PROGRESS
FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Opponents to anti-abortion amendment release ads linking campaign to Gov. Scott
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times
Progress Florida is circulating the first round of ads linked to the "Vote No on 6" campaign that urges voters to reject a proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate privacy rights that protect a woman's right to chose to abort a fetus.
FEATURED
STORIES
Florida sends election departments list of 198 potential non-citizens -- some may may have illegally voted
By Marc Caputo, Patricia Mazzei and Anna Edgerton
Miami Herald
Florida’s noncitizen voter-purge program roared back to life Wednesday, when Gov. Rick Scott’s elections department produced a new list of 198 potentially ineligible voters — including some who might have cast ballots illegally.
Florida GOP fires firm linked to Romney after suspicious voter forms reported
By Brad Friedman
Salon
The Republican Party of Florida’s top recipient of 2012 expenditures, a firm by the name of Strategic Allied Consulting, was just fired on Tuesday night, after more than 100 apparently fraudulent voter registration forms were discovered to have been turned in by the group to the Palm Beach County, FL Supervisor of Elections.
Provisional ballots could be hanging chads of 2012
Associated Press
Gainesville Sun
New voting laws in key states could force a lot more voters to cast provisional ballots this election, delaying results in close races for days while election officials scrutinize ballots and campaigns wage legal battles over which ones should get counted.
NEW ROMNEY VIDEO: In 1985, He Said Bain Would "Harvest" Companies for Profits
By David Corn
Mother Jones
Campaigning for the presidency, Mitt Romney has pointed to his stint as the founder and manager of Bain Capital, a private equity firm, as proof he can rev up the US economy and create jobs at a faster clip than President Barack Obama.
GOP's campaign against justices walks a fine legal line
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
The Republican Party of Florida made waves last week when it formally opposed three sitting Florida Supreme Court justices’ attempts to keep their jobs.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Why no concern about the real place there might be voter fraud?
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
Let's talk about voter fraud. You have to admit, it's been a pretty popular topic around here lately.
Despite judge’s ruling, intent of early-voting change is obvious
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
State elections officials wasted no time in celebrating a federal judge’s decision this week not to block Florida’s repressive new law that reduces the number of early voting days.
Cannon lashes out at GOP critics and Florida Bar in merit retention fight
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Outgoing House Speaker Dean Cannon, a vigorous critic of the Florida Supreme Court , chastised critics of the Republican Party of Florida, which has come out in opposition to the three justices up for merit retention.
Scott's job favorability rating takes a fall
Staff Report
Florida Current
In spite of his recent efforts to mend fences with Florida educators and other constituents, Gov. Rick Scott's favorability rating has fallen among state residents in a new poll about his job performance.
Governor's office wants judge to shield Lt. Gov. Carroll
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Saying it wants to end a “public campaign of harassment,” the administration of Gov. Rick Scott is asking a judge to shield Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll from a criminal case involving one of her former aides.
POLITICAL
RACES
Polls under fire as Obama's Florida lead grows
By William March
Tampa Tribune
A new poll showing President Barack Obama with substantial leads over Mitt Romney in Florida and two other swing states is likely to intensify a national debate over the accuracy of political polls.
PolitiFact: PAC's newspaper ad filled with falsehoods
By Angie Drobnic Holan
Tampa Bay Times
A full-page newspaper ad running in swing states purports to reveal "the true agenda of Barack Hussein Obama."
Mack stops in Brandon, links Nelson to Obama
By William March
Tampa Tribune
U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Connie Mack IV brought his "Freedom Bus Tour" to Tampa on Wednesday, repeating his accusation that his opponent, Sen. Bill Nelson, is a "lockstep liberal" who acts differently in Washington than in Florida.
Senate race is tightening, Mack says
By Bob Rathgeber
Ft. Myers News-Press
A pair of polls released this week show incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson with a double-digit lead over Republican Connie Mack IV, but Mack and his campaign officials Wednesday disputed the numbers.
BALLOT
INITIATIVES
Voters asked to settle Legislature's fight with high court
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida voters this fall are being drawn into a multi-year grudge match between Republican political leaders in Tallahassee and the state's traditionally independent Supreme Court.
League of Women Voters against all Fla. amendments
Associated Press
St. Augustine Record
The League of Women Voters of Florida opposes all 11 proposed state constitutional amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Jacobs: I will recover deleted sick-time text records
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Teresa Jacobs deleted texts from her personal cellphone that dealt with the sick-time debate on the day it was voted down, but the Orange County mayor who has championed open government said Wednesday that she would figure out a way to recover them.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Attorney argues that Cabinet violates Sunshine Law, "rubber-stamps" agency recommendations on land buys
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Circuit Court Judge John C. Cooper on Tuesday opened a hearing in Tallahassee on a lawsuit filed against Cabinet members by pulling out a clear plastic ruler and measuring it against the stack of emails offered as evidence of a conspiracy and violations of the state Sunshine Law.
A Diamond in the Rough
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
Floridians are truly blessed with a state park system twice named the best in the nation. Our 160 state parks offer 18 million residents and 80 million tourists the opportunity to enjoy the “real Florida.”
Florida's utility regulators 'most dysfunctional' in the South, watchdog chief says
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
The executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a non-profit, nonpartisan energy watchdog group based in the Southeastern U.S., spoke out about Gov. Rick Scott's recent reappointment of Public Service Commissioner Lisa Edgar today at a meeting with The Miami Herald editorial board. He had some harsh criticism.
Solar company now sees 2-year delay for Gadsden County project
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The CEO of a company that announced a year ago today that it picked Gadsden County for a massive solar energy project said Wednesday construction may not begin until early 2014, two years later than previously announced.
EDUCATION
Rick Scott, union leader praise interim education commissioner
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida Board of Education may have given itself two more months to recruit candidates for the education commissioner post, but the head of the state's teachers union and Gov. Rick Scott signaled Wednesday that the right person could be under their noses.
AG opinion: Teachers count in deciding how to spend recognition funds
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
The time is drawing near when Florida schools that scored well on the FCAT get to fight over how to spend their recognition funds from the state.
Pasco school district officials recommend approval of K12 charter school
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
K12 Florida, a charter school outfit that wants to create the Florida Virtual Academy of Pasco County, is under state investigation for allegedly hiring uncertified teachers in another county.
How Prepared Are Florida's College-Bound Seniors For College?
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida high school seniors may have raised their SAT scores, but they still lag behind the national average.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Study shows pension woes here to stay in Florida
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Municipal pension plans are stretching thinner in Florida as a smaller workforce supports a growing number of retirees — with prospects bleak that funds will recover, a report released Wednesday concludes.
Jobs agency spends $750,000 on overhaul of websites
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Since 2010, the state agency that is the main portal for unemployment benefits claims has worked on overhauling the former Agency for Workforce Innovation's website, on creating a content management system to manage jobless claims, and to incorporate the newly formed Department of Economic Opportunity with two former agencies.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Pediatricians: Florida state officials refuse to meet to talk about implementing Obamacare
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
With the clock ticking on Florida’s ability to control how it applies the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, pediatricians say they’ve been trying to meet with the agency that oversees the state’s Medicaid program --- to no avail.
Drug premiums could go up for many Florida Medicare beneficiaries
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
Florida seniors who do not shop carefully for a Medicare prescription drug plan could end up needlessly facing big cost increases in 2013.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
When activists cry 'activism'
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
The judicial branch of government is designed to be a body of sober deliberation, free of politics, but we know it doesn't always work that way.
DMS goes to court over 'Taj Mahal' photos
Staff Report
Florida Current
The Department of Management Services filed suit against Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and the Department of Financial Services this week over the historical photographs that hang in the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.
South Florida mass murderer granted temporary execution stay
Associated Press
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is asking a panel of psychiatrists to determine whether a convicted murderer is insane.
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