Daily Clips for July 12, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

FCAT farce just gets worse
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: School grades drop around Tampa Bay, statewide
No wonder Gov. Rick Scott and Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson have suggested in recent weeks they are ready to reassess the FCAT.

Rick Scott Is Turning Down Obama’s Medicaid Expansion. Is He Turning Off Florida Voters Too?
By Tim Padgett
Time Magazine
Florida Governor Rick Scott has never been one to let facts get in the way of conservative ideology, and recently he’s been trumpeting a lot of untruths about the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Florida Republicans join vote to repeal new health care law
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida Republicans voted with the majority of the U.S. House on Wednesday to repeal the new health care law championed by President Barack Obama, gambling that voters will side with them in November.

Florida lieutenant governor target of ex-aide’s sex allegations
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
As part of her defense in a criminal trial, a former aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll said she caught the lieutenant governor in “a compromising position” with another aide shortly before being fired last year.

Third-party groups spending millions to attack Bill Nelson
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Ad distorts to attack Sen. Bill Nelson on health care law
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is facing a growing threat in his re-election campaign — and it's not necessarily Republican rival U.S. Rep. Connie Mack.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Former aide to Jennifer Carroll alleges widespread illegal taping, improper relationship
By Gary Fineout           
Associated Press
An ongoing criminal case against a former top aide to Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is transforming into a swirl of allegations about improper relationships, widespread illegal taping and other incidents inside Carroll’s office.

The Villages: Where Republicans rule
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Salon
The latest round of FEC reports, released Monday, showed that a previously unknown super PAC supporting Florida Republican Senate candidate Connie Mack raked in millions from big-name GOP donors like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Texas real estate magnate Harlan Crow.

POLITICAL RACES

Rasmussen: Mack 46, Nelson 37; Rove group ad buy looms
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In an outcome that differs sharply from other recent polls, a new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Rep. Connie Mack IV with a significant lead over Sen. Bill Nelson.

Romney draws boos from NAACP when he dings Obama
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Unflinching before a skeptical NAACP crowd, Mitt Romney declared today he'd do more for African-Americans than Barack Obama, the nation's first black president. He drew jeers when he lambasted the Democrat's policies.

Republicans attack President Barack Obama for Hugo Chávez remark
By Patricia Mazzei and Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
Republicans, led by Mitt Romney and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, pounced on President Barack Obama on Wednesday after he told a Miami TV anchor that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez does not pose a "serious" national security threat to the United States. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

St Johns water board toes the line in following Gov. Scott's lead
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
Daytona Beach News Journal
A routine vote this week on the St. Johns River Water Management District's budget for the coming year revealed just how closely the appointed board is taking direction from Tallahassee.

Debby's massive rainfall hasn't ended watering restrictions — yet
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Just because Tropical Storm Debby dumped more than a foot of rain on some parts of the Tampa Bay region, that doesn't mean state officials are ready to end the lawn-watering restrictions they imposed.

DEP sets workshops focused on environmental permitting consistency
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Representatives of agriculture, industry and developer groups are giving the process an initial thumbs up.

LGBT

Religious denomination recognizes same-sex relationships
By Chris Hopper
Tampa Bay News 9
Same-sex relationships are finding new support from the Episcopal Church.

EDUCATION

Florida school grades fall with tough new standards
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
Letter grades for many of Florida's public elementary and middle schools have fallen this year as tough, new standards took effect that made getting an A, B or even a C more difficult than in years past.

School grades can have impact on local economies
By Paul Owers and John Maines
South Florida Sun Sentinel
School grades were released Wednesday, but the impact on their communities will reverberate far longer.

FAMU president resigns amid growing pressure
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
At one of the most troubled times in its history, Florida's only historically black public university is losing its president. Again.

Alumni emotional over Ammons’ beclouded departure from FAMU
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida A&M University alumni reacted to President James Ammons’ resignation with mixed emotions, saying that circumstances beyond Ammons’ control forced him out of his alma mater.

Number of Floridians ages 25-34 with college degree fell in 2010
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
The number of young Floridians with a college degree fell in 2010 to about 817,000 — a decrease of about 19,000 from 2009, according to new estimates.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

New Citizens boss wants to slowly shrink state-run insurance company
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Barry Gilway, the new president of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., unveiled an ambitious set of goals Wednesday, stating he’d like to drastically shrink the state-run insurer without implementing “drastic changes” that would harm Florida’s economy, and also improve the way the company communicates with Floridians.

Florida owes federal government $700 million for jobless benefits
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Florida businesses owe the federal government almost $700 million borrowed to make unemployment payments during the past three years.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

U.S. House votes to repeal Obamacare
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times         
By a 244-185 vote, the U.S. House voted moments ago to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

How The SCOTUS Medicaid Ruling Could Save Money
By Marilyn Werber Serafini
Kaiser Health News
The Supreme Court ruling on the health care law could have an unexpected effect -- saving the federal government money, say some budget experts.

Blinded by the right
By Dick Batchelor
Tampa Tribune
Poor Gov. Rick Scott! He again is blinded by the Right, or by the bright lights from his blitz of appearances on national media outlets since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

With no A.G. Holley, maybe Publix can remodel a store into a TB hospital
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
It’s really not all that surprising that Florida shut down its only tuberculosis hospital during the worst TB outbreak the nation has seen in the past 20 years.

Contract switch brings more delay
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Health News Florida
Florida Health Choices, which is building an insurance website for small employers, has switched contractors after accusing the first one of lax security and outsourcing some work to China.