Daily News Clips for August 5, 2013

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

The BluVu: Week of August 5^th
By Gayle Andrews
The BluVu
The Dream Defenders gain momentum and support from Jesse Jackson and Harry Belafonte in their efforts to draw attention to the controversial stand your ground law and Damien from Progress Florida tells the truth about Obamacare as political reality comes your way!

FEATURED STORIES

Florida House Speaker Connected to Citizens Contractor
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
State House Speaker Will Weatherford is a founding member and former director of a Texas company that since 2008 has received $826,676 from Florida’s state-run insurance company, according to records obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.

Renewed 'scrub' of Florida voter list has elections officials on edge
By Steve Bousquet and Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott will soon launch a new hunt for noncitizens on Florida's voter roll, a move that's sure to provoke new cries of a voter "purge" as Scott ramps up his own re-election effort.

Weatherford orders hearing on SYG, taps Gaetz to chair
By Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Dream Defenders willing to consider hearings as alternative to special session
In an op-ed published Friday, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford agreed to hold hearings this fall on the state’s “stand your ground” law.

In August, Republicans and Democrats prepare fresh fight over Obamacare
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
A playbook handed to House Republicans on their way home for the August recess contains instructions for an "Obamacare media tour."

Tony Bennett scandal sparks new discussion on validity of school grading
By Jeffrey S. Solochek and Kathleen McGrory
Tampa Bay Times
The national push to grade schools has slammed into an unexpected roadblock, causing even supporters to question the validity of the widely celebrated A-F system that Florida started 14 years ago.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Jim Morin
Miami Herald

FLORIDA POLITICS

'Stand your ground' intransigence is Democratic cannon fodder for 2014
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Think what you will about the protesters outside Gov. Rick Scott's office who want Florida lawmakers to address their long list of grievances: from racial profiling and voter disenfranchisement to "stand your ground."

Fla Dems video: Gov MIA
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
A new video from the Florida Democratic Party attacks Gov. Rick Scott for being MIA.

Rick Scott apparently has had enough Let's Get to Work days
By Aaron Sharockman
Tampa Bay Times
Best we can tell, Gov. Rick Scott hasn't had a "Let's Get to Work Day" since January.

Felon voting rights have a bigger impact on elections than voter ID laws
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
Although Democrats are decrying voter identification laws, Harry J Enten of The Guardian says they actually should turn their attentions to felon voting rights.

Text messages show lobbyists "begging," behind the scenes political gamesmanship
By Matt Dixon  
Florida Times-Union
It was two days before the end of the 2013 legislative session, and tensions were running high.

State trooper fired over stopping lawmakers wins his job back
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times
Former Florida Highway Patrol trooper Charles Swindle, who was fired in March over his handling of traffic stops involving two state legislators, officially won reinstatement to his job Friday.

POLITICAL RACES

Waiting on Crist
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Former Gov. Charlie Crist is widely expected to challenge Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election next year.

$25-mill on hand by Jan? Rick Scott has to get to work
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
“I will have $25 million in the bank by the end of the year and will use it in early 2014 to define my opponent,” Gov. Rick Scott declared last week.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Clash over medical marijuana fires up
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Michael Derigo arrived home from a trip to the grocery store June 25 to find half a dozen police cars surrounding his mobile home in Gibsonton.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Charging Florida utility customers in advance for nuclear power plants likely to persist
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
It was supposed to save Duke Energy's customers millions of dollars. It was supposed to make building the Levy County nuclear plant both faster and cheaper.

State set to hear FPL’s prepaid nuclear costs request
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
FPL will ask the state for permission Monday to charge its customers millions in planning costs for nuclear reactors that have yet to be approved.

Advances in testing help scientists zero in on sources of beach water pollution
By Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
About five years ago, advanced testing of beach water for bacteria only allowed scientists to determine whether the bacteria source came from humans or animals.

LGBT

Fla. Hospital Visitations Not Impacted By DOMA's Demise
By Ryan Benk
WFSU
After the US Supreme Court Struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the president directed hospitals to begin giving equal visitation rights to same-sex couples.  Gay couples say there’s been

Advocates for expanding gay rights in Jacksonville say their work is not done yet
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
It went down in a dramatic, narrow defeat one year ago this month.

EDUCATION

Bennett's interim replacement named amid call for elected education commissioner
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's State Board of Education on Friday appointed Pam Stewart as the temporary replacement for Education Commissioner Tony Bennett, who resigned Thursday amid the fallout over charter-school grade fixing in Indiana.

Tony Bennett resignation buoys Florida school-testing critics
News Service of Florida
Saint Petersblog
For the third time in Gov. Rick Scott’s two-and-a-half years as governor, there is no permanent leader in place for the Department of Education.

Gov. Scott needs an education commissioner who will focus on kids, not politics
Editorial
Ft. Myers News-Press
The rapid turnover of Florida education commissioners — three in just as many years — couldn’t come at a worse time for Gov. Rick Scott.

Florida's race-based education goals discriminate, complaint alleges
By Karen Yi and Lauren Roth, Staff writers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
School leaders and advocates across South Florida are championing a complaint that alleges the state's race-based education goals for minority students violate civil rights law.

Gov. Rick Scott has a chance to get education right
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
This is your chance, sir.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Florida's economy takes on new look after the Great Recession
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Florida's workforce — the post-recession version — has a new face.

Gov. Scott has modest progress in cutting corporate taxes
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott offered mild praise for Barack Obama's plan to cut the federal corporate income tax, indicating that Obama seemed to be following Florida's lead in reducing business taxes.

Florida home ownership stays low
By William E. Gibson
outh Florida Sun Sentinel
Home ownership in Florida has gone down and stayed down since 2005, and there's little likelihood that will change any time soon as many of the state's financially strapped residents still find it hard to buy a home or choose to rent one instead.

Florida’s tax-free holiday lures back-to-school shoppers
By Lawrence Mower
Palm Beach Post
Dr. Arun Iyampillai has three kids in college, so he’s eager to save where he can.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

If health insurance rates rise, blame Tallahassee, not Obamacare
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Related:Florida Dems demand federal intervention on health premiums
Related: Democrats challenge Florida’s assertion that Obamacare premiums will spike
When The Post reported on Tuesday that health insurance policies in Florida’s individual market will rise 30 percent to 40 percent when the Affordable Care Act takes effect next year, one reader asked, “What happened to ‘This will bend the cost curve down?’ ”

Analysis: In Obamacare rate debate, price gets political
By Caroline Humer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
With the October 1 date for enrollment in the health insurance exchanges being created by Obamacare less than two months away, a war of numbers has been escalating.

After tragedy, judge clamps down on DCF
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Reeling from the brutal death of a 2-year-old boy he was entrusted to protect, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael A. Hanzman is peeling away much of the authority state child welfare officials normally enjoy in his courtroom — and taking more matters into his own hands.

Americans for Prosperity protest outside Blue Cross and Blue Shield
By Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida director of Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group founded by the conservative Koch brothers, protested today in front of the state headquarters of Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Jacksonville to rebuke the company for having a "key role" in the nonprofit Enroll America.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Religious leaders encourage Dreamers' protest
By James Call
The Florida Current
The Dream Defenders began their third weekend locked inside the Florida Capitol building on Friday with more than 100 people singing and gathering around the Great Seal of the State of Florida for interfaith prayers.

Marco Rubio disses Jesse's "apartheid" comment, stays mum on King's DREAMers-drug-mules line
By Marc A. Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: Rap star Talib Kweli plans to visit Dream Defender protest outside Rick Scott's office
Immigration? What immigration? Steve King who, what? Cantaloupes?

Webster endorses immigration reform — with preconditions
By Mark K. Matthews
Orlando Sentinel
On the same day Congress adjourned for a five-week break, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster did something he's avoided for months: speaking at length about immigration reform and declaring his support for an approach that would give unauthorized immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Attorney General Pam Bondi seeks to avoid deposition in Allied Veterans case
By Kate Howard Perry
Florida Times-Union
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Allied Veterans of the World case are disputing whether Attorney General Pam Bondi must answer a subpoena and testify.

Man who killed 8 scheduled for execution in Fla.
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A mass murderer from Miami-Dade County is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison.

Daily News Clips for August 2, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Tony Bennett resigns as Florida education commissioner
By Kathleen McGrory and Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Scott, Bush praise outgoing education chief
Related editorial: Florida education leadership in disarray
State Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned Thursday, fueling controversy over the school grading system and delivering a blow to Gov. Rick Scott and the leaders working to overhaul Florida's system of school accountability.

Rick Scott deals with another embarrassing resignation
By Jeremy Wallace
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to re-invent himself as the education governor took another hit on Thursday.

Five Florida counties listed among the worst 30 in the country for health care coverage
By Mitch Perry
Creative Loafing
There are just two months left before the exchanges that will allow millions of uninsured Americans to obtain health care coverage go live. To mark the countdown, a progressive think-tank released a new report today listing the worst counties in the country for health care services.

Battle over Obamacare coming to Florida, Tampa
By William March
Tampa Tribune
Advocacy groups allied with President Barack Obama who favor his Affordable Care Act -- the health care reform plan known as "Obamacare" -- are organizing a grass-roots offensive to boost support for the plan and attack Republican opponents.

Thank you, Tallahassee, for making us pay so much for nothing
By Robert Trigaux
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Duke Energy to cancel proposed Levy County nuclear plant
Related editorial: Nuclear plant deal late, limited
This is the day I wish this column had audio.  That would force our pathetic legislators in Tallahassee to listen to the longest Bronx cheer in Florida history.

FLORIDA POLITICS

DNC chair looks to leverage money into power
By Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman
Politico
Debbie Wasserman Schultz spent 18 months slogging through 885 events in 31 states to boost President Barack Obama’s chances for reelection.

Rubio: Defunding ObamaCare more vital than immigration reform
By Mario Trujillo
The Hill
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who led the Republican charge for comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, said his new fight to defund ObamaCare takes priority.

POLITICAL RACES

Rick Scott's fundraising committee at $9.3 million for 2013
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
After collecting $3.2 million in June, fundraising slowed a bit in July for the political committee backing Gov. Rick Scott's re-election bid.

Rep. Artiles might run for Congress in "full-contact" campaign involving Genting, Miami Dolphins
By Marc A. Caputo
Miami Herald
State Rep. Frank Artiles is examining a run for Florida’s most-scandalous Congressional seat in a bid that could spell a bloody GOP primary in the shadow of big-dollar outside interests from the Genting Group casino company to the Miami Dolphins.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Morgan to spend 'a lot of money' on medical marijuana campaign
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando trial lawyer and uber-fundraiser John Morgan said Thursday he will likely spend "a lot of money" financing a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana use in Florida.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Miccosukees urge Congress to stop Everglades pollution
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“The Everglades is dying,” partly because of water pollution that runs from agricultural areas through Miccosukee lands, tribal leaders told members of Congress from Florida on Thursday.

EDUCATION

Florida could have tough time snagging a new education commissioner
By Cara Fitzpatrick and Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Related: Florida Board of Education to appoint interim commissioner Friday
Related: Should Florida return to an elected education commissioner?
Here we go again.

Commissioner Tony Bennett resigns. School grades drop. Welcome to Florida's version of 'reform'
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Florida's education system is a hot mess.

State out of do-overs
Editorial
Tampa Tribune
The state Board of Education needs to find a new commissioner who is free of the ideological baggage that dogged Tony Bennett from the time of his arrival in Florida earlier this year.

Florida hired Tony Bennett because of the policies that forced him to quit
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Florida long has allowed political donations to influence education policy, the very allegation that forced Education Commissioner Tony Bennett to quit Thursday.

Brevard schools budget plan cuts teachers, taxes
By Mackenzie Ryan
Florida Today
The Brevard School Board approved a proposed tax rate and budget Thursday evening that is expected to reduce property taxes on most homes and cut more than 300 teaching positions.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Forecast: Orlando home prices to soften after sharp run-up
By Mary Shanklin and Paul Owers
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando is unlikely to see its recent home-price gains continue in the months ahead, according to a new national forecast.

Don't run from Internet sales tax
By Bill Cotterell
Tallahassee Democrat
Nobody likes taxes, but sometimes Florida’s proudly revenue-phobic political mindset doesn’t make sense.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

On the offense for Obamacare in Fla
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Representataves of the Democratic groups Protect Your Care and Americans United for Change held a conference call today adding a little more detailed about their planned offensive in Florida and elsewhere to promote Obamacare and go after its critics.

State health reform plans include Medicaid managed care
By Daniel Chang
Miami Herald
Some of Florida’s most vulnerable residents — the frail elderly and poor or disabled adults — will be ushered into a new era of healthcare over the next five months that will change the way they receive their taxpayer funded long-term care from Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor and disabled.

Premiums Rising 5-6% for Most Floridians
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Florida's average increase in health-insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act for 2014 will be in the range of just 5 to 6 percent, Office of Insurance Regulation officials said Tuesday.

Univision healthcare deal could put Florida Blue at advantage with Hispanics
By Jenny Gold
Miami Herald
Some 10 million Hispanics stand to gain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the Spanish-language media network Univision is positioning itself as a direct path to this potentially lucrative market.

How the child safety net failed Ezra Raphael
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
When state child welfare administrators first spoke with Cierrah Raphael in early 2013, they reported she was a 21-year-old prostitute and drug user who had abandoned her baby son with a virtual stranger.

AARP: Confidence shaken in state’s elder oversight
Staff Report
Palm Beach Post
The advocacy group AARP questioned the state’s efforts to ensure seniors receive adequate care, as Florida’s long-term care ombudsman appears headed toward losing his job.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Some lawmakers call for session, civility as the rhetoric heats up
By Karl Etters
Tallahassee Democrat
With the possibility of a special session slight following the ongoing protests at the Florida Capitol, lawmakers are starting to use Florida statutes to try and make that happen.

Ana Lee Case: Trayvon Martin protester flanked by 2 officers at Gov. Rick Scott appearance in Delray
By Kelli Kennedy
WPTV Palm Beach
During a charity event Thursday, a member of Gov. Rick Scott's security team forcefully stood and blocked a silent protester who said she was there to demand justice for Trayvon Martin's death.

Trayvon Martin’s parents meet with federal authorities in Miami
By Jay Weaver
Miami Herald
The parents of Trayvon Martin and their lawyer met with Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami Wednesday to discuss the status of a criminal civil-rights investigation into the fatal shooting of their teen-age son last year.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Claims bill would compensate FAMU drum major's family in hazing death
By Stephen Hudak
Orlando Sentinel
Proposed legislation was filed Thursday in the Florida Senate that would compensate the parents of FAMU drum major Robert Champion for pain and suffering they endured in the hazing death of their son.

Daily News Clips for August 1, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Gov. Rick Scott says Tony Bennett is 'doing a great job'
By Cara Fitzpatrick
Tampa Bay Times
After a couple days of radio silence about the scandal involving Florida's education commissioner, Gov. Rick Scott finally has something to say.

From Tallahassee to Miami, protestors dog Rick Scott
By Marc A. Caputo
Miami Herald
Protestors in his Tallahassee office, protestors at his Miami-Dade press conferences – Gov. Rick Scott is facing a state of opposition after the George Zimmerman verdict.

Gov. Rick Scott: 'Jesse Jackson owes every Floridian an apology for his reckless and divisive comments'
By Michael Van Sickler and Rochelle Koff
Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday accused the Rev. Jesse Jackson of insulting Floridians with a series of reckless and divisive statements about the state and its "stand your ground" self-defense law.

White House lays out benefits to Floridians from Obamacare
By William E. Gibson
Orlando Sentinel
Medicare’s monthly drug-coverage premium will increase by only a dollar – from $30 this year to $31 next year – White House officials said on Wednesday while bragging about the wonders of  "Obamacare."

As details of health insurance rates emerge, 2013 Florida law limits power to control them
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
While Maryland’s insurance commissioner was arguing with Aetna, Coventry and All Savers about the assumptions they used to set rates for their Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, Florida’s insurance commissioner was mute on the subject. The Florida Legislature had silenced him.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Crisafulli ready for his close-up as Weatherford promotes him to House Majority Leader
By Michael Van Sickler
Tampa Bay Times
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford on Wednesday announced a changing of the guards, and they're both named Steve(!)

Few changes as Weatherford announces committee chairs for 2014 session
By Gray Rohrer
The Florida Current
House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, made few changes to the leaders of legislative committees in his chamber, and made a switch in a key leadership position.

Dolphins owner recruiting candidates to run against Miami lawmakers who opposed stadium bid
By Patricia Mazzei
Miami Herald
Stephen Ross, the Miami Dolphins owner who vowed to avenge his political loss in Tallahassee earlier this year, is recruiting candidates to run against two lawmakers who opposed using public dollars to partly fund a $350 million renovation to Sun Life Stadium, the Miami Herald has learned.

Give federal government some oversight of Florida’s new voter purge
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
Last summer, as presidential candidates criss-crossed Florida, Gov. Rick Scott and state election officials pressed ahead with flawed plans to purge non-citizens from the voter rolls.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Proposed pipeline, connector project follow legislation that provides expedited permitting
Bruce Ritchie
The Florida Current
A proposal to extend a natural gas pipeline and connector 340 miles across Florida follows the Legislature's approval of bills to provide expedited permitting for interstate pipeline projects.

EDUCATION

Dems call for Education Commissioner Bennett's ouster
By Kathleen McGrory
Miami Herald
Two Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for the resignation of Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett, saying the school grades scandal in Indiana had called Bennett's integrity into question.

Tony Bennett grade change a blow to accountability
By Beth Kassab
Orlando Sentinel
Tony Bennett is accustomed to battling the negative perception of school accountability.  Now he's the perception problem.

Departing professor: Cuts have 'massacred' UF psychology department
By Jeff Schweers
Gainesville Sun
Before Clive Wynne packed up his office belongings for his move to Tempe, Ariz., the former University of Florida professor sent an impassioned four-page letter to Tigert Hall decrying the "massacre" of the Department of Psychology.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Fla. sales tax holiday begins Friday
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Gainesville Sun
Heading into another school year this month, Florida shoppers can take advantage of a three-day sales tax holiday this weekend that will allow them to buy clothing and school supplies and not pay the state's 6 percent sales tax.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicaid's Elder Experiment Begins
Staff Report
Health News Florida
Florida's statewide Medicaid managed-care gamble gets officially under way on Thursday, beginning with thousands of the state's most vulnerable clients: low-income seniors too sick to get by without help.

Florida operative Jackie Lee to lead Obamacare offensive
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Jackie Lee, a Democratic strategist in Florida who was involved in the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns, will lead a statewide effort by liberal groups to go on the offensive on Obamacare as Congress returns for summer recess.

Another DCF horror story: child sex-trafficking victim raped after going to Miami "safe house"
By Marc A. Caputo
Miami Herald
Related editorial: Taking charge at DCF
A child sex trafficking victim, placed under the care of the Department of Children and Families, was raped just days after being sent to a newly opened Miami “safe house,” CBS4 News has learned.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

U.S. Ag Secretary: Immigration reform key for Fla. Industry
By Anthony Clark
Gainesville Sun
Comprehensive immigration reform is critical to secure the workforce needed by Florida's multibillion-dollar agricultural industry and would benefit the broader economy, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview with The Gainesville Sun.

As immigration heated up, Rubio made donation to PAC associated with Jim DeMint
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Marco Rubio made a five-figure contribution to a prominent super PAC ahead of a push to court conservative support of his contentious immigration reform proposal, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of documents filed today with the Federal Election Commission.

Democrats urge Scott to reconsider veto of bill that helps undocumented immigrants get driver licenses
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph joined a chorus of Democrats Wednesday calling on Gov. Rick Scott to reconsider his veto of a bill making it easier for young undocumented immigrants to get a Florida driver license.

Scott, Cabinet expected to OK removal of bodies at Dozier
By Waveney Ann Moore
Tampa Bay Times
It appears that the University of South Florida will get state approval to continue to locate and excavate bodies at the former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.