Daily Clips for September 20, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Lawmakers are back in Tallahassee, so it's fundraising time
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
Willie Sutton robbed banks because "that's where the money is."

GOP state senators choose Don Gaetz as their next leader
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Republican senators Monday chose as their next leader Don Gaetz of Niceville, a product of the North Dakota prairie who became a highly successful hospice executive in Miami and found political success in the Florida Panhandle.

Filing deadline set for House redistricting committee
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
Lawmakers overseeing redistricting in the Florida House of Representatives laid out the next few steps in the process on Monday.

Special tax districts with power to tax at risk of cuts
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Fresh from cutting $210 million in taxes and scores of jobs at Florida's water management districts, Gov. Rick Scott is sizing up a new target in his drive to shrink government.

Obama's tax plan to cut targets wealthy, corporations
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
In a blunt rejoinder to congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama called for $1.5 trillion in new taxes Monday, part of a total 10-year deficit reduction package totaling more than $3 trillion.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Tea party leaders upset about Florida's new law banning party switches
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The head of a tea party coalition in northwest Florida and the head of the Tea Party of Florida don't often agree on much, but they both are miffed at Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida GOP.

Palm Beach County cities want to be kept whole during redistricting
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida House members spent much of Monday recapping what they learned from 26 public hearings on redistricting held this summer around the state.

Passage of a 'Caylee's law' no sure thing in Florida Senate
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Prompted by an outraged public after a jury cleared Casey Anthony of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Florida lawmakers this summer filed more than a half-dozen bills imposing jail sentences or fines for failing to report a child missing.

Anticasino group to form again as gambling is pushed in South Florida
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The full-throttle push to bring casino gambling to South Florida has prompted the head of the No Casinos political committee to resurrect his organization to oppose expanded gambling in Florida.

Is Governor Scott Lying to Himself to Convince Everyone Else?
By John Rehill
Bradenton Times
Rick Scott believes he has the "supreme executive power" to circumvent constitutional privileges, in order to implement his agenda.

POLITICAL RACES

Perry invited to attend Florida pastor policy briefing as part of Christian voter drive
By Mary Tuma
Florida Independent
GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry may join Focus on the Family’s James Dobson and other conservative figures during a two-day “Pastor Policy Briefing,” in Orlando, Fla., an October event being organized by David Lane, who also directed fundraising for Perry’s August prayer rally, “The Response.”

Seniors' depression over economy may bode ill for Perry
By Mike Thomas
Orlando Sentinel
The survey results are in and Florida's old folks are scared out of their wits.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Drilling off Keys to begin by December
By David Goodhue
Miami Herald
A giant, semi-submersible oil rig en route from Singapore will probably be drilling in the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba in mid-December.

Renewed Push to Keep BP Oil Fine Money in Gulf
By Steve Newborn
WUSF Public Radio Tampa
There's a renewed push to get the fines levied on BP for last year's oil disaster to restore the Gulf of Mexico.

How Big Sugar gets its way
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Many of the most influential American agricultural interests are headquartered in specific parts of the country.

Hearing begins in rare water dispute in northwest Florida
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A dispute between Bay and Washington counties that also involves some large private landowners has created a rare battle over public water use in northwest Florida.

LGBT

State rep. introduces bill that provides domestic partnership protections
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, yesterday introduced a bill that provides domestic partnership protections to committed couples throughout the state of Florida.

EDUCATION

In Broward, some class sizes overflowing despite state caps
By Cara Fitzpatrick
South Florida Sun Sentinel
In Anne Skurnick's earth science class, sixth-graders conduct laboratory experiments on the floor because there isn't enough space.

Smart kids left behind?
By Ron Matus
St. Petersburg Times
It's been a common refrain for years: School accountability systems like the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Florida's FCAT-based school grading system are "dummying down" education by putting too much emphasis on struggling students, leaving "average" and top-tier students to stagnate from neglect.

More than 1,100 students transfer from failing schools
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
More than 1,100 students chose to transfer out of failing schools in Central Florida this fall as part of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Traveling on the testing company's dime
By Jeff Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
Plenty of people already complain that Pearson seems to have a lock on Florida's testing culture, despite its publicized failings over time.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Scott: Less government means more private jobs
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday defended his administration's performance on job growth, saying his strategy of smaller government and less regulation was encouraging private employers to add positions.

Three Florida cities included in national report on areas with weakest economic rebound
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
According to a recent Brookings Institute report, three big metro areas in Florida — Lakeland, Palm Bay and Miami — are among the 20 weakest-performing cities in the country in the struggle to recover from the recession.

Congressman Deutch urges Obama jobs plan passage, to fix schools, employ workers
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
As he stood in one of Melaleuca Elementary's oldest classroom buildings, where lighting is poor and hallways have no air-conditioning, Congressman Ted Deutch told school officials and students Monday that President Obama's jobs plan was the only way to renovate the 45-year-old school and thousands of others across the country.

More Florida winners than losers under Obama plan
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
President Barack Obama's plan to cut deficits and create jobs, which he submitted to Congress on Monday, would impact Florida more than most states because of its millions of senior citizens and its high 10.7 percent unemployment rate.

Obama deficit-reduction plan finds proper balance of cuts, taxes
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
President Barack Obama proposed a sensible and specific $3 trillion deficit-reduction plan on Monday with a call for everyone to pay their fair share of the nation's tax burden.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Feds ask for changes to Florida Medicaid Reform Pilot
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Last week, a federal agency sent a document to Florida’s Low Income Pool Council requesting changes to the state’s Medicaid Reform Pilot — changes that would increase primary care and impose requirements on HMOs.

Lawmakers: Regulators need to crack down on ALFS
By Michael Sallah and Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
With Florida’s elderly population expected to boom in the next two decades, state regulators must crack down on rogue assisted living facilities by shutting down homes where residents die from abuse, slapping harsher fines on places that repeatedly break the law, and boosting the qualifications of people who run ALFs, a legislative study says.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

State legislator files bill to repeal mandatory drug tests for welfare recipients
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
State Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, has filed legislation repealing a new law requiring all welfare applicants to first pass a drug test.