Daily News Clips for February 26, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Activists urge the Florida Legislature to expand Medicaid coverage
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing Tampa
Excerpt: Monday's news conference was organized by Awake Pinellas and Health Care for Florida, a new coalition that includes Florida CHAIN and Progress Florida.

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

Voting rights bill will honor Desiline Victor, 102-year-old Florida voter
By Clare Kim
MSNBC
Excerpt: On March 5, participating organizations and allies will hold “Awake the State” rallies aimed at voting rights and reforms and improving Florida’s overall voting system.

Supporters of Medicaid extension rally in St. Pete
By Chris Hopper
Tampa Bay News 9
Supporters of Medicaid expansion made their voices heard in St. Petersburg on Monday.

FEATURED STORIES

Sequestration will hit the youngest and oldest Floridians
By Stephen Nohlgren and Marlene Sokol
Tampa Bay Times
The federal budget needs to be reduced, Gov. Rick Scott said Monday, but automatic cuts scheduled to start Friday will mean disastrous job losses in the defense industry and could threaten Florida's response to natural disasters.

Federal cuts would hurt state
By Michael Pollick
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Like a family that loses one of its paychecks, a number of agencies and private companies in Southwest Florida will have to make do with less should Congress and the White House fail to find an alternative to the automatic budget cuts scheduled to kick in Friday.

Senate President Don Gaetz knows his history
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Adam Putnam touts his opposition to Rick Scott's Medicaid stance
Florida has no choice. It must expand its Medicaid program under the federal law known as Obamacare, Senate President Don Gaetz says.

Scott no-show as governors talk Medicaid, sequestration in DC
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida Gov. Rick Scott was again a no-show at the National Governors Association annual meeting this year as the states’ chief execs met with President Obama and White House staff to discuss looming budget cuts that will impact virtually every sector of their economies.

The Trayvon Martin Killing, One Year Later
By Mark Follman
Mother Jones
It's been one year since Trayvon Martin was confronted, shot, and killed in Florida by George Zimmerman.

FLORIDA POLITICS

What have Ethics Rules Wrought? Maybe not much
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Voices
On the eve of the 2013 legislative session next Monday, just about everybody with an interest in what happens in the Capitol during the ensuing 60 days will gather in the sedate courtyard of Associated Industries of Florida for Tallahassee's biggest party of the year, a welcoming reception that the state's "voice of business" sponsors.

Marco Rubio is really conservative, groups say
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Last week, two groups issued vote scorecards that put Rubio squarely in the conservative camp.

Gov. Scott names 3 to Florida Women's Hall of Fame
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott has named a black hospital founder - a pioneer who was taught to hunt and fish by Seminole Indians and a national safety leader - to the Florida Women's Hall of Fame.

Ex-Fla. Senate president Childers gets new appeal
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Former Florida Senate President W.D. Childers on Monday received another chance to clear his name from the U.S. Supreme Court.

State cops collect Orange leaders' cellphones in text investigation
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Several Orange County officials involved in the "textgate" controversy have turned over their personal cellphones to state investigators looking into possible violations of open-government laws. 

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Poll: 7 in 10 back FL medical-marijuana plan, could affect governor’s race
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
As many as seven in 10 Florida voters support a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana – more than enough to ensure passage and possibly affect the governor’s race — according to a new poll from a group trying to put the measure on the 2104 ballot.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

High-stakes trial begins over 2010 Gulf oil spill
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
BP put profits ahead of safety and bears most of the blame for the disastrous 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a U.S. Justice Department attorney charged Monday at the opening of a trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay tens of billions of dollars more in damages.

Investigation sought into Crystal River nuclear plant deal
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
Consumer advocates want Duke Energy to refund its Florida customers hundreds of millions of dollars for "woefully inadequate" handling of the now shuttered Crystal River nuclear plant.

State appeal court upholds water quality rules but delays remain
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The 1st District Court of Appeal has affirmed an administrative law judge's ruling in support for state water quality standards although implementation still is uncertain.

Scott highlights $3 million request for Apalachicola Bay as rains bring flooding threat to river
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday highlighted $3 million in his 2013-14 budget request for Apalachicola Bay including $500,000 for a water flow study as rain threatened flooding along the Apalachicola River.

LGBT

Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
New York Times
Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election.

EDUCATION

FAU president agrees to discussion of naming stadium for GEO Group
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Florida Atlantic University President Mary Jane Saunders has agreed to conduct a public meeting on campus to discuss the school’s recent decision to accept a $6 million donation from the private prison corporation GEO Group of Boca Raton, which pledged the money in exchange for naming rights on the school’s football stadium.

Florida Poly Board May Not to Ask for $25 Million More
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
Florida Polytechnic University COO Ava Parker recommended Monday that board members not ask for an extra $25 million they had planned to request from the state to start the new school.

FCAT writing: Are students ready for tougher scoring?
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Asked to write about a favorite place, 14-year-old Aja Williams picked her grandmother's house in rural Highlands County. She wrote about baking cakes and watching TV.

Schools to get their recognition funds on Tuesday
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
With all school grade appeals complete, the Florida Department of Education is now ready to distribute recognition funds to schools that either improved their state-assigned grade or maintained their A rating.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Federal budget can be trimmed without adding to the pain
Editorial
Miami Herald
The wholesale reduction in federal spending now looming for week’s end was once thought to be so horrible, so disastrous for the national economy, that responsible leaders would never let it go into effect.

Federal spending cuts could close 20 Florida airport facilities
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott, who famously sold state airplanes as one of his first acts as Florida’s chief executive, could face flight delays at his hometown airport in Naples if massive federal spending cuts hit the state.

Critical of Federal Pensions, Rich Nugent Draws Handsome Retirement From Florida Taxpayers
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Spring Hill, author of January’s Congress is Not a Career Act that would allow federal lawmakers to refuse their pension, is himself receiving a $70,232 annual pension from the state of Florida in addition to his $174,000 federal salary.

Citizens Property Insurance strains to pull in belt on spending
By Susan Taylor Martin and Jeff Harrington
Miami Herald
The Maryland insurance executive charged with cleaning house at Citizens Property Insurance has had trouble sticking to the tighter travel expense policy he put in place.

Floridians get average $75,949 in relief from national mortgage settlement
By Donna Gehrke-White
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The historic settlement involving the nation's five largest mortgage lenders has so far helped nearly 102,000 struggling Florida homeowners for an average $75,949 in relief, according to a new report.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Fla. economists discuss cost of Medicaid costs
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Legislative economists are meeting to discuss Medicaid costs.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Fact-checking Marco Rubio's immigration claims: Mostly False
By Amy Sherman
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
One reason the United States needs immigration reform is to bring in more farm workers, says U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Deck stacked against 'stand your ground' reform
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
One year ago tonight, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain.

Trayvon Martin family in NYC on anniversary
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Trayvon Martin's family is marking the one-year anniversary of his shooting death with a candlelight vigil in New York City.