Daily News Clips for March 20, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

House Subcommittee Calls Ethics-Reform Bill 'A Work In Progress'
By Jessica Palombo    
WFSU Tallahassee
Excerpt: The House ethics bill comes out amidst some criticism against the Senate version. A bipartisan coalition, including Progress Florida and the Florida Tea Party Network, has been complaining that neither bill gives the state Commission on Ethics enough investigative power or enforcement power.

Experts, Advocates Warn Ethics Reform Bill Too Weak
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Organizations ranging from tea party groups to the liberal Progress Florida have banded together to oppose a bill intended to improve the state’s ineffective ethics rules. The ethics bill doesn’t go far enough, these groups say.

Double whammy
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
Excerpt: The Florida Tea Party Network, the liberal Progress Florida, government watchdog Integrity Florida and former Commission on Ethics executive director Phil Claypool all praised the ethics reform push but also called for more stringent rules.

The Blu Vu: Week of March 15, 2013
By Gayle Andrews
The Blu Vu: Florida's Political Reality News Show
Florida Lt. Governor Jenifer Carroll abruptly resigns, the Governor's GOP problems continue, Damien of Progress Florida has the latest on the effort to kill paid sick leave and more as political reality comes your way!

FEATURED STORIES

Despite improved jobs picture, poll numbers low for Gov. Scott
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related: More dismal numbers for Rick Scott in Quinnipiac poll; Crist leads by 16 points
Rick Scott touted his role Tuesday in rebuilding the state’s economy, although a new poll shows Floridians clearly unhappy with his job performance and an increasing number of his fellow Republicans turning against the governor.

Fla. Gov. and House leader clash over budget
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
In an uncharacteristic moment, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is already raising questions about some of the early budget proposals emerging from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Despite warnings, Carroll says she was duped by Allied Veterans
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Jennifer Carroll's surprise resignation last week as lieutenant governor was not the first time she faced questions about her ties to Allied Veterans of the World, an Internet sweepstakes cafe operator now at the center of a $300 million fraud investigation.

Legislators rush to unload tainted gambling cash
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Shamed by the notion that they may have filled their political coffers with more than $1.4 million in campaign cash from a phony veterans group facing charges of illegal gambling, the Florida Legislature is scrambling to save face by donating the money to charity.

Committee opponents question motivation of parent-trigger bill
By James Call
Florida Current
The "parent trigger" bill continued its march to the House floor on Tuesday, with opponents questioning whether it's needed.

Scott likely to support Senate alternative to Medicaid expansion
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott said his objective in supporting Medicaid expansion was to ensure Florida doesn't turn down billions of federal dollars to help reduce the number of uninsured.

FLORIDA POLITICS

House committee unanimously approves ethics bill
By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press
A wide-ranging ethics bill won unanimous approval Tuesday in its first committee, though it might see some changes after concerns were expressed about some of its language.

Senate Passes 'Right to Be Heard' Bill
Staff Report
Lakeland Ledger
People would get the right to be heard — and not just seen — at local government and state agency meetings under a bill passed by the Florida Senate.

Drone bill cruises through Senate with Negron at helm
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Does the Senate budget chief get deference on his bills because he holds the purse strings?

Some advice for legislators who want to create a ‘Florida Marriage Handbook’
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
Your hard working Florida legislators are very concerned about your marriage.

Florida State Representative Clay Ford dies
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Rep. Clay Ford, R-Gulf Breeze, died on Monday, after a battle with cancer, House Speaker Will Weatherford announced Tuesday.

Tearful Senate honors late Larcenia Bullard
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
An emotional Florida Senate stood for a moment of silence to honor the late Larcenia Bullard, a long-time legislator who died Saturday at age 65.

Five things to look for in Wenesday’s legislative session
By Rochelle Koff
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Poll numbers on Gov. Scott should make a provocative start to a day filled with several compelling legislative issues.

POLITICAL RACES

Charlie Crist would crush Rick Scott in 2014, Quinnipiac poll finds
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
People love Gov. Rick Scott's idea of a teacher pay raise, and they agree with him on Medicaid expansion.

With bad polls, Scott gets a campaign-like presentation on Florida’s jobs picture
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
It’s Gov. Rick Scott’s Cabinet, and we’re all just living in it.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Senate committee hears arguments over advance fee for building nuclear plants
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
State Sen. Anitere Flores had a bottom line question for the president of Progress Energy Florida: "The 800 lb. gorilla in the room…is Progress going to build another nuclear power plant or not?"

A bridge to help heal the Everglades
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
It was touted as a triumph of modern engineering when it opened in 1928, a road across the once-impassable Everglades that took 2.6 million sticks of dynamite and 13 years to construct.

Bllls to waive fees on development, cutting permitting review times pass House subcommittee
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The House Economic Development & Tourism Subcommittee on Tuesday passed two business-backed bills over limited environmental opposition.

Florida investigates strange manatee deaths
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
The manatee carcasses appear otherwise healthy but their guts are filled with a stringy drift algae.

EDUCATION

Education issues hit Tallahassee spotlight
Staff Report
Tampa Bay Times
Teacher pay, education funding, parent trigger and academic standards all were part of the conversation Tuesday in the state's capital.

Florida legislators consider allowing teachers to carry guns
By Jeff Skrzypek
WPTV West Palm Beach
In a post Sandy Hook Elementary massacre world, teachers packing heat might become a reality in Florida.

Cyberbullying proposals win support, raise legal questions
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Weeks after students in Pasco County filmed a vicious attack on a classmate and posted the video online, state lawmakers want to empower principals to better police cyberbullying.

Many teachers taking second jobs
By Gabrielle Russon
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Right away they recognized each other in the restaurant kitchen and both were unnerved.

FAU Students Tell Board They Still Oppose GEO Deal
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Students opposed to a decision by Florida Atlantic University to accept $ 6 million from the private prison company GEO Group of Boca Raton, in exchange for the naming rights to the school’s football stadium, expressed their continuing opposition before the university’s board of trustees at its meeting Tuesday at the Fort Pierce campus.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Senate GOP budget leader opposing Gov. Scott's manufacturing tax cuts
By Jonathan Mattise
Naples Daily News
Sen. Joe Negron isn’t convinced by Gov. Rick Scott’s pitch to cut $115.3 million in taxes on Florida manufacturers.

National Guard chief outlines spending cuts
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida Adjutant Gen. Emmett Titshaw told Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet Tuesday the federal budget sequester will have a $54 million impact on Florida, hurt military readiness and cause layoffs in communities across the state.

Citizens overhaul passes 2nd Senate hurdle
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A bill reworking eligibility and rates for state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. cleared the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government on Tuesday by an 8-4 vote.

At last, money being released to help Florida’s foreclosure crisis
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The program approved last week to help at least 1,500 Floridians keep their homes is the most promising effort yet by the agency that has mostly sat on $1 billion in federal foreclosure prevention money.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Negron files bill offering alternative to Medicaid expansion
By James Call
Florida Current
A Healthy Florida proposal,  the Senate’s alternative to expansion of the Medicaid program as called for by the Affordable Care Act, has been filed and will be heard Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting.

Doctors Lose on Database, Comp Votes
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
A bill that would require doctors to check with the state's drug database before writing a prescription for addictive medications passed today in a House panel despite the opposition of organized medicine.

Drug dispensing fight flares in Florida Legislature
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
A House subcommittee Tuesday approved a plan that would reduce the costs of drugs dispensed by physicians to workers-compensation insurance patients.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Most gun bills are languishing in firearm-friendly Florida legislature
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau
There have been more gun control bills filed in the Florida Legislature this year than any in recent memory — but you wouldn’t know it. Despite Democrats’ push to spark a “conversation” about guns after the Trayvon Martin and Newtown, Conn., tragedies, the Republican-led Legislature has traditionally shown little interest in entertaining the gun control debate.

Fix proposed to Florida gun laws to keep weapons from hands of mentally ill
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The NRA and a judge who specializes in cases involving the mentally ill are trying to close a Florida loophole that allows most people declared an imminent danger to themselves or others to buy guns.

Republican opposition on immigration law seems to erode
By Michael Shear
New York Times
Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling in the nation's capital as leading lawmakers in the party scramble to halt eroding support among Hispanic voters — a shift that is providing strong momentum for an overhaul of immigration laws.

Daily News Clips for March 19, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

On ethics reform, 'one step forward, two steps back'
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: On ethics, get the details right
A leading ethics expert in Florida said Monday that the Legislature's efforts to strengthen state ethics laws are "one step forward and two steps back" and in some cases would make things more lax than they are now. Attorney Phil Claypool, the retired executive director of the Commission on Ethics, appeared at a news conference with Integrity Florida, the Tea Party Network and Progress Florida -- all groups that say the current ethics proposals before the Senate and House are not strong enough.

Groups: Ethics Legislation Not Strong Enough
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
Excerpt: "We feel this is an historic opportunity and a critical opportunity to see meaningful ethics reform, and we really want to make sure that that happens this time around," said Damien Filer, political director of Progress Florida, a liberal organization.

Groups concerned that ethics bills are flawed
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Florida Current: Coalition calls for ethics improvements
WCTV Tallahassee: Liberals, Tea Party Come Together Demanding Ethics Reform
WFSU Tallahassee: Bipartisan Coalition Urges Ethics Reformers To Go Further
Representatives from The Tea Party Network, Progress Florida and Integrity Florida joined a former executive director of the Florida Commission on Ethics on Monday to point out what they believe are flaws in the bills.

FEATURED STORIES

Partisan sparks fly as Senate panel OKs voting bill
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The bipartisan cooperation that marked early work on an elections bill vanished Monday as Democrats on the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee repeatedly forced roll-call votes on amendments the Republican majority opposed.

Jennifer Carroll's inaccurate financial disclosures cited as reason for reform
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Florida Senate committee approves ban on Internet cafes
Related: Did anyone know Jennifer Carroll had done such a 'fantastic' job?
Former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll followed Florida's financial disclosure law when she revealed her work for a charity linked to Internet gambling.

Surplus means more spending on education, but showdown on teacher pay looms
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
An improved economy and six years of relentless budget cuts have produced something that had been as rare as unicorns: a surplus.

Sen. Negron Unveils Alternative Plan
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
"Healthy Florida," Sen. Joe Negron's plan to cover 1 million low-income working adults, is now in writing and has been placed on the agenda for Thursday's meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Florida Beats U.S. Jobless Rate for First Time in Five Years
By Kyle Kennedy
Lakeland Ledger
Florida outshined the national unemployment rate in January, the first such occurrence in five years.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Jennifer Carroll Financial Disclosure Flawed
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll resigned last week after talking with law enforcement investigators over consulting work she did for Allied Veterans of the World – the internet cafe operator that skimmed hundreds of millions of dollars that should have gone to charity.

Another scandal in Tallahassee? You bet!
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Related editorial: Lessons from ex-Lt. Gov. Carroll’s fall from grace
In Florida, not much is asked of the lieutenant governor.

Do We Actually Need a Lt. Governor? Nope
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Voices
Being lieutenant governor of Florida is like being the best basketball player on that team that loses to the Harlem Globetrotters every night.

Bipartisan voting reform effort comes to an end in Florida Senate committee
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Senate Ethics and Elections Committee Chairman Jack Latvala hoped for a unanimous thumbs-up on a measure designed to fix the election woes highlighted by long lines at voting sites last November.

Sample online ballots in Florida spur clash on privacy
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Voting, like everything else, is discovering the digital age.

Gov. and Cabinet sue attorney in land dispute
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Cabinet are suing an attorney who has been a frequent critic of the administration.

Florida's Top Lobbying Firms
By Amy Keller
Florida Trend
Find out which are the largest lobbying firms in the state, who their clients are, and how much revenue they make.

POLITICAL RACES

PPP poll: Charlie Crist 52%, Rick Scott 40%
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
A new Public Policy Polling survey set for release today finds that Governor Rick Scott still suffers from a low approval rating and trails a handful of potential Democratic opponents.

Scott committee collects $809,825
News Service of Florida
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
While speculation abounds that the fallout from Gov. Rick Scott’s change in position on Medicaid could harm his 2014 re-election, the group building his campaign account hasn’t been troubled finding donors. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Senate committee hears pro-nuclear views on cost-recovery law
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Senate committee on Monday heard for two hours from the Nuclear Energy Institute, Florida Power & Light Co. and Progress Energy Florida.

Scientists puzzled by manatee deaths on Florida's east coast
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Even as a Red Tide algae bloom is wiping out a record number of manatees in southwest Florida, a mysterious ailment is killing dozens more manatees on the state's east coast.

LGBT

Registry helps ease the 'insult'
By Mary Ann Lindley
Tallahassee Democrat
That Leon County Commission Chairman Nick Maddox and my fellow commissioners signaled a unanimous “yes” to establishing a domestic partnership registry Tuesday night didn’t do a lot to soften the bias that many men and women experience because of their sexual orientation.

EDUCATION

Senate education panel offers little insight into charter-school funding
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Senate Education Committee on Monday devoted an hour to discussing the 12 charter-school proposals floating through upper chamber.

Florida colleges have $26.6B economic impact
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's College Sytem, the 28 schools formerly known as the community college system, have a collective economic impact $26.6 billion each year, according to a recent study.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

House Speaker’s Budget Plan Includes New Dollars
By Regan McCarthy      
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida’s House Speaker, Will Weatherford is unveiling his plans for the state’s new budget.

Atwater warns against 'ripping off rate cap' for Citizens, says current law is working
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater isn’t a fan of proposals in the House and Senate aimed at decreasing the policies and risk of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Stealing control
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
If someone robbed your home, you would call for a local law enforcement officer to investigate.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

|Florida's Medicaid expansion alternative bill is in the works
By James Call
Florida Current
The Florida alternative to Medicaid expansion could emerge in the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting scheduled for Friday.

Florida’s GOP-led Legislature in race to bottom on Medicaid
By Nan Rich
Miami Herald
Florida’s legislators faced a critical moral decision as they began the 2013 legislative session.

Florida Senate panel endorses health insurance for part-time state workers
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A Florida Senate committee moved ahead Monday with expanding the state employee health insurance program next year to cover temporary, part-time workers, as lawmakers look to avoid a $318 million penalty under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Did Concordia Care profit from political ties?
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
Five years ago, the Florida Legislature voted to put state-paid mental health and substance abuse services under managed care, saying the change would control the state’s costs, coordinate patients’ care and provide services to more people.

29 States Get F On Disclosure Laws For Health Care Prices
By Russ Mitchell          
Health News Florida
Wonder why you can't get a straight answer on how much a treatment or test will cost you?

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Two-hundred mile march for farmworker's rights doesn't hurdle Publix roadblock
By Lenka Davis
WMNF Tampa
About 1500 farmworkers and their allies completed their 200 mile, two week March for Respect, Rights and Fair food yesterday in Lakeland.

Daily News Clips for March 15, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Internet cafe campaign cash flooded state capitol, lawmakers’ coffers
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Officials: Fla. lawyer at center of $300 million scheme
Florida sheriffs had pleaded for years with the Legislature to close the loophole that fueled the fastest expansion of illegal gambling in decades — so-called “Internet cafes.”

Ethics commissioner: Bill might make ethics looser
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A member of the Florida Commission on Ethics believes the Senate's effort to tighten ethics may have the opposite effect if it becomes law.

House-Senate split on pension hints at deal-making to come
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
An effort by leading House Republicans to close the Florida Retirement System’s traditional pension plan to new employees cleared its final committee stop Thursday — after undergoing some changes that did little to ease overwhelming opposition from public workers’ unions.

House budget committee approves sweeping charter school bill
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a sweeping charter school bill that would, among other things, require traditional public schools to share empty classroom space with charter schools.

Amended Campaign Finance Bill Cuts Original House Proposal In Half, But Still Draws Concerns
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida’s efforts to reform the state’s elections system are moving forward.

At CPAC, Rubio gets big applause for stances on marriage, abortion
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, in a speech widely seen as an early audition for a potential 2016 presidential run, got big applause from the Conservative Political Action Conference today when he defended traditional marriage and voiced opposition to abortion.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Help Wanted: Florida Lt. Governor Without Ties To Corruption
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
Amid news this morning that Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll was resigning over her ties to Allied Veterans of the World which is currently under a criminal investigation, resulting in the arrest of the head of that company on racketeering and money laundering charges, there was nothing but silence from Republicans in Florida.

Lt. Gov Carroll Resigns: Progressives Need To Make Cronyism and Corruption A Major Issue
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Florida Political Squeeze
Last night I spoke to a conservative friend in Jacksonville who told me this scandal would soon engulf the state. I didn’t really believe it would be as far and wide as he claimed but he was on the mark.

Suburban Sprawl In South Florida: a game of musical chairs
By Gimleteye
Eye On Miami
"Every time we get close to the 24 hour mark, they move the goal post," Girard said.

SWFWMD Employee Survey: 71% say morale is poor; over 300 say why
By Sandspur
SWFWMD Matters
There was a time at the Southwest Florida Water Management District when staff members were valued, and whether or not they felt good about their jobs was believed to be strategically important to how well they did them.

Economic impacts of climate change adding up in Florida
By DWG
Daily Kos
Human intelligence is highly overrated. Let's take a trip to Florida for a little proof.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scandal's reach not yet known
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The Internet cafe scandal that led to the surprise resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll Wednesday has the potential to taint Gov. Rick Scott — and other state political leaders — through campaign contributions by the firm at the focus of a broad federal, state and local fraud and racketeering investigation.

Choosing a Lt. Governor
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott has said he will wait until after the legislative session to choose a Lt. Governor to replace Jennifer Carroll, who abruptly resigned Monday night.

More than $1M in political contributions linked to Internet cafes
By Amy Pavuk and Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Millions of dollars in bank accounts were frozen, dozens of luxury cars and boats were seized, and the government has taken claim over dozens of Florida properties as part of the criminal case against the controversial nonprofit Allied Veterans of the World, newly released case documents show.

Rick Scott Turnover: 17 Staffers Who've Resigned Since Florida Governor Took Office
By Amanda McCorquodale
Huffington Post Miami
Although Rick Scott campaigned on job creation, the Rick Scott Blog Watch calls the governor "the Typhoid Mary to careers."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's Unfortunate Opportunity
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
It’s never good news for a governor and his party when a lieutenant governor resigns under fallout from a federal probe on racketeering.

Details deserved
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Floridians deserve details on why their elected lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll, resigned.

Lawmaker mum on expose of Rep. Jamie Grant's company
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The non-denial denials continue on a WTSP-Ch. 10 report on a $2.6-million grant awarded in Hardee County to a company owned by Rep. Jamie Grant, R-Tampa.

Judge: Former Lt. Gov. Carroll must testify in taping case
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A judge told lawyers Thursday that former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll can provide information in a case against an ex-employee charged with illegally releasing taped conversations from the lieutenant governor's office.

Sen. Marco Rubio draws roaring applause at CPAC
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
With presidential speculation swirling around him — and a surging potential rival at his heels — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio told a gathering of conservatives Thursday that the GOP does not need to search for new ideas.

Change conservative values? ‘Malarkey’ says Allen West
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Former U.S. Rep. Allen West urged conservatives this morning not to compromise their principles and to supplement their criticism of government handouts by drawing more attention to their own private acts of charity.

Widespread support for Dolphins stadium bill, except in Miami-Dade
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
The Miami Dolphins’ push for a bill to help pay for stadium renovations sailed through another committee of the Florida Legislature on Thursday with the support of lawmakers hailing from Umatilla to Sebring. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Everglades bill headed to House floor amid talks between sugar farmers, environmentalists
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
An Everglades bill that environmentalists are opposing easily passed its final committee stop Thursday on its way to the House floor.

Committees introduce bills to allow land-buying to buffer military bases
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A Senate committee on Thursday passed a committee bill that would expand the state's military base protection program to include the purchase of land to prevent development conflicts with bases.

Ten percent of BP's $100 million for Florida has been spent
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Two years ago the company at the center of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP, agreed to put up $1 billion to pay for environmental restoration projects in the Gulf Coast states hit by the 2010 oil spill.

EDUCATION

Florida lawmakers want to weed out education laws
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Remember the highly touted policy requiring every high school student in Florida to choose a major? It's about to be canned.

Sequestration to take its toll on Florida school construction funds
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida public schools have watched their PECO funds shrink in recent years, with the small amount remaining funnelled by lawmakers to charter schools.

FAMU Gets New Trustee In School Choice Group's Gilzean
Staff Report
WFSU Tallahassee
Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the appointment of Glen Gilzean to the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

House, Senate take differing pension paths
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
The House and Senate are taking widely divergent tracks in revamping the Florida Retirement System.

Sick-time bill loses unpaid time-off provision
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
A Republican legislative push to block Orange County's sick-time referendum cleared a Florida Senate panel Thursday without a measure to guarantee unpaid time off for ailing workers.

Senators want a study on sick leave
By James Call
Florida Current
A Senate committee voted Thursday to create a statewide task force on employee medical leave policies to preempt ordinances approved by city and county governments.

Small versus large insurers' fight over Cat Fund plays out on Senate panel
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
A Cat Fund fight broke out at the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Thursday, as small, Florida-based insurance companies fought with larger carriers and reinsurance companies over two approaches to the state’s reinsurance coverage.

Help courts, not banks, to resolve Florida’s foreclosure crisis
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
State courts must deal with nearly 1 million foreclosure cases over the next three years.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Feds to FL: We're Flexible; Show Us Your Plan
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Medicaid expansion for 1 million low-income adults in Florida may technically be dead, after committees in both the House and Senate voted to kill it.

Fasano calls for public engagement on Medicaid expansion
By James Call
Florida Current
A Republican representative is calling on Florida's residents to help persuade his fellow GOP lawmakers to extend Medicaid coverage to nearly a million Floridians who have no health insurance.

Alternative plan could give health care to working poor
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Despite rejection by Florida House and Senate committees studying implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion is not yet dead.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Tomato pickers pass through Seffner on 200-mile march
Staff Report
Tampa Tribune
A protest march that started in Fort Myers made its way through Seffner today.

Bill allowing poor to use government debit cards to buys guns, ammunition off target
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
A proposal from the Florida Legislature to restrict gun and ammo sales?

Once time is served, restore offenders' rights immediately
By Mark R. Schlakman
Orlando Sentinel
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians who have completed their sentences for felony convictions are prohibited from exercising their right as U.S. citizens to vote under the state's civil-rights restoration scheme.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Lawyer: Florida missing out on millions by ignoring bail bond law
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Could Florida be missing out on millions of dollars in revenue?