Daily News Clips for October 5, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Judge: Florida voter purge can go on
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale ruled Thursday that Florida’s purge of potential noncitizens on the voter rolls can go on.

A G.O.P. Operative Long Trailed by Voter Fraud Claims
By Stephanie Saul
New York Times
For a year, the Republican National Committee has portrayed Democrats as the villains when it comes to voter fraud.

Presidential debate impact ripples through Florida
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Republican Mitt Romney’s supporters said Thursday they are freshly energized – while Democrats downplayed President Obama’s lackluster showing in the first presidential debate and promised better in upcoming showdowns.

Mitt Romney’s Biggest Debate Whoppers
The Progress Report
Think Progress
While many observers and flash polls credit Mitt Romney with winning last night’s presidential debate, it’s important to look a little closer and see how he accomplished this feat: lying.

Don't let officials meddle in personal medical decisions
By Dr. Luci Belnick
Orlando Sentinel
As an internal medicine physician, I take care of many women with chronic medical problems.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

RPOF and Restore Justice — Just making it up as they go along
By Brughart
Hrrumph
They are just making it up as they go along.

Extremist Christian Family Coalition stands up for Congressman Allen West
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
More sex without birth control feels good and is good for America, because without it (and curbing "abortion on demand") America will be overwhelmed by its enemies, seems to be the subliminal message of the Christian Family Coalition.

Rick Scott And GOP Using Florida Voter Purge To Fundraise
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
Back in July, the Republican Party of Florida used party funds to promote Gov. Rick Scott's voter purge in Florida.

Even Rick Scott Can’t Find Virtually Any Non-Citizen Voters
By Ian Millhiser
Think Progress
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) began a massive voter purge that initially targeted as many as 180,000 individuals to be removed from the state’s voter rolls.

Clear-cut ‘Loser of the Week in Florida politics’? The Republican Party of Florida
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Each Friday, Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith asks via Twitter for suggestions on who is the Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics.

FLORIDA POLITICS

In GOP voter registration fraud case, echoes of ACORN, but differences, too
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
As criminal investigators sift through hundreds of questionable voter registration forms filed by the Republican Party of Florida, it's hard not to see parallels with a case four years ago that made election fraud the campaign issue it is today.

Partisan posing as governor
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
As a master of perfect timing, Florida Gov. Rick Scott makes Gen. George Custer look like the Duke of Wellington.

The urge to purge: Hillsborough’s Supervisor of Elections race is a microcosm of the national battle over voters’ rights
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing Tampa
Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department halted a Florida voter purge after it was discovered that the list of 2,625 alleged non-citizens Gov. Rick Scott sent to Supervisor of Elections offices around the state was riddled with inaccuracies.

Brummer deleted texts from anti-sick time lobbyists
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County Commissioner Fred Brummer exchanged text messages and phone calls with lobbyists for opponents of a sick-time measure during the meeting where the question was ultimately kept off the ballot, records released Thursday show.

POLITICAL RACES

Romney on '47 percent': I was 'completely wrong'
By Kasie Hunt
Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has described his disparaging remarks about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes as "not elegantly stated." Now he's calling them "just completely wrong."

Women Went Missing in Last Night's Presidential Debate
By Bryce Covert
The Nation
The media verdict is in: Romney won, Obama lost and no one likes Jim Lehrer anymore.

Debate thrusts Big Bird into presidential campaign
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Big Bird has never been so hot.

Hispanic Voters Could Well Decide Florida on Nov. 6
By Angel Castillo Jr
Florida Voices
Who wins Florida’s crucial 29 electoral votes in next month’s presidential election may well come down to who can best woo Hispanic voters.

Romney adds Saturday, Sunday events in Florida
By William March
Tampa Tribune
After his St. Petersburg rally Friday, Mitt Romney will campaign in Apopka Saturday and Port St. Lucie Sunday.

Congressional candidate Murphy calls out rival West for “extremism”; West says he’s guided by founding fathers
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
After exchanging some of the hardest-hitting TV attack ads anywhere in 2012, U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, and Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy highlighted issue differences but produced few fireworks during their first in-person meeting on Thursday.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Opponents of Amendment 3 hold news conference in Tampa
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times
As activists, School Board members and reporters strolled past the schoolyard of Kings Christian Academy on Thursday, the kindergarteners didn't look up from their game of jump rope.

Amendment 8 mixes politics and religion
By Carl R. Ramey
Gainesville Sun
Florida’s 2012 ballot is lengthy, confusing and, in some cases, downright misleading.

Amendment 8 OUR OPINION: Vote No on this blatant attempt to fund religious schools
Editorial
Miami Herald
Amendment 8 has a convoluted history. This proposal, which would remove a 126-year state constitutional provision known as the Blaine Amendment that prohibits taxpayer funding of religious institutions, began life as Amendment 7.

Amendment 6 OUR OPINION: Measure would gut women’s reproductive rights
Editorial
Miami Herald
Amendment 6 is being touted by its supporters as cost-savings by ensuring that public funds are spent on the state’s most needy rather than on abortions. Don’t buy it.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Justices hammer group challenging nuclear cost recovery law
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Several Florida Supreme Court justices on Thursday hammered with questions an attorney representing the environmental group challenging the state nuclear cost recovery law.

Land-buying supporters say they have 2,000 volunteers to collect signatures
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Supporters of a constitutional amendment to provide $500 million a year for buying land to conserve it say they have recruited 2,000 volunteers to collect petition signatures.

LGBT

CEO decides not to move to Jacksonville after council vote against gay rights bill
By Marianna S. Smith
Florida Times-Union
To build a business, you need more than just land; you need a favorable environment for employees.

EDUCATION

Teachers Gather to Protest Amendment 3 to Florida Constitution
By Steve Newborn        
WUSF Tampa
We won't just get to elect the next president on the November ballot. In Florida, eleven amendments to the state constitution will be up for vote - and they all were put there by lawmakers in Tallahassee.

State Supreme Court hears tuition dispute
By James Call
Florida Current
The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in a dispute over whether the Board of Governors or the Legislature should set tuition for the State University System.

College ‘shopping sheet’ aims to make comparing costs easier
By Renee Schoof
McClatchy
When excited students tear into college acceptance packets next spring, many will find something new inside: information that tries to make it easier to understand the costs.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Scott unveils plans for nearly 500 jobs in Central Florida
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott made two stops in Central Florida on Thursday to announce projects that offer an estimated $6.4 million in taxpayer incentives to attract $33.1 in private investments with a goal of adding 484 jobs.

Farmworker coalition signs Chipotle to higher-wage agreement for tomato pickers
By Victoria Macchi
Naples Daily News
If a "fair food" agreement were edible, on Thursday it would have been wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with salsa, as Chipotle Mexican Grill signed on with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve working conditions for tomato pickers.

Citizens loan program gets business, lawmaker backing but showdown looms
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A major business lobby and two influential Republican lawmakers urged Citizens Property Insurance Corp. board members to move full speed ahead with their plan to loan up to $350 million in surplus to companies looking to take out their policies. Another GOP legislator, however, has vowed to stop the plan in the courts.

Fla. Insurance Regulators Consider Proposed Workers Comp Rate Hike
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
The workers-compensation insurance rate that Florida businesses pay could be going up, starting in January.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

‘Obamacare’ cut health premiums for our small business
By Tom Rossin
Palm Beach Post
Recently on Meet the Press, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., stated unequivocally that President Obama had promised that Obamacare would reduce insurance premiums and that “had not happened.”

2 paths to health care: Obama brings access; Romney, denial
By Ron Pollack
Orlando Sentinel
America is at a crossroads in terms of the direction it will take on health care, and the nation's choice will directly impact Floridians' access to quality health coverage.

Where the Candidates Stand on Medicare and Medicaid
By Suevon Lee
ProPublica
Related: Visualized: Florida’s Uninsured and Medicaid Eligible
Medicare and Medicaid, which provide medical coverage for seniors, the poor and the disabled, together make up nearly a quarter of all federal spending.

Medicare drug plan deals exist—if you shop
By Sarah Pusateri and Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Medicare open enrollment season is around the corner, and lots of bargain plans are available to beneficiaries who shop around. But will they?

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Afghanistan War Turns Eleven: Is It Still Worth the Cost?
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
As the Afghanistan war turns 11 on Sunday, more people in Florida and around the nation are questioning the cost.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

FDLE launches criminal probe following inmate death
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida prison officials have ordered a criminal investigation and the transfers of five key employees following a suspicious death of an inmate at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.

Florida justices hear mass killer's appeal
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A lawyer for a convicted mass killer who claims insanity asked the Florida Supreme Court today to block his scheduled Oct. 16 execution after 34 years on death row.

Fla. court says non-residents can get tax break
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Foreigners and out-of-state residents may be able to get a break on state property taxes thanks to a potentially far-reaching ruling from the Florida Supreme Court.