Daily Clips for December 8, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Scott budget plan raises school spending by $1 billion, cuts Medicaid by $2 billion
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott called for a $1 billion increase in state dollars for public schools Wednesday, part of an election-year, $66.4 billion budget proposal built on steep cuts to hospitals treating low-income, disabled and elderly Floridians.

‘Daily Show’ reporter asks Scott to pee in a cup
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
A reporter with Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" showed up at Gov. Rick Scott's budget unveiling Wednesday to ask him to take a drug test -- a reference to the testing he wants to impose on state employees and welfare applicants.

Scott continues to blame Medicaid for state budget shortfalls
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
As the state Legislature prepares for an estimated $2 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Rick Scott has maintained that it is the state’s spending on Medicaid that is to blame.

To add jobs, improve Florida’s quality of life
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Osceola County got some good economic news recently, but it came at a price to taxpayers.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott’s budget an improvement, but Legislature can do better
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Gov. Rick Scott appears to have finally gotten the message that Floridians care deeply about public education.

Casino bill faces resistance even in normally friendly committee
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
The Senate sponsor of a bill to bring destination resort casinos to South Florida faced a hostile first committee Wednesday even as economists came up with a new projection that shows the project will bring the state a windfall of between $327 million and $455 million in new revenue.

Insurance fight joins again as senators clash over surplus lines bill
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A bill encouraging surplus lines property insurance companies to take over policies from state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. was voted out of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on Wednesday, but not before two lawmakers sparred over the legislation.

POLITICAL RACES

Gingirch at 48 percent in Florida
By Emily Schultheis
Politico
Newt Gingrich has pulled far ahead of the pack in Florida, per a new Time/CNN poll out this afternoon, garnering an impressive 48 percent of the vote.

10 percent of American Billionaires Have Donated to Romney
By Travis Waldron
Think Progress
A former venture capitalist with a net worth in the neighborhood of $250 million, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has struggled with the perception that he is the candidate of the one percent, particularly since the 99 Percent Movement turned America’s focus to rising income inequality and corporate greed coming from Wall Street.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Personhood Florida officially launches new petition
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
A group that wants Florida to define life as beginning at the moment of conception has officially launched its “personhood petition.”

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Appeals court rule against Rink Materials’ bid to mine rock in Glades
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
For the second time in four months, environmentalists seeking to block rocking mining south of Lake Okeechobee have won a favorable appellate court ruling against Palm Beach County and Rinker Materials of Florida.

Florida panel considering water pollution rule
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida environmental regulators are taking on vote on a hotly debated state water pollution rule.

Senators air out idea to allow advertising on state trails
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times
Sen. Steve Wise promises his proposal to offer up naming rights for state trails will not get out of hand.

State upholds FPL’s conservation effort
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Florida Power & Light Co. and Progress Energy Florida will continue their energy conservation programs, state regulators have decided, despite a protest by environmentalists who wanted the programs upgraded.

LGBT

Equality and inclusion good business
By Jack Lord
Orlando Sentinel
Recently, the University of Central Florida announced it will offer employees domestic-partner benefits, Broward County passed an Equal Benefits Ordinance, and the city of Orlando gave preliminary approval this week to a domestic-partnership registry.

EDUCATION

VP Biden and education chief visit Florida school
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are in Florida to discuss college affordability during a visit to a Jacksonville-area high school.

New fees highlight students’ growing cost burden
By Kim Wilmath
St. Petersburg Times
It's a delicate balance. That was the message the University of South Florida provost gave to student senators last week, explaining why students are having to shoulder more and more of the cost of education.

Brevard effect: School funding gap might not close
By Mackenzie Ryan
Florida Today
Overall funding local schools might see next year could decline, even with Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed increase of $1 billion in state funding for K-12 education

Stephen Wise bill links education department with juvenile justice
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
An overhaul of Florida’s juvenile justice system aims to better measure how educators handle students who enter that system and tries to ensure that those students have a marketable skill when they return home.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Fla. Gov. unveils proposed budget for 2012
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday proposed a budget for the upcoming year that would increase money for schools, but would make dramatic cuts elsewhere to pay for the extra funding.

Central Florida companies don’t pay fair share of state income taxes, report says
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
Three Central Florida companies were named in a national report released Wednesday that contends many corporations pay too little in state income tax.

Step in to save the post office
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
While neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night have prevented the U.S. Postal Service from fulfilling its duty since 1775, the Internet has managed to diminish the role of the mail system in American life in just a few short years.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

800,000 to lose FL Medicaid?
By Brittany Davis
Health News Florida
About 800,000 people may be forced out of the state's Medicaid program if they must pay the $10 per month premium proposed by the Florida Legislature last spring, according to a report released today.

Cut waste, ‘rescue the economy’: Berwick
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Economists have warned health-care interests for decades that the system is inherently wasteful and unsustainable.

Drug costs in Florida dip $96 million
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
Floridians on Medicare saved more than $96 million on drug costs in 2011 thanks to a provision in health care reform, the federal government announced Tuesday.

Farmworkers ask EPA for protection from pesticides
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
State farmworker advocates are calling on the EPA to expand federal labor protection laws to agricultural laborers — arguing that pesticide poisoning is hampering the health of workers.

GOP lawmaker’s bill would recommend HPV vaccine for young girls
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
State. Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, has filed legislation that would urge parents to give young girls HPV vaccines upon entering the sixth grade.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Senate panel advances ban on texting while driving
By Katie Sanders
St. Petersburg Times
Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, is trying a third time to make texting while driving illegal in Florida, one of just a handful of states without a law that addresses this brand of distracted driving.

Construction workers fight for unpaid wages as bill to block anti-wage theft ordinances moves on
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
As a Florida House subcommittee voted to pass state Rep. Tom Goodson’s bill that would block local anti-wage theft ordinances today, 35 construction workers in Miami Lakes began fighting to receive wages they are owed for several weeks of work.