Daily Clips for October 26, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Scott's latest pension proposal could cost local governments millions
By Erica Rodriguez
Orlando Sentinel
Local governments and school districts across Florida are bracing for grim financial news next legislative session that means hundreds of millions of dollars now available from this year's pension overhaul could be taken away.

Exposing secrets and salaries — bring it on!
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Last week, Gov. Rick Scott stirred up a hornet's nest by putting the salaries of all public-university professors online for the world to see.

Scott should give up on unconstitutional drug tests
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
When Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature decided against good sense and legal reasoning that the state's welfare recipients would have to submit to a drug test to receive benefits, they must have known Florida would end up in court.

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's former aide faces charges in tape leak
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
A former spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is facing felony charges because police say she illegally taped a conversation with Carroll's chief of staff and leaked it to the Times-Union.

Documents give shape to Marco Rubio's family history but raise new questions
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
On May 18, 1956, Mario and Oriales Rubio walked into the American Consulate in Havana and applied for immigrant visas. The form asked how long they intended to stay in the United States.

FLORIDA POLITICS

A financial recovery plan only a legislator could love
By Daniel Ruth
St. Petersburg Times
If things go according to plan (insert wry smile here), by the end of 2014 the Florida House will be ruled by a chap who until recently was in worse financial shape than a fruit peddler.

Office of Congressional Ethics investigating Buchanan
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
The House of Representatives’ Office of Congressional Ethics has launched a “preliminary” investigation into Rep. Vern Buchanan, R- Sarasota.

Justice Department sees no need to rush elections law case
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
The U.S. Department of Justice does not see a need to expedite a federal decision on Florida's elections law, recent court filings show.

Nelson urges Scott to revamp elections law after teacher draws warning
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has sent a critical letter to Republican Gov. Rick Scott and plans to meet Wednesday with a Volusia County high school teacher whose student voter registration drive could violate Florida’s tough, new elections law.

FL Dems want to know – What have Republicans done for you lately?
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Democratic Party launched a new website today blaming Gov. Rick Scott and his fellow Republican lawmakers for the state’s dire economic straits.

More questions about Marco Rubio's life story
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
The family history of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio -- and his own version of it -- continues to haunt the rising Republican star, as the Florida lawmaker this week faced more questions about his parents' exodus from Cuba.

POLITICAL RACES

Florida a popular destination for big political names this week
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
With the 2012 presidential campaign in full swing, this week brings some prime-time visitors to Florida: Rick Perry, Michelle Obama and Joe Biden.

Perry tax plan offers each taxpayer choice of 20 percent flat tax or status quo
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Mitt Romney has his 59-point, seven-pillar economic blueprint. Herman Cain has the 9-9-9 tax plan.

Herman Cain adds big names to Florida campaign team
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Several of Florida's most prominent Republican political pros have jumped on board Herman Cain's presidential campaign as he tries to ramp up the operation to catch up with his surging popularity.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Water management district Swiftmud to shed up to 150 employees
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
The state agency that oversees water supplies in the 16 counties around Tampa Bay will shed 130 to 150 of its 768 employees by early next year, its board decided Tuesday.

Obama administration approves BP’s plan to drill in the Gulf of Mexico
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
The Obama administration has approved BP’s first plan to drill for oil in the gulf since last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which left 11 dead and damaged the gulf ecosystem and the economies of the states that border it.

EDUCATION

Professor salaries in Florida are below the national average
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
After 15 years on the job, New College sociologist Sarah Hernandez still earns below the nationwide average for professors at similar institutions, but her $65,707 salary is under scrutiny by Gov. Rick Scott.

Florida charter schools' track record at issue in expansion
By Topher Sanders
Florida Times-Union
Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson said Tuesday the state application for opening charter schools doesn’t need to address performance.

Two Miami-Dade charter schools lose funding
By Kathleen McGrory and Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Two troubled Miami-Dade charter schools have had their funding cut off by the school district — an extraordinary measure that could threaten the schools’ ability to survive.

Study finds flaws in virtual education, including motives of for-profit virtual schools
By Lilly Rockwell
News Service of Florida
A new study is sounding alarms at the quick expansion of virtual education programs in states like Florida, saying for-profit companies are pushing states to offer full-time virtual instruction paid for by state tax dollars with little research on the quality of these programs.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida fourth in the nation in mass layoffs in September
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Florida had 69 mass layoff actions during the month of September, the fourth highest number in the nation, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics summary released today.

Senator wants refund of incentives that created no jobs
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Related editorial: Cast more light on business incentives
Senate President-designate Don Gaetz is demanding that the state's jobs agency disclose which companies might owe taxpayer money for jobs that never materialized and which state-awarded tax-breaks for job-creation were inked with no strings attached.

Florida consumer confidence stays near record low
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
Floridians' consumer confidence remained near record lows this month, and a national reading of consumer sentiment plunged to its lowest level since the dark days of March 2009.

Casino bill sacrifices horse and dog tracks for gambling megaresorts
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
In a move designed to shift Florida's gambling focus, two new bills to be filed Wednesday would award exclusive full-casino licenses to three large "destination resorts" and leave the struggling parimutuel industry to wither.

Florida Business Groups Push for Online Tax Collections
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
A group of heavy hitters in Florida politics want online stores to collect state sales tax.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Health-care law to save average Florida family $1,520 per year by 2019, group says
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The nation's controversial new health-care law will save the average Florida family $1,520 a year by 2019, mostly because of lower premiums for the insured and expanded support for the uninsured, according to a report released on Tuesday by Families USA, a cheerleader for the law.

Florida Legislator wants to arrest doctors who perform abortions
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing Tampa
Although he's been unsuccessful in pushing it the past couple of years in an extremely conservative state Legislature, Florida House Republican Charles Van Zant says he will once again soon introduce a bill that would make abortion illegal in the state of Florida, with the only exception being for the life of the mother.

Still no agreement in sight, feds tell Florida to submit another Medicaid waiver extension
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Acting Medicaid Director Justin Senior left a Medicaid medical advisory committee meeting Tuesday to read an email he received from the federal government.

19 health centers get extra federal $
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Nineteen of Florida's community health centers will receive a boost in federal dollars over three years to speed up Medicare patients' access to primary care.

Florida prison inmates still can't smoke, but now correctional officers can
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Inmates can't smoke in Florida prisons anymore, but employees still can.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Immigrant advocates protest deportation of young student, call for prosecutorial discretion
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
South Florida immigrant advocates will be at the Broward Transistional Center today to take part in a national day of action to protest the deportation of Shamir Ali.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida Supreme Court: We want to suspend Judge Shea for yelling, being a bully
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that publicly chewing out Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Tim Shea is not punishment enough for the way he's yelled at and belittled attorneys in his courtroom.