PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Florida House will continue to fight Fair Districts amendment in court
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Florida Independent
Excerpt: “Speaker Cannon’s self-serving, taxpayer-funded crusade to defy the will of Florida voters is a case study in why Floridians are cynical about politics,” said Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo in a statement issued after Cannon’s announcement yesterday.
FEATURED STORIES
Florida judge rules prison privatization procedure unconstitutional
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: Court corrects overreach on prison privatization
A state judge ruled Friday that the Legislature violated the law and Florida's Constitution by using budget language to order prisons to be privatized in 18 South Florida counties, and demanded that the project be stopped immediately.
Florida Faces Protests Over Early Primary Date
By Greg Allen
NPR
This December, along with the holidays, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire can also look forward to lots of visits from presidential candidates.
Gov. Scott tries image makeover, but he's still not a man of the people
By Michael Mayo
South Florida Sun Sentinel
I'll start by giving Gov. Rick Scott some credit. After a rocky rookie year, he has revamped and recalibrated.
Candidates waiting for redistricting decisions
By Matt Dixon
Morris News Service
With lawmakers in the early stages of redrawing Florida’s political lines, candidates across the state are left with more questions than answers.
Health care reforms are working
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
As expected, the fate of federal health care reforms to improve access and affordability will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which begins its new term today.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Andy Marlette
Pensacola News Journal
Related editorial: Florida Forever…sort of
FLORIDA POLITICS
The inside story: Univision’s war with Rubio over immigration, drug report
By Marc Caputo and Manny Garcia
Miami Herald
Days before Univision aired a controversial story this summer about the decades-old drug bust of Marco Rubio’s brother-in-law, top staff with the Spanish-language media powerhouse offered what sounded like a deal to the U.S. senator’s staff.
Improving Rick Scott relinquishes crown of scorn to Ohio’s John Kasich in new Dem poll
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
A new survey by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling finds Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott‘s approval ratings ticking upward from a dismal 32 percent in June to a slightly less-dismal 36 percent in a survey released today.
Florida privatization push can be rush job
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
What do policymakers do when they discover they've grown the size of government too much to avoid culpability for its bulging budgets?
Governor must remove developer from X-way board
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott faced a big decision when deciding whom to appoint to the scandal-plagued Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
Bondi: 'Focused on doing what's right'
By Elaine Silvestrini
Tampa Tribune
Casual in jeans, but still put together, Pam Bondi comes to the Nola Café as breezy as she was when she worked for the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.
Ethics charges increasingly used as political weapon
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
It’s a bareknuckled tactic that candidates and experts say is happening with increasing frequency: Foes attempting to tar their political opponents with ethics complaints.
Funeral services for former Gov. Claude Kirk set for Monday afternoon
By John Kennedy and Sonja Isger
Palm Beach Post
A funeral service for former Gov. Claude Kirk will be held Monday in Palm Beach.
Concealing public business from view
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Charging a fortune for public records is a clear attempt to evade Florida's sunshine laws and conceal public business from public view.
POLITICAL RACES
Florida gambles with setting presidential primary for Jan. 31, 2012
By Adam C. Smith and Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Republican leaders better hope the 2012 presidential primary doesn't turn into a long, drawn-out slog a la Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama in 2008.
Primary: Florida Mimics Flintstones
By Glenn Marston
Lakeland Ledger
The Florida officials charged with setting a date for the 2012 presidential-primary election cut ahead of other states Friday.
Herman Cain's surge, Rick Perry's slide reflect Florida GOP free-for-all
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Conservative state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, could live with Rick Perry's support for granting in-state tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants in Texas.
Hastings sees help for Obama in Nelson's popularity, state GOP's poor ratings
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
With the economy lagging and his approval ratings sagging, President Obama might need the little-appreciated charisma of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and the continued unpopularity of Republican Gov. Rick Scott to carry Florida in 2012, said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar.
Times will co-sponsor GOP presidential debate on Jan. 30
Staff Report
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times, NBC News, the National Journal and the Florida Council of 100 announced Friday that their Republican presidential primary debate will be Jan. 30 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.
Buchanan may face Fitzgerald in District 13 re-election bid
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has decided against taking on Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to have an easier time winning re-election, Democrats insist.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Coast Guard: New gulf oil sheen may be from sunken Transocean rig
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Sightings of a very large sheen of oil in the Gulf of Mexico have had coastal residents and fishermen worried for over a month.
Fish still suffering after BP oil spill
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Signs of last year's BP oil spill have nearly vanished from the marshes along Louisiana's Gulf coast, but the fish there are still turning up with life-threatening deformities and reproductive problems.
Federal judge rules for cleaner water in the Everglades
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
A federal judge has ruled that water coming from state-operated Stormwater Treatment Areas, and running south into the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, has been exceeding pollution limits designed to protect the Florida Everglades.
Raising 'Sugar-Cane': Investigative Report
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
A battle being waged in the ethanol industry pits sugar against corn, and it reaches from Florida to the Midwest to Latin America.
Nearly 14,000 acres of protected land removed from consideration for sale by state
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Nearly 14,000 acres of land that the state was reviewing for possible sale this year have been removed from consideration because of its conservation value, according to a report issued Friday.
St. Johns water district to pick top executive
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
The powerful agency regulating Central and North Florida's water supply has sustained a more than 25 percent cut in its tax revenue, its employees say morale is the lowest in memory, and orders from the governor to adhere to its "core mission" have perplexed even agency veterans.
State plan to add tiger and hammerhead sharks to protected list divides anglers
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
After listening to the tales of fishermen, researchers and conservationists about the plight of the tiger and hammerhead sharks, officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are drafting a rule that would make it a crime to kill the sharks.
LGBT
End of gay adoption ban spurs start of 100 new families in South Florida
By Georgia East
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Like so many parents, Jessie and Cooper Odell spend their days helping their 8-year-old with homework, taking him to the park, playing football or attending church on Sundays.
With repeal of ‘don‘t ask, don't tell,' airman no longer has to hide sexuality
By Wendy Victora
Ft. Walton Sun
When Bruce Watson joined the Air Force five years ago, no one knew he was gay.
EDUCATION
Merits of SB 736 pit Collier teachers vs. officials as Florida lawsuit awaits hearing
By Heather Carney
Naples Daily News
Construction paper posters hang on the walls of the Collier County Education Association meeting room.
Education mandate for online class puts pressure on Florida's rural districts
By Bill Maxwell
St. Petersburg Times
Florida legislators have strapped school districts with yet another expensive unfunded mandate.
Educators outline plan to improve Hispanic graduation rate
By Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
President Barack Obama and others have called for the United States to dramatically increase its number of college graduates, but a report released by the College Board on Friday warns that America’s Hispanic students — now the largest minority in K-12 public schools — are significantly trailing their classmates when it comes to attaining degrees.
Despite criticism, standardized tests here to stay in Florida
By Chris Umpierre
Ft. Myers News-Press
Bonita Springs Middle School teacher Sandra Andrews will administer 27 state-mandated standardized tests to her eighth-grade students this year. Twenty-four of those tests will take two class periods to complete, which means that her students will spend 51 class periods, or 34 hours, testing.
Higher education reforms on the way for Florida
By Deborah Circelli
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Changes are coming aimed at improving Florida's higher education system to ensure students are graduating with skills needed in the state.
Inadequate Political Progress
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
President Obama is right to offer states a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Law, but he's waiving it favor of bad or worse education "reforms."
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Pension Battle Looms for Legislature
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
After a bitter debate this year, state lawmakers mandated that 655,000 state and local government workers contribute 3 percent of their annual salaries to the state pension fund.
Scott can't stop Workforce funds, Rep. Brown says
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has waded into the uproar surrounding Workforce Central Florida, insisting that Gov. Rick Scott has no authority to block federal funding of the region's embattled jobs agency.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Health care agencies are told that budget cuts will likely be 'a reality' in 2012
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
A top budget official for Gov. Rick Scott on Friday warned agency officials, as well as lobbyists, that it is likely that there will be more budget cuts for the state's health care agencies in the coming year.
Nursing homes brace for cuts
By Barbara Peters Smith
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
An 11.4 percent cut in Medicare payments to U.S. nursing homes takes effect this month, which, combined with a 6.5 percent rollback in state Medicaid reimbursements, will leave some Florida facilities with no way to meet payroll expenses.
Americans United for Life says Planned Parenthood investigation part of strategy to end abortion
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
An attorney for the group partially responsible for a recent congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood says the group has targeted the chain of health clinics as part of a strategy to end abortion.
Uninsured situation worsens in South Florida
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Lack of health insurance in South Florida — long a problem in blue-collar areas like Hialeah — has now become a major concern even in the middle-class suburbs of Kendall, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.
Grieving parents picket med board
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Calling the Florida Board of Medicine a “puppet” of the pharmaceutical industry, 15 protesters picketed today in front of a Tampa hotel where the board is meeting.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Lawmakers debate raising focus on drug treatment for inmatesBy Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Ron Gavin had a promising career as an Air Force pilot destroyed by drugs and alcohol.
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