Daily News Clips for March 20, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

House Subcommittee Calls Ethics-Reform Bill 'A Work In Progress'
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
Excerpt: The House ethics bill comes out amidst some criticism against the Senate version. A bipartisan coalition, including Progress Florida and the Florida Tea Party Network, has been complaining that neither bill gives the state Commission on Ethics enough investigative power or enforcement power.

Experts, Advocates Warn Ethics Reform Bill Too Weak
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Organizations ranging from tea party groups to the liberal Progress Florida have banded together to oppose a bill intended to improve the state’s ineffective ethics rules. The ethics bill doesn’t go far enough, these groups say.

Double whammy
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
Excerpt: The Florida Tea Party Network, the liberal Progress Florida, government watchdog Integrity Florida and former Commission on Ethics executive director Phil Claypool all praised the ethics reform push but also called for more stringent rules.

The Blu Vu: Week of March 15, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida's Political Reality News Show
Florida Lt. Governor Jenifer Carroll abruptly resigns, the Governor's GOP problems continue, Damien of Progress Florida has the latest on the effort to kill paid sick leave and more as political reality comes your way!

FEATURED STORIES

Despite improved jobs picture, poll numbers low for Gov. Scott
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related: More dismal numbers for Rick Scott in Quinnipiac poll; Crist leads by 16 points
Rick Scott touted his role Tuesday in rebuilding the state’s economy, although a new poll shows Floridians clearly unhappy with his job performance and an increasing number of his fellow Republicans turning against the governor.

Fla. Gov. and House leader clash over budget
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
In an uncharacteristic moment, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is already raising questions about some of the early budget proposals emerging from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Despite warnings, Carroll says she was duped by Allied Veterans
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Jennifer Carroll's surprise resignation last week as lieutenant governor was not the first time she faced questions about her ties to Allied Veterans of the World, an Internet sweepstakes cafe operator now at the center of a $300 million fraud investigation.

Legislators rush to unload tainted gambling cash
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Shamed by the notion that they may have filled their political coffers with more than $1.4 million in campaign cash from a phony veterans group facing charges of illegal gambling, the Florida Legislature is scrambling to save face by donating the money to charity.

Committee opponents question motivation of parent-trigger bill
By James Call
Florida Current
The "parent trigger" bill continued its march to the House floor on Tuesday, with opponents questioning whether it's needed.

Scott likely to support Senate alternative to Medicaid expansion
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott said his objective in supporting Medicaid expansion was to ensure Florida doesn't turn down billions of federal dollars to help reduce the number of uninsured.

FLORIDA POLITICS

House committee unanimously approves ethics bill
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
A wide-ranging ethics bill won unanimous approval Tuesday in its first committee, though it might see some changes after concerns were expressed about some of its language.

Senate Passes 'Right to Be Heard' Bill
Staff Report
Lakeland Ledger
People would get the right to be heard — and not just seen — at local government and state agency meetings under a bill passed by the Florida Senate.

Drone bill cruises through Senate with Negron at helm
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Does the Senate budget chief get deference on his bills because he holds the purse strings?

Some advice for legislators who want to create a ‘Florida Marriage Handbook’
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
Your hard working Florida legislators are very concerned about your marriage.

Florida State Representative Clay Ford dies
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Rep. Clay Ford, R-Gulf Breeze, died on Monday, after a battle with cancer, House Speaker Will Weatherford announced Tuesday.

Tearful Senate honors late Larcenia Bullard
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
An emotional Florida Senate stood for a moment of silence to honor the late Larcenia Bullard, a long-time legislator who died Saturday at age 65.

Five things to look for in Wenesday’s legislative session
By Rochelle Koff
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Poll numbers on Gov. Scott should make a provocative start to a day filled with several compelling legislative issues.

POLITICAL RACES

Charlie Crist would crush Rick Scott in 2014, Quinnipiac poll finds
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
People love Gov. Rick Scott's idea of a teacher pay raise, and they agree with him on Medicaid expansion.

With bad polls, Scott gets a campaign-like presentation on Florida’s jobs picture
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
It’s Gov. Rick Scott’s Cabinet, and we’re all just living in it.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Senate committee hears arguments over advance fee for building nuclear plants
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
State Sen. Anitere Flores had a bottom line question for the president of Progress Energy Florida: "The 800 lb. gorilla in the room…is Progress going to build another nuclear power plant or not?"

A bridge to help heal the Everglades
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
It was touted as a triumph of modern engineering when it opened in 1928, a road across the once-impassable Everglades that took 2.6 million sticks of dynamite and 13 years to construct.

Bllls to waive fees on development, cutting permitting review times pass House subcommittee
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The House Economic Development & Tourism Subcommittee on Tuesday passed two business-backed bills over limited environmental opposition.

Florida investigates strange manatee deaths
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
The manatee carcasses appear otherwise healthy but their guts are filled with a stringy drift algae.

EDUCATION

Education issues hit Tallahassee spotlight
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Teacher pay, education funding, parent trigger and academic standards all were part of the conversation Tuesday in the state's capital.

Florida legislators consider allowing teachers to carry guns
By Jeff Skrzypek
WPTV West Palm Beach
In a post Sandy Hook Elementary massacre world, teachers packing heat might become a reality in Florida.

Cyberbullying proposals win support, raise legal questions
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Weeks after students in Pasco County filmed a vicious attack on a classmate and posted the video online, state lawmakers want to empower principals to better police cyberbullying.

Many teachers taking second jobs
By Gabrielle Russon
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Right away they recognized each other in the restaurant kitchen and both were unnerved.

FAU Students Tell Board They Still Oppose GEO Deal
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Students opposed to a decision by Florida Atlantic University to accept $ 6 million from the private prison company GEO Group of Boca Raton, in exchange for the naming rights to the school’s football stadium, expressed their continuing opposition before the university’s board of trustees at its meeting Tuesday at the Fort Pierce campus.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Senate GOP budget leader opposing Gov. Scott's manufacturing tax cuts
By Jonathan Mattise
Naples Daily News
Sen. Joe Negron isn’t convinced by Gov. Rick Scott’s pitch to cut $115.3 million in taxes on Florida manufacturers.

National Guard chief outlines spending cuts
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida Adjutant Gen. Emmett Titshaw told Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet Tuesday the federal budget sequester will have a $54 million impact on Florida, hurt military readiness and cause layoffs in communities across the state.

Citizens overhaul passes 2nd Senate hurdle
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A bill reworking eligibility and rates for state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. cleared the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government on Tuesday by an 8-4 vote.

At last, money being released to help Florida’s foreclosure crisis
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The program approved last week to help at least 1,500 Floridians keep their homes is the most promising effort yet by the agency that has mostly sat on $1 billion in federal foreclosure prevention money.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Negron files bill offering alternative to Medicaid expansion
By James Call
Florida Current
A Healthy Florida proposal,  the Senate’s alternative to expansion of the Medicaid program as called for by the Affordable Care Act, has been filed and will be heard Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting.

Doctors Lose on Database, Comp Votes
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
A bill that would require doctors to check with the state's drug database before writing a prescription for addictive medications passed today in a House panel despite the opposition of organized medicine.

Drug dispensing fight flares in Florida Legislature
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
A House subcommittee Tuesday approved a plan that would reduce the costs of drugs dispensed by physicians to workers-compensation insurance patients.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Most gun bills are languishing in firearm-friendly Florida legislature
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau
There have been more gun control bills filed in the Florida Legislature this year than any in recent memory — but you wouldn’t know it. Despite Democrats’ push to spark a “conversation” about guns after the Trayvon Martin and Newtown, Conn., tragedies, the Republican-led Legislature has traditionally shown little interest in entertaining the gun control debate.

Fix proposed to Florida gun laws to keep weapons from hands of mentally ill
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The NRA and a judge who specializes in cases involving the mentally ill are trying to close a Florida loophole that allows most people declared an imminent danger to themselves or others to buy guns.

Republican opposition on immigration law seems to erode
By Michael Shear
New York Times
Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling in the nation's capital as leading lawmakers in the party scramble to halt eroding support among Hispanic voters — a shift that is providing strong momentum for an overhaul of immigration laws.