Daily News Clips for April 22, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Support efforts to erase nuclear tax on bills
By Damien Filer, Political Director of Progress Florida
Tallahassee Democrat
Our representative in the Florida House, Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, and her colleague Rep. Mike Fasano have sponsored a common-sense measure that would eliminate the nuclear tax on Florida’s utility ratepayers.

The BluVu: Week of April 19, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The BluVu
Governor Rick Scott thinks he can win by becoming a moderate, Bill Nelson is causing him heartburn, and Damien talks about Florida’s unfair Nuclear Tax as political reality comes your way!

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott's priorities in danger as session hits crucial stage
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: At odds with Gov. Scott, lawmakers align on teacher merit raises
As Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Will Weatherford sat shoulder-to-shoulder at a recent legislative prayer breakfast, the governor may have had a special reason to look to the heavens.

Moderate House Republicans key to any state health care deal
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After weeks of posturing and debate, the decision to expand Medicaid in Florida or accept $51 billion in federal health care money might rest with a moderate bloc of a dozen or so House Republicans.

Florida Democrats are short on statewide candidates
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Although registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Florida by 500,000, and President Barack Obama has carried the Sunshine State in the past two presidential elections, the party has no obvious candidates to run for statewide office next year.

Florida Sues BP On Third Anniversary Of Gulf Oil Spill
By James L. Rosica
Associated Press
The state of Florida filed a lawsuit Saturday against oil company BP and cement contractor Halliburton over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, becoming the fourth state to seek damages for the 2010 disaster.

Rubio comes up short on gun control
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Marco Rubio showed his true yellow colors last week, joining 45 other cowards to defeat Senate legislation designed to stop criminals from buying firearms online and at gun shows.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

What they're fighting over: Main conference issues between House and Senate
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The size and scope of a plan to expand health care coverage, the amount of raises and bonuses for teachers and state workers, whether to raise college tuition, whether to retain some control over clerks of the court budgets, and how much power to give a new state information technology agency will be decided in budget talks between the House and the Senate during the next two weeks.

Gov. Rick Scott's campaign staff is raking in money
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
We're going to go out on a limb with this prediction: If we get to the point where prominent Republicans worried about losing the Governor's Mansion start urging Gov. Rick Scott to drop out of the 2014 race to make room for a stronger Republican, Scott pollster Tony Fabrizio and chief fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke won't be among them.

State Sen. Tom Lee, a divorced dad, leads charge for changes in custody laws
By Bill Varian and Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times staff writers
Advocates for alimony reform are cheering legislative votes this week to end the awarding of lifetime payments by the bread-winning ex-spouse.

Chambers clash over terms of agencies' tech consolidation
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, wants Florida to have an information technology department called the Department of State Technology. Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, wants it to be called the Agency for State Technology.

Ex-senator: Florida politics needs more courage
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Former state Sen. Dan Gelber, unsuccessful Democratic candidate for attorney general in 2010 and a potential future candidate, told a Tiger Bay Club of Tampa audience Friday that the “simple desire to do what is right” and “the courage to act upon your conscience” are what’s missing in Florida politics.

New voting rules flawed, but better
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Despite their flaws, the voting reforms expected to be approved this week by the Florida Senate are a substantial improvement over current state law.

POLITICAL RACES

Four reasons Bill Nelson should run for Florida governor — and four reasons he shouldn't
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Bill Nelson looked like the heavy favorite for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to unseat vulnerable Republican Gov. Bob Martinez in April 1990.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

House, Senate still apart on most key environmental spending issues but agree on tank site cleanups
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The House and Senate agreed to spending on petroleum contamination sites but differences remained in other major areas of the agriculture and environment budget.

Pro-business bills worry environmentalists
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
Daytona Beach News-Journal
As the final weeks of the 2013 state legislative session wind down in Tallahassee, local and statewide environmental advocates find little to cheer and still much to worry over.

'Nuclear tax' hits businesses
By Mary Wilkerson
Tallahassee Democrat
My husband and I recently returned to Indian Rocks Beach after taking three days away from our business to speak out at the Capitol.

Scientists, officials say the Gulf of Mexico still in trouble three years after BP oil disaster
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday she will sue BP on Saturday, the three-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

LGBT

Obama promise to fight for gay marriage: Public opinion changing but recipe for long-term conflict
By David Crary
Associated Press
Ten years ago, same-sex marriage was legal nowhere in the United States. It's now allowed in nine states, with several more in the pipeline, yet many other states seem unlikely to follow suit unless forced by Congress or the Supreme Court.

EDUCATION

Fla. Gov. to sign sweeping education bill
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott planned to sign a sweeping education bill Monday that changes tough graduation standards, while also setting the stage for the University of Florida to take the lead in online education in the state.

Gov. Scott won’t get $2,500 raises for teachers
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott had maintained for weeks that legislators would “do the right thing” and agree to give every classroom teacher a $2,500 pay raise this year.

Tutoring for poor children under quiet debate
By Michael LaForgia and Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times
The fight over subsidized tutoring in the Florida Legislature has come down to a quiet confrontation set against an unlikely backdrop — a series of budget talks between the House and Senate.

FAU faculty report: ‘Jesus’ exercise ban compromises academic freedom
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
A faculty committee at Florida Atlantic University has made a preliminary finding that academic freedom was compromised when the school banned a controversial classroom exercise that asked students to write “Jesus” on a piece of paper and step on it.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Are all workers equal in Florida budget?
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The past five years haven't been easy for state government workers and teachers.

Florida budget talks as clear as gumbo
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
One of those watching state lawmakers discuss budget negotiations this weekend was Gov. Rick Scott’s spokeswoman, Melissa Sellers.

Anti-Sick Time Bill Has Little Public Support, But Lawmaker Says It’s ‘Right Thing’ To Do
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
State Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said his bill prohibiting local governments from requiring companies to provide benefits is “the right thing” to do — though advocates for the poor and most of the public believe his bill is harmful.

Scott incentive cash draws rebuke from tea party group
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
House and Senate budget negotiators were slapped Saturday by a leading tea party group for beefing up the pool of money given Gov. Rick Scott for luring companies to Florida.

Big tax breaks for banks and insurance companies could be wiped out
By Jason Garcia and Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Taking on two of Tallahassee's most influential interest groups, the Florida Senate is advancing plans this spring to eliminate a pair of decades-old tax breaks for banks and insurance companies.

Tampa Bay leads as Florida jobless rate falls to 7.5 percent
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Tampa Bay is playing a starring role in the steady, broad-based recovery of Florida's long-suffering jobs market.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Gov. Rick Scott asks state analysts to revise Medicaid expansion estimates
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Now that the federal government has removed some of the uncertainty about how the health care law will be implemented, Gov. Rick Scott wants state analysts to revise their cost-benefit estimates for Medicaid expansion.

Democrats frustrated by no Scott push to break health care standoff
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
After years of battling President Barack Obama over health care, Gov. Rick Scott now is fighting fellow Florida Republicans and a tightening deadline in his push to extend insurance to more low-income Floridians.

Uninsured health care workers push for medicaid expansion
By Maria Mallory White
South Florida Sun Sentinel
It's an expensive irony: Health care workers who can't afford health insurance, but in Florida that is the plight of some full-time employees of local nursing homes and other smaller or independent health-industry players.

U.S. House Dems send Weatherford letter re Medicaid
By William March
Tampa Tribune
The eight Democratic members of Florida’s U.S. House delegation have sent a letter to state House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, urging him to accept federal Medicaid expansion.

On health care, some yap while others act
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Last week, I watched two groups of people hold passionate discussions about health care.

Lawmakers push to loosen nursing home regulations
By Josh Salman
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida lawmakers are pushing for sweeping deregulation of the nursing home industry that would protect owners and investors from financial penalties resulting from lax patient care.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

From shadows to spotlight, Mario Diaz-Balart plays powerful role in immigration talks
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Mario Diaz-Balart spoke bluntly to his fellow U.S. House Republicans during a closed-door meeting at Washington’s Capitol Hill Club.

Will gun control be a problem for GOP in 2014?
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
After most Senate Republicans and a few red-state Democrats blocked legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers last week, GOP megadonor Al Hoffman blasted those in his own party who oppose “reasonable” gun control.

Overlooked: Gun Worship's Daily Terrorist Toll
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
It was one of those weeks of revolting paradoxes, with mayhem to match.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida House Dems Call Bill Enhancing Penalties For Child Murder Unconstitutional
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
Enhancing the penalties for someone who murders a child under the age of 18 could be one step closer to becoming law.