Daily News Clips for December 6, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

State lawmakers cautious about projected $437 million budget surplus
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
Initial, positive indications about Florida’s budget for the coming fiscal year could be overtaken by events if the Florida Supreme Court strikes down changes to state employees or the nation plunges over the fiscal cliff, the state’s top economist warned Wednesday.

Florida university presidents want deal: More state funding in exchange for no tuition hike
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The presidents of Florida's state universities have an offer for the Legislature: Give us $118 million and we won't raise tuition.

Watchdog groups say transparency program could save millions
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
On the same day Senate leaders announced they would conduct an intensive review of the state budget, two government watchdog groups said a budget transparency program — put on hold by the Senate — could "save Florida millions of dollars” and revolutionize budget accountability.

House Democrats will push election reforms
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
House Democratic leaders expressed optimism Wednesday that Republicans will join in getting Florida elections out of Jay Leno's monologue next year.

Sen. Marco Rubio has safe word for presidential ambitions: 'opportunity'
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has found a safe word for discussing his presidential ambitions: opportunity.

Administration takes tough line with GOP on cliff
By David Espo
Associated Press
The administration is taking a tough line on the "fiscal cliff" at the same time President Barack Obama resumes contact with House Speaker John Boehner over ways to avert across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases at the turn of the year.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida voting woes land on agenda of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
Six members of Florida’s Democratic Congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last week asking them to investigate the state’s voting law.

Fixing Florida's voting system
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
What a difference an election can make.

Can Marco Rubio win back the middle class for Republicans? And does he need to?
Posted by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake
Washington Post
Sen. Marco Rubio offered a clear break from the prevailing caricature of Republicans as a party for and of the wealthy in a speech Tuesday night in Washington.

Marco Rubio Believes in Science
By Andrew Rosenthal
New York Times
A lot of people thought Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was preparing a run for the presidency when he announced in an interview with GQ Magazine that he really could not be sure how old the earth is.

Gaetz’ ‘Shoot and hang the nullifiers’ history lesson riles tea partiers
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, has raised the hackles of Florida tea party activists on the warpath about Gaetz and other GOP leaders’ apparent willingness to go along with the once-reviled “Obamacare.”

Ethics commission finds probable cause that Fresen failed to report income
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
The Florida Ethics Commission announced Wednesday it has found probable cause to believe that state Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, failed to properly disclose his net worth, assets, and liabilities every year from 2008 to 2011.

Another Democrat vying for leadership role
Staff Report
Florida Current
House Minority Leader pro tempore Mia Jones declared her candidacy Wednesday to become her party's leader in the chamber in 2014.

POLITICAL RACES

State Election Spending Tops 270 Million
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
An analysis of election spending by the Florida Chamber shows that the average cost of winning a state house or senate seat was one point six million dollars.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

South Florida contest: Bag some pythons, win some cash
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
The battle to control Burmese pythons in the Everglades has employed an array of tactics to date, including snake-sniffing dogs, GPS-equipped “Judas” snakes and teams of state-licensed reptile wranglers.

Wildlife officials hear that an Apalachicola Bay 'disaster is coming'
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Environmentalists and seafood industry representatives on Wednesday told state wildlife officials that the Apalachicola Bay is at risk of dying as an estuary without fresh water and help in two years.

LGBT

Rubio: I Don’t ‘Pass Judgment’ On The ‘Sin’ Of Homosexuality (Except When I Do)
By Josh Israel
Think Progress
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has called for the Republican Party to be more inclusive of minorities, said Wednesday that while his faith teaches homosexuality is a sin, he does not judge sinners. But his record on LGBT rights stands in stark contrast to his words.

EDUCATION

State botches release of new data on teacher evaluations
By Curtis Krueger, Marlene Sokol, Jeffrey S. Solochek and Danny Valentine
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's Department of Education on Wednesday rolled out the results of a sweeping new teacher evaluation system that is designed to be a more accurate, helpful and data-driven measure of how well teachers actually get students to learn.

‘Half-baked'
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
How does it happen that Kim Cook, Irby Elementary School's "Teacher of the Year" gets an unsatisfactory evaluation?

Florida's budget surplus may vanish, strapped universities told
By Aaron Deslatte and Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
After absorbing $300 million in cuts last spring, university presidents took their case for more state dollars to the Capitol Wednesday, even as lawmakers warned that the state may not be out of its financial pinch.

School Bus Ads Becomes First Bill Filed in Florida House for 2013 Session
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
The first bill in the Florida House has been filed for the coming 2013 Legislative Session, and it’s a measure that’s been touted as “family and child friendly.”

The Inconvenient Truth About Florida Education
By Rick Outzen
Florida Voices
Despite what Gov. Rick Scott and his Department of Education may tell you, the Florida public education system isn’t very good, especially when it comes to the percentage of students graduating from high school within four years.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Negron wants to examine contracts, state programs and local projects
By James Call
Florida Current
The Senate’s budget chief on Wednesday told his subcommittee chairs how he wants them to review the state budget.

Governor's Job Czar Disproves Benefit Moocher Stereotypes
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
This week, the man Governor Rick Scott selected as his so-called “Jobs Czar” resigned over revelations that the former banker violated state law while collecting unemployment benefits.

Lawmakers to make another run at shrinking Florida's property insurer of last resort, reducing PIP auto rates
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Florida's top insurance official was given a January deadline on Wednesday to come up with a series of proposals to reduce the size of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and to further reduce costs in the state's auto-insurance market.

Palm Beach County scraps wage-theft law
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Palm Beach County commissioners sided with business interests Tuesday in opting for watered-down wage-theft help for local workers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Florida health administrator denies kids are dumped in nursing homes
By Brittany Alana Davis and Carol Marbin Miller
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Staff Writers
Florida's top health administrator told lawmakers at a Senate committee meeting Wednesday that she was "enraged" by "sensational" reports that her agency was funneling sick and disabled children into nursing homes designed for adults.

Outbreak shows gaps in regulation
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
When the nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak exploded into headlines two months ago, Florida health officials responded quickly, tracking the contaminated drug lots and finding potential victims.

Darden backs off on some 'Obamacare' changes
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
A day after warning its earnings had plummeted, Darden Restaurants on Wednesday said it would back off somewhat from a test limiting employee hours to avoid higher costs for Obamacare in 2014.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

State GOP lawmaker files “Dream” tuition bill
News Service of Florida
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Children of illegal immigrants who graduate from Florida high schools could be eligible for in-state college tuition in Florida, even if they too are undocumented, under a bill filed Wednesday by a South Florida Republican.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

House Judiciary Committee maps out session topics
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
House Judiciary Committee members and the lobbyists and state officials who follow them got a glimpse Wednesday of what the next year will bring as the committee chairman laid out a series of topics from expert witness qualifications to foreclosures that are expected to make up the panel’s work.

Leon County judge accused of using office to promote for-profit religious business
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Leon County Judge Judith W. Hawkins was charged Wednesday with misconduct, accused of using her office to promote a business that sells Bible study books, souvenirs and other products to attorneys and others who regularly appear in her courtroom.