FEATURED STORIES
Scott meets with 'The Post': Hot for jobs, lukewarm on casinos
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Related editorial: Scott must start to buy in
While saying he remains focused on his campaign pledge of creating jobs, Scott told The Palm Beach Post editorial board today he doesn't necessarily want to see those jobs coming from new casinos in South Florida as touted by some lawmakers.
Longer recovery forecast for Florida
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
With 24.5 percent of the nation's foreclosures, Florida remained in the lead this week for housing woe – an unenviable position it will hold long after other regions of the country recover, economists said Thursday.
Democrats want Florida to drop law firm contract
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
The Florida Democratic Party on Thursday called for the state to drop its contract with a law firm that includes a one-time business associate of Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Florida "reformers" use decoys, spread unions thin to shield their virtual schooling efforts, new report claims
By Jeff Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
The Nation magazine has just published an investigative report, How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools, that is sure to get Florida's education and policy communities talking.
Study: Health insurance at work rises fast in Florida
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The price of family health coverage at work has risen faster in Florida than any state except Mississippi, squeezing workers and employers alike, a nonprofit research group said Wednesday.
BEST OF THE BLOGS
High Priced Firm Defending Rick Scott's Pension Law Has Ties...To Scott
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
For someone who says we have to be really careful how we spend "our" money, Gov. Rick Scott is running up quite a "bill" for taxpayers who will have to pick up the tab.
From Occupy Wall Street To Organizing Main Street
By Daniel Tilson
West Palm Beach Liberal Examiner
As police in riot gear swept through makeshift tent cities from sea to shining sea, making arrests and clearing encamped Occupy protesters from public parks, the fast-accelerating new movement was already shifting gears.
Blam! Blam! Ka-blooey!
By Benjamin Kirby
The Spencerian
What in the hell is the deal with the violent language and imagery which seems to seep and ooze out of the political right like a festering sore that never heals, abetted by our pathetic media apparatus?
Already A Lap Behind: A Closer Look at Florida’s Refusal to Implement the Affordable Care Act
By Greg Mellowe
Florida Center for Economic and Fiscal Policy
In March 2010, Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sweeping legislation tackling the long-pressing crisis of inadequate and continuously eroding access to affordable, quality health coverage.
FLORIDA POLITICS
Fundraiser: Crist wanted Greer to take over party fundraising
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
A lobbyist who was Charlie Crist's chief fundraiser Thursday told attorneys for ousted Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer that the then-governor authorized Greer in early 2009 to take over party fundraising and to be paid extra for it, a Greer attorney reported.
Pitiful legislators woo companies with wads of cash
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
In today's Friday Files, we are talking about the wrongfully convicted and broken campaign promises.
Governor Scott Sends Legal Defense Work Out of State – to a Firm with Ties to both Him and GOP
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
Law firms seem to be among the chief benefactors of Governor Scott's reign, though not all of them are Florida firms.
Several hundred hold Occupy protest in Miami
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Several hundred people have gathered at a downtown Miami park in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protests taking place around the nation.
Toll collection merger plan could be dead on arrival
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A new plan to merge the toll collection functions of all the expressway authorities throughout Florida could be dead already, as even those supporting the plan doubt its staying power.
POLITICAL RACES
Is he ready? Cain's gaffes raise some questions
By Charles Babington
Associated Press
Many Republican voters are drawn to Herman Cain's forceful campaign style.
Gingrich tells Florida crowd he welcomes scrutiny
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich knows that he is going to be more closely scrutinized now that he's rising in the polls and told a crowd Thursday that he welcomes the questions.
Congress OKs security funding for GOP convention in Tampa
By Christian M. Wade
Tampa Tribune
Congress has signed off on a spending package that will provide $50 million in security funding for the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa next August.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Fla. streamline tortoise relocation permits
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Developers will have an easier time getting permits to relocate Florida gopher tortoises from prematurely cleared land inhabited by the threatened reptiles.
EDUCATION
Schools face $16M shortfall next year
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
The Marion County School District could face as much as about a $16 million shortfall for the 2012-13 school year if predictions from statewide economic forecasters hold true.
Rick Scott's Signature on University Diplomas Is Now the Subject of a Petition
By Matthew Hendley
Broward New Times
Apparently Gov. Rick Scott's positions on the state's higher-education system isn't impressing all of the students in Florida's public universities.
Tensions continue in USF Poly independence debate
By Kim Wilmath
St. Petersburg Times
State Sen. J.D. Alexander stood to the side of the room Thursday, watching as University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft spoke to faculty at her embattled Lakeland campus.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
With 1 week left, GOP, Dems far apart on deficit deal
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The top Republican on a special deficit-cutting panel says GOP negotiators have "gone as far as we feel we can go" on tax hikes, a public signal that a debt bargain could be out of reach despite weeks of negotiations.
Lawmakers will try again to curb PIP insurance fraud
By Steve Bousquet and Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
For Gov. Rick Scott and state legislators, the problem is painfully obvious: Car insurance fraud costs drivers nearly $1 billion a year in increased premiums.
Welfare drug testing law makes list of top five efforts to ‘kill the American dream’
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Center for American Progress recently highlighted what it considers to be the “Top Five Efforts by Conservatives to Make It Harder to Escape Poverty.”
Teamsters take over Florida prison union, after workers go years without raises
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The Teamsters union Thursday ousted the Florida Police Benevolent Association as the labor organization representing 22,000 state correctional and probation officers, ending almost four decades of dominance by the PBA.
Money for delinquent girls misspent, state says
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
State investigators say Vicki Lopez Lukis used her contracts with juvenile justice administrators for personal gain, buying meals at a steakhouse, a sushi restaurant and a raw bar, gifts for friends and lawmakers, doughnuts, tickets to a film festival and flowers, spending taxpayer dollars on cell phone roaming charges in Europe, gift cards, and paying off staffers’ parking tickets.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Florida health care waiver request delayed
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A state request to free Florida health insurance companies from spending at least 80 percent of premiums on medical costs has been delayed by the federal government.
Reversing course, lawmakers now want tougher regulations for ALFs
By Katie Sanders and Michael Sallah
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Just months after Florida lawmakers tried to strip away crucial protections for residents of assisted-living facilities, legislators are now radically reversing course in what could lead to the biggest changes in state law in a generation.
Medicare plan to be shut down
By Vincent Kuntz
Health News Florida
Quality Health Plans, a Medicare HMO with 10,000 Florida members, has been ordered into liquidation after failing to come up with the cash reserves the state says were needed.
Workers' comp panel votes to limit drug, outpatient charges
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
A panel charged with keeping Florida's workers' compensation delivery system running smoothly wants the state to cap how much physicians can charge for dispensing prescriptions to injured workers.
Florida not alone with Medicaid prescription problems
Staff Report
Florida Current
Florida isn't the only state with a Medicaid program that has for years had evidence of huge bills racked up by physicians who have prescribed drugs in excess and perhaps to the wrong patients, ProPublica reports.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Decision on South Florida immigration detention center delayed till DecemberBy Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
A proposal to cancel a contract that obligates the city of Pembroke Pines to supply fire, rescue, water and sewage services to a new privately managed 1,500 bed immigration detention center was defeated in the the city commission Wednesday night.
Florida: Justice Department Investigates Miami Police
Reuters
New York Times
The Justice Department said Thursday that it was investigating allegations of excessive use of deadly force by the Miami police.
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