Daily News Clips for May 17, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott holds power with budget veto pen
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott must soon sign the new state budget, and he's getting intense feedback on all sides: from lawmakers protecting hometown projects, hospitals worried about losing money and a business-backed group criticizing pork-barrel spending.

Florida TaxWatch bags 107 budget 'turkeys' worth $107 million
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Senate President Gaetz slams TaxWatch 'turkey' list in sharp-tongued missive
Florida TaxWatch finds 107 line-item projects in the new state budget totaling $107 million that it says Gov. Rick Scott should veto because they bypassed the Legislature's own standards for transparency and competitiveness.

Florida governor rejects Amazon deal
Associated Press
Gainesville Sun
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has made job creation his top priority since coming into office, has rejected a proposed deal to bring major Internet retailer Amazon to the state.

Misrepresentations blocked care for a million Floridians
By Greg Mellowe
Orlando Sentinel
Despite the support of Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Senate, the 2013 legislative session ended with the Florida House unilaterally blocking the extension of health coverage to more than a million low-income, uninsured Floridians.

Protesters decry possible sale of Orlando Sentinel to Koch brothers
By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
About 40 people gathered in front of the Orlando Sentinel building Thursday evening to protest a rumored sale of the newspaper to billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch.

Rubio Preparing for Presidential Campaign Even As He's Focused on Immigration
By Beth Reinhard
National Journal
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio hasn’t popped up in an early-primary state in six months, leaving potential Republican rivals like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to make the rounds while he carried the torch for his immigration reform plan.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

If Rick Scott Is Serious About Creating Jobs And Cares About Florida Families, He Should Prove It
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
If Rick Scott is truly serious about creating jobs in Florida, he should call for a Special Session on Medicaid expansion.

How The GOP Is Putting America’s Safety Net Hospitals At Risk Of Bankruptcy
By Sy Mukherjee
Think Progress
In light of Republican-led states’ entrenched opposition to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, safety net hospitals around the country have expressed fears that they could go bankrupt as their government funding gets cut.

Koch Brothers proposed Tribune Co newspaper takeover a major problem for Florida progressives
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
The Florida Squeeze
As has been reported for several weeks, the ailing Tribune Company may be the buyer for eight daily newspapers around the country.

Update on Florida teen arrested for doing science while Black
By Terry Pinder
Daily Kos
I’d previously written about Kiera Wilmot, the inquisitive Polk County Florida teenager arrested and expelled for a science experiment gone accidentally wrong.

The EPA and Miami-Dade County fumble on climate change
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
On climate change adaptation, the rubber meets the road in the most highly developed areas of Florida that are also flood prone and virtually at sea level.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Lobbying 2013 Legislature cost $34.2M
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Insurance carriers, sugar growers pushing to lessen their pollution costs, telecommunications giant AT&T and an Internet-cafe software company dominated spending on lobbyists to influence the Florida Legislature during the first three months of 2013.

Scott reappoints agency heads Senate failed to confirm
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott reappointed three agency heads to their posts today, and they'll get another shot at Senate confirmation next year.

Gov. Scott makes quiet visit to Lakewood Ranch
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida Gov. Rick Scott spent part of his Thursday rubbing elbows with key GOP players at a pair of private events in Lakewood Ranch.

Law Gives Public Four New Ways To Report Suspected Government Corruption
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
Floridians have four new ways to lodge ethics complaints against public officials.

Allen West lands job on Fox News
Staff Report
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Former U.S. Rep. Allen West has a new job as a Fox News contributor, the cable channel announced Thursday.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Hands Across the Sand: A Movement To Fight Offshore Drilling
By Melissa Ross          
WJCT Jacksonville
Local citizens will be joining hands on Saturday, May 18th, at the St. Augustine Beach Pier to stand in solidarity against offshore drilling – in Florida and throughout the world.

Reactor shutdowns prompt inspections at Turkey Point
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
After three unplanned nuclear reactor shutdowns, federal regulators on Thursday said they are stepping up oversight of Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point facility.

DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard Cleared of EPA Violations Thanks to Statute of Limitations
By Kyle Swenson
New Times Broward-Palm Beach
Environmental activists across Florida have been waiting more than two years for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to land a serious body blow against the state's enforcement branch.

For springs restoration, a small step forward
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The $10 million for restoration that state lawmakers slipped into next year's budget won't go far toward repairing Florida's natural springs.

LGBT

Many workplaces insure gay, straight domestic partners; some now also pay the tax on benefits
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Thomas Barker, vice chairman of Miami Beach’s gay Business Enhancement Committee, recently made the case to other committee members for expanding city employees’ domestic partner benefits program.

EDUCATION

Time for annual release of FCAT results to begin
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
In what has become an annual rite of spring, the Florida Department of Education has scheduled its media briefing on how to translate FCAT results for next week Monday, meaning the actual results won't be far behind.

Five questions for Education Commissioner Tony Bennett
News Service of Florida
Saint Petersblog
Tony Bennett was the unanimous choice of the State Board of Education as Florida’s education commissioner in December, and he started his job in Tallahassee the next month.

Acting President of FAU Pushed Chick-fil-A Stadium Naming Deal, Former A.D. Says
By Fire Ant
New Times Broward-Palm Beach
Hapless Florida Atlantic University president Mary Jane Saunders resigned yesterday, and with their usual talent for due diligence and public relations savvy, the board of trustees filled the still-stinking seat with Dennis Crudele, who reportedly was go-between in the school's effort to sell naming rights to its football stadium to the notoriously homophobic fast-food chain Chick-fil-A.

Gov. Rick Scott Reappoints 6 to Florida Poly Board
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
Gov. Rick Scott reappointed six members of the Florida Polytechnic University Board of Trustees on Thursday after the Florida Senate failed to confirm any appointments to the university that is under development in Lakeland.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

TaxWatch "turkeys" draw fire
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida TaxWatch urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto 107 budget items Thursday, but top Florida Senate leaders said the policy-study organization’s annual list of financial “turkeys” is a worn-out publicity gimmick intended more to get publicity for TaxWatch than to safeguard the taxpayers’ money.

Internet cafe law may have unintended targets
By Erin Sullivan
Tampa Bay Times
House Bill 155 was designed to sweep the state of illegal gambling cafes, and it worked. Internet cafes from Jacksonville to Key West have closed.

Fla. to use social media to tout job numbers
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is using social media to tout the latest jobless numbers.

Historic Tourism Numbers Reviving Economy
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
An improving economic climate nationwide is good news for Florida.

Bill Nelson calls for federal help for St. Johns County potato farmers
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help St. Johns County potato farms after recent severe weather “caused the loss of about two-thirds of the local potato crop.”

HEALTH AND SENIORS

House Speaker Weatherford defends health care votes in Bradenton
By Jim De La
Bradenton Herald
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford sees great things in the state's future.

Another person arrested in alleged fraud at West Palm Beach day care centers that billed Medicaid $526,236
By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post
A 46-year-old woman is the second person to be arrested for Medicaid fraud involving two West Palm Beach day care centers, authorities announced today.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

After Democrat brinksmanship, House group finds agreement on immigration bill
By Marc Caputo and Franco Ordoñez
Miami Herald
A bipartisan House group hammered out an immigration-reform deal late Thursday after years of closed-door meetings and last-minute brinksmanship from a top Democrat.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida's crime rate dropped 6.5 percent in 2012
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Florida's crime rate dropped 6.5 percent in 2012, including a significant decrease in thefts, robberies and burglaries, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner released Thursday.