Daily News Clips for July 29, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Florida’s Medicaid debacle requires special session of the Legislature
Editorial
Miami Herald
From our It’s Worse Than You Think File: Not only does Florida refuse to take federal funds to expand Medicaid — spurning $51 billion over the next decade — but it now turns out that it also trails nearly every other state when it comes to accepting federal grants from Washington for healthcare reform.

Sit-in grows in Capitol; Belafonte spends Day-O with stand your ground protesters
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Related: Protesters seek major reforms
Urged on by singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, a boisterous, multi-generational crowd of 200 chanted inside the Capitol Friday afternoon, the 11th day of a sit-in outside Gov. Rick Scott’s office, as many of them prepared to be locked in for a second weekend.

Rubio unsettles immigration reform supporters
By Caren Bohan
Long Beach Press-Telegram
Republican Senator Marco Rubio's repeated criticism of parts of the sweeping U.S. immigration bill he helped craft has unsettled immigration reform advocates and others who support its passage.

Florida releases padded school grades amid outcry over testing
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's elementary and middle schools saw unprecedented — yet unsurprising — declines in their state-issued grades released Friday.

Voter law ruling stirs action in Florida
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court struck a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, state and federal officials and civil rights groups across the country have jumped into the legal void the ruling created.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rubio shifts focus to fight abortion and Obamacare
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Turning away from the bruising debate over immigration reform, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is seeking to shore up support from disgruntled conservative allies in Florida by becoming a leading crusader against abortion and "Obamacare."

G.O.P. Senators See an Upside in a Problematic Issue: Abortion
By Jeremy W. Peters
New York Times
It reads like a who’s who of the next generation of Republican Party leaders: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rob Portman.

Florida GOP feels conservative backlash over Common Core
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Long after he left the Governor's Mansion in 2007, Jeb Bush remained the strongest force in shaping Florida's education policies, stronger than his successors, Charlie Crist and Rick Scott.

Grayson, feeling secure in his seat, looks to elect others
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
Want proof that the comeback of U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson is complete?  Just look at his fundraising.

The politics and costs of divisiveness
Editorial
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott’s call for a day of prayer last week in pursuit of racial harmony among Floridians outraged/elated/rattled by the George Zimmerman verdict and the vociferous aftermath was a deft touch. Perhaps thousands of people across the state followed his counsel.

POLITICAL RACES

|Scott's personal assets shielded from public
By Gary Fineout
Tampa Tribune
Floridians had access to more information about Gov. Rick Scott's substantial wealth when he was a candidate three years ago than they do now.

Rich brings her uphill run for governor to Tallahassee
By Bill Cotterell
The Florida Current
Nan Rich is running for governor pretty much the way she ran the Senate minority caucus in her final two years as a Florida legislator.

GLBT

Florida will watch same-sex marriage fight from the sidelines
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida is home to some of the most gay-friendly locales in North America. So, it might seem odd that the state is sitting on the back burner of the legal fight to legalize same-sex marriages.

Rubio continues hold on gay black judicial nominee
Washington Blade
By Chris Johnson
LGBT groups are pressuring the Senate to push forward with the confirmation of the first openly gay black male to the federal bench now that a hold from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is the only hold up in the process.

EDUCATION

More school money means tax increase for some
By Gary Fineout
Palm Beach Post
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and state legislators have traveled the state this year boasting about the extra money they steered toward schools and teachers.

More Florida parents using state scholarships to send children to private schools
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Zobeyda Morales felt helpless when her daughter Kyra struggled in kindergarten.

Rubio comes out against Common Core, putting him at odds with Jeb Bush
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Marco Rubio has joined growing criticism of the education standards known as Common Core, putting him in conflict with Jeb Bush at a time when Rubio is sharpening his conservative credentials.

Education chief faces his biggest test
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett should proceed with caution.  Florida was one of the early leaders of a group of states developing tests for the Common Core State Standards, and it manages the money for the group, which is funded by a federal grant.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida economic growth trails most states, Fed says
Miami Herald
Florida’s economy is growing, but at a slower rate than seen by most states, according to an index by the Federal Reserve

Cash to lure jobs: County reaps the most
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
Florida has doled out more than $1 billion in job incentives over the past 17 years, and Palm Beach County has emerged as the undisputed champ at landing subsidies from Tallahassee.

Computers make list for Florida's annual tax-free holiday
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
The back-to-school tax holiday has gone wired, as computers join the slate of clothing and notebooks that will be tax-free next weekend.

Miami-Orlando train plans gain steam
By Alfonso Chardy
El Nuevo Herald
Managers of the project to operate a premium Miami-Orlando passenger train service say they are close to putting out bids to design the railroad corridor stretching from downtown Miami to the Orlando International Airport.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State opens door for higher health insurance rates, requires disclosure of cost of reforms
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
The next front in the national battle over health care reform: your mailbox

Feds ban some Medicare providers in crackdown
By Kelli Kennedy
Tampa Tribune
For the first time in history, federal health officials said Friday they will ban certain types of Medicare and Medicaid providers in three high-fraud cities from enrolling in the taxpayer-funded programs for the poor as part of an effort to prevent scams.

Authorities: Lavish spending, possible crimes led to Universal Health care's demise
By Susan Taylor Martin and Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Six months after Universal Health Care Group declared bankruptcy, authorities are piecing together how extravagant spending and possible criminal conduct led to the demise of the once-thriving Medicare insurer.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Rubio pushing "dumbest idea I've ever heard" says veteran GOP Senator
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
It's one thing when a member of the opposing party says you're acting like a fool. It's quite another when the comment comes from a veteran statesman within your own ranks.

Interim DCF Secretary calls for examination of children's deaths
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times
Esther Jacobo, the interim director of the state Department of Children and Families, has directed Pete Digre, assistant deputy secretary of operations, to conduct a "thorough review of all child fatalities due to abuse and neglect in 2013 where there was prior involvement by the department," a measure she calls the agency's "Number One Priority."

Could DCF lose its job over child deaths?
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The deaths of five children, ages 4 and under, since mid-May has led to the ouster of the state’s social services chief and is now fueling rising demands for reform – with Rick Scott the latest in a long line of Florida governors facing a crisis over what critics call a failed child protection system.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Few stood against 'stand'
By Michael Van Sickler and Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Florida has become a broad national target for its "stand your ground" law since the July 13 acquittal of George Zimmerman.

'Stand your ground' can't be yanked soon enough
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
President Barack Obama is talking about it, and so is the attorney general. There are marches in Florida and across the country, and protesters have been camped inside the state Capitol for more than a week.

What we think: Don't keep disabled kids stuck in nursing homes
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
If Pearl Buck was right, and "the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members," Florida got a failing grade this week.

Florida gave federal government no choice but to sue over vulnerable children
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Why would Florida put children in nursing homes? Good question. Because the state doesn’t have a good answer, the Department of Justice last week correctly sued Florida.

Is There Another Reason The State Denied USF Request To Exhume Bodies At Dozier?
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU
The University of South Florida is awaiting a response from the state about whether the school’s researchers can dig up the human remains of boys believed to have died over a 60-year period at the infamous Dozier School for Boys in north Florida.

FDLE gets barrage of calls after protest group says food is denied
By Kathleen McGrory and Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was inundated with hundreds of phone calls Saturday after a group of protesters outside Gov. Rick Scott's office tweeted that Capitol Police were denying them food and water and urged people to call the agency in protest.

Rally urges activism in wake of Zimmerman acquittal
By Daphne Duret
Palm Beach Post
As Tracy Martin walked across to the pulpit at Hilltop Missionary Baptist Church Sunday night, a group of boys, about half his son Trayvon’s age, gathered near a second-floor balcony, elbowing past each other so they could see him.