Daily News Clips for July 18, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

CREW: Rick Scott is one of America's worst governors, a "scrooge."
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, has branded Rick Scott as one of America's 18 worst governors.

Gov. Scott declines NAACP call; no plans to return quickly to protesters at Capitol
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott declined late Wednesday a call from the Florida NAACP that he return to the Capitol “immediately” to address the “outcry” over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, instead touting the state’s 42-year-low crime rate.

Stand Your Ground law critics push for Florida boycott
By Jim Turner
News Service of Florida
Critics of the state’s "stand your ground" law and Saturday’s acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of teen Trayvon Martin hope to make Florida pay.

Time to Repeal ALEC/NRA Stand Your Ground Laws
By Brendan Fischer
Truthout
The acquittal of George Zimmerman for killing unarmed high-schooler Trayvon Martin serves as a reminder of the continuing inequities in America's criminal justice system -- and might be the impetus to repeal a law like "Stand Your Ground," which was adopted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and subsequently spread across the country.

Marco Rubio Slammed By Black Lawmakers Over Stalled Judicial Nominees
By Jennifer Bendery
Huffington Post
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed outrage at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday for stalling Senate approval of two black judicial nominees that he had previously endorsed.

Florida House, Senate leaders oppose new curriculum tests
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's two top lawmakers have serious reservations about the assessments being created to test the new curriculum standards for hundreds of thousands of public school students.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Voting Rights Decision Could Mean Return of Florida’s Voter Purge
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Until Congress is able to come up with new voting rights rules, states could give some of their most controversial voting laws a second life.

State representative complains about Scott ad featuring teachers
By William March
Tampa Tribune
State Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, a public school teacher, has written to Gov. Rick Scott objecting to the use of video interviews with Florida teachers of the year in a political ad for Scott without their knowledge.

Florida conservatives push to recall Rubio
By Jillian Rayfield
Salon
A group of conservatives in Florida say that they are moving to recall Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican and once a darling of the Tea Party.

Marco Rubio stumbles
By Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei
Politico
Todd Harris, the usually gregarious consultant to Sen. Marco Rubio, uncharacteristically resisted eight days of calls and emails seeking his thoughts for this column.

POLITICAL RACES

Doster, Goodman, Reichelderfer lead Bondi campaign team
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Veteran Florida Republican political consultant Brett Doster, media strategist Adam Goodman of Tampa, and strategist Marc Reichelderfer will be the leaders in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s re-election effort.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Florida medical marijuana petition won't allow users to grow their own
By Stephen Nohlgren
Tampa Bay Times
A petition to allow medical marijuana in Florida is now available for signing — but don't bother stocking up on fertilizer and grow lights.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Report: Water woes could hurt power plants
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Plumes of white vapor surging from power plants in east Orange County are visible signs of the enormous amount of precious water required to cool those plants and of power-generation challenges looming ahead as cited in a report released this week.

Toxins on Indian River Lagoon seaweed might be killing manatees, but mystery remains
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
A government research chemist has isolated what he calls "a suite of toxins" on seaweed eaten by the 112 manatees that have died in Florida's Indian River Lagoon.

Heroic measures to save Florida's panthers, including mouth-to-mouth
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
The first time I saw Florida's official state animal, it was dead.  

EDUCATION

Convoluted school grading system fails all
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Little trust arising in Florida’s padded school grades
If all you parents will kindly take your seats we can begin this evening's orientation for the coming school year here at Lewis Carroll Elementary.

Scott declares false victory in “step on Jesus” controversy
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
It took Florida Atlantic University administrators four months to conclude what should have taken days: banning the “step on Jesus” classroom exercise was not a good idea.

Senators reportedly reach deal on student loans
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
Heading off a costly increase for returning college students, a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal Wednesday that would offer students better rates on their loans this fall but perhaps assign higher rates in coming years, the Associated Press reported.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

On a favorite Rick Scott TV network, Florida doesn't stack up well
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
One of Gov. Rick Scott's favorite national media outlets is CNBC, the all-business channel where he gets a soapbox to effusively talk up his state, as he did in May when Hertz revealed plans to move its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Lee County.

Panel meets on property insurance
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Some Florida consumers trying to make a claim on their long-held property insurance policies have had their claims denied and coverage canceled because of an old credit report.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

White House Says Health Law Will Restrain Insurance Prices In 2014
By Phil Galewitz and Julie Appleby
Kaiser Health News
Ratcheting up the campaign to sell the health law, President Barack Obama was expected to deliver a speech Thursday touting how millions of individuals are already benefiting from its insurance rebates, while others who buy coverage online in states such as California, New York and Oregon will pay lower-than-projected premiums.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called on by defense to testify in pill mill case
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
A pain clinic doctor who faces life in prison on charges of causing the overdose deaths of seven people by over-prescribing powerful narcotics wants Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify that what she was doing was perfectly legal.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Does repealing 'stand your ground' stand a chance in Florida?
By Henry Pierson Curtis
Orlando Sentinel
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made an impassioned call this week to overturn "stand your ground" laws in states across the nation in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal in Trayvon Martin's shooting death.

NAACP urges Scott to return to Tallahassee, call a special session
By James Call
Florida Current
Protestors camped outside of Gov. Rick Scott’s office at the state Capitol said Wednesday that they will not leave until Scott calls a special session of the Legislature to change the state’s self-defense law.

Here's Florida’s Next Trayvon Martin Case
By Lauren Williams
Mother Jones
A white man named Michael Dunn shot and killed an unarmed black teenager named Jordan Davis in Florida last year after a brief dispute.

Orlando protesters rally 1,200 strong against gun violence in honor of Trayvon Martin
By Susan Jacobson and Jerriann Sullivan
Orlando Sentinel
A crowd of about 1,200 people converged on the Orange County Courthouse on Wednesday evening to honor Trayvon Martin days after a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of the South Florida teen.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

It’s round two of ‘Docs vs. Glocks’ in Miami federal appeals court Thursday
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
It will be round two Thursday when lawyers for Florida doctors and state government spar over whether they have the legal right to ask their patients about gun ownership.