Daily Clips for June 3, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida could lose billions of dollars by rejecting healthcare reform act, study says
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Two studies from Washington healthcare researchers project that Gov. Rick Scott’s decision not to expand Medicaid as provided by the healthcare reform law could mean Florida losing billions of dollars in federal funding — money that could have been used to bring health insurance to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Floridians.

Gov. Scott's decision on 'Obamacare' draws critics
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
With Gov. Rick Scott vowing that Florida won’t expand its health care system for the poor because it will hurt the state’s effort to create jobs, his opponents and other advocates charged Monday that the opposite might be true.

Scott, Bondi must face reality of Affordable Care Act
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Business owner who complained to Scott about 'Obamacare' says he was misinformed
Related: Fact-checking Gov. Rick Scott on the health care law
Whatever Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi's personal disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision largely upholding the Affordable Care Act, they have an obligation to carry out the law's terms and stop claiming its constitutionality is suspect.

FloridaWatch book jacket skewers Rubio as ‘Traitor’
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
FloridaWatch, a pro-Democratic group that was passing out “Pink Slip Rick” and “Pink Slip Mitt” fliers earlier to protest Gov. Rick Scott and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is going after Marco Rubio and his new memoirs book, “An American Son.”

In Florida fight, Obama and Romney scrap along I-4
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
In the presidential battleground with the biggest prize, Democrat Barack Obama is focused on ratcheting up voter turnout in Florida's university towns, its Hispanic enclaves around Orlando and its Jewish communities in the south.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott: State weighing moves in voter purge
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
The state is still weighing its next moves in an attempt to remove suspected non-citizens from the voting rolls, Gov. Rick Scott said Monday.

Professor: Voter purge is 'harassment,' 'waste of time'
By Gene Wexler
WOKV Jacksonville
“A waste of time and money” That’s what University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith calls Governor Rick Scott’s so-called purging of Florida’s voter rolls of potential non-U.S. citizens.

POLITICAL RACES

Judge tosses 'birther' lawsuit; Obama will remain on Florida ballot
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times
The Associated Press is reporting that Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis tossed out a lawsuit filed by a South Florida man who wanted President Barack Obama blocked from appearing on the ballot in Florida.

RNC party zone proposed next to parade route, protest areas
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
It turns out protesters outside the Republican National Convention might get closer to delegates than expected. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Coastal homeowners face a rising threat
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
If you've always yearned to own waterfront property and have enough time on your hands, thanks to global warming and rising sea levels Pinellas County may one day offer the real estate investment of your dreams.

LGBT

20 couples sign up on 1st day of Volusia's domestic partnership registry
By Andrew Gant
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Fiorella Papini and Juelda Drye have been together seven years and "married" (just not legally) for six.

Sarasota OKs idea of domestic partner registry
By Carrie Wells
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The city of Sarasota appears poised to be part of a growing state and nationwide trend of affording greater rights to unmarried couples.

EDUCATION

Education head tries to calm fears on FCAT scores
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The head of Florida's Department of Education is writing parents to tell them that they shouldn't be overly concerned about the results of the state-required exam that's supposed to measure year-to-year improvements of students, teachers and public schools.

High-stakes exam scores now online
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Like 'em or hate 'em, the FCAT and other high-stakes tests are driving public schools these days.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Upfront money to draw businesses includes risk
By Michael Sasso
Tampa Tribune
Related editorial: Tossing tax dollars to select businesses
As the recession raged in 2009, communities lined up to offer Robert Easter big money to land his small manufacturing firm.

Flood insurance premiums could double in four years
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun Sentinel
President Barack Obama is expected to sign a bill this week that would, among other things, extend the National Flood Insurance Program five years.

Orlando has 2nd highest Hispanic jobless rate, study finds
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Metro Orlando had the second-highest rate of Hispanic unemployment in the nation last year, according to a report issued Monday by the Economic Policy Institute.

Florida earns federal foodstamp bonus funding
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
Florida will get an additional $9.1 million from the federal government this year, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted the state a bonus for the accuracy of its food stamp program.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

The backlash begins: States start opting out of Medicaid expansion
By Sarah Kliff
Washington Post
Related: Health-care law’s Medicaid provision too good to pass up
The Supreme Court decided last week that the federal government could not penalize states for not participating in the Medicaid expansion, set to begin in 2014.

Will Rick Scott and Other GOP Governors Really Turn Away Medicaid Expansion?
By Jonathan Cohn        
WUSF Tampa
As it turns out, the scariest part of Thursday's ruling on the Affordable Care Act was the issue that got the least attention.

Gov. Rick Scott overstates cost of health care overhaul
Associated Press
Ft. Myers News-Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott says that President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul will cost Florida taxpayers $1.9 billion a year, but the estimate is considerably less than that.

For a healthier Florida, Gov. Scott must comply with law
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
If Gov. Scott and his Republican colleagues in the Legislature continue to be sore losers over the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act, Floridians will be the ones who suffer.

Florida to receive $56 million in GlaxoSmithKline Medicaid fraud settlement
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's share of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Medicaid fraud settlement — the largest health care fraud settlement in the nation's history — is $56.7 million.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Farms a casualty of immigration war
By Tony Pugh
Miami Herald
On more than 10,000 acres of drained swampland in western New York, Maureen Torrey’s family farm grows an assortment of vegetables in the dark, nutrient-rich soil known as “Elba Muck.”

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Miami federal judge sides with ‘Docs’ over ‘Glocks’ in Fla. gun rights case
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
A federal judge has blocked the state of Florida from enforcing a new law pushed by firearm advocates that banned thousands of doctors from discussing gun ownership with their patients.

Joyner joins ACLU in challenge to Florida election law
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
State Sen. Arthenia Joyner, of Tampa, has joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups to challenge a Florida election law.