Daily News Clips for January 7, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Two years in, Rick Scott's biggest challenge remains himself
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Scott makes his case for second term as Florida governor
Related: PolitiFact Florida: Rick Scott's campaign promises 2 years in
Related: Gov. Rick Scott faces sagging approval ratings in Tampa Bay area
Related: For Fla. Gov. Rick Scott, campaign cash isn't a problem
Rick Scott casts himself as a problem solver, but after two years as governor of Florida, his biggest challenge remains unsolved.

Florida GOP seeks new direction after election losses
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
If the Republican Party of Florida harbored any uncertainty about its Nov. 6 election performance, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam offered this Saturday morning: "We got our teeth kicked in."

Legislature Getting Ready for Session
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
The new session of the Florida Legislature convenes in two months, but much of the real action, especially with the state budget and other major issues, begins next week.

House foreclosure bill would speed up process
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A "faster foreclosures" proposal that sparked consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form, with a new bill filed this week by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.

GOP state lawmakers aim to kill local sick-time measures
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
The brutal political fight over mandatory sick time for workers in Orange County is about to move to Tallahassee, as two Central Florida lawmakers want to block locally driven efforts supporting the idea.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Related editorial: No denying climate change

FLORIDA POLITICS

A liberal agenda for Florida in 2014
By Stephen L. Goldstein
South Florida Sun Sentinel
After the 2012 Election, you don't have to be a weatherman to know that the political wind is blowing liberal in the Sunshine State.

GOP leaders offer hope to party faithful
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Conceding that "we got our teeth kicked in" last year, Republican Party of Florida leaders began a 22-month countdown to the 2014 elections Saturday with a vow to shake a political "stigma" of blind opposition to President Barack Obama -- while not retreating from a principled opposition to Obama Administration policies.

Detzner gives written testimony on 2012 election to U.S. Senate
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Secretary of State Ken Detzner wasn’t on hand to witness former Gov. Charlie Crist slam Florida’s handling of the 2012 election before a U.S. Senate committee last month, but he’s written a defense of the state’s election process.

Miami-Dade grand jury spells out voting fixes
By Myriam Marquez
Miami Herald
From Ireland, England and India and other points overseas Miami-Dade County received more than 2,500 phantom computer requests for absentee ballots in last year’s elections.

South Florida’s newest congressional leaders are sworn into office
By Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
Lois Frankel, the former mayor of sunny West Palm Beach, had to buy her first pair of winter boots in decades. Joe Garcia, who represents southern Miami-Dade County and the Keys, found a temporary room at University of Miami President Donna Shalala’s home in Georgetown.

New Reps. Ron DeSantis, Ted Yoho vote against Hurricane Sandy aid
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill providing $9.7 billion in flood insurance aid for Hurricane Sandy victims.

POLITICAL RACES

For Marco Rubio, the path to 2016 needs careful steps
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
Imagine a tightrope. Thin, taut and unforgiving.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Natural Florida needs stewards, not profiteers
By Bill Maxwell
Tampa Bay Times
In his 1998 book Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida, environmentalist Mark Derr wrote that "in these past one hundred years, man has reshaped and relandscaped the peninsula, leveling forests, draining the marshes. The process continues at such a rapid rate that many residents of more than a decade barely recognize the areas around their homes."

Protecting Florida's polluters
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Few operations have been as compromised under Gov. Rick Scott as Florida's Department of Environmental Protection.

Nearly 400 sign up to shoot pythons in Glades
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Nearly 400 people have signed up to enter the Everglades and do battle with Burmese pythons, the giant constrictors that have emerged as the latest and weirdest threat to South Florida's wildlife.

EDUCATION

Scott: Spend additional revenue on schools
By James Call
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott said Friday his plan to boost Florida’s economy includes more money for public schools next year.

Florida school enrollment gets best boost since bubble, but it could mean a good sign or a bad sign for state economy
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Enrollment in Florida’s public schools has spiked at a rate not seen since before the recession, but analysts are drawing mixed conclusions about what the sudden change says about the state’s economic recovery.

Florida at Forefront of Internet-Based Education
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
With the right choices and plans, Florida is in a position to take a leading national role in Internet-based higher education, according to a national consultant.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida jobless may need email account to get benefits
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
The state of Florida, which already has some of the tightest unemployment rules in the nation, may demand that all applicants have a working email account to receive jobless benefits.

After surviving fiscal cliff, Florida still faces budget ax
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
You may already know your taxes are going up this year, even if you're not in the top 2 percent of money makers.

Population growth likely to push Florida past New York, experts say
By Laura C. Morel
Tampa Bay Times
It was startling news for a state that gains about 3 million residents each decade.

Minimum wage up 12 cents an hour
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
All minimum-wage workers got a raise Jan. 1 of 12 cents an hour — an extra $4.80 a week for full-time workers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Scott, Sebelius to meet in DC to talk health care
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott will meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss the Affordable Care Act.

Florida needs Medicaid expansion
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
To his credit, Gov. Rick Scott is ready to thaw his relationship with the Obama administration over health care reform.

Florida child abuse deaths decline, report finds
Staff Report
Pensacola News Journal
Drowning and unsafe sleeping environments were behind nearly half of child abuse deaths in the state in 2011, a new report from the Statewide Child Abuse Death Review Committee shows.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Legislator wants to abolish capital punishment
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
An attorney-law professor who opposes capital punishment for pragmatic fiscal reasons, as well as legal and moral grounds,  reintroduced her bill Friday to abolish the death penalty in Florida.

Florida courts facing juvenile sentencing issues
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down laws requiring automatic life sentences without parole for juvenile killers is presenting some thorny legal issues for Florida judges.