Daily News Clips for January 7, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Two years in, Rick Scott's biggest challenge remains himself
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Scott makes his case for second term as Florida governor
Related: PolitiFact Florida: Rick Scott's campaign promises 2 years in
Related: Gov. Rick Scott faces sagging approval ratings in Tampa Bay area
Related: For Fla. Gov. Rick Scott, campaign cash isn't a problem
Rick Scott casts himself as a problem solver, but after two years as governor of Florida, his biggest challenge remains unsolved.

Florida GOP seeks new direction after election losses
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
If the Republican Party of Florida harbored any uncertainty about its Nov. 6 election performance, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam offered this Saturday morning: "We got our teeth kicked in."

Legislature Getting Ready for Session
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
The new session of the Florida Legislature convenes in two months, but much of the real action, especially with the state budget and other major issues, begins next week.

House foreclosure bill would speed up process
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A "faster foreclosures" proposal that sparked consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form, with a new bill filed this week by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.

GOP state lawmakers aim to kill local sick-time measures
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
The brutal political fight over mandatory sick time for workers in Orange County is about to move to Tallahassee, as two Central Florida lawmakers want to block locally driven efforts supporting the idea.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jeff Parker
Florida Today
Related editorial: No denying climate change

FLORIDA POLITICS

A liberal agenda for Florida in 2014
By Stephen L. Goldstein
South Florida Sun Sentinel
After the 2012 Election, you don't have to be a weatherman to know that the political wind is blowing liberal in the Sunshine State.

GOP leaders offer hope to party faithful
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Conceding that "we got our teeth kicked in" last year, Republican Party of Florida leaders began a 22-month countdown to the 2014 elections Saturday with a vow to shake a political "stigma" of blind opposition to President Barack Obama -- while not retreating from a principled opposition to Obama Administration policies.

Detzner gives written testimony on 2012 election to U.S. Senate
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Secretary of State Ken Detzner wasn’t on hand to witness former Gov. Charlie Crist slam Florida’s handling of the 2012 election before a U.S. Senate committee last month, but he’s written a defense of the state’s election process.

Miami-Dade grand jury spells out voting fixes
By Myriam Marquez
Miami Herald
From Ireland, England and India and other points overseas Miami-Dade County received more than 2,500 phantom computer requests for absentee ballots in last year’s elections.

South Florida’s newest congressional leaders are sworn into office
By Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
Lois Frankel, the former mayor of sunny West Palm Beach, had to buy her first pair of winter boots in decades. Joe Garcia, who represents southern Miami-Dade County and the Keys, found a temporary room at University of Miami President Donna Shalala’s home in Georgetown.

New Reps. Ron DeSantis, Ted Yoho vote against Hurricane Sandy aid
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill providing $9.7 billion in flood insurance aid for Hurricane Sandy victims.

POLITICAL RACES

For Marco Rubio, the path to 2016 needs careful steps
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
Imagine a tightrope. Thin, taut and unforgiving.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Natural Florida needs stewards, not profiteers
By Bill Maxwell
Tampa Bay Times
In his 1998 book Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida, environmentalist Mark Derr wrote that "in these past one hundred years, man has reshaped and relandscaped the peninsula, leveling forests, draining the marshes. The process continues at such a rapid rate that many residents of more than a decade barely recognize the areas around their homes."

Protecting Florida's polluters
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Few operations have been as compromised under Gov. Rick Scott as Florida's Department of Environmental Protection.

Nearly 400 sign up to shoot pythons in Glades
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Nearly 400 people have signed up to enter the Everglades and do battle with Burmese pythons, the giant constrictors that have emerged as the latest and weirdest threat to South Florida's wildlife.

EDUCATION

Scott: Spend additional revenue on schools
By James Call
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott said Friday his plan to boost Florida’s economy includes more money for public schools next year.

Florida school enrollment gets best boost since bubble, but it could mean a good sign or a bad sign for state economy
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Enrollment in Florida’s public schools has spiked at a rate not seen since before the recession, but analysts are drawing mixed conclusions about what the sudden change says about the state’s economic recovery.

Florida at Forefront of Internet-Based Education
By Mary Toothman
Lakeland Ledger
With the right choices and plans, Florida is in a position to take a leading national role in Internet-based higher education, according to a national consultant.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida jobless may need email account to get benefits
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
The state of Florida, which already has some of the tightest unemployment rules in the nation, may demand that all applicants have a working email account to receive jobless benefits.

After surviving fiscal cliff, Florida still faces budget ax
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
You may already know your taxes are going up this year, even if you're not in the top 2 percent of money makers.

Population growth likely to push Florida past New York, experts say
By Laura C. Morel
Tampa Bay Times
It was startling news for a state that gains about 3 million residents each decade.

Minimum wage up 12 cents an hour
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post
All minimum-wage workers got a raise Jan. 1 of 12 cents an hour — an extra $4.80 a week for full-time workers.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Scott, Sebelius to meet in DC to talk health care
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott will meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss the Affordable Care Act.

Florida needs Medicaid expansion
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
To his credit, Gov. Rick Scott is ready to thaw his relationship with the Obama administration over health care reform.

Florida child abuse deaths decline, report finds
Staff Report
Pensacola News Journal
Drowning and unsafe sleeping environments were behind nearly half of child abuse deaths in the state in 2011, a new report from the Statewide Child Abuse Death Review Committee shows.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Legislator wants to abolish capital punishment
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
An attorney-law professor who opposes capital punishment for pragmatic fiscal reasons, as well as legal and moral grounds,  reintroduced her bill Friday to abolish the death penalty in Florida.

Florida courts facing juvenile sentencing issues
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down laws requiring automatic life sentences without parole for juvenile killers is presenting some thorny legal issues for Florida judges.

Daily News Clips for January 4, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

South Florida’s newest congressional leaders are sworn into office
By Erika Bolstad
Miami Herald
Related: Grayson is back, ready to 'really make a difference'
Lois Frankel, the former mayor of sunny West Palm Beach, had to buy her first pair of winter boots in decades. Joe Garcia, who represents southern Miami-Dade County and the Keys, found a temporary room at University of Miami President Donna Shalala’s home in Georgetown.

Feds, Transocean Reach $1.4B Deal Over Gulf Spill; No Criminal Charges Filed
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
The Justice Department reached a $1.4 billion settlement Thursday with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida's death penalty needs fresh look
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Five states have repealed the death penalty in the last five years, with Connecticut being the latest to do so in 2012.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

The Most Important Progressive Victories Of 2012
Staff Report
Think Progress
1. Historic progress to end the war on drugs.

Bill McBride, 1945-2012
By Jake
Rantings From Florida
The news of the passing of Bill McBride took by sorrowful surprise today.

Scott On Gun Laws: Respect The Families...By Doing Nothing At All
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
Rick Scott took a break from FOX-GOP-TV appearances and showed up on CNN Wednesday for an interview with Soledad O'Brien on guns.

Charlie Crist’s challenge for progressive Democrats
By Bruce Seaman
Daily Marion
There is little doubt that Charlie Crist’s recent party switch to the Democrats is a prelude to a run to recapture his former role as Florida’s governor.

The fundamental flaws of ‘value added’ teacher evaluation
By Valerie Strauss
The Answer Sheet
Evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students has been perhaps the most controversial education reform of the year because while it has been pushed in a majority of states with the support of the Obama administration, assessment experts have warned against the practice for a variety of reasons.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Legislators drive you crazy? Pay them more!
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Today I'm bringing back one of the least popular ideas I've ever floated — paying legislators more.

Bill filed to speed up foreclosures in Florida
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Tampa Bay Times
A “faster foreclosures” proposal that faced sharp consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form this year, with a new bill filed by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, Thursday.

POLITICAL RACES

Primary for Buchanan and other fiscal cliff offenders?
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Even as members of Congress were preparing to be sworn in for new terms today, some conservative groups were threatening Republicans with primary challenges because they supported the fiscal cliff deal.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

New hearing on status of Crystal River nuclear plant
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
State regulators have scheduled a hearing Monday to receive an update on the broken Crystal River nuclear plant, which continues to sit idle with its future uncertain.

Court ruling leads to another push to address referendums on growth approvals
By Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
A circuit court judge's ruling in a Palm Beach County case is fueling a push for legislation to address referendum challenges to local government land-use decisions.

EDUCATION

|Florida Board of Education seals deal with Tony Bennett
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Tony Bennett didn't hesitate to take the job as Florida's next education commissioner once offered the post by the State Board of Education on Dec. 12.

The very best
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
There was a time when most Floridians thought of going to a community college as 13th grade, a step beyond high school but not real college.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

State inks deal to privatize South Florida inmate health care
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott's administration announced Thursday the state has signed a contract with a Pennsylvania company, Wexford Health Sources, to outsource medical care to more than 15,000 inmates in several South Florida prisons.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

State recoups $162M from Medicaid fraud probe, new report shows
By Liz Freeman
Naples Daily News
Related: Florida’s Medicaid fraud fighting cuts cost state millions in matching money, report says
The state recouped $162 million from Medicaid fraud investigations last year, a 47 percent increase from $110 million that was recovered in 2011, according to new data released Thursday.

Prescription drug strike force carries on despite lack of direct funding
By Gray Rohrer
The Florida Current
State law enforcement officials have pledged to continue the Statewide Drug Strike Force even though funding authority for the strike force ran out on Tuesday.

Sen. Bill Nelson, taking new committee post, vows 'major investigations' into crimes against seniors
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Bill Nelson today assumes his new role as chairman of the Special Committee on Aging and pledged to conduct "major investigations into crimes that target seniors" including financial scams.

Florida Missed Out on Consumer Co-ops
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
One of the most innovative parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- a loan program to start consumer health-care cooperatives -- died this week, a victim of the fiscal cliff deal.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides
By Shankar Vendantam and Davis Schultz
National Public Radio
If a stranger attacks you inside your own home, the law has always permitted you to defend yourself. On the other hand, if an altercation breaks out in public, the law requires you to try to retreat. At least, that's what it used to do.

Immigrant activists press Rubio to embrace comprehensive reform
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
A large crowd of immigrant activists went to Sen. Marco Rubio's Orlando office today urging him to support comprehensive reform.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Obama re-nominates Nassau judge Brian Davis for seat on the federal bench
By Larry Hannan
Florida Times-Union
Ten months after the original nomination, President Barack Obama has re-nominated Brian Davis for a seat on the federal bench.

Daily News Clips for January 3, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Good deal, as far as it goes
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Fiscal cliff deal comes with good and bad news for Floridians
Related: Florida homeowner tax cut extended; forgiven mortgage debt excluded from taxable income
It is far from perfect, but the compromise approved by Congress to head off middle class tax increases and delay arbitrary spending cuts achieves some significant results.

Florida Republicans rethinking election law
By William March
Tampa Tribune
In the wake of Florida's Nov. 6 election fiasco, Republican state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott acknowledge the massive election reform law they passed amid partisan controversy two years ago needs to be revised.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Crucial Orange sick-time ballot-fight records still missing
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County officials released text and email records Wednesday related to the fight over paid sick leave for local workers, but crucial texts from the day of the decision were still missing.

First Coast Tea Party blasts Ander Crenshaw, other Republicans for "fiscal cliff" votes
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
The First Coast Tea Party does not give hometown discounts.

25 most powerful people in Central Florida
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
The next generation. Panelists were asked to identify a few up-and-comers who might make this list in future years. Among those cited: activist Stephanie Porta, who helped lead the ballot push for mandatory sick time.

POLITICAL RACES

Plakon plots a return to Tallahassee, files to take on Clelland
By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel
Former state Rep. Scott Plakon, the Longwood Republican who lost this fall to Maitland Democratic Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, is hoping to make a quick comeback.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Report on state business climate cites need for energy and environmental planning
By Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
A Florida Department of Economic Opportunity report on the state's business climate is calling for a statewide strategy to ensure adequate future water supplies and for a statewide energy strategy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

EDUCATION

Tony Bennett's Florida education priorities: Common Core and teacher evaluations
By Jeff Solocheck
Tampa Bay Times
Incoming Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett is well known for his strong views on education policy, including his strong support of school choice and vouchers, as well as his backing of the national Common Core standards that some say contributed to his election defeat in Indiana.

Marion students return amid heightened security after Connecticut shooting
By Vishal Persaud
Ocala Star-Banner
Related: Officers will be at elementary schools starting Thursday
Marion County public schools beefed up security Wednesday, the first day of classes since the deadly mass shootings in Connecticut.

Rick Scott and Galvano talk education funding
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Florida Gov. Rick Scott continues to try to build up his image as an education-focused governor.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Commission outlines priorities for post-recession Hillsborough
By Mike Salinero
Tampa Tribune
With the Great Recession slowly fading into memory and the Hillsborough County government on solid financial footing, county commissioners are looking forward to a year of getting things done.

Orlando may snag Siemens wind-turbine training center near OIA
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
The workers who ascend several hundred feet of ladder to inspect and service the giant wind turbines that have sprouted by the thousands across the U.S. often don't need help getting over a fear of heights.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Counting Health Care Changes In The 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal
Interview
Kaiser Health News
KHN's Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro's Jennifer Haberkorn detail the deal struck between President Obama and Congress to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" and what the compromise means for hospitals and doctors who serve Medicare patients.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Nearly 800,000 people tried to buy guns in Florida in 2012
By Dan Sullivan
Tampa Bay Times
Nearly 800,000 people requested background checks so they could buy guns in Florida in 2012 — far more than in any recent year.

Hate crimes down, but assaults are up
By James Call
The Florida Current
The number of hate crimes reported in Florida in 2011 dropped but the number of physical assaults increased, according to the 2011 Hate Crime in Florida Report released by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Daily News Clips for January 2, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Rubio breaks ranks, votes against Senate's bipartisan compromise
By Ledyard King
Fort Myers News-Press
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio broke with his party Tuesday and voted against a bipartisan compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.

Florida's minimum wage increases to $7.79 per hour
By Arlene Satchell
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Related: Minimum wage gap grows wider between states
Many low-wage workers in Florida will be getting a little bit more in their pay checks in the new year thanks to an increase in the minimum wage that took effect Jan. 1.

Big Medicaid, Obamacare issues face Florida in 2013
By Jim Saunders
The News Service Of Florida
Dealing with issues that affect the health care of millions of poor and uninsured residents, Florida leaders in 2013 could move forward with a long-awaited overhaul of the Medicaid system and likely will decide how to carry out the federal Affordable Care Act.

PIP reform law finally takes effect
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
A major overhaul of the state's no-fault insurance law — which insurers have said could cut motorists' rates by 25 percent or more — will take effect Tuesday, one of a handful of new laws that will go on the statute books.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Rick Scott faces many challenges at term’s midpoint
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott enters the second half of his four-year term in some ways a far different politician from the one who shocked the Florida establishment in 2010 by winning his first-ever race for public office.

Don Gaetz defends staff members’ salaries
By Tom McLaughlin
Northwest Florida Daily News
State Sen. President Don Gaetz has been criticized across Florida for big salary increases given to members of the management team he selected to run his office.

Florida Democrats: our best weapon is Republicans
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. That’s a criticism about Florida Democrats lobbed not by Republicans but by Sunshine State Democratic strategist Steve Schale, a comment about his own party, broadcast on his Facebook page.

Race for Democratic chairman intensifies
By Travis Pillow
Tallahassee Democrat
The Florida Democratic Party is set to pick a new leader within the next month.

Lois Frankel preps for work and life in Washington
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Her bags are packed. She's found an apartment on craigslist and the utilities just got hooked up. And Lois Frankel, a Floridian for four decades, has a new and toasty winter coat, hat and boots.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

|Ignoring the real water problem
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
On the surface, North Florida's two regional water management districts appear to be showing commendable initiative in studying ways to recharge our depleted and declining aquifer.

Florida Panther Deaths in 2012 Break Record
By Kyle Swenson
The Daily Pulp
Over the last year we've kept you clued in on the fate of the Florida panthers, the big cats that have been showing up dead at a surprising rate.

Wildlife officials fight to keep scrub jays from extinction
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Oscar Scherer State Park was once the go-to place to spot scrub jays in Southwest Florida. They would flit gregariously among stunted scrub oaks and land on visitors' heads.

EDUCATION

Less Than 5 Months In, Charter School Closes, Upending Parents, District and County
Staff Report
Flagler Live
The Christmas decorations right from the entrance announce nothing but cheer, the poinsettias’ reds still sparkling almost as much as the fresh paint on the walls, the blues and yellows there less than five months.

Charter, voucher, online schools campaigning for bigger role in Florida
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Charter school, voucher and online education companies poured more than $2 million into this fall’s political campaigns, primarily those of Republicans who are again demanding more alternatives to traditional public schools.

Education Commissioner: Work Together for Students
Editorial
Lakeland Ledger
It's no surprise that Tony Bennett, Florida's newly hired education commissioner, would be bullish on testing, vouchers and charter schools, or that the state's largest teacher union would object to his appointment.

Editorial: Florida colleges should not charge math, science majors less
By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post
It is often said that the future of the American worker lies increasingly in the realm of science, technology and math.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Scott's goal of tax cuts a mixed result
By Aaron Deslatte
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Gov. Rick Scott was following a well-read playbook when he campaigned in 2010 to kick-start the economy in part with deep property tax cuts. It just didn't come off as scripted.

Scott oversees steep decline in state jobs
By Bill Cotterell
The Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott, who campaigned as a conservative business executive determined to shrink the size and cost of state government, has overseen a sharp decline in Florida government employment, a steep drop in state personnel costs and a six-fold increase in state employee layoffs during the first half of his term.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

How Florida limits care for disabled kids
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
In a drab, cramped conference room in Doral, a 45-year-old single mother is fighting with the state to secure in-home nursing care for her severely disabled daughter — while the 10-year-old fights for her life.

GOP governors walk balance beam on health law
By Bill Barrow
Associated Press
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market.

2013 Brings Big Changes in FL Health Care
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
This is the year that Florida will tackle a raft of controversial and difficult health programs, from the privatization of Medicaid to a debate over how to carry out the Affordable Care Act.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Florida surpasses 1 million permits for concealed weapons
By Miriam Valverde
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Amid soaring gun sales, Florida distinguished itself from the rest of the country with a milestone this month: issuing 1 million permits for concealed weapons.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Overton dies
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ben F. Overton, a Green Bay, Wisc., native who was the first justice elected after merit-retention reforms in the 1970s, died Saturday in Gainesville after complications from heart surgery, the court announced.