Daily Clips for June 12, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida and feds sue each other over noncitizen purge controversy
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott and the Obama administration traded legal barbs and counteraccusations Monday as each side announced it would sue the other over Florida’s controversial noncitizen voter purge.

Jeb Bush Questions G.O.P.’s Shift to the Right
By Jim Rutenberg
New York Times
For the better part of three decades, there has been no more prominent family in Republican politics than the Bushes.

Florida among states hardest hit by drop in net worth
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
The wealth of the median American family shrunk to 1992 levels as of 2010, according to a Federal Reserve report that singles out Florida as one of the states hit hardest by the Great Recession.

Scott lawyers say judge was wrong in pension case
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A Leon County judge was wrong in ruling that Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature violated the state constitution last year by ordering 3 percent payroll contributions from public employees in the Florida Retirement System, state lawyers said in a new filing with the Florida Supreme Court.

Task force reviewing Florida's 'stand your ground' law to hold first hearing
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
19-member task force assigned to review Florida's "stand your ground" law will get its first dose of help from the public during a hearing today, just miles away from the gated community in Sanford where Trayvon Martin was fatally shot.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Feds, Florida in dueling lawsuits over voter purge
By George Bennett and Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The U.S. Department of Justice will sue Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s administration over the state’s attempts to purge ineligible voters, a U.S. assistant attorney general said Monday, the same day Scott sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for holding up the effort.

The voter suppression fight
By Bob Hallman
Gainesville Sun
Voter suppression is a national Republican policy.

Behind Scott's rhetoric, voter suppression
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
In St. Petersburg, Democrat Joanna Buck was briefly removed from the voter rolls because the Florida native was on a state list of suspected noncitizens.

Follow the campaign money, pass DISCLOSE Act, senators
By Deirdre Macnab
Miami Herald
Do you doubt that money can buy access? How about political outcomes?

In Florida, Republican trials and tribulations
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
Ultimately, brothers and sisters, what should we take away from the salacious saga of defrocked Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer — who turned his stewardship of the state GOP into one big, fat Bacchus feast of expense accounts — begging for mercy?

Florida Contracts Czar Approved Hush Money In Sex Case
By Florence Snyder
Florida Voices
“Don’t schtupp your co-workers, especially if you’re supervising them” has been a management mantra since the Reagan Administration.

POLITICAL RACES

Little-known U.S. Senate candidate Marielena Stuart wins Pinellas GOP straw poll
By Katie Sanders
Tampa Bay Times
Demonstrating just how volatile the race to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is two months before the Aug. 14 primary, Pinellas County Republicans delivered a surprise straw poll victory to little-known but fiery U.S. Senate candidate Marielena Stuart.

Report: Norman to drop out of Senate race
By Tom Jackson and Mike Salinero
Tampa Tribune
State Sen. Jim Norman of Tampa, who took office in the midst of an investigation into his financial disclosures, has told Republican leaders he plans to withdraw his bid for re-election, two prominent local party members said Monday.

Well-heeled candidates running for Senate, House
News Service of Florida
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
When Florida senators gather after the November elections, perhaps the wealthiest man in the Legislature could lead a chamber dotted with millionaires.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Sick pay is the heart of small business values
By Tiffany Carr
Orlando Sentinel
On May 16, a coalition of local groups announced an initiative to create a citywide standard for earned sick time for Orlando workers and businesses.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

3 Florida officials out in wake of environmental land 'bank' controversy
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
An attempt by investors to start an environmental-land "bank" in Florida, a business initially valued at more than $100 million that would profit by replacing wetlands destroyed by developers, has left in its wake three state officials forced to resign or suspended after they objected to the project.

Reducing mercury in fish will require sharp reductions in pollution, DEP says
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Reducing mercury in fish to safe levels for consumption will require an 86 percent reduction in mercury from air pollution sources in the state and worldwide, state environmental officials said Monday.

Desert cactus has secret talent for purifying water
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The solution for cleaning up the next big oil spill could come from an unlikely place: the desert.

Banned words in some states: Rising sea levels
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
It must be frustrating for our guys in Tallahassee. The governor and the legislative leadership have made it plenty clear that they have no use for this global warming stuff.

LGBT

ENDA, a federal ban on job bias, still eludes gay rights groups
By Curtis Tate
McClatchy Newspapers
Gay rights activists have made significant strides in recent years on marriage and military service, but one long-standing policy goal remains elusive: a federal law to ban discrimination against gay workers.

End workplace discrimination -- now
By Alejandra Cabrera
South Florida Sun Sentinel
As a nation, we have made plently of progress towards equality. President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage demonstrates how far we have come in granting equal civil rights to the LGBT community.

EDUCATION

Exclusive: Schools say state's funding boost is no cure
By Ashley A. Smith
Ft. Myers News-Press
An additional $1 billion for education in Florida still can’t eliminate deficits facing local school districts.

School district officials, parents share FCAT frustration
By Zack McDonald
Panama City News Herald
Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt called on parents Monday evening to share their frustration over recent FCAT scores with their legislators and governor.

Higher education task force hears raising tuition could be tough
By James Call
Florida Current
A task force studying the future of Florida's state university system indicated Monday that it may become more difficult to get money from the state or to raise tuition so that schools here are on par with the national average.

Will UF's decision to seek 9% tuition hike impact other schools?
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
Related editorial: After Machen
The University of Florida's decision to seek a 9 percent instead of a 15 percent tuition increase was “the shot heard around the world,” the chancellor of Florida's state university system said Monday.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State pushes back against lower court ruling on pensions
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The state is arguing a circuit judge was wrong to strike down a pair of controversial changes to public employee retirement benefits in briefs filed with the state Supreme Court that.

Poverty, racial divide among Florida children is soaring, study finds
By Kate Santich
Orlando Sentinel
The number of Florida's children living in poverty swelled 35 percent from 2006 to 2010 — an increase that especially hurt black and Hispanic youth — a new report shows.

Healthcare expected to lead job growth in post boomer retirement years 
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida’s Chief Economist told members of a higher education task force that the state’s job outlook will improve, but it will also come with challenges from changing demographics.

Obama committed Port of Jacksonville improvements
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
President Barack Obama says his administration is committed to improvements for the Port of Jacksonville.

Top-level manager resigns from jobs department
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Cynthia Lorenzo resigned Monday as chief operating officer of the Department of Economic Opportunity, effective July 6.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

3 Large Insurers Promise To Keep Many Popular Features Of Health Law If High Court Strikes It Down
By Julie Appleby
Kaiser Health News
As speculation over the fate of the health care law heightens in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling, at least three major insurers Monday promised to continue following some of the rules in the federal health law that are already in effect.

Fee-for-service on way out?
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Fee-for-service medical practice is dying, even if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire federal health law, an increasing number of health-business analysts say.

Synthetic drug concerns in Florida renewed by recent 'Miami Zombie' attack
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi took office last year, she worked to outlaw man-made narcotic "bath salts."

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Take the right stand on “stand your ground.”
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
On its website, Northland Church northeast of Orlando posts a Bible verse from Luke about Jesus growing in wisdom, and finding favor with “God and man.”