Daily Clips for January 12, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Senate committee finalizes redistricting maps as Democrats split
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
After a bitter debate over a last-minute map produced and withdrawn by Democrats, the Senate Reapportionment Committee on Wednesday voted out its proposals to redraw the political lines for the state Senate and Congress for the next 10 years.

Casino gambling debate money boosts state fundraising totals
By David DeCamp
Tampa Bay Times
Lobbying interests forked over nearly $20 million worth of reasons for lawmakers to go their way leading up to the 2012 legislative session.

Kurt Browning resigns as Florida's secretary of state
By Steve Bousquet and Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Secretary of State Kurt Browning resigned Wednesday as Florida's chief elections official and said he may run for superintendent of schools in Pasco County, where he has lived all his life.

The education of Florida governor Rick Scott
By Tory Newmyer
Fortune
The scandal-tarred CEO turned Tea Party darling is learning that running a state isn't at all like running a company.

Robbing Medicaid to pay schools
Editorial
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott's "state of the state" address reiterated 2-for-1 deal in his proposed budget: Make $2 billion in Medicaid cuts in order to pump $1 billion in "new" money into public education.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Casino bill still stalled in House
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The gambling bill that would allow three casinos to open in Florida remains stalled in the House after a second workshop on the proposal Wednesday afternoon.

House bill gives governor new power over agency rules
By Aaron Deslatte
South Florida Sun Sentinel
House lawmakers are advancing a response to the Florida Supreme Court ruling last summer that Gov. Rick Scott overstepped his bounds by creating a new rules office and freezing agency rulemaking on his first day in office.

Bill gives the public the right to be heard
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Florida's citizens would get the right to be heard on public issues, not just be seen, at meetings of local government and state executive branch bodies under a bill that cleared a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

State hotline to improve government efficiency proves inefficient
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
One tipster suggested the state cut heating bills by forcing government workers to wear more clothes.

Hastings faces further inquiry into harassment allegations
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
South Florida congressman Alcee Hastings faces further investigation by the House ethics committee into sexual harassment allegations made by a former staff member of a human-rights group under his supervision.

Kinder, gentler but not enough
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
Many who heard Gov. Rick Scott’s State of the State speech on Tuesday came away with a feeling of what a difference a year makes.

POLITICAL RACES

Polling results dismal for South Florida U.S. Senate candidates
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Latest poll results are dismal for the South Florida candidates seeking their party's U.S. Senate nomination.

Romney close to securing nomination even before Florida primary
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Florida’s Republican primary is starting to look as if it will be decided before the polls even open.

South Carolina may be last stand for Mitt Romney's rivals
By Alex Leary and Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Related: 5 things we learned in the New Hampshire primary
South Carolina may be the best and last chance for Mitt Romney's rivals to halt his momentum toward the Republican presidential nomination, but they went on the defensive Wednesday for attacking Romney's record as a venture capitalist.

Romney and Paul get jump on Fla. absentee voters
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
The Florida presidential primary is on.

States' rights? RNC punishes Florida GOP with second-class hotel rooms, etc. for early primary
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Second-class hotel rooms. A poor view on the Republican National Convention floor in Tampa. A loss of VIP passes.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Environmental permit streamlining bill moves on despite opposition and concerns
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
An environmental permit streamlining bill passed another House committee on Wednesday despite concerns raised by some groups and opposition from some Democrats.

Judge wants update on Everglades pollution fixes
By Curt Anderson
Associated Press
A federal judge in Miami has summoned federal and state environmental officials to a hearing on whether progress is being made to restore the Florida Everglades.

Bill to OK sale of naming rights for state trails passes through committee
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill that would allow companies to sponsor state recreational trails passed a House committee on Wednesday despite concerns voiced about commercializing state parks.

Cuba's offshore oil drilling platform gets OK from Coast Guard, BSEE
By Juan O. Tamayo
Miami Herald
U.S. Coast Guard and environmental safety officials have inspected and OK’d an offshore oil drilling platform headed to Cuba, under an unusual arrangement designed to allay concerns about a possible spill that could foul the U.S. coastline.

Stork status set to be settled soon
By Kevin Lollar
Ft. Myers News-Press
More than four years after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists recommended the endangered wood stork be reclassified as threatened, the agency is expecting to make a final decision on the species early this year.

LGBT

Group wants federal probe into FAMU hazing death
By Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
A national civil rights group has started an online petition urging the federal government to investigate whether the hazing death of Florida A&M University student Robert Champion was an anti-gay hate crime.

EDUCATION

Florida drops to 11th in national education ranking
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Florida dropped in a national education ranking this year, falling from its coveted fifth-place spot and out of the nation's Top 10 for the first time in four years.

Many high-poverty schools 'shortchanged' in Central Florida
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
At Hiawassee Elementary in Orange County, where nine out of every 10 students lives in poverty, the school district spent about $2,065 per student on teachers and other staff during the 2008-09 school year.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Foreclosure filings fall in Florida, Tampa Bay area
By Elizabeth Behrman
Tampa Bay Times
Foreclosure filings in Florida plunged in 2011, but the already long process of resolving those cases has gotten even longer.

House panel approves overhaul of PIP system
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald
Voting along party lines, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee approved a new no-fault auto insurance system that would require people injured in accidents to make emergency rooms their first stop.

House panel considers business lobby's plan to reduce unemployment tax hike
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee heard the outlines of a plan Wednesday from major business lobbying groups to reduce the planned increase in the unemployment compensation tax.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Health care reform lawsuit: States file legal arguments against Medicaid expansion
By Jennifer Haberkorn
Politico
Twenty-six states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the health care reform law’s mandatory state expansion of the Medicaid program, a sleeper issue in the health care reform lawsuit that could determine how much leverage the federal government has with the states on any issue.

Scott Health Care Cut Criticized
Staff Report
Lakeland Ledger
A health care advocacy group said Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to cut more than $400 million in general revenue from the state's health care budget is short-sighted because it would cost the state another $1.2 billion in federal money that would instead go to other states.

State hospital funding cuts mean longer waits, advocates say
By Anne Geggis
Gainesville Sun
The deepest budget cut that Northeast Florida State Hospital has endured in more than 20 years has meant more mental patients per clinician at the hospital, but there is not a larger backlog of patients seeking treatment, hospital administrators say.

AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list likely to grow again through 2012
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
The waiting list to enroll in Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program grew to almost 1,200 people in early January, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, known as NASTAD.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Bill adding barrier to welfare, food assistance for people with drug-related felonies moves along
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
A bill that would make it slightly harder for someone with a drug-related felony conviction to receive welfare benefits and food assistance passed a state House health committee today.

Legislators announce gun ban for child care facilities and government buildings
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
State Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, and Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, announced a new bill in a press conference at the capitol today that would outlaw concealed weapons in child care facilities and government buildings.

FL Evangelical Leaders Launch Young Voters' Outreach
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
More than 2,000 Latinos gathered in Orlando this week to kick off a six-state campaign to mobilize young, evangelical Hispanic voters.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Stable revenue sought for court system
By Mary Wozniak
Ft. Myers News-Press
The recurring need for emergency loans to keep state courts afloat may cease if Gov. Rick Scott’s budget proposal to fund the courts with $280 million from the general fund instead of foreclosure fees becomes reality.

Expert witness standards bill advances
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
Renewing a lobbying fight between business groups and trial lawyers, a House panel Wednesday approved a bill that would lead to tougher standards for expert witnesses in lawsuits.

Tampa lawmaker wants to toughen penalty for video voyeurism
By Jodie Tillman
Tampa Bay Times
Last summer, Rep. Dana Young heard about the two Bulgarian women who found hidden cameras inside their west Hillsborough apartment.