Daily Clips for April 4, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida Democrats question Bondi's delay in sending Senate redistricting plan to justices
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A week after the Florida House approved the Legislature's second attempt to draw new Senate districts, the plan Tuesday still had not been forwarded by Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi to the state Supreme Court.

Democratic senator forms 'stand your ground' task force
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
State Sen. Chris Smith, frustrated by what he calls "stalling" by Gov. Rick Scott following the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, is launching a task force to review the controversial law at the center of the case.

Bob Graham slams Legislature's environmental policies, idea of splitting off USF Polytechnic
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham and former state Sen. Lee Constantine criticized the state's environmental policies and accused the Legislature of selling out to big polluters during an event Tuesday night at the University of Florida's Bob Graham Center for Public Service.

Registering to vote isn't as easy as it used to be for high school seniors
By Lois K. Solomon
South Florida Sun Sentinel
It used to be an annual ritual: High school social studies teachers distributed voter-registration forms to seniors, and sent the filled-out paperwork to county elections offices.

Hundreds lobbying Gov. Rick Scott on USF Poly
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Hundreds of Florida residents on both sides are lobbying Gov. Rick Scott on the question of whether the state should spin off USF Polytechnic in Lakeland and make it the state's 12th university.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida Senate hires former justice to defend new maps, at $695 an hour
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
After being slapped by the Florida Supreme Court for creating a redistricting map that was “was rife with indicators of improper intent,” Senate Republican leaders have hired former justice and Miami lawyer Raoul Cantero to handle their case as they return to the court with a second try.

Florida Journalism Not Dead Yet
By Florence Snyder
Florida Voices
When government doesn’t do its job, when children die in its care, when law enforcement commits wrongdoing, we look to investigative reporters to go beyond a spokesperson’s platitudes and tell us what’s really going on.

The Florida Independent to shut down at the end of this month
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Florida Independent
No beating around the bush: It’s true. The American Independent News Network announced today that it will be shutting down The Florida Independent effective Fri., April 27.

POLITICAL RACES

GOP convention protests could generate many constitutional issues, experts say
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
To get an idea of how knotty the constitutional issues arising from protests at Republican National Convention could get, consider the hypothetical example put to a panel of experts Tuesday night.

Mitt Romney sweeps Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. primaries
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Mitt Romney swept primaries in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Wisconsin on Tuesday, taking another decisive step toward the 2012 battle he and President Barack Obama have been circling for months.

Romney, Obama get ready to rumble
By Jonathan Martin
Politico
With President Obama’s frontal assault on Mitt Romney and the Republican front-runner’s harsh language about the incumbent and convincing triple victory Tuesday, the general election effectively began this week.

History shows running for vice president is honor, gamble
By Charles Babington
Associated Press
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and other ambitious Republicans eyeing a possible invitation to be Mitt Romney's running mate might want to keep 1920 in mind.

Dyer wins 3rd term as Orlando mayor
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
Buddy Dyer easily held off three challengers to win a third full term as mayor of Orlando on Tuesday, while three of his allies on the City Council also won another four years.

Garcia quits congressional race over dispute with Democrats
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
In a sign of Democratic struggles in Florida’s biggest county, Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera’s main opponent dropped out, leaving no clear replacement to challenge the ethics-hobbled incumbent.

Term-limited out of Senate, Fasano to run for open House district
By Lee Logan
Tampa Bay Times
He's barred by term limits from running for reelection to the Florida Senate.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Sierra Club, Miami dredging opponents support vetoes of big transportation bills
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Sierra Club is asking Gov. Rick Scott to veto two transportation bills because they would force an expedited hearing process in a legal challenge to Miami's proposed port dredging project.

EPA names new Gulf of Mexico program director
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
The EPA today announced the appointment of a director of a broad program designed to “facilitate collaborative actions to protect, maintain, and restore the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico in ways consistent with the economic well-being of the Region.”

EDUCATION

Educators challege performance pay rule
By News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
Arguing against what it calls "unbridled discretion," the Florida Education Association has challenged part of the state's plans for carrying out a controversial 2011 law that includes teacher performance pay.

Pasco's Ridgewood High cut former staff out of $84,000 bonus for raising grade
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
As an intensive reading teacher, Ed White worked during the 2010-11 school year to push Ridgewood High School's state grade from a C to a B. The school's reading "readiness rate" rose from 58 percent to 70 percent.

Florida school officials say checks are in place to ensure test cheats don't prosper
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A recent analysis of school test scores across the nation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution detailed reports of suspicious test scores and anomalies in school districts from Los Angeles to Houston, Nashville to St. Louis, but no Florida district was mentioned.

Charter Schools Association Sues Polk School District
By Jason Geary
Lakeland Ledger
Polk Charter Schools Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday that claims charter school students aren't given as much money for their education as traditional district school students.

Machen, Gov. Scott will meet on April 12
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
Next week, University of Florida President Bernie Machen will get his chance to convince Gov. Rick Scott to sign a bill allowing the university to make higher tuition increases as part of an unusual public meeting between the governor, Machen and Florida State University President Eric Barron.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State budget cuts could slow Florida foreclosure cases
By News Service of Florida
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
There will be delays in the processing of new court cases and new dockets with a smaller amount of money going to the state’s clerks of courts under the budget passed last month by lawmakers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Obama: I am ‘confident’ Supreme Court won’t overturn the will of Congress
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
In a joint news conference with leaders from Canada and Mexico, President Obama told reporters he is “confident” the U.S. Supreme Court will not strike down the health care reform law, a move he said would be “an unprecedented [and] extraordinary step.”

Report shows obesity on rise, smoking slightly down
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Counties are being encouraged to compare how they score on a report card issued by the Florida Public Health Institute on Tuesday that measures a county’s health.

Tampa-based WellCare agrees to $137.5M settlement
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Federal prosecutors say a Tampa-based health care provider has agreed to pay $137.5 million to settle four lawsuits involving fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims in nine states.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Sanford’s image take a blow against backdrop of Trayvon shooting
By David Ovalle and Frances Robles
Miami Herald
Cindy Philemon has fond memories of growing up in this town.

'Stand-your-ground' makes for amateur night with guns
By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post
Florida's stand-your-ground law, which is at the heart of the Trayvon Martin controversy, is based on this premise: Under pressure, amateurs will use guns like professionals.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Immigration jails criticized
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
A Jamaican woman being transferred from one South Florida immigration detention center to another by herself is raped by the immigration officer who drove the van.

Activist? Sometimes Fla. lawmakers trump courts
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
When a leaking underground drainage system pitted roads and driveways and created sinkholes in lawns at a Winter Garden subdivision, homeowners sued the developer to cover the damage and repair costs.

Court authorizes a search too far
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The five conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are unable or unwilling to appreciate how dehumanizing a strip search is for someone taken to jail for a minor crime.