Daily Clips for July 24, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Bain Capital Created 'Demoralizing' Culture of Layoffs At Florida Plant
By Laura Bassett
Huffington Post
When Dade Behring started cutting employees under Bain Capital's management in the late '90s, Cindy Hewitt was on the front lines.

Bill Daley Asks: Is Obama Campaign Ready for Recounts?
By James Warren
Daily Beast
A top Democrat who was intimately involved in the rancorous 2000 presidential recount in Florida is raising an almost diabolically complex prospect: what if the Obama-Romney contest inspires recounts in multiple states?

Political committees' spending dwarfs traditional sources
By James Call
Florida Current
The biggest spenders so far in the 2012 campaign for the Florida Legislature are committees set up by politicians and others wanting to influence the outcome of the elections.

DOE acknowledges, explains mistakes in Florida school grades
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Department of Education on Monday acknowledged that it miscalculated school grades across Florida while local education officials said the mistake will fuel more public distrust in the state's student-accountability system that has been under increasing attack in recent months.

State attorney seeks gag order in case against Carroll's accuser
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Alleging that attorneys for Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's accuser are attempting to "try this case in the media," the state attorney in Leon County is asking the judge for a gag order that seals file and bars lawyers from talking to the media in the case against Carroll's former aide.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Lawmakers looking to tackle gaming regulation
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
With Florida emerging as one of the largest gambling states in the nation, legislative leaders are prepared to put gaming regulation on center stage in the next two years and renegotiate the revenue-sharing compact with the Seminole Tribe at least a year early.

POLITICAL RACES

Survey USA shows Obama, Mack with leads
By William March
Tampa Tribune
A Survey USA robopoll shows Barack Obama and Connie Mack IV with significant leads among Florida voters.

Prepping of Tampa Bay Times Forum for RNC on schedule
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
More than 3,000 seats have been removed from the Tampa Bay Times Forum in preparation for the Aug. 27-30 Republican National Convention.

Secret Service announces RNC security restrictions, road closures
By Ted Jackovics and Jose Patino Girona
Tampa Tribune
The Secret Service today released a plan restricting where residents and visitors can drive, park, walk or take a bus during the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Tallahassee: Five primary races to watch
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
If you're like a lot of voters in Florida, you'll blissfully ignore the Aug. 14 primary election, having convinced yourself that because a primary is sort of a preliminary round, your one vote just isn't very important. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Slime-covered river prompts Florida environmental groups to sue Corps of Engineers
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
A coalition of environmental groups is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arguing that the way the agency dumps polluted water from Lake Okeechobee is causing toxic algae blooms throughout the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers.

EPA agrees to air pollution limits for Florida
Associated Press
Ocala Star-Banner
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to set deadlines for limiting haze-causing air pollution from aging power plants and factories in Florida.

Planning group files Florida Supreme Court brief warning against discouraging public participation
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The American Planning Association's Florida chapter says a 1st District Court of Appeal ruling against environmental groups in 2010 would have a chilling effect on public participation in planning if it's allowed to stand.

'This is an emergency': Florida bird may soon be extinct
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
A type of sparrow that lives only in Florida has mysteriously plunged in number so dramatically that scientists fear it will vanish forever well before the end of this decade.

Will they listen?
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Today a contingent from the Florida Conservation Coalition, led by former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, will deliver more than 13,000 petition signatures to Gov. Rick Scott.

LGBT

Time to vote on Jacksonville gay rights bill, downtown authority, says council president
By David Bauerlein       
Florida Times-Union
The budget hearings set to start in August are like a storm on the horizon for Jacksonville City Council members.

Homophobic Chick-fil-A Deserves a Plague of Protest
By Steven Kurlander
Florida Voices
As more states recognize same-sex marriage, Christian warriors are amping up their crusade to preserve what they define as traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

EDUCATION

State got FCAT grades wrong on 213 schools
By Donna Koehn
Tampa Tribune
Once again, the Florida Department of Education has delivered fresh fodder to critics of the increasingly maligned Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

In Polk Visit, Education Chief Touts Progress
By Merissa Green
Lakeland Ledger
Although the majority of Florida's students are Hispanic or black and most students qualify for free or reduced price lunches, the state is doing a better job of educating them than ever before.

Explaining How A Florida College Database Might Help You Earn $6,500 More
By Gina Jordan
StateImpact Florida
Need help deciding on a college?

Document: FAMU dean went to top officials about his attempt to suspend band
By Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Former FAMU President James Ammons has maintained that he did not know until January about recommendations from two key officials to suspend the university's marching band just days before the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion last fall.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Advocates for a higher minimum wage plan Tampa Bay protest Tuesday
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Advocates for a higher minimum wage are planning protests in 30 cities this week marking the third-year anniversary of the last increase to the federal minimum wage.

Economists: Florida jobless rate to remain bleak
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida’s unemployment rate probably won’t change much between now and the end of the year, and the jobs picture is set to remain bleak through 2016, a team of state economists said Monday.

Florida audit of loan program run by Tony Nelson shows lack of oversight
By Matt Dixon  
Florida Times-Union
An embattled Jacksonville black business loan program led for 16 years by felon Tony Nelson misreported information to the state, did not use formal accounting practices and had no formal conflict-of-interest policy.

EMA/SBA Disaster Recovery Centers Still Going Strong In FL
By Stew Lilker
Columbia County Observer
The FEMA/SBA Disaster Recovery Relief Centers (DRC) are still going strong in Florida as a result of Tropical Storm Debby, which dumped record amounts of rain and is being called by some a 500 year event.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Working Poor At Heart Of Medicaid Debate As Govs Draw Line In The Sand
Staff Report
Kaiser Health News
Even as state executives such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Florida Gov. Rick Scott remain firm in their opposition to the health law's Medicaid expansion, health providers such as Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Tony Cosgrove express their support for it.

State slashes county Medicaid bill, but officials hope for more
By Bill Thompson
Ocala Star-Banner
The state's recent decision to slash the bill Florida counties owe for Medicaid brought sighs of relief from Marion County officials.

Largest oil-spill health study needs volunteers
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Scientists studying long-term effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are looking for 15,000 more people who helped with the cleanup, even for one day.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

South Florida candidates split over need for tighter gun controls
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
South Florida congressional candidates agreed Monday that last week's massacre in a movie theater outside Denver was tragic. But Democrats and Republicans strongly disagreed on whether government should restrict guns or ammunition purchases.