Daily News Clips for June 25, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Goodbye, Miami
By Jeff Goodell
Rolling Stone
Related: Rising Seas: A City-by-City Forecast
When the water receded after Hurricane Milo of 2030, there was a foot of sand covering the famous bow-tie floor in the lobby of the Fontaine­bleau hotel in Miami Beach.

Scott team harvests reelection funds from Big Sugar
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
While Gov. Rick Scott was in Paris last week, his re-election team pulled in nearly $700,000, with a large part of the harvest coming from U.S. Sugar Corp.

Grandma vs junior? Senior arcade owners file suit, fire first salvo in battle over state gambling law
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
If grandma and grandpa can’t gamble, neither should junior.

Florida's prisoners get little help once released
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Every single day all over Florida, the heavy steel doors of a prison swing open and an inmate walks free after completing a sentence.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rubio’s favorable ratings slide with GOP voters nationally in Rasmussen poll
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
A new Rasmussen poll shows 58 percent of Republicans nationwide have a favorable view of Florida Republican Sen. and potential 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio — down from a 68 percent favorable rating in May and 73 percent in February.

Comparing Scott's poll numbers
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is no longer on the bottom.

Dolphins owner forms super PAC, blasts Miami lawmakers
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has begun exacting his political revenge against state lawmakers who stood in the way of his proposed renovation to Sun Life Stadium.

Pensacola Chamber, Facing Problems, Keeps Public at Distance
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
We love spending time in the so-called “Redneck Riviera,” with its white sand beaches, fresh seafood and reasonable hotel rates.

Sentencing delayed for Democratic candidate linked to feds’ probe of ex-GOP Rep. David Rivera
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
If the feds are going to pursue an election conspiracy case against former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, a courtroom drama that played out Monday could hasten their timetable.

Orange leaders adopt text-tracking system
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Months after "textgate" broke, many Orange County officials who lost or deleted text messages have switched over to county-issued phones with a tracking program that archives the records. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

DEP says it has saved $8.8 million through staff reductions and improved efficiency
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says it has reduced operating expenses in its regulatory program by $8.8 million this fiscal year and it's asking to keep some of it for employee bonuses.

Our water treasures are in danger
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
In a public forum in Jacksonville last week, environmental advocates sent another distress signal on the endangered health of two of Florida's most valuable natural assets: Silver Springs and the St. Johns River.

EDUCATION

High court insists on tough scrutiny when school uses affirmative action in admissions
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
U.S. Supreme Court watchers expecting a definitive thumbs up or thumbs down Monday on affirmative action in university admissions instead heard a narrow ruling that may not affect how such admissions work in the future.

FLDOE offers help to teachers whose data became exposed
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Department of Education will have staff on hand Monday afternoon to assist any of the 47,000 participants in the state's teacher preparation programs whose personal computerized information may have been compromised in recent weeks.

Is FAMU's Marching Band Coming Back? 'We'll Make A Decision Shortly'
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida A & M University’s Marching 100 band is still under an indefinite suspension due to the hazing death of a drum major in 2011.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Abandoned foreclosures mar Florida real estate
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Tens of thousands of Florida homes in foreclosure have been abandoned by
their owners, ranking the state first in the nation for the number of properties sitting empty while waiting for the bank to take possession.

Orlando: Tops in tourism, near bottom in income
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Quick, name two things that Atlantic City, N.J., Detroit, Mich., and Youngstown, Ohio have in common. OK, time's up.

Administrative court judge notes lack of DOT bid policies in contract dispute worth millions
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A dispute over a $5 million contract for electrical work on a Jacksonville highway has highlighted what an administrative court judge termed the Florida Department of Transportation’s “absence of regulations, policies, or even guidelines” governing when and under what circumstances to postpone deadlines for contract bids.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicaid expansion the subject of South Florida town halls
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Broward County legislators Tuesday will gather health care providers, business groups and a few Democrats still stinging from the Legislature’s rejection of a push to expand Medicaid to 1.1 million low-income Floridians under the Affordable Care Act.

Florida at bottom in providing dental care for poor children, Pew report finds
By Kate Santich
Orlando Sentinel
More than three-fourths of Florida's children covered by Medicaid do not get regular dental care — the worst rate of any state, according to a report released today by the Pew Children's Dental Campaign.

Scott extends safety net for foster children
By James Call
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott held a ceremonial bill signing Monday for the "Nancy C. Detert Common Sense and Compassion Independent Living Act."

Jackson Health System board seeks $830-million bond referendum for hospital upgrades
By Daniel Chang
Miami Herald
The board that runs Jackson Health System on Monday voted to ask Miami-Dade commissioners to call a special election in November asking voters to approve an $830 million bond to pay for renovations and equipment upgrades at the taxpayer-owned hospital system.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

ACLU wants prescription database release investigated
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the release of 3,300 people’s private drug histories from Florida’s prescription database to lawyers in a narcotics sting last month.

Cost-benefit analysis makes case for immigration reform
By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post
For weeks, anti-immigration critics have complained about what they call the extraordinary cost of a Senate proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws.

A Long, Slow Drift From Racial Justice
By Lee C. Bollinger
New York Times
The Supreme Court has again upheld the principles behind race-conscious affirmative action, no small feat for the cause of diversity in higher education.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Anti-death penalty groups outraged over law speeding up executions in Florida
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
Florida Governor Rick Scott is poised to execute more people in one term than any of his recent predecessors based on a new law that goes into effect July 1 that speeds up the death penalty process.

Federal court halts execution of Miami killer Marshall Lee Gore
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
A federal appeals court on Monday temporarily halted the execution of Miami killer Marshall Lee Gore, about an hour before he was set to die by lethal injection.

Supreme Court chooses new clerk
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
A Tallahassee lawyer with experience defending Death Row prisoners and expertise in court technology will become clerk of the Florida Supreme Court next November.