Daily News Clips for November 28, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida Congressional Democrats want civil rights probe of Florida voting law
By Dara Kam and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
All six members of Florida’s Democratic Congressional delegation have written to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights requesting that it convene a hearing to investigate Florida’s 2011 electoral law, HB 1355, after former Republican state leaders and GOP consultants said the law was expressly designed to reduce Democratic voter participation.

Jeb Bush Talks Education, But Politics Comes to Mind
By Beth Reinhard
National Journal
The former governor was passionate and persuasive as he opened his fifth annual education conference in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers Could Scrap Budget Transparency Program
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Florida has spent nearly $5 million setting up a website intended to shed light on the state budget.

Florida House leadership assignments will test bipartisanship
By Michael Van Sickler and Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
The bipartisan spirit is already receding from last week's swearing-in ceremony and Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford looked more like a typical conservative Republican with the unveiling of his committee assignments on Monday.

Rick Scott cuts class on ‘$10,000 challenge.’
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott is trying another gimmick to remake himself as the friend of education.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Republicans finally starting to say, 'Grover who?'
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
A few days ago, Sen. Marco Rubio hedged on this whole silly science thing by claiming he has no clue about the age of the planet.

Florida CFO Jeff Atwater must testify in 'Taj Mahal' case
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater will have to answer questions under oath in a lawsuit filed by the owner of a Tallahassee art gallery that was never paid for framed photographs valued at more than $357,000 for the new 1st District Court of Appeal.

Group to begin reviewing Miami-Dade’s elections practices
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
A group tasked with making recommendations to improve Miami-Dade elections will begin meeting Tuesday morning, three weeks after Election Day was marked by long lines and a surge of absentee ballots that took several days to count.

Random audit finds 9-ballot discrepancy in Sachs-Bogdanoff Florida Senate race
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
Audits of the voting systems used in the Nov. 6 election reflect none of the ballot-counting turmoil in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, where misplaced, misprinted and machine-munched ballots made Florida — once again — the target of wisecracks and lawsuits.

Dorworth has a new career – as a lobbyist
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Chris Dorworth was supposed to become speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in two years.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Florida lawmakers should limit number of amendments on ballot
Editorial
TC Palm
There is a grievous double standard in the Sunshine State with respect to proposed constitutional amendments.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida's vanishing springs
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Deep beneath the ground we stand on, below the strip malls and the condos and the lush green of the golf courses, runs a river of water that makes life in Florida possible.

'Community Affairs' disappears from subcommittee name as focus on growth management fades
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
What's in a name? Perhaps a lot less when it no longer includes "community affairs" -- aka growth management.

3 BP employees to be arraigned in oil spill probe
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
Two BP rig supervisors and a former BP executive were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on criminal charges stemming from the deadly Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the company's response to the massive 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

EDUCATION

Florida Among States With Lowest High School Graduation Rates
By Gina Jordan
StateImpact
Florida has one of the nation’s lowest graduation rates, according to new federal data released Monday.

Degree program doesn't make educational sense
By Shannon Nickinson
Pensacola News Journal
Don’t mess with Texas indeed. Turns out the Lone Star State is the inspiration for Gov. Rick Scott’s newest foray into “improving” higher education in Florida.

Scott stunt won't fix higher ed
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Cheap Gimmicks are no way to improve Florida's higher education system and better prepare students for the work force.

Invest in Florida’s public colleges
Editorial
Miami Herald
It’s hard to argue with Gov. Rick Scott’s challenge to Florida’s four-year colleges and community colleges to create $10,000 four-year degrees in areas that virtually guarantee a job after graduation.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Citizens president acknowledges ‘dumb’ mistake in firing watchdogs
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
The president of Florida’s last-resort insurer Citizens admitted Tuesday it was a “dumb decision” to fire internal watchdogs in the way he did.

Florida Consumers Have Post-Election Blues, UF Figures Show
By Elvina Nawaguna
Lakeland Ledger
While consumer confidence across the country rose to its highest level in 4 1/2 years this month, the mood in Florida declined in the aftermath of the elections.

From 'best' to 'worst' run states, Florida fares poorly
By Robert Trigaux
Tampa Bay Times
How's Florida doing? You'd think we would know the status of our own state, but it's not so easy to pin down.

Scott wants to double Florida job training program
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott wants to double funding for Florida's "quick response" job training program.

Land deal could open way for Wekiva Parkway
By Dan Tracy
Orlando Sentinel
Metro Orlando's road-building agency appears to have settled a land dispute that was threatening to increase costs or delay construction of the $1.6 billion Wekiva Parkway.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Patients scramble for new coverage
By Carol Gentry and Sarah Pusateri
Health News Florida
Carol White of St. Petersburg and some of her friends spent Monday looking for a new Medicare Advantage plan after BayCare Health System ended its contracts with UnitedHealthcare.

Did your hospital make the grade? Group rates quality of care, more
By Marni Jameson
Orlando Sentinel
Hospitals throughout the nation are receiving their report cards today as The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that advocates for safer health-care delivery, releases its second state-by-state Hospital Safety Scores.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Stand Your Ground panel does just that
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
One of my favorite parts in the movie, Casablanca, is at the very end, when Rick, the Humphrey Bogart character, shoots Gestapo officer Major Strasser in the presence of the local police captain.