Daily Clips for June 25, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

President Barack Obama touts his leadership to Hispanic group in Orlando
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Related: President Barack Obama pleads for support from adoring crowd in Tampa
A couple of hours before he speaks in Tampa, President Barack Obama acknowledged to a group of Hispanic leaders on Friday the struggling economy but said he was best equipped to carry the country forward and defended his action blocking deportations of young illegal immigrants.

Powerful congressman accused of campaign finance violations
By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin
CNN
Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, a self-made Florida millionaire, is only in his third term in Congress, but he already is in charge of fundraising for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, and he sits on the powerful House Ways and Means committee.

Gov. Rick Scott never turns campaign off as he learns on the job
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Eighteen months into his first political job, Gov. Rick Scott has mastered one thing: the art of the perpetual campaign.

Purge Jim Crow Politics!
By Badili Jones
Huffington Post
There is an old maxim that, "the more things change the more they stay the same."

Jeb Bush: Party elder statesman or 2016 candidate?
By David Adams and Stephanie Simon
Reuters
Ever since Jeb Bush left the Florida governor's mansion in 2007 with favorable ratings after two terms, speculation has swirled about his political future.

Florida Struggles to Overcome Threats to Freshwater Springs
By Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
Of Florida’s 700 artesian springs, Silver Springs shimmered the brightest.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Mike Luckovich
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott defends RNC gun stance in Tampa speech
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott defended his purge of state voter rolls and refusal to ban guns in the event zone of the Republican National Convention in a speech to local Republicans Saturday night.

State was warned voter purge used inaccurate data
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Weeks before the Florida Department of State publicly announced its non-citizen voter purge, proclaiming it was cleaning up the voter rolls, local supervisor of elections were already warning state election officials that the department's data were bad.

Politicians sending mixed message on economy
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Thank you, Gov. Rick Scott, for your success in helping steadily push down Florida's unemployment rate.

Sen. Bill Nelson decries 'ideological rigidity' in American politics at NALEO 2012
By Arelis R. Hernandez
Orlando Sentinel
Wrapping up three days of speeches headlined by President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson on Saturday decried the polarization in Washington, echoing remarks made by other legislators at the annual gathering of Latino lawmakers in Orlando.

Congressional candidate Jacobs emerged from abusive marriage
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
It was a gigantic television that helped Kristin Jacobs break away from her abusive husband more than two decades ago.

West Tampa group wants Occupy Tampa out of park
By Kathy Steele
Tampa Tribune
Residents and merchants here have grown weary of the Occupy Tampa movement's 6-month presence in their midst, and some of them aim to take action.

POLITICAL RACES

Rick Scott says he’s been asked to attend Romney events
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott, plagued by high disapproval ratings, has not appeared with Mitt Romney at any campaign events in Florida, fueling speculation the Romney campaign doesn’t want him to be seen with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Mystery poll gives glimpse of Senate race tactics
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Even if former Sen. George LeMieux hadn’t unexpectedly dropped out of the U.S. Senate race Wednesday, Rep. Connie Mack was the Republicans’ de facto nominee anyway. 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Former Gov. Graham leads rally to protect Fla.'s springs, rivers
By Dinah Voyles Pulver
Daytona Beach News-Journal
After more than 40 years of public service, including 16 years as a U.S. senator and two terms as Florida's governor, Bob Graham tried to retire, but anger and frustration over what he sees happening to the state's environment has him fully engaged in a new campaign.

Protecting the idea of Florida
By Brad Rogers
Ocala Star-Banner
Anyone who has cruised the Silver River over the years can tell by looking at her that she isn’t well.

Warning: Move afoot to sell water district’s land
By Ron Littlepage
Florida Times-Union
Publicly owned lands that the St. Johns River Water Management District purchased over three decades to protect and improve water supplies may be up for sale.

Debby's slow march through Gulf drenches Florida
By Suzette Laboy
Associated Press
Tropical Storm Debby spun drenching rains Monday over northern Florida as it hung nearly stationary over the Gulf of Mexico, making its biggest threat flooding rather than winds.

LGBT

Battleground South Florida: Gays feel new passion for politics
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Stephen Muffler had high hopes when he voted for Barack Obama, but like many gays and lesbians, grew dispirited when his presidency began to look like so many others.

Tampa domestic partnership registry launches Monday
By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
Tampa opens the books today on its new domestic partnership registry, and already people are jostling to be at the head of that line.

EDUCATION

Tuition Going Up, Student Loans to Follow
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Florida college students will be paying an average of seven hundred dollars more for tuition this fall. Tuition increases between nine and 15 percent were approved yesterday for Florida’s 11 public universities.

Florida takes low road on higher education
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
The sorry spectacle of Florida's Board of Governors haggling over tuition increases like used car salesmen was sobering.

Scott's Fla. higher education panel meeting again
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
Florida State University President Eric Barron is facing a big selling job.

Volusia joins Flagler in growing FCAT debate
By Linda Trimble
Daytona Beach News-Journal
It's time for FCAT -- the exam used to measure students' academic progress, grade schools and evaluate teachers' performance -- to be tested itself for validity, cost and impact on what Florida children learn.

Miami-Dade teachers anxious over principals’ evaluations
By Laura Isensee
Miami Herald
Big changes in how Florida’s teachers are graded will take effect this summer, with test scores put into the equation.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Mistakenly released database reveals that Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in incentives to create jobs
By Jeff Harrington and Carolyn Edds
Tampa Bay Times
Since January 2011, Florida has pledged nearly $155 million in tax breaks and other incentives to companies promising to create jobs in the state.

Does unemployment rate mean what politicians say it does?
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
This is the kind of news that probably makes Mitt Romney happier than Rick Scott: Florida's declining unemployment rate is due more to would-be workers dropping out of the hunt for jobs than to new hirings by employers.

PIP reforms come with many unanswered questions
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Personal injury protection — the auto insurance that every Florida driver is required to buy — is about to undergo a major overhaul that state officials hope will translate into lower premiums for millions of motorists.

Insurance regulators' backlog delaying effects of sinkhole law
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
State insurance regulators have a large backlog of property insurance coverage forms, delaying companies from taking advantage of a law passed last year aimed at reducing sinkhole claims.

Fla. spending $100k to ask landowners about roads
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida is spending tens of thousands of dollars to help officials figure out where to put roads in the future.

Use robo-signing settlement to help fraud victims
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Attorney General Pam Bondi is asking the public how the state should spend hundreds of millions of dollars from Florida's share of the national robo-signing settlement.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

|Jarrett: 'We will be prepared' if health care law struck down
By Talia Buford and Jennifer Epstein
Politico
Valerie Jarrett wouldn't give details Saturday on the Obama administration's plans if its health care law is struck down but did say the White House will stand by Attorney General Eric Holder as the House prepares to vote on a contempt resolution against him.

Most Americans oppose health law but like provisions
By Patricia Zengerle
Reuters
Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama's healthcare reform even though they strongly support most of its provisions, Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Sunday, with the Supreme Court set to rule within days on whether the law should stand.

Why Many Young Adults Might Lose Coverage If Health Law Falls
By Julie Rovner
NPR
When it comes to health care, even the seemingly easy things become hard.

Department of Health Wants to Move Past Ousted Employee
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
An ousted Florida department of health official says the agency is showing employees the door “just because it can.”

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Sen. Marco Rubio criticizes those playing politics with immigration
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio criticized the political right and left for simplifying and exploiting immigration, appearing before a Hispanic group here Friday not long before President Barack Obama took the stage and accused Republicans of inaction on the contentious issue.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Across Florida, court clerks reduce hours available to the public
By Anna M. Phillips
Tampa Bay Times
Overwhelmed by increasing workloads and another round of state budget cuts, court clerks all over Florida are following through on a threat to reduce hours.

State legislators weigh in on Stand Your Ground, 10-20-Life statutes
By Charles Broward      
Florida Times-Union
George Zimmerman’s supporters say he was standing his ground in shooting Sanford teen Trayvon Martin.

Daily Clips for June 22, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

Before rally in Tampa on Friday, President Barack Obama will address Hispanic leaders
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Before President Barack Obama arrives in Tampa today to rally as many as 3,000 people, he will make his case to Hispanic leaders in Orlando.

Romney campaign: We never told Gov. Scott to stop boasts of job growth
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
Both Mitt Romney’s campaign and Gov. Rick Scott’s office are denying a report that the Romney camp asked fellow Republican Scott to tone down his boasting about Florida’s job growth.

Divided Board of Governors OKs tuition increases
By James Call
Florida Current
A divided Board of Governors struggled Thursday at times but finally reached agreement to raise tuition at Florida's public universities.

Rick Scott Will Not Implement Health Care Reform Law in Florida
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Next week, the Supreme Court of the United States is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health care reform law signed by President Obama in 2010.

5 Reasons you should care about the voter purge
By Billy Manes and Erin Sullivan
Orlando Weekly
Threaten to curb someone's right to own a gun in the state of Florida and you're likely to provoke a war – you'll be threatened, castigated, called un-American.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Immigration: The GOP Fumble
By Benjamin J. Kirby
The Spencerian
I have always thought one of the least appreciated -- and least understood, in many respects -- "job descriptions" of the President was that of leader of his political party.

Florida House Race Ratings – June 20
By Kartik Krishnaiyer
The Political Hurricane
With qualifying complete and picture for the State House clearer, we publish our inaugural State House ratings.

Puh-leeze: Why is anyone buying this Rubio-might-have-dropped-out story?
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
While the Associated Press first reported it, I have now read the section of Marco Rubio’s autobiography revealing that Rubio once considered dropping out of the US Senate race against Charlie Crist.

People's Budget Summit, St. Petersburg
By Diane
Occupy My Soapbox
Depending on when you tuned in, there is in the vicinity of a $10 million shortfall projected for next year's city budget in St. Petersburg, Florida.

ALEC's Latest Effort To "Stand Their Ground" Backfires
By Inkberries
Beach Peanuts
While I was off the grid last week, it seems that another company joined the now long list of those companies cutting their ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (Better known as ALEC.)

FLORIDA POLITICS

Judges hear arguments on Fla. voting law changes
By Henry C. Jackson
Associated Press
Lawyers for the state of Florida and the Justice Department argued in federal court on Thursday about whether Republican-backed changes to Florida's voting laws constitute a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Jeb Bush: I was proud to introduce President Barack Obama in Miami
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Hispanic leaders gathered at a national conference in Orlando may have given Mitt Romney a lukewarm reception Thursday, but they rose to their feet and cheered former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

POLITICAL RACES

President takes his campaign to Tampa today
By William March
Tampa Tribune
President Barack Obama will give a campaign speech at Hillsborough County Community College's Dale Mabry campus today, the first of what are likely to be many campaign appearances by the president in the Tampa area and Florida.

In Orlando, Mitt Romney moves to middle on immigration
By Alex Leary and Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
In the presidential primary, Mitt Romney seized a hard line on immigration, but Thursday before an influential group of Hispanics, the Republican nominee made a careful turn toward the middle.

New poll shows Dems Obama, Nelson with narrow leads in Florida
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
With independent voters shifting to his side, President Obama has regained the lead in Florida over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, while in the Florida Senate race, Democrat Bill Nelson is edging Republican Connie Mack, a poll released Thursday shows.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Homeowners may pick up property-tax slack if amendment passes in November
By Mary Shanklin
Orlando Sentinel
The burden of Florida's property taxes would likely shift away from first-time homebuyers, developers, snowbirds and landlords and weigh down the state's existing homeowners under a ballot measure approved last year by state lawmakers and pushed this year by Florida's real-estate industry.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

DEP's Vinyard responds to Graham with concerns about starting from 'square one' on water
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. said Thursday he's concerned that establishing a committee to oversee springs issues could delay department efforts to protect water.

Everglades restoration is progressing, but water is still lacking, report says
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Everglades restoration is finally moving forward but the struggling system still needs more water - and fast, according to a progress report on the $13.5 billion project released Thursday.

LGBT

Fair and equitable
Editorial
Miami Herald
The rebuff reverberated across the country, all the way to the White House and back to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where it was first meted out.

EDUCATION

Obama renews call to stop student loan rate hike
By Ken Thomas
Tampa Tribune
President Barack Obama is urging Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1.

Without Scott's blessing, new tuition increases are all over the map
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
In a back-and-forth banter befitting a cattle auction, state higher education leaders on Thursday settled on myriad new tuition increases for Florida's public universities.

University tuition votes reveal divides within board of governors
By Lynn Hatter 
WFSU Tallahassee
The board that oversees Florida’s public universities fought long and hard over the schools’ plans to raise tuition, and the requests  narrowly cleared a sharply divided state board.

Don’t Dim Bright Futures in the Liberal Arts
By Steven Kurlander
Florida Voices
One of Florida’s big pluses is Bright Futures, the scholarship program that offers high school graduates with good grades some financial help to attend a state college or university, no matter their chosen field of study.

Land dispute over new Florida university resolved
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
A dispute over the transfer of land donated for Florida's newest state university is resolved.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Report: Florida ranks 4th in economic insecurity
Associated Press
Ocala Star-Banner
When it comes to economic insecurity Florida's hard to beat.

Home sales, prices jump in May
Staff Report
Florida Current
Existing home sales in Florida shot up 7.2 percent last month compared with May 2011, and the median sale price got a boost of 8.9 percent in the year-over-year comparison, jumping to $147,000, according to a report released Thursday by Florida Realtors.

Transportation loans available for local road projects
By James Call
Florida Current
The Florida Department of Transportation announced Thursday the application period for the State Infrastructure Bank program.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Affordable Care Act a life-saver for ‘Susan.’
By Dawn Harris Sherling, M.D.
Palm Beach Post
Susan’s life was finally on the upswing. Over the past year, she had lost 30 pounds, and quit smoking with the help of a nicotine patch.

Ex-Department of Health official blasts Scott
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
The ousted Department of Health official who left behind a withering indictment of Gov. Rick Scott's management style Thursday accused the administration of replacing experienced professionals with political "ideologues" and tolerating no questions about conservative operating methods.

Scott reins in cancer centers
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Health News Florida
Gov. Rick Scott, who made millions as a private health executive before turning to politics, is setting up new rules for the state’s cancer centers.

AHCA resets bidding on discount drug program
By Travis Pillow
Florida Current
The company challenging the Agency for Health Care Administration's decision to switch providers for a program that provides discounted drugs to Floridians has dropped its protests after the agency chose not to award the contract to another company.

State to release 18 TB patients as A.G. Holley closure nears; layoffs near for 138 hospital workers
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
As a first group of A. G. Holley State Hospital’s tuberculosis patients were evacuated to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday, a state health official said 18 patients will be released out into the community in the coming days, to be cared for by their own doctors and monitored by their own county health departments.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Zimmerman on Trayvon: ‘He assured me he was going to kill me’
By Frances Robles and Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Three days after George Zimmerman killed an unarmed teenager and went home free, he had a predicament: The lead detectives investigating the shooting seemed to no longer believe his story.

Youth Rehabilitation Centers in Florida Under Scrutiny
By Susan Ferriss
Center for Public Integrity
A group of Florida public defenders is asking a state court to remove and stop sending troubled juveniles to a privately run detention facility they claim is rife with abuses.

Prison stays need curbing
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida has the dubious distinction of being No. 1 in keeping inmates behind bars.

Daily Clips for June 21, 2012

FEATURED STORIES

George LeMieux quits Senate race
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Former Sen. George LeMieux abruptly quit Florida’s Republican U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, all but guaranteeing that frontrunner Connie Mack will be the party’s nominee.

Romney Campaign Said to Ask Scott to Downplay Job Gains
By Michael C. Bender
Bloomberg
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Scholars Ding News Media For Uncritically Repeating 'Job Killer' Charge
By Frank James
NPR
"Job killer." You don't have to listen very long to what passes in American politics for debate about the economy before you hear that phrase.

Obama walking tightrope in deportation debate
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
A week after the bombshell announcement he was blocking the deportation of young illegal immigrants, President Barack Obama will arrive in Florida on Friday flush with confidence.

Rick Scott shifts on E-Verify promise
By Mary Ellen Klas
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Maybe it was the work day Gov. Rick Scott spent last month in a citrus grove that changed his mind, but Scott left no doubt Wednesday that he has backed off a campaign promise to require private employers in Florida to use the federal E-Verify system to determine their employees' immigration status.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Scott email deletions an oversight, investigation says
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Florida authorities have concluded that Gov. Rick Scott and members of his transition team did not willingly delete public records shortly before Scott was sworn into office.

Rick Scott Defends Voter Purge As Part Of “Good Process”
By Josh Israel
Think Progress
As a group of civil rights and voting rights groups filed another lawsuit against Gov. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) error-riddled and likely illegal attempt to purge people his administration said were non-citizen voters from the voter rolls, the continued to go all-in on the effort.

Floridians Really Like Rick Scott's Voter Purge...Sort of
By Tim Murphy
Think Progress
Quinnipiac released a new poll on Wednesday about a wide range of Florida political issues.

Scott’s Popularity falls to 39 Percent
By Whitney Ray
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott’s popularity is plummeting.

Mail voter registration drive causes confusion with voters
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
Jacqueline Paulausky has been a registered voter in Florida since she moved to the state in 1981.

POLITICAL RACES

Obama, Romney court Hispanic vote at Orlando conference
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Over the next two days, Florida will again become a hot spot in the 2012 presidential campaign as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney court Hispanic leaders attending a national conference in Orlando.

Obama regains small lead over Romney in Florida
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
President Barack Obama holds a small lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among Florida voters in a new poll.

Fla. GOPers: Mitt needs immigration plan
By Ginger Gibson
Politico
The consensus among Republican strategists in this key state: Mitt Romney needs a clear immigration policy, and fast.

Behind Mack’s Hubris
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
The last poll I saw showed 37 percent of Florida Republican voters undecided in the U.S. Senate primary.

GOP candidate sails through untested
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Republican U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux claimed Wednesday he was ending his campaign so that the overwhelming favorite for the Republican nomination, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, has the best chance to beat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

10 Issues To Watch On State Ballot Initiatives This November
By Guest Blogger
Think Progress
This November, voters won’t just choose the next President of the United States, they will vote on referendums and state constitutional amendments that may determine the course of public policy in their states in a number of subject areas.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Bob Graham, Florida Conservation Coalition ask Scott for leadership on springs issue
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Members of the Florida Conservation Coalition are asking Gov. Rick Scott to establish to establish a committee to oversee the protection of Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs in Marion County.

LGBT

Southern Baptists: Gay rights not civil rights
By Travis Loller
Associated Press
A day after electing their first African-American president in a historic move that strives to erase its legacy of racism, Southern Baptists passed a resolution opposing the idea that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

EDUCATION

Florida university presidents urge board to OK tuition hikes
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that he didn’t expect leaders of the state university system to approve much in the way of tuition increases, saying he thinks they share the same goals of holding down costs for Florida students.

USF grilled by state higher ed leaders on graduation rates
By Kim Wilmath
Tampa Bay Times
State higher education leaders had warned universities that tuition increases this year would be a tougher sell than ever.

Business group gives high marks to Florida higher education
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida’s higher education system received a better than average report card from a business group affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Economic report says reason behind unemployment drop is people dropping job hunt
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott was asked today why the lastest Quinnipiac poll numbers keep showing his public approval rating dropping below 40 percent.

The Fed cuts its national growth forecast as experts here say Florida is starting to recover
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post
As the on-again, off-again economy continues its bumbling recovery, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued a pessimistic forecast that predicts weak job growth and hinted at continued turmoil in Europe.

GOP Plan: Raise Your Taxes, Slash Them for Millionaires
The Progress Report
Think Progress
As we’ve been discussing for months, the core of the Romney-Ryan budget plan is massive tax cuts for wealthy paid for by increasing taxes on the middle class and slashing funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and basically everything else the government does — including programs that benefit the middle class each and every day.

State employees may be asked to pay more for insurance
By James Call
Florida Current
State economists predict that Florida employees’ health insurance trust fund will open a shortfall in 2014 and that if no changes are made the gap will widen to more than $600 million by 2016.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Awaiting The Court Ruling, A Consumer Guide To Health Reform Law
By Mary Agnes Carey
Kaiser Health News
The Supreme Court is expected to rule within a week on some key constitutional challenges brought by states against the 2010 health care overhaul law.

Former Official Says Florida Department of Health in Turmoil
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
On the heels of a mass flush of top-level employees at the state Health Department, one ousted employee sent a 2,900-word e-mail to former colleagues and others, warning that the agency was in decline and being run by “idealogues.”

Digital payoff to FL: $400M
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Doctors and hospitals in Florida have received over $404 million from the federal health agency as a reward for switching from paper to electronic health records, according to data released Tuesday.

ACA grants go to UM, 15 health centers
Staff Report
Health News Florida
University of Miami and six collaborators have won a $4.1-million, three-year Health Care Innovation Award to improve care to children with chronic illnesses, the Department of Health and Human Services announced.

Miami-Dade charter review task force votes to set permanent governance structure for Jackson Health System
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
A group tasked with proposing changes to the Miami-Dade County charter gave tentative approval late Wednesday to create a seven-member Public Health Trust to oversee the troubled Jackson Health System.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

U.S. Rep. Rooney sponsors bill to undo Obama’s deportation policy change
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
South Florida Congressman Tom Rooney is co-sponsoring a bill that would prohibit President Obama from granting some young undocumented immigrants a two-year stay of deportation without the consent of Congress.

In our national interest
Editorial
Miami Herald
Gaby Pacheco, Carlos Roa, Felipe Matos and Juan Rodriguez, please take a bow.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Massive job shifts, some resignations, mark state's prison consolidation
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Florida's prison system is winding up an $89 million cost-savings initiative, with the closings of 11 lockups across the state, and beginning a new effort to cut future costs by preparing inmates -- from the day they arrive -- for their return to society.

Police chief at center of Trayvon Martin probe fired
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
A Florida city official says the police chief who was strongly criticized for his agency's initial investigation of Trayvon Martin's slaying has been fired.