Daily News Clips for June 5, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Florida Governor's Immigration Veto Predicted to Set Off 'Anti-Hispanic Bomb'
By Beth Reinhard
National Journal
Risking a Hispanic backlash in favor of his conservative base, Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday rebuked President Obama's immigration policy by vetoing a bill intended to help children of illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses.

Gov. Scott won't say if he supports special $52 million deal for donor
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Last month, Gov. Rick Scott went line-by-line through the state’s $74.5 billion budget, striking down more than $350 million in spending items—everything from $10,000 for a water project in Miami Gardens to $50 million for a state bike trail.

Mothers protest sick-leave bill
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Pushing two baby strollers and pulling a little red wagon, a group of Orando-area women delivered more than 11,000 petitions to Gov. Rick Scott's office Tuesday, urging him to veto legislation intended to prevent city and county governments from mandating sick leave and other work benefits for local employers.

Rick Scott's Cuts Dilute Water Laws
By Matt Levin
Broward Palm Beach New Times
News of the bizarre crisis began in the spring. TV reports flashed footage of manatees — the docile emblems of Florida's waterways — dead and marooned on the shore of the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County.

Rubio introduces constitutional amendment aimed at Obamacare's individual mandate
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Marco Rubio today introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to invalidate Obamacare's individual mandate.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Three months later, still no Lt. Governor
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
Almost three months after she resigned in the wake of a gambling probe into an organization that had been one of her business clients, there is still no replacement for former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll.

Top Scott staffers weren't sure about manufacturing tax break after it failed to get supermajority
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
After a constitutionally questionable vote on Gov. Rick Scott’s top legislative priority, a tax break for manufacturers, House Speaker Will Weatherford quickly declared the bill passed, despite its failing to reach an 80-vote supermajority previously considered necessary.

Gun Control, Foreclosure Bill Among Those Still Waiting On Scott's Approval
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
Governor Rick Scott still has several high-profile bills awaiting his signature or his veto.

Lawyer of convicted Garcia rival wants FBI investigation of mystery 2010 candidate
By Marc Caputo and Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Hidden money. A shadowy candidate. Missing campaign-finance reports.

Fair Districts groups ask Supreme Court to force lawmakers to testify
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The coalition of voting-rights groups suing the Florida Legislature over last year's redistricting maps are asking the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether to force lawmakers to go under oath in the lingering legal battle.

House Dems plan rules change, insist there's no coup to overthrow Rouson
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
House Democratic leaders have called a meeting during the Florida Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser June 15 to discuss changes to caucus rules, but Minority Leader Perry Thurston said it is not a step toward removing Rep. Daryl Rouson as incoming Democratic Leader.

Rep. Darryl Rouson failed to pay taxes on Tallahassee townhouse
By Susan Taylor Martin
Tampa Bay Times
In 2010, state Rep. Darryl Rouson bought a townhouse in Tallahassee.

POLITICAL RACES

Democrats' 2014 strategy: Own Obamacare
By Alex Isenstadt
Politico
Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on.

Five Reasons Charlie Crist Will Not Run For Governor
By Terrence McCoy
Broward New Times
Citing a slew of insider folk who compose the "Charlie Crist camp," Politico recently unleashed one of the most unintentionally satirical articles of Washington reporting this side of a Joseph Heller novel.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Cabinet honors wildlife expedition team along with former Cabinet members Gunter and Bronson
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The governor and Cabinet on Tuesday honored a wild lands expedition team as well as former Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson and former Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter.

LGBT

Repeal of gay pride ban under consideration today by Hillsborough County commissioners
By Bill Varian
Tampa Bay Times
Hillsborough County commissioners made perhaps their most demonstrative declaration eight years ago that government should not extend rights to some groups.

EDUCATION

Governor presses universities not to pass cost of living increase on to students
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A day after launching a fund-raising appeal built around his veto of a tuition hike, Gov. Rick Scott continued Tuesday to insist that colleges and universities not pass onto students an automatic cost-of-living boost.

More FCAT scores, plus results from end-of-course exams expected this week
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
FCAT and end-of-course exam scores are expected by the end of this week, a massive data dump that will give us results from reading, math and science FCAT and exams in algebra, biology, geometry and U.S. history.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Scott signs mortgage relief bill as concerns emerge about whether banks are following rules
By Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Tuesday that will distribute $200 million in mortgage relief and vowed the new law would hold banks accountable so homeowners are better shielded from foreclosure abuses.

Mothers join effort as Florida debates rules on sick leave
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Myriam Rivera joined a group of Central Florida mothers who used baby strollers and a red wagon to deliver 11,000 petitions to Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicaid Expansion Denial Will Cost States Billions: Report
By Jeffrey Young
Huffington Post
States that refuse to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care reform law not only will deny health coverage to poor residents and lose access to a huge influx of federal dollars, they also will see increased spending on uninsured people's unpaid medical bills, according to a new report by the Rand Corp., a consulting firm.

Governor Scott To Sign Abortion Measure And Other Bills
Associated Press
WCTV Tallahassee
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is visiting a children's home in the Panhandle where he'll sign a bill that requires medical care for newborns who survive botched abortions.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Gov. Scott vetoes immigrant driver license bill; Hispanic lawmakers call action 'unconscionable'
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have allowed children of immigrants who are not U.S. citizens to get Florida driver licenses. Scott said he vetoed HB 235 because it would have benefited people who are covered by a change in federal policy instituted by President Barack Obama last year.

35 attorneys general back immigration reform, but not Pam Bondi
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A coalition of attorneys general from 35 U.S. states and territories have banded together to support comprehensive immigration reform.

Rubio rounding up support for immigration bill
By Erica Werner
Associated Press
Senate debate on a far-reaching immigration bill is becoming a test of Sen. Marco Rubio's influence over fellow Republicans, as the Florida conservative works to sell GOP lawmakers on landmark legislation that also may help determine the fate of his presidential ambitions.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Political questions surround pending Rick Scott judge pick
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The legal and political worlds in Broward and Palm Beach counties are swirling with speculation — and concern — over who Gov. Rick Scott will pick to fill a coveted judicial vacancy on the Fourth District Court of Appeal that hears cases from six South Florida counties.

Judge denies injunction sought in Internet cafe crackdown
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
A federal judge Tuesday rejected a request by two Broward County senior arcades to block key parts of a new law that stemmed from a statewide crackdown on Internet cafes.