FEATURED
STORIES
Board names Indiana official new education commissioner for Florida; parents, teachers groups blast pick
By Jason Schultz
Palm Beach Post
Florida got a new top education official Wednesday morning, but the state board of education’s choice of Charles “Tony” Bennett to run the state Department of Education was met mostly with either opposition or indifference from parents and education officials in Palm Beach County.
Split civil rights commissioners ask for Justice Department probe of Florida election law
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A split U.S. Commission on Civil Rights decided Friday not to look into Florida’s election law, rejecting a request from the state’s Democratic Congressional delegation to hold a hearing on the matter.
Miami-Dade lawmaker first proposed cuts in early voting days
By Dara Kam and John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
The GOP legislator most responsible for reducing early voting days in Florida — which critics say added to electoral chaos last month — says his main influence was discussions with his local supervisor of elections at the time.
Watchdog groups: Gov. Scott can save Transparency 2.0
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
A day after Gov. Rick Scott told reporters that the fate of Transparency 2.0 budget accountability web site is not his problem because "that's controlled by the Senate," two watchdog groups have written a letter outlining his responsibility and urging him to save it.
Scott wants to meet with Obama on health care
By Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
With just days before he must declare whether Florida will open its own insurance marketplace or leave it to the federal government, Gov. Rick Scott is asking to meet with President Barack Obama on health care.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Top state elections officials review Broward voting problems
By Amy Sherman
Miami Herald
If Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes had one word to summarize what she needs to reduce long voting lines in the future it would be “flexibility.”
State and Palm Beach County election chiefs confer on solving problems that dog Florida
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher knows what she needs to shorten voting lines and she made sure that Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner understood those needs during a private-two hour meeting on Wednesday.
Crist will make party change official today
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Charlie Crist is not a Democrat yet — at least not officially.
Big raises flow to favored few at Capitol
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
No other arena operates more by the mantra "perception is reality" than politics.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
PSC takes up pivotal case allowing FPL to raise rates through 2016
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida utility regulators on Thursday will consider one of the most pivotal cases of their term — whether to approve a base rate increase of more than $543 million for Florida Power & Light without the consent of the office that represents consumers.
New plans would push power lines out of Everglades National Park
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
The prospect of towering high voltage lines running through Everglades National Park may be dimming.
LGBT
Gay rights supporters relieved by Orange school board anti-bias vote
By Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
Hugging, high-fiving and posing for pictures, gay rights supporters rejoiced early Wednesday after the Orange County School Board added sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to its nondiscrimination policy.
Same-sex marriage: Legally sound, morally just
By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post
With the Supreme Court’s announcement last week that it would take up two cases concerning same-sex marriage, there’s a chance for a sweeping ruling that would extend the right to marry to gay couples nationwide.
EDUCATION
Parents, teachers say 'no' to Tony Bennett
By Karen Yi
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The Florida Department of Education may have said yes to Tony Bennett as their new commissioner of education, but parents and teachers in the community are pushing back with a resounding no.
Gov. Rick Scott wants testing for students getting tax credit scholarships
By Elisabeth Parker
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott wants students who use tax-credit scholarships to attend private schools to take the same standardized tests as their peers in public schools, stirring a backlash from some private schools.
State adopts tough passing scores on new biology, geometry tests
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Thousands of Florida students likely will struggle to pass new biology and geometry exams needed for high-school graduation, based on the passing scores set Wednesday.
Florida's new formula for rating teachers makes Einstein look simple
By Michael Mayo
South Florida Sun Sentinel
How can teacher greatness be measured?
What does Scott say now about anthropology?
By Mary Jo Melone
Florida Voices
When it comes to bad news, the truth is always inconvenient.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Foreclosure filings rise again in Florida and Tampa Bay area
By Drew Harwell
Tampa Bay Times
Florida is once again the foreclosure capital of the country thanks in part to Tampa Bay, where filings jumped and piled behind tens of thousands of pending cases.
Task force recommends agency actions, legislation to protect Florida's military bases
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A task force is suggesting state agency actions and legislation to carry out recommendations issued last month to prevent military installations in Florida from being closed.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Florida vows to stick fewer kids in nursing homes
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Florida’s top healthcare administrator is vowing to keep as many medically fragile children as possible at home with their parents — and to improve the lives of those who remain in nursing homes — amid an outcry over hundreds of children living in institutions designed for frail elders.
Regulators brace for influx of Obamacare filings
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
As lawmakers consider how best to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, insurance regulators are seeking help dealing with an anticipated influx of filings from health insurers related to changes in the federal health care law next year.
DCF unveils a modern child-abuse tracking system
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
A faster, more thorough system for tracking child-abuse reports -- staffed by dozens of new hotline counselors and investigators -- was introduced Wednesday by Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Concealed weapon permits to hit 1 million next week in Florida
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Sometime next week in Florida, somebody will become the state's 1 millionth holder of a concealed weapons permit, solidifying the state's No. 1 standing in the nation in that category.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
Nelson wants feds to probe Florida reform school
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants the Justice Department to join an expanded search for graves and possible evidence of crimes at a defunct reform school in the Florida Panhandle.
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