Paper or electrons?
With Florida's new voting machines, there is no paper trail to verify voters' decisions. A debate is building over whether the machines are trustworthy

Byrd spends $3 million on House computer system

Health-care sugar pill
Floridians need ideas, not another task force.

Florida doctors will pursue malpractice constitutional amendment

AG asks for an investigation into gas price hikes

Man implicated as smuggler resigns from company working with FDLE

DCF hires activist for religious right causes
Florida Department of Children & Families Secretary Jerry Regier, still facing criticism over his efforts to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a disabled rape victim, has hired a high-ranking attorney for the department who identifies himself as a culture warrior for religious conservatives.
James H.K. Bruner, the founder and former executive director of the conservative New York Family Policy Council, described public schools in a current newsletter as ''battlegrounds,'' and bemoaned how students are 'subjected to `diversity trainings' or 'tolerance instruction.' ''
Bruner, who will hold the title ''special assistant to the general counsel'' and will be paid about $82,000, is not licensed to practice law in Florida, though he plans to take the state's bar exam quickly in order to obtain a license, Regier said Thursday...
Over the line
DCF's religious-inspired training is off base for that workplace.

Everglades spin machine
Latest study shows why cleanup should proceed.

Water haggling can wait till later
State can go to court for unallocated water
Florida officials say they can resolve their water dispute with Georgia and Alabama by agreeing to fight later - if at all - over unused water.

Ocean Conservancy official: World's oceans are in crisis

Palm tree disease confirmed in area

Summer diseases fly in on mosquitoes' wings
The summer outbreaks of malaria in Palm Beach County, West Nile virus in South Florida and the Panhandle, and encephalitis in Central Florida have made this the state's worst year in a decade for mosquito illness, state figures showed on Thursday.

Thumbs down
Byrd mailings are inappropriate
It's bad enough that House Speaker Johnnie Byrd wants parental notification for minors who have abortions to be etched into the state constitution. Worse, the idea is being promoted on the public dime.

House Speaker supports plan to put class size back on ballot

School board members say tight budgets are forcing program cuts

NAACP asks feds to block FCAT's use for graduation, retention

Civil rights speakers call on youth
By Ernie Suggs, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
Civil rights activists call on a new generation to pick up the torch carried for decades by older leaders.

State plan would toughen oversight of private school scholarships

Tougher school voucher rules proposed
Florida's education secretary wants to increase the accountability of groups collecting school voucher money.
Makeover for corporate vouchers
Education Commissioner Jim Horne offers only cosmetic change, not real answers.

Bleeding the colleges
Presidents get no help from supposed advocates.

Bullock named state parks director

Al-Arian gains access to evidence

Civil rights commission refers hanging case to Justice Department

Preventing prison rape
The brutal crime of rape does not have to be a fact of life in our nation's prisons. It happens with disturbing frequency only because little attention has been paid to the problem. Rarely do you hear legislators expressing concern over what happens to prisoners once they are behind bars. Lawmakers are far more interested in putting people away. But rape is not part of any prisoner's sentence, nor is contracting HIV from a sexual assault. The reason such abuse has been tolerated for so long is that prison officials have been allowed to look the other way.

Consumer groups wary of TECO shipping deal

Don't listen to 'em, Bob: Hang in there
Poor Bob Graham, the King of Spam.
No matter how many Iowa state fairs he goes to, his presidential campaign keeps slipping like cowboy boots on a fresh cow pie. And now this newspaper wants him to quit his presidential quest and go back to running for the Senate.
Don't you listen, Bob.
Just keep those e-mails coming....

Hastings: Traditional Democrats defecting
Increasing numbers of young Jews and blacks are leaning toward the Republican Party, and Democrats need to bring them back, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings says.

Three phone companies ask state to increase local rates

Former DCF attorney files whistle-blower lawsuit in Lakeland

Federal conservation official arrested on kickback charges
ORLANDO — A federal soil conservation official has been arrested for allegedly accepting a kickback from a pond-digging contractor and lying to investigators when questioned about it, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. Guy Wayne Boykin, 52, of Lake Helen, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on charges of accepting an illegal gratuity and making false statements.

Open waterfront: Going, gone?
With the same lack of foresight that doomed Tampa's downtown riverfront to obscurity, Tampa's Port Authority is moving to develop the last piece of open waterfront along the channel district. Port commissioners have agreed to negotiate with the Byrd Corp. on a twin 30-story condominium tower complex, to be built along the channel on the southeastern-most point of downtown. If the deal goes through as planned, the downtown waterfront along the entire district will be effectively concealed from public view.

Lawyer: Election worker altered dates to spare embarrassment

Lawyer: Election worker didn't alter campaign documents

Probe of immigration lawyer balloons into massive visa fraud case

Missouri sues Florida company alleging 'no-call' violations

Analysis: Bush less sure-footed in postwar Iraq as casualties mount

Car bomb kills 75 in Iraq
A massive car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque this morning, killing 75.

Half-trillion in the red, and then it gets worse
Palm Beach Post Editorial
In 10 years, the United States will have a debt load equal to today's economy.

Bleeding red ink
Washington can't wait any longer on a plan to reduce the ballooning federal deficit.
Like the Grand Canyon, the latest 10-year-deficit estimate from the Congressional Budget Office is so enormous it's hard to fathom.
But all that red ink poses very real dangers to the economy and welfare of ordinary Americans.
Using realistic assumptions on spending and tax policies, the CBO projects the federal government could run a deficit of almost $6 trillion over the next decade. To put that total into perspective, it would nearly double the current national debt, run up over the past two centuries.
As CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin warned, such huge deficits would push up interest rates, reduce national savings and divert spending from other government programs to cover interest payments on the national debt.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin is not some Democratic attack dog. He's a former chief economist for President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers...

Energy secrets
A recent GAO report showing Dick Cheney's secrecy about his meetings with energy executives has left a hole in the administration's credibility and raised questions about its energy policy.

8/27-24/03

Editorial: Drinking water ... governor should be wary of privatization proposals
Uh-oh. Here it comes again. The notion of privatizing Florida's public drinking water supply will not go away. This time the dangerous notion is advanced to Gov. Jeb Bush by an elite statewide business group called The Council of 100, led by Al Hoffmann of WCI, one of the state's largest development companies.
Bush: Courts may have to settle water talks with Georgia, Alabama
Florida willing to take river battle to court
As deadline approaches, Gov. Bush considers possibility of failed talks
Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that Florida is prepared to go to court if necessary to secure water for the Apalachicola River and Bay.

Backing down on clean air
Allowing power plants to continue spewing dirty air is a terrible decision.
In a breathtaking surrender to industry lobbyists, the Bush administration has decided to gut a crucial part of the Clean Air Act.
Congress needs to overturn the decision, for the sake of the environment and public health.
The Clean Air Act provision is intended to clean up old and dirty power plants by requiring their operators to install modern pollution-control equipment when they upgrade their facilities. Hundreds of these plants, including more than 20 in Florida, are still operating. They are a major source of air and water pollution, and an ongoing threat to public health.

Irritation by the gallon
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Even after accounting for the usual pre-Labor Day gouging, gas prices are high.

Restrict any new session
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Legislature must act only to save Tampa Bay.
Senate chief wants voucher laws tightened
By S.V. Date and Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
As a state investigation begins, Senate President Jim King calls for action in the next special session.

More than $400,000 in scholarship donations may have disappeared

Universities begin year under budget constraints

Florida turns to computers
Two 'virtual' public schools will open next month, each allowing 500 students in kindergarten through 8th grade to study online at home.

Bush creates task force to study making health care affordable

FDLE chief hired without review of his background
TALLAHASSEE - Guy Tunnell, a Panhandle sheriff with 30 years of police work and a loyal supporter of Gov. Jeb Bush, secured a unanimous vote from the Cabinet on Tuesday to lead the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Cabinet approves Bay County sheriff to become FDLE chief

Gov. Bush snubs black parole board finalist
The move sparks criticism and reveals a split with fellow Republican Cabinet member Tom Gallagher.

Audit: DCF rush may have put kids at risk
A sample of the 30,000 cases closed between September and June indicates nearly 14% left children in harm's way.

State fires election records chief over alleged backdating

Leader selected for FDLE
Bay County Sheriff Guy Tunnell takes over Oct. 1
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously chose Bay County Sheriff Guy Tunnell to head the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Memo to 268: Your vote didn't count
Absentee ballots were untallied
Diane Whatley mailed her absentee ballot a week early for last year's primary election. Eleven months later, her ballot sits -- still unopened and uncounted -- in a file with 267 others in the Broward State Attorney's office. The ballots, postmarked as much as a week before the primary, went unnoticed in a pile of thousands of pieces of elections mail dumped in the Broward elections office in the frenzied days leading up to the primary.
State attorney general report

State building code to keep local hurricane rules
The Florida Building Commission decided in principle Tuesday to adopt a new building code as requested by the construction industry -- as long as South Florida's extra-strict hurricane standards and other state modifications are retained.

Anti-abortion protesters want Hill's execution stopped

Deutsch rips Penelas in gathering of Democratic Senate candidates

Fumes and mirrors
Florida's latest budgetary con game makes patsies out of those who drive the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Motorists wanting to traverse the bridge are forced to toss four quarters in the toll basket, but what they don't know is that part of their money is siphoned off and driven north, where it will be used to upgrade U.S. 19.

Columbia panel rips NASA philosophy
By Jeff Nesmith, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
A chunk of foam caused the accident, but 'inadequate concern' over safety was at the root.

Malaria cases in county hit 7
The cases spur officials to step up Palm Beach County's response to the mosquito-borne disease.

State OKs routing cables through gaps in South Florida reefs
TALLAHASSEE - A plan to route undersea fiber-optic cables through gaps in South Florida coral reefs has won unanimous approval from Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet despite opposition from some environmentalists.

Cabinet adds Cypress Gardens tourist attraction to protected list

Manatee protection hearing grows heated
Many of the more than 300 attending decry proposed boating speed zones for Tampa Bay.

The call to move overseas
The latest jobs likely to head overseas: higher-end, white-collar work in information technology, accounting, engineering and human resources, exactly the types of employment the Tampa Bay area is trying so hard to attract.

Before running for governor, why not get a clue?
One problem I have with Arnold Schwarzenegger is that he looks like a condom stuffed with walnuts. I realize that is superficial, shallow and unbecoming to a semi-serious-minded liberal like myself, but there it is. The other is that he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to public policy.

Data collection on air travelers draws fire
By Bob Dart, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
Groups from throughout the political spectrum object to the government's proposed classification of air travelers by risk.

More U.S. deaths in Iraq push total past combat level
By George Edmonson and Bob Deans, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
U.S. military fatalities in Iraq since May 1 exceed the deaths during major combat operations

8/23-21/03

FSU's blue-collar workers OK union
The union that traditionally represented non-faculty employees at the state's universities has won its first election victory in Florida since the Board of Regents was abolished two years ago.

Former state parole commissioner arrested for theft

FDLE arrests former state official
Henry charged with falsifying expense claims
Carefully comparing cellular-phone records with travel claims, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested former Parole Commission Chairman Jimmie Lee Henry on Thursday on several charges of cheating on expense accounts and falsifying time sheets.

Petition drive seeks to teach lawmakers a school lesson

Thousands of third graders at center of retention debate

Byrd: House starting plan to repeal class size amendment

Class-size jeremiad
So far, the financial impact of the class size amendment is less than one-fifth the amount Education Commissioner Jim Horne claimed it would be. Supporters have not been fooled by his doomsaying.
Board lacks credibility to question class size
Palm Beach Post Editorial
State's education panel plays budget games.
House speaker will pursue class-size repeal
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd has taken up the state Board of Education's call to repeal a voter-approved amendment to reduce class sizes.
Byrd said Thursday that House leaders are drafting a plan to ask the voters to repeal the class-size amendment after the board voted unanimously Tuesday to mount a campaign to repeal the measure and to limit class-size reduction only to kindergarten through third grade.

Horne's payroll pet
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Teachers scrimp while aide gets lavish raise.

School voucher form poses little that's new
By Shirish Date, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Only five of 38 questions on Florida's new questionnaire for schools getting vouchers are new.
Private schools accepting of questionnaire
By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Religious schools remain wary of state intrusions, however.
Vouching for dollars
Vague 'reform' doesn't cut it
Florida's corporate voucher program has been appropriately criticized for standards so lax that, at one point, the state didn't even have a complete list of participating schools. Yet this program gives dollar-for-dollar tax breaks to businesses that send needy children to private schools.
Voucher program gets new scrutiny
Accountability being evaluated
More than $400,000 of corporate donations to fund private-school scholarships for low-income students may have disappeared from an Ocala nonprofit group run by a man who was once the target of drug-trafficking and fraud investigations, Education Commissioner Jim Horne told The Herald on Friday.
The group, Silver Archer Foundation, is being cut off from participating in the state's corporate tax voucher scholarship program, and Horne said he would propose tougher regulations on who can operate the funding organizations.

House Speaker uses "Choose Life" list to push abortion question

Byrd criticized for abortion letters
Mailer pushes drive for parental consent
Democrats and abortion-rights advocates Thursday criticized House Speaker Johnnie Byrd for mailing owners of the state's "Choose Life" license plates letters promoting a constitutional initiative requiring parental consent for minors' abortions.

Former lawmaker: Byrd shouldn't run House while running for Senate

Byrd's late U.S. Senate bid a dilemma for some lawmakers
They are fretting about phone calls from Byrd seeking support they have already pledged to others.

Bush: Supporters of abortion clinic killer distort Christianity

Bush downplays Hill's execution
Protesters are planning to make Paul Hill's death a spectacle. Several websites exhort them to protest his execution. TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush downplayed death threats protesting Paul Hill's scheduled execution even as Florida abortion clinics began bracing for an anticipated round of attacks.
Bush threatened in letters sent to officials, judge over Hill execution

Abortion clinics want extra security
TALLAHASSEE -- Planned Parenthood groups Thursday said they will ask authorities to increase security around abortion clinics and women's health centers in the days leading to next month's scheduled execution of abortion-clinic murderer Paul Hill.
The move comes after Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and three other officials this week received threatening letters containing bullets. One of the letters also threatened Gov. Jeb Bush, who has rejected calls to commute Hill's death sentence to life in prison.
"I will not yield to a threat, and he won't be a martyr," Bush said in an e-mail Thursday to the Orlando Sentinel.
Judge receives bullet, threat
Antiabortionist's execution protested
The judge who sentenced Paul Hill to death in 1994 for the murder of an abortion doctor in Pensacola has received a death-threat letter containing a rifle bullet - making him the fourth official in Florida to be targeted in a campaign to halt Hill's Sept. 3 execution.
Abortion clinic safety in focus because of Hill execution

Bay County sheriff to be named FDLE chief

Prisons need more drug rehab
Building more prisons without new drug programs doesn't make sense.
Florida lawmakers could have addressed the rapid growth of the state-prison system with proven cost-effective means. Instead they've picked the most simplistic and expensive route of all -- building more prisons.
People convicted of drug-related crimes account for the single largest group of prisoners in Florida, but that group also responds to rehabilitation better than most other categories of prisoners. Florida prisoners who complete drug-rehabilitation programs are much less likely to end up in prison again than those who fail to complete the programs. Studies in other states also show that rehabilitation works, and is far less costly than repeated incarcerations.
Even though effective treatment programs exist, Florida lawmakers began cutting back on them two years ago. This year, the state earmarked $7.7 million for inmate drug treatment, less than half the amount it had earmarked for treatment in 2001.
Their stinginess doesn't make sense. In June and July, when Florida experienced the highest monthly admission totals in more than a decade, the largest increase occurred among those convicted of drug offenses.
Lawmakers' decision last week to raid $66 million from state reserves to build 4,000 new prison beds is only half a solution. Inevitably, it will drain future state budgets to pay for staff and equipment. Any expansion of prison beds should be partnered with expansions in drug rehabilitation.
Drug-rehabilitation programs won't make Florida soft on crime, but they will save the state money.

New insurance choice for docs?

Losers are the ordinary people
What a travesty has taken place in this session of the Florida Legislature. Yet again, the winners are those with special-interest money and the losers are the ordinary people. It is intellectually and morally inconceivable that the malpractice caps passed without any requirement to lower insurance premiums on doctors and hospitals...

Lawmakers consider fifth special session
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Included would be issues on abortion, the phosphate industry and a dispute between professional engineers.

Appeals court hears arguments on fetus of disabled woman

School computer funds may be cut
The federal government disputes the method of selecting a private firm to run a state system.

Community colleges stretched beyond limits
State budget constraints mean thousands of students are being shut out of the classes they need.

Florida at work on new plate
Tag to feature state flower, have better, brighter color
Florida's official citrus is getting a makeover - and the pale look is definitely out. That single, anemic orange on the state license plate has been replaced by two pieces of color-bursting fruit under an orange-blossom garnish. The vigorous new oranges are supposed to add a brighter Florida splash to a tag that may have been too bland and just a little too peachy.

Jacksonville whistleblower gets job back, not sure things changed

Graham says Iraq distracting U.S. from danger of terrorism "

Ashcroft's mission impossible gets a boost
By George McEvoy, Palm Beach Post Columnist
Images of carnage from the U.N. attack in Iraq shove civil rights aside.

Exiles say charges follow pressure on Bush
Some criticize indictments as politics
The U.S. government Thursday indicted a Cuban air force general and two MiG fighter pilots for shooting down two Brothers to the Rescue planes flying in international waters in 1996, killing four exile activis

White House Watch: Bush faces a difficult year ahead

Democrats are dumb to dump on Howard Dean
Breaking news! A race for president of the United States is still under way. Contrary to what you see and hear in the media, the campaign for president has not been suspended until after completion of the California recall on Oct. 7.

8/20-18/03

Budget cuts to shrink state consumer agency
Floridians' chances of having their consumer complaints resolved are eroding, say critics of recent changes in the state's consumer-protection agency.

Wakulla development gets new life
Commission rescinds vote against changing Comp Plan
Wakulla County commissioners, who voted just two weeks ago to block a proposed 606-acre development near the Leon County line, have taken a sudden U-turn.

Panel: Florida needs water commission

Threats, bullets sent to protest pending execution
Hill's supporters see him as a martyr for a cause
Three death-threat letters containing bullets were sent to Florida's attorney general and two prison officials in protest of the pending execution of anti-abortion activist Paul Hill.

Computer failure shuts down trains
A computer system failure shut down the entire CSX Transportation system and halted train operations in 23 states, including Florida, today. Amtrak, which runs six trains to Miami daily, was also experiencing delays.

Air traffic controllers protest privatization plans
Efforts by the White House to potentially privatize 69 air traffic control towers nationwide -- including those at Miami/Kendall Tamiami and Fort Lauderdale Executive airports -- are drawing strong opposition from local union leaders.
Language that would allow the privatization of the airports is currently contained in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, and is geared to save the government money, proponents say.
But National Air Traffic Controllers Association leaders say cutting costs by contracting out the general aviation airports would jeopardize safety.

Get truth from insurers
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sworn testimony about Floridians' rising bills yields real answers.

A frivolous amendment
Palm Beach Post Editorial
It's hard to take House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's abortion amendment seriously.

DCF criticized for seeking guardian for unborn child
Florida's social service agency has stirred a controversy by asserting its authority to ''protect the state's compelling interest'' in the well-being of unborn children.

DCF flunks 6 of 7 child-welfare gauges
While Florida's Department of Children & Families claims gains in protecting children since Secretary Jerry Regier came on board a year ago, children's advocates point to a new federal report that flunks Florida on six of seven child-safety benchmarks as evidence the state still neglects its most vulnerable.

Report: Vouchers have a positive effect on schools
Private-school vouchers are good for Florida's public-school system, according to a study to be released today by the Manhattan Institute. ...(but)The Florida Education Association was skeptical about the findings. Spokesman Mark Pudlow said the Manhattan Institute has been outspoken in its support of Bush's A+ plan from the beginning.

Howard Troxler: A paper tiger for fake schools
The governor of Florida and his education czar made a big announcement in Tallahassee the other day. They said they were going to tighten the rules for private schools that are getting state voucher money.

State Board of Education endorses repeal of class size amendment

Former U.S. education secretary pitches virtues of virtual school

Prisons get $60 million; universities get lectures
Palm Beach Post Editorial
One emergency counts; the other doesn't.

There's a prison industrial complex at work in Florida
The businesses and bureaucrats that profit from incarceration and the politicians who profit from those businesses have combined to line their pockets and feather their nests.

Gov. Bush: Drug treatment cuts not to blame for prison population jump

Prisons bulging, drug offenders causing biggest increase

Crime and punishment- We must insist on accountability
...In the wake of the Florida Legislature's emergency approval of $65 million last week for prison construction, it's reasonable to insist on accountability - not only for how that money is spent but why, and whether there are practical alternatives.

Ybor cameras won't seek what they never found
After two years of fruitless monitoring, Tampa is dropping facial-recognition software that looked for crooks. It never led to a single arrest.

Guest editorial: The selling of the Patriot Act
Attorney General John Ashcroft is taking to the road to defend the USA Patriot Act against Congress' growing misgivings about passing it in the first place. His tour begins with stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, not coincidentally states that are vital to President Bush's re-election campaign, and will go on to a dozen or more cities after that.

Washington Today: Momentum growing against Patriot Act, government tries to shore up support
WASHINGTON — The Sept. 11 attacks convinced Congress that the federal government needed enhanced legal and investigative powers to pursue terrorists. Yet in the two years since passage of the Patriot Act, lawmakers have grown uneasy over Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of the expanded surveillance and detention powers. Not only are they leery of his requests for even greater authority, they are moving to curtail some of the tools they granted him in the new law.

Deplorable detention
Former USF professor Sami Al-Arian is entitled to more humane treatment while awaiting his January 2005 trial in prison.

Health officials confirm West Nile case in Miami-Dade

Health officials issue mosquito medical alert in Palm Beach

As lakes pour over banks, homeowners' worries rise
Two months into the project, Victoria and Roger Berry realized that landscaping the back yard of their new home on Big Sand Lake in southwest Orange County was becoming pointless.

Molly Ivins: The All-American Blame Game
AUSTIN, Texas — It's the All-American Blame Game! A Finger-Pointing festival. A perfectly circular firing squad of, "Told you so." Bureaucrats perfecting their CYA moves. Politicians jumping on the opportunity to make points against the other guys. And so's your old man.
U.S. officials quickly blamed a Canadian plant for touching off the mess. Mel Lastman, the clearly sleepless and exhausted mayor of Toronto, replied bitterly: "Tell me, have you ever heard the United States take blame for anything? This is no different."

Terror, tragedy and the ultimate sales pitch
The Washington Post last week published the results of a lengthy investigation into the Bush administration's claims about an Iraqi nuclear-weapons program. The story also described the creation within the White House last August of a special group charged with winning support from Congress, from the United Nations if necessary and from the American people for a war against Iraq.

Study: Vouchers boost scores
A new report by a New York think tank says school vouchers are boosting educational performance in Florida public schools.
Reseachers for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, which is releasing the study today, say students at voucher schools are showing more improvement than students at other low-performing schools.
Under Florida's A+ Plan for Education, students at schools that receive an F grade from the state twice in four years are eligible for vouchers to attend other schools, public or private.
The researchers analyzed student scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and the Stanford 9, another standardized test, for the 2002-03 school year.
They say the results show schools perform in direct proportion to the threat of vouchers.
Gov. Jeb Bush expressed satisfaction with the report, saying it "validates results we've seen in schools across the state."

Wicked virus infects state e-mail, then spreads
If your e-mail box was flooded with messages from state government Tuesday, you were not alone. Florida technology officials were battling a malicious new computer virus that was discovered Tuesday morning and had spread around the world by afternoon.

Anti-spam bills useless, FTC chief says
By Marilyn Geewax, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
Spammers can easily hide their identity, the Federal Trade Commission chief said Tuesday.


 

8/17-16/03

Let state workers speak for themselves on Service First
Re: "Service First did not eliminate Career Service," ( Letters, Aug. 8). While Department of Management Services Secretary Bill Simon may believe Democrat Political Editor Bill Cotterell "correctly characterized the efforts by critics of Gov. Bush's Service First initiative," Simon has not correctly characterized Select Exempt Service employees - at least not this one.

Bush asks program to analyze Florida's school test scores

Jeb's voucher 'reforms' don't apply to education
Public students get failed; private ones get a pass.

Jump in prisoners catches state by surprise
Gov. Jeb Bush remains red faced over his administration's $66 million failure to miss a huge spike in new prison admissions.

Appeals court allows abortion-rights group to argue in rape case

Legislators seek notice provision on abortion
Critics believe backers want more limits
A month after the Florida Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a law requiring that parents be notified before a minor has an abortion, the Republican-led Legislature is poised to try a new strategy: Amend the state Constitution.

Myriam Marquez: A 1-payer system is radical but essential cure for health care
We all know something's gone terribly wrong with America's health-care system. Some hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy. Insurers turn away high-risk patients to make a profit. And from those lucky ones who can get insurance, you hear a litany of complaints about soaring out-of-pocket costs for medical services and prescription drugs, bureaucratic snags with insurers and hospitals and long waits at the doctor's office.
Another 43 million Americans have no insurance, and children and minorities make up a disproportionate share of that group. It's shameful that this nation can't come to terms for its failed market experiment with health care.

Martin Dyckman: Florida could use California-style 'communism'
TALLAHASSEE - Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, astonished nearly everyone but himself when, after hearing California's famous Proposition 103 explained to a Senate committee, he exclaimed: "That's communism!"

Malpractice prescription still unfilled
By Randy Schultz, Palm Beach Post Editor of the Editorial Page
It's more than discouraging to see how little the debate in Florida has changed in 15 years.

Is bill's legacy a lasting GOP rift?
After a bitter battle over medical malpractice, Republicans and Gov. Bush have fences to mend.

Group says preservation deal not restrictive enough

No vacancy: Small hotels losing ground?
Only a handful of mom-and-pop motels remain on Clearwater Beach. Some wonder if condos really are a higher and better use.

State panels wants to expand child abuse, neglect investigations

Officials drop charges against prosecutor after producers vanish

Leaders of UTD saw crisis, kept silent
Six months before the Miami-Dade teachers union's crisis became public, its three top leaders knew the union was in a fiscal free-fall but never warned thousands of teachers, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Herald.

Drama ends with heirs splitting millions
The closet door swung open and out fell the skeletons in January 2000 as the rich, politically connected children of the late Ben Hill Griffin Jr. went to court to fight over stewardship of their father's vast estate.

Two more cases of West Nile confirmed in the state

Mars edges toward Earth at 180,000 miles a day
By Tim O'Meilia, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The Red Planet grows brighter every night as Earth and Mars near their closest approach since 57,617 BC.

Centerpiece: Electricity — Selling a lifestyle

A politician's worse nightmare?
Those of us who don't live in California are free to be entertained by the gubernatorial recall campaign, because the outcome will have little effect on our lives.

Police are addicted to lure of easy money
Civil asset forfeiture is the most infamous game in law enforcement. While in its pure form, seizing the luxury cars, boats, homes and cash of drug dealers can be a useful tool in taking profit out of crime, in the real world far too many police and sheriffs offices use it to finance and enrich their operations, leading to startling abuses.

Subpoenas fly in hunt for hidden terrorists
Issued through a secret court, they are seeking data on U.S. citizens.

8/15-14/03

Report: Pollution closed beaches in Florida 1,745 times in 2002

Four PETA members arrested at Tampa, San Diego zoos
Four members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were arrested Thursday after they stormed into zoos in San Diego and Tampa to protest the importation of elephants from Swaziland.

Karl Rove says Florida will be 'ground zero' in 2004 election

Gov. Bush signs malpractice bill, challenge expected soon
A bill that provides a wide-ranging effort to reduce medical malpractice insurance costs was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush while trial lawyers promised to challenge a provision that caps some lawsuit damages.
Florida Legislature passes medical malpractice bill

Tallahassee travesty
Lawmakers didn't solve the medical-malpractice problem.

Bush, Horne introduce accountability rules for private schools

Private schools face. data roundup
Private schools will have to disclose more details of their operations if they want to keep participating in Florida voucher programs that are putting more than $100 million in their pockets this year.

Florida Legislature: Lawmakers approve extra $66 million in funding for prisons

Rise in prison population spurs move for new beds
The number of felons in Florida is rising, prompting legislators Wednesday to put up $66 million to add prison beds. The emergency move -- done at Gov. Jeb Bush's behest -- drew fire from Democrats, particularly members of the black caucus, who questioned spending the money on incarceration three months after cutting state services to balance the budget.

Constitution can't give state new tax setup
Palm Beach Post Editorial
McKay's amendment won't change Legislature.

Molly Ivins: These Republicans really know how to ruin a country
AUSTIN, Texas — Hang in there, Texas Eleven. You are not forgotten.
Gov. Goodhair Perry says the AWOL senators are holding up "issues of great importance to the people of Texas." That's funny. There has been one and only one item of business on the agenda for both special sessions called by the guv (at a cost of $1.7 million each): the crass rejiggering of congressional distric lines in order to elect more Republicans out of Texas. Using taxpayer money for partisan political purposes, period.

Pentagon under fire from friends, critics on rules for terror trials

8/13-10/03

Voter rolls concern Dade, Broward
'Deadwood' increases costs, risk of fraud
County commissioners in Miami-Dade and Broward say they are troubled by a Herald report that exposed bloated voter rolls, and in Broward they are questioning a request for 1,000 more touch-screen voting machines.
Study of electronic voting devices shakes some
By Brigid Schulte, The Washington Post
Computer scientists warn that some software can easily be hacked into and election results tampered with.

State education chief gives top aide $42,000 raise
The 'corporate model' salary of Larry Wood jumps 40 percent.

Bush wants Legislature to increase prison spending

Workers comp insurance rates to fall 14 percent

Florida lawmakers finally set to pass medical malpractice measure

Legislature 2003: Politics may have been in play in medical malpractice agreement

Malpractice relief seen unlikely soon
A key insurance lobbyist says the compromise bill won't reduce doctors' premiums anytime in the near future.
Malpractice compromise lets insurers off the hook
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Deal comes only after Bush heard from GOP.
3rd malpractice special session begins
The Florida Legislature began its third special session on medical malpractice today, and Gov. Jeb Bush expressed confidence that the compromise agreement he announced last week will hold together in a vigorous debate.
A bad deal
Malpractice compromise offers little
Only a few questions remain in Florida's raging medical malpractice debate.
The first is whether the state's 40 senators and a sizable minority of House members will be able to vote for this package without feeling ill.
The second is what exactly they will be voting on.

Jeb on the ropes?
Jeb Bush calls politics a "blood sport." Unfortunately, he's the one bleeding in Tallahassee right now.
This malpractice-reform spectacle revealed chinks in his political armor that were covered up in his early years by a budget surplus and legislation that all Republicans could agree on.
In reality, Jeb is a Republican version of Jimmy Carter.
Like Jimmy, Jeb has alienated many members of his own party who see him as aloof and arrogant.
Like Jimmy, Jeb is awful at personal, political connections.
Like Jimmy, Jeb never was in a legislative body and seems to have little use for them.
Like Jimmy, Jeb doesn't grasp the subtleties of when to reward and how to threaten.
Like Jimmy, Jeb is smart enough to have figured all this out, but hasn't.
Jeb should not be in this position.

Florida's governor can't be recalled
Florida has had more than its share of electoral chaos, but nothing like California's recall campaign could happen here. At least, not to a governor.

Florida's spooks
FDLE spyware needs surveillance of its own
No sooner did the Pentagon's "Total Information Awareness" plan to spy on every American look as discredited as its spook-in-chief and former Reagan administration lawbreaker John Poindexter, who recently resigned, than did Florida come to the rescue -- with dragnet spyware.

Land doesn't meet Glades' cleanup limits
A 170,000-acre swath of cow- and crop-covered land has failed to meet its first-year Everglades cleanup requirement, water managers said Monday.
The area in Hendry County -- west of Clewiston and known locally as Devil's Garden -- released 77.3 tons of phosphorus for the year ending April 30, the South Florida Water Management District said. That's about 7 tons, or 10 percent, over the limit.

State approves extension of Everglades farming lease

Do better for Everglades
Reject long lease for a polluting farm.

Brimming With Concern
PLANT CITY - A major storm could send polluted water from the holding ponds of a phosphate processor into English Creek, and wastewater from one pond may already be seeping into the intermediate aquifer, a state regulator said Monday. ...

Group asks state to release FCATs to parents

Florida promotes social disease
How private schools may become voucher mills.

Jeb shows his hole card
Whoever told him that a bill he allowed to become law doesn't expand gambling was lying.

Harris' rules for public office
Public service can get a little messy when you actually have to answer to the public. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris had a chance to learn that lesson, once again, at a recent town meeting in Bradenton.

DCF's woes a full-time job
A year ago, an Oklahoman named Jerry Regier was brought in to run Florida's Department of Children & Families, the scandal-ridden agency that's supposed to protect abused and neglected children.

Speaker wants parental notice issue to go before voters

'Human shield' refuses to pay $10,000 in fines for visiting Iraq
SARASOTA - A woman who went to Iraq to serve as a "human shield" in an attempt to stop the U.S. invasion is facing thousands of dollars in fines, which she is refusing to pay.

Heirs of citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin Jr. settle estate

Family, friends stunned at discovery of millionaire's double life

Residents divided over AAA's billboard warning: 'Speed Trap'

Water spouts dance ahead of tropical system
The wild, weird weather that has battered South Florida in the last week and triggered two water spouts this morning might become a bit wilder and more weird on Wednesday.
» Video from CBS 4 | Water spouts

Florida Straits a rainbow coalition
Study shows its marine life among the most diverse in Atlantic Ocean
South Florida's diversity, it seems, doesn't stop at the shoreline -- or even with people. A scientific study to be released today says marine life in the Florida Straits -- which separate Miami from Cuba and the Bahamas -- is an eclectic mix all its own, a mix so rich and varied it qualifies as the most diverse in the whole Atlantic Ocean.

Computer virus spreads
An Internet-borne infection incapacitated tens of thousands of computers on Tuesday.

'A blacklist of judges'
Attorney General John Ashcroft seeks to further broaden his department's power by scrutinizing judges who hand down lighter sentences than federal guidelines recommend.

Blown cover
Did the Bush administration identify a CIA operative because it was mad at her husband?

Legislators say Cuba letter may get results
White House staff calls about concerns
Two Republican state legislators who signed a letter to President Bush urging him to get tougher on Cuba or face a loss of Cuban American political support said they received phone calls from Bush staffers Monday indicating an eventual positive response.
letter: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/6510536.htm

Eli Whitney started spiral toward sprawl with fast gun
If children ask why the sky is blue and where babies come from because blue skies and babies are backdrops to their world, it must be a matter of time before they start asking where sprawl comes from. When they do, tell them: Eli Whitney.
When they grow up a little and ask why the landscape is a prisonhouse of franchises, tell them: Eli Whitney.
And when they're old enough to ask why there's really no essential difference between Democrats and Republicans, why the White House has been, with a few Mackinac Fudge exceptions, a halfway house to irrelevance for cookie-cutter presidents, tell them: Eli Whitney. The cotton gin has nothing to do with it, although the French do.

Molly Ivins: Our collective credulity is tanned, buff, limber and ready
DUBLIN, N.H. — What a summer for national credulity fitness. My credulity gets a lot of exercise, since I cover Texas politics. Like Alice in Wonderland's White Queen, years of practice have enabled me to believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast. But here we are with a perfect feast of mind-bogglers, everyone's credulity stretching and straining in a giant national workout session.

Paul Krugman: Salt of the earth
Since we're stuck in Iraq indefinitely, we may as well try to learn something. But I suspect that our current leaders won't be receptive to the most important lesson of the land where cities and writing were invented: that manmade environmental damage can destroy a civilization.

8/9-7/03

Make case, not excuses
Petty behavior in the Sami Al-Arian case.

New land policy urged
Growth changes would go to voters
Crowded schools. Congested highways. Loss of natural resources. A new political action committee wants to give Florida voters more say in dealing with those tough growth issues.... a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush and a representative of the Florida Home Builders Association criticize the proposal.

87 percent of Florida schools fall short under new federal rules
Nearly nine out of 10 Florida schools failed to meet academic standards under the new federal No Child Left Behind law.
State schools fail to meet new federal test standards
Federal, state results differ
Nearly 90 percent of Florida's public schools failed to meet reading and math standards this year under the new federal No Child Left Behind law, The Herald learned Thursday.

It's the public's money, so give the public's test
Corporate voucher fans still duck accountability.
School double standards
When it comes to holding accountable private schools receiving tax money through vouchers, the standards are a little different than those public schools are held to.

Most Graham alternatives for Senate little known
TALLAHASSEE - If U.S. Sen. Bob Graham does as he's promised and bypasses re-election in a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris might want to reconsider her decision to stay out of the race for his seat, a poll shows.
Mel would be swell in contest with Graham
Former Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez should run for U.S. Senate.

They finally have a deal on caps
Lawmakers say the long debate over medical malpractice suits is about to be settled. They could go back into session next week.
Don't rubber stamp
It's encouraging that there's a malpractice deal, but lawmakers can't rush.
Bush poised to accept $500,000 malpractice cap
The limit on noneconomic damages could rise to $1 million in cases of egregious medical malpractice.
Deal struck on medical malpractice insurance
Gov. Bush, lawmakers agree to $500,000 cap
The deal reflects a major concession by Bush and House leaders. TALLAHASSEE -- After five months of wrangling that threatened to tear the Florida Republican Party apart, Gov. Jeb Bush and legislative leaders are expected to announce today they have reached a deal to overhaul the state's medical malpractice insurance.

Board deals blow to enrollment caps
The state Board of Governors will seek extra funds rather than limit the number of new students at universities.

McKay aims for 2004 ballot with tax exemption proposal
State lawmakers would have to review hundreds of exemptions to Florida's 6-cent sales tax under a proposal former Senate President John McKay wants to qualify for the 2004 ballot.
Any exemption that can't get a 60 percent support vote in both the House and Senate would end.

Tornado damages about 500 homes
RIVIERA BEACH - A tornado touched down in north Palm Beach County Thursday, damaging or destroying about 500 homes, flipping cars, snapping power poles and tearing roofs off businesses. But only minor injuries were reported.

Noelle Bush out of drug program
Noelle Bush, the 26-year old daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush, was released from the Orange County Drug Court program today.

New rule on Glades phosphorous opposed
Guidelines open path for more pollution, not less, foes claim
The Miccosukee Tribe and environmental groups asked a judge Thursday in West Palm Beach to block a state rule that aims to limit destructive phosphorous in the Everglades, saying the guidelines instead invite more pollution.

Frogs talk, they listen
The Frog Listening Network is looking for volunteers to lend an ear to help study changes in the frog population. (audio of tree frogs...)

Gore assails Bush over 'false impressions'
The former vice president says Bush distorted information about the intentions of Iraq.

8/6-5/03

Increases in Florida court fees criticized
Opponents fear establishing a justice system for only the wealthy.

Going public with his priorities
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Horne's double standard for Florida parents.
Here is the official position of Jim Horne, Florida's commissioner of education: Private-school parents are better than public-school parents.
In a nutshell, Mr. Horne repeated that policy over and over on his little three-city tour last week. He said private-school parents who use publicly financed vouchers don't need the FCAT to know whether their kids are doing well. This is the same guy who, along with Gov. Bush, says every public-school student had better do well on the FCAT -- or else. Since both sets of parents are sending their kids to school on the public's dime, why do private-school parents get an FCAT pass while public-school parents get an FCAT stick? The only possible conclusion is that private-school parents are better. Prosecutors find no wrongdoing by Pensacola-based voucher schools

Vouchers: Oversight is sorely lacking
It shouldn't have taken news of a private school's ties to an alleged terrorist to put a spotlight on accountability within Florida's corporate voucher program. Nevertheless, the Florida Senate is right to scrutinize the selection criteria for a state program that gives businesses dollar-for-dollar tax breaks for sending needy children to private schools.

Lawmaker: Oust police chief over hanging probe

Civil Rights group, King's son to examine hanging in Belle Glade

History: Knott for Florida
Joan Matey has had it. As manager of the 1843 Knott House on Park Avenue, she is worn out from climbing up the down staircase. For the past seven years she's been keeping this authentically restored treasure alive with only grudging support from the state, which owns it. Ms. Matey is one of the most energetic, innovative and interactive museum managers in Florida, no question.

Bush fires law firm representing state in teen's negligence suit

Governor to allow higher-stakes poker law without signing bill

Poll taken during malpractice fight shows Bush's popularity has dropped

Studies: Health care tough for Hispanics
There's only one public health clinic left in this rural Volusia County town, and appointments are hard to come by. Another clinic on State Road 40 closed three weeks ago.

High-rise rent boost hits seniors in wallet
Placida Torres, 71, began sewing undergarments in a New York City factory when she was 16 years old.
The young Puerto Rican spent $20 per month on a furnished apartment in the Bronx, or 18 percent of her income.
Today her standard of living has plummeted. She receives $550 per month in Social Security benefits and spends almost half, $265, on a studio apartment at Magnolia Towers on East Anderson Street in downtown Orlando.

Fewer make Florida favorite spot to retire
The Sunshine State is losing its luster - at least among older Americans. After decades of making Florida their destination of choice, a growing number of Americans 60 and older are moving to Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and other places they think offer a better quality of life.

Wakulla votes against growth
Government meetings usually don't end with a round of applause, but that's what happened after Wakulla County commissioners decided not to take steps that could have allowed a new 606-acre development.

Judge recommends against Manatee County phosphate mine

Plan to pipe natural gas from Bahamas to Florida gets approval

NTSB rules poor track maintenance caused fatal Amtrak crash

Judge withdraws bench warrant for Greenpeace

12 of 19 Cubans returned to island; seven sent to Guantanamo base

Jobs, case for tax cuts, just keep on shrinking
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Graham economic plan based more on reality.
Graham's popularity plunges
By Mark Silva | Sentinel Staff Writer
As Sen. Bob Graham seeks to boost his presidential campaign by leading his entire family on a weeklong summer tour of Iowa, a new survey back home in Florida shows his personal popularity sliding to a record low.
Challenging President Bush on the war in Iraq has cost Graham support among Floridians who traditionally have backed the Democratic senator but support both Bush and the war, the statewide survey for the Orlando Sentinel, WESH-NewsChannel 2 and other Florida media shows.

Senate veteran Hollings to retire
By Elizabeth Shogren, Los Angeles Times
Republicans hail a fading Democratic hold on the South with the South Carolina senator's decision.

Another bad idea in God's name
I know God. I can't say for sure, but I'd be surprised if he were in favor of paying people to come to church.

Giving in to gas hogs
The energy plan in Congress still doesn't address the real problems.
Cars consume two out of every five barrels of oil used in the country every day, and national leaders increasingly are concerned about America's over-dependence on foreign oil imports.
Under the circumstances, the solution is obvious: Quit wasting finite energy resources on the multitude of gas-hogs lumbering along American highways, encourage conservation and start investing in renewable energy resources. Congress, though, just doesn't get it.

Standoffish soldiering
Listening to a senior Bush administration official explain last week that America's ultimate goal in Iraq is a broad "transformation" of Middle East politics, you realized that U.S. leaders have committed the country to a battle that could, as the official admitted, last for a generation.

Republican Party breaks its vows to black voters
At this crucial time in American life, President Bush has before him a number of options that call for supreme boldness but are well within the realm of possibility.

Cynthia Tucker
Atlanta Constitution FBI loses perspective in investigating terrorist tips on reading lists In June, Marc Schultz, an Atlanta bookstore clerk, received a call at work from his mother. "The FBI is here," she said. "They say you're not in trouble; they just want to talk. They want to come to the store."

Molly Ivins: Messy desks, clean desks and then theres ...
AUSTIN, Texas — There are messy-desk people and there are clean-desk people. I'm a major messy. About every six months, I am seized by a desire to Get Organized, so I start doing archaeological excavations into the midden heap on my desk. The result this time was a sort of time-lapse photography of where the country is headed.
Going through stacks of old newspaper articles, speeches, reports, studies and press releases at a high rate of speed left one overwhelming impression: deception ... government by deception. I'd like pass along some

Ellen Goodman: Playing the religion card over Pryor's party-line nomination
So it takes an ecumenical group of zealots charging anti-Catholicism in an ad running in a state with a Greek Orthodox senator to make me fully understand the word "chutzpah." I guess this is what it means to live in a multicultural society?

Martin Schram: Veep excuses
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Washington has gotten so cluttered and congested — with recycled policies such as trickle-down jammed against new ones such as the-British-made-me-say-it — that it is hard to keep things straight in the national attic that is our nation's capital.

8/4-3/03

Group trying to drown Service First
Two years ago, Gov. Jeb Bush set out to fight bureaucracy, cut personnel expenses and make state employment systems more like those in the private sectors.
He called it "Service First."
And now, the employee organization that calls it "Service Worst" is trying to tie it up in a costly bureaucratic quagmire of administrative hearings. Having failed to persuade a judge to declare the system unconstitutional, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees wants Bush's plan sliced and diced in the Death of 1,000 Administrative Hearings.

State's prison population up 3.9% last year
Propelled by laws mandating longer sentences, Florida's prison population grew last year by more inmates than any state's save California, according to a federal report released last week.

Drama unfolds over 4 years in builders probe
A seedy melodrama has quietly played out at Northeast Florida construction sites the past four years involving allegations of murder-for-hire, racketeering and the laundering of millions of dollars.

Amnesty group blasts Al-Arian prison conditions
In a high-security federal prison north of Tampa, Sami Al-Arian spends 23 hours of every day locked in a 7-by-13-foot cell. No watch. No clock. No window through which to see daylight.

King's son to investigate hanging death
The son of Dr. Martin Luther King plans to visit Belle Glade to look into Feraris Golden's death.

Commission investigating hanging says contradictions found

Infighting capping Medical malpractice debate
The Republican tide that gave Gov. Jeb Bush power in 1998 began turning earlier this year.

Malpractice 'crisis' is result of past excess
Jeez, if only I had bought stock in First Professionals Insurance Co.

Misdiagnoses cause suits
Grisly errors not the culprit in most cases of malpractice
Doctors who mistakenly amputate the wrong body part or leave surgical instruments in their patients tend to garner the most headlines, but those blatant errors are by no means the most prevalent cause of medical-malpractice lawsuits.

Medical care shouldn't be ruled by the free market
I have been amused and amazed by the family feud in the halls of Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature. Although some may see the medical-malpractice issue as a crisis all its own, I view it as symptomatic of a much larger health-care crisis in our country, so I decided to watch quietly as the comedy played itself out.

Monument with Ten Commandments in Polk County could draw a fight

State contracts with company founded by man linked to smuggling

FDLE taking bids for deal to track down terrorists
TALLAHASSEE - Any company that thinks it can duplicate the services the Florida Department of Law Enforcement expects to acquire from Boca Raton corporation Seisint Inc. has seven days to present a counterproposal.

Developers peddle 'Florida lifestyle' to eager buyers
Janet Stolow began plotting her escape from New York City on a blustery February morning -- the kind of gray, colorless day where the wind can feel like ice slapping your face.
That was when Stolow stepped out of the cold and into a real-estate expo touting Florida's palm trees, green fairways and golden beaches. Less than a year later, Stolow, 60, was bound for Solivita, one of a wave of "active-adult" communities that have sprung up in Florida in the past decade.

Currents carrying wastewater toward Keys, prompting some concern
MIAMI — Highly treated wastewater which was transported from the defunct Piney Point phosphate plant and pumped into the ocean is now being carried by currents toward the Florida Keys, prompting concerns that marine life may be threatened.
Satellite images showed traces of the wastewater stream near Marathon on Friday and it was expected to continue flowing toward the East Coast, leaving some worried that fish-killing red tides or a "black water" algae bloom could result.

Scientists: Alligators might transmit West Nile as well as birds

Warming of Alaska may be 'tip of the iceberg'
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska is melting.
Glaciers are receding. Permafrost is thawing. Roads are collapsing. Forests are dying. Villages are being forced to move, and animals are being forced to seek new habitats.
What's happening in Alaska is a preview of what people farther south can expect, said Robert Corell, a former top National Science Foundation scientist who heads research for the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment team.

Get involved now, Ralph Nader tells college activists
Consumer crusader Ralph Nader opened his civics toolbox to a conference of college-student activists Sunday, prodding them to turn Florida campuses into more than a "high-priced trade school" for corporations.

Bush's anti-rights actions turn off former Arab-American supporters
On the fragile terrain where Florida's elections are fought, President Bush may pay a price for the USA Patriot Act.

We won. Now what?
Early last Thursday, hours before this column was finished, a U.S. soldier died when an armored personnel carrier struck a land mind on the road to Baghdad International Airport.

So-called recovery means little to the underemployed
If this is a recovery, I'd hate to see a recession. For some reason, the stock market, the economists and the media all seem to agree that happy days are here again. They bandy about terms like "robust" and "optimistic." Then they add a teensy caveat: As wonderful as our economy is looking, this is a "jobless" recovery.

8/2-1/03

Three new manatee protection areas established in Florida
also: New manatee zones please no one

Ohio congressman suggests limiting Apalachicola River traffic

State rep slams education chief on vouchers
State Rep. Dan Gelber criticized Education Commissioner Jim Horne for the state's handling of corporate vouchers.

Track voucher students to provide accountability
State holds infomercials to hide program's flaws.

Backers: More oversight of corporate-sponsored vouchers unneeded

Intensive course fills teaching need
In six weeks, 15 out-of-work professionals with bachelor's degrees become new public schoolteachers for key subjects.

Bush doesn't call 3rd special session
The governor said lawmakers aren't close enough to a compromise on medical malpractice insurance to call them back.

No deal on malpractice until governor bends
If he compromises, the House will go along.

Frustrated doctors warn of consequences if MedMal crisis unsolved

Gov. Bush decries return of Cubans, addresses immigration policy

Daytona Beach appeals court case to hear fetus-guardian debate

Hanging called up ghosts
To some, past counts more than evidence.

Panhandle drowning deaths kill marine sanctuary plan

Ribbon of wastewater, river runoff near Keys
For two weeks, a barge has been dumping millions of gallons of wastewater from a bankrupt fertilizer plant into the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

Second security warning issued over Microsoft
By Bob Keefe, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
The Department of Homeland Security says a flaw in Windows allows hackers to control computers via the Internet.

White House Watch: Ready or not, here comes Bush

Democrats block Pryor nomination to court
Senate Democrats blocked the nomination of William Pryor to the federal appeals court in Atlanta Thursday.

Stephen Moore: Big government Republicans
It pains me to say this, but the Republicans in Washington seemingly have forgotten who they are and why voters sent them to the capital in the first place. Even though we now have GOP c