Daily Clips for July 5, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Rick Scott overstates cost of health care overhaul
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
When Florida Gov. Rick Scott took to the airwaves this past weekend to criticize President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, he said that it would cost Florida taxpayers $1.9 billion a year.

Scott questioned about accuracy of assertions about Affordable Care Act
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
Continuing a national media blitz Tuesday against last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Rick Scott fielded some penetrating questions from radio hosts about statements he’s made since the high court ruled.

Scott's pointless war on health law hurts Florida
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Floridians are paying dearly for Gov. Rick Scott's obsessive opposition to "Obamacare."

Two political insiders to survey Florida's big landowners about toll road routes
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
Two developers who played a role in dismantling growth management laws in Florida are getting paid by the Department of Transportation to consult on what could be the largest state road project in history.

As Florida jobless rate drops, so do benefits for unemployed
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
The next three months will determine just how long thousands of unemployed people will receive state jobless benefits next year.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Liberal activists stalk Rubio as book signings
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Several days into his book tour, Sen. Marco Rubio has been greeted with big, enthusiastic crowds across Florida.

Fox in the Henhouse
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
Last week I spent almost four hours gathering personal information to properly fill out my financial disclosure form.

POLITICAL RACES

Tampa could learn lessons from 2008 RNC mistakes
By Ted Jackovics
Tampa Tribune
From the beginning, the 2008 Republican National Convention was supposed to be different.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Sick of it
By Billy Manes
Orlando Weekly
On June 28, while all eyes were on the Supreme Court decision on President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act – most notably its effects on small businesses, states' rights and the individual mandate – a ragtag coalition of local activists was keeping its focus on a different side of the health-care discussion: the almost silent majority of low-wage earners, many of whom aren't allowed to take sick time off from work, whether they have health coverage or not.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Bald eagles make impressive recovery in Florida
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Bald eagles in Florida continue to expand their range, establishing new nests and securing the future of species that once appeared close to extinction.

LGBT

Obama administration asks Supreme Court for quick review of gay marriage law
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to settle the legal fight over a law that denies federal benefits to married gay couples.

EDUCATION

State seeks to boost student knowledge about government
By Cara Fitzpatrick
Tampa Bay Times
A third of Americans can't name any of the three branches of government. Fewer than half understand what separation of powers is, and twice as many can name a judge on American Idol than the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Every student's results count
By Mackenzie Ryan
Florida Today
With a learning disability and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Robert Thomas fell further and further behind at Cambridge Elementary School in Cocoa.

School districts gamble with limited hurricane-insurance coverage
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
School districts across Central Florida are betting that a hurricane won't hit here and cause more damage than their meager insurance policies cover.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Obama declares 5 Florida counties eligible for aid after Debby
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared that a major disaster exists in Florida after Tropical Storm Debby and ordered financial aid for individuals in five counties, including Pasco.

Veterans face tough obstacles to employment
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
Hector Rivas has been deployed twice since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and one of the top things on his mind during his recent 10 months in Afghanistan was finding a job when he got home.

Fix mortgage flaw that enabled robo-signing in Florida
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Florida counties are missing out on millions of dollars and homeowners are being kept in the dark about who owns their loans because the state does not require that mortgage assignments be recorded.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Why Rick Scott and other GOP governors are likely to buckle on Medicaid
By Perry Bacon Jr.
The Grio
Florida Republican Rick Scott and other Republican governors and state legislators are threatening to refuse federal Medicaid funds under the Affordable Care Act, as they now have the right to do after last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court on “Obamacare.”

Anti-Medicaid dogma
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
If you were governor of a state where almost one-fourth of your residents have no health insurance, compassion might cause you to give thoughtful consideration to a federal program designed to help those residents.

Scott stops using misleading talking points in criticizing 'Obamacare'
By Tia Mitchell
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott is continuing his media blitz, appearing on at least one national radio program Tuesday to criticize the health care law.

Breaking down the debate over the health care law
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The U.S. Supreme Court may have ended its debate over the Affordable Care Act, but the rhetoric over the historic decision is just heating up in Florida.

New law could spur employers to drop role as health-care buyer for workers
By Chad Terhune
Los Angeles Times
The Supreme Court’s endorsement of the federal health care law last week could spur more employers across the nation to relinquish their long-standing role as chief health care buyer for their workers.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Advocates calls for federal action to restore ex-felons' voting rights
News Service of Florida
Tampa Bay Times
Hundreds of thousands of Florida ex-felons who have completed their sentences still can't vote, a prohibition that is hindering their re-entry into society, a group of voting rights advocates said Tuesday as they urged Congress to step in.

New Fight Begins for Immigrant
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
On Wednesday, thousands of immigrants across the state and county will be sworn in to become US citizens.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Judge refuses to rule in Florida prison health care dispute
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A state circuit court will not rule on whether legislators broke the law in their push to privatize the state's prison health care system, leaving the yearlong dispute unresolved.

Justice denied in cash-strapped courts
Editorial
Miami Herald
Florida’s court system is overburdened with too many cases and too few dollars.

Daily Clips for June 3, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Florida could lose billions of dollars by rejecting healthcare reform act, study says
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Two studies from Washington healthcare researchers project that Gov. Rick Scott’s decision not to expand Medicaid as provided by the healthcare reform law could mean Florida losing billions of dollars in federal funding — money that could have been used to bring health insurance to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Floridians.

Gov. Scott's decision on 'Obamacare' draws critics
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
With Gov. Rick Scott vowing that Florida won’t expand its health care system for the poor because it will hurt the state’s effort to create jobs, his opponents and other advocates charged Monday that the opposite might be true.

Scott, Bondi must face reality of Affordable Care Act
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Business owner who complained to Scott about 'Obamacare' says he was misinformed
Related: Fact-checking Gov. Rick Scott on the health care law
Whatever Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi's personal disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision largely upholding the Affordable Care Act, they have an obligation to carry out the law's terms and stop claiming its constitutionality is suspect.

FloridaWatch book jacket skewers Rubio as ‘Traitor’
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
FloridaWatch, a pro-Democratic group that was passing out “Pink Slip Rick” and “Pink Slip Mitt” fliers earlier to protest Gov. Rick Scott and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is going after Marco Rubio and his new memoirs book, “An American Son.”

In Florida fight, Obama and Romney scrap along I-4
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
In the presidential battleground with the biggest prize, Democrat Barack Obama is focused on ratcheting up voter turnout in Florida's university towns, its Hispanic enclaves around Orlando and its Jewish communities in the south.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott: State weighing moves in voter purge
News Service of Florida
Ft. Myers News-Press
The state is still weighing its next moves in an attempt to remove suspected non-citizens from the voting rolls, Gov. Rick Scott said Monday.

Professor: Voter purge is 'harassment,' 'waste of time'
By Gene Wexler
WOKV Jacksonville
“A waste of time and money” That’s what University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith calls Governor Rick Scott’s so-called purging of Florida’s voter rolls of potential non-U.S. citizens.

POLITICAL RACES

Judge tosses 'birther' lawsuit; Obama will remain on Florida ballot
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times
The Associated Press is reporting that Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis tossed out a lawsuit filed by a South Florida man who wanted President Barack Obama blocked from appearing on the ballot in Florida.

RNC party zone proposed next to parade route, protest areas
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
It turns out protesters outside the Republican National Convention might get closer to delegates than expected. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Coastal homeowners face a rising threat
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
If you've always yearned to own waterfront property and have enough time on your hands, thanks to global warming and rising sea levels Pinellas County may one day offer the real estate investment of your dreams.

LGBT

20 couples sign up on 1st day of Volusia's domestic partnership registry
By Andrew Gant
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Fiorella Papini and Juelda Drye have been together seven years and "married" (just not legally) for six.

Sarasota OKs idea of domestic partner registry
By Carrie Wells
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The city of Sarasota appears poised to be part of a growing state and nationwide trend of affording greater rights to unmarried couples.

EDUCATION

Education head tries to calm fears on FCAT scores
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The head of Florida's Department of Education is writing parents to tell them that they shouldn't be overly concerned about the results of the state-required exam that's supposed to measure year-to-year improvements of students, teachers and public schools.

High-stakes exam scores now online
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Like 'em or hate 'em, the FCAT and other high-stakes tests are driving public schools these days.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Upfront money to draw businesses includes risk
By Michael Sasso
Tampa Tribune
Related editorial: Tossing tax dollars to select businesses
As the recession raged in 2009, communities lined up to offer Robert Easter big money to land his small manufacturing firm.

Flood insurance premiums could double in four years
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun Sentinel
President Barack Obama is expected to sign a bill this week that would, among other things, extend the National Flood Insurance Program five years.

Orlando has 2nd highest Hispanic jobless rate, study finds
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
Metro Orlando had the second-highest rate of Hispanic unemployment in the nation last year, according to a report issued Monday by the Economic Policy Institute.

Florida earns federal foodstamp bonus funding
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post
Florida will get an additional $9.1 million from the federal government this year, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted the state a bonus for the accuracy of its food stamp program.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

The backlash begins: States start opting out of Medicaid expansion
By Sarah Kliff
Washington Post
Related: Health-care law’s Medicaid provision too good to pass up
The Supreme Court decided last week that the federal government could not penalize states for not participating in the Medicaid expansion, set to begin in 2014.

Will Rick Scott and Other GOP Governors Really Turn Away Medicaid Expansion?
By Jonathan Cohn        
WUSF Tampa
As it turns out, the scariest part of Thursday's ruling on the Affordable Care Act was the issue that got the least attention.

Gov. Rick Scott overstates cost of health care overhaul
Associated Press
Ft. Myers News-Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott says that President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul will cost Florida taxpayers $1.9 billion a year, but the estimate is considerably less than that.

For a healthier Florida, Gov. Scott must comply with law
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
If Gov. Scott and his Republican colleagues in the Legislature continue to be sore losers over the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act, Floridians will be the ones who suffer.

Florida to receive $56 million in GlaxoSmithKline Medicaid fraud settlement
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida's share of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Medicaid fraud settlement — the largest health care fraud settlement in the nation's history — is $56.7 million.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Farms a casualty of immigration war
By Tony Pugh
Miami Herald
On more than 10,000 acres of drained swampland in western New York, Maureen Torrey’s family farm grows an assortment of vegetables in the dark, nutrient-rich soil known as “Elba Muck.”

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Miami federal judge sides with ‘Docs’ over ‘Glocks’ in Fla. gun rights case
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
A federal judge has blocked the state of Florida from enforcing a new law pushed by firearm advocates that banned thousands of doctors from discussing gun ownership with their patients.

Joyner joins ACLU in challenge to Florida election law
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
State Sen. Arthenia Joyner, of Tampa, has joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups to challenge a Florida election law.

Daily Clips for July 2, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Governor Scott doubtful about expanding Medicaid
By Craig Patrick
FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Excerpt: "It would really be devastating and breathtakingly irresponsible for Governor Rick Scott to reject funds to continue to fund Medicaid," said Darden Rice, an activist with Progress Florida.

FEATURED STORIES

Scott says Florida won't implement health care law
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related column: Gov. Scott putting politics above people in need
Gov. Rick Scott said late Friday that Florida will not begin implementing the federal health care law because he believes it is bad policy and too costly for Floridians.

Health care ruling strengthens GOP ability, resolve to repeal mandate
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal health care law was a victory for President Obama, but it also could put a repeal of the individual mandate within reach of Republicans – if they can win both the White House and a simple Senate majority.

Florida's work-release centers quietly going private
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Florida's privatization of prison health care still locked up in disputes
When Gov. Rick Scott and legislators tried to privatize South Florida prisons, the state Senate rejected it.

State’s loser lawsuits waste taxpayer money
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
The current regime in Tallahassee, for example, has been spending a considerable chunk of taxpayer money on loser lawsuits of the ideological kind.

Rubio faces Latino dilemma with his immigation stance
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Bridging the gap between his own conservative backers and the immigrant community he represents may be harder than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio expected.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

Questionable new Fla. laws go into effect Sunday
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A trio of constitutionally questionable measures and legislation designed to crack down on no-fault auto insurance fraud are among about 150 new Florida laws going into effect Sunday.

Rubio says he wants readers of his book to learn from his successes and mistakes
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio sounded tired, and simply turning on the TV in the past week explains why.

Rubio brings rock-star tour to Orlando Monday -- will he finally bring heft?
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
You can't turn on a TV nowadays without seeing Marco Rubio.

Fla. Gov.'s net worth dropped again last year
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a multimillionaire who bankrolled most of his successful campaign in 2010, says he's worth less money now than he was just before he entered office.

Prospective Florida House Speaker Dorworth fends off fire from GOP rivals
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Already tapped by ruling Republicans as Florida’s House speaker in a couple of years, Rep. Chris Dorworth faces unusual hurdles on his path to power.

POLITICAL RACES

Democrats feeling convention blues, but RNC has its awkward notes: Greer, Paul, Scott
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Republicans have been crowing about some of the struggles facing organizers of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., who last week scrapped plans for a much-touted public Labor Day bash at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Trailing super PACs and their super smears
By Carl Hiaasen
Miami Herald
Eighteen weeks before the elections, and already the airwaves are clogged with competing political commercials.

Enthusiasm Grows Among FL Latino Voters
By Jennifer Carroll Carson
Public News Service Florida
President Obama's recent immigration policy changes are igniting enthusiasm among Latino voters, according to a recent survey.

Obama floods Orlando airwaves with attack ads
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is already dropping millions of dollars in Orlando as it floods the TV market with attack ads against Mitt Romney, grabbing the early summer momentum.

Ann Romney's job: 'unzip' Mitt
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Four years ago, Ann Romney swore she'd never do this again. No more campaigns, she told her husband when he stepped off the stage after conceding the Republican presidential nomination to John McCain.

Growing Puerto Rican population near Disney will be critical in picking a president
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
To understand how a once rural county best known for cattle ranches has emerged as one of the nation's most critical presidential campaign battlegrounds, go back more than three decades to a shrewd marketing decision by a Miami developer.

Florida’s Write-In Frauds
By Pierre Tristam
Florida Voices
Florida has a long and undistinguished history of defrauding voters.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Non-believers say proposed Florida amendment is backdoor to religion in government
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Liz Murad, once a Franciscan nun, says she no longer believes in God but does believe in the U.S. Constitution. And she worries that attempts to change Florida laws will violate the U.S. political principle that separates church from state.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Florida to share money from BP law; Mack, Rubio vote 'no'
Staff Report
Naples Daily News
Florida and other Gulf states will share the bulk of any money received from BP Oil under the RESTORE act passed by Congress on Friday.

Debby's pounding waves wiped out turtle nests as well as beaches
By Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Tropical Storm Debby did more than just wipe some of Pinellas County's beaches off the map.

Growth and sprawl on the march
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott's vision of Florida's economic future looks a lot like its past: heavily dependent on grand-scale development that creates sprawl and environmental damage but comes with no money to pay for the consequences.

Attacks on environment invite public suspicion
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
These are perilous times for public land in Florida.

LGBT

Sarasota considering creation of a domestic registry
By J. David McSwane
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Following a recent trend among Florida cities like Tampa and Orlando, Sarasota could be the next to extend more rights to gay and domestic partners.

EDUCATION

Southern states get failing grades for school funding fairness
By Sue Sturgis
Facing South
Many states are failing to provide public schools with the resources they need to serve all students equitably, and Florida and North Carolina doing a particularly poor job in addressing educational disparities caused by concentrated poverty.

State's push for digital textbooks, tests has schools scrambling
By Erica Rodriguez
Orlando Sentinel
Students at Lake Minneola High School spent the year reading from shiny, new iPads instead of textbooks, something many say helped them stay engaged with schoolwork.

School districts likely to ignore 'inspirational message' law
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
A controversial law that would allow student prayer at mandatory school events could have limited impact even after it goes into effect Sunday, both supporters and opponents of the “inspirational message” bill say.

With tuition rising and job prospects dimming, college students feel the pinch
By Kim Wilmath and Alli Langley
Tampa Bay Times
Tuition increases taste like ramen noodles.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Peek at Florida corporate handouts isn't pretty
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Oops. Gov. Rick Scott's administration late last month inadvertently gave Floridians a more complete picture of how their tax money is being given away to corporations in an expensive attempt to create jobs.

Attorneys: Budget shortfall not enough justify changes to retirement benefits
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The lawyer leading a lawsuit challenging a 2011 retirement law says in court papers that a budget shortfall does not necessarily justify reducing cost-of-living increases for public pensions or requiring employees to contribute a portion of their salaries to their retirement.

These Numbers Aren't Quite Positive
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
A national survey by a nonprofit think tank gave Florida high marks for the financial health of its $126 billion state pension fund.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Gov. Rick Scott: Florida won't comply with health care law
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott now says Florida will do nothing to comply with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and will not expand its Medicaid program.

Opt-out on Medicaid would have odd result
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
If Florida says no to Medicaid expansion, as the Supreme Court has said it can, it will forgo billions in federal aid over the next 10 years to save a fraction of that amount.

Florida Officials Must Scramble to Implement Health Care Law
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Yesterday, the U.S.  Supreme Court mostly upheld President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act of 2010.

GOP in Disarray After Obamacare Ruling
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Aside from launching a new false attack on the law (which also happens to be an attack on Mitt Romney) and promising to vote one more time on repealing the law, Republicans don’t quite know what to do.

Feds join suit over treatment of Florida’s disabled kids
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Citing federal civil rights laws that forbid the segregation of disabled people in large institutions, the U.S. Justice Department has joined Florida children’s advocates who say the state is improperly forcing children with complex medical conditions into nursing homes designed to care for frail elders. 

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Loosen '10-20-Life' law
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
There is growing concern the state’s 10-20-Life law is too harsh, especially in cases where the facts clearly don’t support a lengthy prison term.