FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott’s task force to explore Stand Your Ground laws dominated by lawmakers who support gun rights
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott’s new task force on public safety will begin reviewing the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law in two weeks, but the lawmakers anchoring the group have voting records pocked with support for the law and other controversial gun rights expansions.

Marco Rubio: 'If I do a good job as VP ...' Oops!
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Marco Rubio shuns vice-president talk during immigration pitch
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio understands the first rule of the vice presidential selection process: Never overtly campaign for the job.

Scott poised to act on retirement bill
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The deadline is coming for Gov. Rick Scott to act on a measure that would reduce state contributions to the retirement accounts of more than 100,000 government employees who have chosen the state's 401(k)-style retirement plan.

Christian right starts high-tech voter-registration drive
By Anthony Man and Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
First came the prayer, then the political rallies. Then came the data mining and target marketing.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Rick Scott Signs His Bait And Switch "Education Budget"
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
Today Rick Scott signed what he's calling his "education budget" at an elementary school during FCAT testing time and using kindergartners as a backdrop.

Senate’s Defense On Redistricting Shows Continued Arrogance
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Political Hurricane
The Senate continues to misfire in the reapportionment debate. In their brief to the Supreme Court the Senate lawyers have claimed that the chamber fixed every objection of the court in the initial plan which met with court rejection.

Orlando Rising
By Steve Schale
Steve Schale
On Election Night 2008, my usual elecction night jitters ended immediately at 7:05 PM EST, when the early vote in Orange County had us up by some 60,000 votes.

The Truth About Taxes
By Kenneth Quinnell
Florida Progressive Coalition
In honor of National Tax Day, I wanted to say a few things about taxes and the way conservatives talk about them.

Governor Rick Scott and John DeGrove: gone
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
Most Floridians never heard of John DeGrove, who passed away recently at age 87.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Allen West won’t name names on `communists’ in Congress
By William Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Pressed to name names, South Florida Congressman Allen West on Thursday reaffirmed his assertion that as many as 81 Democrats in the House are members of the Communist Party, but he wouldn’t say who they are.

Biden coming to Florida
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The White House continues its intensive focus on all things Florida.

Redistricting would make Sarasota whitest region in Florida
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Whether by design or not, the Florida Legislature’s plan to redistrict Florida will leave Sarasota with a dubious distinction: The whitest place politically in Florida.

Drawing the lines — again
Editorial
Miami Herald
When 63 percent of Florida’s voters gave a nod to the Fair Districts constitutional amendment in 2010 to ensure new congressional and legislative districts for the next decade would be compact and not gerrymandered to favor incumbents or the political party in power in Tallahassee, they expected the Legislature to break decades of incumbent protection while still protecting minority voting rights.

POLITICAL RACES

Rubio’s DREAM puts Mitt in a bind
By Manu Raju
Politico
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has thrust himself into the raging illegal immigration debate, proposing a plan that would create a path to legal status for children of illegal immigrants — putting him at odds with an immoveable wing of the Republican Party on this issue.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Prickly pear cactus could hold key to fighting oil spills, USF scientist says
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Congress lags on offshore drilling safety
One of the most controversial decisions made during the Deepwater Horizon disaster two years ago was allowing BP to spray unprecedented amounts of chemical dispersant on the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico — both on and below the surface.

Gulf residents to get extra $64M for spill claims
By Michael Kunzelman and Cain Burdeau
Associated Press
Roughly 7,300 residents and businesses harmed by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will get more than $64 million in additional payments because their claims with BP's $20 billion compensation fund were shortchanged or wrongfully denied, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Scott vetoes $2.5 million for regional planning councils -- again
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Among the 2012-13 state budget line items vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott this week was $2.5 million for the state's 11 regional planning councils -- for the second year in a row.

$4M in grants for flood projects across S. Florida nixed with Gov. Scott's vetoes
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
One of Rick Scott's larger budget vetoes erased $4 million in grants for flood projects across South Florida, topping a roster of two dozen other hometown water projects killed by the governor.

Beach restoration pilot project in Palm Beach County raises hopes, concerns
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Beach restoration projects are supposed to protect homes and businesses along the coast while providing wide sandy beaches for tourists, sea turtles and other wildlife.

EDUCATION

Tuition hike means USF students paying for greater share of their education than state
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
The difference is less than a percentage point, but it ushers in a new era in higher education in Florida.

Stress tests our teachers
By Ashley A. Smith
Ft. Myers News-Press
At 6:45 a.m. every Monday through Friday, Sara Kohlhauff is in her classroom at Pinewoods Elementary in Estero.

Group looks for cure to education's "senior-itis" syndrome
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Tallahassee
A group of state and federal officials want to know if Florida’s high school graduates are ready for college or careers.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Wage theft a growing problem for low-wage workers in the U.S., Florida
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Wage theft, the practice of stiffing workers out of money they are owed, has emerged as a major economic justice issue in the U.S. over the last decade, to the point where over 60 percent “of low-wage workers experience wage theft each week,” according to a report released Wednesday.

Florida home, condo prices up, sales down
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Florida home prices rose last month, but sales dropped. The median price of a single-family home climbed to $139,000, a 10.3 percent bump from March 2011.

Latest unemployment numbers to be released today
Associated Press
South Florida Sun Sentinel
New unemployment numbers for Florida are coming out.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Fla. senator: Scott budget veto ‘allows poor black farmworkers to die’
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
State Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, says he is “shocked and surprised” that Gov. Rick Scott cut funding for a community health center in Apopka that would have gone toward providing specialized care to a community of farmworkers facing serious illnesses due to pesticide use.

Departures continue at the Department of Health
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Turnover in the Florida Department of Health continues with recent departures in the staff in the agency’s state contracting unit as well as the family health services division.

Competing electronic medical record systems announce new recruits
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Tallahassee
There are two competing electronic medical record systems in Florida—one run by private healthcare providers, and the other, by the state.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

What a difference guns make
By Marian Wright Edelman
Florida Courier
On April 16, 2007, our nation suffered its deadliest shooting incident ever by a single gunman when a student killed 32 people and wounded 25 others at Virginia Tech University before committing suicide.