Daily News Clips for July 8, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

The BluVu: Week of July 8, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The BluVu
The governor's re election bid looks scary, scandal is all around the Heritage deal, and Progress Florida’s Damien Filer talks about how Gov. Scott torpedoed paid sick leave as political reality comes your way!

FEATURED STORIES

Florida expects plenty of questions as health exchanges come online
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The federal government surprised big employers by delaying a key provision of the health care law, but that doesn't mean the law is going away entirely.

Political tide rising for Scott
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
With 16 months left before his critical re-election bid, Gov. Rick Scott remains one of the most unpopular governors in America.

State Workers Set to Lose Jobs; Prison Health Care Changes Underway
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
Some are calling it the dirtiest deal in the last 20 years.

Marco Rubio’s pathetic Rick Perry moment
By Joan Walsh
Salon
Poor Marco Rubio. His role in developing a Senate immigration reform bill has hurt him with the Tea Party – but it doesn’t seem to be doing much to help him with Latinos.

Big Sugar ad touting role in preserving Everglades irks environmentalists
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
A Big Sugar ad campaign has struck a sour note with environmentalists.

A stake in the heart of a law that guaranteed fair elections
By Sen. Bill Nelson
Gainesville Sun
The U.S. Supreme Court, in striking down a central provision of the Voting Rights Act, hammered a stake into the heart of a law that’s been used to guarantee fair elections in this country since 1965.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Andy Marlette
Pensacola News Journal

FLORIDA POLITICS

Critics say Gov. Scott giving Great Floridian Awards to donors
Staff Report
WFTV Orlando
Gov. Rick Scott is handing out an unprecedented number of Great Floridian Awards, with critics saying the list of recipients for this year's class is filled with GOP donors and sports celebrities including Steve Spurrier, Tim Tebow, and Bubba Watson receiving the award.

Legislative leaders rewarded high-performing staff with salary hikes
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
When Florida legislators this year broke the freeze on employee pay and offered state workers salary increases for the first time in seven years, legislative leaders made sure to give some of their own employees pay raises, too.

Sen. Marco Rubio courted to take up ban on abortions at 20 weeks
By Adam Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Marco Rubio's championing of immigration reform has caused him to lose some luster among some conservatives.

When a vote against is actually for a bill
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
As if there were not enough reasons to view Congress cynically, consider this little gem.

Bondi's fiscal worth up 65 percent
By James L. Rosica
Tampa Tribune
Attorney General Pam Bondi's net worth increased 65 percent during the time she has been in public office, according to financial disclosures made public this week.

POLITICAL RACES

Democrat Murphy, a GOP target, fills coffers in anticipation of campaign battle
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
While the field of potential Republican challengers remains amorphous, freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, has already banked more than $1 million for his 2014 re-election effort.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Archaeological site could sink commercial spaceport location
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Space Florida, the state's aerospace economic development agency, wants to build a commercial spaceport next to Kennedy Space Center.

Miami’s Atlantis, interrupted
Editorial
Miami Herald
What are the stakes for Miami and South Florida if we continue to let Nature — addled by the devastating climate change effects caused by spiking carbon dioxide emissions (mostly from coal-fired power plants) — take its course?

Water war leaving Florida dry
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Congress should intervene to keep Georgia and the Army Corps of Engineers from further damaging the seafood harvest and environmental habitat in Florida's Apalachicola Bay.

Feds respond to lawsuit regarding 4 Florida species
Associated Press
Panama City News Herald
Federal wildlife officials say they’re working to reduce a backlog of animal and plant species in Florida and nationwide that may be candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

LGBT

Advocates: Florida will have gay marriages someday
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, supporters say equal marriage rights for same-sex couples will come to Florida - the only questions being when and how.

EDUCATION

Education Officials Weigh Changes To School Grading System
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
School districts across Florida are anticipating another drop in school grades.

Technology needs put squeeze on Lee County schools' budget
By Ashley A. Smith
Ft. Myers News-Press
Lee schools have a quickly growing student body that will need more space in the next five years, but there’s an additional demand being placed on their limited capital improvement fund — technology needs.

Fla. Poly Gears Up to Recruit Students
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
Florida Polytechnic University can open its doors despite a reduced budget, an unfinished campus, a controversial beginning and no accreditation. But one thing it can't do without is students.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Teamsters file unfair labor-practice complaint against state
By Travis Pillow
Tallahassee Democrat
The union that represents state prison guards is arguing the state has created “illegal” working conditions for officers by not compensating them for paid holidays.

Walmart firings prompt Grayson to submit retaliation legislation
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
Lisa Lopez and Vanessa Ferreira got involved in a national campaign calling for better pay and work schedules at Walmart stores. Then they lost their jobs.

Shadow of student loans could hurt housing market as graduates swim in debt
By Drew Harwell
Tampa Bay Times
Amanda Tappan, 21, tries her best to save money.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Employer mandate delay upends strategy for Florida Medicaid advocates
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related editorial: Take the time to get Obamacare right
The Obama administration’s decision to delay for a year the requirement that large employers provide health insurance to their workers likely ended any hopes Florida Democrats had of expanding Medicaid coverage in the near future to low-income residents.

U.S. relaxes health law income, insurance status rule for exchanges
By David Morgan
Reuters
Days after delaying health insurance requirements for employers, the Obama administration has decided to roll back requirements for new state online insurance marketplaces to verify the income and health coverage status of people who apply for subsidized coverage.

Florida dental plan failing poor children
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Florida does the worst job in the nation of ensuring poor children get dental care.

Did Florida's prescription pill database really spring a leak?
By John Woodrow Cox
Tampa Bay Times
The governor tried to kill it. Lawmakers wouldn't fund it. Few used it.

Report: Florida youth facilities report staff sexual misconduct
By Katia Savchuk
Miami Herald
Nearly five percent of youth in Florida juvenile facilities reported sexual victimization by staff in 2012, according to estimates the U.S. Department of Justice released last month.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

As reform lingers, sides debate economic effects of immigrants on U.S.
By Victoria Macchi
Naples Daily News
Are immigrants an economic benefit to the U.S. Or are they a drain on the economy. Sides debate that issue as immigration reform moves ahead.

Top five falsehoods of the immigration debate
By Becky Bowers and Angie Drobnic Holan
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
>From fence opt-out clauses to free phones for immigrants, PolitiFact has tracked the rhetoric of the immigration debate — and heard plenty of falsehoods.

Florida's Newest Gun Law: What Is Its Effect On Floridians?
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
A new Florida law blocking certain mentally ill individuals from buying a gun is pitting gun rights groups against each other.

Monuments to atheism and Christianity, now side-by-side at northern Florida courthouse
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Christians and nonbelievers alike are calling a monument erected recently outside the Bradford County Courthouse a victory.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

In Zimmerman trial, defense to continue its case
By Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower
Associated Press
Jurors in the George Zimmerman murder trial now will hear the defense's presentation after listening for two weeks as prosecutors made their case.