Daily Clips for June 20, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Another Lawsuit Filed in Fla. Voter Purge
By Troy Kinsey
WTVY Dothan AL
Excerpt: (Progress Florida’s) Damien Filer says it overwhelmingly targets blacks and Hispanics. Under federal law, that's discrimination. "This is the most expansive lawsuit over voting rights protection in Florida, and there's a reason for it," Filer says. "If you look at the numbers, it's clear that the people who are being targeted by this voter purge - this is not about rooting out fraud; this is about rooting out voters, and it's a very specific group of voters that are being targeted."

FEATURED STORIES

Lawsuit claims voter purge illegally targets minorities
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A string of voter advocacy groups sued Florida on Tuesday, claiming the state's recent noncitizen voter purge unfairly discriminates against minority voters.

Poll: Majority of Florida voters support purge
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
Three out of five Florida voters say they favor Gov. Rick Scott's effort to purge potential non-citizens from the state's voter rolls, a poll released Wednesday showed.

Swamped by standardized tests? Blame Jeb
By Jac Versteeg
Palm Beach Post
In her Monday commentary in The Palm Beach Post, Patricia Levesque disingenuously blamed local school districts for all the standardized tests in Florida that are angering parents and frustrating students.

This small business wants Obama’s health insurance law
By Louisa McQueeney
Miami Herald
Running a small business with four employees, I’ve got a lot hanging in the balance as the Supreme Court deliberates on the healthcare law.

Mitt Romney quells rumors that Marco Rubio not being vetted for VP
By Aaron Sharockman and Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Another day, another series of twists in the ongoing will-Marco-Rubio-be-VP-saga.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Latest lawsuit filed over voter purge effort; state again demands access to federal database
By James Call
Florida Current
A member of a coalition of voting groups that filed suit Tuesday over Gov. Rick Scott’s non-U.S. citizen voter purge says the state is using faulty data, which is discriminating against nonwhite citizens and that state officials know it.

Miami rally set to protest voter registration purge
Associated Press
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Several groups of Floridians will rally outside a Miami courthouse asking Gov. Rick Scott to halt a contentious push to remove potentially ineligible voters from the rolls.

Florida emergency operations officials object to planned statewide ratings proposed by Gov. Scott
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
After backing away from a controversial ranking of Florida’s elections’ supervisors, Gov. Rick Scott is now preparing to grade the state’s 67 county emergency management offices.

Florida’s Senators Vote With Big Sugar
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Last week, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio voted down a measure that would have cut subsidies to Florida’s lucrative sugar industry.

State lawmakers short on experience
By Chuck Raasch
USA Today
Roughly half of the nation's 7,383 state legislators could have two years or less of experience after the 2012 elections, potentially making the next crop of lawmakers the greenest in a half-century, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

POLITICAL RACES

SEIU pledges “largest-ever” grassroots presidential field campaign
By Bob Shaw
Orlando Sentinel
SEIU, the service-employees union that was one of the most active in the losing effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is transferring its energies to the presidential campaign, promising “the largest and most-targeted political field campaign in the union’s 91-year history, to re-elect President Obama and win other key elections in eight battleground states, including Florida.”

Local host committee still shy of goal for RNC funding
By Kevin Wiatrowski
Tampa Tribune
With just over two months to go before the Republican National Convention arrives in Tampa, the local host committee has raised about 80 percent of the $55 million it needs to stage the event, committee president Ken Jones said Tuesday.

Tampa Bay region occupy movements join forces to plan their protest during Republican National Convention
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
About 75 Occupiers met at South Straub Park in downtown St. Pete last weekend where they brainstormed new ideas on how to protest things like corporate greed at the Republican National Convention in August.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Report: Pollution enforcement drops under Scott
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Florida’s enforcement of pollution laws has dropped significantly during the administration of Gov. Rick Scott, according to a report released Wednesday by an environmental group.

PSC delays Gulf Power rehearing request, approves agency reorganization plan
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Public Service Commission on Tuesday delayed action on Gulf Power Co.'s request for reconsideration of a rate hike request to include costs for a possible new nuclear plant site in Escambia County.

Tarnished jewel
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Silver Springs is the crown jewel of Florida's glittering necklace of natural springs.

LGBT

Rubio: Gay marriage is 'about what society should tolerate'
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA Today
Can Florida Sen. Marco Rubio cut the mustard with GOP conservatives, particularly evangelicals, as Mormon Mitt Romney's running mate when his views on a hot topic like gay marriage are so ... open?

EDUCATION

Sarasota School Board critiques FCAT
By Christopher O'Donnell
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota County school students have always been at the head of the class when it comes to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, beating most other Florida school districts.

Governor urges state universities to lead nation in affordability
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
In case state universities hadn’t gotten the message yet, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday hammered home his concern about rising tuition before the university system’s governing body considers another round of tuition increases.

UF assertive in expanding its online course offerings
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
More than 6,700 students are now enrolled in the University of Florida’s growing online programs, which generated more than $66 million in gross revenue this fiscal year.

For a promising future
Editorial
Miami Herald
For many young Americans, a low interest rate on a subsidized student loan means the difference between a smooth start to a promising future and a lifetime of debt.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

No hurricanes in a few years but insurance rates remain center of storm
By Aisling Swift
Naples Daily News
There hasn't been a major hurricane in the Sunshine State since 2005, yet Floridians are getting hit with hefty, ever-increasing insurance bills — and some are being dropped by Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Citizens Property Insurance interim president chalks up almost $10,000 in travel expenses in two months
By Susan Taylor Martin and Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
When Thomas Grady left another state job in March to become interim president of Citizens Property Insurance, he sent his staff a goodbye letter that urged: "Think different. Be heard. But most of all, suck the marrow out of life, inside and outside the office.''

Workforce Central Florida jobs agency ignored financial rules, reports find
By Jim Stratton,
Orlando Sentinel
A just-finished audit and several state inspector general's reports make one thing clear: The former management of Workforce Central Florida often ignored or overlooked state and federal financial reporting guidelines.

Stalled highway bill may imperil I-4 widening
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
Plans to add toll lanes to Interstate 4 could be delayed -- perhaps indefinitely -- if top lawmakers in Congress cannot negotiate the terms of a new highway bill by June 30.

Disney shifts shipping to Jacksonville port
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Trinkets picked up by tourists at the Magic Kingdom and other Walt Disney Co. theme parks in Central Florida are now more than likely to be shipped from Jacksonville.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

What's At Stake For Women If SCOTUS Overturns The Health Law
By Julie Appleby
Kaiser Health News
A provision in the 2010 health care law requiring contraceptive coverage for women without copays has gotten most of the press.

Senators request TV for Supreme Court's health care ruling
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking the Supreme Court to allow live television coverage when it delivers its ruling on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Study: Florida underfunds health benefits for its retired workers
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida has a safe level of money in its public workers’ pension fund but does not adequately cover health care benefits for retirees, a new study concluded.

Public health official leaves DOH with a parting shot
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Another high-ranking administration of the Florida Department of Health has joined the executive exodus from the agency -- leaving behind a blistering denunciation of "erratic leadership" and disrespect for government employees under Gov. Rick Scott.

Should government hospitals be sold?
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
The debate over the future of Florida’s government-owned hospitals will play out Wednesday in Hollywood Memorial as hospital leaders hold a legislatively mandated public meeting to discuss the “possible benefits” of the sale of the $1 billion Memorial Healthcare System.

Lantana TB patients headed to Miami, Jacksonville, as A.G. Holley Hospital closing
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
Getting ready to shut down the A.G. Holley state hospital, the Florida Department of Health said Tuesday it will send tuberculosis patients to Jackson Health System in Miami and Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, at least for now.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Next big step for Dreamers: citizenship
By Fabiola Santiago
Miami Herald
I liked studying the Dreamers’ hopeful faces — youth sweet youth — when they flashed across my screen.

Gag Me? Don’t You Dare
By Mary Jo Melone
Florida Voices
Vagina. Vagina. Vagina. Uterus. Uterus. Uterus.