FEATURED
STORIES
Scott's shameless voter suppression effort
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: New noncitizen voter purge has its own problems, county elections officials say
Less than a week before general election ballots are mailed to voters, Gov. Rick Scott's administration has sent another error-riddled list of potentially ineligible voters to county elections supervisors.
GOP fires vendor over possible voter fraud in Florida
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Republicans on Thursday fired a vendor suspected of submitting 108 questionable new voter registrations in Florida’s Palm Beach County, ground zero for disputed ballots in 2000′s presidential race.
Jobs Revision Show That Obama Has Created Jobs Overall
By Matthew Zeitlin
Daily Beast
News flash! In 2012, there were 386,000 more people at work on payroll jobs in March 2012 than originally reported, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Medicare working to boost Obama in swing states, poll finds
By N.C. Aizenman, Jon Cohen and Peyton M. Craighill
Washington Post
Related: Brutal new Obama ad features Mitt Romney and the 47 percenters
Voters in three critical swing states broadly oppose the far-reaching changes to Medicare associated with the Republican presidential ticket and, by big margins, prefer President Obama to handle the issue, according to new state polls by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Friend of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan pleads guilty to campaign violations
By Susan Taylor Martin
Tampa Bay Times
In a stunning development just weeks before the November election, one of U.S. Rep Vern Buchanan's longtime friends and another man pleaded guilty Thursday to making illegal campaign contributions.
BEST
OF THE BLOGS
Poisoning The Judiciary
By Jake
Rantings From Florida
The new inexplicable Republican fever today is the push to repeal three members of the Florida Supreme Court: R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince.
Culture of Cronyism, Entitlement and Corruption on Full Display This Cycle
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
The Political Hurricane
The Daytona News-Journal reported this weekend that Dorothy Hukill’s Campaign has paid her son’s company upwards of 100k in “consulting fees” in the most competitive legislative race in Florida.
Charlie Crist = Florida’s Mitt Romney… Just Without the Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
By Justin Snyder
Florida Wonk
Two years ago this month, I wrote an Op-Ed for the Palm Beach Post criticizing many high profile Palm Beach County Democrats for abandoning Congressman Kendrick Meek’s Senate Campaign in favor of newly reincarnated “Independent” Charlie Crist.
Honestly, is this the Florida GOP you want?
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Monday’s headlines presented a cross-current of headlines that, despite the GOP’s absolute lock on the levers of power in Tallahassee, have some conscientious Republicans shaking their heads.
Florida Officially Restarts Voter Purge, Revised List Still Appears To Be Inaccurate
By Judd Legum
Think Progress
Florida has officially restarted it’s controversial purge of registered voters less than 6 weeks before election day. Governor Scott’s intention to resume the effort, detailed in a PowerPoint presentation, was first reported by ThinkProgress.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Disney World 'flexing its bicep' in Florida elections
By Jason Garcia and David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Walt Disney World has spent nearly $2.5 million on political candidates and causes in Florida so far this election cycle, according to an Orlando Sentinel review of state records, as the giant resort attempts to influence elections from the Keys to the Panhandle.
Fake Candidate Tells FBI Congressman David Rivera Secretly Ran Campaign
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Lamar Sternad, who ran in the Democratic primary against Joe Garcia for a South Florida congressional seat, admitted to the FBI that he was a stooge for incumbent Republican David Rivera.
POLITICAL
RACES
Biden here again? Surrogates come to pitch presidential messages
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
If it seems there's something attractive about South Florida besides sun and sand, there is: votes.
Economists prefer former Romney
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
The number of uninsured would soar and the health-care safety net would unravel under Republican candidate Mitt Romney's health proposals, according to a report by three economists.
George Soros "Panicked…That Romney Could Win This"
By Andy Kroll
Mother Jones
A few months ago, George Soros, the billionaire financier and prolific donor to Democratic causes, picked up the phone and called an old friend.
Call from Clay County GOP: Obama is a Muslim who'll take away Medicare
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
In audio picked up by an answering machine, a volunteer for the Republican Party of Clay County can be heard calling President Barack Obama “a Muslim” and saying he wants to “get rid of your Medicare” while reaching out to voters in support of Mitt Romney’s campaign.
Sarasota group protests anti-Obama ad in Herald-Tribune
By Robert Eckhart
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A community activist is leading a protest of the Herald-Tribune’s decision to run a quarter-page ad slamming President Barack Obama at 1 p.m. at the newspaper’s offices downtown.
On campaign bus tour in Panhandle, Mack seeks to stir support for Senate bid
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Rep. Connie Mack IV ended a six-day bus tour Thursday by campaigning across the Florida Panhandle, taunting rival Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in one of the state’s most conservative regions.
BALLOT
INITIATIVES
League, GOP mostly agree: Vote no on amendments
By William March
Tampa Tribune
When Floridians enter the voting booth Nov. 6 and find themselves confronting four pages of fine-print legalese describing 11 proposed constitutional amendments, the League of Women Voters has some simple advice: Just vote "no" on all 11.
Constitutionally confused? Let me help
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Many of you say you need guidance on this year's constitutional amendments.
Amendment 8 is not about religious freedoms
By George Williams
Tallahassee Democrat
As the pastor of a church and a public school employee, I want to warn Florida voters about a constitutional amendment that threatens both freedom of religion and public education.
Amendment Four Debate Pits Realtors Against Local Government
By Jessica Palombo
WFSU Tallahassee
A property tax amendment on the upcoming Florida ballot is drawing opposition from local government leaders in Leon County.
Texts show lawyer advised Jacobs on sick time
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs on Thursday released previously deleted cellphone texts that show she received advice and coaching from a longtime political ally on the day commissioners voted to delay a sick-time initiative from the ballot.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Environmental groups say DEP permitting initiative threatens future water supplies
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Florida Department of Environmental Protection initiative that is intended to create more consistent water-use permitting statewide threatens future water supplies, several environmental groups contend in letters to the department this month.
Florida PSC refuses to dismiss FPL rate settlement
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Utility regulators turned aside consumer advocates' objections Wednesday and agreed to hold formal hearings on Florida Power & Light Co.'s proposed rate increase settlement endorsed by large commercial and government customers.
Nova Southeastern opens $50 million reef research center
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Every time Richard Dodge looks out his window, he can see how far Nova Southeastern University’s oceanography program has come.
LGBT
UNF now part of same sex marriage Chick-fil-A debate
By Ken Amaro
First Coast News Jacksonville
The politics of same sex marriage and the expressed position of the CEO of Chick-fil-A have now reached the campus of UNF and it is stirring a debate.
EDUCATION
Task force looks at capital funding for charter schools, work that worries traditional public schools
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
A Legislature-created task force has begun chewing over a proposal that aims to provide construction money to Florida’s charter schools — but looks likely to also generate lots of controversy.
Millions come to Florida school districts for evaluation improvements
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Several Florida school districts including Hillsborough County today won millions of dollars in a federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant aimed at improving teacher pay and improve professional opportunities in high-poverty schools.
“Won’t Back Down” Is Not Winning Over Movie Critics
By John O'Connor
StateImpact
The big education movie “Won’t Back Down” is opening this week.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Referee Fiasco Highlights Disdain for American Workers
By Steven Kurlander
Florida Voices
With our nation in the middle of a contentious presidential campaign and our economy stuck in the doldrums, what is the sudden piece of good news that has Americans cheering?
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Florida senator: Duval health chief was 'fall guy' for broader issues with governor's office
By Sen. Audrey Gibson
Florida Times-Union
I read with continued interest and frankly no surprise of the immediate “retirement” of Duval County Health Department Director, Robert Harmon.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
More massage licenses suspended in probe of links to prostitution, human trafficking
By James Call
Florida Curret
Florida Secretary of Health John Armstrong has suspended the licenses of 161 massage therapist in a transcript-buying scandal that investigators think may be tied to a human trafficking.
Zimmerman attorney to speak at national gun-rights convention
By Henry Pierson Curtis
Orlando Sentinel
In a session billed as "Protecting the Right to Protect," George Zimmerman's lawyer will speak to hundreds of gun-rights activists about self-protection at their national convention in Orlando this weekend.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
Republican Party wrong to target Florida Supreme Court justices
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Not only has the Republican Party of Florida joined the lynch mob going after three Florida Supreme Court justices, the GOP is being dishonest about its motives.
Fla. justices side with state in property dispute
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The Florida Supreme Court says the buyers must turn over financial records sought by the state in a lawsuit over the sale of a hospital building and adjoining property.
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