Daily Clips for July 18, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

RPOF uses voter purge as pro-Scott message
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times
Excerpt: Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida sees the message as something else. "That certainly removes whatever veneer of non-partisanship was left on this affront to democracy and blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters they’d prefer not vote,'' he said in a statement.

FEATURED STORIES

Election supervisors put voter purge on hold
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida can use a federal immigration database to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, but there's doubt it will lead to any names being deleted this election cycle.

Latest Florida economic review continues to question Scott’s turnaround claims
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The latest state assessment of Florida’s economy continues to cloud Gov. Rick Scott’s claims that his policies are leading to an eye-catching drop in unemployment.

Affordable Care Act Providing Refunds to Floridians
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
One and a quarter million Floridians will share in more than 123 million dollars health insurers are being forced to return to policy holders because the companies were not spending enough on caring for patients.

Carroll’s Accuser Rejects Plea Deal
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
A one minute and 20 second recording, captured sometime in the summer of 2011, is at the heart of a controversial criminal case rocking the state capitol.

Florida prisons to go ahead with health care privatization plan
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida Department of Corrections said Tuesday it will move ahead with plans to privatize all inmate health care for the nation's third-largest prison system, even after a stalemate in court and the expiration of legislative budget language that authorized the sweeping change.

Marco Rubio for vice president? As Mitt Romney nears decision, it's not likely
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is probably right: He's not going to be Mitt Romney's running mate.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Woman cut twice from voter rolls is dead certain she's alive
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Related: State plans to use federal database to identify non-citizen voters
Connie Smith is not dead, and she has a signed-and-sealed state certificate to prove it.

Federal list still no reason for Florida to rush voter purge
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Like the flu you can’t shake, Florida’s attempted voter purge is back. This strain may not be any better.

Gov. Rick Scott urges Florida's members of Congress to look at Libor scandal
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott sent a letter Tuesday to members of Florida’s congressional delegation asking them to focus on how a loan rate-fixing scandal in the United Kingdom might have affected the state.

Poll shows that for Floridians, facts get in the way
By Fabiola Santiago
Miami Herald
Who can understand Floridians? They don’t like the governor they elected, but they like his policies — even those found to be constitutionally questionable by the courts.

POLITICAL RACES

Mack Senate campaign charges Brooks Brothers clothing to campaign
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Mack's message to Republicans: Supporting Sen. Bill Nelson is like supporting the president
Connie Mack's Senate campaign charged nearly $470 for clothing at a Brooks Brothers in Jacksonville, FEC records show, an apparent violation of law.

Conservative elites club Mitt Romney
By Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman
Politico
In case you hadn’t noticed, there are some on the right who are less than wild about Mitt Romney.

Did Mitt Romney Pay ZERO Taxes?
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Our tax code is broken — really broken. It’s rigged for the rich and against the middle class.

Obama heads to Century Village Thursday
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
President Obama will visit Century Village of West Palm Beach — a legendary but shrinking bastion of Democratic retiree votes — on Thursday as part of a two-day Florida campaign swing, the Obama campaign announced Tuesday.

Sources: Rollins College readying for POTUS visit Friday
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign still is saying nothing about when or where his Friday campaign appearances will be, but sources indicate he will be at Rollins College in Winter Park.

Top-10 ECOs last quarter: Chamber, House GOP, Senate GOP, Pro-voucher group
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The stealthy groups paying for the direct-mail and ads in Florida primaries are called Electioneering Communication Organizations under state law, and are known as 527 groups in other states.

Rep. Allen West leads fundraising race among congressional candidates in Florida
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Conservative Republican firebrand and radio talk-show staple Allen West led all Florida congressional candidates in fund-raising during the year's second quarter by at least a three-to-one margin, according to federal election records.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

State regulators reject costs for possible nuclear plant site in Florida’s panhandle
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
Refusing to backtrack from a decision earlier this year, state regulators on Tuesday rejected a proposal by Gulf Power Co. to pass along costs to customers for a potential nuclear-power plant site in Escambia County. 

EDUCATION

Florida colleges plan to lead nation in graduation rates
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
Florida's 28 state and community colleges say they have a plan to make the state the first in the country to reach the national goal of doubling graduation rates by the year 2020 – and they think Gov. Rick Scott will back their play.

Education commissioner defends FCAT, charter schools
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida's top state education leader defended standardized testing and charter schools as he spoke Tuesday to a South Florida crowd that was often critical of both.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Revenues improve, but Scott, lawmakers look toward more cuts
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Although state revenues are strengthening, Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers have asked state agencies to develop plans for another round of budget cuts for next year.

Raising taxes on rich would hit few in Florida — but could affect small businesses
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
Salon owner Gary Lambert knows the highs and lows of running a small business.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Unleashing An Epidemic: Florida Gov Rick Scott Shows The Folly Of Cutting Safety Net Hospital Funding
By David Whelan
Forbes
When Florida voters elected Rick Scott back in 2010 they may have thought they were getting a health care expert.

TB Story Provokes "Debunking" Memo
By Florence Snyder
Florida Voices
To hear Gov. Rick Scott tell it, he’s the most transparent member of the ruling class since Lady Godiva.

Health chief criticizes CDC report
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida Department of Health Secretary Dr. John Armstrong says overstatements in a CDC report are partly to blame for a recent media frenzy about an outbreak of tuberculosis among the homeless population in Jacksonville.

Health care law can help many small businesses
By Rhonda Abrams
Florida Today
Love it or hate it, the Supreme Court has now upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Study: Florida ranks better, worse in health-care areas compared to U.S.
By Sarah Khan
Orlando Sentinel
A recently released analysis shows that overall healthcare quality in Florida is neither strikingly bad nor good when compared with the rest of the nation.

Tampa Gen. tops in US News FL list
Staff Report
Health News Florida
U.S. News and World Reports has taken its national rankings system to the state level, naming Tampa General Florida's best hospital.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida taxpayers on hook for legal bills from 'Docs and Glocks' law
By Eve Samples
TC Palm
It should surprise nobody that a federal judge shot down Florida's "Docs and Glocks" law, which imposed vague restrictions on what doctors can say to their patients about guns.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge: Florida improperly shifted juvenile-detention costs to counties
By Jim Saunders
Palm Beach Post
An administrative law judge Tuesday ruled that the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has improperly shifted juvenile-detention costs to counties.