Daily Clips for May 30, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

World War II Bronze Star winner resents Fla. letter questioning citizenship, right to vote
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Bill Internicola, 91, American-born, winner of the Bronze Star for valor at the Battle of the Bulge and a lifelong voter, received a letter recently from the Broward Supervisor of Elections saying the state has doubts that he is a U.S. citizen and challenging his right to vote.

6 members of Congress ask Fla. to stop voter purge
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Six Democratic members of Congress are asking Florida Gov. Rick Scott to suspend a push to remove voters from the rolls.

Charlie Crist beating Rick Scott in poll about 2014 race for governor
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Check out this intriguing May 23-25 statewide poll of registered voters by Florida Opinion Research, asking about a Charlie Crist vs. Rick Scott gubernatorial matchup in 2014.

Sen. Marco Rubio's bill draws charges of hypocrisy from immigrant advocates
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio this month filed a bill aimed at making it harder for nonresident aliens to claim a child tax credit. The effort drew little attention for good reason: Rubio's office did not publicize it.

Failed stewardship puts Florida wetlands at risk
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Wetlands are fragile things, and in recent years Florida has done a horrible job of protecting them.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Meet Bill: The 91-Year-Old Decorated WWII Veteran Targeted By Florida Governor Rick Scott’s Voter Purge
By Judd Legum
Think Progress
Bill Internicola is a 91-year-old, Brooklyn-born, World War II veteran.

South Florida Democrats say Gov. Rick Scott leading "misguided" effort to purge voters from state rolls
By Amy Sherman
Miami Herald
The state’s controversial list of registered voters who may not be U.S. citizens includes a Brooklyn-born 90-something Broward Democrat who is, in fact, a citizen and World War II veteran, and has voted at least a dozen times in the past decade.

In Florida’s Voter Roll Scrub, Charges of Suppression
By Howard Goodman
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
One of the weird things about politics in Florida is that, although Republicans own commanding majorities in both houses of the legislature and have consistently won the governorship since 1998, Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 500,000 registered voters.

David Rivera investigation left behind $50,000 mystery
By Scott Hiaasen and Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Buried amid the records compiled in the recently concluded criminal probe of Republican Congressman David Rivera is a $50,000 mystery.

Eight-paragraph affidavit at center of Buchanan ethics inquiry
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s latest trouble with the federal government revolves around just eight paragraphs in a legal document.

Democrat Rep. Randolph announces bid for party chair; rivals say they're focused on 2012
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Democrat Rep. Scott Randolph of Orlando announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election as he mounts a bid to become chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.

Sen. Marco Rubio makes first visit to Cuba — tours Guantanamo camp
By Carol Rosenberg
Miami Herald
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio visited the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay — setting foot on Cuban soil for the first time in his life — in a solo fact-finding visit on Tuesday that the Cuban-American lawmaker cast as nothing more than typical congressional business as a novice member of the intelligence committee.

POLITICAL RACES

In-fighting May Be Costly for GOP in Florida, Elsewhere
By Donna Cassata
Associated Press
Mutual admiration was the rule for Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson's listening session at the University of South Florida.

Romney clinches GOP nomination with Texas win
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.

Trump overshadows Romney with 'birther' talk
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign collided with Donald Trump's "birther" rhetoric on Tuesday as the reality television star hosted a fundraiser for the Republican while claiming again that President Barack Obama is foreign-born.

Journalists, police working out ground rules for GOP convention in Tampa
By Jessica Vander Velde and Eric Deggans
Tampa Bay Times
Protesters might not be the only people filling Hillsborough's jails during the Republican National Convention.

Fla. puts limits on what can appear on ballot
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Florida's elections office says voters should only see a candidate's name on the ballot and not any titles or degrees.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Gulf Coast cities, counties and business groups offer support for federal oil spill legislation
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
More than 100 leaders of Gulf Coast cities, counties, chambers of commerce and economic development groups on Tuesday announced they are urging Congress to pass federal legislation directing penalties paid for the 2010 oil spill to go to Gulf Coast states.

Beryl sets record for early storms
By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post
Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall in Jacksonville as the strongest tropical storm to hit land before the beginning of the hurricane season.

U.S. and Cuban scientists work to save turtles and sharks
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Though Cuba and the United States have limited the flow of people and goods across the Florida Straits, sea turtles, sharks and other endangered species swim unimpeded from one country's waters to the other's, linking their rich but fragile environments.

LGBT

Supporters to deliver petition in Orlando for ousted lesbian Boy Scout leader
By Amy Pavuk
Orlando Sentinel
Supporters of an Ohio mother who says she was ousted as her son's Boy Scouts den leader because she is a lesbian will be in Orlando on Wednesday, where they will present the organization with a petition asking she be reinstated to the position.

EDUCATION

Florida teachers union opposing evaluation rule
Associated Press
Bradenton Herald
The Florida Education Association is challenging a proposed state rule on teacher evaluations that would be used in part to determine who gets merit pay.

Grad rate debated as standards get tougher
By Annie Martin
Daytona Beach News-Journal
When school started last summer, Yasmin Ramirez wasn't sure she would don a cap and gown with her classmates this spring.

Florida higher education panel holding 1st meeting
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott's task force on overhauling state colleges and universities is getting to work.

Ammons Speaks Out on Hazing
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Evidence released last week in the cases of 11 people charged with the hazing death of a Florida A&M University Drum Major details just how ingrained hazing is among band members.

Machen: Permanent cuts, not reserves, will balance budget
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Tuesday that it was a mistake last year to tap reserves to address budget cuts and that he won't be dealing with this year's cuts in the same way.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Labor Department investigates Florida's tougher unemployment benefit system
By Marcia Heroux Pounds
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The U.S. Department of Labor said it is investigating Florida's new state processes to claim unemployment benefits.

Consumer confidence in Florida jumps in May
Staff Report
Florida Current
Florida's consumer confidence jumped three points in May, bucking its trend from last year.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida nursing homes stand to lose millions from Medicare
By Barbara Peters Smith
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A little-noticed change in how Medicare pays for nursing home patients will hit Florida harder than any other state over the next three years.

Health-care mandate attacks religious freedom, Protestant, Catholic leaders say
By Jeff Kunerth
Orlando Sentinel
Prominent Protestant pastors joined Catholic Bishop John Noonan on Tuesday to denounce a federal health-care mandate as an attack on religious freedom.

Allen West says that “ObamaCare Slush Fund” was being used to spay dogs and cats as part of an “anti-obesity campaign”: Mostly False
By Amy Sherman
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
Put down your hot dogs and doughnuts and listen up: Americans have gotten fat. And we’ve heard advice from that fit First Lady about how to lighten up -- eat our veggies and get moving.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida’s Latino Voters More Worried About Education Than Immigration
By Gina Jordan
StateImpact
A new poll finds Latino voters are more concerned about education than immigration.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

State back in court, fighting to privatize inmate health care
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott's administration was back in a familiar place Tuesday -- a Florida courtroom -- as it fights to privatize all medical care for the state's 100,000 prison inmates.