Daily News Clips for August 20, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Federal court rejects Florida early voting changes, says they’d cut black participation
News Service of Florida
Palm Beach Post
A federal district court panel has ruled that Florida’s reduction in early voting days won’t be allowed for the general election in five counties as it stands now because it could result in a dramatic reduction in voting by blacks.

Some voting roadblocks — not all — knocked down
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The campaign by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature to make it more difficult to register to vote and cast ballots is causing chaos less than 80 days before the general election.

Obama tees off on Ryan's tax and Medicare proposals
By Christi Parsons
Orlando Sentinel
President Obama took aim at Rep. Paul D. Ryan’s tax proposals Saturday, slamming the Republican vice presidential candidate for a 2010 budget plan that he said would have eliminated almost all federal taxes for wealthy investors like his running mate, Mitt Romney.

Paul Ryan talks entitlement reform during campaign stop in the Villages
By Adam C. Smith and Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
People hoping the addition of House budget chief Paul Ryan to the Republican presidential ticket would lead to a serious and substantive debate about entitlement reform may be disappointed.

Nelson-Mack U.S. Senate primer
By Katie Sanders
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Poll: Bill Nelson 47%, Connie Mack 40%
Fear not, voters, if you're just now tuning in to Florida's U.S. Senate race.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Read the artist's commentary here.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Megadonors taint Florida politics, appointments
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
In recent weeks, you couldn't open the paper without seeing stories about big money influencing Florida politics.

Is Rick Scott Demanding Campaign Donations In Exchange for Government Appointments?
By Kyle Munzenrieder
Miami New Times
Dave Gordon thought a seat on the board of the Orlando International Airport was all but his.

Fla. must figure out what to do with early voting
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida officials say they want the state to have one set of voting standards for the upcoming presidential election.

Gov. Scott, Protect Voting Rights in All 67 Counties
By Dan Gelber
Florida Voices
There were many times in the Florida Legislature when I disagreed with my colleagues but didn’t believe their actions were amoral or venal.

Rick Scott will be schmoozer-in-chief at GOP convention
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott's image as an outsider will officially come to an end at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where he'll serve as a hometown host of the four-day party.

84 Percent of Floridians Irresponsible on Election Day
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
It is a biennial reminder of how pathetic Floridians’ sense of civic responsibility can be, of how empty such words as “community” and “citizenship” are beyond the back-patting of Rotary Club meetings: Barely 20 percent -- one in five registered voters -- cast a ballot in last week’s primary.

POLITICAL RACES

Behind the Mitt Romney paradox
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related editorial: Nation still waiting for Romney’s tax returns
Mitt Romney asked it hundreds of times: "Are you honest in your dealings with your fellow men?"

Obamacare’s unpopularity blunts Obama’s attacks on Romney-Ryan Medicare plans
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: Specifically, it pays Romney to keep things vague
Obamacare was supposed to be President Barack Obama’s legacy.

Ryan and his hero would hurt education
By Bill Maxwell
Tampa Bay Times
Until recently, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate, bragged about being a devotee of Ayn Rand, the Russian-American novelist who developed the philosophy of objectivism.

Tampa prepares for best and worst with Republican convention
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Like a giddy debutante, the city of Tampa is spruced up in anticipation of what Mayor Bob Buckhorn calls his city’s “coming-out party” as the Republican National Convention begins next week.

Republican Convention doubles as pep rally for party faithful
By Mike Salinero
Tampa Tribune
Think of a national political convention and what comes to mind?

Social media video can work for, against RNC protesters
By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
The protests at the Republican National Convention will be watched from every angle imaginable, perhaps more than any political convention to date.

No longer a 'Solid South' of all-red or all-blue
By Bill Barrow
Associated Press
The "Solid South" was a political fact, benefiting Democrats for generations and then Republicans, with Bible Belt and racial politics ruling the day.

After recount, Clemens defeats Bernard by 17 votes in Florida Senate District 27
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
After 19 hours of counting ballots over two days, elections officials ruled Jeff Clemens the winner of the state Senate District 27 seat by 17 votes late Saturday.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Sick-leave petition drive reaches goal for Nov. 6 ballot slot
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Barring a successful legal challenge, Orange County voters will decide Nov. 6 whether many businesses should be required to give paid sick leave to their employees.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Conservation panel approves shooting park for wildlife area
By James Call
Florida Current
A proposal to build a “shooting park” on land purchased with conservation dollars is moving forward.

Fight to Save Even the Smallest of Endangered Species in FL
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
There are more than 50 Florida animal species listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, and several of them have seen sharp declines in recent years.

Fraud pollutes BP oil-spill compensation fund for Gulf Coast victims from Florida to Louisiana
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
Not a single drop of the massive British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico touched the land-locked city of Homestead or the Keys peninsula to the south.

Taking polluted streams for granted
Editorial
Florida Times-Union
If the St. Johns River is the heart of Northeast Florida, then its arteries are clogged.

LGBT

Partner registry not enough in Florica
By Katrina Call-Langworthy
Orlando Sentinel
Online and in the news, the topic of conversation is Chick-fil-ACEO Dan Cathy and his opinion of same-sex marriage.

EDUCATION

'School choice' measure hinges on Senate races' outcomes
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Legislative elections this fall may have outsized importance for the direction of public schools, charters and school vouchers — and the unions, for-profit companies and education advocates attempting to gain sway.

Scrutinize charter schools; it’s the public’s money
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
As the number of charter schools increases, the Palm Beach County School District is right to be a stickler on applications.

New state standards for students begin this year
By Christopher O’Donnell
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida students may not even realize it, but when 2.6 million of them — including more than 80,000 in Sarasota and Manatee counties — return to school Monday, they will venture into what is sure to be a landmark year in American public education.

Investigation of test anomalies mostly inconclusive
By Cara Fitzpatrick
Tampa Bay Times
The state Department of Education announced today that it doesn't know what caused an "unusually high" number of wrong-to-right test erasures at three of four schools investigated by its inspector general.

Florida education officials flunk test on school grades
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
With the first day of a new school year a day away, the bitter taste of this past year's disastrous experiences with standardized test grades remains fresh.

Nearly one in 10 students missing 21 days of school
By Laura Isensee and Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
>From designing motivational posters to high-fiving students at the door, South Florida schools spend a lot of effort to get kids to do the obvious: Show up.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

After public outcry, Citizens announces plans to revamp reinspections programs
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced major changes to its home reinspection program Friday, following an outcry from consumers and recent media coverage about a staggering $137 million in premium increases tied to the unpopular program.

Unemployment rate bumps up to 8.8 percent
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
After more than two years of steadily decreasing unemployment numbers, Florida’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.2 percent in July to 8.8 percent.

Jobs: Glass Half-Empty, Half Full?
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
The glass is half-empty, half-full debate over Florida's economy continues between Gov. Rick Scott and Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

Getting past 'too big to jail' for big banks
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Americans are understandably frustrated that there have been so few criminal prosecutions connected to the financial failures of Wall Street — the problem has been dubbed "too big to jail."

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicare battle lines being drawn in Florida
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In the week since Mitt Romney chose Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, a single issue has dominated in Florida — Medicare.

Florida continues to rank poorly in how it treats children
By Michael Goforth
TC Palm
The annual Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT report on the well-being of children has been released and Florida ranks a dismal 38th among all states.

Hospitals battle Medicaid rule changes over undocumented immigrants
By Marc Caputo and Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times staff writers
Hospitals throughout Florida are challenging a state rule that limits payments to treat undocumented immigrants.

Florida Sees Increase In Kids Adopted Out Of Foster Care
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Tallahassee
The Florida Department of Children and Families is reporting that they’ve seen an increase in the number of children who are adopted out of the state’s foster care system.

Get the schemers and the scammers
Editorial
Miami Herald
If, as many Americans believe, the current system of federal funding for healthcare is unsustainable, alarming allegations out of South Florida are a big, costly part of the reason why.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Central Florida's young black men battle stereotypes
By Kate Santich
Orlando Sentinel
They are more likely to get shot, go to jail, drop out of school, end up in foster care, be abandoned by their fathers and have children of their own while they're still teenagers.