Daily News Clips for April 4, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

The Blu Vu: Week of April 5, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida's Political Reality News Show
Florida Democratic Party chair Allison Tant talks issues and momentum, education fights over guns and parent trigger, and Progress Florida’s Damien Filer reveals the utility bill rip-off known as the “Nuke Tax” as political reality comes your way.

FEATURED STORIES

Rick Scott already has raised $9.8 million for 2014 re-election
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott's poll numbers remain stubbornly low, but by another measure he looks much stronger: raising money for his re-election campaign.

Big issues teed up for second half of lawmaking session
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
Florida is safe again for Canadian snowbirds. But halfway through the annual 60-day legislative session, most issues are unresolved.

House and Senate ready separate budget plans
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Both chambers of the Legislature advanced their own budget plans Wednesday, with Senators tacking on amendments giving money to favored projects, including $123 million for state college construction and maintenance projects.

Efforts to Deliver 'Kill Shot' to Paid Sick Leave Tied to ALEC
By Mary Bottari and Brendan Fischer
Huffington Post
In a victory for working families, New York is poised to become the largest U.S. city to require businesses offer paid days to workers.

Now, the Teeny Weeny Bean Plan
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Related: Making sense of Medicaid expansion
What kind of health coverage can you buy for $20 to $30 a month? "You can't," says John Sinibaldi, an independent broker in Seminole.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Convicts slip past Internet cafe law in Florida
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Three operators of Internet cafes stood before the Florida Senate Gaming Committee last month and urged them to have mercy on their industry.

Bill to end alimony draws acrimonious debate in Tallahassee
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Connie Bacher was awarded $1,400 in monthly alimony payments when her 23-year marriage ended in 2009.

In Game of Politics: My Halftime Report
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
After 16 years in the Florida Legislature, I was looking forward to spending my first spring in as many years blissfully ignorant of the manic activity in our state’s capital. That was not to be.

Highlights, lowlights midway through Florida's legislative session
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
This week marks the midpoint of the nine-week regular session of the Legislature.

Lawmakers should close ethics loopholes
Editorial
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Now is the time for the Florida Legislature to pass comprehensive ethics reforms for local and state officials.

Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet Mark Florida's 500th Anniversary in St. Augustine
By Dalia Colon 
WUSF Tampa
Someone has an anniversary today. But don't panic. It isn't you.

POLITICAL RACES

Rubio leading GOP field for 2016
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is the leading choice for president of Republican voters according to a new nationwide poll released today.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Amended House bill would establish practices to benefit wildlife while safeguarding landowners
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill was amended Wednesday in an effort to protect some agricultural landowners from running afoul with the law for incidental harm to protected wildlife species.

LGBT

Sen. Bill Nelson being pushed to take stand on gay marriage
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
Silence has always served him well. If others saw an opportunity to bluster, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was happy to demur.

Ft. Lauderdale mayor supports civil unions, no position on same sex marriage
By Amy Sherman
Miami Herald
As political figures ranging from mayors to U.S. Senators to Hillary Clinton announce their support for gay marriage, a key Democrat in Florida’s most liberal county is notably absent: Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler.

Broward County Schools develops training manual, video to protect its LGBTQ students
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Broward Public Schools on Thursday will publicly introduce an expansive training program to keep safe the district’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students.

EDUCATION

Fla. House ready to take up "parent trigger" law
Associated Press
Action News Jacksonville
The Florida House is poised for debate and a last vote on a bill that gives parents a vote in turnaround options for failing public schools.

School board members study new Common Core standards
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
School board members from districts throughout Central Florida gathered in Ocala on Wednesday to learn more about the state's new education mandate: Common Core State Standards.

Grading teachers
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Once again, Florida has made the national news for all the wrong reasons.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Weatherford loses Democratic support on budget
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Let the good times, and turkeys, roll
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford’s refusal to offer a plan in lieu of expanding Medicaid cost him votes on his biggest bill -- the state budget.

Rick Scott’s tax-cuts are nowhere to be found in Legislature’s budget
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida legislative session is halfway over, both the House and Senate have drafted similar versions of their $74 billion-plus budgets, and so far Gov. Rick Scott’s corporate and manufacturing tax cuts are nowhere to be found.

Bill Would Ban State Aid for Pensions; Counties, Cities Would Be On Their Own
By Michael Peltier
News Service of Florida
Local governments with underfunded pension plans would not be able to look to the state for a bail out, under a bill filed Wednesday that is expected to become a template for legislation in the months ahead.

Lawmakers could raise rates for Citizens Insurance customers
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Rocked by a series of corporate scandals — and with its CEO facing a tough confirmation hearing — Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has gone increasingly positive with its messaging in recent weeks.

Sen. Nelson’s bill to cut congressional pay stalled
By William March
Tampa Tribune
A month ago, with fanfare, Sen. Bill Nelson announced legislation to cut the pay of members of Congress if federal employees were forced into furloughs by the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Legislators cross party lines in abortion votes
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After an emotional debate, a divided House committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban an abortion based on the sex or race of an unborn child, one of four abortion-related bills proposed this year.

BeanCare, NegronCare, Who Cares? Senate Panel Clears Another Alternative to Medicaid
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
A “Plan C” alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law is now moving through the Senate.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Marco Rubio’s political calculations on immigration
By Joy-Ann Reid
Miami Herald
It’s getting hard to read which way Marco Rubio is blowing on immigration reform lately.

Scott ‘Stand Your Ground’ caution lost in FAU religion controversy
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
When it comes to jumping to conclusions, Gov. Rick Scott is a hard guy to figure out.

Weak Gun Laws & High Levels of Gun Violence Go Together
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Today, our colleagues at the Center for American Progress put out an important new study examining the relationship between a state’s gun laws and its rate of gun violence.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Obama seeks to shift conservative tilt of key court
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
President Obama has pressed senators from both parties in recent weeks to confirm a new federal judge for one of the country’s most powerful courts, using an aggressive strategy to campaign for a judicial nominee whom White House officials consider a potentially crucial figure in boosting the president’s second-term agenda.