Daily Clips for May 22, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida: A 21st century state with a 20th century tax system
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Amid a fourth straight year of budget shortfalls, signs of fraying in Florida's tax system abound.

Mack calls for investigation of LeMieux's appointment to Senate
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Connie Mack IV's U.S. Senate campaign has sent letters seeking a federal investigation of the 2009 appointment of his Republican primary opponent, George LeMieux, to the Senate by former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rubio's ridiculous red-meat, red-state rhetoric
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
When your cable company keeps you on hold, you get angry.

State FCAT call center swamped on first day of business
By Allison Ross-Ferrelli
Palm Beach Post
An FCAT call center the state opened today in the wake of last week's surprise announcement of dismal writing scores proved instantly popular, with its staff taking 100 calls by 8:30 a.m. and hundreds more people dialing in throughout the day.

Purge partisan advantage
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Scott, his appointed secretary of state and the Legislature care more about creating election problems than solving election problems.

FLORIDA POLITICS

'Sunburst' email system a step in the right direction for Gov. Scott
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
When Gov. Rick Scott addressed an elite group of Florida business leaders at the Willard Hotel in Washington a few nights ago, the doors were shut tight, ensuring that whatever Scott said would not be reported.

New PIP law could have big loophole, St. Petersburg lawmaker says
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A glitch in a new state law reforming no-fault car insurance could allow companies to deny claims, a lawmaker is alleging.

Broward purges 5,000 dead people from voter rolls
By Brittany Wallman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
About 5,000 dead people have been purged from the voter rolls in Broward County, and Broward Republicans are pointing to hundreds more dead people still listed as active voters.

The method behind the madness of governments hiring lobbyists
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Along the halls of local government, I’m sure elected leaders have a good explanation for why a public entity must spend great gobs of public money hiring private lobbyists to lobby a public entity.

Study: Congressional speech is dumber – or maybe more plain-spoken – than it was 7 years ago
By Bob Shaw
Orlando Sentinel
The folks at the Sunlight Foundation — best known for its work on campaign finance and lobbying issues in Congress — has done a fascinating new study of the language used by members of Congress.

Senate Prez designate Gaetz prepares for new role with top staff changes
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Tallahassee
Incoming Florida Senate President Don Gaetz is building his leadership team.

Political consultant Doug Guetzloe gets prison in tax case
Staff Report
Florida Current
A federal judge sentenced political consultant Doug Guetzloe to 15 months in prison on Monday for not filing income tax returns, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

POLITICAL RACES

Obama stands by hits on Romney's Bain Capital days
By Julie Pace
Associated Press
President Barack Obama sought to undermine Mitt Romney's key rationale for his presidential candidacy Monday, sharply attacking his Republican challenger's background as a venture capitalist and arguing that profit-making alone is not a qualification for the White House.

Former Human Resource Director at Bain Capital-Owned Firm in Miami Says Company Was Not a Job-Creator
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
Coming up we'll talk with a former human resources at a Bain Capital-owned company in Miami. She'll talk about Mitt Romney's record when it comes to job creation.

Ugly Ads: Make Candidates Own Them
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Voices
Former Gov. Jeb Bush recently predicted the 2012 presidential campaign will be the nastiest ever.

'Hardball' host willing to predict health-care law outcome but not 2012 presidential race
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Florida and the 2012 presidential race are too close for MSNBC's Chris Matthews to predict, but the Hardball host was willing on Monday to venture a guess that the Supreme Court will uphold the federal health care law by a 6-3 vote.

Candidates, including Slough, use petitions to get on ballot, demonstrate support
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
With every legislative and congressional seat up for election this year, more than 220 candidates have already reserved spots on the ballot by collecting petition signatures.

Alan Grayson kicking of CD9 congressional campaign in Kissimmee
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Former Congressman and current congressional candidate Alan Graysonwill officially launch his re-election bid Tuesday evening in downtown Kissimmee. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Can consumers count on regulators to check FPL's math?
By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post
Maybe the executives at Florida Power & Light got their training at JPMorgan Chase.

Florida emergency officials practice for big hurricane
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
It's a nightmare scenario. Tens of thousands of people throng Tampa for the Republican National Convention — politicians, journalists, tourists, protesters.

LGBT

'Flashpoint' discusses gay marriage
By Lauren Rowe
WKMG Orlando
A panel discussion led by Local 6 News anchor Lauren Rowe is held on the topic of gay marriage and how it will affect upcoming elections.

Orange must affirm domestic partners
By Mary Meeks
Orlando Sentinel
Today the Orange County Board of Commissioners likely will approve a countywide domestic-partnership registry.

EDUCATION

Education officials unveil website, blogs for parents in wake of low FCAT scores
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The Department of Education rolled out a communications outreach program Monday to teach parents about its role in state education. It includes a new website, hotline, and online forums and blogs for parents.

ACLU: "Many" same-sex classrooms in Florida may be illegal
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is targeting schools in Orange, Polk and Palm Beach counties, among others, for what it says are illegally discriminatory single-sex classrooms.

Florida universities rank high in presidential pay
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida's universities trail the nation when it comes to state funding and academic rankings, but they do score high in one area: pay for their top leaders.

If FAMU loses hazing suit, law may limit damages awarded
By Stephen Hudak
Orlando Sentinel
With every troubling new revelation about Florida A&M University's Marching 100, the pending civil case against FAMU seems to grow stronger for the parents of Robert Champion, the drum major who died from being hazed on a charter bus in Orlando.

Education Officials Meeting in Daytona To Discuss New School Florida Polytechnic
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
With the changeover deadline looming, education officials will meet in Daytona Beach on Wednesday to address the intricacies of moving ownership of funding and buildings from the University of South Florida to Florida Polytechnic University.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Romney, Scott see economic recovery differently
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Republican Gov. Rick Scott's sunny view of Florida's economy stands in stark contrast to a darker message his party's presumptive presidential nominee has been sending.

Private 'SpaceX' ship rockets to space station
By Marcia Dunn
Associated Press
A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight.

Workforce panel recommends new CEO
By Dan Tracy
Orlando Sentinel
As expected, a Connecticut executive is about to offered the top job at Workforce Central Florida.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Ave Maria University ditches student health insurance plans
By Mary Wozniak
Ft. Myers News-Press
Money and morality are the twin reasons Ave Maria University will no longer offer group health insurance plans to students as of Aug. 15.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

A new Emancipation Day for Florida's farmworkers?
By Paul Ortiz
Facing South
On May 20, 1865 United States General Edward M. McCook gave the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in the state of Florida. It was a moment that African Americans had fought for.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Experts: Florida's '10-20-Life' empowers prosecutors but handcuffs judges, juries, defense attorneys
By Charles Broward
Florida Times-Union
"The decision on an appropriate sentence where the state has provided competent and substantial evidence to support a jury's verdict of aggravated assault, which they have in this case with the discharge of a firearm, has been entirely taken out of my hands."

Bold change needed to reduce wrongful convictions
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
No one wants to see an innocent person wrongfully convicted of a crime, but it happens all too frequently.