PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
February 13th Weekly Show
By Gayle Andrews
The BluVu: Florida’s Political Reality Show
Prison privatization finally dies in the Florida Senate, the Governor pushes a $120 million tax break for businesses and Progress Florida’s Damien Filer is keeping them honest. All this and more as political reality comes your way.
FEATURED STORIES
Connie Mack preaches penny-pinching, but has a court-record past of debt and liens (and fights)
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: Connie Mack explains financial problems. Sort of.
Congressman Connie Mack has made penny-pinching debt-reduction central to his U.S. Senate campaign, but privately he has struggled at times with borrowing and paying his own obligations, court records show.
Redistricting battle heads to court with dueling instructions to justices
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Attorneys for opposing sides in Florida’s redistricting fight submitted briefs to the Florida Supreme Court on Friday, with each urging the high court to take drastically different approaches in reviewing maps that redraw the state’s political boundaries.
Bill would benefit big charter school firms
By Kathleen McGrory and Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
A legislative plan to give charter schools a cut of local school districts’ construction money would steer millions of additional dollars to large charter-school networks that are already sitting on tens of millions of dollars in cash, records show.
Worker advocates want Senate to kill bill that prohibits local wage theft crackdowns
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
South Florida labor and worker’s rights organizations are mobilizing their members and calling on state senators to stop a GOP bill that would prohibit Florida cities and counties from passing ordinances that crack down on wage theft, the practice of stiffing workers out of money they are owed.
DREAM act bill killed in the Florida Legislature
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
When the votes were tallied and the last lawmaker had left the room, the young adults wearing the paper graduation caps wept.
Florida knows all about the 1 percent
By Stephen Goldstein
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida is the poster child for the tension between "the 1 percent" and "the 99 percent," a microcosm of the deep-seated ills causing our national, economic malaise. It's way bigger and longer than the recent recession.
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Read the artist's commentary here.
FLORIDA POLITICS
With halftime over, legislators begin end game
By Michael Peltier
Naples Daily News
The halftime show is over and spectators have returned to their seats as the third quarter begins in a 2012 legislation session that is expected to include a flurry of last-minute action, a few timeouts and inevitably a trick play or two.
Lobbyists' pay hits a record – and it's paid off
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott told supporters in 2010 his hard-fought electoral win was leaving Tallahassee insiders "crying in their cocktails" as a Tea Party-fueled election wave swept record Republican super-majorities into the Capitol.
Prison privatization proposal failure stings Fla. Senate President Mike Haridopolos
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Last year, it took until the last day of the legislative session for Senate President Mike Haridopolos to get embarrassed. This year, it happened with three weeks left.
Is there no end to it?
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
It should be difficult to be surprised by legislators who thought it was a good idea to allow them to approve contracts to privatize hundreds of millions of dollars in state services behind closed doors, to be announced only after the contracts were signed.
Sen. JD Alexander: respected, reviled, always powerful
By Steve Bousquet and Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Senators call him a bully. College students trash him. Bureaucrats dread his icy gaze through his black-rimmed glasses.
Renegade legislators seem to be a dying breed
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
If ever there was an example of autocratic leadership in the Florida Legislature, Senate Budget Committee Chairman JD Alexander provided it last week, using the public purse to take out his resentment of the University of South Florida for not embracing his plans for a new university in Polk County.
Claims bills move through Legislature
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A Sunrise man left paralyzed by a speeding cop 14 years ago and the mother of a slain Coral Gables High student were among several South Floridians who came closer to receiving multi-million-dollar settlements and jury awards Friday.
Redistricting veil would erode open government
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Republican leaders in Florida's Legislature promised the most-transparent process ever to redraw congressional and legislative districts after voters amended the constitution to make the once-a-decade undertaking fairer and non-partisan.
Absolute privilege? Absolutely NOT
Editorial
Miami Herald
Even gullible political optimists will have a hard time with the latest bill approved by the Florida House Judiciary Committee.
POLITICAL RACES
Obama campaign amassing troops in Florida
By William March
Tampa Tribune
While the Republican presidential candidates have been battling in Florida and other state primaries, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has been quietly putting together what aides say will be the biggest grass-roots campaign organization in Florida history.
5 things Obama needs to win Florida (and Republicans must avoid)
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
With 29 electoral votes, Florida is the most glittering, valuable prize in this year’s presidential election.
Occupiers to invade Tampa for RNC, organizers predict
By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
For months, they were the face of the anti-establishment movement.
George LeMieux takes aim at front-runner Connie Mack at GOP Senate forum
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
It wasn't a debate, and the three GOP U.S. Senate candidates were in the same room at times, but they didn't appear on stage together at an atypical Florida Federation of Republican Women forum this afternoon.
After once decrying 'Swift Boat' tactics, U.S. Rep. Allen West hires 'Swift Boat' advisor
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
As a Republican congressional candidate in 2010, Army combat veteran Allen West decried "Swift Boat" tactics when he heard that foes might run attack ads using soldiers who had served under West.
Rick Santorum's War on Sex
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
Rick Santorum seems to be positioning himself as the anti-sex candidate.
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Legislation would steer DOT wetlands money to private industry with poor track record
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
A bill to take millions of dollars away from state agencies and hand it to a private industry with a poor track record has been zooming through the Legislature.
Florida lawmakers vote against measure to prevent Everglades drilling
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
House Republicans — including Florida GOP lawmakers Allen West, Vern Buchanan, David Rivera, Tom Rooney, Steve Southerland, and C.W. Bill Young — voted against a measure that would have prevented oil and gas exploration in the Great Lakes and the Florida Everglades.
Federal judge rules on Fla water pollution limits
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A federal judge in Florida has ruled that specific limits on sewage, manure and fertilizer contamination in state waters must take effect March 6.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agrees to delay federal pollution rules
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday agreed to delay the implementing federal pollution limits in Florida, a day after Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation backing proposed state water quality rules.
Minority partner to pay $90 million over oil spill
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
A minority partner in BP's blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico agreed Friday to pay $90 million in a settlement with the federal government and Gulf states over the 2010 oil spill.
BP oil spill's effects need watching
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The BP oil spill may have faded from the front pages, but its impact should be monitored for years.
LGBT
Orange County Mayor Jacobs to back domestic-partner registry
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Mayor Teresa Jacobs has decided to back the creation of a domestic-partner registry for all Orange County residents.
Gay Custody Battle Heads to High Court
Staff Report
Lakeland Ledger
A custody battle between two lesbian former partners now will be decided by the Florida Supreme Court.
EDUCATION
Florida Set for New Cut in Spending on Colleges
By Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
Florida lawmakers contend that education is essential to high-wage jobs in the state, but the Legislature is again expected to slash millions of dollars from the budget for higher education and may usher in another round of tuition increases.
Cuts to USF would carry heavy toll for bay area
By Bob Buckhorn
Tampa Bay Times
The University of South Florida is the state's largest urban university.
A dangerous prescription
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
The Florida Senate's effort to demolish the University of South Florida's budget is more than an attack on the school; it's an attack on the region's economic development.
School 'bonus' funds for teachers, staff held up by state
By Marcia Lane
Florida Times-Union
St. Johns County Schools district employees will have to continue to wait for about $1.7 million in “bonus” dollars until the Florida Department of Education wraps up a review of appeals triggered by the new state grading formula for high schools.
Gym Class Villains? The Case For Removing PE From Middle School
By Dalia Colón
HealthyState.org
This isn’t about hating dodgeball or ignoring childhood obesity statistics. It’s about local control.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Settlement, House bill could fast-track Florida foreclosures
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Faster foreclosures could be coming to Florida.
Pension glitch bill splits police, firefighters
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
A measure that would allow police officers, firefighters, and other special-risk employees to retire earlier is advancing in the House.
Little political will in Tallahassee to reform state-run Citizens Property
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
For six years, Mother Nature has granted Florida uncommon tranquility along its 1,200-mile coastline, where the state’s peninsular mass dangles precariously in the world’s most hurricane-prone waters.
Food stamp fraud cases on rise in Florida, and in Collier, Lee counties
By Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Naples Daily News
Food stamp fraud is on the rise, and state officials say the number of cases in Florida is tied to the increased number of people receiving public assistance.
HEALTH AND SENIORS
On birth control, GOP shoots itself in the foot
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
In their unflagging efforts to distance themselves from mainstream America, Republican leaders have gleefully seized upon a social issue that’s guaranteed to backfire in November.
Medical malpractice compromise dividing physicians
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
The group that represents the state’s physicians is discovering that a compromise it reached to win support of a sweeping medical malpractice bill is dividing its members and could doom the legislative proposal.
Consumer Groups: Medical Devices Need More Oversight
By Jennifer Evans and Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
People might be surprised to learn that the medical devices surgically implanted in their bodies are subject to almost no government regulation, testing or monitoring.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Who expected Florida Legislature to give immigrant students a break?
By Myriam Marquez
Miami Herald
It was more than a long shot. It was a pipe dream that burst into a thousand tears in Tallahassee.
NRA-friendly gun laws are annoying, and dangerous
By Lauren Ritchie
Orlando Sentinel
The shooting at her neighbor's property can go on for 12 straight hours in the east Orange County subdivision where Gwen Shegda lives, leaving her shaken but furious.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
Judge won't prevent closing of Hillsborough prisonBy Tia Mitchell and Jodie Tillman
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Unless the Legislature decides to save it, Hillsborough Correctional Institution could close as soon as March 30.
Private or public, prison system can't be a profit center
By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post
It would be madness for Florida to mass privatize the state prison system.
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