Daily Clips for December 14, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Florida’s jobless fear possible benefits lapse
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
Florida's limping economy will sustain a further blow if Congress does not extend emergency unemployment benefits set to expire Jan. 1.

Case against teacher ensnared in new voter registration rules moves forward
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The St. Petersburg Times reports that Dawn Quarles, one of the teachers now in trouble for not following new rules for voter registration, is getting ready to face a penalty for her violation.

Report: Access to care ‘plummeted’ in Medicaid Reform Pilot
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
A new report from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy finds that access to medical care remains a problem for Floridians enrolled in the state’s five-county Medicaid Reform Pilot.

Report: Florida among 10 worst states for child homelessness
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
According to a report released today by The National Center on Family Homelessness, Florida has one of the worst rates of child homelessness in the country.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida Occupy groups organize for legislative session during statewide convention
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
This past weekend, Occupy Wall Street-inspired groups from all over the state came to together in Orlando to outline priorities for the upcoming state legislative session.

Florida enters wacky ‘War on Christmas’
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
It's been about a decade since the so-called "War on Christmas" began.

Cannon on gambling, the budget and endorsements
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times
In a wide-ranging interview with House Speaker Dean Cannon Tuesday, the Winter Park Republican told the Times/Herald he agrees with Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, that legislators should focus first on passing a bill to close the loopholes in the state's existing gambling laws before introducing destination resort casinos to Florida.

Hispanic leaders knock Rubio on Aponte vote
By Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday abruptly canceled a meeting with a high-level State Department official after learning that Democrats had described his vote Monday against the ambassador to El Salvador as an insult to the Puerto Ricans he represents in Florida.

Gov. Scott investigates panel that polices the police
By Anthony Cormier and Matthew Doig
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Lawyers for Gov. Rick Scott are in the process of investigating "illegal appointments" to a state panel that certifies and disciplines law enforcement officers, Scott's press secretary said Tuesday.

POLITICAL RACES

Poll: Marco Rubio no help to GOP in 2012 election
By Mackenzie Weinger
Politico
Putting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on the Republican presidential ticket would result in a net gain of virtually no Latino votes for the GOP, a new poll shows.

Jon Huntsman hangs a lot of hope on doing well in New Hampshire
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Some candidates walk into a room and their presence fills it like a floodlight.

Trump out as debate moderator – but could he be in as presidential candidate?
By Dara Kam and George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Donald Trump is out as a debate moderator -- but he might be back in as a presidential candidate.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Environmentalists protest Pam Bondi for joining a suit to block EPA mercury rule
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has joined 24 other states in a lawsuit that would block an Environmental Protection Agency rule to reduce mercury air pollution.

Water district agrees to vote on revised ethics rules
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
A tweaking of the St. Johns River Water Management District's ethic rules may not do enough to shield staff members from even unintended intimidation by the agency's governing members, one of those members said Tuesday during a board meeting here.

Everglades Foundation to host Tallahassee summit
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
With Gov. Rick Scott emerging for many environmentalists as a surprising defender of Everglades restoration, one of the issue’s biggest advocates is taking its case to the state Capitol next month.

LGBT

Meet The Florida Family Association: A Faux Outrage Generation Factory
By Zack Ford
Think Progress
The Florida Family Association (FFA) has attracted national attention this week for convincing Lowe’s and other companies to drop its advertising on the acclaimed new TLC reality show, All-American Muslim.

EDUCATION

Florida Charter Schools Failing Disabled Students
By John O'Connor and Sarah Gonzalez
NPR
Tres Whitlock is stuck in a public school where he feels ignored. He wants out.

Academica: Florida’s richest charter school management firm
By Kathleen McGrory and Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
On a sun-drenched weekend in September, a group of South Florida charter school principals jetted off to a leadership retreat at The Cove, an exclusive enclave of the Atlantis resort.

Latvala: Time to commit to funding education
By Ron Matus and Rebecca Catalanello
St. Petersburg Times
After several years of steep cuts to the state budget, including education spending, Sen. Jack Latvala said Tuesday the time is ripe for the state to look at raising new revenue, including closing a loophole on Internet sales taxes.

Volusia School Board gets ‘mic check’ by supporters of teacher pay raises
By Linda Trimble
Daytona Beach News Journal
Volusia County teachers who have rallied repeatedly outside School Board meetings for better pay picked up support from two other groups inside Tuesday's meeting.

Valencia’s No. 1 rank makes it state model
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Valencia College's selection as America's best community college is a huge win for the school, its faculty and its students — a national title in a field that began with some 1,200 competitors nationwide.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida votes party line on GOP payroll tax plan
By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Florida's congressional delegation voted along strict party lines this evening on a Republican plan to extend the payroll tax cut.

Business groups seek more changes to stem unemployment tax hike
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Unemployment compensation taxes that businesses pay are poised to sharply increase at the end of the month, but Florida business groups are hoping to reduce the increase through changes to the unemployment compensation system.

Cannon: No need to delay budget decision
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon said Tuesday that he sees no reason to delay a vote on the budget.

Report highlights decline in ranks of state workforce
Staff Report
Florida Current
Florida's state workforce shrank by about 3.5 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, according the State Personnel System Annual Workforce Report for 2010-11, released by the Department of Management Services.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

New mandates stall decisions on $1 billion in health care spending
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
All indications are Florida will get the additional $1 billion in federal funding it needs to help pay the health care costs for the poor and disabled.

Continuation of Florida's Medicaid managed-care program close to approval
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
Federal officials could be close to approving a continuation of Florida's Medicaid managed-care pilot program, but some hospitals are balking at new requirements that could cost them millions of dollars.

What could be changing in Florida Medicaid
By Aaron Deslatte
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The health-care advocacy group Florida CHAIN has posted a cheat-sheet of sorts for what changes the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is poised to approve this week in the state's long-awaited extension of its 2005 managed-care reform project.

Fed officials, locals discuss health care reform
By Anne Geggis
Gainesville Sun
As part of an eight-city swing through Florida, two federal officials came to Gainesville Tuesday to explain to small business owners the current benefits of the nation's health care reform act and the law's lower health care costs on the horizon.

Senate Democrats ask Sebelius for ‘scientific rationale’ behind morning after pill decision
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Fourteen U.S. Senate Democrats have sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for the “scientific rationale” behind her decision to reverse an FDA request to expand access to over-the-counter emergency contraception for teenagers under the age of 17.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

People for the American Way calls for Lowe’s boycott over All-American Muslim ad pull
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Responding to the news that home improvement giant Lowe’s pulled its advertising from the TLC reality series All-American Muslim, People for the American Way today called on Americans to “boycott hate” and stop shopping at Lowe’s.

Restore ex-felons’ rights
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
In March, Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet turned back the clock on ex-cons.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Court refuses to halt Grena barrel racing
By James Call
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
An appellate court says betting on quarter horse barrel racing can continue at least until the next step in a legal challenge.

Attorney: FAMU student hazed could barely walk
By Greg Bluestein and Gary Fineout
Associated Press
The freshman Florida A&M band member who was beaten so badly she could barely walk was picked on in part because she was deemed the "Ace," or the leader of the pledges for a secret group of Georgia natives known as "Red Dawg Order," authorities said.