FEATURED STORIES
Pink slips flowing throughout state government
By Gary Fineout
Florida Current
Nearly 2,000 state workers -- and maybe more -- have been told they are losing their jobs at the end of the week.
Gov. Scott attended private weekend retreat hosted by influential Koch brothers
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged Tuesday what his staff had refused to disclose: He flew to Colorado over the weekend to attend a secretive policy retreat hosted by powerful conservative donors Charles and David Koch.
Looking for support, Gov. Scott gets on the phone — and dials you
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
The calls have been coming most every week, the same amiable voice on the other side of the line.
Critics label redistricting hearings a "sham"
By James Call
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
Deidre McNabb, president of the League of Women Voters, does not like the rules lawmakers are following for redistricting hearings.
Proposal to put privately run campgrounds in Florida state parks draws opposition
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
A controversial proposal to let private contractors build and operate campgrounds at Florida state parks, including allowing recreational vehicles at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin, is drawing fire from fresh quarters this week.
FLORIDA POLITICS
Scott warns on SunRail as his decision nears
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: SunRail tests Scott's principles
Facing an end-of-the-week deadline to decide the fate of a controversial commuter rail project, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday sent his top transportation adviser to Central Florida to warn local officials that they'll be on the hook if the project ultimately fails.
Lawyers arguing Rick Scott's Florida rulemaking suspension
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The Florida Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in a challenge to Gov. Rick Scott's suspension of state rulemaking.
Gov. Scott makes headlines on 'The Colbert Report'
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
Gov. Rick Scott’s self-congratulatory little letter to Florida newspaper editors has grabbed some national network attention, but probably not the kind the governor would write home about.
Fla. Gov. Scott attended meeting hosted by billionaire Koch brothers in Colorado
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida Gov. Rick Scott attended an invitation-only meeting hosted by conservative billionaire GOP donors David and Charles Koch outside Vail, Colo., the governor's staff confirmed Tuesday.
Groups urge federal denial of voting-law changes
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
Three groups sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday, urging the federal government to reject the latest changes to Florida election laws.
Ruling in ACLU elections lawsuit could be imminent
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
Last week, lawyers for Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Kurt Browning responded to the case brought in federal court with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, which seeks to block implementation of a sweeping set of changes to state elections laws.
New voter registration laws don't stop everyone
By Aubrey Whelan
St. Petersburg Times
Standing inside the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office early Tuesday morning, Vince Cocks proudly handed over 13 completed voter registration forms.
First Bill Nelson's, now Marco Rubio's Jacksonville office targeted
By Dana Treen
Florida Times-Union
For the second day in a row the Sheriff's Office bomb squad was called to a U.S. senator's Jacksonville office for a suspicious letter, this time Sen. Marco Rubio's.
POLITICAL RACES
Fla. leaders may set presidential primary for first Thursday, Friday or Saturday in March
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Florida Republican leaders may set the state's 2012 presidential primary on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday in early March in hopes of giving the Sunshine State early election clout while avoiding the wrath of national GOP calendar enforcers.
American Conservative Union plans regional CPAC in Orlando
By Alexander Burns
Politico
The American Conservative Union will announce today that it plans to hold the first regional Conservative Political Action Conference this fall in Orlando, potentially making “CPAC FL” a key stop in the 2012 presidential primaries.
PPP poll: Charlie Crist, as a Democrat, would 'crush' Rick Scott
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Rick Scott was already tied with John Kasich as the least popular Governor in the country in PPP's polling but now he has that designation all to himself.
Gimenez elected Miami-Dade mayor
By Matthew Haggman, Patricia Mazzei and Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Related: New Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez faces heavy agenda
Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami city manager and county commissioner who touted himself as the candidate with the experience to solve the most nettlesome problems, will be Miami-Dade County’s next mayor after defeating former Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina by a slim margin.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Progress Energy customers will have to pay for some Crystal River nuclear plant repair costs
By Ivan Penn
St. Petersburg Times
Progress Energy customers can expect pay as much as $560 million in costs the utility incurs as it repairs the Crystal River nuclear plant.
Resistance building to state plans to add campgrounds in four state parks
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Proposals by state park officials to build new campgrounds at four state parks faced a growing wave of opposition on Tuesday.
Feds may reopen St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge to public after 40 years
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
This light-green sea of waist-high grass west of Titusville once coddled the last of the dusky seaside sparrows.
Shark-killing ban proposal spurs controversy
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Seated on the beach in the late afternoon sun, William Fundora reeled in his fishing line as his pole bowed with the weight of something very, very big.
Georgia wins a major victory in water wars with Florida and Alabama
Staff Report
Florida Current
Georgia on Tuesday claimed a substantial victory in the two-decade old water wars with Alabama and Florida.
Takeover of Florida water shuts out citizens
By Tom Swihart
St. Petersburg Times
Recent state power grabs have overturned four decades of making key water management decisions at the local and regional level in Florida.
Florida’s disdain for protecting water quality
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
Florida is heading down a dangerous path with policies that imperil the quality of the water in the state’s rivers, lakes and estuaries.
LGBT
Gay marriage opponents just don't make sense
By Gary Stein
South Florida Sun Sentinel
I'm still having trouble understanding the problem with same-sex marriage.
Gay marriage: Did Florida make a mistake?
Reader Poll
Orlando Sentinel
Last week New York became the sixth state, and the most populous so far, to legalize gay marriage.
EDUCATION
Statewide boarding school approved by Gov. Scott
By Lilly Rockwell
News Service of Florida
Marking his final bill action of the 2011 session, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed a bill that creates a state-funded, statewide boarding school for at-risk youth, but added a caveat that he was concerned about the cost to taxpayers.
Bright Futures pays less, requires students do more
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
Florida college students are being required to do more to obtain Bright Futures scholarships and will get less from them, a trend that will continue over the next few years.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Florida expected to lay off 1,600 state workers as new budget year begins Friday
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Pink slips are going out to more than 1,600 state workers by Friday, the human toll of the austere spending plan approved by lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott this spring.
Groups join together to help laid off state workers
Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
Hundreds of state employees in the Big Bend are facing layoffs in the new fiscal year, with an economic impact of about $160 million on the capital area, so local government and business officials today announced a Web site designed to help them find new jobs.
Sen. Fasano wants to close loophole on homeowners associations foreclosures
By Susan Taylor Martin and Kris Hundley
St. Petersburg Times
Despite repeated efforts, real estate agent Colleen Tuttle had no luck swinging a short sale on behalf of a client who offered the bank $800,000 in cash for an Apollo Beach home with a stunning view of Tampa Bay.
Consumer confidence in Florida keeps dipping
Staff Report
Florida Tribune
A new University of Florida survey released Tuesday showed that consumer confidence among Floridians had dropped for the fourth time in five months.
If Rick Scott keeps his word, SunRail's a goner
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Signs point to Scott boarding SunRail
For rail watchers, this is a suspense-filled week. Will Rick Scott keep or kill SunRail?
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Florida task force to help improve troubled assisted living facilities
By Carol Marbin Miller, Michael Sallah and Rob Barry
Miami Herald
Just weeks after ordering a crackdown on troubled assisted living facilities, Gov. Rick Scott is launching a rare task force to search for ways to improve homes that have left frail residents to fend for themselves in squalor and dangerous conditions.
WellCare papers ordered released
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In a setback for WellCare Health Plans, a federal judge in Tampa ordered the government Tuesday to turn over company documents to the lone whistleblower still fighting for a hearing.
Dental association pushes back against university dental schools
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
Several Universities are exploring plans to build new dental schools in Florida.
Progress and setbacks in fight against AIDS
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
It began in June 1981 as a diagnostic conundrum for doctors: a stubborn form of pneumonia seemingly resistant to traditional therapies was claiming the lives of young, healthy gay men.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
DREAM Act supporters and opponents face off in first ever Senate hearing
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
A few minutes into the the first ever Senate hearing on the DREAM Act, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the subcommittee holding the meeting, had to tell supporters to not applaud any comments.
Hackers attack Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's campaign website
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
The computer hacker group Anonymous — credited with crashing the websites of Visa and MasterCard in support of Wikileaks — launched what it called "Operation Orlando" on Tuesday, disabling a tourism website and the mayor's own campaign site.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Fla. says US judge erred in death sentence rulingBy Curt Anderson
Associated Press
A federal judge who declared Florida's method of imposing the death penalty unconstitutional made several key legal and factual errors that should force a reversal, the state attorney general's office said in a new court filing.
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