Daily News Clips for January 8, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Sponsor of law that pared Florida's early voting days proposes adding one day back
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The Senate sponsor of the bill that cut the number of early voting days in Florida from 14 to eight has filed a new proposal that would add back one day — the Sunday before Election Day – after criticism that eliminating that “Souls to the Polls” day was meant to reduce black turnout in the presidential election.

E-mail Trail: Scott Knows His Medicaid Estimates Are Wrong
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Gov. Rick Scott says he opposes expanding Florida Medicaid because it would cost too much: $63 billion over 10 years, he says, with the state paying $26 billion of that.

Gov. Rick Scott remains skeptical of federal health care changes
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Monday that he had a "great conversation" with the Obama administration's health secretary, continuing to project openness toward a health care law he once fiercely opposed and used as a springboard to political office.

Scott maintains narrow view on water, energy issues
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott says he is asking DEP to look at Florida's springs and he said he wants to ensure that the flow of natural gas to the state is not interrupted.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Floridians left out of committee leadership posts in Congress
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida’s delegation to Congress has never been larger, but that is doing little to guarantee clout on Capitol Hill.

State Lawmakers Seek to Stop Local Sick Pay Laws
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
State lawmakers want to stop local sick pay measures, such as the ones that gained support in Orlando and Miami last year.

Voters approved slot machines, but will they get them?
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Slot machine referendums hit the jackpot in every county they played in last year but so far the state of Florida is refusing to pay out.

Wasserman Schultz says Crist needs to become pro-choice to get Dem support in run for governor
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Debbie Wasserman Schultz called on Charlie Crist to change his position on abortion and has to “prove himself with some of our Democratic leaders before that’s a sure thing,” alluding to the Democratic support to challenge Rick Scott for Governor in 2014.

What Scott doesn't get
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
This had to be the political equivalent of being led into battle by Catch-22's Major Major, who only schedules appointments at times when he is not in the office. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Crystal River Still Up in Air
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Progress Energy Florida told the Public Service Commission today that it is at an impasse with its insurer over the crippled Crystal River Nuclear Plant.

With Florida python hunt about to begin, humane killing urged
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
Decapitating Burmese pythons — a sanctioned method for killing the invasive snakes in the upcoming Python Challenge contest — is “despicably cruel” and may violate state animal cruelty laws, animal-rights activists say.

LGBT

Supreme Court to hear two days of arguments, March 26 and 27, on gay marriage laws
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The Supreme Court says it will hear two days' worth of arguments over laws affecting gay marriage during the last week of March.

EDUCATION

U.S. education model outdated says renowned researcher
By Brittany Shammas
Naples Daily News
The problem with the U.S. education system is not that the country doesn't invest enough money in it, or teachers don't care about students, or reformers hate teachers.

State senator says Florida schools need more counselors
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida schools do not have enough guidance counselors to help students cope with their problems and prepare them for life after graduation, according to one prominent state legislator.

Online Florida University
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Florida leads the nation in online education. Four out of every 10 Florida college students have taken at least one online course.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Changes to Fla’s unemployment system may be leaving some potential recipients without benefits
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Changes to Florida’s unemployment system may be leaving some potential recipients without benefits as the state transitions to an online system for delivering unemployment compensation.

State sticks another needle in the eye of jobless Floridians
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Talk about kicking people when they're down. Bad enough that hundreds of thousands of unemployed Floridians must rely on ridiculously meager jobless benefits to get by.

Regulators approve new Citizens policy under stricter requirements
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
State insurance regulators reached an agreement with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. this past month to bring a new line of homeowners' coverage, known as HO-8, to the market.

Stopping wage theft
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
MaeBelle's Country Cuisine was only open for a short time, but it was long enough for a dispute over wages to occur between its owner and workers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Parents of disabled kids blast Florida care
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Twice in the past year, state health administrators cut the number of hours caregivers assisted Alex Perez’s severely disabled son at his Westchester home.

Florida proposes new Medicaid reimbursement system for hospitals
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times
Making good on promises made during the 2012 legislative session, the Agency for Health Care Administration has come up with a new plan for reimbursing hospitals that treat patients on Medicaid.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Guns and Florida: a brief history
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
The killings of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school last month have led to a renewed debate over access to guns all over America.

Q and A: Marion P. Hammer
By James Call
Florida Current
Marion P. Hammer, 73, has been the National Rifle Association’s lobbyist in Tallahassee for more than 30 years.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Tallahassee bids farewell to Justice Ben Overton
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Friends, family, judges and lawyers gathered Monday at the Florida Supreme Court to say goodbye to former Justice Ben Overton who died Dec. 29.

The Justice Who Cleaned up our Tainted Top Court
By Martin Dyckman
Florida Voices
Ben F. Overton, the retired jurist who died this month, wasn't the most famous of the four Supreme Court justices appointed by former Gov. Reubin O'D. Askew.