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Monday, September 24, 2012

Daily News Clips for September 24, 2012



FEATURED STORIES

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney essentially tied in Florida, new Times/Herald/Bay News 9 poll shows

By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Another Fla poll: Obama 50%, Romney 46%
Related: Sen. Bill Nelson leads Connie Mack by 8 points in new Times/Herald/Bay News 9 poll
It's Florida, after all, so what would you expect?

Republican Party of Florida works to remove state Supreme Court justices
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: On ballot, a supreme attempt to intimidate
The Republican Party of Florida waded into a traditionally apolitical fight Friday, announcing it will oppose the retention of three state Supreme Court justices on the November ballot.

Scott's use of job numbers belied by facts
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott is going to have a hard time over the next two years trying to explain to voters that placards and politicians don't lie, but economists do.

Emelina Llanes, Alleged Ballot Broker Hired By Rick Scott Campaign, Denies 'Gift' Payment Of $5,000
Staff Report
Huffington Post
An alleged Miami-Dade absentee ballot broker hired by Florida Governor Rick Scott's 2010 campaign has refused to explain what services she performed during the race, calling the $5,000 payment a "gift."

Whoever's to blame, heavy vetting must stop
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
What is the world coming to when a governor starts using the time and resources of the state's top law enforcement agency to do background checks on parents who want to talk to him about public education?
EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

Editorial cartoon of the week
By Chan Lowe
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read the artist’s commentary here.
FLORIDA POLITICS

Amid fraud concerns, Florida absentee voting shrouded in secrecy

By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
If you vote early in an election in Florida, it's there for the world to see: The Legislature requires an online listing of everyone who voted early and when and where they voted.

City gave to accused ‘boletera’
By Enrique Flor and Melissa Sanchez
Miami Herald
Related column: A surefire fix for the boletero scourge: Stop using them
Emelina Llanes seems to be a lucky woman – and one with friends in high places.

Decision In Early Voting Lawsuit Expected Soon
By Steven Rodriguez
WFSU Tallahassee
A debate over Florida’s early voting schedule is continuing in federal court.

County election supervisors pushing vote by mail
By Jerome R. Stockfisch
Tampa Tribune
November election ballots are now en route to military and overseas voters with local mail ballots soon to follow, and the advice from county elections offices couldn't be clearer: Vote early.
POLITICAL RACES

Romney’s missteps won’t be enough to win Florida for Obama

By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: Romney missed big chance with Latino voters
Related: In Little Havana, Paul Ryan pledges hard line on Cuba
Related: Mitt’s party: Checks OK, iPhones not
Related: Florida’s jinx on presidential campaigns
The latest statewide poll by The Miami Herald and its media partners shows a virtual tie in the presidential race in Florida. And it came as a shock to liberals and Democrats.

Romney gives Dem support for tax deductions claim
By Tom Raum
Associated Press
Mitt Romney has given Democrats plenty of support for their claim he manipulated his deductions to keep his overall 2011 federal income tax rate above a certain threshold for political purposes.

Jeb Bush joins Ryan to court Latinos in Miami
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Related: Romney fumes about “them,” when the problem is “us.”
At the landmark Versailles restaurant in Little Havana, where Castro-bashing is as much a menu staple as the cortaditos and ropa vieja, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan courted Latino voters Saturday by accusing President Obama of a “policy of appeasement” toward the Cuban dictator and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez.

Inside the GOP war room where Web ads are reshaping campaign warfare
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
As Mitt Romney's campaign descended into damage control this week over secretly recorded comments at a fundraiser in Florida, 25-year-old Josh Sharp hovered over a Mac Pro in a small office on Capitol Hill, busily splicing video and audio of President Barack Obama.

Once again, focus is on Jewish vote in Florida
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
In presidential election years, there may be no story more overblown than the question of whether Florida Jewish voters will abandon the Democratic nominee.

Florida's U.S. Senate race about to heat up
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
The race for Florida's senior U.S. Senate seat — a contest between two-term Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson and Republican challenger Connie Mack IV — is about to begin in earnest.

Both sides making West’s rhetoric an issue in closely divided District 18
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
The clarification, the non-apology apology and the rhetorical walk-back are all part of the rhythm of sound-bite-driven politics in the YouTube era, but Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West marches to a different beat.

Money becomes tight in state Senate races
By James Call
Florida Current
The first campaign finance reports since the August primary show some Democratic Senate candidates pulling close to -- if not ahead of -- their Republican opponents in raising money for the November election.
BALLOT INITIATIVES

Does Amendment 8 Advance the Cause of Religious Freedom?

By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
It’s called a religious freedom amendment- but some people say it goes way beyond religious freedom and would allow religious organizations to tap into tax dollars for funding their activities

Florida voters get to decide 5 amendments that would cut local government taxes $1.3 billion over 3 years
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Among the 11 referendum questions put on the Nov. 6 ballot by the Florida Legislature, five give voters the opportunity to put more tax breaks into the state constitution.

Would Amendment 3's revenue cap help or hurt?
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Supporters of the government-revenue limit on the November ballot call it a common-sense check on the temptation for Florida policymakers to spend beyond taxpayers' means.

A few words about Amendment 4
By Brent Batten
Naples Daily News
Amendment 4 on the November ballot begins, "(1) This would amend Florida Constitution Article VII, Section 4 (Taxation; assessments) and Section 6 (Homestead exemptions)."
ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

New conservation rules open door for developers to build on set-aside acreage

By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
It is land supposedly protected forever from development.

Gov. Rick Scott reappoints Edgar to Public Service Commission
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott announced late Friday that he is satisfied with the direction of the state's powerful utility board and re-appointed Tallahassee lawyer Lisa B. Edgar to a third term on the panel.

Florida's water bill
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Floridians can pay a little more now or a lot more later.
LGBT

Paul Ryan says reversal of DADT repeal is step in wrong direction, sets out to revive American dream

By Alex Sanz
WPTV West Palm Beach
One year after the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred openly gay and lesbian service members from serving in the military, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said in an interview with WPTV NewsChannel 5 that the controversial policy should not be reinstated.
EDUCATION

Gov. Rick Scott retooling his education image

By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott is trying to revamp his image, as a proponent of Florida’s public schools.

Wanted: Innovation to help black males in public schools
By Douglas C. Lyons
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie wants to improve his district's academic performance by developing a new approach to reach a key segment of students — black males.
JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Billionaire brothers launch effort to torpedo Florida corporate income tax

By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A tea party organization founded by the billionaire Koch brothers has launched a vigorous attack on Florida’s corporate income tax, enlisting two dozen Republican legislative candidates who vow to abolish the $2.1 billion levy.

Florida's August unemployment rate stays at 8.8 percent
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Florida added 23,200 nonagricultural jobs in August, but the unemployment rate didn’t budge, staying at 8.8 percent, according to figures released Friday by the Department of Economic Opportunity.

U.S. Census: Poverty Rising Among Floridians
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Floridians are among the poorest in the country, and the state’s already stark income gap is widening.

Scott has skewed view of jobless rate
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: PolitiFact: Rick Scott brags about Florida's declining unemployment rate
Florida's jobless rate remained mired last month at 8.8 percent even as employers added a net of 23,200 jobs since July.

Help recovery: Raise minimum wage
By Chuck Volkema Sr
Orlando Sentinel
Republican ads — state Rep. Dorothy Hukill's are a great example — consistently opine that just lowering taxes on small business is the panacea for job creation.

In seeking aid for Isaac, Scott now wants D.C.’s money
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
With the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejecting Florida’s request for disaster assistance because of Tropical Storm Isaac, all the usual roles are reversed.
HEALTH AND SENIORS

Emails show pattern of concealment in Duval's TB outbreak

By Adam Kealoha Causey and Tracy Jones       
Florida Times-Union
When Jacksonville City Councilman Robin Lumb tried to ask questions about the recent tuberculosis outbreak among Jacksonville’s homeless, he was never able to get answers.

Study: Medicare cuts to eliminate 36,000 Florida jobs; Collier, Lee hospitals prepare
By Liz Freeman
Naples Daily News
Southwest Florida hospital leaders are bracing for Medicare cuts that a study says could result in the loss of nearly 36,000 health-care jobs in Florida next year.

Florida conflict on health care law divides voters
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Phyllis Kaufman is a lifelong Democrat in Tamarac who might vote for Republican Mitt Romney in November, partly because she shares his belief that the new health-care law is a costly giveaway to freeloaders.
CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

For thousands, life begins with U.S. change, allowing young immigrants to apply for temporary legal status

By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
For years, Mexican immigrant Gilberto Lara of West Palm Beach urged his daughter, Guadalupe, to keep studying hard, even though the family was in the United States illegally, and without proper documents it would be extremely difficult for her to realize her full potential.

Florida is a 'hub' for human traffickers, attorney general says
By Brett Clarkson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida's status as a hub for human trafficking has state officials pushing a "zero-tolerance" policy toward criminals who exploit others for profit.

Civil rights activists take aim at Florida polling problems
By Ledyard King
Florida Today
Salandra Benton spends most Saturdays lugging her laptop around Florida looking for voters.

A vote for fairness
Editorial
Miami Herald
It’s election season, as if anyone needed reminding, and candidates on the national, state and local levels want to lure voters to the polls.
JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Two Circuit Court Judges Announce Retirements; Rick Scott to Make New Appointments

By Jason Geary
Lakeland Ledger
Two openings are expected on the local bench as longtime jurists plan to retire.

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