PROGRESS
FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Progressive Groups Target ALEC For “Damaging Influence” On Education
By Gina Jordan
National Public Radio, StateImpact Florida
Excerpt: “Floridians need to know who is representing, and how cozy their lawmakers are with, the for-profit education industrial complex,” said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida. “We will continue to shine a bright light on ALEC and the lawmakers doing their dirty work for as long as their assault on our neighborhood public schools continues.”
Progress Florida examines ALEC’s role in education
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Progress Florida, the liberal advocacy organization, released a report Tuesday examining the wide-ranging influence the American Legislative Exchange Council has on public education in Florida and across the nation.
Progress Florida’s Damien Filer discusses ALEC in Florida
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
Today on Radioactivity, guest Damien Filer talks about Progress Florida's newly released report on the negative impact of the corporate front group ALEC on public education policy and it's growing presence in the Florida school system.
FEATURED
STORIES
Supreme Court Voting Rights Act ruling affects five Florida counties, including Hillsborough
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: Court turns back clock on voting rights
Related: Scott cheers SCOTUS ruling on Voting Rights Act
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gutted a key part of the landmark Voting Rights Act that for decades sought to protect voters against racially discriminatory laws, including in Florida and Hillsborough County.
Once gung-ho on fighting voter fraud, Scott now sounding ho-hum
By Michael Van Sickler
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: Don't let real vote fraudsters off the hook
Gov. Rick Scott is showing zero interest in following up on the state’s efforts to investigate voter registration fraud.
Obama opens 2nd-term drive against climate change
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Appealing for courageous action "before it's too late," President Barack Obama launched a major second-term drive Tuesday to combat climate change and secure a safer planet, bypassing Congress as he sought to set a cornerstone of his legacy.
Supreme Court gives landowners big win in Florida case
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
The U.S. Supreme Court gave the family of a Central Florida landowner – as well as property owners and developers across the state and country – a significant victory on Tuesday with a ruling that stands to make it tougher and more expensive for government agencies to protect the nation’s dwindling wetlands.
Grayson Announces Bill to Let Workers Personally Sue Bosses Who Retaliate
By Josh Eidelson
The Nation
In a Tuesday interview, Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) announced the introduction of a bill to dramatically expand the legal remedies available to non-union workers who are punished for workplace activism.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
New study: Florida 2012 long lines most affected blacks, Hispanics
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
A new study from the think tank Advancement Project, drawing partly on Orlando Sentinel research, reports to a presidential commission that long voter lines in Florida most affected black and Hispanic voters.
Democrats use new Kids Count data against Scott
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida Democrats are using the newly released 2013 Kids Count report as a weapon against Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Democrats Blaming Southerland For Farm Bill Fail
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Tallahassee
Democrats are blaming Florida Congressman Steve Southerland for the failure of a bill renewing subsidies to farmers and food vouchers for the poor.
POLITICAL
RACES
Foster to face four opponents in St. Pete mayoral race
By Christopher O'Donnell
Tampa Tribune
The race to be the city's next mayor will officially be a five-way race.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
President Obama Lays Out Climate Change Strategy
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Republicans (and a few Democrats) may have killed the president’s plan for a comprehensive climate change bill in 2010, but he made clear during his second inaugural speech that we have a moral obligation to deal with climate change.
Could Obama's Plan Reduce Climate Change Impact on FL?
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
President Obama's proposal for sweeping changes to carbon emission regulations and more funding for green-energy technologies, announced on Tuesday, could improve air quality and reduce sea level rise in Florida.
PSC moving forward with nuclear cost law changes but questions arise
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved moving forward with rulemaking in response to legislation dealing with nuclear power projects but some commissioners challenged staff about additional factors that can be considered to determine the feasibility of proposed new plants.
LGBT
Supreme Court gay marriage decisions due 10 a.m. Wednesday
By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
The Supreme Court is meeting to deliver opinions in two cases that could dramatically alter the rights of gay people across the United States.
Gay rights activists stage sit-in at Rubio's Tampa office
Staff Report
WTSP Tampa Bay
LGBT activists staged a sit-in at Senator Marco Rubio's office in Tampa on Tuesday afternoon.
Hundreds sign up for Tampa's domestic registry
By Kevin Wiatrowski
Tampa Tribune
More than 450 unmarried couples have signed up as domestic partners in the year since the Tampa City Council created a registry for them.
EDUCATION
Court denies rehearing of teacher merit pay case
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A Tallahassee judge denied a request by the statewide teachers' union to reconsider his decision to throw out a lawsuit trying to strike down the controversial merit pay law that passed two years ago.
Members picked for school grades advisory task force
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett Tuesday announced the members of an advisory task force to review this year’s school grading formula.
Pasco pushes its own eSchool to retain student funding lost to Florida Virtual
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Despite anticipated budget shortfalls, the Pasco School Board agreed to spend $896,400 this spring to establish a summer program for Pasco eSchool.
Latest School Board budget cuts 525 jobs
By Joe Callahan
Ocala Star-Banner
The School Board on Tuesday passed Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn's revised 2013-14 staffing plan, setting in motion a series of budget workshops leading to a final vote on Sept. 10.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Gov. Rick Scott said state offered nothing special to lure Deutsche Bank jobs: Pants On Fire
By Katie Sanders
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
Companies are practically tripping over each other to relocate to Florida because of its alluring beaches and business-friendly approach. At least that's the picture Gov. Rick Scott painted Monday while speaking on Fox News.
Weatherford's pension overhaul faces obstacle: Good news
By Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott and the rest of the Florida Cabinet were given news Tuesday that poses a challenge for critics of public pensions.
Citizens investigation raises new questions about ethics lapses
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Two former Citizens Property executives, who left the state-run insurance company for violating conflict of interest rules, were developing an online software company with their supervisor and receiving hefty pay raises, documents show.
Higher rates loom for Citizens policyholders
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida's largest property insurance company plans to increase rates for the fifth straight year, a move that would cost customers $178 million.
Home prices soar in South Florida, nationwide
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Unprecedented home price gains nationwide in April were also reflected in South Florida, where a double-digit surge marked the sixth consecutive month of increases, according to the nation’s leading home price measure.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Florida children's instability worsens, report says
By Kristine Crane
Gainesville Sun
Florida children fare worse in measures of economic well-being compared with their peers throughout the nation, according to a national report released Monday.
DCF roiled by another child’s death
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
For the fourth time in six weeks, the state Department of Children & Families is investigating the death of a Florida child who, only weeks or months earlier, had drawn the attention of agency administrators.
Latino Enrollment Key To Success Of Health Law Marketplaces
By Jenny Gold
Kaiser Health News/National Public Radio
Andrea Velandia, 29, is just the sort of person health law regulators are seeking to draw into the new online insurance marketplaces– young, healthy, uninsured and Latino.
More drug-mixing done in Southwest Florida, thanks to scare
By Frank Gluck
Ft. Myers News-Press
The device vaguely resembles a high-tech vending machine, though the robotic arm and syringes behind its display glass are clear giveaways that it doesn’t dispense soft drinks.
IMMIGRATION,
CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Sen. Marco Rubio says he wants to re-examine Cubans' fast-track status but immigration bill doesn't
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Marco Rubio told a gathering of newspaper editors Tuesday that he thinks a 47-year-old law that gives Cubans fast-track status to permanent U.S. residence should be "re-examined."
Attorney general pushing to continue Dozier investigation
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is working with the state’s top archaeologists to get approval to investigate additional gravesites found at a North Florida reform school shuttered in 2011.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
On Voting Rights, A Decision As Lamentable as Plessy or Dred Scott
By Andrew Cohen
The Atlantic
Let's be clear about what has just happened. Five unelected, life-tenured men this morning declared that overt racial discrimination in the nation's voting practices is over and no longer needs all of the special federal protections it once did.
Florida shows why Supreme Court wrong on Voting Rights Act
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Related: SCOTUS ruling overturning Florida justices carries echo of ballot fight
The five members of the Roberts Court know much about the law but little about the world.
Man Walks to End Capital Punishment
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
One protester against death row hopes to make an impact in Florida by walking across the state to end capital punishment.
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