Daily News Clips for April 2, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Advocates Say More Work Needed on Ethics, Elections And Campaign Finance Reform
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Tallahassee
The legislature is working to revamp the states ethics, elections and campaign finance laws. We check in with Phil Claypool, former director of the Florida Ethics Commission, Damien Filer of Progress Florida and Dan Krassner of Integrity Florida. Advocates are so far giving lawmakers a “C” grade for their efforts, and say there’s still plenty of time to make the reforms stronger.

FEATURED STORIES

Senate Education Committee OKs hot-button parent trigger
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The contentious parent trigger bill got its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee on Monday. Not surprisingly, it passed along party lines.

Public school parents solidly reject 'Parent Trigger' legislation
By Kathleen Oropeza
Ft. Myers News-Press
Despite a bruising defeat in the 2012 Florida Legislative session, Parent Trigger is something proponents are too stubborn to drop. Anointed 2013 sponsors, Rep. Carlos Trujillo and Sen. Kelli Stargel, struggling to re-position their brand say, “We want to give parents a seat at the table.”

Domestic partnership bill passes committee, though victory likely symbolic
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Supporters of a bill that would create a statewide domestic partnership registry won what is likely to be a symbolic victory Monday when a Senate committee narrowly passed a bill that would grant same-sex couples in Florida specific rights.

Feds Like FL Plan, But Some FL Officials Don't Want Feds' Money
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In the Friday afternoon rush, those who are tracking the debate on Florida Medicaid expansion may have missed three important events.

Prison firm withdraws gift to name FAU football stadium
By Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
Just hours after the latest student protest, Boca-Raton based GEO Group on Monday withdrew its planned $6 million gift to Florida Atlantic University, a gift that would have put its name on the school’s football stadium.

Inside the NRA's Koch-Funded Dark Money Campaign
By Peter Stone
Mother Jones
"This election is going to be won on the ground," Chris Cox, the National Rifle Association's top lobbyist, told me early last year as the gun lobby prepared to launch its all-out campaign to defeat Barack Obama.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Lobbyist gift ban getting 'tweaks'
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The free lunch is making a comeback in Tallahassee.

What you need to know about Florida's seven-year-old gift ban
By Gary Fineout
The Fine Print
Sen. Tom Lee – who has already acknowledged that his effort is likely a long shot this year – moved his rework of the state's seven-year-old "zero tolerance" gift ban through its first committee stop on Monday.

Seize historic chance to bolster ethics reform
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Legislature is about to adopt the most sweeping changes to government ethics law in 36 years, and yet the changes don't go far enough.

Gov. Scott to sign first bill of 2013 in Tallahassee
Staff Report
WTXL Tallahassee
Governor Rick Scott is scheduled to sign the first bill of the 2013 legislative session Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, Critical of Government Spending, Doled Out Staff Bonuses
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, a Republican from Panama City, in January complained that the profligate spending in Washington was at the heart of the country’s financial woes.

Allen West doled out $88K in bonuses to congressional staff after losing in 2012
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Tea Party favorite Allen West talked a lot on the campaign trail in 2012 about the need for reigning in government spending.

POLITICAL RACES

Gov. Rick Scott’s political committee raises big dollars from few donors
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
The money from Internet cafes won’t be missed.

Former governor’s daughter files for office
By Randal Yakey
Panama City News Herald
Gwen Graham, daughter of former Democratic Gov. Bob Graham, has filed to challenge Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, for his Second Congressional District seat in 2014.

Nelson campaigning for Democrats
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson doesn’t have to worry about his own re-election until 2018. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Trial over Gulf oil spill set to resume Tuesday
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
A trial over the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster is scheduled to resume Tuesday with testimony expected from Halliburton employee Jesse Gagliano, who was on the rig at the time of the April 2010 explosion.

Red Tide fades; manatee population down about 10 percent
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
The Red Tide algae bloom blamed for killing more than 200 manatees this year appears to have finally dissipated, according to state wildlife officials.

'Cat colony' bill delayed amid sharp divisions between groups, concern from landowners
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Leon County resident Charles W. Hall Sr. said living near a feral cat colony has been a "nightmare" that cat lovers won't help him deal with.

LGBT

Gay marriage is about civil rights, not religion
By Michael Mayo
South Florida Sun Sentinel
To me, the issue of gay marriage is pretty simple. If two consenting adults want to get married, they should be allowed to do so, no matter the race, creed, color, religion or gender/sexual orientation of the two parties.

Don’t Cram Your Heterosexuality Down My Throat
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
Several years ago around Christmas I was standing at a Walmart checkout counter with my son when a stranger behind me felt compelled to make me his homophobic bosom buddy.

EDUCATION

Florida bill would create ‘innovation schools’
Staff Report
Tampa Tribune
A Florida Senate panel has approved a bill that would allow school districts to create “innovation schools” that act like charter schools but remain under district control.

FAU instructor who led class exercise to step on ‘Jesus’ says he’s ‘very religious’
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Atlantic University instructor who asked students in an intercultural communications class to write “Jesus” on a piece of paper and step on it says he’s a “very religious” Christian who has been unjustly attacked and threatened for simply doing his job.

Bill would allow universities to seek presidents outside the Sunshine Law
By Jeff Schweers
Gainesville Sun
For 46 years, the search for candidates to lead Florida’s universities has been conducted in the sunshine from start to finish, allowing the public an unfettered view of the selection process for the state’s highest leadership posts in education.

Proposal would lead to high-school free agency, opponents say
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
When the Florida High School Athletic Association disqualified the top-ranked Krop High School boys’ basketball team from the state playoffs in 2011, it had uncovered that several players, including a Bahamian-born guard, were ineligible to play for the northeast Miami-Dade high school team.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Wage theft bill clears Senate panel
Associated Press
First Coast News
A Florida Senate panel has cleared a bill that would set uniform state standards for employees to seek compensation when they say they haven't been paid their full wages.

Florida Senate panel criticizes Citizens chief then gives him support
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
The president of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. faced a grilling from lawmakers Monday, but ultimately received a unanimous vote of support after explaining his response to a series of recent scandals at the company.

Scott's manufacturing tax cut gets renewed push in Senate
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The Senate is taking a new approach to the $141 million tax cut for manufacturers, a top legislative priority of Gov. Rick Scott.

Postcard alerts of foreclosure cash for more than 683,000 Floridians could be ignored
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
More than 683,000 Floridians are expected to receive foreclosure-restitution checks beginning this month through federal agreements with banks, but consumer advocates fear the letters could be mistaken for a scam or junk mail and thrown away.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Comparing the Bean and Negron alternatives to Medicaid expansion
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Sen. Aaron Bean has come up with a bare-bones approach to helping Florida's uninsured that he hopes his colleagues in both the Senate and the House will rally around.

Challenge: Luring Healthy to Buy Coverage
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Former Gov. Charlie Crist’s pet project, Cover Florida, seemed a creative way to cover the uninsured with low-cost health plans.

Florida Senate should reject Medicaid plan that does nothing for the uninsured
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Senate Health Policy Committee is scheduled this afternoon to consider an alternative to expanding Medicaid that wouldn’t provide health coverage or health care to the state’s uninsured.

Nursing home bill proceeds
By James Call
Florida Current
A bill making it more difficult to sue nursing home for punitive damages was approved Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

New legislator laments likely failure of medical marijuana bill
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
A newly elected House member and a woman with Lou Gehrig's Disease whose medicinal marijuana plants were seized in a raid expressed great disappointment Monday that bills to allow use of the drug have not moved in either chamber of the Legislature during the 2013 session.

Rx Drug Deaths Down in Florida
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Drug deaths nationwide are on the rise, but not in Florida.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Rubio claims pivot point on immigration overhaul
By Erica Werner
Associated Press
Whatever immigration deal might be claimed by labor and business, or by Democrats and Republicans, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is serving notice it has to go through him.

Rubio’s Immigration Cowardice
By Michael Tomasky
The Daily Beast
Why were we all talking about Marco Rubio yesterday? Because Marco Rubio made sure of it.

Social justice groups say 'no' to armed teachers
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Four social justice organizations are speaking out against proposed legislation that would allow some classroom teachers to carry weapons on campus.

Florida Senate panel advances measure to bar mentally ill from buying guns
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida lawmakers are moving forward with a National Rifle Association-backed measure aimed at blocking dangerous mentally ill people from buying guns.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Negron's death row plan to cut down lengthy appeals process clears Senate committee
By Jonathan Mattise
TC Palm
State Sen. Joe Negron’s plan to cut down lengthy, expensive appeals that can keep inmates on death row for decades cleared a Senate committee Monday.