Daily News Clips for July 3, 2013

Note:  Daily Clips will take a brief hiatus for Independence Day weekend before returning Monday.

FEATURED STORIES

Employer Mandate Delayed a Year
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Business groups reacted with relief to a late Tuesday announcement from the Obama administration that they have an extra year to provide coverage to their employees or pay a penalty, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer advocates were disappointed.

Rubio's problems don't end with immigration
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
Marco Rubio's role in immigration reform has been lambasted as betrayal by some of his strongest supporters, although it sounds they are now "former" supporters.

Report: Rubio to introduce Senate bill banning abortions after 20 weeks
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today agreed to be the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old.

Fixing Florida's voting mess
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's dysfunction during the 2012 general election did not impact all voters the same way.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida's Cabinet system has gone to the dogs
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Attorney General Pam Bondi is Florida's chief legal officer.

Court agrees to hear appeal of ruling shielding legislators from redistricting testimony
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
In what promises to be a precedent-setting ruling over whether legislators can be shielded from testifying in a redistricting case, the Florida Supreme Court has agreed to hear a redistricting challenge brought by the League of Women Voters.

Scott vetoes three bills, criticizes special districts' power grab
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott vetoed three bills today, criticizing special taxing districts that are supposed to govern drainage and water control issues for asking the Legislature to grant them more power.

Publicly Funded Pensacola Chamber Spent Big on ‘Extravagant’ TV Ad
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
What’s going on with the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce?

Old friends recall the life of lawmaker, lobbyist John Culbreath
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Friends gathered in the North Florida town of Monticello Monday afternoon to honor the life of John Culbreath, a former state House member who went on to a long career as a lobbyist for the thoroughbred racing industry in Tallahassee.

POLITICAL RACES

What if Hillary Clinton passes on 2016?
By Maggie Haberman
Politico
For Democrats, there is no fallback: It’s Hillary Clinton or probably a long bout of depression ahead of 2016.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida Park Service to allow advertising on 7 paved trails, including Van Fleet in Green Swamp
News Service of Florida
Orlando Sentinel
A year after lawmakers agreed to allow advertising on state greenways and trails, the Florida Park Service has announced that sponsors are being sought for seven multi-use, paved trails from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys.

Gulf Cleanup: "Shrimp With No Eyes. Crabs With No Claws. No Surprise and Predictable"
By Barbara Wiseman
Columbia County Observer
The devastation that is continuing to occur in the Gulf as a result of the on-going application of Corexit is jaw-dropping and heartbreaking.

DEP bonuses send wrong message
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, by all means, should emphasize an efficient permit review process.

LGBT

Gay-Rights Group Considering Lawsuit Challenging Fla. Same-Sex Marriage Ban
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
A Florida gay-rights group might file a legal challenge to the state’s gay-marriage ban.

Democrat Rich pledges to repeal same-sex marriage ban
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich sent out a fund-raising appeal Tuesday pledging to erase Florida’s same-sex marriage ban.

Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, other potential 2016 GOP candidates share views on DOMA decision
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Heraled
Associated Press has gathered quotes regarding the Supreme Court's recent DOMA decision from leading Republicans viewed as potential White House candidates in 2016.

EDUCATION

What tests will replace FCAT? Answer coming soon, commissioner says
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Florida was to settle on a new set of standardized tests to replace FCAT by the end of June.

Capital needs continue to outstrip funding for Pasco schools
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
School maintenance, renovation and construction needs will outpace the Pasco school district's ability to cover all the costs for the next decade or longer, officials told the School Board on Tuesday.

Pay to play goes away for Brevard high school sports
By Brian McCallum
Florida Today
The Brevard School Board approved a new budget plan for the 2013-14 academic year that will not include a Pay-to-Participate fee.

USF hopes merit raises will keep key faculty from leaving for other schools
By Stephanie Hayes
Tampa Bay Times
When you live right down the road from the top universities in Florida, how do you stay competitive?

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Sequester Hits the Long-Term Unemployed
By Catherine Rampell
New York Times
Sunday was the five-year anniversary of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, a federal program signed into law by President George W. Bush that initially added 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to the standard 26 weeks states already offered eligible jobless workers.

Report: Expanding gambling could make Florida ’less attractive’ tourist destination
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
If Florida decides to expand casino gambling, the move could harm the state and Orlando’s tourist brand, according to a new gaming report commissioned by the Florida Legislature.

Lawmakers will revisit cuts in auto fees
By James L. Rosica
Tampa Tribune
The Legislature's two budget chiefs say they are willing to revisit a failed proposal to roll back the state's automobile fees, which would save an individual driver as much as $12 a year on license plate and other charges.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Obama administration delays health law's employer mandate until 2015
New York Times
Tampa Bay Times
In a significant setback for President Barack Obama's signature domestic initiative, the administration on Tuesday abruptly announced a one-year delay, until 2015, in his health care law's mandate that larger employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties.

Retirees protest contemplated cuts in Social Security cost-of-living increases
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Retiree Carol Berman of West Palm Beach spoke glowingly of President Barack Obama from the podium at last year’s Democratic National Convention, but on Tuesday she found herself in the odd position of criticizing the president for his proposal to slow down future Social Security benefit increases.

DCF worker tied to child death lacked credentials
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
The Miami child abuse investigator who resigned under pressure last May after an infant she declared “safe” was later baked to death in a sweltering car had been working for two years without required certification — a violation of state law.

'Covering Kids' Wins $1M Grant
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida Covering Kids and Families, which has helped thousands of uninsured children in Florida get enrolled in a health plan, has won a $1 million federal grant to expand its outreach.

14 FL Hospitals to Pay $11 Million
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Fourteen Florida hospitals have reportedly agreed to pay about $11 million to settle charges of Medicare fraud in a whistleblower case involving a back procedure called "kyphoplasty."

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Voting rights ruling a dagger in heart of civil rights movement
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
Miami Herald
Last week was bittersweet for the cause of human dignity.

Ad praises Rubio, immigration bill
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
American Action Network is spending $50,000 on an ad thanking Sen. Marco Rubio for the immigration bill that includes tens of billions in additional border security spending.

Offensive Word Removed from Nearly Two Dozen Florida Laws
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
Millions of Americans have an intellectual disability, for years they were known as living with mental retardation; a new law in Florida is changing that.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Trayvon Martin and Black Manhood On Trial
By Mychal Denzel Smith
The Nation
Yesterday, the jury in the George Zimmerman murder trial heard, at length, Zimmerman describe in his own words what happened the night he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Sex Offender Study May Keep Some Inmates Behind Bars
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
More than 650 men being held in a state prison are so dangerous a judge has determined they can’t be released even though they have served their sentences.