Daily News Clips for August 14, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Fla. voters to decide heated legislative primaries
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
A heated primary season that saw outside groups spend millions to influence the outcome of legislative races will come to a close Tuesday.

Romney and Ryan’s disdain for the working class
By Eugene Robinson
Washington Post
Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate underscores the central question posed by this campaign: Should cold selfishness become the template for our society, or do we still believe in community?

Mitt Romney returns to Florida with Medicare back as central issue
By Adam C. Smith, Marc Caputo and Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Staff Writers
Related: Romney event in Miami was hosted by convicted cocaine smuggler
Mitt Romney mentioned the word Medicare only twice Monday in his first Florida stop after picking a running mate, but no one doubts it will be a central part of the campaign fight in this must-win state.

GOP ticket faces growing pains as Dems attack
By Kasie Hunt
Associated Press
The newly shaped Republican presidential ticket is fighting growing pains amid charges from President Barack Obama's re-election team that Mitt Romney favors his new running mate's controversial plans to overhaul Medicare and cut trillions from social programs.

Meet Connie Mack IV, the Republican Scion Who Could Take Down Florida’s Last Democratic Holdout
By Perry Stein
The New Republic
For years, Florida Republicans have believed that the senate seat occupied by Democrat Bill Nelson should—and could—be theirs.

Marco Rubio, Chris Christie get key speaking roles at RNC
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
In a showcase role on his party's biggest stage, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will introduce Mitt Romney for his speech to accept the nomination for president on the last night of the Republican National Convention.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Constant competitors Rick Scott and Rick Perry renew rivalry at sea
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Texas Gov. Rick Perry caught the biggest fish Monday, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott caught the most fish — and got to brag that he finally beat Texas at something.

Flurry of Photo ID Laws Tied to Conservative Washington Group
By Ethan Magoc
News21
A growing number of conservative Republican state legislators worked fervently during the past two years to enact laws requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

POLITICAL RACES

12 Things You Must Know About Paul Ryan
The Progress Report
Think Progress
On Saturday, Mitt Romney showed once again that he’s unable or unwilling to stand up to the most extreme voices in his party.

An election about Medicare
By Steve Benen
MSNBC
There's an awful lot wrong with Paul Ryan's congressional Republican budget plan, but there's one flaw in particular that tends to stand out: it would end the existing Medicare program, replacing it with a voucher scheme.

Ryan Medicare plan would impact future retirees
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Paul Ryan's controversial Medicare proposal, which would dramatically change the health-care system for older patients, is bound to shake up the presidential campaign in Florida, where roughly half the electorate is 50 or older.

Paul Ryan's mother, a Florida resident, feared he'd be a ski bum
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Newly minted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, confronting charges he is trying to dismantle Medicare, pulled the mother of all cards Sunday on 60 Minutes.

Florida primary riddled with story lines, subplots
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
In today's statewide primary election, story lines and subplots abound.

Justice Department to monitor five Florida counties during Tuesday primary
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice will monitor today's primaries in five Florida counties — Collier, Hendry, Lee, Osceola and Polk — to make sure that elections officials there will provide language assistance in Spanish.

Mack, Nelson favorites in Senate primaries
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
There won't be a massive statewide swing for Congressman Connie Mack IV to try to convince last-minute voters to support him in the Republican Senate primary.

Primary election turnout expected to be low
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Elections supervisors across Florida expect generally light voter turnout Tuesday in hard-fought primary races that will set the slates for the state's November campaign.

Group readying food plan for hundreds of RNC protesters
By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
An army marches on its stomach, said Napoleon Bonaparte a couple centuries ago, and the battalion of protesters about to besiege downtown Tampa in two weeks is no different.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Sick-leave backers claim victory but signatures not yet certified
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
The group vying to put a sick-time measure to a vote in Orange County said Monday it has collected enough petition signatures to make it on to the Nov. 6 ballot.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida’s Nuclear Future Being Questioned
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
The fate of the disabled Crystal River Three Nuclear Plant is dependent on a complex set of facts not yet known according to the CEO of the plants new owner.

Q&A with: Patrick J. Sheehan
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Patrick J. Sheehan, 41, is director of the Office of Energy at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Burmese python carrying 87 eggs sets state record at 17 feet, 7 inches
By Julius Whigham II
Palm Beach Post
A Burmese python measuring 17 feet, 7 inches has shattered the record for the largest snake found in Florida.

EDUCATION

New law allowing for early graduation causes confusion in Hernando
By Danny Valentine
Tampa Bay Times
A new state law that makes it possible for students to graduate from high school early will force some Hernando County students who are dual enrolled to bear the brunt of their community college costs.

Board to Set Timetables For Creating Florida Polytechnic University
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
Florida Polytechnic University's newly proposed timetable calls for a permanent president to be hired by June 30, 2013.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Citizens 10.2 percent rate request can’t ignore changes in the law, regulators say
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
A law rewritten in 2007 raises questions about a requested 10.2 percent average statewide rate increase in 2013 by last-resort insurer Citizens, regulators say.

More accurate home price data on tap for Florida
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Florida is believed to be the first in the nation to get its own home sales price index, a labor of love for the state real estate group’s chief economist and a more accurate measure of property values in the recovering market.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida economists review federal health care law
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
State economists are trying to determine how the federal health care overhaul could affect Florida's future budgets.

Obamacare foes: Return rebate, or you're hypocrites
By E. J. Dionne
Ft. Myers News-Press
Here’s a chance for all who think Obamacare is a socialist Big Government scheme to put their money where their ideology is: If you truly hate the Affordable Care Act, you must send back any of those rebate checks you receive from your insurance companies thanks to the new law.

Readmit rates cost FL hospitals
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Lower Medicare reimbursement rates are coming for hundreds of hospitals across the country and for 131 in Florida with “excess readmission” rates, according to analysis of CMS data by Kaiser Health News. 

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Federal judge will hear Corrine Brown's early voting lawsuit
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
A Jacksonville federal court has agreed to hear U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s request to have early voting begin 15-days prior to November’s general election.