Daily News Clips for November 15, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Darryl Rouson, Charlie Crist call for voting reforms in Florida
By Bill Varian and Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
State Rep. Darryl Rouson announced Wednesday he will submit a bill to expand early voting in response to long lines and delays in Florida's vote counting during last week's election.

Scott not taking lead in elections reforms
By Michael Van Sickler
Miami Herald
Related: Predictable voting debacle? Lawmakers foresaw trouble in 2011, but their proposals were shot down
Gov. Rick Scott heralded a meeting Wednesday between his Secretary of State and supervisors of elections as a game changer in getting to the bottom of Florida’s voting problems.

Critics are latching on to state's election problems
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Florida's Nov. 6 election fiasco is generating political fallout that appears likely to dominate the coming state legislative session and possibly affect the 2014 election.

Court hearing set Friday in West-Murphy vote-count dispute
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
A St. Lucie County circuit judge has scheduled a two-hour hearing for Friday on Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West’s request for a recount of all 37,379 ballots cast during early voting in St. Lucie County in his tight reelection fight against Democrat Patrick Murphy.

Obama presses GOP on taxing rich to avert 'cliff'
By David Espo
Associated Press
President Barack Obama challenged congressional Republicans Wednesday to let taxes rise on the wealthiest Americans on both economic and political grounds, noting he campaigned successfully for re-election on the point and contending it would instantly ease the threat of the "fiscal cliff" plunging the nation back into recession.

FLORIDA POLITICS

GOP money scandal gets spicing of sleaze
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
At last! Now we're getting somewhere. Enter the trollops.

Republicans can look to Florida for some post-election lessons
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
Since the election, there has been much soul searching and punditry concerning the state of the Republican Party.

House Dems assemble leadership team
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston just announced his leadership team.

Winners and losers in the aftermath of Chris Dorworth’s defeat
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Seminole County elections officials on Monday finally confirmed Democrat Mike Clelland’s razor-thin victory over state Rep. Chris Dorworth.

Lobbyists file 3rd quarter compensation reports
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
It's been a comparatively slow quarter for major lobbying firms in Tallahassee, as House and Senate members turned their attention to seeking re-election in realigned legislative districts.

Signs of progress in Tallahassee on health care, campaign finance
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Just a week after an election that checked the Republican dominance in a decidedly purple state, two Florida politicians have signaled change in Tallahassee.

POLITICAL RACES

Political eyes are now on jobs (Gov. Scott's)
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
I suppose it is possible the persistent tug of social responsibility is what brought Charlie Crist to Lykes Gaslight Square in downtown Tampa on Wednesday morning.

Credit gerrymandering for GOP House control
By Harold Meyerson
Washington Post
When Republicans claim that this was a status quo election, they point to their continued hold on the House. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

BP near settlement with US over Gulf spill
By Robert Barr
Associated Press
British oil company BP said Thursday it is in advanced talks with U.S. agencies about settling criminal and other claims from the Gulf of Mexico well blowout two years ago.

EDUCATION

Education panel backs property-tax hike
By Ashley A. Smith
Ft. Myers News-Press
A state-appointed education task force is recommending increasing property taxes in an attempt to make funding more equitable between charter and traditional schools.

Broward, Miami-Dade see big jumps in charter school enrollment
By Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Charter schools continue to enroll more students in Florida, with Broward seeing a 26 percent jump in charter enrollment last school year.

Florida ranks high in new report on teacher quality
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
The National Center on Teacher Quality released its latest briefs on state teacher policies Wednesday, with Florida leading the way overall and near the top in every category.

Report: SCF broke law to prop up failing program
By Christopher O'Donnell
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Despite repeated warnings from their staff, top officials at State College of Florida broke state law by using $470,000 of college money to prop up a failing job training program during the past two years, a report finds.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida keeps top foreclosure ranking
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Florida maintained its leading spot nationally for foreclosure activity last month with a filing rate more than twice the national average.

Citizens touts take-outs as review of incentives program conducted
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run company that is the largest property insurer in Florida, announced last week that 229,500 of its policies have been taken over by private companies in 2012.

Widen Florida probe of Citizens insurance
By Dan Krassner and Sean Shaw
TC Palm
There is a lack of oversight and accountability at Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

State to change no-bid system at Division of Blind Services
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
State officials said they will now begin competitively bidding contracts issued by the Division of Blind Services after a Times/Herald report found examples of possible taxpayer waste and poor vendor oversight.

Myregion.org wants tax dollars for values study
By Dan Tracy
Orlando Sentinel
A business group is seeking more than $128,000 in taxpayer money to do a survey on the values of Central Floridians, as leaders look for ways to pay for transportation needs.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Expanding Medicaid pays off?
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida could gain a badly-needed economic boost and thousands of new jobs each year if state officials accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, three new studies say.

Florida’s GOP leaders shift on Obamacare
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
A landmark lawsuit couldn’t stop the Affordable Care Act. Neither could Mitt Romney.

Healthcare reform could impact clinics
By Audra D.S. Burch
Miami Herald
With the Affordable Health Care Act set to go into effect in 2014, a group of community and medical leaders gathered Wednesday at the Jefferson Reaves Sr. Health Clinic in Overtown to talk about the act’s potential impacts on community clinics.