Daily Clips for March 20, 2012

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

Cheers, activists give state Rep. Jeff Brandes "unwelcome" home party
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
On Friday, 75 activists from several progressive groups gave state Representative Jeff Brandes what they called an unwelcome home party.

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Scott quietly signs bill to drug-test state workers
Associated Press
Orlando Sentinel
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has quietly signed into law a bill allowing random drug testing of state workers.

2 Republican state senators file alternative Florida redistricting plans
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
A pair of Republican senators filed alternative redistricting plans Monday to the one sponsored by Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, setting up a potential intraparty battle over the future of the chamber.

Students Threaten Sit-in
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Students from FSU and UF are requesting a meeting with Governor Rick Scott to discuss a bill that would allow their universities to raise tuition as high as they’d like.

King Scott and his legislative minions
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
A few days ago members of the Florida House gaveled themselves into session, spent 11 minutes gazing at their collective navel, slapped each other's backs while spinning around in their leather chairs and then promptly adjourned.

U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and FDLE to probe Trayvon Martin killing
By Frances Robles
Miami Herald
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI will investigate the killing of Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer, the department announced late Monday.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Marco Rubio moves up, rushes release of autobiography
By Alex Leary
Miami Herald
Sen. Marco Rubio's book is coming out earlier than previously expected. He tweeted today the jacket of American Son and said it would come out June 19.

Cabinet being asked to buy home that houses law offices of outspoken Scott critic
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
An attorney who sued Gov. Rick Scott before he won election in 2010 and called him "the corporate spawn of Satan" says the state now is trying to buy out from under him the house in Tallahassee that serves as his law office.

Former President Clinton to speak at the Straz
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Former President Bill Clinton will give a speech and take audience questions at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night.

POLITICAL RACES

Recount shows wrong winners declared in two Wellington election races
By Jennifer Sorentrue, Dara Kam and George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach County elections office declared the wrong winners in two of three Wellington races last week because of an error in the county's vote-tabulating software.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

FPL asks for monthly $6.97 bill increase
By Paul Owers and Marcia Heroux Pounds
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The typical electrical bill from Florida Power & Light Co. will rise nearly $7 a month next year if regulators approve a rate increase requested by the state's largest utility.

Save a park, sell your Caddy
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Selling off our national parks to private developers…. well, you got to give it to Cliff Stearns.

EDUCATION

Why the racist history of the charter school movement is never discussed
By Christopher Bonastia
AlterNet
As a parent I find it easy to understand the appeal of charter schools, especially for parents and students who feel that traditional public schools have failed them.

School bus fees get look
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
It costs $467 for a kid to ride a Palm Beach County school bus all year. School officials facing another whopping budget shortfall recently studied the idea of having parents of some choice program students pay the bill.

Scott appoints Senate staff director to Board of Governors
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
On the heels of a tumultuous legislative session for the state university system, Gov. Rick Scott just announced a new appointment to the Florida Board of Governors, which sets policy for the state's public universities.

Sen. Make Bennett suggests different roles for State College of Florida and University of South Florida
By Christine Hawes
Bradenton Herald
The two most prominent higher education institutions in Manatee and Sarasota counties paint a picture of their schools that is drastically different than the one sketched by outgoing state Sen. Mike Bennett.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State workers weigh outcome of 2012 session
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Tallahassee
How did State workers fare this session? From the voting down of the prison privatization bill to the passage of a drug-testing bill, the general consensus seems to be better than last session, but not by much.

Recovery underway for state pension fund
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
Florida's pension plan has almost recovered from a beating it took at the hands of financial markets starting in the late summer of 2011, the state's top money manager said Monday.

Cat Fund manager sees financing "tool" as potential headache
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A tax credit program for property insurers that's designed to provide more liquidity and financing for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund could be more trouble than it’s worth, the fund’s manager says.

Will revamped car insurance rules cut your rates?
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
On the final day of the 2012 legislative session, lawmakers reached a deal on how to revamp Florida's no-fault auto insurance rules in hopes of bringing down rates that have soared in the past few years.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Supreme Court to start hearing Florida’s challenge to health care reform this week
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Related: RNC launches campaign aimed at health care reform
In exactly a week, the Supreme Court of the United States will begin hearing a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health care reform law that was signed in 2010. Leading the challenge in court is the state of Florida.

Despite resistance, Sebelius celebrates health law in Florida
By William Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott and other Florida Republican leaders are doing what they can to block implementation of the nation’s new health-care law, but that won’t stop Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius from celebrating it’s second-year anniversary in South Florida this week.

Floridians fret about future benefits
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Worried about Medicare and Social Security? You're not alone.

Tax money helps pill mills thrive
By Pat Beall
Palm Beach Post
Even as Florida declares war on oxycodone, it's financing a statewide flood of the highly addictive drug to the poor and, in the process, footing the bill for oxycodone prescribed at pill mills.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Assessing Florida Legislature On Moral, Religious Matters
By Cary McMullen
Florida Voices
For 30 years, ever since the Christian right made an alliance with the Republican Party, governments have routinely addressed religious and moral issues, and the 2012 Florida Legislature was no exception.

Students Rally for Justice for Trayvon
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
FAMU students are calling for action in a case of a black teen shot by a white neighborhood watch captain.

The trouble with Florida's 'stand your ground' law
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Once again Florida's "stand your ground" law is making headlines that demonstrate its dangerous consequences.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Sadness, resentment at closing of Hillsborough prison
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
You'd think the news that Florida needs fewer prisons would be cause for celebration