Daily News Clips for April 24, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Nuclear pickpockets
By Ray Seaman, Online Director for Progress Florida
Ocala Star-Banner
Excerpt: Since 2006, the state’s biggest electric companies have been, with the legislature’s blessing, charging customers for nuclear projects that appear less and less likely to ever come to fruition. Still, the utilities have raked in $1.5 billion from this so-called “nuclear cost recovery” scheme, and they’re lobbying in Tallahassee to stop efforts to cut off the spigot.

FEATURED STORIES

Power grab hurts lower-wage workers
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Local control is about to be seriously eroded by Republican legislators who would interfere with efforts by Florida's cities and counties to help low-wage workers.

Senate, House still sparring over health care decision
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Senate budget committee sent two alternatives to Medicaid expansion to the full Senate Tuesday, though it's no clearer if either measure can pass the Legislature.

Parent trigger headed to Senate floor
By James Call
Florida Current
The “parent trigger” bill cleared its final committee stop Tuesday and now heads to the Senate floor.

To help his image, Rick Scott hands out hardware to 'great' Floridians
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
When Gov. Rick Scott honored former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow as a "Great Floridian" recently, he was just getting warmed up.

Legislators prepare for potential ‘fracking’ in Florida
By Mary Ellen Klas and Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
No one knows if Florida is going to be the next frontier for the new generation of oil and gas drilling known as fracking, but state legislators say — just in case — it’s time to write rules to require disclosure of the controversial technology.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Late in session, Gov. Scott makes aggressive push for agenda
By Gray Rohrer
Florida  Current
Gov. Rick Scott got chummy with House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, on Monday as he signed an education bill.

Gov. Rick Scott Threatens To Veto House, Senate Top Bills
By Thomas Andrew Gustafson
WFSU Tallahassee
In the last two weeks of Florida’s legislative session, there’s still plenty of time for the legislature to pass bills and the Governor to veto them.

Weatherford: Don't worry, be happy (about ethics, campaign-finance and tax breaks, but not about Medicaid)
By Aaron Deslatte
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott this week is rattling sabers over his priorities for manufacturing tax-cuts and bigger teacher pay-raises.

Alimony bill sponsors show testimonials
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Sponsors of a sweeping revision of Florida's alimony laws brought Gov. Rick Scott two big binders bulging with nearly 6,000 testimonials from divorced spouses Tuesday, urging him to sign the proposal to do away with permanent alimony.

Rubio PAC spends $47,000 on water bottles
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio won’t have to worry about getting a dry mouth during his next speech as he did after the President’s State of the Union Address in February.

Email exemption has dire consequences
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
It's not unusual for the Florida Legislature to think they're doing something right even as they push a bad bill into law.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Medical Marijuana Redux
By Stephen Nolgren
Tampa Bay Times
The people spearheading a drive to get medical marijuana on the November, 2014 ballot have decided to start over from scratch with a new citizen initiative petition.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Environmental groups enlist Bob Graham to help stop bills
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
A pair of bills now steamrolling through the Florida House and Senate have drawn such strong objections from environmental groups that former Sen. Bob Graham flew to Tallahassee this week to lobby against them.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi demands nearly $6 billion from BP for 2010 Gulf oil disaster
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Florida is seeking $5.48 billion for lost revenue - past and future - from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

DEO bill amended to deal with counties' concerns about money from oil spill fines
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Senate Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday approved two amendments to a Department of Economic Opportunity bill that were intended to eliminate concerns that the state is attempting to grab oil spill fines that Congress intended to go to the counties.

LGBT

From home in Fort Lauderdale, linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo continues his pro-gay activism
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo said Tuesday in his hometown Fort Lauderdale that he is continuing his vigorous campaign for gay marriage.

EDUCATION

Legislature’s approach on teacher raises lacks merit
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott has not been consistent on raises for Florida teachers.

Florida Senate pushes ahead with testing, charter school regulations
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Recent reports of an Orange County charter school that failed academically and paid its administrator more than $500,000 while skimping on educational materials troubled Florida state senators.

Senate adds new, controversial language to teacher evaluation bill
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
A bill that had won some praise from Florida teachers for making clear that they must be evaluated on the performance of students they teach picked up a new provision Tuesday that many educators don't like.

State Review Finds K12 Certification Problems
By John O’Connor and Trevor Aaronson
StateImpact Florida/Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
An inquiry by the Florida Department of Education’s Inspector General found that online educator K12 Inc. employed three teachers in Florida who lacked proper certification to teach some subjects, according to a draft report.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Pension bill: Pay more, get fewer benefits
By Stephen Herzenberg
Orlando Sentinel
A pension bill before the Florida Senate asks taxpayers to do something that will leave many of them scratching their heads: pay more for less.

Budget surplus could be boon for local lawmaker projects
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The room was packed last week with lobbyists and agency representatives when House Speaker Will Weatherford spoke with lawmakers before negotiations began on next year's $74 billion budget.

Florida Senate poised to take up tweaked bill to uncap rates for new Citizens insurance customers
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Senate takes what could be a final vote Wednesday on a bill to raise property insurance bills up to 85 percent for new customers of state-run insurer Citizens, but with a few tweaks aimed at cooling off a political hot potato.

Ticket Wars on Hold
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
A battle between the nation’s two largest ticket companies has ended for now.

Florida falls to 29th in venture funding, 2nd lowest since 1995
By Richard Burnett
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando-based Doccaster Inc. received $20,000 from an investment firm earlier this year — slim pickings in the world of venture capital.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Fla. House, Senate not budging on Medicaid plans
By Kelli Kennedy and Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Just months ago, expanding health coverage to more than 1 million Floridians seemed an unlikely feat.

Sen. Aaron Bean's health care plan likely going nowhere
By Matt Dixon  
Florida Times-Union
Sen. Aaron Bean’s alternative to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is likely stalled.

ALF bill looks stalled for a second year
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
For the second year in a row, legislation to reform the state's assisted living facilities in the wake of a Miami Herald investigation revealing neglect, abuse and death of ALF residents appears in trouble of passing.

Abuse-ridden ALF ordered to close
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
The Hillandale Assisted Living Facility, a Tampa Bay-area home where disabled young adults were raped, beaten, drugged and locked in a dank closet — one resident was struck by a car and killed — may be closing its doors on the orders of state health regulators.

Doctors and business groups reach deal on drug repackaging
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The annual food fight between business groups and doctors over dispensing repackaged drugs may be over.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Rubio pushes back on Politico immigration report
By Rachel Weiner
Washington Post
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is pushing back on a report in Politico suggesting that a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants would be a windfall for the Democratic Party.

Rubio featured in TV ad pitching hard-line immigration enforcement
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
A TV ad featuring Sen. Marco Rubio touting the "toughest enforcement measures in the history of the United States" is set to run in Florida and five other states, part of an effort to sell the immigration bill to conservatives.

Hammer: NRA will not ‘be reasonable’ about gun control
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer stood her ground at a Capital Tiger Bay club this afternoon, blasting President Obama’s background check proposal, sharing her childhood history and saying that the NRA will never “be reasonable” when it comes to compromising about gun rights.

FAU professor who questioned Newtown attack now leery of Boston bombing
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Atlantic University professor who questioned “whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place” is also raising doubts on his personal blog about government and police accounts of the Boston Marathon bombings.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Developer gets 6 months for campaign fraud
By Melissa Nelson-Gabriel
Associated Press
Florida developer Jay Odom was sentenced to six months in federal prison Tuesday for lying about illegal contributions he made in the 2008 presidential primary.