Daily News Clips for December 19, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Qpoll: Scott’s popularity remains low, faces ‘herculean’ task to change voters’ minds
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
As Gov. Rick Scott prepares for a re-election bid in 2014, more than half of Florida’s voters say he doesn’t deserve a second term and Scott’s job approval rating remains low, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

Gov. Scott: Florida needs more early voting days
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida Gov. Rick Scott told CNN‘s Soledad O’Brien this morning that the state needs a longer early voting period after some voters, including those in Palm Beach County, waited up to eight hours to cast their ballots.

As nation moves ahead on gun control, Tallahassee in denial
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Nation cries out for reasonable gun laws
It came at an unfathomable cost. But across the nation, long-held political bargains that have pitted individual gun rights against broader public safety concerns are being re-examined after the loss of 20 innocent schoolchildren and six adults in Newtown, Conn.

Rubio, Nelson divided on assault weapons ban
By Ledyard King
Ft. Myers News-Press
Like many other parents still trying to absorb Friday’s mass shooting in Connecticut, Marco Rubio was more anxious than usual when he took his kids to school Monday.

House GOP focusing on fiscal cliff backup plan
By Alan Fram
Associated Press
Still short of a "fiscal cliff" deal with the White House, top House Republicans are laboring to rally their rank-and-file behind an alternative plan that would prevent looming tax increases for everyone but those earning over $1 million a year.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida's new license plate design announced
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Unlike presidential races in Florida, the counting of votes for the next state license plate ended on time Friday with — so far, at least — no threat of a recount.

Rick Scott Looks For Other Budget Transparency Options
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Gov. Rick Scott has announced that he will take a look at other possible budget transparency programs in Florida.

Bad return address on Christmas cards from Gov. Rick Scott's political committee
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
It is definitely not the Governor's Mansion. There are no stately white columns on the modest house 3 miles east of the state Capitol.

Sachs targets ECOs with bill to curb libelous political ads
By James Call
Florida Current
A South Florida senator wants tighter regulations on political electioneering communication organizations.

Santa's List for State Politicians: Naughty, Naughtier
By Peter Schorsch
Florida Voices
With Florida's politicians, it's not a question of who has been naughty and who has been nice, it's a matter of who's been naughty and who's been naughtier.

Legislative pay hikes disappoint, yet hope on other issues remains
Editorial
Bradenton Herald
When House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz assumed their new positions of power last month, both talked about a fresh bipartisan approach in their opening speeches.

For transparency in government
Editorial
Miami Herald
It’s disappointing, though not surprising, that Gov. Rick Scott decided last week to allow a budget tracking website that Florida taxpayers have already paid for to remain on the shelf while the state pursues new bidders for the project.

POLITICAL RACES

Fla. poll says Scott's re-election in jeopardy
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's chances for re-election are in jeopardy, a new poll shows.

Instant analysis: Key takeaways from today’s Quinnipiac poll of Rick Scott
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Related: Rick Scott committee now at $5 million raised for 2014 race
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Gov. Rick Scott’s job performance rating upside-down at 45% disapprove to 36% approve.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Wood storks no longer endangered species, say feds; Audubon disagrees
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
The wood stork, on the endangered list for more than 25 years, has bounced back, federal officials announced Tuesday.

UF researchers study manatee population, outlook
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
University of Florida researchers studying manatees say that despite a growth in population, their outlook remains risky.

Source of persistent Gulf sheen remains a mystery
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
Underwater inspections at the site of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have failed to identify the source of a persistent sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, officials said Tuesday.

State gets 2nd Panhandle land deal as part of oil spill settlement
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Trust for Public Land has purchased and donated to the state a conservation easement on 2,336 acres in Walton County that is part of a larger private nature preserve. 

EDUCATION

Brevard legislators: Armed teachers worth considering
By Dave Berman
Florida Today
Should teachers bring guns to school along with their briefcases and lunch bags?

Orange leaders OK $3M for more deputies in elementary schools
By David Damron and Erica Rodriguez
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County commissioners voted 6-0 Tuesday to pay up to $3 million for full-time, armed deputies at elementary schools in its unincorporated areas until the end of the academic year in a move designed to quell campus fears after last week's mass killings in Newtown, Conn.

Legislators told of flaws in new teacher evaluations
By Joey Flechas
Gainesville Sun
Related editorial: The joke’s on us
Three state lawmakers got a chance to listen to Alachua County teachers talk about a controversial new state teacher evaluation system during a forum at Buchholz High School on Tuesday night.

13th Grade: What Florida Colleges Are Doing To Help More Students Complete Remedial Courses
By Lynn Waddell and John O’Connor
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Jamille Cunningham’s primary learning tool in her remedial reading course at St. Petersburg College is a computer program.

The Real Cost of Gov. Rick Scott's Education Proposal
By Pamela Newton
Huffington Post
A chill is running down the spines of English majors everywhere.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Rick Scott right that Florida economy soured under Charlie Crist but wrong to blame him
By Katie Sanders
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
Former Gov. Charlie Crist has the Florida political world buzzing about a potential face-off with Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Black Business loan fund takes jobs agency to court over certification
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The Black Business Investment Fund of Central Florida is suing the Department of Economic Opportunity for its refusal to certify the group as a Black Business Investment Corporation for the current fiscal year, denying the fund millions of dollars to loan to minority-owned businesses.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

'Gunshine State' Offers Mixed Reaction
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Don’t expect Friday’s massacre of first graders to nudge Florida in the direction of gun control, not even on assault weapons.

'If I'd Had To Wait Until 67 For Medicare, I'd Be Dead'
By Russ Mitchell
Kaiser Health News
Sam Lewis turned 65 in the nick of time. For a year, he'd been broke.

Dental care is a much needed part of overall health but isn't always affordable
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
With or without insurance, dental care is often neglected in health care decisions because it’s so expensive. But good dental care is about more than just a pretty smile, it’s a vital part of overall health.

Moffitt To Employees: Flu Shot or Mask
By Lottie Watts
Health News Florida
When H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center asked its employees to get flu shots, only about 60 percent complied.

Miami-Dade owner of mental health chain pleads guilty to stealing millions from Medicare
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
Kept behind bars because of fears he might flee to Cuba, Armando “Manny” Gonzalez has pleaded guilty to stealing tens of millions of dollars from Medicare by fraudulently billing the taxpayer-funded program through a mental health chain in Miami-Dade and North Carolina.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Gun-control backers see domino effect on firms after Newtown school shootings
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Retailers, investors and Hollywood are reacting to the massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., in what gun control advocates are hoping will be a domino effect.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Fla. Attorney General wants reporter to testify
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is jumping into the twisting criminal case against a former aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, asking that an appeals court force a newspaper reporter to testify for the prosecution.

Daily News Clips for December 18, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

New gun restrictions proposed in Washington; resisted in Tallahassee
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Related AP story: Fla. lawmaker favors ending ban on guns in schools
Some longtime gun rights supporters in Congress acknowledged Monday that they were willing to discuss new restrictions as a result of the shooting rampage that killed 20 first-graders and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday.

Gun advocates just change the subject
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Related: In massacre’s aftermath, will Congress act?
They need to change the subject. Turn the conversation away from questions about assault rifles and high-capacity magazines and 26 first-graders and teachers mutilated by high-velocity bullets on a cold Connecticut morning.

Florida Electors Officially Pick President Obama, VP Biden
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
Just as they did in all U.S. states, Florida’s presidential electors met to cast their official ballots on Monday.

Former Gov. Charlie Crist to testify in U.S. Senate about Florida election law
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will testify about the electoral process in Florida on Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington.

Q and A with: Charlie Crist
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida has always produced strange politics, but we've never seen anything like Charlie Crist.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida's political views on gun laws are complex, divergent
By Alex Leary and Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
Underscoring the politics in the debate following the Connecticut school massacre, Florida officials offered divergent views Monday, from stricter gun laws to arming teachers to focusing instead on mental health.

Castor calls for assault weapon ban, closing 'gun show loophole'
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Reacting to the Newtown massacre, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor says Congress should act immediately to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and close the "gun show loophole."

Florida Democratic Party chairman race down to two
News Service of Florida
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The decision by Annette Taddeo to withdraw from the race for Florida Democratic Party chair over the weekend has turned the race into a two-person battle, with Allison Tant of Tallahassee and Alan Clendenin of Tampa left to vie for the position.

Angry Over Gay Mayor's Election, Florida GOP Leader Wants To Stop College Kids From Voting
By Tim Elfrink
Miami New Times
When Craig Lowe won a run-off two years ago to become Gainesville's first openly gay mayor, many hailed it as a landmark of tolerance in conservative Central Florida.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Seafood workers fear more than drought is working against Apalachicola Bay
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Some Franklin County oystermen say Apalachicola Bay has endured droughts before but they've never one with the effects they're seeing now.

Everglades restoration options on table
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
After several restoration projects on the fringes of the Everglades, a state and federal team has begun work on a plan to revive the sawgrass sloughs and tree islands at the heart of the vast marsh.

Texas pumas save Florida panthers from extinction
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A new study says breeding with Texas pumas has so far saved the Florida panther from extinction.

EDUCATION

Online-only university among Florida's options for more distance education
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's 12th university became a reality earlier this year, and there is already discussion about whether the state needs a 13th.

Lawmaker to pull bill drastically changing Bright Futures
By Denise-Marie Ordway
Orlando Sentinel
The lawmaker who introduced a bill last week that would have drastically changed the state's popular Bright Futures scholarship program is withdrawing the measure, a legislative aide confirmed Monday.

13th Grade: Older, Returning Students Strain Florida’s Community and State Colleges
By Lynn Waddell and Mc Nelly Torres
StateImpact Florida
Pepper Harth has always loved music. After high school, she studied voice and acting in New York.

Jacobs calls for more officers in Orange elementary schools
By David Damron and Lauren Roth
Orlando Sentinel
Mayor Teresa Jacobs said Monday she wants to put more armed deputies in about 60 unincorporated Orange County elementary schools for the rest of the academic year, in reaction to the massacre in Newtown, Conn., last week.

New chief, old education game plan
By Darryl E. Owens
Orlando Sentinel
Florida last week tapped its fifth top educator in 18 months: former Indiana school chief, Tony Bennett.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

The politics of work
By Joy-Ann Reid
Miami Herald
At the heart of capitalism is a constant struggle between management and labor.

Scott Opening Florida Budget Website to All Bidders
Associated Press
Lakeland Ledger
Gov. Rick Scott is seeking competitive bids for a Florida budget website open to all citizens rather than renewing an existing contract that now excludes the public.

New policy talks continue between Citizens, insurance regulators
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
The deadline for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to respond to state regulators over a new homeowners policy came and went Monday, but little was resolved in the dispute over the rates for the new policy.

Close tax break loophole on for-profit home builders
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
When lawmakers in Tallahassee passed a special tax exemption in 2011 to help nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity build multifamily housing, their good intentions inadvertently created a massive tax break for private, for-profit developers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Centers Had History of Abuse
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Two Florida centers that housed vulnerable populations -- adults with brain-damage, teen girls accused of delinquency -- had a long history of trouble before problems came to the attention of authorities, according to reports over the weekend.

FL Medicaid Doctors to get 105% Raise
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida is one of five states that pay primary-care doctors so little for treating Medicaid patients that those doctors will get a raise of more than 100 percent when a federal subsidy kicks in on Jan. 1, according to a new study.

We must rebuild our mental health system
By Mark J. Yacht
Gainesville Sun
Over the years I have written several published editorials emphasizing the need to reopen and adequately fund our nation’s mental hospitals.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

On second thought, bragging about Fla.’s 1M concealed weapons permits not such a good idea
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
Here’s a news conference I’d like to see this week: Hello, I’m Adam Putnam, Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Pizza-place shooter cites ‘stand your ground’ against complaining customer
By Kameel Stanley and Stephen Nohlgren
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law has been cited in hundreds of cases.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Scott appoints deputy secretary to head Florida Corrections
By David Royse
News Service of Florida
Florida Deputy Secretary of Corrections Michael D. Crews was promoted to secretary Monday by Gov. Rick Scott, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Ken Tucker.

Daily News Clips for December 17, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

We can't remain silent on gun control
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The horror that unfolded Friday in a Connecticut elementary school leading to the deaths of at least 26, including 20 children, is a heart-wrenching reminder of how desperately this country needs to have an honest conversation about guns and violence.

Florida revenue forecast improves, but federal “cliff” and pension ruling could hurt budget
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Florida’s economy continued showing fresh signs of life, with analysts Friday forecasting tax collections will rise almost 5 percent next year – giving Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers more cash to spend in the state budget.

Provisional-ballot law prevented little fraud but forced extra work
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
It's the most unreliable way to vote, a last resort in which half of the ballots are disqualified.

Gov. Scott calls for bids to build transparency web site
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A budget tracking web site paid for by Florida taxpayers but never made public will remain on the shelf as Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that he will seek bids to create a public budget watchdog site and the vendors of the existing system can get in line with everyone else.

Speaker Will Weatherford warns lawmakers to cool it after rowdiness at Disney resort
By Lucy Morgan and Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
House Speaker Will Weatherford has apologized for the behavior of some lawmakers at a retreat last month when several Republican members who had been drinking became unruly at a Disney World hotel.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Few answers for long lines at Orange, Osceola polls
By Scott Powers and David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Related column: Bill would remedy long voting lines
Chris Fernandez waited five hours to vote Nov. 6, then drove past his polling place a couple of times during the afternoon to see whether the line ever got shorter.

Taddeo drops out of race for chair of Florida Democrats, backs Allison Tant
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Annette Taddeo has dropped her bid for chair of the Florida Democratic Party and has gotten behind Allison Tant, saying "it is clear that she would make a phenomenal Florida Democratic Party chair and unite our party because of her passion for Democratic values that we all share."

Ethics law changes on Legislature's radar for 2013 session, report says it's time
By Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Naples Daily News
Florida's counties are strengthening their ethics laws while their law-making counterparts in the state's capital have stayed mum on the issue since the 1970s, a recent report said.

Mediocre GOP opponents put luck on Sen. Nelson's side
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Hard to argue with political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, who last week declared Bill Nelson the "Luckiest Politician of 2012."

Former GOP chairman Bob Waechter charged with felony
By Jeremy Wallace and Carrie Wells
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The most powerful political player in Sarasota County politics and the former chairman of the county Republican Party has been charged with a felony after authorities say he stole the identity of a political rival and made campaign donations in her name to a Democratic candidate for Congress to embarrass her.

Longtime Florida political figure Doyle Conner dies
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
Doyle Conner, the youngest House speaker in Florida history who went on to spend 30 years as the state's agriculture commissioner, died Sunday.

Compilation of reactions from Florida’s elected officials to tragedy in Newtown
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Florida elected officials offered condolences to families and the community around Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a 20-year-old man killed 20 children and seven adults on Friday.

POLITICAL RACES

Charlie's future is all about campaign cash
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Charlie Crist 2.0 must answer a serious question before he becomes a serious alternative to presumed Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls like former CFO Alex Sink, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer or ex-Broward Sen. Nan Rich.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida rivers getting sicker, Sentinel investigation finds
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's rivers are in trouble. That's what the Orlando Sentinel found after a yearlong evaluation of some of the state's biggest and smallest, most urban and remote, cleanest and dirtiest, protected and abused rivers.

Group urges federal government to take manatees off endangered list
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
For more than a decade, boaters who chafed at the proliferation of speed limits on the water have contended that the Florida manatee no longer deserves to be called an endangered species.

Drive to keep Kings Bay from being smothered by toxic algae treats symptom, not cause
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Last month, Florida's top environmental regulator took a boat tour of a Citrus County spring, joined by the chairman of the state Senate's Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee.

Florida urged to develop criteria for military missions on state conservation lands
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Acquisition and Advisory Council members on Friday questioned the extent of military training missions that will be conducted on state lands as state officials agreed to discuss whether criteria are needed for what is allowed.

Public Service Commission acted for FPL, not consumers.
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
On Thursday, the Florida Public Service Commission officially became a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida Power & Light Co.

LGBT

Gay leaders take seats in Tally
News Service of Florida
South Florida Herald-Tribune
With the U.S. Supreme Court considering same-sex marriage, President Barack Obama re-elected on a platform that included it, and the first openly gay lawmakers taking their seats in Tallahassee, gay voters say it’s been a winning year.

Gays celebrate year of political victories
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
After a string of political victories in Florida and across the country, gays and lesbians see 2012 as a political watershed.

EDUCATION

Schools around US mull security after massacre
By Christine Armario
Associated Press
Schools around the country are reviewing security plans and in some cases adding extra law enforcement patrols to prepare for the first day of classes since a shooting massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut.

Florida education chief puts focus on communication
By Jerome R. Stockfisch
Tampa Tribune
The state Board of Education has named Tony Bennett education commissioner, keeping Florida on track with the reforms initiated by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 1999.

Same old, same old
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
It’s no surprise that Tony Bennett, Florida’s newly hired education commissioner, would be bullish on testing, vouchers and charter schools, or that the state’s largest teacher union would object to his appointment.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Citizens fights new policy because it saves consumers too much
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
State-run insurer Citizens moved Friday to block customers from saving nearly 30 percent on their 2013 premiums if they choose less coverage under a new state law — unless regulators agree to kill most of the savings first.

Union jobs build middle class
By Richard Trumka
Florida Today
It’s a tough time to work for a living. Middle-class families have been losing ground for more than a decade.

Don’t let yet another state employee ‘retire’ and keep working
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Some government employees in Florida must have confused themselves with big-time athletes.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Hike in Medicare Age: In or Out?
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
In the still-unresolved “fiscal cliff” negotiations over spending cuts and revenue increases, one Republican proposal that would have a huge impact on Floridians -- raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67 -- apparently has not been ruled out, McClatchy Newspapers reports.

Social Security and Medicare trim would squeeze retirees
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Democrats in Congress and many of their constituents from the retirement haven of Florida are trying to fend off Republican proposals to trim future Medicare and Social Security benefits as part of a budget deal to avert the fiscal cliff.

Most Don't Know Much About Health Law
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Many people who are uninsured, the ones whom the Affordable Care Act is designed to help, are terrified of it because they have little understanding of it.

Centers Had History of Abuse
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Two Florida centers that housed vulnerable populations -- adults with brain-damage, teen girls accused of delinquency -- had a long history of trouble before problems came to the attention of authorities, according to reports over the weekend.

Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart exemplify split among GOP on immigration reform
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Immigration — one of the most complex and divisive issues facing the country — suddenly has new life on Capitol Hill.

State’s Gun Fetish is Nothing to Celebrate
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
For some reason Adam Putnam, Florida’s agriculture commissioner and governor wannabe, felt compelled to hold a press conference last week to boast about the number of concealed-carry weapons license holders in the state.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Gov. Rick Scott picks Crews as state prisons chief
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday will announce a new secretary for the Department of Corrections: Mike Crews, who is currently the agency's No. 2 official, holding the title of deputy secretary.

State attorneys do not compile case statistics in a uniform manner
By Cindy Swirko
Gainesville Sun
About 43 percent of cases filed each year by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and Gainesville Police Department are eventually dropped by 8th Circuit State Attorney Bill Cervone, records show.