Daily News Clips for July 23, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Feds sue Florida over 'warehousing' of children in nursing homes
By Carol Marbin Miller and Katia Savchuk
Miami Herald
Florida health care agencies have acted with "deliberate indifference to the suffering" of frail and disabled children by offering parents no "meaningful" choice but to warehouse their children in nursing homes along with elders, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a lawsuit against the state filed Monday.

Do Over for DCF
Editorial
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott has a life-or-death decision ahead as he selects a new leader for the troubled Department of Children & Families. And those whose lives are affected are thousands of Florida’s children at risk of abuse.

Sit-in at Scott's office continues
By James Call
The Florida Current
“If this was easy we would have won by now,” said Gabriel Pendes, a Dream Defenders organizer from Miami, to about 20 people during a training session for the sit-in protest going on over Florida’s "stand your ground" law.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Obama to travel to Jacksonville port for economic development speech
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
President Obama will travel to Jacksonville Thursday and deliver remarks at the Port Authority as part of a series of events scheduled to focus on the economy, the White House announced today.

Rubio Shift to Solidify Support Recalls Florida Tenure
By Michael C. Bender
Bloomberg
Marco Rubio took office ready to push for a big policy change. He won support in his chamber, only to watch fellow Republicans on the other side of the Capitol pick apart the measure.

POLITICAL RACES

Big PAC givers to Buchanan
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
If you saw my column in Monday's Herald-Tribune, you know U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has been on a big fundraising push of late, having raised $800,000 in the first half of 2013 for his re-election.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Phosphate giant Mosaic pumps from Florida's aquifer to dilute its pollution
By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
Last year, a state water agency granted the world's largest phosphate mining company a permit to pump up to 70 million gallons of water a day out of the ground for the next 20 years.

State moving along with natural gas rebate program as Florida TaxWatch urges companies to act
By Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is moving forward with developing rules for a natural gas vehicle rebate program following a bill that passed the Legislature in May.

GLBT

FL Dems political director, Christian Ulvert, ties knot in DC with partner Carlos Andrade
By Marc A.Caputo
Miami Herald
Christian Ulvert, the Florida Democratic Party's new political director, married his partner Carlos Andrade in Washington, DC last week in a ceremony that they couldn't have in their home state.

EDUCATION

PolitiFact Florida: Fact-checking school testing requirements
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida is in the midst of implementing new, tougher academic standards to make its students more internationally competitive. To do that, the state needs to replace the well-known FCAT with a new set of tests.

PARCC: Florida’s Departure Won’t Sink Next Generation Test
By John O’Connor
State Impact
Florida Legislative leaders left no wiggle room in last week’s letter to Education Commissioner Tony Bennett: They want Florida to pull out of a multi-state partnership developing a next generation standardized test to (mostly) replace the FCAT.

PARCC estimates tests would cost less per student than FCAT; Georgia drops out
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
When questioning the need to remain in the PARCC testing consortium, House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz referred to concerns over cost.

Broward School Board to vote on renewing deal with K12
By Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
The Broward School Board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a one-year contract renewal with K12, a for-profit virtual learning company that has been dogged by complaints from other districts.

Florida gets an F on public school assessment system
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
Standardized testing in Florida's public schools has once again come under withering fire.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

In casino fight, Orlando tourism leaders raise the specter of unions
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Led by Walt Disney World, the Orlando tourism industry is lobbying hard to prevent the construction of Las Vegas-style casinos in Florida, arguing that the multibillion-dollar resorts would undermine the state's family-friendly reputation.

State Finances Looking Brighter
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
A Friday afternoon telephone conference and meeting took place from Tallahassee that probably was little noticed by Floridians, but the result (fingers crossed, everyone) could mean more money in state coffers for the 2014 Legislature to use.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State says feds lawsuit accusing state of warehousing disabled children is 'disruptive'
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Liz Dudek, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, staunchly defended the state's handling of disabled children in nursing homes on Monday and called the lawsuit filed Monday against the state by the U.S. Department of Justice a "disruptive" lawsuit that is intended to take over "control and operation of Florida's Medicaid and disability programs."

1 ACO Flinches, Another Launches
Health News Florida
JSA Care Partners, a St. Petersburg-based multi-site physician group, was among seven Accountable Care Organizations that are leaving the high-risk “Pioneer” ACO group, federal officials announced last week.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

State's refusal to dig at Dozier "a dodge," Sen. Nelson says
By Ben MontgomeryBen Montgomery
Tampa Bay Times
The University of South Florida argued Monday that the state has the authority to allow researchers to excavate graves around a clandestine cemetery at a notorious state-run reform school.

Sen. Nelson rips governor for not exhuming graves at Dozier School for Boys
By Jamal Thalji and Ben Montgomery
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson called out Gov. Rick Scott on Monday for saying the state doesn't have the legal standing to allow the exhumation of graves at the infamous Dozier School for Boys.

Poll shows vast racial divide between blacks and whites over Trayvon, Zimmerman, justice system
By Marc A. Caputo
Miami Herald
American public opinion about race, the justice system and George Zimmerman’s shooting of Trayvon Martin are as starkly different as black and white, a new poll shows.

Protesters stand ground in state Capitol, urge special session to undo self-defense law
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
With a sit-in by protesters in Rick Scott’s office entering its second week, the governor Monday sent his top juvenile justice official to meet with those gathered and try to ease tensions roused by the George Zimmerman acquittal.