Daily News Clips for November 16, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida lawmakers say no decision on health care exchanges, Scott silent
By Mary Ellen Klas
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Echoing the talking points of Republican leaders in other states, incoming Senate President Don Gaetz and incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford sent a letter Thursday to the federal government saying that Florida will miss today's deadline to report whether the state will create its own health insurance exchange or allow the federal government to do it.

Expanding Medicaid could save Florida money, study says
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Under the federal health care law, Florida lawmakers have the option of adding roughly 950,000 people to the Medicaid rolls, with the federal government covering most of the initial costs.

Income gap in Florida holds back poor, middle-class workers
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
The wealthy in Florida have eight times the household income compared to the poorest households, a widening gap that is seen in nearly a third of the nation, according to an income inequality study released today.

Researcher: Florida District Schools Outperform Charter Schools On Average
By Gina Jordan
StateImpact
While charter schools are an increasingly popular option for Florida students, a University of Central Florida researcher says they don’t perform as well as district schools.

BP to pay record $4.5 billion criminal penalty in Deepwater Horizon spill
By Sean Cockerham and Erika Bolstad
McClatchy Newspapers
Oil giant BP will plead guilty to misconduct and felony criminal manslaughter for the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and led to the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Florida GOP Plays Election Kabuki While Democrats Push For Real Reform
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
After last Tuesday's election, Manatee County, Florida got a new Supervisor of Elections.

Disregarding Empirical Research, Florida Panel Largely Endorses ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law
By Nicole Flatow
Think Progress
In the months since the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin drew national attention to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law and others like it that authorize the unfettered use of deadly force in self-defense, several empirical studies have found these laws are associated with a significant increase in homicides, have a disproportionate impact on African Americans, and do not appear to deter crime at all.

Florida: Back on its meds, but still a little twitchy.
By Adam Boles
Big Winners/Big Losers
Winner: Barack Obama, whose campaign has finally declared victory in my home state despite leading news outlets like the AP who are keeping the state in official electoral limbo.

Analysis: Democratic Presidential Performance Swinging Wildly Across the State
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Political Hurricane
President Obama’s campaign has shown Florida Democrats you do not need to win small rural counties or even medium sized counties to carry the state.

The Problem With Term Limits
By Jake
Rantings From Florida
A funny thing happened to a state representative in line for the Speakership.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Re-elected without opposition, some state lawmakers have campaign war chests to spend
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Re-elected without opposition this summer, Rep. Dana Young had the strange but fortunate problem of having $200,000 in her campaign bank account and nothing to spend it on.

Rep. West's Quest to Save His Seat is Waste of Money
By Susan Clary
Florida Voices
All over the state, elections officials have been working overtime this week to hand-count ballots in very close races.

Hastert: Some GOP views 'not in sync' with young voters
By Lee Logan
Tampa Bay Times
A top Republican lawmaker during much of the Bush administration has some advice for members of his own party after they failed to defeat President Barack Obama last week.

Human error and call company's hands-off approach led to faulty Election Day robocalls
By Anna M. Phillips
Tampa Bay Times
After robocalls went out on Election Day telling Pinellas County residents that "tomorrow" was the last day to vote, blame for the national embarrassment ricocheted from Largo to Santa Monica, Calif.

Sachs gets Senate minority pro-temp, Soto gets deputy whip
By Brittany Davis
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, will be minority pro-tempore and Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, will be deputy whip in the Florida Senate, Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, confirmed Thursday.

Randolph says he won’t run for FDP chair
By Bob Shaw
Orlando Sentinel
As expected, Scott Randolph has withdrawn his bid to become chair of the Florida Democratic Party in the wake of his election Nov. 6 as Orange County tax collector. 

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Red, blue and green
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Floridians were merciless in rejecting all but three of the 11 mostly ideologically-driven state constitutional amendments the Florida Legislature placed on this year's general election ballot.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Fla. Gov. office criticizes settlement with BP
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office is sharply criticizing a settlement reached between the federal government and oil giant BP.

BP criminal fine sends strong message
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Thursday's announcement that oil giant BP has agreed to pay a record criminal fine for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sends the right signal on corporate accountability to an industry whose mistakes can impact millions of Americans.

Third offshore Cuban oil well comes up dry
By David Goodhue
Florida Keys Keynoter
Late last year, environmentalists and federal, state and local officials awaited with some trepidation the arrival of a giant, semi-submersible oil rig that would mine for crude miles below the deep waters of the Florida Straits.

DEP reorganization eliminates model beaches bureau, critics say
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Florida Department of Environmental Protection divisional reorganization that includes eliminating a bureau dealing with beach issues is coming under fire.

Florida panther clawing back but deaths, shrinking land remain concerns
By Eric Staats
Naples Daily News
An endangered Florida panther lying dead on the side of the road after getting hit by a car or truck can be a grisly sight.

EDUCATION

Class size, teacher pay matter in student performance, expert says
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times         
Despite failed legislative efforts and ballot initiatives, some Florida superintendents continue to seek ways to scale back implementation of the state's class size rules to measure as a school average rather than a classroom count.

New UF president could be chosen within weeks
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida's fall semester is quickly drawing to a close, but the next university president might be named before it ends.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Passenger train on track for South Florida, company executive tells chamber
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
Jose Gonzalez pitched plans for a Miami to Orlando express train to a group of prime customers Thursday morning, enticing them with competitive fares and consistent, hourly service.

Florida ready to let you vote on new license plate designs
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has designed four new license tags, with sleek, smooth surfaces, better readability, and seven characters instead of the traditional six.

Florida's tourism on pace for another record year
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Florida's tourism industry is on pace for another record year.

Florida's October unemployment report released today
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Florida labor officials are set to announce the state's first unemployment figures since President Barack Obama was re-elected last week.

Gov. Scott touts project to bring 230 manufacturing jobs to Palm Beach County
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott was in West Palm Beach on Thursday to announce an economic development deal slated to bring 230 jobs to the area within nine years.

Chase meets Florida mortgage settlement obligation
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
JPMorgan Chase says it has fulfilled its obligations to Florida under the landmark National Mortgage Settlement by providing $1.5 billion in relief to homeowners.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida tells feds it will miss health exchange deadline
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
One day before the deadline for making a decision, two Florida lawmakers told the federal government that the state can’t decide what to do about the health exchanges required by the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress two years ago and upheld this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida prisons chief Ken Tucker officially steps aside
News Service of Florida
Tampa Bay Times
Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker is officially stepping aside as head of the agency, the latest in a series of changes for the state's prison system.

George Zimmerman prosecutor mistakenly leaks witness names
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges in the Trayvon Martin murder case have gone to great lengths to protect the names of witnesses, fearing they'd be hounded by reporters, curiosity-seekers or worse.