PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Critics: State needs independent investigators of state offices
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
Excerpt: Damien Filer, spokesman for Progress Florida, said that with Bondi and Atwater being from the same party "and having the same ideology, and seemingly, the same political agenda," the investigation hardly seems impartial. Said Filer, whose group was first to call for a probe, "This is like trusting Exxon Mobil to tell us whether BP's rig was leaking or not."
The Blu Vu August 22nd Weekly Show
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida's Political Reality Show
Editor's note: Progress Florida Political Director Damien Filer is the newest contributor to "The Blu Vu" - a weekly roundup of Florida political stories that matter.
Show Highlights: This week's episode features Gov. Scott's prison privatization disaster, his deleted Emails and Florida Watch Action's Robocall Rick! campaign.
FEATURED STORIES
Scott transition team knew of e-mail deletions in March, records show
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott said he learned within the past two weeks that state transition e-mail accounts could not be recovered from a private computer server, potentially erasing records that state law requires be kept.
County health clinics serving the poor face cuts
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Cathy Dewey had to wake up her two children at 4 a.m. Thursday in Apopka, just to get a good spot in a long child-immunization line at the Orange County Health Department's clinic in downtown Orlando.
Florida's redistricting: Where are the maps?
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida legislators bring the contentious redistricting road show to the western half of the state this week as they work to persuade doubters that they really aren't interested in drawing legislative maps to protect themselves or their parties.
A year away from GOP convention, hosts must get funds for the fun
By Richard Danielson and Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
To land a really big catch, sometimes you want a really big boat.
Threatening Florida's water
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Jeopardizing Florida’s drinking water, scrapping purchases of sensitive lands, and rubber-stamping permits for agricultural and industrial water hogs puts the state's future at risk.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Artist's commentary: Deleted Sunshine
FLORIDA POLITICS
Emails: Jeb Bush was upset Scott fired staffers
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Newly released emails show that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was disappointed that Gov. Rick Scott fired the mother of an Army soldier who had just been killed in Afghanistan as well as others who worked in the governor's office.
Tallahassee, this is repugnant
By Mark Woods
Florida Times-Union
The old saying that laws are like sausages — it’s better not to see either being made — truly is an insult to sausage factories everywhere.
Our region’s turn to give input on fair districts
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
Floridians spoke loud and clear in the super majority passage of Fair District Amendments 5 and 6 last November with 62 percent approval votes on both.
POLITICAL RACES
Bachmann vies for evangelical vote so important to Florida GOP primary
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Related AP story: Bachmann says she'd consider Everglades drilling
Support for abortion rights or gay marriage is a deal-breaker for David Bracken when he evaluates presidential candidates.
Michele Bachmann rally draws over 1,000 in Sarasota, but some prefer Rick Perry
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Hurricane Irene bypassed the state and spared Michele Bachmann's first campaign foray in Florida this weekend, but now she has to contend with Hurricane Perry.
Nelson beats any Republican in new Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, handily leads all declared Republican challengers plus a couple of undeclared challengers, according to the new Florida Poll.
'Business' of politics prompts former supporter to slam Adam Hasner
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
It wasn't personal or political - just business, says Boca Raton conservative activist Jack Furnari of his recent online slamming of longtime friend and ally Adam Hasner as a "moderate-conservative chameleon."
Senate candidate Mike McCalister breaks Army rules, wears uniform to fundraiser
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Mike McCalister, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, violated U.S. Army regulations by wearing his uniform to a political fundraiser — a move that further fuels the criticisms of veterans and service members who say he's misleading voters to seem like more of a soldier than he ever was.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Pilot finds oil bubbling up at Deepwater Horizon well again; BP reports no leaks
By Ben Raines
Mobile Press-Register
BP PLC officials reported finding no apparent leaks in the seal on the Deepwater Horizon well or the relief well after a Thursday night inspection in the Gulf of Mexico with a submersible robot.
Q&A: Florida industry's fierce fight against EPA pollution rule
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
A new federal rule meant to limit the phosphorus and nitrogen pollution in Florida waters is arguably the most fiercely contested environmental regulation yet imposed on the state.
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge yet to rebound from water supply woes
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Summer rains that rescued crunchy lawns and filled neighborhood ponds so far have not been enough to boost water levels back to normal in the northern reaches of the Everglades.
Florida isn't whole yet following BP oil spill
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
BP has paid individuals and businesses in Florida more than $2 billion in claims from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Ready or not
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Ready or not, the Obama administration has announced plans to hold the first sale of offshore oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico since last year's BP disaster.
EDUCATION
Scott prepares, serves meals at Orlando elementary
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Senator’s daughter pulls strings to win Scott’s first public school visit
In his first visit to a traditional public school since taking office in January, Gov. Rick Scott this morning donned an apron and gloves to prepare and serve meals to students at Audubon Park Elementary School in Orlando.
Randolph says Scott’s Visit to School Like a “Grave Robber”
Staff Report
West Orlando News
Governor Rick Scott on Friday, visited Audubon Park Elementary School in Orlando, his second ‘Let’s Get to Work’ trip.
States Search For Answers To Cheating Scandals
By Larry Abramson
NPR
Cheating scandals have rocked a number of school districts across the country this year.
Panel OKs turf war rule for Fla. universities
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A revised proposal to tamp down turf battles among Florida's state universities won approval Friday from a Board of Governors committee following the removal of a contentious provision that would have split the 11 schools into eight regions.
Lakeland may be home to next state university
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
Saying it could help broaden Florida's economic base, Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander this week personally pitched the idea of creating a new, technology-oriented state university in Lakeland to Gov. Rick Scott.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Tri-Rail board head: Scott, Florida DOT trying 'hostile takeover' of region's passenger rail
By Joel Engelhardt
Palm Beach Post
In a cordial but testy, hour-long exchange Friday, a top state transportation official parried with a Tri-Rail board whose members fear he is trying to dismantle it.
Science key to Florida's economic future
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
Florida is looking to diversity its economy.
Taxpayers could be on hook for jobs agency's misspending
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
As investigators dig into the finances of the region's workforce development board, federal law indicates that Central Florida taxpayers might have to repay any money that is ultimately determined to have been misspent.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Affordable Care Act a boon for women
By Staci Fox
Gainesville Sun
A recent study found that in 2009 more than a half of women delayed or avoided preventive care because of its cost. It’s easy to tell ourselves that skipping a year between mammograms or pap smears isn’t a big deal, but we all know that it is.
Florida gets Affordable Care Act dollars for immunizations and tobacco cessation
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Florida is getting another round of grants from the Affordable Care Act for public health. The state was awarded nearly $1 million for immunizations and a tobacco cessation program.
AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list still growing steadily
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
During the month of August, 110 people have joined Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list, the longest waiting list in the U.S.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Jacksonville author, civil rights activist Stetson Kennedy dead at 95
By Charlie Patton
Florida Times-Union
William Stetson Kennedy, whose radical opposition to Jim Crow racial segregation made him a pariah in his hometown early in life and an honored elder statesman late in life, died at 9:25 a.m. Saturday at Baptist Medical Center South.
Petition Drive Targets a 'Monster' of a Problem
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
Monster.com, a national online employment company used by thousands of Florida job seekers, is the target of a petition drive organized to stop what supporters are calling discrimination against the unemployed.
Welfare drug-tests
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott vowed that he'd drug-test welfare applicants. And make them pay for the tests.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
New prisons chief clashed with Gov. Scott's inner circle, hastened departureBy Steve Bousquet and Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott scoured the country for the ideal candidate to take charge of the nation's third-largest prison system with its history of cronyism, insider dealing and dismal record of rehabilitating criminals.
Federal review blasts "constitutional violations" in Miami jail system
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
Miami-Dade's jail system engages in a "pattern and practice of constitutional violation" against inmates that includes woeful medical and mental illness care that sometimes leads to death, abuse by corrections officers, repulsive living conditions and the failure to properly supervise dangerous offenders, according to a sweeping federal investigation.
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