PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
October 31st Weekly Show
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida’s Political Reality Show
Florida Democrats convene in Orlando, the black caucus meets with the governor, and Progress Florida’s Damien Filer puts a dollar sign on just how much the right wing is costing you.
Foreclosures in area surging under State Attorney General Pam Biondi
By Steven M. Thomas
VeroBeach.com
Excerpt: In May, June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards, state lawyers who led foreclosure fraud investigations under McCollum, were forced to resign…“We think the big banks and the financial industry have leveraged their enormous political power to have these attorneys removed,” Mark Ferrulo, executive director for Progress Florida, said after the firings.
AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS
Liberals Warm Up for Elections
By Laura Meckler
Wall Street Journal
Excerpt: In Ohio, unions are leading a fight to repeal a state law curbing collective-bargaining rights for public employees. Voters will decide the matter Tuesday. In Wisconsin, they are gunning to recall Gov. Scott Walker. And in Florida, budget cuts and layoffs by the Republican governor spurred "Awake the State" rallies.
FEATURED STORIES
Florida GOP insiders unsure of winning state in 2012 presidential election
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
President Barack Obama's poll numbers are grim, the economy is in the tank, and Republicans appear much more energized than four years ago. So we were a bit surprised by the results of our latest Florida Insider Poll taken one year before the election.
GOP candidates avoid Fla. tea party convention
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
Tea party organizers in Florida are seeking more influence in electing candidates, yet the most prominent Republicans invited to participate in the groups' first statewide convention didn't bother to show up.
In Senate fight, Bill Nelson focuses on Rick Scott
By David Catanese
Politico
Five Republican candidates are gunning for his seat, but Florida Sen. Bill Nelson is busy focusing on a far more enticing target: Gov. Rick Scott.
Judge blocks state from seeking private company contracts to run prisons
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
Citing the "likelihood of irreparable injury" to state prison workers and signs the state is "not likely to succeed on the merits on appeal," a Tallahassee judge blocked the Department of Corrections from soliciting bids to operate 29 South Florida prisons and work camps.
GOP won't let courts derail its agenda
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott and top Republican lawmakers say a series of unfavorable court rulings on legislation they pushed last spring will not deter them from again pursuing a strong conservative agenda in 2012.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Andy Marlette
Pensacola News Journal
Related editorial: Drop that voter card, fiend!
FLORIDA POLITICS
Why inconsistent voting rules during presidential primary might be illegal
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Related: Members of Congress send letters to secretaries of state opposing new voting laws
Because the state was denied an expedited hearing for its new voting laws, Florida might find itself conducting a presidential primary with two different sets of elections laws. An elections expert writes that if this is the case, the state would be in violation of its own statutes.
When Voter Registration is a Crime
By Adam Cohen
Time Magazine
Dawn Quarles, a high school teacher, is facing a $1,000 fine for doing something Florida has been cracking down on lately: registering students to vote.
Dean Cannon is an anti-casino wild card
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Biggest foe of expanded gambling in Florida: Disney
The well-moneyed forces for turning South Florida into a destination casino boomtown will confront a wave of opposition from existing casinos and racinos, theme parks defending their convention business, and social conservatives.
Occupy Orlando marches again to end government corruption and corporate greed
By Jon Busdeker
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Social media help drive Occupy Orlando protests
Different march. Different Saturday. Same message: Stop corporate greed, end government corruption and fix social inequalities.
Fed up: Sen. Bill Nelson calls for civility during time of rigid ideology
By Liz Freeman
Naples Daily News
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson has perspective about the political stranglehold in Congress today.
Florida roads go by many names — too many, some say
By Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The country road that connects Crystal River and Tallahassee is known as U.S. 19.
Attorney General Pam Bondi talks about planning a wedding, life outside the office
By Elisabeth Parker
St. Petersburg Times
As the state's first female attorney general, Pam Bondi juggles her workweek in Tallahassee with a commute to Tampa every weekend with her dog.
POLITICAL RACES
Tea Party looks to 2012 at first state convention
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
It was a Tea Party bonanza this weekend at Florida’s first convention for the conservative activist group, but beyond the vendors hawking Tea Party playing cards and speakers warning about radical Islam and a coming currency collapse was one overriding message: “Victory 2012 begins with you.”
Tea party convention cool to Romney as GOP nominee
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
At the Florida Tea Party Convention on Saturday, you could find buttons calling for Marco Rubio to be on the presidential ticket, T-shirts declaring that Barack Obama has made communism cool again, and freeze-dried foods to last up to 25 years in case society collapses.
U.S. Senate candidates address Tea Party Florida Convention
By Derek Catron
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Five Republican hopefuls for the U.S. Senate stood for review before tea party members Saturday at the Ocean Center, but the candidates may have been distinguished as much for who wasn't there as who was.
Democrats hope to avoid losing Jewish voters in South Florida
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Democrats are worried about people like Bill Cohen.
Local concerns raised about emergency planning for 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa
By Richard Danielson
St. Petersburg Times
Planning for all the emergencies that could befall next year's Republican National Convention — everything from a hurricane to a terrorist attack to a fire at the port — is a team effort.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Progress was warned about cutting into nuclear plant building
By Ivan Penn
St. Petersburg Times
The warning came in an email to the supervisor of a complicated project at the Crystal River nuclear plant.
Florida Home to Seven Air Polluters on EPA Watch List
By Trevor Aaronson and Mc Nelly Torres
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
The Pinellas County Resource Recovery Facility is one of the nation’s largest waste-to-energy trash incinerators.
Test oil drilling rig on way to Cuban waters, 90 miles from Florida Keys
By Eric Staats
Ft. Myers News-Press
With an oil drilling rig on its way to Cuban waters from Singapore, U.S. officials are trying to piece together a strategy for what to do should a spill from the exploratory well threaten the Florida coastline.
Development company controls key to Florida panther survival
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
This has not been a great year for Florida panthers.
Mangrove-cutting case highlights Florida's tree of life
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
When it came to naming Florida's state tree, the spindly mangrove lost out to the stately sabal palm.
EDUCATION
Complex new teacher evaluations tied to student test scores
By Laura Isensee and Sarah Butrymowicz
Miami Herald
Related: Tip for teachers: Don’t mess up when boss is observing
At Coral Reef Senior High, calculus teacher Orlando Sarduy understands complicated formulas, and knows he will be graded on how his students perform on tests.
Do education colleges prepare teachers well?
By Leslie Postal and Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Teachers have been under a hot spotlight in recent years, blamed for public education's shortcomings.
Vote on USF Polytechnic split is this week
By Lindsay Peterson
Tampa Tribune
USF Polytechnic Chancellor Marshall Goodman displayed the cover page of a 19-year-old plan recently while pitching the idea of making his Polk County campus an independent university.
The governor and higher ed
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
Gov. Rick Scott is demanding extensive information about how Florida's universities operate and spend their money.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Job growth weak but 'going in the right direction'
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
The economy continued to recover at a sluggish pace in October, a month when American employers added 80,000 jobs and unemployment dipped slightly.
State may step up scrutiny of job agencies' spending habits
By Don Walker
Florida Today
Jobs are on the top of every politician’s list of concerns. For Florida lawmakers, state-funded job agencies are also on that list.
Bay area protestors fed up with big banks
By Libby Hendren
WTSP 10 News Tampa Bay
A grassroots movement of customers that's fed up with rising bank fees has designated today as "Bank Transfer Day."
Florida could lose nearly 40K defense jobs if military budget takes worst-case cuts, study says
By Richard Burnett
Orlando Sentinel
Already dealing with the wipeout of thousands of space-shuttle jobs, Florida could lose as many as 40,000 defense-related jobs if huge deficit-reduction cuts hanging over the U.S. military budget actually come to pass, a new industry-sponsored study concludes.
Statistics show Floridians love their libraries
By Bill Maxwell
St. Petersburg Times
Despite deep budget cuts and a slow economy, Florida's libraries continue to be resilient and essential community treasures.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
Governor’s task force to shape future of assisted living facilities
By Carol Marbin Miller and Michael Sallah
Miami Herald
To advocates for the elderly, the governor’s task force on assisted living facilities needs to push for tough regulations, including more frequent and robust inspections — and slapping harsher penalties on homes that abuse and neglect the the most vulnerable Floridians.
90% of ‘serious’ cases dropped
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida’s medical boards have taken no action against more than 90 percent of the doctors who lost hospital privileges over the past 20 years, new data show.
Rating agency downgrades financial outlook of HMO hired to provide care for state workers
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Insurance rating company A.M. Best has revised to negative the financial outlook of Gainesville-based AvMed, the health maintenance organization that the state of Florida recently inked contracts with to provide managed care to its state employees.
Senate panel sees no easy fixes for disabled agency
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The director of Florida's agency that cares for the disabled presented his latest attempt to control its costs, but still left the chairwoman of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee feeling "grim" about its prospects.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Wasserman Schultz, private prison firm will have representatives at meeting about new ICE center
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Two staff members from the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines, will be at tomorrow’s meeting between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and residents of southwest Broward County, at which they will discuss an immigration detention center scheduled to be built nearby.
More immigrants fleeing to Florida
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Angel Enriquez escaped Alabama after a stringent immigration law took effect there Sept. 29.
Heartless in Florida
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
In one of his finer moments, Rick Perry, Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful, had this to say when criticized for signing a law that allows undocumented immigrants who are Texas residents access to in-state college and university tuition rates.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Union again beats state in private prison legal fightBy Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
For the second time, the union representing Florida correctional officers has succeeded in convincing a judge to order a halt to the Legislature's plan to privatize 29 South Florida prisons.
Gov. Scott vs. Judicial Activism
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
A series of court rulings overturning state policy has left Gov. Rick Scott and Republican legislative leaders fuming about the role of the judiciary.
Roots Of Judicial Inadequacy
By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Florida's court system is forced to go begging for hand outs, or should I say, branch outs.
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