Daily Clips for May 9, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Anti-Rubio group says Rubio thinks troops are coming out of Iraq "too fast"
By Joshua Gillin
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
Excerpt: WrongWayRubio.com, a joint project by Progress Florida and Florida Watch, also takes issue with his foreign policy, a particularly important focus for a potential Republican vice presidential nominee. The site provides terse commentary on several issues, allowing readers to tweet the statements -- and the website's source material for the claim -- through their own Twitter accounts.

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott’s top advisor arranged $5 million no-bid contract in Senate
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
When the Florida Senate was looking for someone to put its budget data online, it set aside $5.5 million and turned to the business partner of a close friend of the Senate’s chief of staff at the time, Steve MacNamara.

Legislators suppressed vote without evidence of fraud
By Howard L. Simon
Orlando Sentinel
Florida is the voter-suppression capital of the United States.

State probes possible voting by foreigners in Florida
Staff Report
Miami Herald
Thousands of foreign citizens — particularly in South Florida — might be registered to vote in Florida and could have unlawfully cast ballots in previous elections.

Florida gets D in study of support for working parents
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Florida does such a poor job of supporting parents in the workforce that it earned a grade of "D" in a new report by the National Partnership for Women & Families.

GOP fumbles Hispanic outreach
By Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
They were supposed to be introducing the team whose savvy grassroots work would sway the nation’s 12 million Hispanic voters to the Republican Party in six battleground states, including Florida.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Tough Luck, Buddy, You’re On Your Own
By Mary Jo Melone
Florida Voices
We are being told these days to eat our peas and take personal responsibility.

Survey of legislative staff shows that personal stories matters most, not sheer volume of messages
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Going to see legislators in person with a personal message about how a bill affects their home districts is still the best way of influencing what happens in Florida's Capitol, according to an insider survey of House and Senate staff members.

State issues rule to fix error in new car insurance law
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A state agency issued a memo Tuesday aimed at fixing a flaw in Florida's new auto insurance law, which Gov. Rick Scott has hailed as one of the top accomplishments of the 2012 Florida Legislature.

Cabinet approves hurricane shelter plan, bond sales
By Ryan Benk
WFSU Tallahassee
The Florida Cabinet has approved a statewide shelter plan in advance of the 2012 hurricane season.

Florida Chamber names Cannon, Dorworth, its favorite lawmakers for 2012
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Chamber of Commerce, which invested more than $3 million in helping Republican legislative candidates and Rick Scott win elections in 2010, is hailing one of the key lynch-pins of its recent legislative hot streak – Winter Park’s Dean Cannon.

'Daily Show' to tape at Straz during RNC; tickets gone
By Kim MacCormack
Tampa Tribune
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" will set up shop in Tampa the week of the Republican National Convention, holding four already-sold-out tapings at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

POLITICAL RACES

LeMieux lobs unsubstantiated claims at Mack
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In a new attack on his GOP Senate primary opponent, George LeMieux charges — without concrete evidence — that Connie Mack IV doesn't spend much time in Florida and has a "troubling socialite image."

Don't tell Ron Paul supporters the primary is over
By Stephen Ohlemcher and Brian Bakst
Tampa Tribune
Don't tell Ron Paul the Republican primary is over. He's too busy mucking up Mitt Romney's efforts to accumulate enough convention delegates to officially claim the GOP nomination for president.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida black bear management plan up for vote
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Now that Florida’s black bear population has risen to its highest level since World War I, the state wildlife commission is scheduled to vote next month on removing the species from the threatened species list.

DOH unveils web site for new septic tanks law as Hernando votes to opt out
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday unveiled a website designed inform the public about recently passed septic tank legislation as Hernando County became the first county apparently to opt out of inspection requirements.

LGBT

Gallup: Half of Americans support legal gay marriage
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Gallup reports that 50 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legalized with the same rights as traditional marriage.

North Carolina OKs amendment on gay marriage
By Martha Waggoner
Associated Press
North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.

Cities and Pinellas should pursue registry for unmarried couples
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
While Vice President Joe Biden made news over the weekend by declaring that he is "absolutely comfortable'' with same-sex marriages, that issue is off the table for now in Florida because of a voter-approved ban in the state Constitution.

EDUCATION

Student Loan Debt Passes A Trillion Dollars
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Republicans in the US Senate stopped a debate on student loan interest rates earlier today.

Rubio and Nelson split votes on student loan issue
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Senate Republicans today blocked a Democratic plan to extend low interest rates on student loans by closing some tax loopholes, setting off the latest partisan skirmish on Capitol Hill.

School board supports hearing for in-school ads
By Mackenzie Ryan
Florida Today
Brevard School Board members are considering allowing advertising in school cafeterias, hallways and libraries in an effort to create a revenue stream to help offset state funding shortfalls.

Some students will spend an extra hour at school next year
By Keith Landry
FOX 35 News Orlando
Some students in Central Florida will have to spend an extra hour at school every day next school year. The state is requiring students at the lowest performing schools to spend more time hitting the books.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida justices to decide whether to punish 'robo-signing'
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A Greenacres homeowner has Florida bankers warning that "lending practices in Florida could come to a grinding halt" in a court case that could let homeowners turn the tables on lenders seeking to foreclose on their homes.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State seeks changes to Medically Needy program
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
Florida Medicaid officials have asked the federal government to approve major changes in a program that serves tens of thousands of people with costly medical conditions, seeking to install a type of managed care and require monthly premium payments.

Florida Nurses Weigh In On Side of Patient Care
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
National Nurses Week is giving nurses in Florida and across America the opportunity to reflect on their profession, their patients and what it will take to improve the health of the nation.

Retired couples may need $240,000 for health care
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Couples retiring this year can expect their medical bills throughout retirement to cost 4 percent more than those who retired a year ago, according to an annual projection released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments.

UM medical school to lay off up to 800
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Up to 800 people will lose their jobs under a major restructuring at the University of Miami medical school, President Donna Shalala said Tuesday.

Judge sides with Department of Health in contract dispute
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
An administrative law judge is siding with the Florida Department of Health's decision to reject all bids for a contract to provide laboratory services to the state's 67 county health departments.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida nabs white supremacists planning "race war"
By Barbara Liston
Reuters
Ten alleged members of a white supremacist group training near Orlando and Disney World for a "race war" have been rounded up in a series of arrests in central Florida, authorities said on Tuesday.

Wellington man’s deportation hinges on Fla. Supreme Court ruling
By John Kennedy and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Martin Ioselli of Wellington is due to board a plane to Argentina on Thursday, forced by deportation to leave much of his life behind.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

FDLE: Death threats against Gov. Rick Scott
Staff Report
WKMG Orlando
A Florida man has been arrested after threatening to kill Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Jeb Bush.

For Pam Bondi and Mark Ober, one case never ends
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Pam Bondi left the Hillsborough County prosecutor's office to become attorney general, but she and her former boss have some unfinished business that both say is a matter of life and death — for them.