Daily Clips for January 5, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Legislator files bill to reverse controversial elections measures
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, has introduced a bill that would reverse some of the controversial measures in the elections law passed by the Florida Legislature last year.

Iowa results could recast Florida presidential race
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
With his surprise showing in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum might have won himself a second look from voters in Florida's Jan. 31 primary.

GOP campaign kicks into high gear
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Mitt Romney is blanketing Florida with ads and mailers. Newt Gingrich is planning a Miami-Orlando trip next week. Ron Paul is sending out fliers.

Scott’s helpful new spirit on Everglades
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott is beginning his second year in office with a markedly different and more helpful tone on Everglades restoration.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Florida legislative preview – 2012
By Amy Keller
Florida Trend
Redistricting won't completely dominate the legislative landscape in January. A look at other issues percolating in the background and who wants what.

Republicans are prepared to sacrifice numbers in the redistricting battle
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Florida’s new redistricting standards, coupled with the 10-year shift in population, has forced Republicans to do what is rarely done in politics — sacrifice incumbents – and that is not going over well with some Republicans.

Fla. senator wants transition records kept public
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The deletion of emails sent by Florida Gov. Rick Scott and members of his transition team may spark a change in state law.

POLITICAL RACES

Michele Bachmann ends GOP presidential campaign
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Michele Bachmann left the race for president Wednesday morning, becoming the first casualty of the Iowa caucuses.

Five things we learned from the Iowa caucuses
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
1 Mitt Romney has a serious problem with the conservative base.

GOP Presidential Hopefuls: Where They Stand on Health Care
Staff Report
Kaiser Health News
At first glance, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. John Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Rick Perry, both from Texas, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum seem virtually identical in their health policy platforms, as does former candidate Herman Cain.

GOP rivals work behind scenes in Florida
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy month.

Rick Santorum's task gets tougher in Florida
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Can Rick Santorum’s Iowa momentum propel him to success in Florida’s crucial Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary?

Foolish consistency, or just foolishness?
By Leonard Pitts
Tampa Tribune
Ralph Waldo Emerson, meet Ronald Ernest Paul. He is the very soul of a foolish consistency.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Environmental coalition calls for an end to subsidies for high-risk coastal development
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
An environmental coalition on Wednesday called on the state to maintain its ban on nearshore oil drilling, to remove subsidies for high-risk coastal development and to encourage local ordinances regulating the use of fertilizer.

Cold, boats combine to produce second-worst year for manatee deaths
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
For a third straight year, cold weather and speeding boats took a serious toll on Florida's manatee population, with 2011 racking up the second most manatee deaths on record.

BP oil spill payments to resume after fee wrinkle
By Cain Burdeau
Associated Press
Payments to those damaged by BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resumed Wednesday, a day after administrators of the $20 billion fund stopped the flow of money, saying they were unclear on how to assess a 6 percent fee for lawyers handling claims.

New Sierra Club Florida leadership gets to work
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A new executive committee this week took over leadership of Sierra Club Florida almost four years after the state chapter was suspended.

LGBT

Gay activists step up push for registry in Orange
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Some gay-rights activists fear Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs is ignoring early good reviews for a proposed countywide domestic-partner registry and that she actually might be lining up to oppose it.

EDUCATION

Florida high school grades rise again in 2011
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Florida's public high schools got better grades again in the second year since the state added non-test factors such as graduation rates, college preparation and participation in advanced classes to their annual assessments, education officials announced Wednesday.

Most Florida schools earn top grades
By Christopher O’Donnell
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida's new high school grading formula was intended to gear schools more toward preparing students for jobs and college.

Florida Supreme Court asked to resolve tuition power dispute
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
Arguing that the Legislature "resisted its loss of power,'' a group that includes former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham wants the Florida Supreme Court to resolve a long-running dispute about the power of the university system's Board of Governors to set tuition and fees.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Miami Chamber of Commerce endorses casinos
By Douglas Hanks
Miami Herald
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday endorsed bringing casino resorts to South Florida, throwing the weight of the region’s largest business group behind the push to expand the state’s gambling laws.

Report: Florida workers’ comp market ‘competitive’
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The state's annual report on workers' compensation insurance says Florida's market is "competitive," and its availability is not a significant problem.

Hundreds of employees at nonprofits make six-figure salaries
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
Nonprofits aren't known for minting millionaires, but a few nonprofit executives have pulled down seven-figure pay packages at least once in the past few years, an analysis has found.

Florida citrus weathers cold snap with little damage
By Sascha Cordner
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
With Florida's temperatures dropping to near freezing levels for the past couple of days, the state's growers and farmers dodged a bullet on what was expected to be "the coldest night of the winter season."

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Van Zant files all-out abortion ban
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
Last week, state Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, followed through on his announcement that he would bring back a bill that bans abortion in the state of Florida, providing only an exception to save the life of the mother.

Abolish hospital taxing districts?
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Current
Florida should scrap special hospital districts and replace them with “indigent health care districts” where money can “follow the patient” and be spread across providers and not just limited to certain hospitals, a report released by a state panel recommends.

State economists say changes to health, drug plans not generating savings
By Tom Flanigan
WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee
Last year, the Florida Legislature had a simple idea.

Group petitions Legislature to take up medical marijuana bill
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Independent
An unknown group is sending around a petition demanding that the Legislature consider a medical marijuana bill filed in the state House and Senate for the upcoming session. The petition already has more than 7,000 signatures.

Florida gets $29M from CDC in HIV prevention grant
By Marni Jameson
Orlando Sentinel
As part of a national effort to curb the spread of HIV, Florida's Department of Health has received $28.7 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency announced today.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Abortion Clinic Fire Under Investigation
By Mike Vasilinda
Captiol News Service
Arson investigators are awaiting the results of evident that was taken from the American Family Planning Clinic in Pensacola.

Anti-Muslim organization to honor U.S. troops in Tallahassee
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
The United West, an anti-islamic organization, will host an event in Tallahassee on the first day of Florida’s 2012 legisltative session to honor members of the U.S. military who served in Iraq.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judicial Qualifications Commission wants future jurisdiction for former Judge Paul Hawkes
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
On his way out the courthouse door Wednesday, 1st District Court Judge Paul Hawkes was told by the Judicial Qualifications Commission that they'll be waiting if he ever tries to be a judge again.

Daily Clips for January 4, 2012

AWAKE THE STATE IN THE NEWS

Florida activists plan rallies in Tampa, St. Pete and throughout the state on the first day of the legislative session
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing
Excerpt: There are 19 such events currently scheduled across the state…organizers are calling out Scott's proposals to find $2 billion in cuts to the state's budget, which they say will focus disproportionately on health care reductions for the state's children, poor, and seniors.

FEATURED STORIES

The high art of disenfranchisement
Editorial
Miami Herald
Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. Justice Department will move aggressively to review the plethora of new voting laws that state legislatures across the nation have passed in recent years to exclude minority voters.

Occupy Florida groups take action on campaign finance, free speech rights
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
Occupy Orlando today launched an effort to end corporate personhood.

Senator’s data request answered
By Lindsay Peterson
Tampa Tribune
State Sen. JD Alexander asked for it, and Tuesday he received an answer to his request for information from the state universities — 583 pages from the University of South Florida alone.

Romney beats Santorum in Iowa by 8 votes; Paul a close third
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
In many ways distinctly different, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney took near opposite paths to twin victories in Iowa's presidential caucuses.

FLORIDA POLITICS

The Game of Redistricting
By Amy Keller
Florida Trend
The contentious and unpredictable redistricting process will be even more dramatic than usual this year as legislators try to integrate new requirements imposed by a pair of 2010 ballot amendments into an already complicated, agenda-laden process.

Broward Republicans say redistricting proposals for Allen West are unconstitutional
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Florida Independent
The Miami Herald today published an “open letter” from Broward County GOP chairman Richard DeNapoli to the Florida Legislature’s redistricting committees.

Jacksonville man pushes petition to recall Florida elected officials
By Adam Kealoha Causey
Florida Times-Union
A Jacksonville man wants other Florida voters to join him in demanding the right to kick state officials out of office.

State representative gives views on legislative session
By Derek Catron
Daytona Beach News Journal
State Rep. Dwayne Taylor met Tuesday with The News-Journal editorial board as part of an ongoing series of interviews before the start of the legislative session next Tuesday.

POLITICAL RACES

Officials say registrations, ballot requests foretell big turnout for GOP primary
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The Iowa caucuses coincided with Tuesday's deadline for Floridians to register for this state's Republican presidential primary on Jan. 31.

Fired up in Iowa, Santorum says he’s ‘absolutely’ ready for Florida
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Rick Santorum, who's risen at just the right time for tonight's caucuses, says a strong finish will propel him to Florida.

RNC: Fla primary will remain winner-take-all for delegates
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
There's been a fair amount of chatter/concern that the importance of Florida's Republican primary could be dramatically diluted if the RNC further penalizes the state for its early primary by allocating its delegates proportionally, rather than winner-take-all.

Our take on: Iowa illogic
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
The process of picking a Republican candidate to face Barack Obama formally begins with today's Iowa caucuses, just three days into the new year and 10 months before the general election.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Revised Fla. religion amendment not challenged
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Opponents of a proposal that would repeal Florida's ban on public funding of religious organizations aren't challenging a revised ballot summary.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Bill would block higher utility charges that penalize water hogs
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill filed by a Senate budget subcommittee chairman would prohibit the Public Service Commission from allowing private utilities to charge customers higher rates for using large amounts of water.

EPA proposes delaying water quality standards
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has proposed delaying the implementation of a set of Florida-specific water quality standards for 90 days, allowing for the approval of a set of replacement rules drafted by the state.

BP says it is entitled to payment from Halliburton
By Kevin McGill
Associated Press
BP is reiterating claims first made last April that it is entitled to payment from contractor Halliburton Energy Services for expenses and lost profits resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well disaster.

Don't let Florida Forever fade into oblivion
By Eric Ernst
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
It's gone by several names. In the 1980s, it was CARL, the Conservation and Recreation Lands program.

Hope on Everglades’ horizon
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
Despite their political differences, key Florida leaders are showing a united front on behalf of the Everglades, which should encourage citizens who care about the state's natural wonders.

EDUCATION

2011 Florida high school grades being released today
Associated Press
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida high schools are finally getting their grades.

Six Florida colleges name best value
By Michael Vasquez
Miami Herald
Florida’s state universities have long been among the nation’s best values, but the past few years put that reputation to the test, as budget cutbacks forced both academic program eliminations and repeated tuition increases.

Standardized testing opponents call for National Opt Out Day
By Marcos Restrepo
Florida Independent
Public school advocates who oppose mandatory standardized testing to determine teacher salaries and state and federal funding for public schools have called for a National Opt Out Day.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

For lowest-paid, a step up
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
For a small fraction of Florida's workforce, this week is more than the start of a new year — it also marks an increase in pay.

Casino bill 2.0 to regulate internet cafes, roll back pari-mutuel tax rate
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, would like to ban all internet sweepstakes cafes in the state, and bring the Department of the Lottery into the gaming commission that would be created by her SB 710.

Number signing up for public assistance increasing
By Anne Geggis
Gainesville Sun
The number of Alachua County residents using food stamps has increased 75 percent in the past five years — 14 percent of county residents are now getting them — prompting the state to find a more efficient way to communicate with recipients.

State economists reduce 2012 property tax value projections
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
This year was less than three days old Tuesday when state economists nudged down their projections for Florida property tax values.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Scott panel cannot compare Florida hospitals
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A panel appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, who once headed the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, told him on Tuesday that it could not determine whether Florida's public hospitals provide better or worse care than private ones.

Fla. doc won’t stay free in corruption appeal
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A South Florida eye doctor snared in a federal corruption probe will not stay out of prison while he appeals his four-year sentence.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

High cost of gun recklessness
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
A 12-year-old boy who was shot while innocently watching New Year's fireworks is the victim of a gun owner's reckless disregard for the safety of others.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge orders Hollywood power broker Alan Mendelsohn to prison by Friday
By Paula McMahon
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Former Tallahassee power broker Dr. Alan Mendelsohn can delay no more and must go directly to prison by noon Friday, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Collier judge upholds ‘Stand Your Ground’ defense in teen’s bus stop stabbing death
By Victoria Macchi
Naples Daily News
A 15-year-old who fatally stabbed his school mate will no longer face criminal prosecution.

Daily Clips for January 3, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

12 Florida Stories to Watch in 2012
By Michael Peltier and David Royse
News Service of Florida
Instead of rounding up the week's news, which again was in short supply this week — we look forward to next year with a roundup of the stories we think may be the biggest next year in state government and politics.

Scott's first year marked by retrenchment, recalculation
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott has prided himself as Florida's first "CEO governor," a former profit-focused health-care executive tapped at a time when career politicians had failed to clamp down on government spending.

Leaders taking knife to budget
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
It's almost an annual rite in Tallahassee: Another year, another billion-dollar plus budget shortfall.

Republican presidential candidates make final sprint in Iowa
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: GOP race to Tampa starts with Tuesday's caucus in Iowa
Related: After putting Barack Obama in White House in 2008, Iowa Democrats re-examine choice
Ron Paul ended his speech abruptly, without as much as a fist pump on the final day before the caucuses.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Protest enters new phase
By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
Tim Sommers, 23 and unemployed, thinks big business and a complicit government are ruining the country, so he joined up with Occupy Tampa at the fledgling group's first rally in early October.

Randolphs are Orlando's liberal power couple
By Mark Schlueb
Orlando Sentinel
The future strength of the Democratic Party in Florida just might live in a tidy bungalow in Orlando's downtown Colonialtown neighborhood.

Florida casinos bill a catch-all, addressing the lottery, dog tracks, jai-alai, and Internet cafes
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
It's already tough enough to get conservative lawmakers behind the concept of three new casinos in Florida, no matter how swanky.

Senate tweaks redistricting maps in advance of January session
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
The Senate Redistricting Committee released new proposed Senate and congressional district maps late Friday — a move staff director John Guthrie said will respond to issues raised at a legislative hearing earlier in December and a follow-up meeting with state elections officials.

Chris Dorworth: The wrong man for an important job
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
During a 2010 pre-election interview with the Orlando Sentinel's editorial board, Chris Dorworth acknowledged his financial problems and promised to remedy them before taking the Florida speaker's gavel in 2014.

POLITICAL RACES

'Fragmented' GOP faces first test in Iowa caucuses
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Hard-hitting television ads, cross-state bus trips and small-town diner visits by the Republican presidential contenders mark the last weekend dash before the Iowa caucuses - finally, the nation's first nominating contest in an already volatile campaign.

Hopefuls put bull's-eye on education
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Today
Later this month, Florida Republicans will have an opportunity to register their feelings on federal education policy — and whether there should even be a national policy.

Locals expect good things of Tampa's Republican National Convention, poll says
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
Good for Tampa Bay. Maybe not a big deal for you personally — unless you live or work downtown.

Jan. 3 is deadline to register for GOP presidential primary
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Marcia Nisula, a loyal Times reader from Clearwater, sent me a thoughtful handwritten letter over the holidays.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

What sprawl costs Northeast Florida
By Virginia Chamlee
Florida Independent
The dismantling of the Department of Community Affairs by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature has put more power into the hands of local governments — a good thing, argues the governor, for development and growth.

State: 440 manatee deaths documented in 2011
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Officials are reporting 440 manatee deaths throughout the state by mid-December, the second-highest number on record.

Groups seeks end to rock-mining plans
By Andres Viglucci
Miami Herald
Three residents of rural Southwest Miami-Dade and three leading environmental groups have sued the county to stop an expansion of rock mining on agricultural land outside the urban development boundary that the plaintiffs say was approved in violation of state law.

Florida agriculture seeking to enter ethanol business
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Florida policymakers have squabbled for years over ways to develop more energy alternatives, with nukes, solar plants, offshore oil-drilling, biomass and coal all getting their turn in the legislative grinder.

EDUCATION

What's coming up in Florida education?
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Some Florida lawmakers have said they want to give the schools a breather in 2012 so they can implement all the new rules put in place during 2011.

Florida's school program soon to be under department of agriculture
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Florida's school food and nutrition program transfers to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from the Department of Education, effective Jan. 1.

For-profit virtual schools a bad deal for kids
By June Girard
Gainesville Sun
Gov. Rick Scott’s movement to “reform” public education is a laboratory experiment for the rest of the nation.

Don't tell us what to study, Daddy Scott
By Cary McMullen
Tampa Tribune
Question: What do novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin and evangelist Billy Graham have in common?

Some Florida Prepaid owners must pay $21,000 more
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun Sentinel
If you prepaid for college a few years ago, there's a good chance you'll need to shell out a lot more money for your child's tuition and fees.

A progress report on the New Florida program
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
The announcement came in 2010 with a promise to transform Florida's economy.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Gov. Rick Scott's jobs agency gives itself good grades
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
A new report on Florida's corporate tax breaks says the state is facing stiffer competition to lure companies to expand, and the hundreds of millions in tax dollars given to businesses to create jobs in recent years have been largely successful.

Employees, Employers and the Unemployed Face Changes in 2012
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Employees, employers and the unemployed will all face changes in 2012.

2012 Session Outlook: Transportation
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott highlighted Florida’s transportation system this summer as a key factor in jumpstarting the state economy.

Wikileaks: Fanjuls among 'sugar barons' who 'muscled' lawmakers to kill free trade deal
By Michael LaForgia and Adam Playford
Palm Beach Post
The cables read like a political thriller: In the Dominican Republic, a "small, powerful coterie of infuriated sugar barons" was trying to sabotage a top American priority, a free trade agreement.

Sinkholes become Florida's latest insurance disaster
By Susan Taylor Martin and Dan DeWitt
Tampa Bay Times
It's the Great Florida Sinkhole Lottery and the payouts are big in Hernando County.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State keeps funding dangerous ALFs
By Michael Sallah and Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
When Florida regulators found that a 71-year-old man with mental illness died from burns after he was left in a tub of scalding water at a Hialeah assisted-living facility, they could have cut off thousands in state dollars sent to the home each year.

Aging America: Get ready for Medicare changes
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Associated Press
Baby boomers take note: Medicare as your parents have known it is headed for big changes no matter who wins the White House in 2012.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

FBI joins probe of abortion clinic fire
By Thyrie Bland
Pensacola News Journal
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have joined the investigation into a fire that gutted a Pensacola abortion clinic early Sunday.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Don't give guvs sole power to pick judges
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
It was open season on judicial independence in Florida during the 2011 legislative session.