Daily Clips for August 25, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Advice from Jeb Bush to Gov. Rick Scott discovered in transition e-mails
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Former Gov. Jeb Bush offered to be a confidential sounding board for newly elected Gov. Rick Scott while urging him to expand school vouchers to all students, release elderly prisoners early and consider taxing online purchases in exchange for cuts to other taxes.

Florida prison chief's resignation follows split with Scott over TV, privatization contracts
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott's corrections chief, Edwin Buss, abruptly resigned Wednesday evening after less than six months on the job and amid the planned privatization of more than one-third of the state's prisons.

Gov. Rick Scott orders more budget cuts at Southwest Florida Water Management District
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott complimented the state's five water management districts Wednesday on cutting $700 million from their budgets and laying off hundreds of employees.

Wasserman Schultz: Tell Scott to ‘stop playing politics with women’s health’
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines, spoke at a women’s health rally hosted by a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Fort Lauderdale yesterday.

Group asks FBI to investigate Buchanan
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (aka CREW) has filed an FBI complaint against Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, asking that the Bureau investigate Buchanan on charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and bribery, based largely on a deposition of one of his former business partners, Sam Kazran.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Bowing down at the altar of intolerance and deception
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Want to get your picture taken with — or even introduce — Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon at a fancy party this weekend?

Charges against former state GOP chairman should be dismissed, says lawyer
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
The fraud case against the ousted chairman of the Republican Party of Florida started to take its toll on top GOP officials this week when Jim Greer’s lawyers started putting top party officials and politicians under oath.

Feds subpoena Sansom's business records with Santa Rosa County
By Tom McLaughlin and Kari C. Barlow
Northwest Florida Daily News
Former State Rep. Ray Sansom has found his name on a subpoena issued by a federal agency.

Southerland: Public service an honor but not a cushy job
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital News
U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland told retirees Wednesday that serving in Congress is a great honor and privilege, but not cushy job with lavish insurance and pension benefits that many disgruntled taxpayers seem to think it is.

POLITICAL RACES

Dean Cannon endorses Rick Perry
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
House Speaker Dean Cannon, as predicted, has endorsed Rick Perry for president.

Bachmann adds Tampa stop to Florida tour
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann will hit the Tampa area during a tour of Florida this weekend—Sunday morning, she’ll visit Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, a conservative North Tampa church known as a center of GOP political activity.

More questions about Senate candidate’s military record emerge
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
GOP Senate candidate Mike McCalister is facing more questions about his military service, this time from a Vietnam veteran.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Tampa activists demand cleaner air rules from the EPA
By Josh Holton
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Environmentalists rallied for clean air this morning in downtown Tampa.

LGBT

Teacher at center of anti-gay Facebook rant to speak at conservative rally tonight
By Erica Rodriguez
Orlando Sentinel
Jerry Buell, the Mount Dora High School teacher of the year who was suspended then reinstated for his anti-gay Facebook comments, will speak at a rally tonight.

Lawyer Norm Kent defends Lt. Dan Choi in gay 'don't ask, don't tell' White House protest case
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
A month before Congress repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” in December, gay ex-Army Lt. Dan Choi and 12 other activists handcuffed themselves to a fence outside the White House to protest the law.

EDUCATION

State Board of Ed snubs public broadcasting in budget request
By Lilly Rockwell
News Service of Florida
The State Board of Education approved a legislative wish list Tuesday that excluded any money for public broadcasting, throwing the future of state-funded public broadcasting into question.

Race to the Top eligibility still in jeopardy
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education released the final criteria for its Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge — and it looks like Florida is still in jeopardy of losing eligibility for $100 million in federal education grants because of the state’s rejection of federal funds.

Rick Scott wants to make us smart as them Texens
By Mike Thomas
Orlando Sentinel
Rick Scott wants to reform our universities and turn them into great institutions of higher education.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Raise your taxes? Republicans are for it
By Harold Meyerson
Washington Post
America's presumably antitax party wants to raise your taxes.

State settles with South Florida hurricane shutter company in fraud suit
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday announced a settlement with a South Florida hurricane shutter company that will require refunds of nearly $790,000 to hundreds of customers.

State says workers' comp fraud totals $438 million or more
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
A new scheme involving money services businesses and shell companies is bilking the government out of taxes and costing workers compensation companies lost premiums, with the fraud estimated to cost at least $438 million, state insurance fraud regulators say.

For many in South Florida, property tax bills may rise
By Brittany Wallman, Dana Williams and Andy Reid
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Worst-case scenario tax bills are dropping into South Florida homeowners' mailboxes this week, and the news is grim for tens of thousands whose cities are poised to raise property tax rates.

Southwest Florida's recovery slows compared with rest of state
By Doug Sword and Kevin McQuaid
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
After doing better than the rest of Florida for five consecutive months, the local economy dipped to a 1 percent growth rate during June, mirroring national trends that have some economists wondering if the recovery has sputtered.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

DOH layoffs hit some harder
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Department of Health lists of employee layoffs by county show a big difference in the effects on local health units following funding cuts ordered by the Legislature.

Dispute over state health insurance changes forces enrollment delay
By Kim MacQueen
Florida Current
The annual open enrollment for state employee health insurance plans will have to wait this year to allow for complaints lodged against the Department of Management Services to play itself out.

Doctors played key role in South Florida pill mills
By Audra D.S. Burch and Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
A day after federal investigators busted the nation’s largest pill mill crime enterprise, a fuller portrait of the role of doctors emerged as the engine behind a narcotics network that churned out more than 20 million oxycodone pills and $40 million in profits.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Drug testing Welfare Recipients
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
A new state law, passed with only anecdotal evidence and no hard facts, isn’t saving the state as much money as expected.