Daily Clips for August 31, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Critics assail legislators again on redistricting
By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
Florida lawmakers trying to redraw political district boundaries before the election of 2012 met Tuesday morning with a contentious crowd in Largo that didn't hesitate to let loose hisses and boos.

Gaetz proposes moving redistricting process timeline
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
The Legislature could consider a constitutional amendment to change the timeline for redistricting votes in an effort to address a barrage of criticism lawmakers have heard as they have traveled across Florida, Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz said Tuesday.

Gov efficiency task force chief wants $3 billion in savings
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The chairman of the Florida Government Efficiency Task Force set an “ambitious goal” at the panel’s first meeting Tuesday – $3 billion in savings over four years.

Drop in Florida consumer confidence points to possible recession
By Kim MacQueen
Florida Current
Consumer confidence among Floridians has dropped to near record lows leading to fears that the state is headed back into a recession.

A crude Everglades policy
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Michele Bachmann's wish to drill for oil and gas in the Everglades is stupid, and not just for the obvious reason.

FLORIDA POLITICS

GOP, Minorities Partnering to Dilute Redistricting
By Steve Newborn
WUSF Public Radio Tampa
Voters got so fed up with "gerrymandered" districts that practically assured incumbents would get re-elected that they passed Amendments 5 and 6 in November.

Redistricting hearing draws crowd and criticism
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida lawmakers have not even started redrawing boundaries for the state’s congressional and legislative districts, but they are getting an earful about the process nonetheless.

Pinellas County residents criticize legislative redistricting process
By David DeCamp
St. Petersburg Times
Critics of Florida lawmakers' approach to redistricting seats lambasted them at a testy hearing Tuesday in Pinellas County.

Redistricting forums being held today in Southwest Florida
By Bob Rathgeber
Ft. Myers News-Press
Related editorial: It's worth attending redistricting events
When state legislators hold public forums today in Lee and Collier counties to discuss redistricting, a new proposal will be introduced to the talks.

Gov's new neighborhood more like average Floridian
By Mike Schneider
Associated Press
When Gov. Rick Scott moved into the Governor's Mansion, he left one of the wealthiest parts of the state.

FEC case against former Buchanan business partner may be nearing end
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A protracted battle over illegal campaign donations to U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan may be headed for resolution.

Siplin faces new elections violation charges
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Elections Commission has found probable cause that state Sen. Gary Siplin broke the law when he spent $13,000 in campaign funds to allegedly pay poll workers without disclosing who they were, and for exceeding campaign-finance limits when he accepted two checks from a phosphate-mining fund.

POLITICAL RACES

Give him a Purple Heart for paper cuts
By Daniel Ruth
St. Petersburg Times
When he entered the political arena, retired Col. Mike McCalister of the Army Reserve wanted you to believe he was some sort of derring-do, special operations, international man of mystery who gallivanted about the globe with a dagger clenched between his teeth, guns blazing on the trail of evildoers.

Adam Putnam as presidential kingmaker?
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Jon Huntsman had him over for dinner in Orlando. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have left phone messages asking for his support.

Florida Conservative Political Action Conference stacked with GOP stars
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
A slew of big-name conservatives will appear at the first ever regional Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Sept. 23.

West says Bachmann made ‘incredible faux pas’ on Everglades drilling
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
U.S. Rep. Allen West told a town hall audience today that Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann made “an incredible faux pas” when she said she is open to allowing drilling for oil and natural gas in the Everglades if it can be done safely.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

"Gulf Cleanup Chaos": Report Details Dangers of Dispersants
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
The dispersants used in cleaning up the Gulf Deepwater Horizon oil disaster may have the same types of adverse effects on humans and wildlife as does the oil itself, according to a new report from Earthjustice, the environmental advocacy law firm.

3 Fla. universities to lead oil spill research
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Three Florida universities are receiving grants to lead research groups studying last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Watchdog group says Crist edged Bush when it came to protecting the environment
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A public employees watchdog group said Monday that state enforcement of environmental violations was better under Gov. Charlie Crist than his predecessor, Gov. Jeb Bush, but the group said enforcement still was disappointing.

Florida Communities Trust awards grants despite demise of Florida Forever program
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Florida Forever funding was vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott but the popular land-acquisition program is still providing money for local parks.

Swiftmud picks engineer as new executive director
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
The new executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District is a 50-year-old engineer from Jupiter who has never worked for a Florida government agency before.

EDUCATION

Teacher Salaries a Victim of Budget Cuts
By Lilly Rockwell
News Service of Florida
Stephanie Rothman has done the math. On her roughly $48,000 a year salary, the 15-year high school English teacher in Broward County barely gets by.

Education bills keep coming in Tallahassee
By Jeff Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
After a busy 2011 session, some key Florida lawmakers tell the Gradebook they expect a less activist 2012 when it comes to education matters.

Students petition for tuition cap
By Karlanna Lewis
FSView
On Sunday FSU Progress Coalition collected over 500 signatures in support of capping tuition.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida and Foreclosures
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
There’s no doubt what the F-word has come to mean in Florida during the past three years. Foreclosure.

Floridians' confidence dip is overreaction, one economist says
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
Consumer confidence among Floridians fell to a near-record low in August, and a national reading of consumer sentiment also plummeted, renewing fears of a double-dip recession.

FEMA disaster relief fund could face $5 billion shortfall
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
As Florida heads into peak hurricane season and emergency officials calculate the costs of Hurricane Irene, FEMA concedes that its disaster fund might not hold enough money to meet all the claims the agency expects to receive.

Refiled bill wouldn't let bad credit disqualify job applicants
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
Nearly half of all employers screen selected job candidates by pulling their credit reports, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Internet cafe crackdown renews legal debate
By Arelis R. Hernandez
Orlando Sentinel
Scores of casino-style "Internet cafes" in Central Florida are thriving in a gray area of state law, irritating some and entertaining others.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida one of five states returning grants for health care reform implementation
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
According to a new map released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Florida is one of only five states returning grants awarded by the federal government to implement the federal health care reform law.

AIDS care money goes unspent, activists say
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
AIDS activists said Tuesday that potentially millions of federal dollars earmarked for medical and transportation services have been left unspent locally in recent years, while Central Florida patients still struggle to get treatment.

Consumers rally for enforcing insurance reforms now
By Marni Jameson
Orlando Sentinel
Health-insurance reform was the focus of a small rally Monday in front of the Orange County Courthouse.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to go live Thursday
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
A statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (aka E-FORCSE) will finally go live on Thursday.

Stepping up for Florida's children
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott is wisely making an exception to his opposition to the federal Affordable Health Care Act and rejection of federal money tied to the reforms.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Unmarried? Living together? You're breaking the law in Florida
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Unmarried couples who want to take the plunge and move in together, take heart.

Florida immigrant rights organizers lash out against Alabama’s new anti-immigrant law
By Andrea Lypka
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
As we reported Monday, a federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama has temporarily blocked enforcement of that state's new law cracking down on undocumented immigration.

Florida man whose deportation case was thrown out earns conservative support
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Manuel Guerra — an undocumented immigrant who supports the DREAM Act, and whose deportation case was recently canceled — has earned the backing of some conservatives in Indiantown, Fla.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida cops water down Innocence Commission lineup recommendations
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
For months, Florida's Innocence Commission struggled over whether to recommend that every police agency in the state be required to clean up and standardize how they have eyewitnesses pick suspects from photo lineups.