Daily Clips for August 16, 2011

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Florida Watch Action Group Sends Robocalls to Gov. Rick Scott
By Dave Heller
First Coast News, MyFOX Tampa Bay and WTSP 10 News Tampa Bay
Excerpt: Hundreds of people have been recording messages to the governor as part of an effort by Florida Watch Action. Damien Filer of Progress Florida, which is partnering with Florida Watch Action, says Scott's decisions to reject federal money for high speed rail and health care cost jobs…"People are pretty sick and tired of sitting around their kitchen tables and getting robocalls from the governor explaining to them that he's doing things to create jobs in the state when they themselves are finding that very much the opposite is true. He's cut thousands of jobs in Florida”.

FEATURED STORIES

Tallahassee lobbyists earning more this year
Associated Press
Florida Today
The recession appears to be over for Tallahassee lobbyists.

Allen West: door open ‘a crack,’ window closing ‘very soon’ on Senate run
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Before speaking to a packed Palm Beach County Tea Party gathering here tonight, U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, told reporters the door is open “a crack” to the possibility he’ll run for U.S. Senate.

Public workers form their own PAC
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
It won't be a big political-action committee with millions of dollars to spread around among powerful legislators and the political parties, but a group of public employees is forming a PAC to speak out for government workers in Florida.

Managed care still unproven
By State Rep. Mia Jones
Florida Times-Union
Florida's legislative leaders, including Gov. Rick Scott, are putting our most vulnerable children, seniors and persons with disabilities at serious risk with their effort to expand the current Medicaid pilot program statewide.

Cliff Stearns holds a hearing for polluters
By Ron Littlepage
Florida Times-Union
You would think that as a Florida congressman, Cliff Stearns would know the importance of the environment to our state's economy.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Governor Scott gets an image makeover
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
Gov. Rick Scott’s charm offensive continues.

At RedState Gathering, Scott and Hasner tout conservative credentials
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Gov. Rick Scott and GOP Senate candidate Adam Hasner spoke this weekend at RedState Gathering 2011, an event for conservative politicians and organizations who are looking toward the 2012 elections.

Treasure Coast residents call on Legislature to act quickly on redistricting
By Jonathan Mattise
TC Palm
Treasure Coast residents poured into the hallway outside a full Blake Library auditorium Monday, lining up to urge 25 state legislators to draw fair districts, produce drafts of maps and get the 2012 redistricting process moving along quicker.

Florida party chairs rough it up before redistricting tour renews
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
With the Legislature’s redistricting road show opening tonight in South Florida, Republicans and Democratic party bosses are doing their best to play the warm-up act.

Jack Latvala sets sights on state Senate presidency
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
Sen. Jack Latvala has a lot of time to work the phones this summer as he mends from hip replacement surgery.

U.S. Rep. Allen West wins cheers at tea party meeting
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, received cheers and a standing ovation from a large tea party crowd on Monday — overwhelming the background of grumbling he has heard since he voted for the deal that raised the federal debt ceiling.

Florida leaders' insurance perk bad example
Editorial
Ft. Myers News-Press
Top state leaders ought to eliminate perks that create the appearance that they are enjoying cozy benefits while demanding that lower-ranking employees make sacrifices.

POLITICAL RACES

Rubio starts fundraising for his new PAC
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has already started fundraising for his new political action committee, the Reclaim America PAC.

Haridopolos Tells Polk Crowd He Wants Jeb Bush to Run for Senate
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos told the Polk County Tiger Bay Club on Monday that the current GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate can't win, and said he hoped former governor Jeb Bush would get in the race.

Sharpe Back in Race for Congress
By Steve Newborn
WUSF Public Radio Tampa
Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor has gotten her first official challenger.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

State looking at millions in land buys paid from dwindling Florida Forever program
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has identified $73 million in possible land purchases during 2011-12, almost $6 million more than remains in the Florida Forever land buying program.

St. Johns water-district layoffs driven by developers, environmentalists say
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Mass layoffs at the state agency most responsible for protecting Central Florida's waters and wetlands were ordered by Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers as a break for taxpayers, but the forced departures of key regulators appear to be driven by backlash from the development industry.

Fla. PSC focusing on Progress Energy nuclear costs
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida regulators are hearing arguments on how much customers should pay for a nuclear power plant that may never be built.

EDUCATION

Lawmakers approve boarding school for at-risk kids, but agencies can't find money to build it
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
Several state agencies are trying to figure out if they can afford to create a college preparatory boarding school for at-risk youth that was mandated by Florida lawmakers this year.

Senate President: Teachers Don't Deserve Guaranteed, Lifetime Jobs
By Merissa Green
Lakeland Ledger
Before the Tiger Bay Club of Polk County Monday, Senate President Mike Haridopolos said "every teacher should not have a guaranteed, lifetime job" and that comment has rattled the teachers' union president.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida economists: High unemployment persistent but not permanent
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Unemployment in South Florida and the nation has become much like a high fever that won't go down.

Gov. Rick Scott eyes car policy change
By Tim Engstrom
Ft. Myers News-Press
Efforts to revise or even scrap Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system could lower insurance premiums for well-insured drivers, but could drive up the cost of bare-bones policies, industry experts said.

In on-air interview, congressman says he is willing to compromise on FAA bill
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
In a recent radio interview, Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, says he is willing to compromise on a funding measure for the Federal Aviation Administration.

S&P lowers water district's bond rating because of new state law requiring tax cuts
By John Kennedy and Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
The same new budget-slashing law that resulted in dozens of layoffs at the South Florida Water Management District has also prompted Standard & Poor's to lower the district's credit rating.

How Florida will remain a launch pad to space
By Jennifer Carroll
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Although the space shuttle program has ended, Florida will remain a major participant in space flight with the goal of becoming one of the world's capitals of high-technology and science.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Deaths in Florida from oxycodone, other pain killers keep climbing
Staff Report
St. Petersburg Times
New data shows that prescription drug deaths in Florida increased nearly 9 percent last year compared with 2009 despite aggressive efforts by law enforcement to educate people about the dangers and to crack down on illegal distribution.

State workers may wind up in the middle of clash over health insurance changes
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Just weeks before state employees will be asked to make their health insurance decisions for the upcoming year the Department of Management Services will be in court defending its decision to limit the number of HMOs available to state workers.

On Wide Florida Roads, Running for Dear Life
By Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
As any pedestrian in Florida knows, walking in this car-obsessed state can be as tranquil as golfing in a lightning storm. Sidewalks are viewed as perks, not necessities. Crosswalks are disliked and dishonored.

Miami-Dade officials probe low kindergarten vaccination rates
By Fred Tasker and Sammy Mack
Miami Herald
Local health and school officials said Monday they are launching an investigation to determine why Miami-Dade County kindergartners’ vaccination rate appears to be 15 percent below the Florida state average.

Partial victory on health reform
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
By striking down the individual mandate portion of the federal health care reform law, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would hobble the ability of the federal government to address a key problem: the shifting of $43 billion in costs to care for the uninsured onto others.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Meals for homeless halted
By Shannon Behnken
Tampa Tribune
As the sun rose over downtown Tampa on Saturday morning, dozens of homeless gathered in a city parking lot and waited for breakfast.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida plans to save $20 million per year by privatizing southern prisons
By Peter Franceschina and Kathleen Haughney
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida is moving forward with a timetable to turn over prison operations in the southern half of the state to a private contractor, after the Legislature approved the plan designed to save millions of dollars.

Gov. Rick Scott needs to back court funding vow with a plan
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Advocates for Florida's cash-starved court system couldn't have written a better appeal than the one delivered this month by Gov. Rick Scott.