Daily News Clips for November 14, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Advocates: Review Florida's Election Issues
By Mike Schneider
Associated Press
Advocacy groups called Tuesday on Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers to appoint a task force to review Florida's election, which was plagued by long lines at precincts and a four-day delay in determining which presidential contender won its 29 electoral votes.

Florida needs zero tolerance for obstructions to elections
By Charlie Crist
Orlando Sentinel
We just witnessed firsthand the consequences of tampering with people's right to vote.

Gov. Scott dropping his opposition to Obama's health care overhaul
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, one of the most vocal critics of the federal health care overhaul, is dropping his staunch opposition to the law.

Weatherford Outlines Priorities; Targets Ethics, Campaign Reform and State Worker Benefits
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
House Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford says the state can’t do ethics reform without campaign finance reform. Weatherford wants to make campaign contributions more transparent, and reduce the influence of third party groups.

Florida's Stand Your Ground panel: Keep self-defense law intact
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A panel tasked with looking into the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law finalized its recommendations on Tuesday, essentially affirming the law and saying that citizens have a right to defend themselves with deadly force without the duty to retreat when they feel threatened.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Democrat lawmakers Dudley, Rouson and Soto — backed by Charlie Crist — to introduce voting reform legislation
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
State Representative Darryl Rouson, with the support of former Governor Charlie Crist, will announce legislation for the upcoming 2013 legislative session to reform the flawed Florida elections statutes that changed in 2011 and led to a national embarrassment.

Consensus emerging that election-law reform is needed
By Jim Stratton and Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A week after Florida's electoral system melted down, there is growing consensus that the state must reform its election laws to avoid similar problems in the future.

Florida's elections a national disgrace again
By Nadine Smith
TC Palm
When I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy in the 1980s, we were taught that the answer to any question that began with "Why," was "No excuse."

Election flubs make Florida look like 'Keystone Kops'
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
Well, we did it again. We're No. 1! Florida's reputation for ineptitude in vote counting is secure.

State officials to examine St. Lucie recount in West-Murphy race
By George Bennett and Julius Whigham II
Palm Beach Post
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner is sending three representatives to St. Lucie County Wednesday to try to figure out how 799 votes disappeared in Sunday’s partial recount of the tight, nationally watched congressional race bemayotween Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West and Democrat Patrick Murphy.

The Georgia GOP wants Allen West if Florida doesn't
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
If this whole Florida recount doesn't go U.S. Rep. Allen West's way, he has a standing invite to move to the more-Republican leaning state of Georgia.

Esther Scott, mother of Gov. Rick Scott, dies
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Esther Scott, the mother of Gov. Rick Scott who became something of a political celebrity during her son's 2010 campaign, has died.

Cretul, Cannon are lobbyists; former speakers start new firm
By Bill Thompson
Ocala Star-Banner
Former Florida House speakers apparently don't just fade away.

POLITICAL RACES

'Nones,' evangelicals played similar roles in election 2012
By Jeff Kunerth
Orlando Sentinel
On a Sunday morning, within blocks of a half-dozen churches, Lake Eola Park is full of people doing something other than sitting in church.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Constitutional Amendment for Voter Protection
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
There are calls tonight to write voter protection measures in to the state constitution.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Panel OKs estuary nutrient limits as environmental groups mount new challenge
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A state panel on Tuesday approved phosphorus and nitrogen limits recommended by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for Panhandle estuaries.

The Tampa Bay Times' Ivan Penn on the Future of Nuclear Power Plants in Florida
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
Today we’re going to talk with Ivan Penn who has been covering utility issues for the Tampa Bay times.

Consumer advocate: FPL rate proposal an “atrocious deal” for most customers.
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Florida Power & Light Co.’s proposed rate increase settlement would be an “atrocious deal” for the vast majority of FPL’s customers, and is not in the public interest, the Office of Public Counsel said. 

EDUCATION

Common-Core Deal in Florida Sparks Legal Feud
By Jason Tomassini and Nikhita Venugopal
Education Week
If the implementation of the Common Core State Standards is an opportunity for government and the private sector to work together toward a mutual goal, a bitter dispute in Florida over a website planned to prepare teachers and students for the standards is proving the messy realities of what can happen when government agencies and private companies can't get along.

Board urges changes to high-stakes testing here
By Marcia Lane
St. Augustine Record
The St. Johns County School Board joined a growing trend Tuesday of school boards across the state by calling for a revision of the state’s “high-stakes testing” system.

For Pinellas teachers upset about evaluations, superintendent writes letter of explanation
By Curtis Krueger
Tampa Bay Times
For the many Pinellas schoolteachers who got less-than-perfect evaluations this year, superintendent Mike Grego plans to write a letter admitting the evaluation system itself was, well, less than perfect.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

New speaker will push for state pension changes
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford said Tuesday that rapidly mounting public pension obligations are "a ticking time bomb" for Florida government, so he will ask the  2013 Legislature to make all new state employees join market-driven investment plans rather than the traditional monthly retirement systems.

Nice Work If You Can Get It
By Mary Jo Melone
Florida Voices
Florida unemployment offices are not cushy places.

Only "mission critical" job vacancies at DEP can be filled, deputy secretary says in memo amid layoffs
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Florida Department of Environmental Protection deputy secretary last month told managers they may only to fill "mission critical" job vacancies and that a cost-benefit analysis must be performed before filling them.

Florida privatization runs off the rails again
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Another state agency, another privatization scheme off the rails.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Obama Administration Gives States More Time To Decide On Health Exchanges
Staff Report
Kaiser Health News
On Friday afternoon, the Department of Health and Human Services extended the deadline until Dec. 14 for states to submit plans to set up state-based health insurance exchanges under the health care law.

Medical-marijuana organization asks Bondi's help
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
An organization advocating medicinal use of marijuana asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to take pot off the blacklist of totally banned drugs with no medicinal value Tuesday, so the Legislature can set rules for its therapeutic use by patients with painful or crippling afflictions.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Let courts strike down drug testing for Florida welfare beneficiaries
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The best response to Florida’s wrongheaded requirement that all welfare applicants pass a drug test is to block the law entirely, and in October 2011 that’s what a federal judge did.

Clear up gun law laxity before more die
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
A mentally ill young man who should never have had a gun allegedly obtained a 12-gauge shotgun with the help of a friend and now is accused of a double murder.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Revisiting the Terms of Appointed Florida Appellate Judges
By Martin Dyckman
Florida Voices
There's a lot about American government that strikes people elsewhere as strange, notably campaigns that last too long and cost too much, a lascivious obsession with the sex lives of public servants, and the 18th Century relic we call the Electoral College.