PROGRESS
FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
The BluVu: Week of May 4th
By Gayle Andrews
The BluVu
Gov. Scott’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ task force is under fire, Marco Rubio is still auditioning, Florida is the Big Kahuna of swing states and Damien Filer from Progress Florida updates us on the GOP’s War on Women.
FEATURED
STORIES
The Oppo File on Marco Rubio: Why He's an Unlikely Veep Pick
By David A. Graham
The Atlantic
Despite repeatedly denying interest in the job, Marco Rubio remains at or near the top of nearly every speculative list of who Mitt Romney might choose as his running mate.
Gov. Rick Scott’s biggest failure: his chief of staff
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: As Gov. Scott’s gatekeeper exerts control, heads roll
Rick Scott’s biggest failure as governor has a name: Steve MacNamara.
Waste watchdog got no-bid contract
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott's chief of staff helped steer a no-bid consulting contract worth $360,000 to a friend who now leads a task force rooting out state government waste.
Gov. Scott's ad blitz not swaying Floridians
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Despite six weeks of upbeat television ads and a wholesale image makeover, Republican Gov. Rick Scott continues to draw lousy ratings from Floridians, a position Democrats are eager to exploit in the nation's biggest presidential toss up state.
Gov. Rick Scott backs off publishing ratings of elections supervisors
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida election supervisors voiced relief Friday after Gov. Rick Scott bowed to their request not to publish online the results of a rating survey elections officials said was badly flawed.
Gov. Rick Scott creates 'blue ribbbon' task force to study university system
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After rejecting university leaders' requests for more funding and vetoing a proposal to allow some universities to impose unlimited tuition increases, Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Friday announced a task force to evaluate the state's university system and suggest ideas for reform.
EDITORIAL
CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Chip Bok
Tampa Bay Times
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Rep. Wasserman Schultz is GOP's No. 2 target
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Ozzie deFaria has divined the secret to satisfying the deepest fantasies of South Florida Republican activists – predicting post-Election Day headlines that report the defeats of President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Gov. Rick Scott signs law to cut down on no-fault car insurance fraud
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a law aimed at cutting down on an epidemic of car insurance fraud in Florida, fulfilling one of his top goals.
Get what you vote for
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
In November of 2010, residents of Precinct 94, Pensacola Beach, voted overwhelmingly for Rick Scott in his race for the Florida governor’s chair against Alex Sink.
POLITICAL
RACES
Obama kicks off campaign with rallies trying to recapture aura of 2008
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
President Barack Obama opened an aggressive phase of his re-election campaign Saturday with rallies in Ohio and Virginia that acknowledged great economic struggle but summoned the optimism that propelled him four years ago while pointedly attacking his Republican rival.
Hispanic vote presents electoral map hurdle for Mitt Romney
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
At a private fundraising reception in Palm Beach recently, Mitt Romney was overheard acknowledging his weakness among Hispanic voters. If it's not turned around, he said, "It spells doom for us."
Will Obama or Romney win over I-4 Hispanics?
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
The presidential race could come down to this: To win in November, President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney needs the biggest swing state: Florida.
Transformed By the Recession, Nine Swing States Including Florida Are Mixed Lot
By Michael Cooper
New York Times
Since the housing bubble burst, Nevada has been plagued with record foreclosures, the nation's steepest drop in home values and its highest unemployment rate.
Mack rips LeMieux for Restore stance
By William March
Tampa Tribune
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack pounced on a statement by GOP Senate primary opponent George LeMieux that he would have voted for the Restore Act, differing with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who voted against it.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Governor signs bills to streamline environmental permitting, allow sponsorship of trails
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed bills that will streamline environmental permitting and allow sponsorship of state trails.
Oil from spill is still out there
By Eric Ernst
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Maybe BP's Deepwater Horizon spill has receded from the public consciousness.
Two Years Later, Grim Photos From the BP Disaster
By Kate Sheppard
Mother Jones
It's been two years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster unleashed 4.9 million barrels of oil on the Gulf of Mexico.
Settlement close in Glades cleanup suits
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Peace may finally be at hand in the decades-long Everglades dirty-water war.
Lingering drought extends string of poor wood stork nesting seasons
By Eric Staats
Naples Daily News
The wood storks were flying all over Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, carrying sticks in their beaks for nests and even mating within sight of the sanctuary's boardwalk.
Proposed Wakulla Environmental Institute, inspired by region's biodiversity, survives budget veto
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
When Gov. Rick Scott signed the state's $69.9 billion state budget for 2012-13, he vetoed $63.1 million worth of budget "turkeys" identified by Florida TaxWatch.
LGBT
Vice President Joe Biden tells 'Meet the Press' he's 'absolutely comfortable' with gay marriage
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press he's "absolutely comfortable" with gay marriage.
Gala honors 2 who have led the way for LBGT community
By Anne Geggis
Gainesville Sun
Marking Equality Florida's 15th year in existence Saturday was a celebration of how much has been won in the fight for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights — or, as one person put it, human rights.
EDUCATION
A weekend interview with Florida education commissioner Gerard Robinson
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida education commissioner Gerard Robinson recently spoke with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board.
Florida Education Department gets vendor challenge
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
A second attempt by the Department of Education to acquire testing items as part of a Race to the Top grant award has sparked a new legal battle among the agency and three of the companies involved in the bidding.
Concerns persist over possible Seminole school closings
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
Closing more Seminole County public schools remains a cost-saving option for the cash-strapped school district, and officials are laying the groundwork for how it might be done.
Florida schools need communities to rally around them
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Last fall, I visited Fern Creek Elementary — a school full of poor and even homeless children that is thriving thanks to local businesses and volunteers.
Battling the high cost of higher ed
By Julie Landry Laviolette
Miami Herald
When Kathryn and Daniel Blakeman started thinking about financing their kids’ college education, they had double the trouble: twins.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
The One Thing You Need To Know About Today’s Jobs Report
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Most of the press coverage of today’s jobs report has been focused on the two topline findings — that the economy created a less-than-expected 115,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate edged down slightly to 8.1 percent.
ALEC's Secrets Revealed; Corporations Flee
By Brendan Greeley
Business Week
On May 11, 2012, about 20 state legislators from 15 oil- and gas-rich states are scheduled to meet in a hotel conference room in Charlotte.
Revealed: Full List of ALEC's Corporate Members
By Alex SeitzWald
Think Progress
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been under fire lately after the 15 major corporations and organizations pulled their support for the conservative organization, which helps quietly implement corporate-backed legislation in statehouses across the country.
Florida’s new Space Coast prepares to launch
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Tourists began booking rooms weeks ago, finalizing plans to see what is more than a routine rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.
Ex-Fla tourism official wanted in theft found dead in Ala.
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A Florida Panhandle county's former tourism director was found dead of an apparent drug overdose Friday, a day after being accused of misusing public money sent by BP after the 2010 oil spill to buy a $747,000 home, authorities said.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
States in health-reform lawsuit accuse federal government of coercion
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
Challengers to the federal health care act have accused the federal government of placing a loaded gun to their heads.
Feds spend millions to help Florida's struggling patients
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Community health centers for low-income Floridians have seen a growing stream of patients since the Great Recession, as middle-class residents lost their jobs, lost their insurance and turned to public clinics.
Beware mediscare
By Angie Drobnic Holan
Tampa Bay Times
Today we begin an occasional series that will apply the rigor of our PolitiFact approach to broad topics that will be central issues of the presidential campaign.
Help more seniors
Editorial
Miami Herald
Not every act coming out of the Legislature was a bone-headed one — even though it might have seemed that way.
Take counties off hook
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Association of Counties was right to file a lawsuit last month challenging the state's new Medicaid billing system that will cost Palm Beach County taxpayers an additional $8 million over the next three years.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Florida front and center in gun-rights debate
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida’s liberal gun laws have been thrust into the national spotlight with the shooting of an unarmed teen in Central Florida and Gov. Rick Scott’s quick rejection of Tampa’s bid to tighten gun control outside the Republican National Convention this summer.
Group objects to Forida DCF head using state email to send prayer to employees
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A group that advocates the separation of church and state is accusing Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins of violating the U.S. Constitution by using state e-mail to send a prayer to employees of his department asking God to help them "find their identity in You."
Legal fight over deportation warnings heating up in South Florida
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
Gabriel Hernandez arrived in the United States from Nicaragua when he was 2 years old. Now 30 and a legal resident, he boasts a bachelor’s degree and works as a successful computer network administrator for a Miami bank group.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
A violent homicide isn’t hazing
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Eleven of the 13 people who allegedly participated in killing Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion have been charged with “a hazing resulting in death,” a low-grade felony. The two others are accused of misdemeanors.
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