Daily News Clips for March 29, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

The Blu Vu: Week of March 29, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida's Political Reality News Show
The Governor says he's not a politician but he's acting like one, another bad week for Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, and Progress Florida’s Damien Filer has commentary that will make you think twice as political reality comes your way!

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

On March 5, 2013, the first day of Florida's legislative session, citizens rallied in 23 cities and towns throughout the state to fight for real election reform. After Florida's election fiasco in 2012 where too many Floridians waited hours in line to cast a ballot, concerned citizens called for elections that are free, fair, and accessible for all. Click here to see video.

FEATURED STORIES

Obama to pitch infrastructure investments in Miami
By Julie Pace
Associated Press
President Barack Obama will press Congress to pass new tax incentives and other flexibility measures aimed at attracting more private sector investment in infrastructure projects around the country, a senior administration official said.

Union leaders: Pension changes would hurt teaching profession
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Senate panel approves version of state pension overhaul
Leaders of the state teachers' union held a press conference Thursday morning to blast proposed changes to the Florida Retirement System.

Despite a few bills, anti-abortion effort not a priority for 2013 Legislature
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida is one of at least 30 states where lawmakers this year are considering a variety of measures limiting abortion or providing rights to unborn children.

Rubio joins Rand Paul's filibuster threat over guns
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Marco Rubio today signed on to filibuster threat over any gun regulation, joining Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz in a letter to Harry Reid. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma also added his name.

How College Hoops' Cinderella Pulled Itself out of the Swamp
By Tim Murphy
Mother Jones
The Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles, the first 15-seed ever to reach the NCAA basketball tournament's second weekend, are the toast of March Madness on the basis of their high-flying style (nickname: "Dunk City") and up-from-nowhere story.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Lies, Damned Lies and Bush Foundation Talking Points on Parent Trigger
By Bob Sikes
Scathing Purple Musings
Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future (FFF) just released a handy-dandy Misconception-Fact list on Parent Trigger. Let’s explore a few of their “Facts” that don’t pass the smell test.

For Second Straight Year, Florida Senate Committee Approves Bill To Speed Up Foreclosure Process
By Travis Waldron
Think Progress
Florida’s Senate Banking and Insurance Committee this week approved legislation that would speed up the state’s foreclosure process, a move that would remove some protections for homeowners and could increase the likelihood of bank fraud.

Surprise! More Voter Suppression Coming From The Florida Legislature
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
So much for those promises of "election reform" from Florida Republicans. Yesterday the Senate pushed even more restrictions on voting.

The Most Important Legislative Race in Modern Florida History
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
The Florida Squeeze
With the legislative session in full swing the time is right to look back at what I consider the most important legislative election in past-1968 Florida.

Big Sugar's Game
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
Restoring the Everglades has proven a ferociously difficult assault against public policies stacked against protecting the environment.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Both Fla. chambers budget state worker pay raises; other Legislature news
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
State worker pay raises: Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland and House budget chief, announced the House would propose the first across-the-board pay increase for state employees since 2006.

Voting barriers
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
In the past, Florida required absentee voters to include a witness' signature and address on the envelope.

Florida Senate leaders: No claims bills, or claims-bill reform, to pass this year
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida cities, counties, public hospitals and other “sovereign” entities have put the brakes on an overhaul of the state’s claims bill process that allows people who have been harmed or injured by local governments to get paid more than $200,000 without the Legislature’s approval.

After investing in wristband passes, Disney lobbies to rewrite ticket law
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Walt Disney World has spent close to $1 billion developing its "MyMagic+" system, which includes replacing conventional tickets with wireless-transmitting wristbands that serve as all-in-one park passes, room keys and credit cards.

Bill seeks to limit hours for massage parlors
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's massage parlors would close at midnight and face more scrutiny under a bill that breezed through a state House panel on Thursday.

Ayes cinch alimony bill sponsor's motion to marry
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Rep. Ritch Workman, chairman of the House Finance & Taxation Subcommittee, appeared to shock subcommittee members on Thursday when he made reference to a motion urging that he propose marriage to his girlfriend, Terri Anne Allerton.

POLITICAL RACES

Rick Scott's $1 million fundraising month
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
As Florida legislators sit on their hands with a fundraising ban for session, Gov. Rick Scott has been holding fundraisers and collecting cash -- $1 million of it -- for his political committee, Let's Get to Work. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Glades bill a giveaway to polluters
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The Everglades bill speeding through the Legislature is not the sweeping victory that the unusual alliance behind it — the governor, his fellow Republicans, farmers and environmentalists — would have Floridians believe.

Environmental groups to sue over feds handing endangered species duties to state
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
With no public hearings or fanfare, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year handed over to a state agency its authority for clearing the way for development permits that might hurt Florida panthers and other endangered species.

After DEP bureau chief's ouster, Vinyard says he wants to fix "broken" cleanup program
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. said Thursday he's not happy with the length of time or cost for cleaning up thousands of petroleum contamination sites in Florida.

Experts plead for help in reducing manatee deaths
By Kristine Crane
Ocala Star-Banner
More than 400 manatees in Florida have already died this year — and some of those are due to human activity such as collisions with boats, according to a report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released Thursday.

Hurricane expert predicts above-average storm season
By Eliot Kleinberg
Palm Beach Post
Conditions in the tropics “look favorable for a quite-a-bit above-average season,” hurricane soothsayer Bill Gray told the closing session of the National Hurricane Conference today.

LGBT

In federal gay-marriage case, more than 1,100 benefits at stake
By Lindsay Wise
McClatchy Newspapers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act will have implications far beyond how much same-sex couples might owe in income and estate taxes.

DOMA nears its end
By Ruth Marcus
Florida Today
Listening to the Supreme Court hear arguments in the same-sex marriage cases was like watching a novice diver inch to the edge of the high board for the first time.

Orange tax collector offers health stipend to gay workers
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph said Thursday he would offer up to a $1,300 stipend to any of his employees with a same-sex partner who suffers a tax hit on health benefits because they can't legally marry.

EDUCATION

Financial picture brighter for Florida universities, but tuition hikes still on table
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After years of budget cuts, Florida's universities appear to be getting everything they're asking for this year from the Florida Legislature — and in some cases, even more.

Gov. Scott, Fla. House speaker clash over tuition
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott has made his opposition to tuition hikes for college students well-known in the last several months. He has repeatedly said that he worries that the cost of a college education is getting too high in the Sunshine State.

Parent trigger bill hits Senate committee calendar
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
As the hotly contentious parent trigger bill sailed through the Florida House, questions remained about whether the measure would get an airing in the Senate, where it died in 2012 and some leaders called it a distraction bill.

Legg keeps CAPE on track for Senate floor
By James Call
Florida Current
Concerns about creating a caste system for high school diplomas Thursday nearly derailed a top priority of the Senate president.

Tuition As Cheap as a Cellphone
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Florida college students pay some of the lowest tuition rates in the nation.

Florida Polytech University Fights To Stay Independent
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida’s newest public university is fighting to keep its independence. University officials gave a long-awaited update to the state’s university governing board Thursday, but questions still abound over what will happen to the fledgling school, which is still in the start-up phase.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Rick Scott says federal government owes Florida for port projects
By Steve Bousquet and Patricia Mazzei
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
On the eve of President Barack Obama's scheduled visit to PortMiami today, Gov. Rick Scott criticized the president for being "late to the party" on seaport improvements.

Senate pension plan drawing some union fans
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Although most Democrats remain opposed, unions came around Thursday to support the Senate’s plan to revamp the Florida Retirement System — a milder version of the overhaul pushed by House Speaker Will Weatherford and fellow Republicans in that chamber.

Senate's tax break for motorists has insurance lobbyists up in arms
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida lawmakers want to give motorists a break by scaling back some unpopular fees they raised to plug a budget hole a few years ago, but there's a catch.

Bill advances to shrink Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
Legislators moved another step closer to reducing the size of the state fund that backs up private insurers while trying to make its name less menacing.

Scott looks for good news in Feb. job numbers
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott is looking for more improvement when the state releases its February unemployment figures.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

House panel backs health coverage for part-time workers
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
A Florida House panel approved a measure Thursday to offer health insurance to 8,737 of the state's part-time employees and their family members instead of paying a hefty fine under the federal health overhaul.

Fixing the Mental Health Data Base
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Thousands of people who have been in mental institutions have been able to purchase guns because of a loophole in Florida law.

House panel backs exemption for nursing home beds in The Villages
News Service of Florida
Ocala Star-Banner
With a massive Central Florida retirement community pushing for the change, a House panel Thursday approved a controversial proposal that would create an exemption to a long-standing limit on new nursing homes.

Federal agents raid Universal Health Care headquarters in St. Petersburg
By Susan Taylor Martin, Jeff Harrington and Meredith Rutland
Tampa Bay Times
Federal agents on Thursday raided the headquarters of Universal Health Care, the once high-flying Medicare insurer plagued in recent months by allegations of fraud and embezzlement.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

'Assault Weapon Ban' Or 'Defense Rifle Confiscation'? Fla. Lawmakers Debate Gun Control
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
The national gun-control debate is echoing in the committee rooms of the Florida Legislature this week.

Panel passes drone bill
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Another Senate panel has unanimously cleared a measure that would limit Florida’s law enforcement agencies from using drones.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Zimmerman defense attorneys suffer small setback in court
By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
A Sanford judge on Thursday said no to defense attorneys for George Zimmerman, who sought for a second time to require that the attorney of Trayvon Martin’s family answer their questions under oath.