Daily News Clips for March 8, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Rick Scott promised big ethics reform, but nothing has happened
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Long before the Legislature saw the need for new ethics laws, Gov. Rick Scott made a bold commitment to fight public corruption. But he hasn’t followed through.

Is Rick Scott a wildcard on 'parent trigger' bill?
By Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Controversial ‘parent trigger’ bill gets first nod from House subcommittee
No matter what you think of the so-called "parent trigger" proposal, one thing was made clear Thursday: The bill will be among the most contentious of the legislative session.

Proposal to change Florida state pensions to 401(k) plan moves forward
News Service of Florida
Tampa Bay Times
A bill placing all new state employees in a 401(k)-style retirement plan passed a House subcommittee on a party-line vote Thursday, setting up a major showdown between legislative Republicans and public workers' unions.

Bill banning local worker protections passes panel with living wage sunsets
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Precourt amends local wage, benefit ban bill, carves out exceptions
The House State Affairs Committee voted largely along party lines today to advance a Republican-led effort to ban local governments from adopting stronger pay and benefit protections for workers, but was changed to allow certain existing living wage measures to stay in place temporarily.

Rick Scott's new Medicaid ally — Charlie Crist
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott's endorsement of a plan to expand Medicaid has many Republicans fuming, but not Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist.

Clumsy book tour shows Jeb Bush still untested on national stage
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Maybe, after all the gushing about his policy chops, strong executive record and ability to broaden the appeal of conservative Republicans, Jeb Bush isn't ready for the national stage.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Special thanks to Ben Kirby of The Spencerian, a Best of the Blogs favorite. We’ll miss all the great writing and insight he’s provided “thinking Floridians” over the years while he gives his keyboard an extended rest.

Weatherford's Family Relied On Medicaid, Which He's Now Denying Floridians
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
There are at least three things that you can count on today's Republicans for being consistent on: Pushing tax cuts for the wealthy, obstruction, and stunning hypocrisy.

Private Prison Executive Isn’t Telling The Truth About GEO’s Record Of Juvenile Abuse
By Nicole Flatow
Think Progress
In the wake of the announcement that Florida Atlantic University would name its football stadium after private prison corporation GEO Group for a hefty price, an executive at the company is disseminating false and misleading information about the firm’s practices and documented abuses at its facilities.

Dozens Converge on Downtown Tampa to Resist Voter Suppression
By Ryan Ray
The Florida Squeeze
As our Capitol slowly devolves into an open-air slaughterhouse for good ideas and majoritarian rule, lousy with graft and openly hostile to the public trust like no time since the regime of the Pork Choppers, a loose-knit group of lefties the state over is standing athwart Florida history yelling “Enough already!”

Mainstream press avoids real cause of man-swallowing Florida sinkholes
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
One may pray that Florida voters will eventually make the connection between water managers, beholden to special interests, and district board members, appointed by the governor they elect, and sinkholes like the one that recently claimed the life of a Tampa area man named Jeff Bush.

Scott's Florida Medicaid plan hits legislative snag
By Joan McCarter
Daily Kos
So it turns out Florida's legislature is even more extremist than Gov. Rick Scott.

FLORIDA POLITICS

House voting reforms don't go far enough
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
It was designed to be a symbolic gesture of significant proportions.

House Speaker: $10,000 contribution limit isn't happening
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Speaker Will Weatherford said Thursday the House would dramatically lower the proposed $10,000 campaign-contribution limit it is pushing in exchange for broad ethics changes lawmakers are debating this session.

Florida Legislature should repeal special-interest billboard law
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The Florida Senate made a big show this week of passing an ethics reform bill that Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville said is long overdue.

Scott sidesteps questions about legislation
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
When Gov. Rick Scott says his focus this legislative session is on a teacher pay raise and a tax break for manufacturers' equipment purchases, he isn't kidding.

Texting while driving bill gets moving in House
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A bill to limit texting while driving appears finally to have momentum in the Florida House, after years of proposals stalling out.

Florida lawmakers seek to repeal controversial international drivers' law
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
With Florida Tourism Day set for the state Capitol next week, state lawmakers are scrambling to correct an embarrassing legal misstep threatening that industry.

With the voice of reason gone, who do you call?
By Sue Carlton
Tampa Bay Times
A few months back when I was writing about politics where politics does not belong — Republicans opposing the retention of three Florida Supreme Court justices who had apparently displeased them — my first call was a no-brainer.

Five things to look for in Friday’s Legislative session
By Steve Bousquet
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A legislative week marked by the Senate's fast passage of an ethics reform bill will end with a senator formally answering ethics charges.

POLITICAL RACES

Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown files to run for re-election
By Timothy J. Gibbons 
Florida Times-Union
Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown is looking to take his time in office to the next level.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida sugar growers win House vote on Everglades pollution payout
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The sugar industry won a round Thursday in the long fight over Everglades restoration, when a House panel approved extending a tax on growers that environmentalists say will leave South Florida taxpayers paying most of the cleanup cost.

Ag water bill passes Senate committee while coal ash and fracking bills clear House subcommittee
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A pair of bills facing environmental opposition passed Senate and House committees on Thursday while bills that would regulate hydraulic fracturing passed a House panel without opposition.

Florida lawmakers lay groundwork for natural gas “fracking”
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
The national debate about a type of oil and gas drilling known as “fracking” has never hit home in Florida.

Gov. Scott, Cabinet approve land deals
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet have approved buying land to add to a National Guard training site and a north Florida spring.

High-Stake Environmental Issues Before The Florida Legislature in 2013
By Tricia Woolfenden   
WLRN Miami
The Florida Legislative Session 2013 is in full swing, and environmental groups are worried about a number of  bills before lawmakers.

LGBT

Hearing set for Leon County domestic-partner registry
By Jeff Burlew
Tallahassee Democrat
Sharon and Terry Anne Kant-Rauch have been together since their first date 30 years ago, a day trip to St. George Island.

EDUCATION

McKeel's sister back on Florida Polytechnic payroll
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Last year, Maggie Mariucci cited a toxic, stressful environment as the reason she left her job at what was then known as University of South Florida Polytechnic.

Florida data shows charter schools outperform traditional schools on FCAT
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Every year by law the Florida Department of Education releases a report comparing the academic performance of charter and traditional schools, as assessed by the FCAT and end-of-course exams.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Brandes bill on tougher pension scrutiny passes first committee
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
He had to scramble to do it, but Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, got his bill for more pension scrutiny passed in a senate committee.

Miami-Dade Republican blasts anti-'living' wage efforts in Tallahassee, questions Van Zant's 'theology' ties to communist Cuba
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Natacha Seijas, the former Miami-Dade commissioner who championed ordinances creating a local "living wage" and preventing wage theft, took Florida lawmakers to task Thursday for considering legislation that would force counties to repeal those laws and ban them from enacting them in the future.

Bill could bring higher insurance rates for property owners
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A bill brimming with enticements for the private property insurance industry — and forcing homeowners to pay higher rates to reinvigorate a tepid market — passed its first committee in the Florida Legislature on Thursday.

Florida's unemployed will take 2 hits as sequestration's bite is felt
By Michael Pollick
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Once a worker in Florida has gone through 19 weeks of unemployment compensation, federal emergency compensation checks kick in.

Sharper eye needed on state contracts
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
It is a common refrain among conservative politicians that government should be managed like a business.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Health care workers rally at Florida Capitol to expand Medicaid coverage
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
About 400 health care workers crowded the Florida Capitol on Thursday, singing, chanting — with even a few in costume — to urge legislative leaders to endorse the Medicaid expansion allowed under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Feds' offer would increase care, cut costs, create jobs
By Ron Pollack
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Medicaid expansion costs: not as much as Scott thought
At a recent gathering of political leaders, Gov. Rick Scott was asked if Florida would accept federal money to expand health-care coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Floridians through Medicaid.

Florida Chamber of Commerce hears Medicaid debate
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
The president or the Florida Hospital Association told Florida Chamber of Commerce leaders Thursday that Gov. Rick Scott's plan to expand Medicaid access for about 1 million poor people would be good for business by sending about $30 billion rippling through the state's economy in the next 10 years.

State lawmakers should leave the sad family stories to those that really matter
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
Can we please have a moratorium on telling heart-melting family stories as a way to peddle your views on who should pay for the health care of Floridians?

Florida Medicaid Expansion: Confusion or Hypocrisy
Editorial
Lakeland Ledger
The Florida Legislature opened its annual 60-day session Tuesday. Monday, just prior to the formalities, the House Select Committee on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act voted 10-5 along party lines to reject an expansion of Medicaid in Florida.

Patient Pitches Medical Marijuana
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
A wheelchair bound woman who has outlived predictions of her demise for more than 20 years spent the day wheeling through the halls of the Capitol, seeking to legalize the use of medical marijuana, which she believes has kept her alive.

Senate Moving on Smoking Ban Bill
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
A state bill to ban smoking in parks and at beaches is moving early in session.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Senate panel approves gun-control measure
Staff Report
Hearst Newspapers
The Senate Judiciary Committee took a tentative step Thursday toward addressing gun violence by approving legislation that would make "straw purchases" of guns a federal crime.

More gun laws fewer deaths, 50-state study says
By Lindsey Tanner
Associated Press
States with the most gun control laws have the fewest gun-related deaths, according to a study that suggests sheer quantity of measures might make a difference.

In Immigration Discussion, Jeb Bush Fell Victim to Bad Timing. Or Did He?
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
There are a couple of explanations floating around for what’s going on with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Let Felons Vote After They Complete Sentence
By Rhonda Swan
Florida Voices
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last week said that Congress’ re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act is a "perpetuation of racial entitlement.”

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

|Scott names 'conservative' lawyer Forst to DCA judgeship
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday named a lawyer to an appellate judgeship who highlighted his "conservative credentials" on his application, including past ties to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and members of the Bush family.

Time for Fla. lawmakers to end attack on courts
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Politicians in Tallahassee mounted a sustained attack on Florida's courts in 2011 and 2012.

Daily Clips for June 7, 2011

FEATURED STORIES

Political payback? GOP donors enjoy huge tax breaks
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The biggest tax break created by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature will let the average home­owner in Palm Beach County knock about $28 off his or her property tax bill next year.

Doctors sue over new state gun law
By Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
Pushing back against the National Rifle Association, a group of physicians on Monday filed suit in a Miami federal court to nullify a controversial measure prohibiting health practitioners from routinely asking their patients if they own guns and have them properly stored.

Gov. Rick Scott visits Canada on quest to lure jobs to Florida
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday kicked off a five-day tour of Canada's two largest cities.

State Sen. Mike Bennett files papers to run for Congress against Kathy Castor
By Craig Pittman and Caryn Baird
St. Petersburg Times
Mike Bennett successfully pushed to make voters work harder to get to the polls.

A step toward fair districts
Editorial
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The proponents of fair congressional and legislative districts — including almost two-thirds of the Floridians who voted last November — got good news last week from the U.S. Department of Justice: The agency found no reason why the Legislature should not use two new state constitutional amendments to guide it in redrawing Florida's political map.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rep. Vern Buchanan is No. 1 spender on mass mailings in House
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
No member of Congress spent more taxpayer money on mailers and other communications with voters than U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan in early 2011.

The State Department’s rationale for the rush to implement elections overhaul
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
As House Bill 1355 made its way through the Legislature, critics railed against provisions that would impose new regulations on groups that register voters, reduce the number of days of early voting and require voters who move between counties to vote by provisional ballot.

Price Tag Impedes Access to Florida Public Records
By Bobbie O'Brien
WUSF Public Radio Tampa
Florida has long been known as a leader in the nation for accessibility to public records and meetings.

Lawmakers told to pay for summer trips out of their own pocket
By Gary Fineout
The Florida Current
State lawmakers who want to head to this summer's two main legislative conferences will have to pay their own way.

Former governor/senator Bob Graham 'concerned' about Florida's direction
Staff Report
Florida Courier
Former Gov. Bob Graham avoided taking a direct swipe at Gov. Rick Scott during a visit to Tallahassee on Monday, but the former Democratic governor said he has some qualms about where Florida's ruling Republicans are steering the state.

With corruption, timing is everything
By Daniel Ruth
St. Petersburg Times
It's often been said that the one thing politics and stand-up comedy have in common is that timing is everything.

'I'm too busy' is not an option
By Howard Troxler
St. Petersburg Times
My father, who died in 2008, was a welder.

Martin County to host a redistricting public hearing
By Jim Turner
TC Palm
Martin County will host one of the public hearings on state legislative and U.S. Congressional redistricting now scheduled throughout Florida.

They Want to Make Voting Harder?
Editorial
New York Times
One of the most promising recent trends in expanding political participation has been allowing people to vote in the weeks before Election Day, either in person or by mail.

POLITICAL RACES

Wasserman Schultz: GOP ‘war on women’ big help for Obama in 2012
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
President Obama and the Democratic National Committee have begun courting female voters for the upcoming presidential election.

Ironically, Fair Districts Act Could Aid Bennett's Congressional Run
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
Though he vehemently opposed Amendments 5 and 6, which required that legislative districts be drawn according to counties and defined municipalities whenever possible (rather than for political purposes), Florida Senator Michael Bennett may now benefit from the new voter-driven referendums which were cleared by the Department of Justice this week.

LeMieux fares better than Haridopolos on conservative talk show
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Despite differences of opinion, U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux managed to stay on the air with conservative talk-show host Ray Junior this evening, unlike one of LeMieux’ GOP primary opponents, Senate President Mike Haridopolos.

Pasco Republicans prepare for presidential event
By Geoff Fox
Tampa Tribune
Almost 90 Pasco County Republicans will have the opportunity to speak face-to-face with the GOP's 2012 presidential hopefuls at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Sept. 22 to Sept. 24.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida's new growth law could produce 'scattershot' rules
By Adam Playford
Palm Beach Post
With the state suddenly handing control over growth to counties and cities, local officials who work on planning say one likely result is a patchwork of regulations, with the rules governing new development changing every time you cross a city's border.

Growth may be more than they can bear
By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post
Apparently, things are looking up for Florida's black bears.

Putnam: Florida has to ‘get out of the litigation business’ when it comes to environmental policy
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Calling it the “base of a Floridian identity,” Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said that Florida’s water was a “limited precious resource” that citizens are “burning through at too big a rate” during Friday’s 2011 Water Forum, held in Orlando.

Feinberg says no claims filed on cleanup illnesses
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The attorney overseeing the payments from a $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the massive BP oil spill said Monday that he hasn't seen any claims filed suggesting that the cleanup has caused medical illnesses.

Florida beach nourishment gets funded after all
By Steve Huettel
St. Petersburg Times
A program prized by Pinellas tourism businesses escaped Gov. Rick Scott's veto pen.

EDUCATION

FCAT scores in science increase but remain low
Staff Report
Florida Tribune
New Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results released on Monday show small increases in science scores that still remain low, while math scores are slightly down in the state.

Third-grade FCAT scores mostly flat as test changes
By Tom Marshall
St. Petersburg Times
Third-grade scores on this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test appeared little changed from last year as the state moves to a tougher set of academic standards.

State looks into parents' Edison Prep complaints
By Melanie Payne and Dan DeLuca
Ft. Myers News-Press
Related editorial: Edison Prep should close
A private Fort Myers high school, operating on city property without legitimate accreditation and owned by a headmaster with a felony record, received almost 25 percent of its tuition fees last year from a taxpayer-funded state scholarship program.

Flagler schools may sue state over funds
By Annie Martin
Daytona Beach News-Journal
The Flagler County School Board is expected to meet today with a Tallahassee attorney to discuss suing the state of Florida.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

If so many Americans can't raise $2,000 in 30 days, what lies ahead?
By Robert Trigaux
St. Petersburg Times
Better send some anti-depressants to the folks at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jackson Lab quits effort to expand in Florida
By Michael Sasso
Tampa Tribune
Jackson Laboratory, a prestigious biomedical institute from Maine, has pulled the plug on its Florida expansion, the company said Friday.

This fight’s not over yet
Editorial
Miami Herald
It’s remarkable how little some members of Congress have learned from the economic meltdown that produced the Great Recession.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Guttmacher highlights health and fiscal benefits of public women’s care
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Three new reports from the Guttmacher Institute highlight the importance of publicly subsidized women’s health services for many low-income women in the United States.

Planned Parenthood affiliate loses thousands for teen sex health programs
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast has lost thousands of dollars for teen sexual health programs servicing young people in Palm Beach County this year.

Brady Center and doctors join forces to shoot down new gun law
By Christine Jordan Sexton
The Florida Current
A U.S. district court in Miami is being asked to block the state from enforcing a new law that limits a doctor’s ability to ask patients about gun ownership.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

4 Rothstein associates set Ponzi guilty pleas
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Four former associates of convicted South Florida swindler Scott Rothstein are scheduled to plead guilty for their roles in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Daily Clips for June 6, 2011

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Liberal, labor groups gathering in Orlando, thanking Rick Scott
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
Excerpt: Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida, which will be leading some of the workshops, said watching the 2011 legislative session and Scott’s first five months as governor unfold is helping to create “a new generation of civically engaged Floridians — some of them for the first time. We’ve never seen this level of progressive energy,” he said. “And Rick Scott has been a catalyst for that.”

Rally Against Legislature
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Excerpt: Damien Filer of Progress Florida says, "It's a recognition that people are not going to rest now, the mentality that was behind these attacks on the middle class are going to continue."

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

Opposition organizes as legislature begins planning for 2012 session
By Janet Zink
St. Petersburg Times
Excerpt: Susan Smith, a long-time active member of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party, is now organizing a Tampa chapter of Awake the State, a group launched just four months ago to fight the Republican led legislature. Awake the State will have a booth at the festival, and host a workshop.

FEATURED STORIES

Orlando Hosts “The Festival For Florida’s Future”
By Q. McCray
WFTV News Central Florida
Related video: Thousands Gather For “The Festival For Florida’s Future”
Thousands of people invaded the Central Florida Fairgrounds on Saturday to learn how to take their complaints to Tallahassee.

Two groups sue Gov. Scott over new Florida elections law
By Marc Caputo
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A pair of liberal-leaning groups sued Gov. Rick Scott on Friday to block an elections law that they say amounts to "voter suppression."

Scott's 'jobs' budget will take toll on jobs
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott calls it his "jobs" budget.

Governor blames ejection of protesters on 'confusion'
By Michael C. Bender
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Protesters should not have been removed from a state budget signing ceremony in the Villages last week, a spokesman for Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Friday.

GOP lawmakers can't afford to kick Scott when he's down
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott is being portrayed as the most unpopular governor in the country, a toxic political asset for his Republican allies, an alarmingly aloof public servant when it comes to issues Floridians have cherished for decades.

Gov. Rick Scott May Personally Benefit From New Law That Hands Medicaid Program Over To Private Companies
By Tanya Somanader
Think Progress
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed “a landmark Medicaid overhaul” yesterday that will put “hundreds of thousands of low-income and elderly Floridians into managed-care plans.”

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida Gov. Rick Scott may switch his chief of staff
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
The Buzz is that Stephen MacNamara, the chief of staff-general counsel in Senate President Mike Haridopolos' office, is the top choice to become Gov. Rick Scott's new chief of staff.

How to fix money in Florida politics
By Howard Troxler
St. Petersburg Times
There's an old joke that members of the Florida Legislature should be labeled like NASCAR drivers to show who is paying for them.

Legislators ignoring Florida's rampant corruption cost you money
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
To see how bad political corruption in this state is, look no further than the Tallahassee Democrat.

Buchanan slow to reveal refund of disputed contributions
By Susan Taylor Martin
St. Petersburg Times
On Oct. 17, two weeks before the November election, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan refunded $5,000 in contributions made by five former employees — one of whom had claimed that he and others were pressured to donate to Buchanan in violation of federal law.

Court battles over new state laws could be costly
By Catherine Whittenburg
Tampa Tribune
For the second time this week, the American Civil Liberties Union announced it is hauling Gov. Rick Scott into court -- this time, over a controversial makeover of Florida's election laws -- as another group prepares to sue him over a new law restricting what doctors can ask their patients.

Previous changes to election laws were not implemented without Justice Department approval
By Travis Pillow
Florida Independent
During a conference call with reporters explaining a lawsuit challenging the rapid implementation of Florida’s new election laws, lawyers helping to bring the case for the American Civil Liberties Union said the changes could not be implemented before they are approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.

POLITICAL RACES

On Medicare, GOP plan could be its problem
By Adam C. Smith and Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times
Related PolitiFact article: Mike Haridopolos claims Medicaid reform was bipartisan: False
It's not that the radio host failed to press Mike Haridopolos.

Haridopolos Steps Into Medicare Trap
By Joe Shea
Bradenton Times
In a moment of deeply-held Republican conviction, Florida State Sen. Mike Haridopolos - one of the brightest stars in Florida's political firmament - abruptly decided to embrace proposals by a rising GOP counterpart in Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan, that would cut Medicare for many Florida seniors.

Florida Workers Gearing Up for 2012 Elections
By Les Coleman
Public News Service Florida
Working people from across Florida gathered over the weekend in Orlando, marking the kickoff of a sustained campaign to demand meaningful action from the Republican-controlled state legislature.

2012 Republican hopefuls court religious right
The Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A gathering of religious conservatives drew nearly all the GOP presidential hopefuls to a single stage, a claim that a South Carolina debate and a well-publicized forum in New Hampshire couldn't make about their recent events.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

An obituary for Florida Growth Management
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
Growth management, an imperfect but noble effort to protect Florida from selfishness and greed, died Thursday (June 2, 2011).

A year after BP oil spill, Panhandle towns seeing signs of recovery
By Laura Figueroa
Miami Herald
ATVs still rumble across the eight-mile stretch of Pensacola Beach each morning, driven by workers looking for tar balls.

Scott left too early
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
It was unfortunate that Gov. Rick Scott ducked out early from this week's Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force meeting in Pensacola.

State senator's bill would have loosened Florida's restrictions on billboard companies
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
Related: State withheld emails, denied meetings related to handover of trees to billboard company
There was a quiet effort made this year by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Milton, to loosen requirements billboard companies must meet to cut down state-owned trees to make their signs more visible.

Repairing Lake Okeechobee dike needed not only to save lives, but crops, ag commissioner warns
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post
With fields dry, plants wilting and stiffer water restrictions looming, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam told a room of growers, water managers and business officials on Friday that Florida's biggest long-term problem is not crime, Medicare or the economy. It's water.

Nuclear power still part of Florida's future energy mix
By Ivan Penn
St. Petersburg Times
Does nuclear power have a future here?

DCA positions being filled even as department appears headed towards elimination
By Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
Department of Community Affairs Secretary Billy Buzzett has filled key positions in the department even as its veers towards likely elimination.

LGBT

Gay Days Brings Cash, Criticism
Staff Report
WESH TV News Orlando
Controversy surrounds an annual event that brings thousands of people to Central Florida.

New Broward policy offers protection to transgender students
By Carli Teproff
Miami Herald
For 17-year-old Taylor, a typical school day presents unique challenges: Does he use the boy’s bathroom, or the girl’s?

EDUCATION

Details of Florida's new teacher-evaluation system emerge
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
Florida teacher evaluations are about to get an extreme makeover.

3rd-graders who fail reading FCAT not held back -- despite state rule
By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post
Third grade is no easy assignment. By the end of the school year, students are supposed to be able to read on their own.

Virtual schools showing real growth
By Annie Martin
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Kim Medley said she was "fed up" with public schools.

Florida joins suit against for-profit college company
By Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
The nation's second-largest for-profit college company is fighting a lawsuit that keeps growing — with the state of Florida now one of the newest parties to join the case.

The cost of school-bashing
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The list of applicants to replace Eric Smith as education commissioner was so thin that the deadline was extended to today.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Scott Questions Value of Ag Department's Consumer Divisions
By Zac Anderson
Lakeland Ledger
It's called the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, but the name might have to change if Gov. Rick Scott gets his way.

Gov. Rick Scott's veto of public TV and radio funds spares capital's WFSU
By Eric Deggans
St. Petersburg Times
Even as public television and radio stations across Florida work furiously to cope with the recent veto of nearly $4.8 million in state funding, there is one public broadcaster that will see its state support increased.

Gov. Rick Scott has lofty goals for Florida ports
By Steve Huettel
St. Petersburg Times
As he stiff-armed the Obama administration's offer of $2.4 billion for high-speed rail, Gov. Rick Scott embraced a far less sexy alternative: lumbering cargo ships.

Florida's 'jobs governor' disses company bringing in thousands of jobs to Florida
News Service of Florida
Florida Courier
A biomedical laboratory that was seeking to build a new campus in Southwest Florida is abandoning the plan, saying the state isn’t willing to put up enough money to make it worth it.

Lawmakers hope new bill fixes hurricane insurance
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
Florida hasn't been hit by a hurricane since the disastrous years of 2004 and 2005 - but the state's property insurance companies say they are still losing money despite collecting billions in premiums.

Lawmakers raided special accounts again rather than close special-interest tax loopholes
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's leading Republican lawmakers were crowing last month after approving next year's nearly $70 billion state budget without raising taxes.

Florida needs more stimulus spending
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
With the painfully slow economic recovery experiencing a hiccup, or perhaps worse, the importance of states spending the remaining federal stimulus money promptly and prudently has never been more critical.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Gov. Rick Scott signs legislation to crack down on pill mills
By Janet Zink and Justin George
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After initially fighting one of its key provisions, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday aimed at cracking down on clinics that frivolously dispense pain pills and feed a nationwide prescription drug abuse epidemic.

Targeting seniors isn't reform
By Rep. Ted Deutch
Palm Beach Post
There is nothing courageous about asking seniors and middle-class families who have already borne the brunt of this recession to shoulder painful cuts just to finance the policies driving our deficit - such as oil company subsidies, trillion-dollar tax cuts for millionaires and special-interest giveaways.

Poll: Americans are tired of abortion debate
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
A recent poll finds that Americans are tired of the current debate over abortion rights.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Advocates for poor: Florida welfare drug-testing measure based on stereotype
By Jeremy Cox
Florida Times-Union
State Rep. Jimmie Smith can sympathize with the plight of people on public assistance. He's been there.

House Defense Bill Finally Addresses the Rape Epidemic in U.S. Military
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
As an Army veteran, I am proud to have served my country.

Florida better off without Arizona-like immigration law
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Tea party adherents are angry that Florida lawmakers didn't approve an Arizona-style immigration law. Get over it, folks, because the state is better off without it.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

DOC lays off 190 guards
By Jim Ash
Florida Capital News
The Florida Department of Corrections announced Friday that 190 prison guards in training will lose their jobs in a move the department estimates will save $8.8 million.

Gov. Scott signs bill killing Florida Commission on Capital Cases
By Paul Flemming
Florida Capital News
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday killed the Florida Commission on Capital Cases.