Daily News Clips for February 13, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

President Barack Obama focuses on gun control, middle class in State of the Union
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Fact-checking the State of the Union address
Related: Florida reaction to State of the Union
President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address Tuesday night to renew focus on the economy and reigniting a "rising, thriving middle class," calling for public spending on infrastructure and education while making an emotional demand that Congress act on gun control.

Obama, Nelson join push to rein in long voting lines
By Scott Powers, David Damron and Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
Long lines on Election Day in Florida and elsewhere spurred a call from President Barack Obama Tuesday for a bipartisan commission "to improve the voting experience" and drew new support for federal legislation aimed at cutting wait times.

Thirst for power? Or just thirst? Sen. Marco Rubio’s weird, viral dry-mouth moment
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Sen. Marco Rubio was cruising along in his rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night when he couldn’t take it any longer.

Gov. Rick Scott needs Democrats to pass business tax cut
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
For the first time in his brief and turbulent political career, Gov. Rick Scott needs a little help from Florida’s Democrats to turn one of his wishes into law.

Enterprise Florida tries to fight off incentive critics
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's public-private job development agency is struggling to fend off pressure from the public, lawmakers and advocacy groups questioning why Gov. Rick Scott should get more tax money spent for corporate breaks.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rubio’s Rebuttal
By Andrew Rosenthal
New York Times
Related: The Rap on Rubio
Andy Borowitz’s humor column on how Fox News aired a scathing rebuttal to the State of the Union hours before its delivery was — in a case of politics imitating political satire — not too far off the mark.

Florida – the state to watch over the next four years
By Mark Murray
NBC News
Here’s one of the eternal truths of American politics: The stories never stop, even after a presidential election.

Q and A with: Allison Tant
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Chairing the Florida Democratic Party is going to be a "busy and interesting" job for Allison Tant.

Panhandle developer pleads guilty over Mike Huckabee's false campaign reports
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Panhandle developer Jay Odom pleaded guilty Tuesday to causing presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to file false campaign reports in 2007.

Governor needs no added power to remove elections supervisors
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Florida’s county elections supervisors are far from perfect.

Lessons from Greer's guilty plea
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The guilty plea by the former head of the Republican Party of Florida has saved some of the state's political elite the embarrassment of a trial.

POLITICAL RACES

Alex Sink Weighs Another Fla. Gov Run Against Rick Scott
By Jordain Carney
National Journal
Former Florida CFO Alex Sink hasn't decided whether to run for governor again in 2014.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Brownfield loophole won't get tightened this year
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
It looks like Florida businesses will still be able to get pollution-related tax breaks for building on land even where there is no proof of contamination.

Southeast Florida delegations to hold workshop on climate change
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Climate change is an issue that has rarely been acknowledged or discussed in the Florida Legislature in the past four years.

LGBT

Obama: Equal benefits for gay military families; You can get ahead 'no matter ... who you love
By Steve Rothaus
Miami Herald
Two highlights from President Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union address.

EDUCATION

Marco Rubio’s school voucher plan shows strong Jeb Bush ties
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio immediately followed his rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night by releasing a “school-choice” bill to allow taxpayers to subsidize private-school education for poor kids.

State Of The Union Proposes Major Preschool Expansion
By Joy Resmovits
Huffington Post
President Barack Obama proposes a major initiative to expand preschool opportunities for 4-year-olds in Tuesday's State of the Union address.

State to crack down on private tutors
By Michael LaForgia
Tampa Bay Times
Florida will crack down on tutoring contractors that defraud school districts and — for the first time — require criminal background checks for people who head tutoring firms under changes announced Tuesday by the state's top education official.

More Fl schools would get grades (or ratings) under House plan
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Last year, 392 of Florida’s public schools didn’t get a grade or an “improvement rating” as part of the state’s annual school report card, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Higher Education School Choice
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Representatives from Florida’s 28 private colleges and universities are asking state lawmakers to protect higher education options.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

The impact of a $9 minimum wage
By Tami Luhby
CNN
After promising five years ago to raise the federal minimum wage, President Obama finally unveiled a plan to do so on Tuesday.

Fla. Gov. jobs package coming under fire
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott, who has made job creation his top priority since taking office, is encountering growing resistance to his efforts to use additional tax dollars in his efforts to jumpstart Florida's economy.

Enterprise Florida calls for rural jobs and business strategy
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida's rural regions and smaller counties need a state strategy for attracting jobs and commercial activity, without sacrificing their small-town flavor, says a new report by the state's economic-development agency.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Scott owes Washington a decision on covering the uninsured
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott learned last week that the Obama administration has given Florida permission to transfer 87,000 elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients into a new managed care program the state claims will save money.

Nurse Practitioners Want More Authority
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Florida is one of only two states banning nurse practitioners from writing prescriptions for powerful drugs.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Concealed Carry Permits to Out of State Residents
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Pennsylvania recently decided it would not honor concealed weapons permits issued to anyone other than a Florida resident.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida homeowners triumph once again in citrus canker lawsuit
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
For the third time, homeowners whose healthy citrus trees were taken during the state’s controversial and failed battle with citrus canker have won their court fight.

Daily News Clips for February 12, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Jim Greer pleads guilty to grand theft, avoids trial
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Timeline of Jim Greer and the Republican Party of Florida
After two weeks of behind-the-scenes wrangling, former GOP party chairman Jim Greer walked into court Monday morning and pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering charges that could put him behind bars for 3½ years.

Breath-taking arrogance and entitlement in Florida politics not limited to Jim Greer
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
You could practically hear the gasp of relief from Florida Republican leaders Monday when ex-GOP chairman Jim Greer pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering charges, sparing them a sordid, two-week trial.

102-year-old Florida woman who waited hours to vote to join Michelle Obama for State of the Union
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
A 102-year-old Florida woman who waited more than three hours to vote before casting her ballot in North Miami will join First Lady Michelle Obama at President Obama’s state of the union address tomorrow night, highlighting his pledge to do something about the problems last fall that again cast an unwelcome spotlight on Florida elections.

House moves ahead with plan to end slush funds, raise campaign contribution limits to $10,000
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A House plan to eliminate controversial political slush funds and raise campaign contribution limits to $10,000 in Florida won approval on a bi-partisan vote Monday.

Medicaid Expansion Savings
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
By now you may have heard how expensive Obamacare could be but now we are hearing it could actually save the state money.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Marco Rubio’s got ‘toughest gig in politics’ giving response to President Obama’s State of the Union
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
After being splashed on the cover of Time magazine as nothing less than “The Republican Savior,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will be combating lofty expectations as well as the Democratic agenda when he delivers Tuesday night’s Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the chosen one, still “has a long way to go”
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Marco Rubio resists being called the GOP “savior.”

Legislature's freshman class is large and in charge
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Who's who among the new Tallahassee legislators
The youngest is 28, the oldest 66. They are teachers, real estate agents, attorneys, entrepreneurs and farmers. And in their spare time, they fly planes, play guitar, raise sheep, write screenplays and go to their kids' ball games.

Money grubbing raised to a high art
By Daniel Ruth
Tampa Bay Times
In three weeks the 2013 session of the Florida Legislature will commence, otherwise known as the annual gathering of beagles rolling over to have their tummies rubbed by the Capitol's Sugar Daddy class.

Integrity Florida's sponsored research triggers resignations
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
The decision by the nonprofit watchdog group Integrity Florida to produce research sponsored by Americans for Prosperity has triggered a pair of resignations.

Public loses with plea deal in case of former Republican state chairman
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The happiest people in Florida are prominent state Republicans and one prominent Democrat who used to be a Republican. Anyone who believes in good government should be furious.

Come clean, Florida GOP
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
Jim Greer's surprise guilty plea Monday to charges he stole and laundered more than $200,000 in Republican Party of Florida campaign contributions while party chairman should in no way end this repulsive scandal.

Guilty, your honor
Editorial
Miami Herald
After almost three years of claiming he did nothing wrong, former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer succinctly answered the question to a judge on Monday: “Guilty, your honor.”

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Hays bill would allow government to buy land only if equal amount sold
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A key senator says he was "astounded" to learn how much of Florida is owned by government agencies, and he has introduced legislation that he said should start a conversation about how much is needed.

Everglades bill filed, described as starting point by both sides in dispute
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill was filed Monday that has been described by both sides in the dispute over Everglades water quality as merely a starting point for the upcoming debate in the Legislature.

Preserving a treasure
Editorial
Tallahassee Democrat
Despite efforts to expand Florida’s business base, the state has long relied on three pillars of economic activity: tourism, agriculture and services related to growth.

LGBT

Fla. Anti-Gay-Discrimination Bill Gets Bipartisan Sponsorship
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
It would be illegal for employers to discriminate based on employees’ sexual orientation or gender identity, if a bipartisan-sponsored bill passes the Florida Legislature.

EDUCATION

Are Florida's school grades a good gauge for other states?
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush continues to travel the country making the case for school letter grades as part of an education accountability policy.

Governor joins Machen in top-10 quest
By Joey Flechas
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida will have to match $15 million a year in funding with private money should the Legislature approve Gov. Rick Scott's proposed support of the university's mission to be a top-10 public university this year.

FSU says it accepts decision to relocate digital arts program from West Palm Beach to Tallahassee
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Florida State University officials have accepted Friday’s committee decision to relocate their digital arts program from West Palm Beach to Tallahassee and don’t plan to present their case again before a final vote later this month.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Scott pushes budget priorities in S. Fla. speech
By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Scott sought to build public support for his budget priorities Monday, pressing for teacher raises and a cut to manufacturing equipment sales taxes as keys to boosting the economy.

Florida should have “way more” factory jobs, Gov. Scott tells Forum Club of the Palm Beaches
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott boasts that Florida offers the nation’s best business climate — but he acknowledges the state lags the nation in factory jobs.

Citizens to shift coastal policies to private insurer
News Service of Florida
Tampa Bay Times
Trying to shed some major financial risks, state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. moved forward Monday with a plan to shift thousands of coastal hurricane policies to a private insurer.

Florida slashes rates by $98 million for ‘force-placed’ insurer; advocates want more
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Florida regulators said today they approved an 18.8 percent decrease in rates for Praetorian Insurance Co., one of the major insurers that cut deals with lenders to provide expensive homeowners insurance to replace customer policies that lapsed.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicaid expansion seen as benefit to working poor but possible drag on coffers
By James Call
Florida Current
A Senate panel was told Monday that hotel maids, waiters and other service industry workers stand to reap a $1.4 billion fully paid annual benefit if the Legislature agrees to expand Medicaid, as called for in the Affordable Care Act.

Sarasota could lose $145 million without Medicaid expansion
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota could be one of the “hardest hit” counties in the nation if Florida lawmakers don’t expand Medicaid coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act, Gwen MacKenzie, president and CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System testified today.

Florida enhances program for disabled children
By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
Florida health officials said Monday they will assign care coordinators to about 1,600 children with disabilities amid allegations from federal health officials that the state was cutting in-home services and essentially forcing kids into adult nursing homes.

Legal loopholes fuel growth of steroid clinics in South Florida
By Scott Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Anthony Bosch’s clinic, now the focus of a widening steroid investigation, was hidden in plain sight, next to a bank in an office complex on South Dixie Highway across from the University of Miami.

Daily News Clips for Februrary 11, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Former Florida GOP chief’s trial threatens to air bales of dirty laundry
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The former chief of the Florida Republican Party is set to face charges this week of grand theft, money laundering and fraud, in a case already bubbling with allegations of sex, lies and ugly party politics.

Gov. Scott: Medicaid expansion is a 'tough choice' for Florida
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Confronted by one of Congress's most passionate supporters of Obamacare, Gov. Rick Scott Friday refused to say he would be willing to accept the act's Medicaid expansion program yet left the door open that he might drop his previous firm opposition.

Voters support Medicaid expansion
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida policy makers say they don’t have enough information yet to decide whether to expand Medicaid to cover nearly 900,000 uninsured Floridians, but voters appeared to have made up their minds.

Cashing in on state contracts becomes growth industry
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Even for Tallahassee standards, the scene was notable: lobbyist Brian Ballard dining with a nursing home executive, Gov. Rick Scott and a top aide at a pricey restaurant just blocks from the Capitol.

Scott's economic-development efforts more words than deeds
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
One of Gov. Rick Scott's central selling points to economically rattled voters in 2010 was his direct line to Corporate America.

Republicans are cooling toward tea party activists
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
The romance between Florida Republicans and various tea party groups, which reached its zenith when Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his first state budget to a tea party crowd in 2011, has clearly cooled.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Details of Bahamas frolic could emerge in Jim Greer trial
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
They headed for Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas, most of them on private planes owned by billionaire Harry Sargeant III, then the finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

In post-election vacuum, Rubio on rise within GOP
By Ken Thomas
Associated Press
Marco Rubio is taking center stage as Republicans search for a new leader.

In support of campaign finance reform, Rep. Mike Fasano closes fundraising committee
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Rep. Mike Fasano announced Friday that he's disbanding his political committee and will donate the unspent campaign cash to charity in a gesture he hopes will inspire other lawmakers to support campaign finance reform.

The South and "the Great Gerrymander of 2012"
By Chris Kromm
Facing South
In a recent New York Times analysis, Sam Wang looked at an issue which has been grabbing headlines -- at least on political blogs -- since the 2012 elections: how Democrats, despite winning 1.4 million more votes than their GOP counterparts in U.S. House races, found themselves at a 234 to 201 disadvantage in Congress' lower chamber after Election Day.

Republican pioneer Doc Dockery: It's not his party anymore
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
More than four decades ago, a friend pressed C.C. "Doc" Dockery to run for the Polk County School Board, brushing off Dockery's insistence that he didn't particularly want the job.

Traffic tickets, fraud probes deaths — and state Rep. Daphne Campbell
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
A Campbell family minivan has racked up five tickets for running right lights since 2010.

POLITICAL RACES

Is Alex Sink running for governor? Stay tuned
By Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
No one knows better than Alex Sink what an all-consuming commitment it takes to campaign for governor in Florida.

President Obama lost votes in heavily Jewish precincts, analyst says
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
President Barack Obama easily carried Democrat-tilted Palm Beach County in November, but he got 11,555 fewer votes than in 2008. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Legislators show no urgency in dealing with Florida springs' problems
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
The president of the state Senate says Florida should do more for its springs. Thousands of people have petitioned Gov. Rick Scott for more protection and restoration for the springs.

Marco Rubio questions human impact on global warming
By Alex Leary and Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
While much of the Washington news media were fawning over Sen. Marco Rubio's knowledge of rap music (Tupac over Biggie, he says), his remarks questioning global warming at an event Tuesday drew more serious discussion.

Obama’s address: Could it start a sea change for climate issues?
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
Climate change — a topic absent from last year’s presidential campaign — has slipped so far down the nation’s to-do list that stakeholders have taken to counting how often the president even utters the phrase.

The state’s Python Challenge isn’t looking like much of a challenge at all … for the pythons
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
It’s safe to say the Python Challenge has produced many more inches of news copy than inches of snake.

Environmentalists: habitat protection needed for loggerhead sea turtles
By Olivia Kabat
WMNF Tampa
Conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service for not providing Loggerhead sea turtle habitat protection.

LGBT

An Unnoticed Historic Moment
By Terry Buckenmeyer
Historic City News
On February 3rd, the St Augustine Beach City Commission had a second reading and public comment on Resolution 2013-01, which would provide protection against discrimination in housing on the basis of sexual orientation.

EDUCATION

Public schools lose millions to crooks and cheaters
By Michael LaForgia
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Lobbying preserved millions for Florida tutoring companies
When Yolanda Axson wasn't watching, a pot of hot water spilled into a crib at her day care in Orlando, scalding a 4-month-old boy.

Shut-down private schools sometimes leave hundreds of students scrambling for records
By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post
A lot has happened in the 12 years since Jeffrey “J.T.” Noble graduated high school.

Bright Futures scholarships outpacing revenues
By Jerome R. Stockfisch
Tampa Tribune
It's not a situation college students like to envision: Life without their Bright Futures scholarship.

At FAMU, a jarring turn on journalism
By Frank D. LoMonte
Tampa Bay Times
When a news organization is housed on a college campus, the college's administrators walk a legal and ethical tightrope.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Proposal Closing State Pension Plan Faces Mounting Criticism, Even From GOP
By Sascha Cordner      
WFSU Tallahassee
A bill that would eliminate the state’s pension plan has cleared its first hurdle in the Florida Legislature.

Don't rush Florida pension decision
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford wants the state to modernize its retirement plan by closing its pension to future public workers and offering them only a 401(k)-style plan.

Shrinking Citizens still leaves ratepayers on the hook
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Senate is drafting proposals to shrink state-run property insurer Citizens and drive customers to private carriers.

Businesses, turn left if you want mass transit, vibrant cities
By Robyn E. Blumner
Tampa Bay Times
When you're a bigwig of industry, perched up high above the hoi polloi, maybe you really do think that the laws of politics, economics and even gravity are suspended, or are at least twisted, to your benefit.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State government tries to puzzle through new health care law
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Poll: Floridians favor Medicaid expansion
Florida businesses small, medium and big alike are trying to make sense of the new health care law and what it means for their bottom line.

In a switch, GOP governors back expanding Medicaid
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
Once largely united in resisting the Obama administration's new health care overhaul, a growing number of Republican governors are now buying into parts of the system as the financial realities of their states' medical costs begin to counterbalance the fierce election politics of the issue.

Feds prepare for massive insurance sign-up
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Let the insurance shopping begin.

Obama administration’s effort to reduce health care fraud are paying off
By Kathleen Sebelius and Eric Holder
Palm Beach Post
Today, our departments released a report showing that the Obama administration’s efforts to go after criminals who steal from Medicare and Medicaid are paying off, especially in hot spots like Miami.

The eye doctor and the ‘I’ pol
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Living in the intergalactic capital of Medicare fraud, South Floridians are accustomed to the sight of blue-jacketed federal agents swarming a doctor’s office and marching out with boxes of files.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Despite accord on immigration, reform must trump friction
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address Tuesday with Democrats and Republicans already engaged in the first big battle of his second term, over the administration’s pledge to alter the country’s immigration system radically.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida developer to enter plea in federal campaign finance case
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Panhandle developer Jay Odom will appear in federal court next week to enter a plea to federal campaign finance violations.