FEATURED STORIES
Gov. Rick Scott signs controversial election bill into law
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: Florida's governor signs assault on democracy into law
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed a controversial overhaul of the election laws that Republicans say is needed to prevent voter fraud and Democrats call a cynical act of partisanship to improve GOP chances in Florida next year.
Judge holds off ruling in early voting case
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Related editorial: Tallahassee meddling in voting rights
A county judge signaled Thursday that she may uphold a decision by the Miami-Dade elections department to cancel a day of early voting for next Tuesday’s special election.
Florida still ranks poorly on consumer distress index
By Richard Burnett
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Veterans return to high unemployment, tight job market
Although it is slowly crawling out of its economic doldrums, Florida still ranked among the nation's most financially stressed states during the first three months of this year, according to a new survey released Thursday.
In Jacksonville mayoral loss, lessons for Florida GOP
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Republican leaders said over and over in recent weeks that a race for mayor of Jacksonville amounted to the first big Florida fight in the 2012 presidential race.
Perks For Elected Officials
By George Spencer
WFTV Channel 9 Central Florida
State lawmakers cut pension benefits for public workers, but they kept some unusual retirement benefits for themselves.
BEST OF THE BLOGS
The importance of being Jacksonville
By Joy-Ann Reid
The Reid Report
The absentee ballots are pretty much in, and it appears that Democrat Alvin Brown, a former staffer in the Bill Clinton administration, is going to be the new mayor of Jacksonville.
Cholera in Florida
By Dave
Re/Creating Tampa
I’ve mentioned this in the last two Across the Tampa Blogosphere posts, but it seems important enough to get a post of its own.
Flood control: nature bats last
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
Most South Floridians don't know how close our situation is, to the Great Flood in the Mississippi River.
Remember 2000
By Jake
Rantings From Florida
So much time has passed since the 2000 elections, it can be easy to forget the great upset to American democracy which gripped the nation's attention not so long ago.
South Florida says no to new nukes, yes to solar!
By Mandy Hancock
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
On April 30, SACE joined Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, the Tropical Audubon Society, South Florida Clean Energy Coalition, Save it Now Glades!, Greenpeace, and others in south Florida for a clean energy rally in Biscayne Bay National Park.
FLORIDA POLITICS
Elections overhaul signed into law
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
After years of expanding voting opportunities, Florida reversed course Thursday as Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial elections overhaul into law.
Browning defends elections law, says it will take effect immediately
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
Not long after Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial rewrite of state elections laws, Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning spent about half an hour defending the measure to reporters.
State GOP leaders escalate push to restrict voting access
By Chris Kromm
Facing South
Eyes firmly planted on the 2012 elections, Republican state leaders across the South and country continue to push a host of bills aimed at restricting voting access and shaping who casts ballots next year.
The Phantom Menace
The Progress Report
Think Progress
At a time when states are struggling to close record budget deficits and grappling with important issues on everything from education to health care, Republican-led state legislatures across the country have fixated on a problem that doesn't exist, but is politically advantageous: voter fraud.
Gov. Scott issues challenge to Texas governor
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
While environmentalist flood his office with protest calls, Gov. Rick Scott is focused like a laser beam on Chief Executive Magazine.
POLITICAL RACES
Mud flies in Florida House race in Hialeah
By Laura Isensee and Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
The heated Florida House race on Tuesday’s ballot has boiled down to mudslinging — with one candidate labeled a “marionette,” another a Sandinista sympathizer and a state senator furious his name was used in a phony letter.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
For Scott, global warming is just hot air
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Climate scientists are lending their computer modeling and data analysis and research findings and learned assumptions to the new governor’s first state hurricane conference this week.
Critics say growth management bill will harm economy and increase corruption
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Tribune
Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham on Wednesday said a sweeping growth management bill passed by state lawmakers will hurt the state's efforts to recover and diversify its economy.
Some DCA employees receive their pink slips as part of department breakup
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Tribune
Some workers in Florida Department of Community Affairs planning division were told Wednesday they're being laid off because of anticipated budget cuts and the elimination of the department.
In a record dry season, Lake Okeechobee keeps dropping
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
Every year in May, the end of Florida's dry season, water managers obsess about the level of Lake Okeechobee, a major source of drinking and irrigation water in South Florida.
Florida lawmakers trash growth control policies to the detriment of natural environment
Editorial
TC Palm
Nathaniel Reed is one unhappy camper. And, he's far from alone.
Business as usual
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
In the wake of the disastrous Gulf oil spill last year, BP insisted it would spend whatever was necessary to make amends.
LGBT
Equality Florida: Mayoral candidates Campbell, Gimenez, Khavari, Redfern, Robaina support protections for gender identity, sexual orientation
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
The next Miami-Dade Mayor and Commission have some work to do for the LGBT community.
Broward School District investigates incident with lesbians holding hands; one girl outed to parents
By Cara Fitzpatrick
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Broward County School District plans to investigate an incident earlier this month in which a high school principal reportedly threatened a lesbian couple with suspension for holding hands on campus and then outed one of the girls to her parents.
EDUCATION
Grant-for-hire Agreement with Koch, FSU Students Protest
By Jill Chandler
WCTV News Tallahassee
Students are rallying on Florida State's campus in response to a donation from the Koch Brothers Foundation in exchange for say in who gets hired in the economics department.
FSU should end Koch agreement
Editorial
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida State University President Eric Barron's guest column on our pages today makes a welcome call for an independent faculty committee to help ensure that the institution takes "all necessary steps" to protect its academic integrity.
School bill removes citizens from textbook reviews
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
Average citizens may lose what limited role they have now in the state's adoption of public school textbooks -- a proposal from the GOP-controlled Legislature that has infuriated conservative activists already accusing the state of selecting biased instructional materials.
State official targets school vending machines
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said this week he may shut down or restrict the use of vending machines in public schools in response to what he says is a public health epidemic of obesity that could cost the state millions for health care.
Pasco County school district lays off nearly 500
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
Mary Jordan's supervisor arrived at her Pasco Middle School office early Thursday morning.
Yancey: 4-day school week or layoffs; teachers rally over salary
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
Superintendent of Schools Jim Yancey said Thursday that the School District must go to four-day work weeks — including four-day school weeks — or he must consider layoffs.
Later school start, payday irks teachers
By Jason Schultz
Palm Beach Post
The loss of the vaunted "academically high-performing school district" label next year will have Palm Beach County parents waiting a little longer for their children's first day of school this summer, and it has caused complaints from teachers about a 26-day gap between their August paychecks.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
The rich don't create jobs- -demand from the public does, says our guest Dave Johnson
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Our country is still in recession. And there are several schools of thoughts about how to reduce unemployment.
Regulators press Nationwide, MetLife on life insurance practices
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Insurance commissioners from across the country grilled executives from Nationwide and MetLife Thursday in Tallahassee on their life insurance business practices.
Citrus growers ask for veto of changes driven by their own Sen. J.D. Alexander
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Members of the citrus industry are begging Gov. Rick Scott to veto management shake-ups driven by one of their own, Sen. J.D. Alexander.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Proposed federal parental notification law highlights effects of Florida’s own recent anti abortions-rights measures
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
U.S. Senate Republicans recently introduced a bill that would require a doctor to notify a minor’s parents, and wait four days, before providing an abortion.
State lawmaker's son charged with Medicaid fraud
By Julie K. Brown
Miami Herald
Gregory Campbell, the son of Democratic state Rep. Daphne Campbell, has been snared in a $299,000 Medicaid scheme, accused of fraudulently billing the agency for clients he didn't provide any services for.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Obama court pick may be headed for Senate defeatAssociated Press
Tampa Tribune
Liberal law professor Goodwin Liu could become the first Obama administration judicial nominee defeated by the Senate when Democrats try to end a Republican filibuster.
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