miami-Dade election blues
Editorial
Miami Herald
For all the fiery passion of Miami-Dade County’s recall election, the numbers say loads about voters’ disconnect with our civic life — both in March, when county Mayor Carlos Alvarez was fired by the 17 percent of voters who went to the polls, and this past Tuesday, when less than 16 percent bothered to vote for his successor or weigh in on six charter amendments.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Swiftmud's longtime chief resigns
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
The longtime executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District has resigned, leading to questions about whether Gov. Rick Scott is pushing out the directors of all five of the state water districts.

Scott appoints retired PSC director as his new energy advisor
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott, who proclaimed during his campaign for governor that he didn't believe in the science of global warming and urged the state to open its coastal waters to oil drilling, has used his veto message to announce a new-found commitment to energy policy.

BP asks judge to dismiss many spill claims
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
BP PLC asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss most of the court claims filed against the oil giant by businesses and individuals who say they suffered economic damage from last year's massive Gulf oil spill.

EDUCATION

Third-grade FCAT results hard to compare
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
While scores on the third-grade FCAT held steady this year in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, state education officials cautioned Thursday against reading too much into them.

More than a dozen apply to become Florida's next education commissioner
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
At least a dozen candidates have applied to be Florida's next education commissioner.

At FSU: Ask the faculty
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Florida State University has taken a lot of heat over the disclosure that, in return for a $1.5 million endowment to its economics department from the Charles G. Koch Foundation, it gave a panel hand-picked by the foundation veto power over faculty hires.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

DCF lays off 500 workers, claims children will not be affected
By Kate Santich
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Department of Children and Families began issuing layoff notices Thursday to nearly 500 employees — a move officials said would save taxpayers $48 million while preserving the agency's protection and care of abused and neglected kids.

It took a court decision, but Florida’s minimum wage will go up six cents June 1
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Florida’s minimum wage will increase from $7.25 to $7.31 per hour effective June 1 — a result of a successful constitutional challenge filed in January by farm, restaurant, nursery and service employees, as well as day laborers and other low-wage workers.

NASA says commercial rockets will fly to space station by 2012
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
NASA's plans to use commercial rockets to supply the International Space Station are running almost two years behind schedule and will cost $300 million more than expected, according to a watchdog report presented to Congress on Thursday.

Florida's Siesta Beach is nation's top beach
By Mitch Stacy
Associated Press
After years as a head-turning bridesmaid in the best-beach rankings, Sarasota's Siesta Beach is finally the bride.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Three-judge panel named for health care challenge
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The three appellate judges hearing arguments between the government and 26 states over the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care law range from a veteran judge with a solid conservative record to a jurist known for her ability to pick apart lawyers to an ex-federal prosecutor who fought organized crime.

State can’t spend $35.7M grant
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In March, Gov. Rick Scott’s staff said he would accept a $35.7-million federal health grant called the “Money Follows the Person.”

Scott vetoes bill that would eliminated agency overseeing medical care of Fla. prisoners
News Service of Florida
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott vetoed legislation Thursday that would have eliminated the Correctional Medical Authority, which has provided independent oversight of medical care of Florida prisoners for about two decades.

Florida effort to strip family planning mandate from Medicaid could bring federal scrutiny
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Washington Post reported this week that Indiana could lose out on some Medicaid funding from the federal government because of the state’s efforts to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.

Harvard researchers: Fetal pain bills are ‘neither scientifically nor constitutionally sound’
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
This past legislative session, Florida was among a handful of states that sought to limit access to abortions when the age of the fetus is 20 weeks or more.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

State closes controversial Panhandle reform school
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A state reform school for boys in the Florida Panhandle where former students said they were physically and sexually abused some 40 years ago will close June 30.

Long overdue end to Dozier School for Boys' legacy of abuse
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
The news comes decades too late for generations of abused young men.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

SCOTUS upholds parts of Ariz. law that tripped up Fla lawmakers
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday upheld parts of a controversial Arizona immigration law that Florida lawmakers wanted but struggled to emulate in the 2011 legislative session.

Daily Clips for May 26, 2011

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

Awake the State organizer previews major statewide rally in Orlando (audio story)
By Sean Kinane
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Related: Festival For Florida’s Future website
More than 4000 jobs were cut from the state budget that was recently passed by the Florida Legislature.

FEATURED STORIES

The job-killing governor
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott will sign into law today a $69.7 billion state budget for 2011-12 that he boasts is all about creating jobs and reducing Florida's high unemployment.

Poll: Rick Scott one of the nation's least popular governors
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott is one of the least popular governors in the United States, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll that shows 57 percent of Florida voters disapprove of his job performance.

Experts mixed on whether Scott's low ratings will hurt GOP
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott's voter approval rating hit a historically rare low of 29 percent in a new poll released Wednesday, raising questions about whether his unpopularity could affect Republicans in the 2012 elections.

Florida pols wary as Medicare concerns sweep NY Democrat into GOP congressional seat
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
As Democrats crowed that their upset victory in a special New York congressional election signaled a larger repudiation of a GOP Medicare proposal, Republicans blamed messaging rather than the plan itself.

Questionable Voting Practices Seen In State Senate
By George Spencer
WFTV Channel 9 Central Florida
One state representative claimed his vote was stolen. Others say they were just covering for colleagues who were too busy to vote themselves.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Experts: Scott's approval decline a result of poor communication
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
Despite keeping his promises not to raise taxes and to shrink government, Gov. Rick Scott's approval ratings keep plunging.

Response to Scott in rules case: ‘Supreme executive power’ is still ‘subject to Florida law’
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
The legal team that challenged two executive orders issued by Gov. Rick Scott has responded to his filings with the state Supreme Court, arguing the governor’s power is not as broad as he claims.

POLITICAL RACES

Will Scott's poor poll numbers hand the state to Obama in 2012?
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times
Related: Obama approval ratings jump in FL
That was one of the questions from Sid Rosenberg of WQAM in Miami, who had Gov. Rick Scott on the radio this afternoon.

Hasner embraces Ryan budget plan, LeMieux calls it ‘better than nothing and disaster’
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Some Republicans might be nervous about House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan after a formerly safe GOP congressional seat was captured by a Ryan-bashing Democrat in a Tuesday special election in western New York.

2 Senate hopefuls call for big cuts
By Jennifer Kay
Associated Press
Two Republican Senate hopefuls on Wednesday called for massive federal spending cuts and said they would not support raising the national debt ceiling without them.

In South Florida, Tim Pawlenty praises GOP Medicare plan
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Tim Pawlenty brought his nascent presidential campaign to Coral Gables on Tuesday to introduce himself to coveted Florida voters as the candidate who is not afraid to tackle thorny political questions such as overhauling Social Security and Medicare.

Florida's First Coast shocks the GOP
By John A. Tures
Southern Political Report
As a college senior at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 1991, I met and began dating my future wife, a native of Jacksonville, Florida.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

PSC will search for new director with committee of one
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida Public Service Commission spent part of its internal affairs meeting Wednesday struggling with how to search for a new executive director while meeting Florida's open-meeting laws.

PSC chairman won't say why he wanted agency head ousted from Public Service Commission
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Tribune
Public Service Commission Chairman Art Graham confirmed Tuesday that he asked Executive Director Timothy J. Devlin to resign after 35 years with the agency but Graham would not say why.

Florida unwisely repeals its growth laws
By Howard Troxler
St. Petersburg Times
I do not think enough Floridians realize what this governor and this Legislature have done — are doing — to our state.

Feds back sick fish study
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
Concerned about reports of sick fish turning up in the wake of last year's oil spill, federal officials have agreed to pursue an ambitious survey of the entire Gulf of Mexico using commercial fisherman to determine how many more fish might be affected.

UCF Scientist: Dolphins Impacted by BP Oil Spill
By Z. Kotala
UCF Today
The BP oil spill and the dispersants used to clean it up may be contributing to the unusually high number of dolphins dying in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a University of Central Florida scientist.

EDUCATION

Pinellas School Board to vote on budget cuts with 400 jobs on the line
By Ron Matus
St. Petersburg Times
When the Pinellas County School Board votes tonight on the biggest budget cuts in six straight years of cuts, 400 jobs will be on the line, as well as furloughs for 17,000 employees and, perhaps, a goodbye for Sara Smith.

Miami-Dade teachers won't get pay raises, but will be safe from layoffs
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
The Miami-Dade school district and its teachers' union have reached a tentative agreement on salaries for next year.

Dozens of Orange schools lack art, music teachers
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
Students in Frinzetta Boman's kindergarten class gleefully sing the "Good Morning" song, illustrate vocabulary words and dance as they sing their numbers.

State to release third-grade FCAT scores
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Elementary schools across the Sunshine State will soon learn how their third-graders fared on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Budget Poll, Voters Don’t Like It
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott will sign the state budget tomorrow at the Villages. The 70 billion dollar spending plan reduces spending, cuts corporate income taxes, lowers education spending and eliminates 45-hundred state jobs.

New property insurance law predicted to help bottom line for insurers
By Gary Fineout
Florida Tribune
One of the nation’s credit rating agencies said that a newly enacted property insurance measure would help private insurers operating in the state of Florida.

Loophole lets theme parks cut tax bills
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Disney is avoiding some state and local taxes by selling theme-park tickets and other items to itself.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State mental hospitals start notifying employees of layoffs
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
State mental hospitals have begun notifying about 240 administrative and maintenance employees of impending layoffs, part of nearly 500 job cuts earlier announced by the Department of Children and Families.

Cuts for prison health-care agency under fire
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
An agency at the center of the resolution of a 20-year legal battle between the state and its prisoners is facing the chopping block as Gov. Rick Scott considers a bill that would abolish the Correctional Medical Authority.

Which hospital highest in infections?
By Brittany Davis
Health News Florida
Orlando Regional is disputing the results of a Medicare study that found an exceptionally high rate of life-threatening bloodstream infections -- a hospital-acquired illness that health officials say should never happen.

State's largest medical malpractice carrier reaps big windfall in sale
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Tribune
The state’s largest medical malpractice insurance company announced Tuesday that it has been sold for $362 million, representing a 31 percent increase over the stock price of the company before the sale.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Research and business organizations: Mandatory E-Verify would harm the economy
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Participants in a Tuesday conference call hosted by the National Immigration Forum said mandatory E-Verify without immigration reform would harm the U.S. economy.