Daily Clips for March 6, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Progressives fight Florida lawsuit against federal birth control mandate
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Progress Florida, one of the state’s most active progressive groups, has started a petition denouncing the state’s recent involvement in a lawsuit against the federal government’s mandate requiring health insurers — except for religious employers — to cover contraception as a preventive service.

FEATURED STORIES

Lawmakers reach deal on nearly $70 billion state budget
By Kim Wilmath, Steve Bousquet And Michael Van Sickler
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Judge to rule Tuesday whether legislators dug a $2 billion budget hole or not
Legislative leaders struck a nearly $70 billion budget deal Monday marked by the creation of a new state polytechnic university in Lakeland, fulfilling the vision of a single lawmaker who wanted the school to grow independently from the University of South Florida.

Budget has millions for projects in leaders' hometowns
By Jason Garcia and Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Even in dour economic days, piecing together a $70-billion state budget requires a sprinkling of special projects to appease powerful politicians.

Anti-abortion bill halted in state Senate
By Katie Sanders and Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A wide-ranging anti-abortion bill that stirred controversy in the House last week was blocked by the Senate Monday when a bipartisan coalition prevented the bill from being heard on the Senate floor.

How Florida Is Leading U.S. Politics Back to the Culture Wars
By Tim Padgett
Time Magazine
They don’t call economics the dismal science for nothing, which helps explain why U.S. politics is riveted once more by social issues.

Parent trigger gimmick further erodes public education
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Legislature is still trying to shed its responsibility for the state's struggling public schools.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Haridopolos predicts special session is coming on redistricting
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Senate President Mike Haridopolos all but admitted defeat Monday in the first round of court reviews over the legislature's redistricting map and predicted lawmakers would be back in a special session to revamp their maps.

Gov. Scott's top aide blasts senator's 'one-way street'
By Steve Bousquet
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott is not a professional politician, so the idea of horse-trading with state legislators is awkward for him, especially when it involves groveling for votes from fellow Republicans.

Sideshow of social issues in Tallahassee
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
It must be an election year, because the Florida Legislature has returned to the culture wars.

POLITICAL RACES

Ohio looms large as Super Tuesday arrives with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum in dead heat
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum raced across Ohio in a frantic quest for the same Republican voters on the eve of today's Super Tuesday showdown, but offered a distinctly different focus.

Floridians are long-distance volunteers for Super Tuesday
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
While voters in 10 states — from Alaska to Virginia — will choose today among the Republican candidates for president, Starla Brown and hundreds of other volunteers in Florida will be making phone calls and posting messages over the Internet to try to prod people to the polls and sway their votes.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Momentum builds for Port of Miami Deep Dredge
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
The Miami-Dade delegation stands poised for a big win: legislation that would speed up the Port of Miami Deep Dredge.

House OKs energy bill despite simmering objections from large power users
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
With near unanimous support and bipartisan accolades, the House on Monday passed HB 7117, which contains Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam's "modest" energy policy recommendations.

Growth bill amendments seen as benefiting developers are thwarted in Senate
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Related: Budget deal includes $8 million for conservation land-buying, Alexander says
Two proposed amendments to a growth management bill that would have favored developers were rejected as out or order by the Senate on Monday.

Florida Senate throws out amendment related to Miami-Dade urban development boundary
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
A short-lived legislative attempt that would have made it easier to move Miami-Dade County’s urban development boundary died Monday morning in the Florida Senate.

EPA delays water pollution rules
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Federal environmental regulators said Monday that they will hold off on imposing controversial water pollution standards on Florida lakes, rivers and streams to give the state more time to crafts its own rules.

EDUCATION

Debate grows on bill to let parents spark turnaround for failing schools
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A bill that would let parents "trigger" a turnaround plan for failing schools would cause disputes and dissension in Florida's public schools, opponents said Monday.

Legislators work out plan to let USF campus become independent university
By Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Florida House and Senate leaders today reached a deal to make it easier — financially easier, at least — for a campus of the University of South Florida to transition into an independent university.

Plan would give Gov. more power over universities
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A ballot proposal that would let the governor choose the Board of Governors' student representative from the 11 student body presidents has been passed by the Florida House.

Scott to help settle school grades debate
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott may soon be stepping in to help settle the debate over Florida’s new school grading formula.

Bill would modify Florida schools' harsh zero tolerance policies
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A bill that would modify state school districts' "zero tolerance" policies is ready for a vote in the Florida Senate.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Senate OK's measure making Citizens customers 'opt in' to unregulated insurers
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
In what consumer advocates hailed as a victory for transparency, the Florida Senate voted 21-18 Monday to require Citizens insurance customers to "opt in" before they are handed over to companies with unregulated rates.

Union leaders join fight for local wage-theft law
By Jennifer Sorentrue
Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach County union leaders have teamed up with members of the religious community to urge businesses to stop pushing for a state law that would prevent local governments from enacting rules that help workers who have been cheated out of pay.

Florida wage theft activists deliver petition to Macy’s Florida headquarters
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Supporters of Miami-Dade County’s wage theft program continue to protest last week’s House passage of a bill that prohibits local governments from “adopting or maintaining in effect law, ordinance, or rule for purpose of addressing” wage theft, the practice of employers stiffing workers out of the wages they are owed.

Florida's Indian gaming increases slightly
By Elizabeth Behrman
Tampa Bay Times
Indian casinos in Florida pulled in about $2.1 billion in 2010, reflecting a 1 percent increase from the previous year.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State’s surgeon general steps down
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Frank Farmer, announced Monday that he is stepping down to assist in the care of his wife, Peggy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Lawmakers pile on the pain for health care
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Instead of a scalpel, Florida lawmakers are taking an ax to health programs to balance the state budget.

AP: Ultrasound laws raising costs, not reducing abortions
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
The Associated Press reported on Friday that laws requiring women to undergo an ultrasound prior to having an abortion have not reduced the number of abortions, and have instead raised the price of the legal procedure.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Legislators bravely decline drug tests for themselves
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
It seemed odd to have the word "courage" come from the mouth of one of the legislative sponsors of the bill that establishes random drug testing for Florida's 114,000 state workers.

Drugs bad; bill, too
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Tallahassee's narcs are looking to weed out users, this time in the state employment ranks.

Honor student puts spotlight on immigration
By William March
Tampa Tribune
A Miami honor student and aspiring surgeon who faces deportation because her parents brought her here illegally at age 4 has put immigration policy, and Florida's U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, in the headlines.

Supporters of DREAM Act continue to protest state immigration laws
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
The potential deportation of a Miami-Dade county valedictorian has sparked outrage in the area, with thousands taking to the streets last week to protest - all while deportation proceedings against many immigrant students move forward in Florida and across the U.S.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

GOP leadership unsuccessfully tried to sneak prison privatization in budget
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
During budget negotiations Sunday night, GOP leadership tried to unsuccessfully sneak prison privatization into the state’s budget, The Palm Beach Post reports.

Florida House passes 3 high-profile claims bills
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Three high-profile claims bills that would let victims of governmental negligence receive millions in compensation cleared the Florida House on Monday.