Daily News Clips for October 31, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Early voting attracting large crowds to polling places
Staff Report
Tampa Tribune
It's normally a day we plan well in advance, knowing we have a short window either before or after work, or between classes.

‘Cuban Conundrum’ vexes pollsters, Obama
By Marc Caputo and Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Call it the Cuban Conundrum — a problem for pollsters who find Florida Hispanics are far more Republican than anywhere else in the nation.

Nasty campaign tactic: Voters told they can vote by phone
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
With a week to go until Election Day, the nasty campaign tactics are coming out.

Florida politicians are the real frauds
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Supposedly, our state is getting tough on voting fraud.

Rep. Corrine Brown Calls for Federal Investigation of K12
By Trevor Aaronson and John O’Connor
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting/StateImpact Florida
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, has asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate K12, a publicly traded online education provider that operates in 42 Florida school districts, including in Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange and Duval counties.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Positive employment outlook touted by Scott, but message clashes with Romney camp
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott's office Tuesday promoted a month-old survey of Florida employers revealing that 18 percent intend to increase their staff levels in the fourth quarter.

Dockery fears for Legislature's future
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
As state Sen. Paula Dockery prepares to leave the Florida Legislature after 16 years, she's been taking a "lap of honor" around her district, which includes Northeast Polk County.

POLITICAL RACES

Hispanic and Black Voters Gaining in Importance
By Gary White
Lakeland Ledger
With less than a week until Election Day, President Barack Obama's hopes of earning a second term seem to depend largely upon two factors: decisively winning the Hispanic vote and getting a high turnout among black voters.

"Women For Obama" Urge Florida Women To Early Vote
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
“Women for Obama” groups held rallies all across the state Tuesday to highlight the importance of taking advantage of the last few days of early voting in Florida.

At current pace, early voting totals wouldn’t reach 2008 level
By John Lantigua, Jane Musgrave and Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
A math error on the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Election’s website shorted early voting turnout numbers by 6,806 ballots, but even the corrected totals do not increase the pace enough to beat the 144,454 early ballots cast in the November 2008 election.

Mitt Romney to campaign in Tampa, Coral Gables and Jacksonville
Staff Report
Miami Herald
Mitt Romney is back in Florida on Wednesday for several campaign stops in Tampa, Coral Gables and Jacksonville.

Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Sarasota
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Vice President Joe Biden surprised campaign volunteers here Tuesday with an impromptu visit a day before most expected him to arrive.

Local Dems line up for chance to see first lady
By Derek Catron
Daytona Beach-News Journal
Asked what she's looking for in a second term for President Barack Obama, Tonya Marshall of South Daytona ticked off a list as if she'd been standing at Thomas Jefferson's shoulder on the first Independence Day.

Senator Nelson campaigns at Farmer's Market restaurant in Fort Myers
Staff Report
Ft. Myers News-Press
Related: Senate candidate Connie Mack votes early in south Fort Myers
Sen. Bill Nelson, the two-term incumbent Democrat, capped a three-stop Florida west coast tour today, with a meet-and-greet at the Farmer’s Market restaurant on Edison Street in Fort Myers.

More special interests weigh in to state House races
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
A group financed in large part by a big business-lobbying group and the incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives is helping state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, in his virulent and very close race against Democrat Karen Castor Dentel for a state House seat in Orange and Seminole counties.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Amendments Taking on Partisan Slant
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Eleven constitutional amendments await voters on their ballots. Support or opposition to the amendments appears to be lining up along party lines.

Fight over Amendment 6 traces roots 20 years back
By Ashley Lopez
WLRN South Florida
One of America’s most contested issues has a place on the ballot in Florida on Election Day.

Make voting easier with shorter wording on amendments
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Blame Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher for her office’s latest foul-up — 500 wrongly printed absentee ballots.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Crippled Fla. nuke plant decision being delayed
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A lawyer for Progress Energy Florida said Tuesday that a decision on whether to repair or shut down a crippled nuclear power plant is being delayed, which could trigger a $100 million customer refund.

Hundreds turn out to argue limits on Chassahowitzka and Homosassa rivers
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
About 200 people turned out Tuesday to tell a state water agency to reject a proposal that would allow up to 15 percent of the natural habitat along the Chassahowitzka and Homosassa rivers to be destroyed.

DEP lays off 15 in Tallahassee as part of ongoing evaluation of positions
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection this week laid off 15 employees in Tallahassee and nine in other offices across the state and eliminated another 24 vacant positions.

Sandy didn't care
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Hurricane Sandy didn't care that America was in the final days of a pivotal election. 

EDUCATION

Preemption 2013
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
In Florida there is a 15 percent cap on annual tuition increases, but that could change for two of Florida’s top universities.

Florida scuttles deal to build education website
Associated Press
Pensacola News Journal
Florida is terminating a $20 million contract to build a website intended to help students, parents and teachers master new academic standards.

Two more applicants for Florida education commissioner
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
With the deadline still a month off, the search for a new Florida education commissioner continues to draw a handful of interested applicants.

Broward, Miami-Dade schools to compete for federal funds
By Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Members of Miami-Dade’s teachers union decided Monday to sign onto the district’s efforts to compete for up to $32 million in federal money.

University panel flunks with tuition proposal
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Not only is Florida's latest plan for higher education short-sighted and discriminatory, it is also financially backward.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Fla. consumer confidence remains near 5-yr high
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Consumer confidence remains near a five-year, post-recession high in Florida. The state's employers also are feeling more optimistic.

Florida economy forecast to build steam in 2013
By Marcia Heroux Pounds
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida's economy will finally build some steam in 2013, according to a new forecast released Tuesday by University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith.

Florida consumer advocate calls for probe of insurers who deny claims based on credit history
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
The state’s insurance consumer advocate Tuesday called for an investigation into what she called “a troubling new trend” — insurers taking premiums for years but denying claims based on customer credit history.

Disasters need a national response
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
It could take years for many East Coast residents to rebuild their lives in the wake of the monster storm that killed dozens of people and destroyed tens of billions of dollars in public and private property, from roads, bridges and rail lines to businesses and homes.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida group amps up fight for children's health
By Mary Shedden
Tampa Tribune
More than a half million children in Florida remain without health insurance, despite subsidized and low-cost offerings available throughout the state.

Medicare sends warning letters
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In a week or two, seniors enrolled in certain Medicare health plans and drug plans will get a letter from the federal government. It is not good news.

State’s top health official leads ceremony marking closure of TB hospital in Lantana
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
State Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong led a wistful ceremony Tuesday marking the closure of the A.G. Holley state TB hospital, eulogizing its role in improving tuberculosis care during its 62-year history.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Execution scheduled for former South Florida cop
Associated Press
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott has signed a death warrant for a man convicted of nine murders.

True costs of justice
Editorial
Miami Herald
We depend on the court system to dispense justice — period.

Daily News Clips for October 30, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Storm scrambles campaign, maybe Election Day, too
By David Lightman and Erika Bolstad
McClatchy Newspapers
Hurricane Sandy added an unprecedented dose of uncertainty to an already-unpredictable presidential race Monday, forcing President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney to scramble their campaign schedules and raising the possibility that some states might have to alter Election Day plans.

Hurricane Sandy: What Romney Says He'd Do to FEMA
By Jordan Fabian
ABC News
Related YouTube video: Romney on FEMA government spending
Though the presidential campaigns have been focused on Hurricane Sandy, the politically sticky topic of disaster relief is making its way to the forefront.

Former President Bill Clinton makes case for President Barack Obama in Orlando
By Molly Moorhead
Tampa Bay Times
Former President Bill Clinton talked up education, energy, the economy and health care Monday in making the re-election case for President Barack Obama, who missed their planned double-bill rally to monitor Hurricane Sandy from Washington.

Rick Scott, Midterm
By Amy Keller
Florida Trend
Related: Lining Up - Rick Scott's Opponents
The best illustration of Rick Scott’s trajectory as governor of Florida is captured in the way he unveiled his first two budget proposals.

The Alec Equation
By Billee Bussard
Folio Weekly
Mike Weinstein told only part of the story in his election night remarks about his substantial loss (64 percent to 36 percent) to Aaron Bean in the Aug. 14 Republican primary for the newly drawn state Senate District 4 seat.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Early Voting Setting Records
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
By the time early voting closes for the day at 7:00 p.m. tonight, more than one in six registered Florida voters will have cast a ballot early or by mail.

Palm Beach County Screws Up Another Presidential Election
By Adam Weinstein
Mother Jones
Just in case 2012 hasn't filled you with Bush-Gore-repeat nightmares yet, there's bad news from the South Florida epicenter of the 2000 debacle: Election officials in Palm Beach County say they screwed up at least 60,000 absentee ballots and have to perform a recount.

Second printing error could jeopardize another 500 Palm Beach County absentee ballots, as copying of 27,000 continues
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
Chalk up another printing error for the beleaguered Palm Beach County elections office.

Justin Lamar Sternad invokes Fifth Amendment right in FEC filing
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
A former congressional candidate at the center of an FBI probe tied to Rep. David Rivera has filed blank federal campaign-finance reports and a letter saying he would remain silent to avoid incriminating himself.

Voting-rights veteran leads Tallahassee march
By James Call
Florida Current
Echoes of the Civil Rights movement reverberated throughout the state Capitol Complex on Monday.

POLITICAL RACES

Bill Clinton, in Orlando, urges students to vote Obama to sustain turnaround; Crist hugs Clinton
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
With President Obama canceling a campaign appearance here Monday morning to return to Washington to monitor Hurricane Sandy, former President Bill Clinton stepped into his explainer-in-chief role to contend that Obama has put America’s economy on the right track.

Political tensions high in The Villages between Obama, Romney supporters
By Eloísa Ruano González
Orlando Sentinel
Residents of "America's Friendliest Hometown" have noticed a decidedly unfriendly tone of late. In this retiree sanctuary, emotions are running high about the presidential election, with both sides hurling insults and worse.

Romney, Mack to hold Tampa rally Wednesday
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, accompanied by U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack IV, will hold an airport rally in Tampa on Wednesday morning.

Biden’s Sarasota visit shows how much region has changed
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Vice president Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Sarasota Wednesday morning in the final push for votes with less than a week before Election Day.

Voters deserved better in Florida Senate race
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Alongside a quiet country road in North Florida stands a big campaign sign.

Corrine Brown cruising toward Nov. 6 win
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has served two decades in Congress and is almost certain to return for an 11th term once voters cast their ballots on Election Day.

Veteran Mica cruising in Republican-leaning CD7
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
After surviving his toughest primary in years, U.S. Rep. John Mica is the odds-on favorite to win an 11th term in Congress.

Republican Hasner underdog in West's old district
By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
It's fair to say Adam Hasner has a thick book of opposition research in his heated U.S. House race.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Just say 'no' to all 11 amendments
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The best way to send a message to Tallahassee that Floridians want fairer taxes and less extreme government is to say "no" to the 11 state constitutional amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Fight intensifies over property tax amendment
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald
City and county governments warn that if Amendment 4 passes next week, shuttered libraries, fired police officers and gutted social services will litter the public landscape.

Power of the Florida court system at center of Amendment 5
By Brittany Alana Davis
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
After years of clashes with the Florida Supreme Court, the Legislature is asking voters for more power over the state’s judicial branch.

Amendment 12: Universities battle over selecting Board of Governors representation
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times
Legislators say Amendment 12 is on the ballot because of fairness.

Don't fall victim to Tallahassee's campaign
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
I try to be a thoughtful guy in all things, but especially on Election Day.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

White Springs mayor leads support for water legislation that seeks to protect springs
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The mayor of White Springs, a north Central Florida town whose namesake springs quit flowing more than two decades ago, is leading an effort behind proposed legislation to restore the Floridan Aquifer to levels before development occurred in Florida. 

EDUCATION

Degree Based Tuition
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Education experts are exploring a plan that could lower the price of college for some students and raise it for others.

Cap 2+2 tuition rates until jobless rate fall, Florida higher education panel says
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott’s higher education task force on Monday tentatively agreed to recommend holding the line on tuition for certain “two-plus-two” students who start at community colleges and then complete their degrees at universities.

State funding remains weak spot in Florida higher ed
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
A decade after Florida voters decided they wanted a centralized Board of Governors to oversee the state's public universities, Gov. Rick Scott's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Higher Education is poised to recommend to a recalcitrant Legislature to finally let it happen.

Florida's shameful situation on charter schools
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
Plaudits are raining down on Gov. Rick Scott over his new education agenda, unveiled just last week.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Will Sandy wash away resistance to national castrophic insurance?
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
With Hurricane Sandy’s wind field twice as big as Hurricane Wilma’s, and with roughly one-sixth of America potentially at risk, we ask again: How much evidence does Congress need before passing a national disaster insurance plan?

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Romney's health care plan wrong for many Americans
By Margie Forrest
South Florida Sun Sentinel
I am overwhelmed by pundits and empty political ads that are not really giving Americans the information we need in this presidential election.

Religious exemption at some Florida children's homes shields prying eyes
By Alexandra Zayas
Tampa Bay Times
They shaved him bald that first morning in 2008, put him in an orange jumpsuit and made him exercise past dark.

Foster Kids Turn Up In Unlicensed Facilities
By Regan McCarthy      
WFSU Tallahassee
The Florida Department of Children and Families is launching an investigation to figure out how a number of Florida foster children wound up in unlicensed homes.

Fungal meningitis cases rise to 23 in Florida
By Marni Jameson
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Department of Health today confirmed the 23rd case of fungal meningitis in the state.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Smuggling of Brazilians, other migrants growing in South Florida
By Al Chardy
Miami Herald
A Brazilian couple was arraigned in federal court in Miami recently, charged with attempting to smuggle undocumented immigrants aboard boats from the Bahamas.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Vote 'Yes' for merit retention
By Charlie Crist
Gainesville Sun
Related: On their merits
I voted early and chose, “Yes” to retain the three Florida Supreme Court Justices up for merit retention.

Judge denies gag order in George Zimmerman murder case
By Frances Robles
Miami Herald
George Zimmerman’s defense lawyer can continue his controversial social media and public relations strategy, a judge ruled Monday.

Law governing legal fees unconstitutional, Miami-Dade judge says
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
A Miami-Dade judge says a law tying legal bills for defending death penalty defendants to annual budgets of state judges is unconstitutional.

Get smarter, save money by executing justice, not people
By Mark Elliott
Orlando Sentinel
Columbia Law School found that Texas probably executed an innocent man, Carlos DeLuna, in 1989.

Daily News Clips for October 29, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Advantage Obama in hunt for 270 electoral votes
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
President Barack Obama is poised to eke out a victory in the race for the 270 electoral votes needed to win re-election, having beaten back Republican Mitt Romney's attempts to convert momentum from the debates into support in all-important Ohio, according to an Associated Press analysis a week before Election Day.

Faced with long lines at some sites, early voters stay patient
By Steve Bousquet, John Woodrow Cox and Shelley Rossetter
Tampa Bay Times
Related: More than 1 million Floridians have cast absentee ballots
Tens of thousands of eager and determined Florida voters patiently stood in long lines Saturday as early voting began in a close presidential race in the nation's biggest battleground state.

Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll: I-4 voters back Romney 51-45
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Florida Insider Poll bets heavily on Romney winning state
Related: Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll: Riding Romney's coattails, Mack edges closer to Nelson
It has been a fundamental rule of Florida politics for decades: Statewide campaigns are won and lost on the I-4 corridor.

How the GOP’s voter suppression laws may have inadvertently cost them Florida
By David Weigel
Slate
Tomorrow, as the sun rises, Bishop Victor Curry of New Birth Baptist Church will wake up and race to the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown.

Architect of felon voter purge behind Florida’s new limits
By Dara Kam and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
The Republican attorney who engineered the 2000 Florida felons list, which African American leaders said purged thousands of eligible blacks from voter rolls in the state and helped swing that election to the GOP, also wrote the first draft of Florida’s controversial House Bill 1355 that has restricted early voting and voter registration campaigns in 2012.

How Hurricane Sandy Could Swing the Election
By Adam Serwer
Mother Jones
Hurricane Sandy, which is barreling towards America's east coast, is epic in scale—according to the National Weather Service, the storm reaches from Florida to Connecticut.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Copying of thousands of bad Palm Beach County absentee ballots reveals bigger issue with voter signatures
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
With the White House, key state and national races and the overarching issue of women’s reproductive rights hanging in the balance, Palm Beach County’s leading abortion rights advocate had no intention of sitting out the November election.

A gubernatorial campaign may be in Charlie Crist’s future
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist did little to slow down speculation last week that he’s preparing for a campaign against Gov. Rick Scott in two years.

Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll: I-4 voters wanted high-speed rail
By Aaron Sharockman
Tampa Bay Times
A majority of I-4 corridor voters did not like Florida Gov. Rick Scott's decision to cancel plans for a high-speed rail line that would have linked Tampa and Orlando, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/Central Florida 13 poll.

Florida's Days as a GOP Stronghold Are Numbered
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
Florida looks, feels and acts like a one-party state: The Republican Party is doing an admirable job of cloning its lock-stepping foot soldiers from the Panhandle almost to South Florida.

POLITICAL RACES

Thousands heed call of ‘Souls to the Polls’ in Miami, statewide
By Jordan Levin
Miami Herald
Related: Early vote figures don’t lie. But who figures?
At Sunday noon services at the Faith Community Baptist Church in North Miami, youth preacher Richard P. Dunn III praised the boys’ football team and talked about God’s help in turning a cruel world into a happy one.

Barack Obama for Re-election
Editorial
New York Times
The economy is slowly recovering from the 2008 meltdown, and the country could suffer another recession if the wrong policies take hold.

15,000 fill Pasco football field to see Mitt Romney
By Adam C. Smith and Lee Logan
Tampa Bay Times
Democrats like to chant "Four more years!" at their Barack Obama campaign rallies, but on Saturday fired-up Florida Republicans offered up their own rallying cry.

Obama cancels Florida campaign trip, returns to DC
By Julie Pace
Associated Press
A strengthening Hurricane Sandy disrupted the campaign for the White House Monday, with President Obama canceling his political rallies and rushing back to the White House from battleground Florida to monitor the storm and get Air Force One safely back to Washington.

First-time Puerto Rican voters, especially in Florida, could be a critical game-changer in presidential race
By Frances Robles
Miami Herald
Diana Caballero is the ultimate swing voter in the ultimate swing state, a member of a sought-after demographic that could help decide the 2012 presidential race.

Karl Rove's American Crossroads reshaping Florida election
By Aaron Sharockman
Tampa Bay Times
The unofficial race for the White House is being fought in a 12th floor suite of a building wedged between a Starbucks and a cross fit studio, five minutes' walk from the Oval Office.

End game unfolds in Mack-Nelson Senate match-up
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Connie Mack IV plans to barnstorm Saturday across Florida at the elbow of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, as Florida’s U.S. Senate race enters a crucial homestretch with sharp distinctions in style separating the GOP contender and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson.

Not an easy makeover for Allen West
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
After less than two years in Congress, Rep. Allen West has raised $15 million to get himself re-elected.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

State amendments: from health reform to tax relief
By News Service of Florida
Miami Herald
A synopsis of the proposed constitutional amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Property-tax amendment would hit local governments' budgets
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's cities and counties are bracing for the loss of an estimated $1 billion in property taxes if voters approve a state constitutional amendment on Election Day.

Florida's Amendment 1: Testing public support for 'Obamacare'
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Supporters and opponents of Amendment 1 say it could have relatively no impact on Floridians as long as the leadership in Washington remains the same.

Send Tallahassee a message: Vote 'no' on amendments
Editorial
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Just vote no. That's our recommendation to voters who will be confronted with 11 state constitutional amendments — and summaries totaling over 2,000 words — on the general election ballot.

LGBT

Romney: 'Some Gays Are Actually Having Children. It's Not Right on Paper. It's Not Right in Fact.'
By Michelangelo Signorile
Huffington Post
We've witnessed many Mitt Romneys, but the one unearthed by the Boston Globe's Murray Waas yesterday is perhaps the most vicious and cruel: a zealot who, as Massachusetts governor, became hellbent on stigmatizing the children of gay and lesbian parents, labeling these kids as outcasts and causing them to suffer hardship throughout their lives.

EDUCATION

Scott’s education plan asks Floridians to have short memories
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott last week announced a new education plan, “College & Career FIRST.”

Lawmakers need to tighten loopholes for charter schools
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
No more excuses. No more self-serving propaganda.

Players change in school-choice fight – but not the objective
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida education interest-groups are waging a multi-front fight this fall over traditional public-school alternatives like charters and voucher programs.

Schools’ involvement in Romney rally continues to cause controversy
By William March
Tampa Tribune
The involvement of Pasco County public school facilities and students in Mitt Romney campaign rally is continuing to cause controversy.

Panel putting final touches on Fla higher ed plan
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott's higher education task force is putting the finishing touches on its recommendations for Florida's public universities.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida Shipping Jobs Out of State
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Eight hundred thousand Floridians remain out of work, yet the state is contracting with out of state firms that aren’t creating a single Florida job.

Florida has STEM jobs, but not grads to fill them
By Kathleen Haughney
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott never shies away from an opportunity to tell the state that the unemployment rate is down or that a new company -- no matter how big or small -- is opening a Florida location or that job openings are growing.

Workplace deaths: Florida second in nation, region has a dozen or more yearly
By Aisling Swift
Naples Daily News
A five-story Miami-Dade College parking garage under construction collapsed on Oct. 10, with a fourth victim's body pulled from the rubble in mid-October.

Hispanic Lawmakers Blast Fla. Chamber For Opposing Cuba-Syria Ban
By Jessica Palombo
WFSU Tallahassee
Lawmakers in the Florida Hispanic Caucus are blasting the Florida Chamber of Commerce for opposing a law that prohibits the state from doing business with oppressive regimes.

License remake gets needed rethink
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Anytime government looks to change a basic function that impacts millions of Floridians — and needs more money to do it — don't expect rubberstamp approval.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Efforts to fight pill mills working, but funding in question
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Elected officials are touting stepped-up law enforcement efforts and a prescription-tracking database as putting a dent in the number of deaths related to pain killers, but so far state leaders have not found a way to pay for either venture on a permanent basis.

Pharmacy ‘deplorable,’ dirty: state
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
A Florida Department of Health report that became public on Friday ordered the suspension of a Boca Raton compounding pharmacy because it  “constitutes an immediate, serious danger” to the public.

State should step in to protect children in group homes
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
An ugly truth about Florida in the 21st century: Children are beaten, abused and traumatized at lightly regulated or unregulated group homes across the state, and government repeatedly turns a blind eye.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Arguments set in challenge to Fla drug testing law
By Kate Brumback
Associated Press
A federal appeals court in Atlanta will hear arguments in a legal challenge to a Florida law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test, and the ultimate outcome could affect similar efforts in other states.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Former prosecutor 'resents' GOP tactics used against Supreme Court justices
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
The appellate prosecutor in the murder case cited by the Republican Party of Florida to depict three state Supreme Court justices as "judicial activists" said Friday all three are "outstanding justices who are being unfairly attacked for overtly political reasons."