FEATURED
STORIES
Jim Greer: Racism and Dead Bodies Ahead
By Terrence McCoy
Miami New Times
Hidden among the shadows in a cavernous banquet hall, Florida's most notorious backroom politician sips his third cup of complimentary coffee and begins to cry.
Spokesman leaves state GOP after dodging questions about Rick Scott's dog
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
Brian Burgess, the combative communications director for the Republican Party of Florida, is returning to the private sector less than five months after taking over as the party's top communicator.
Study: Medicaid expansion may save state money
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Florida would save money over the next decade — not lose billions as Gov. Rick Scott has argued — by accepting Medicaid expansion under federal healthcare reforms, according to a detailed economic study.
Budget hopes, expectations set for collision with reality, uncertainty
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
After three straight years of budget shortfalls, state economists have predicted a budget surplus for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
Obama outlines his immigration overhaul
Associated Press
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Rubio critical of Obama's immigration outline
Declaring "now is the time" to fix the nation's broken immigration system, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined broad proposals for tightening security at the borders and for putting millions of illegal immigrants on a clear path to citizenship while cracking down on businesses that employ people illegally.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Clemens files resolution that would create full-time legislature
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
For many Capitol insiders, the 60-day legislative sessions are more than long enough.
Senate committee to workshop Clemens’s elections bills on Tuesday
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee will workshop two voting-related bills sponsored by Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens on Tuesday.
In Florida and Washington, put people over politics
By Charlie Crist
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Last Monday, Carole and I were honored to be guests of President Obama on the occasion of his inauguration to a second term as President of the United States.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Bad policies pose historic threats to Fla. environment
By Bob Graham and Nathaniel Reed
Orlando Sentinel
Recent investigative reporting by Kevin Spear in the Orlando Sentinel reveals the dramatic and widespread pollution and flow problems facing so many of Florida's rivers and springs.
NWF Report: FL Wildlife Impacted by Climate Change
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
Sea turtles and coral are among the Florida species already feeling the impact of climate change, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation.
Bill returns that would extend permitting lengths for alternative water supply projects
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill dealing with water supply permitting that in 2012 sailed through the House without opposition before dying in the Senate is back.
BP's Guilty Plea For 2010 Gulf Spill Approved By Federal Judge
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
BP PLC closed the book on the Justice Department's criminal probe of its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf oil spill Tuesday, when a federal judge agreed to let the London-based oil giant plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties.
LGBT
Will Boy Scouts ease no-gays policy?
Associated Press
Florida Today
Facing diverse and ceaseless protests, the Boy Scouts of America is signaling its readiness to end the nationwide exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders and give the sponsors of local troops the freedom to decide the matter for themselves.
EDUCATION
Gaetz says Fla. teacher evaluation not working
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Florida's new teacher evaluation system isn't working, and lawmakers should stop making major changes in the state's schools until that plan and other key initiatives are fixed and implemented, Florida Senate President Don Gaetz said.
Questions about 'sensible' merit pay
By David Lee Finkle
Orlando Sentinel
After reading the Sentinel's editorial "Teacher pay proposal smacks of political bribe" on Friday, about Gov. Rick Scott's plan to give teachers raises, I found myself agreeing — and disagreeing.
Weatherford aims to change higher education
By James Call
Florida Current
The Speaker of the Florida House says technology is producing a tsunami of change in how people learn.
Charter school group gives Florida high marks for its charter school laws
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, an organization dedicated to the expansion of charter schools, has rated Florida as fifth best in the country for its laws relating to the creation of charters -- schools that receive public funding but are run privately without the burden of many mandates and restrictions placed on traditional public schools.
Testing doesn't scare off private schools accepting vouchers, report says
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Tony Bennett, Florida's new education commissioner, has taken the FCAT by the tail when it comes to the issue of requiring private schools that accept state voucher funds administer state tests and be graded as any public school.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Religious Leaders Back State Employee Raises Because It’s What King Would Do
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
A group of Tallahassee religious leaders are pushing the legislature to give state employees across the board pay raises.
State consumer confidence drops a point
Staff Report
Florida Current
Florida's consumer confidence dodged an expected drop in January when negotiations in Washington averted the "fiscal cliff," according to the University of Florida’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Group Calls for the Wealthy and Corporations to Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
Coming up today we'll talk about calls by a group called Americans for Tax Fairness to get wealthy Americans and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes- as part of any new budget agreement.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Officials Rethink Medicaid Expansion
By Sammy Mack
Health News Florida
When Florida sued to overturn the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers targeted a piece of the law that would have forced Florida to make Medicaid available to more than a million uninsured Floridians.
Influential Republican Supports Appointee
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Alan Levine, an influential voice in Florida and national health policy, is calling on his fellow Republicans to support the confirmation of Marilyn Tavenner as director of the federal agency that runs Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
Nursing home executives investigated by The Palm Beach Post charged in $2.75 million
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Two nursing home executives spotlighted in an investigative series by The Palm Beach Post have been arrested on charges of using more than $2.75 million of Medicaid dollars for excessive salaries and personal expenses, state officials said Monday.
Florida lawmakers will face a billion-dollar generic drug fight
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The billion-dollar “biosimilar” fight, which is being pushed by some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the nation, is coming to the 2013 Florida Legislature.
Anti-Castro proposal would ban medical licenses for American doctors trained in Cuba
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald
Two South Florida lawmakers are pushing for a law that would stop American doctors who studied in Cuba from receiving medical licenses in Florida.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Obama wants immigration reform quickly; promises counter proposal if Congress stalls
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
One day after a bipartisan group of U.S. senators proposed an overhaul of immigration law, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he expects Congress to move promptly on that legislation or he will put his own plan on the table.
