Daily Clips for September 9, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Florida Democrats embrace Obama plan; Republicans say it's a 'mini me stimulus'
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
President Obama served up a jobs plan Thursday that could benefit many Floridians, through cheaper mortgage rates, an investment neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures and an infrastructure program that could put the state's beleaguered construction industry back to work, his supporters said.

Fla. passes up over $100 million in federal grants
By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature have rejected or declined to pursue more than $106 million in federal grant money and returned another $4.5 million for programs linked to federal health care initiatives, including cancer prevention, leading critics to say he is putting his conservative agenda ahead of residents' needs.

Longtime environmental champion and political strategist Thom Rumberger dies
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Thom Rumberger, long-time attorney, Republican advocate and stalwart champion of the Everglades died Wedensday night after a long illness.

Florida GOP chairman David Bitner dies
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
For those who knew David Bitner, a gregarious, 6-foot-5 bear of a man, it was jarring to see him requiring a motorized scooter in January, only weeks after he was elected chairman of the Republican Party of America's biggest battleground state.

State Sen. J.D. Alexander fired American citizens and green card holders, hired guest workers instead, lawsuit says
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In the waning days of the 2011 legislative session, Sen. J.D. Alexander, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, delivered an impassioned floor speech against a measure that would have required employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Labor Day essay: The dream of better days
By Daniel Tilson
Saint Petersblog 2.0
My mother’s parents – Rose and Isidore – escaped sociopolitical chaos and persecution in early twentieth century Poland by fleeing to America.

End Import Quotas On Sugar? Watch conservatives turn and run from their principles
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
I just stumbled upon a 2010 editorial that appeared in the St. Pete Times, written by a professor from Pepperdine University in California, urging an end to import quotas on sugar.

3 Views on JOBS! Second, Scott: The Austerity of Nope
By Bruce Seaman
Daily Marion
Jobs! Jobs! JOBS! The airwaves are crackling in anticipation of the President’s speech now scheduled for Thursday night.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Supports Oil Drilling In The Everglades
By Amanda Peterson Beadle
Think Progress
Presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has company in her call for oil drilling in the Florida Everdglades: the state’s governor supports it as well.

Why Republicans Should Hate Birthers
By Jake
Rantings from Florida
No, it isn't because they are crazy people who embarrass the entire party. You can't ever really shake that type of thing.

FLORIDA POLITICS

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson slams Florida voting law during congressional hearing
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Testifying in a congressional hearing Thursday, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson sharply condemned Florida's new election law as a ploy to suppress participation of Democratic voters.

Early voting hours to drop
By Tony Marrero
St. Petersburg Times
Florida's election reform law will likely do in Hernando County exactly what critics feared: cause a reduction in the total number of early voting hours.

Crackdown long overdue on Florida pols stiffing you for $1.4M
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
There's a new plan to block politicians from running for office unless they've paid all their delinquent elections fines.

Odd couple of Floridians in Congress lead fight against redistricting amendment
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown and Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart spend most of their time on opposite sides of the political aisle in Congress and rarely agree on much — except when it comes to redistricting.

U.S. judge hears arguments in Florida redistrict case
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A federal judge in Miami is hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging a Florida constitutional amendment imposing new rules on how congressional districts are drawn.

Americans for Prosperity hands out sharply polarized grades to Florida lawmakers
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Florida’s chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-funded right-wing political organization, just released their “2011 Legislative Scorecard,” giving nearly every GOP member of the state Legislature an A or A+ and nearly every Democrat an F.

Allen West will not quit Congressional Black Caucus
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, says he will not quit the Congressional Black Caucus, after all.

POLITICAL RACES

More Perry-Romney Social Security fireworks expected at Florida GOP debates
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's description of Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme" and "monstrous lie" for younger workers drew more fire from Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney on Thursday as the field of GOP hopefuls prepares to visit senior-heavy Florida for two more nationally televised debates.

Alex Sink launches foundation, mum on possible 2014 run
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
After narrowly losing his first race for governor, Jeb Bush created a think tank that helped keep his profile elevated and sharpened his education policy chops before he won the governor's race on his second try.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida Community Affairs chief defends growth law changes as Bob Graham assails them
By Joel Engelhardt
Palm Beach Post
The state's radically altered growth management law stood front and center Thursday as hundreds of planners attending a conference heard from the governor who signed it 25 years ago and the development lawyer hired by the current governor to overhaul it.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife announces new plans for Everglades restoration
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Federal officials with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, along with representatives of various conservancy groups, met in Orlando yesterday for a press conference on the future of Everglades protection.

Split Public Service Commission hires Baez as new executive director
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A split Public Service Commission voted on Thursday to offer the executive director position to former commission Chairman Braulio Baez despite concerns about a 2002 ethics violation.

South Florida Water Management District considers selling land to ease budget squeeze
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Horse racing doesn't seem to fit the South Florida Water Management District's charge to provide flood control, protect water supplies and lead Everglades restoration.

Water: The Hidden Tax on Phosphate Mining
Editorial
The Bradenton Times
The recent Piney Point incident drew much-needed attention to the long-term consequences of mining phosphate in Florida.

LGBT

Same-sex couples gain more rights at hospitals
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Same-sex couples and other domestic partners are gaining more control over what happens to their mates in the hospital, under federal guidelines issued this week.

Fort Lauderdale extends health insurance to domestic partners
By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale city government extended health insurance coverage to the domestic partners of employees.

The Census confirms it: Wilton Manors in No. 2 nationally for most gay couples per 1,000
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
For more than a decade, Wilton Manors has been known anecdotally as South Florida’s gayest city.

EDUCATION

Regular schools push for same freedoms as charters
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
School-district officials across Central Florida and the state say they are tired of charter schools getting all of the breaks, and they want the Legislature to give them more freedoms, too.

State should do more to connect vets with high-tech university degrees, report says
By Kim MacQueen
Florida Current
The state’s 11 public universities should do more to encourage veterans to enter science, technology, engineering and math fields, according to a Senate committee report released Thursday that points the way toward a few different possible collaborations.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Obama seeks $450 billion to lift economy, mostly tax cuts
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Attacking a deepening jobs crisis, President Barack Obama challenged a reluctant Congress Thursday night to urgently pass a larger-than-expected $450 billion plan to “jolt an economy that has stalled.”

Florida reacts to Obama's jobs speech
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Reaction to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress.

Citizens board schedules emergency meeting to discuss sinkhole insurance rates
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times
Former state Rep. Carlos Lacasa, appointed this week as chairman of the state-run Citizen's Property Insurance board of governors, on Thursday called an emergency meeting for Monday to discuss proposed rate increases to the state-run insurer's sinkhole policies.

End of the road for taxpayer funding of highway designations?
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
State funding for honorary designations and highway dedications soon could be road kill.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

How the GOP-led Legislature lost a fight with the feds
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
A few months ago, reports surfaced that the Florida Legislature was rejecting grants from the Affordable Care Act — some of which provided money for child abuse and neglect prevention.

Federal court throws out Virginia health care lawsuits
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A federal appeals court tossed two Virginia lawsuits Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law’s insurance requirement, also known as the individual mandate.

Haridopolos, Bondi part of CPAC FL panel on ‘ending unconstitutional ObamaCare’
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Conservative Political Action Conference being held in Orlando this month is set to feature a session that includes strategies to end “unconstitutional ObamaCare.”

Commission on the Status of Women report leaves out anti-abortion bills
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Florida Commission on the Status of Women recently released its “2011 Summary of Florida Laws Affecting Women and Families” without any mention of the five abortion bills that were signed into law this year in Florida.

Hialeah clinic ripped off aid for the poor, state says
By Adam H. Beasley
Miami Herald
For five weeks in 2008, Luis Paz-Soldan took leave from his job as a physical therapist for a little rehab of his own, recovering from knee surgery.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge: Florida's drug possession law in constitutional; rejects 'guilty mind' argument
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
In a move that disappointed but didn't surprise defense attorneys, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes today upheld the constitutionality of a state drug law that is used in roughly a third of all felony cases filed in the county each year.