FEATURED
STORIES
Scott on health care: Give this man a truth tonic
By Robyn E. Blumner
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Gov. Rick Scott repeats that Florida will not implement health care exchanges
Throughout Rick Scott's governorship he has had a tenuous relationship with the truth.
Why the Health Care Law Ruling Might Shortchange Florida’s Poor
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Overall, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is good news for most Americans without health insurance.
Gov. Rick Scott appears to give support to chorus of criticism about too much emphasis on FCAT
By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post
This spring’s uproar over the FCAT has apparently reached Gov. Rick Scott’s ears.
Does Romney Have a Florida Problem?
By Nate Cohn
The New Republic
The decisive state in the 2000 presidential election has received less and less attention over the last twelve years.
Obama, super PAC target Romney's business career
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Remember when top Democrats such as Bill Clinton were questioning President Barack Obama's attacks on Mitt Romney's business career?
EDITORIAL
CARTOON OF THE WEEK
By Jim Morin
Miami Herald
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Scott Continues Call for Database
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott is not letting up on efforts to prevent non-citizens from voting in Florida.
Scott hoping Hollingsworth boosts image
By Abel Harding
Florida Times-Union
It's no secret Gov. Rick Scott could use a little help.
U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young's comments about minimum wage create Internet buzz
By Mark Puente
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young created an Internet buzz this week by the way he answered a question about raising the minimum wage.
New website, SunshineStatutes.com, makes Florida laws accessible, understandable
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A more user-friendly way to read and understand Florida's complicated law books just launched online.
POLITICAL
RACES
In Ohio, Obama glosses over health care, stresses economy
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
It came 20 minutes deep into a campaign speech, but President Barack Obama delivered the line emphatically, and the crowd roared back.
Romney, Obama supporters seek edge with outreach
By Howard Altman
Tampa Tribune
In a small white room, with a window view of the Divine Signs Salon & Spa across a parking lot, Meaghan O'Neal sits at a desk and works the phones.
Putting Children on Campaign Radar in FL
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
With just four months to go until the November election, there is one thing missing from the campaigns, some people say, and that is children.
Recent onslaught of political ads in Orlando was just the beginning
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
The barrage of political TV commercials that inundated Orlando in May and June is growing, and viewers of a certain age may be reminded of the opening lines of the 1960s suspense show "The Outer Limits."
First lady Michelle Obama to speak at UCF
By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
First lady Michelle Obama will make a campaign stop at the University of Central Florida on Tuesday.
GOP leadership shaping key Florida Senate races
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Florida state Senate leaders are taking sides in two local Republican primary races, hoping to make sure Tom Lee of Brandon and Pasco County state Rep. John Legg win state Senate seats in districts that border Tampa.
GOP books Hard Rock hotel for entire RNC week
By Richard Mullins
Tampa Tribune
Related: Many county services relocating during RNC
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was never on the official list of hotels where Republican delegations would stay for their convention in August.
BALLOT
INITIATIVES
Earned Sick Days Likely to Earn Ballot Spot
By Mike Cantone
West Orlando News
As Election season kicks into high gear, there’s one ballot initiative heating up Orange County politics this summer. Citizens for a Greater Orange County, a progressive coalition, has launched an ambitious effort to protect workers’ rights locally through a citizen initiative guaranteeing earned sick days for workers.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
BP oil-spill fines could boost Everglades restoration
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Everglades restoration backers are aiming to get a big piece of the billions of dollars of fines that oil giant BP is expected to pay for polluting the Gulf of Mexico and disrupting Florida's delicate ecology during the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010.
New drilling off Cuba may pose more risk to Florida
By David Goodhue
Miami Herald
New oil drilling expected to begin offshore of Cuba at the end of the summer is at least 50 miles farther away from Key West than a well that came up dry in May.
Broken Crystal River nuclear plant is Duke Energy's problem now
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
It was a marriage proposal made in utility heaven: Progress Energy and Duke Energy joining to form the nation's biggest power company.
Florida lacks the vision to encourage solar energy, blames clouds
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
Once hot in pursuit of renewable energy sources, the Sunshine State now lacks the political will and vision to develop solar power.
LGBT
Domestic-partner registry now covers all of Orange County
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Phil Windsor and his partner Gary Ashland have been a committed couple for more than two decades, but that relationship wasn't legally recognized by their town of Edgewood — until Friday.
EDUCATION
Rick Scott says Florida may be testing students too much
By Dan Sullivan
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott said on Friday that schools might be doing too much of a good thing when it comes to student testing and that he is talking with state education officials, school superintendents and teachers about possibly changing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
BOG rejects Gulf Coast University's plea for higher tuition bump
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida Gulf Coast University failed for a second time to persuade the Board of Governors to allow it to raise tuition 14 percent this year.
Rising student-loan debt: What can families do?
By Richard Burnett
Orlando Sentinel
Bill and Susan Fay thought they had played all the right cards to get their children through college debt-free: savings, Bright Futures scholarships, thriftiness and hard work.
FAMU dean proposed long-term suspension of band before Champion's hazing death
By Denise-Marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Incoming state Senate president calls for legislative review of FAMU
Three days before the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion, the university's dean of students urged top administrators to impose a long-term suspension of the school's famous marching band because of concerns about hazing.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Floridians' paychecks are smaller in 2012, Labor Department report shows
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Floridians are earning less and taking more low-wage jobs than they were a year ago, with pay rates dropping more than almost anywhere in the country.
Attorneys: Budget shortfall not enough justify changes to retirement benefits
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The lawyer leading a lawsuit challenging a 2011 retirement law says in court papers that a budget shortfall does not necessarily justify reducing cost-of-living increases for public pensions or requiring employees to contribute a portion of their salaries to their retirement.
Florida's tax break often helps companies do already-planned work
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
More than two years ago, Florida lawmakers agreed to pay CSX Corp. more than $400 million to acquire the tracks needed for Central Florida's planned SunRail commuter train.
Next up for Gov. Rick Scott: trade trip to England
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott is jetting off for foreign soil again — this time to the United Kingdom.
A Lifeguard’s Soul, Outsourced to the Bottom Line
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
If you think government is losing its way, privatization is losing its soul.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Florida Lawmakers say the Affordable Care Act Needs Consideration
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida has until 2014 to implement some of the provisions in the Federal Affordable Care Act.
Doctors booted from Medicaid for massive oxy doses in Florida
By Pat Beall
Palm Beach Post
The state’s most prolific prescriber of Medicaid-financed oxycodone to the poor in 2010 and 2011 has been barred from participating in the taxpayer supported health care program, one of 76 such high-volume prescribers identified in a Palm Beach Post investigation.
Worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
The CDC officer had a serious warning for Florida health officials in April: A tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville was one of the worst his group had investigated in 20 years.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Immigration advocates: Applying for deferred deportation too soon is risky
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Related: Obama’s immigrant order means future for Greenacres family
Immigration activists are warning young, undocumented immigrants who could benefit from the Obama administration’s new policy on deferred deportations that they should watch out for attorneys and notaries eager to take their money and who could harm their chances of staying in the country.
The politics of ‘Stand your ground’ law
By David Donnelly
Miami Herald
When Gov. Rick Scott’s Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection meets on Tuesday, the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law from State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, will be in the crosshairs of public scrutiny.
Shot down
Editorial
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott’s ideological pursuits in defense of constitutionally questionable laws are costing the rest of us a bundle.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
Scott's attempts to remove justices draws rebuke
Associated Press
Gainesville Sun
Gov. Rick Scott is still pushing for an investigation into possible wrongdoing by three Florida Supreme Court justices even after a veteran prosecutor dismissed it as "trifle."
Scott has more strikeouts than hits
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
If Gov. Rick Scott were a ballplayer, he would be a pretty weak hitter.
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