Daily Clips for June 25, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

President Barack Obama touts his leadership to Hispanic group in Orlando
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: President Barack Obama pleads for support from adoring crowd in Tampa
A couple of hours before he speaks in Tampa, President Barack Obama acknowledged to a group of Hispanic leaders on Friday the struggling economy but said he was best equipped to carry the country forward and defended his action blocking deportations of young illegal immigrants.

Powerful congressman accused of campaign finance violations
By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin
CNN
Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, a self-made Florida millionaire, is only in his third term in Congress, but he already is in charge of fundraising for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, and he sits on the powerful House Ways and Means committee.

Gov. Rick Scott never turns campaign off as he learns on the job
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Eighteen months into his first political job, Gov. Rick Scott has mastered one thing: the art of the perpetual campaign.

Purge Jim Crow Politics!
By Badili Jones
Huffington Post
There is an old maxim that, "the more things change the more they stay the same."

Jeb Bush: Party elder statesman or 2016 candidate?
By David Adams and Stephanie Simon
Reuters
Ever since Jeb Bush left the Florida governor's mansion in 2007 with favorable ratings after two terms, speculation has swirled about his political future.

Florida Struggles to Overcome Threats to Freshwater Springs
By Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
Of Florida’s 700 artesian springs, Silver Springs shimmered the brightest.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Mike Luckovich
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott defends RNC gun stance in Tampa speech
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott defended his purge of state voter rolls and refusal to ban guns in the event zone of the Republican National Convention in a speech to local Republicans Saturday night.

State was warned voter purge used inaccurate data
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Weeks before the Florida Department of State publicly announced its non-citizen voter purge, proclaiming it was cleaning up the voter rolls, local supervisor of elections were already warning state election officials that the department's data were bad.

Politicians sending mixed message on economy
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Thank you, Gov. Rick Scott, for your success in helping steadily push down Florida's unemployment rate.

Sen. Bill Nelson decries 'ideological rigidity' in American politics at NALEO 2012
By Arelis R. Hernandez
Orlando Sentinel
Wrapping up three days of speeches headlined by President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson on Saturday decried the polarization in Washington, echoing remarks made by other legislators at the annual gathering of Latino lawmakers in Orlando.

Congressional candidate Jacobs emerged from abusive marriage
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
It was a gigantic television that helped Kristin Jacobs break away from her abusive husband more than two decades ago.

West Tampa group wants Occupy Tampa out of park
By Kathy Steele
Tampa Tribune
Residents and merchants here have grown weary of the Occupy Tampa movement's 6-month presence in their midst, and some of them aim to take action.

POLITICAL RACES

Rick Scott says he’s been asked to attend Romney events
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott, plagued by high disapproval ratings, has not appeared with Mitt Romney at any campaign events in Florida, fueling speculation the Romney campaign doesn’t want him to be seen with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Mystery poll gives glimpse of Senate race tactics
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Even if former Sen. George LeMieux hadn’t unexpectedly dropped out of the U.S. Senate race Wednesday, Rep. Connie Mack was the Republicans’ de facto nominee anyway. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Former Gov. Graham leads rally to protect Fla.'s springs, rivers
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
Daytona Beach News-Journal
After more than 40 years of public service, including 16 years as a U.S. senator and two terms as Florida's governor, Bob Graham tried to retire, but anger and frustration over what he sees happening to the state's environment has him fully engaged in a new campaign.

Protecting the idea of Florida
By Brad Rogers
Ocala Star-Banner
Anyone who has cruised the Silver River over the years can tell by looking at her that she isn’t well.

Warning: Move afoot to sell water district’s land
By Ron Littlepage
Florida Times-Union
Publicly owned lands that the St. Johns River Water Management District purchased over three decades to protect and improve water supplies may be up for sale.

Debby's slow march through Gulf drenches Florida
By Suzette Laboy
Associated Press
Tropical Storm Debby spun drenching rains Monday over northern Florida as it hung nearly stationary over the Gulf of Mexico, making its biggest threat flooding rather than winds.

LGBT

Battleground South Florida: Gays feel new passion for politics
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Stephen Muffler had high hopes when he voted for Barack Obama, but like many gays and lesbians, grew dispirited when his presidency began to look like so many others.

Tampa domestic partnership registry launches Monday
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
Tampa opens the books today on its new domestic partnership registry, and already people are jostling to be at the head of that line.

EDUCATION

Tuition Going Up, Student Loans to Follow
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Florida college students will be paying an average of seven hundred dollars more for tuition this fall. Tuition increases between nine and 15 percent were approved yesterday for Florida’s 11 public universities.

Florida takes low road on higher education
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The sorry spectacle of Florida's Board of Governors haggling over tuition increases like used car salesmen was sobering.

Scott's Fla. higher education panel meeting again
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Florida State University President Eric Barron is facing a big selling job.

Volusia joins Flagler in growing FCAT debate
By Linda Trimble
Daytona Beach News-Journal
It's time for FCAT -- the exam used to measure students' academic progress, grade schools and evaluate teachers' performance -- to be tested itself for validity, cost and impact on what Florida children learn.

Miami-Dade teachers anxious over principals’ evaluations
By Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Big changes in how Florida’s teachers are graded will take effect this summer, with test scores put into the equation.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Mistakenly released database reveals that Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in incentives to create jobs
By Jeff Harrington and Carolyn Edds
Tampa Bay Times
Since January 2011, Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in tax breaks and other incentives to companies promising to create jobs in the state.

Does unemployment rate mean what politicians say it does?
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
This is the kind of news that probably makes Mitt Romney happier than Rick Scott: Florida's declining unemployment rate is due more to would-be workers dropping out of the hunt for jobs than to new hirings by employers.

PIP reforms come with many unanswered questions
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Personal injury protection — the auto insurance that every Florida driver is required to buy — is about to undergo a major overhaul that state officials hope will translate into lower premiums for millions of motorists.

Insurance regulators' backlog delaying effects of sinkhole law
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
State insurance regulators have a large backlog of property insurance coverage forms, delaying companies from taking advantage of a law passed last year aimed at reducing sinkhole claims.

Fla. spending $100k to ask landowners about roads
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida is spending tens of thousands of dollars to help officials figure out where to put roads in the future.

Use robo-signing settlement to help fraud victims
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Attorney General Pam Bondi is asking the public how the state should spend hundreds of millions of dollars from Florida's share of the national robo-signing settlement.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

|Jarrett: 'We will be prepared' if health care law struck down
By Talia Buford and Jennifer Epstein
Politico
Valerie Jarrett wouldn't give details Saturday on the Obama administration's plans if its health care law is struck down but did say the White House will stand by Attorney General Eric Holder as the House prepares to vote on a contempt resolution against him.

Most Americans oppose health law but like provisions
By Patricia Zengerle
Reuters
Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama's healthcare reform even though they strongly support most of its provisions, Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Sunday, with the Supreme Court set to rule within days on whether the law should stand.

Why Many Young Adults Might Lose Coverage If Health Law Falls
By Julie Rovner
NPR
When it comes to health care, even the seemingly easy things become hard.

Department of Health Wants to Move Past Ousted Employee
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
An ousted Florida department of health official says the agency is showing employees the door “just because it can.”

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Sen. Marco Rubio criticizes those playing politics with immigration
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio criticized the political right and left for simplifying and exploiting immigration, appearing before a Hispanic group here Friday not long before President Barack Obama took the stage and accused Republicans of inaction on the contentious issue.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Across Florida, court clerks reduce hours available to the public
By Anna M. Phillips
Tampa Bay Times
Overwhelmed by increasing workloads and another round of state budget cuts, court clerks all over Florida are following through on a threat to reduce hours.

State legislators weigh in on Stand Your Ground, 10-20-Life statutes
By Charles Broward      
Florida Times-Union
George Zimmerman’s supporters say he was standing his ground in shooting Sanford teen Trayvon Martin.