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NOTE -
If the link to the on-line articles has changed, search the paper's archive
section by date and title - Palm Beach Post links are only good for the day
posted, and there is a fee to access archived articles. Same is true for
some of the others although the time frame varies.
12/15/01
- Ethics
law lets foxes guard the henhouse
Florida is one of only two states in the nation that doesn't allow its
Ethics Commission to initiate investigations of public officials.
- University
leaders press to get power
Florida State University President Sandy D'Alemberte has taken the
lead in asking lawmakers to let state universities control their own
tuition and fees.
- Still waiting --
Chair Jim Handy said Florida's Board of Education may be ready to deal
with the tuition issue by the middle of 2002, and take it to the
Legislature in 2003. In other words: Wait 'till next year.
- Noncitizens
find new rules to get permits
Long lines Checks, copies made of papers MIAMI - Scores of immigrants
seeking driving permits or ID cards waited in long lines Friday as
state officials expedited anti-terrorism rules restricting how
noncitizens obtain Florida driver licenses.
- New
driver's license rules kick in early
After being swamped by immigrants trying to beat the clock, the state
switches to the new rules ahead of schedule.
-
For some, license is a long drive away -Concerned with
anti-terrorism regulations that link immigrants' driver's licenses to
their visas, civic leaders and immigration advocates say the policy
will further disenfranchise noncitizens living in the state.
- Board
of Education tests limits of control
Having given universities more autonomy this year, the state wants a
say in presidents' salaries.
- FedEx
main mover of anthrax, pathogens
By Sanjay Bhatt, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Whenever the U.S. Army wanted to ship a paste of live anthrax germs
from a Utah compound to a Maryland base, it called the same shipper
that...
- Energy
chief won't rule out more drilling off Fla., Forum Club told
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham declined to rule out future drilling
for oil and natural gas off Florida's coast Friday but said existing
drilling has...
12/14/01
- Bush
agrees to cut $1-billion in budget
Dismissing criticism from opponents, Bush says the cuts are fair.
Some, however, say tax breaks should go first.
- Bush
signs off on nearly $1 billion in cuts
Budget battle an 'intense effort,' he says
Officially closing out a strange and difficult fall, Gov. Jeb Bush on
Thursday signed into law close to $1 billion in cuts to the state
budget brought on by a recession made worse by terrorism's effect on
Florida tourism.
- Gov.
Bush approves $1 billion in cuts - Governor portrays spending
reductions as `responsible' --
TALLAHASSEE -- Three years of economic bliss officially came to an end
for Florida on Thursday as Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law $1 billion in
spending cuts for schools, social services and other state programs.
Bush used a brief news conference to portray the cuts as
``responsible'' in the midst of ``very difficult times.''
- Bush
signs $1B spending cut
Gov. Jeb Bush signed budget cuts of about $1 billion into law
Thursday.
- Ethics
boards and politics often at odds
"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole
government working for you." Will Rogers said that about
comedians, but it could just as easily apply to reporters. How hard
can it be to be a reporter when so many government officials try to do
what is right but often settle for what is convenient? And when a few
- not that many but enough to keep a whole lot of reporters employed -
seem to be out only for themselves, and the heck with the people who
voted them there?
- Airport
to use face-scanning surveillance
Unnamed airport to use system; some legislators are concerned
TAMPA - An unnamed Florida airport will deploy a computer system that
scans faces in the crowd for known terrorists and criminals, one of
the system's inventors told a legislative panel Thursday.
- Security
isn't cheap, say law officers
Terrorism response and prevention are costly, say leading officers,
and most are just beginning.
- Bush
campaigns to keep Southern Command in state
Gov. Jeb Bush is lobbying the Pentagon to keep a key military command
in South Florida, citing Latin America's strategic importance to the
United States. The governor's push comes as the Department of Defense
weighs the future of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees
military operations in the Caribbean and all of Latin America except
Mexico
- School
panel ponders code changes
It plans to suggest legislators cut by 25 percent the state's body of
school laws. But hot-button issues are off-limits for now.
- UF
trustees approve fee for freshmen
GAINESVILLE - Incoming University of Florida students would have to
pay a $200 deposit to hold their place in the freshman class under a
plan approved Thursday. The university's board of trustees approved
the fee, which would cover student services provided by the office of
admissions and the university registrar, Florida Provost David Colburn
said. The fee will now be considered by the Legislature.
- FIU
chief gets hefty raise
Florida International University in Miami plans to raise its
president's pay from $202,000 a year to $285,000, topping the salaries
of presidents at the state's other universities. The raise for
longtime FIU President Modesto "Mitch" Maidique was expected
to raise questions during the two-day meeting of the new state Board
of Education, which started Thursday and ends today.
- Leaders
seek out regional solutions
About 200 leaders from throughout Central Florida
gathered Thursday in Kissimmee, vowing to solve virtually all of the
region's woes -- from crowded and low-performing schools to clogged
roads and an economy dominated by low-paying jobs.
- Stretch
of S.R. A1A to be heavily guarded
When State Road A1A finally reopens in January, it
won't look like the same stretch of historic highway it once did.
- Experts
ponder mystery of crocodiles washing up on S. Florida beachesIn
the past three weeks, four crocodiles have been pulled from Spanish
River, Jupiter and Hillsboro beaches and from the Intracoastal
Waterway in Tequesta. Two males and one female are recovering and
under observation at Busch Wildlife Center in Jupiter. Another female
is at Miami Metrozoo.
- Videotape
inspires outrage at Tampa cafe
Men gathered at a meeting place for area Muslims express anger over
bin Laden's "in the name of Islam" assertions.
-
Baseball keeps squeeze play on
Forget contraction. Consider baseball's contradictions. Major
League Baseball spat tobacco juice in Florida Attorney General Bob
Butterworth's eye Thursday, ignoring a deadline to turn over financial
records that might support the league's supposed need to downsize.
- Requests
for Florida license raised no flags
Many of the men who commandeered planes Sept. 11 had little or no
trouble getting Florida drivers' licenses.
- New
rules send noncitizens rushing for driver's licenses - Swamped
with immigrants rushing to obtain driver's licenses before new
regulations go into effect, the state hurried to immediately impose
the new rules Thursday.
- A
little bit of currency, a big lesson on rights
In honor of Bill of Rights Day, which is Saturday, let's talk about an
idea started a few years ago by a group of middle school children in
Virginia.
- Left
and right, old ideologies are being challenged
War is meant to clarify and simplify. Right and wrong, good and evil
stand out in stark contrast. But war also forces reappraisal of
automatic assumptions. As in one of those paperweight globes of
bucolic scenes and faux snow, conventional perceptions are furiously
shaken by war.
- Editorial:
Waiting for Norton
Despite words of support for Everglades restoration from Interior
Secretary Gale Norton, her actions have been less reassuring. After
prodding from Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., Ms. Norton this week at least
is showing some interest...
- Editorial:
Indefensible scrapping of anti-ballistic treaty
Secretary of State Colin Powell needs an anti-missile system, but he
doesn't have to ward off attacks from rogue states. Mr. Powell needs
protection from the diplomacy-busting rockets coming at him from
within the Bush...
- Editorial:
Prevent the next Enron
Kenneth Lay took time out from money-making last spring to advise Vice
President Dick Cheney privately on energy policy, but he was too busy
filing for Enron's bankruptcy Wednesday to share his thoughts with a
House committee...
- U.S.
lawmakers press for answers on Enron
Congress pushed hard on Thursday for explanations
of the stunning downfall of Enron Corp. (ENE.N) as one committee set a
hearing on the affair, another chased after records, and a third
talked privately with high-powered attorneys for the fallen energy
trading group.
12/13/01
- Gore
in Florida for fundraiser on anniversary of concession
MIAMI -- Al Gore returned to Florida on Wednesday to speak at a
Democratic fundraiser on the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court decision that ended his quest for the White House.
- Nurses
want to expand roles
Group lobbies for power to prescribe Go to a doctor's office and
there's a good chance the person tending you will be a nurse
practitioner. But that person can't prescribe medicine to ease your
pain.
- College
leader's raise: $83,000 - TALLAHASSEE -- Florida International
University in Miami intends to boost its president's pay from $202,000
a year to $285,000, leapfrogging the salaries of presidents at the
biggest and most prestigious state universities.
- For
sale: My job security
I hate to admit it, but the recession is really no
big deal to me.As a tenured professor at Valencia Community College,
my job security does not fluctuate with the business cycle or the
index of leading indicators
- Bright
Futures rules debated
Critics say using ACT, SAT tests hurts
minorities A group of education and minority advocates Wednesday
called on Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida lawmakers to revamp the way the
state gives out Bright Futures scholarships.
- Budget
cuts pass the buck to local schools
Local districts are pawing through programs, looking for nickels and
dimes as they trim for leaner days.
- Two
Democrats could vie for attorney general bid
The race heats up as the Tallahassee mayor says he might seek the
Democratic nomination.
- Year-end
show has sun, moon and meteors in cosmic cast
The next few days are enough to make an astronomer's pulse race.
-
Officer raised an alarm on `blacked out' patrols- Six weeks
before the head-on collision that killed two Florida wildlife officers
patrolling in the Everglades with their lights off, another officer
sent a memo to her supervisor raising concerns about having to patrol
``blacked out'' in a rural wooded area without adequate radio contact
-
Battle over water use is looming- South Florida's water
managers are beginning to do something they've never done -- figuring
out exactly how much water there is and setting rules for how to divvy
it up in the future.
- Lawmakers
Criticize Enron Execs
- Letter:
Harris: State acted to save taxpayers from 'gouging'
The Palm Beach Post
The Post's Dec. 7 editorial "Purging election reform" is
replete with inaccuracies, distortions and half-truths. The Post lets
no fact stand in the way of its left-wing political vendetta. The Post
cannot bear to print the comments from state elections supervisor...
- Immokalee
farmworkers -
Advocates for farmworkers failed Tuesday to win the Collier County
Commission's support for big farms in Immokalee to bargain on better
wages. A majority of three commissioners saw the request as more than
a plea for a dialogue between bosses and migrant fruit and vegetable
pickers.
- Editorial:
War protest
Against the backdrop of Sept. 11, protests of America's war against
the mass murderers hiding out in Afghanistan are hard for most of us
to fathom. That goes double when the organizers are public school
teachers right here in Naples and some of those who sympathize with
them are their young students.
- Guest
editorial: Betraying the helpless
A much-awaited report issued last week by New York's chief judge,
Judith Kaye, documents the degree to which unchecked patronage
practices have corrupted the state's system for safeguarding the
finances of the elderly and infirm. Rather than a program to protect
the helpless, the report depicts a jobs program for politically
connected lawyers who drain the estates of the vulnerable clients they
are supposed to defend.
- Guest
editorial: The battle over special education
The leaders of the House and Senate reached formal agreement Tuesday
on a groundbreaking education bill. But Republican leaders, with the
support of the White House, defeated an attempt by Sen. Tom Harkin of
Iowa to dramatically increase financing for special education. The
Bush administration argues that the issue should
12/12/01
-
Juvenile Justice cuts will bring crime increase, advocates fear
- Millions of dollars of budget cuts ordered for the state Department
of Juvenile Justice will mean an increase in juvenile crime and
victims, and more kids sent to adult courts, child-welfare advocates
said Tuesday.==
In Miami-Dade County, where 32 probation and community corrections
staff positions are slated for elimination, caseloads will increase
and children will have fewer options to help them get their lives back
on track, they charge.==In Broward County there is a fear that any
reduction in probation officers would encourage the department to
recommend placing more children in lockdown programs.==``It's going to
be a disaster,'' said Mindy Solomon, the assistant public defender who
supervises juveniles in Broward.
- State
plans to sue Enron
Pension fund had 9.7 million shares Florida soon will add its name to
the growing list of states suing fallen energy giant Enron, officials
with the state Board of Administration said Tuesday.
- Congress
demands records, briefing from Enron
A congressional committee demanded on Tuesday that
Enron Corp. hand over financial records and meet with committee staff
within 10 days, intensifying a push on Capitol Hill to shed more light
on the stunning collapse of the former energy trading powerhouse.
- Enron
could use Warren Buffett
Enron Corp., the once-high-flying energy trader that has made a
potentially fatal crash landing in a Manhattan bankruptcy court, was
the toast of corporate America only a year ago. Now Enron appears to
be just . . . toast.
- Enron's
collapse hits state
Florida's employee pension fund could be out more than $200-million
because of the energy trader's meltdown. The state will sue, an
official says.
- Gov.
Bush endorses tough anti-pollution rules for Everglades-- State
environmental officials and Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday endorsed a strict
pollution limit sought by environmentalists for the Everglades.-
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection told the state's
Environmental Regulation Commission in Tallahassee that water entering
the Everglades should contain no more than 10 parts per billion of
phosphorus.
- Gubernatorial
race cranks up
Florida's gubernatorial race moved forward Tuesday with Gov. Jeb Bush
announcing county campaign leaders, challenger Janet Reno naming a
campaign manager and candidates in both parties saying they will
resume fund-raisers.
- Congress
delays drug issue
FORT LAUDERDALE - America's seniors, hopeful of getting significant
help with soaring prescription drug costs when Congress convened last
January, will not get it - at least not this year.
- Lawmakers
say prescriptions cheaper by mail
Having Medicaid patients order drugs could save money, but pharmacists
say they would lose customers.
- Group
warns of long-term care bill
America is aging fast, but few people know how much it costs to stay
in a nursing home or assisted living facility, or who picks up the
bill, the AARP warned Tuesday.
- Residents
want ride off horizon
CELEBRATION - Residents of Disney's North Village community here
aren't getting much of a thrill from a new ride at Osceola County's
Old Town attraction. The Slingshot is a vertical accelerator, a tall
pair of metal towers that launch the adventurous 365 feet in the air.
If the height isn't enough to grab the eye, the rainbow of neon lights
might do the trick.
- State
leads in vacated sentences
Florida led the nation last year in death sentences being overturned,
the latest report compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice shows.
Fifty-eight death row inmates across the country last year had their
sentences overturned in 2000, including nine in Florida, according to
the statistics released Tuesday.
- Butterworth
brings big bat to this game of monopoly
We are not allowed to form illegal monopolies.
- The Capitol Police
When Gov. Bush decided the Capital Police would be taken out from
under the Department of Management Services and placed under the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement ...
- The jetport is dead; long live the
parks - The Air Force has hammered another nail in the coffin of
the misbegotten Homestead jetport, and even Miami-Dade Mayor Alex
Penelas is kicking dirt on the grave. After a seven-year fight, the
insider deal to top all insider deals finally appears dead.
- Bush
to Pull Out of 1972 ABM Treaty -
- Enron
fallout hits state pension fund
Florida's pension fund for teachers, state employees
and county workers bought 7 million shares in Enron Corp. before the
energy company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the retirement
fund facing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
- Bush
funds roll in again
Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign fund raising, suspended
since Sept. 11, will resume next week with a party hosted by a
restaurant association that has backed the governor and won his
support for tax cuts.
- Pink
slips go out to 400 workers
Staff trimmed at Department of Juvenile Justice-- Layoff notices are
going out to about 400 employees in the Department of Juvenile
Justice, the state agency hardest hit by workforce reductions sparked
after lawmakers cut $1.3 billion in spending last week.
-
When
smaller means bigger
The state budget, now balanced by reducing it by more than a billion
dollars, is larger by nearly $60 million than it was before the
special 10-day session started.
- 11
laws boost state's powers
Citing "legitimate constitutional
concerns," Florida Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore said
Monday he will not push a controversial plan to allow police to jail
people for 48 hours without charging them with a crime.
- Bush
commission aiming to reduce Social Security benefits - Washington-
...the commission is offering three private investment proposals, and
two of them would reduce benefits for retirees — even those who do
not choose a private investment option.
- Editorial:
Still secret; still wrong
The Palm Beach Post
The temptation is to say, "It's OK, because they're not
Americans," but what is happening to Mazen Al-Najjar and many
other immigrant detainees is most un-American and highlights the
principle that if it can happen to one, it can happen to anyone..
- U.S.
threw out man who put China in space
Despite a stellar rocketry career, the U.S. branded Tsien Hsue-shen a
communist and expelled him to China -- a move that would help change
the global balance of power forever.
- Insurance
a problem for nursing homes
Most of Florida's nursing homes will be able to meet new legislative
requirements on the staff/patient ratio by the Jan. 1 deadline,
according to the Florida Health Care Association. However, of the
homes that responded to a recent survey, one in five won't make that
same deadline for getting liability insurance, an association official
said Monday.
-
State
meeting smaller this year
Budget cuts keep contingents slim - Restrictions on state travel are
having a limited effect on the state's own convention, which kicks off
today in Tampa and expects around 1,000 employees to attend.
- Treatment
considered for ballot
Constitutional proposal would allow alternative in drug cases A
campaign to let low-level drug offenders avoid jail time by opting
into treatment programs meets the criteria for getting on the ballot,
a lawyer told the Florida Supreme Court.
- High-speed
rail panel releases outline
ST. PETERSBURG - Less than two years before construction must begin on
Florida's high-speed rail system, a panel charged with overseeing the
massive project produced its first outline Monday. In a draft report
to Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature, the High Speed Rail
Authority called for the first leg of the bullet-train system to be
built from Tampa to Orlando at a cost ranging from nearly $1.2 billion
to more than $6 billion, depending on how high-tech and fast the train
is.
- Franklin
County suffers another blow
CARRABELLE - Things keep
going from bad to worse in Franklin County: Fire gutted the IGA
Grocery Store in Carrabelle early Monday. The fire puts 55 people out
of work just two weeks before Christmas - on top of the hundreds of
seafood workers already unemployed because Apalachicola Bay is closed
to oyster harvesting by red tide.
-
'Evil'
isn't so clear-cut when it's ours-- Arianna Huffington
President Bush has made one thing clear: The war on terror is us vs.
them. He's taken every opportunity to brand the terrorists and the
Taliban as "the evil ones" - the unmistakable contrast in
this theological tableau being that we Americans are the "good
ones."
- All
able-bodied Americans are on active duty-- Chris Matthews
It's now official: Everyone boarding an American jetliner joins the
front lines in the war on terrorism. It comes down to a personal test
of courage between you and the hijacker.
12/10/01
- It's
a bad fall to the bottom of the pay range
In the upper-right corner of the state job application, a form many
employees are becoming grimly reacquainted with, is a line that says
"Minimum Acceptable Salary." That's a reasonable thing for a
potential employer to ask, a common question in any company. But with
state government cutting back, with layoff letters going out and
hiring freezes setting in, even a routine question can have ominous
overtones.
- Presidents
say power must reside on campus
Now that the Legislature is done trimming the state
budget, Florida's 11 public universities plan to start lobbying
intensely for their top priority -- winning more independence and
possibly gaining control over tuition and financial aid.
- UF
wants more international students
The University of Florida's plans to make its campus more
international could be hampered by Congress tightening rules on
student visas.
- Hot
line offers legal advice
ACLU targets those contacted by authorities A toll-free hot line
offering legal help became available Sunday for individuals sought by
Florida authorities for questioning about terrorism. The 24-hour,
toll-free phone number provides advice to people of Muslim, Arab and
South Asian descent targeted for questioning about the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
- Experts
worry about woodpecker, manatee
1 Manatee- and bird-watchers want the state to toughen rules
protecting the manatee and red-cockaded woodpecker, contending both
could be extinct before getting any protection from existing
regulations. In the past three months, the Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission has agreed to consider lowering the protected
status of the manatee and red-cockaded woodpecker.
-
Black-on-black
poll could inspire healthy dialogue
So it seems there's this new poll that contains sobering assessments
and harsh criticisms of black people.
-
A
lack of respect outrages tabloids
American Media's CEO says its anthrax agony was met with officials'
and neighbors' disregard.
- McBride's
campaign pitch rests on statewide appeal
Democrat Bill McBride wants you to know he's got the goods to beat
Gov. Jeb Bush in the general election, even if his campaign is a work
in progress.
- Bush,
challengers: Let campaigning for governor begin - The campaign for
governor, pushed aside by terrorist attacks, a crumbling economy and
two special sessions of the state legislature, is about to begin, and
no one seems more eager to get started than Jeb Bush and the four
Democratic candidates who want to take his job.
- Editorial:
Bush uses bad math; schools got bad deal
The Palm Beach Post
Gov. Bush and his lawmaker friends must believe that anyone who is not
dead is healthy, anyone who is not broke is wealthy, and anyone who
can speak is wise. Otherwise, there's no accounting for their good
cheer...
- The
burden of slippery matters gets a slight shift
On March 4, 1995, a woman named Evelyn Owens clocked out of her job in
the bakery of a Publix supermarket in Osceola County, and decided to
do a little grocery shopping.
- Mental
illness deserves parity in health care plans
Our leaders in Washington are debating issues of enormous importance
to our security and well-being. Yet while many of these issues have
made front-page news, a little-noticed provision in a spending bill
for the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services could help
millions of Americans suffering from mental illness.
- Ashcroft's
contempt
Attorney General John Ashcroft's performance before the Senate
Judiciary Committee last week was stunning for its arrogance and its
contempt for the democratic process. The hearing was convened by Sen.
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee chairman, to question the Justice
Department's tactics in investigating terrorism. The session was a
legitimate and responsible exercise of congressional oversight
authority. But Ashcroft, in dismissive fashion, suggested that any
inquiry into his controversial antiterrorism policies was an act of
disloyalty.
- Anniversary
rally: Bush 'appointed'
By George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Enough rallying behind the commander in chief, the leader of the
Florida branch of the National Organization for Women says. Democrats
and groups who opposed President George W. Bush before Sept. 11...
- Go
After Those Responsible
Two recent tragedies in the Florida Straits
underscore the need for an aggressive crackdown on human smuggling.
- Moscow
checkmates its new best friend
Many Americans, grown cynical of government
pronouncements, have been asking whether the real war goal of the
United States in Afghanistan is to gain access to Central Asia's oil
and gas. The answer: no and yes.
- Anti-war protest meets veterans
- Three-hour protest was peaceful as war opponents, supporters squared
off at Naples location.
Anti-war demonstrators mostly made up of Collier County schoolteachers
and students faced off against Vietnam and Korean war veterans Sunday
afternoon, with each side armed with the symbols of their philosophy
— protest signs and American flags. The confrontation was peaceful,
and although police were on the scene no one was arrested during the
three-hour protest.
- Guest
editorial: A stimulus not worth passing
If President Bush truly wants an "economic stimulus" package
on his desk this year, he needs to do more than exhozt Congress to get
moving. He and the Republican leaders in the House and Senate should
drop the pretense that tax-break giveaways to corporations and the
wealthiest Americans are the key to reviving the economy.
12/9/01
- Budget
problems aren't over by a long shot
Florida lawmakers last week solemnly celebrated surmounting a $1
billion hump in the state budget. Unfortunately, the speeches and
handshakes lay in the shadow of a taller peak on the horizon.
- The
sound of spin
Despite efforts in Tallahassee to portray last week's scaled-down
budget in the best possible light, the cuts will hurt, leaving unmet
many of the state's needs.
- Dáte:
Florida, Oceania sister states
By S.V. Dáte, Palm Beach Post Capitol Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- When is a budget cut actually a budget increase?
When it threatens your outlook for reelection.-- Such seems to be the
collective realization of most Florida Republican officeholders in
Tallahassee who, in the waning days of the just-finished special
session, have adopted Ministry of Truth tactics from George Orwell's
1984.
There, the rulers of Oceania decreed that war was peace, freedom was
slavery and ignorance was strength.
Here, the rulers of Florida similarly decree that a smaller budget is
actually larger, that less money per student is more, and that, even
if it were less, less actually is more...
- Watching
the Legislature, our troops shouldn't be proud
TALLAHASSEE -- Words that failed Florida as a tourist slogan, ".
. . The rules are different here," now fit the current management
of our House of Representatives, where venerable rules and traditions
are ignored at the whim of the leadership.
- Schultz:
Bush 'plan' for tourism not working
When President Bush visited Orlando last week to tell unemployed
tourism industry workers that he felt their pain, the news was
everything but the news. Reporters wrote that the president said,
"I hurt, coming into the holiday season...
- Watch
out
Legislators should leave well enough alone on open
government.
- .
. . Feeney's stand
The House speaker can make a huge difference in
stemming the assault.
- Farmworkers
want Taco Bell at table during wage talks
When Collier County commissioners decide Tuesday whether to encourage
talks between Immokalee farmworkers and growers, they'll only be
addressing two-thirds of a plan by farmworkers to improve their
collective lot. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers also wants
fast-food giant Taco Bell to take a seat at the table. Commissioners
in the past haven't supported encouraging such talks.
- As
it turns out, no sale was best
Shielded, for now, from power industry's woes
Four years ago, Tallahassee city officials were talking about how to
survive deregulation of the electric industry. They were bringing up
the issue of selling the city utilities. And several names were coming
up as potential bidders if Tallahassee chose to sell. Among those
names was that of energy giant Enron.
- Species'
endangered status at risk
First, a proposal by the state's wildlife agency to lessen the level
of protection for a controversial woodpecker set the feathers flying
among bird experts.
- Editorial:
To cleanse Everglades, make standards tough
The Palm Beach Post
On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will
announce a number that should be no more than 10, as in 10 parts per
billion. That figure should be the maximum amount of phosphorus --
found in runoff from cities...
- Official
supports phosphorus limit
MIAMI - The state's top environmental official is endorsing a
stringent limit to ecology-wrecking phosphorus pollution in the
Everglades, falling in line with recommendations from
environmentalists and scientists. The move comes as the state prepares
to propose a limit to the amount of phosphorus pumped into the fragile
Everglades.
- Tallahassee's
bad example
In the state Capitol, no recycling program exists, even though the
law mandates it. Even worse, the money in the waste-reduction program
trust fund has dwindled over the years as the state backed away to its
commitment.
- Maybe
there is no good bridge plan
The debate over how and where to build a new Pensacola Bay Bridge
illuminates a sad truth: As much as we don't want to "be
California," it might be too late. The automobile and geography
have created dilemmas that might have no acceptable solution.
Barring some wild innovation yet to be presented, the best we can do
is make the most of a bad situation.
- Start
Improving Agency Services
Making noticeable improvements in Florida's
foster-care system would be a far more impressive feat for the state's
social services agency than holding off a bunch of determined trial
lawyers in federal court.
-
Restaurant
kicks out officials after fee hike
INDIALANTIC - The owner of a beachside restaurant and ice cream
parlor, upset over a hike in city fees for nearby parking, is telling
town officials and employees that their business isn't welcome.
- Industry
rules every aspect of life
CLEWISTON - In a place that bills itself as "America's Sweetest
Town," plunging prices last year forced the town's largest
employer, U.S. Sugar Corp., to lay off 300 workers to cut costs - a
major blow in a community where nearly every business is tied to the
green fields of cane and the huge mill beyond the railroad tracks.
- School
voucher campaign raises objections
The use of a black mother in an ad by voucher supporters brings
criticism by foes who say it doesn't accurately depict the movement.
- Black
candidate can't take black vote for granted- But even more
interesting than the mere color of state Sen. Daryl Jones' skin is the
character of this primary campaign: Jones is not necessarily the
anointed choice of Florida's black electorate just because he's black.
- Remembering
a chess master- The achievements of Cuban legend Jose Raul
Capablanca will be remembered with his upcoming induction into the
World Chess Hall of Fame in Kendall. But for many local chess
aficionados, Capablanca's honor has deeper significance.
- Gun
lobby's interests before public safetyThis is some wacky war on
terrorism. Incredibly, the U.S. Justice Department has forbidden the
FBI from checking its own records to see whether any of the 1,200
persons detained since Sept. 11 had bought guns.
- Access
to information is declining after Sept. 11
The document seemed innocuous enough: a survey of
government data on reservoirs and dams on CD-ROM. But then came this
past month's federal directive to U.S. libraries: "Destroy the
report."
- Drug
help for seniors on hold this year - America's seniors, hopeful of
getting significant help with soaring prescription drug costs when
Congress convened last January, will not get it -- at least not this
year.
Nor will HMO members get help in dealing with their health plans.
12/8/01
- Session
tackled other issues
Lawmakers focused on terrorism, a building code and their own pay cut
as well as the budget.
- Turkeys
survive budget crunch
Many member projects are able to keep their funding while education
and health care programs take cuts to plug the deficit.
- State
backs low level for Everglades phosphorus
By Robert P. King, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thirteen years after being dragged into federal court, the state is
finally endorsing a tough pollution limit for the Everglades. -- But
state regulators don't know how many extra hundreds of millions of
dollars it will cost to meet that strict standard. Or who will pay. Or
when the cleanup will be done -- except it probably won't be
completely finished by the state's legal deadline of December 2006.
- Court
hears case on personnel files
Nursing home lawyers asked skeptical Florida Supreme Court justices
Friday to let companies seal personnel records in liability lawsuits
by invoking their employees' privacy rights. But attorney Ken Connor,
who has won several large judgments against long-term care facilities,
said corporations should not "hide behind" the broad privacy
guarantee that people have in Florida. Unlike the federal Constitution
or most state charters, Florida has an amendment assuring every
"natural person" - not companies - a fundamental right
"to be let alone and free from government intrusion into his
private life."
12/7/01
- Failing
readiness test
A society that fails to adequately invest in its people will be caught
off guard for social and economic challenges. That's why social
service and education advocates are so alarmed by lawmakers' budget
cuts this week. National rankings in both place Florida in the middle
of the pack at best, in some cases close to the bottom. The
ramifications include a populace unready, as one recent report noted,
to compete in the 21st-century knowledge economy, and a growing gap
between the haves and have-nots. Until we make a sincere commitment,
our preparedness in those areas - as in fighting terrorism - will
continue to be lacking.
- A
little maturity required - Upon what meat doth this our Caesar
feed, that he is grown so great? -- William Shakespeare, Julius
Caesar.-- Somebody needs a spanking, but it's not over football
this time. Now that Florida's Capitol Police are finally in a
professional command, the improved security is too much for Speaker
Tom Feeney and some other spoiled darlings in the House of
Representatives.
- Editorial:
Purging election reform
The Palm Beach Post
Legislators who studied the 2000 election looking for ways to avoid
another national embarrassment saw the need to overhaul the state's
flawed voter database. So lawmakers gave the secretary of state $2
million and instructions to work with one...
- State
cuts $1-billion
TALLAHASSEE -- Teens won't learn as much about the perils of smoking.
Juvenile probation officers will have to monitor more kids. County
school districts and health departments must get by with less help
from the state.
- State
OKs balancing act
Florida lawmakers voted to cut $1 billion in state
spending Thursday, closing out a 10-day special budget session but
failing to dispel dark clouds over the state's economy.
- With
budget healed, campaigning begins
TALLAHASSEE -- As state lawmakers applied a $1-billion tourniquet
around a bleeding budget Thursday, the face of Florida's political
future was plainly visible.
- Miami-Dade
schools face budgets cuts of more than $81 million
The sobering impact of the state budget cuts jolted the Miami-Dade
school district as the superintendent unveiled options to save $81.2
million in the midst of a school year.
- McKay
ready to push reform of sales tax
Other Republicans indifferent about plan With the budget-cutting
session behind him, Senate President John McKay on Thursday asked his
Republican colleagues for help in tackling his next challenge -
rebuilding the state's tax system.
- Republicans
unite as special session ends
HOW LOCAL LAWMAKERS VOTED Rep. Loranne Ausley , D-Tallahassee - N Rep.
Will Kendrick , D-Carrabelle - Y Rep. Bev Kilmer , R-Quincy - N Rep.
Curtis Richardson , D-Tallahassee - Y Sen. Al Lawson , D-Tallahassee -
N Sen. Richard Mitchell , D-Jasper - N
- Everglades
on hold?
With projections for next year's budget revenues looking equally as
bad, if not worse, than the current ones, nothing will be safe from
the Legislature, including Everglades funding.
- DEA
chief pushing education
More treatment options needed to fight addiction -The head of the Drug
Enforcement Administration said Thursday he favors more drug
prevention education and broader treatment options for addicts.
"That's something we're pushing nationally," said Asa
Hutchinson, standing outside the DEA's northeast Tallahassee office.
"I really believe that Florida is representing itself across the
nation as a model of drug prevention."
- Prosecutor
considers moving trial of guards
In a county where prisons dominate the economy, nobody expected it
would be easy to find impartial jurors for the trial of prison
officers charged with murdering a death row inmate.
- Examining
our rights, considering what's right
Does the U.S. Constitution protect the rights of non-citizens? It's
not only a national issue, but also relevant to us locally, with the
case of Mazen Al-Najjar and the interviews being done by local police
to help out the feds.
- Cuts
send USF classes to mall
TAMPA -- The University of South Florida will soon be holding some
classes inside nearby movie theaters -- a consequence, officials said
Thursday, of the state's deep and painful budget cuts.
-
Courthouse mural's Klan image draws fire - The mural was supposed
to hang prominently and proudly in the lobby outside a shiny new
courtroom, showing visitors 6,000 years of North Florida history in
glorious, full color. -- Instead, a brewing battle over one small
panel of that mural -- depicting three hooded Ku Klux Klan riders --
might force officials in tiny Baker County to put the painting in a
vault.
12/06/01
- Privatizing
the purge
Lawmakers were quite specific about how the state Division of
Elections should go about the job of establishing that an accurate
voter registration. But, that didn't stop Florida Sec. of State
Katherine Harris.
- Bush's
tax cut wins delay despite several GOP nays
TALLAHASSEE -- Lawmakers handed Gov. Jeb Bush the delay he sought in a
controversial tax cut Wednesday, but it came without the support of
some of the House's most conservative members.
- House
delays intangibles tax cut
House Republicans rallied behind Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday and
delayed their prized cut in the taxes Floridians pay on stocks and
bonds. The action, which passed 102-17, is one of several measures to
patch a $1.3 billion hole in the budget.
- Editorial:
Stiffing the schools
The Palm Beach Post
Three area legislators made their choice Wednesday: Another tax break
for the wealthiest 4.5 percent of Floridians matters more than $130
million for school districts. The House voted 102-17 to delay the
third cut...
- State's
$1 billion budget pinch could get tighter
For all the pain local schools and state agencies may feel from
the $1 billion in cuts Florida lawmakers are expected to approve
Thursday, consider this: It could get worse.
- A
vote for a new tax
As promised, the Legislature has voted to delay the previously
approved intangibles tax cut, thereby saving $128-million to apply to
the budget deficit. The margins of 37-2 in the Senate and 102-17 in
the House were impressive, considering that it could be called -- as
some did -- a vote for a new tax.
-
House
passes security bills
Florida lawmakers voted Wednesday to make it easier for police to
eavesdrop on suspected terrorists' conversations and harder for
terrorists to target the food, water and medicine supply. In its first
major legislative response to the law enforcement questions raised by
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the House passed a package of bills
aimed at making it easier for law enforcement to target and convict
people of planning terrorist activities. The bills included the first
definition of terrorism in the state's criminal law.
- Audit
blasts lapses at civil rights agency
Slow case work and misuse of funds top the problems state auditors
find at the Commission on Human Relations.
- Environmentalists
push to block development
Nearly 200 bids roll in for leases to offshore petroleum tracts NEW
ORLEANS - The federal government opened bids for offshore petroleum
leases off the Florida coast Wednesday, but opponents promised
additional action to keep the sites from being developed.
- State
fines 53 gas stations
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson sought fines totaling
$86,000 from more than 50 filling stations Tuesday for jacking up gas
prices when terrorism raised fears about fuel supplies.
- State
seeks fines for post-attack gas price gouging
Retailers accused of raising prices as much as 50 cents a gallon could
face fines of up to $10,000.
- Capitol
recycling buried in inaction
State officials toss their trash, marking a retreat from a program
lawmakers mandated in 1988.
- State
will remove plant's acidic water
BRADENTON -- State officials have agreed to clean and remove millions
of gallons of acidic water from the abandoned Piney Point phosphate
plant.
-
Florida
tightening rules for licenses
TALLAHASSEE -- State officials are tightening the rules for getting a
driver's license and seeking a change in the law to make future
licenses available only to Florida residents.
- Chad,
make way for touch screens
The county will buy the paperless machines, though not everyone is a
fan of them.
12/5/01
- Schools
seek flexibility in funding
Districts want to spend earmarked money as they see fit to ease the
strain of budget cuts. Lawmakers think they can help.
- Another Tallahassee deal
If the Legislature has a deal, it isn't a good one for the
universities, schools, the elderly, prisoners trying to kick a drug
habit and people who have had their citrus trees eradicated as part of
the state's citrus-canker program.
- State
Budget Reductions Will Exacerbate Social Needs - The shifting of
resources and tapping of trust funds may blunt the impacts for a time,
but these cuts ultimately will be harshly felt. Schools, health care,
law enforcement, transportation, programs for the elderly and many
other state services will be affected. The budget is certain to become
a major campaign issue next year.
- Protecting
pork
If there was any doubt that legislators view the State University
System, first and foremost, as a lucrative source of pork and
patronage, Senate President John McKay, R-Bradenton, certainly
dispelled it this week.-- Florida Senate President John McKay used the
power of his office to block plans by IFAS to close an outdated
research facility in his district.
- Caucus
bristles at Bush's tax deal
The loosely organized Freedom Caucus tightens ranks against a delay in
the intangibles tax cut, which the governor engineered.
- Security
bills up for final vote
A slate of bills designed to improve the state's ability to fight
terrorism and restrict public access to potentially dangerous state
records sailed through its last committee Tuesday, headed for a final
House vote today.
- House,
Senate at odds over the Capitol Police
Safeguarding thousands of state employees, politicians, lobbyists and
tourists in Florida's Capitol is one thing. Easy access to after-hours
watering holes on Adams Street is something else.
- Bill
addresses union disputes
Apparently still stinging from having their actions questioned by a
circuit judge last year, lawmakers are rewriting the rules covering
how they handle disputes with the unions representing state employees.
The House State Administration Committee created a bill (PCB SA 02-01)
on Tuesday that would give the Legislature more freedom to jump into a
dispute between state workers and the governor much sooner than they
are now allowed.
- Reserve
fund created for crises like this
It's reassuring that legislative leaders and Gov. Jeb Bush realize
that another fiasco like last month's special session is simply not
acceptable. So, relatively speaking, their pending agreement to cut
the state budget by about $1 billion and assault education spending a
little less aggressively than had been feared is a painful but
constructive step.
- Cuts
Hurting State's Future
South Florida school districts have received the
bad news, and the only thing good about it is that it isn't as bad as
it could have been. At least not yet.
- Schools
sort out damage
As expected, Florida legislators turned to the public schools,
universities and community colleges to help balance the state budget
- Federal
judge rejects suit against state child-welfare agencyIn a blow to
child advocates, a judge has tossed out the most significant claims of
a lawsuit designed to force sweeping changes in Florida's foster-care
system.
- High
infant mortality targeted in Gadsden
The numbers are harsh. A black infant in Gadsden County is four times
more likely to die before his or her first birthday than a white
child. For the second year in a row, the county leads the state in
black-infant deaths.
-
State challenges role of judge on citrus canker- For the second
time in its ongoing effort to reinstate Florida's controversial citrus
canker eradication program, the state Department of Agriculture has
asked that a judge be removed from a case that could determine whether
the cutting of healthy trees can resume.
- Vote
machine maker presses hard
A touch-screen system provider isn't being recommended in Hillsborough
but won't concede defeat: Its team of lobbyists is intensely wooing
commissioners.
- Barry
Law school hears 'no' yet again
Barry University's struggling law school in Orlando
appears to have suffered another blow in its ongoing bid to win
accreditation from the American Bar Association.
- Sun
sets on era of Sunset Sam
CLEARWATER -- For 17 years, they came in droves to see Sunset Sam.
- Grin
and bear prisons
Privately operated prisons should be held to the same constitutional
standards as publicly operated prisons, protecting inmates from civil
rights violations.
12/4/01
- Editorial:
No thought behind cuts to balance state budget
The governor can say what he wants, but the revised state budget
shortchanges Floridians and darkens their future. -- The Legislature
will vote Thursday on more than $1 billion in spending cuts to bring
the budget back into balance after the slow economy collided with $1.6
billion in tax cuts passed since 1999. Gov. Bush chose to say:
"We in Florida have been successful in meeting the priority needs
of our people and preparing for a brighter future." He's wrong.
- Fine
me? Abolish you!
Six of the nine members of the Florida Elections Commission are
registered as lobbyists. For them to simultaneously sit in judgment of
a member of the Legislature is an obvious conflict of interest.
- Senator
absent, but votes are cast
TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla's absence from his duties
Monday left his South Florida constituents with no representation, and
history might never have known the difference.
- Florida
workers eye of age-bias case
WASHINGTON - With layoffs expected at many firms hit by recession, the
Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether older workers may sue
over cutbacks that seem to hit them hardest.
- Redistricting
maps still in early stages
Learn more about redistricting and look at current and proposed maps
at www.floridaredistricting.org/index.html Please see CHANGE, 2A House
leads Senate in drawing up new voting districts Leon County could lose
one of its state senators, but it could gain another representative in
Congress. State House seats could shift, sending Rep. Loranne Ausley -
who represents the more affluent northeast Leon County - to Rep.
Curtis Richardson's south-side district and vice versa.
- First
peek at budget comes
Schools face tough times ahead as most are forced to spend from
reserves. Senate passes a slew of security bills. Prison contractors
surprised by cuts Universities breathed a sigh of relief, state
workers whistled in the graveyard and prison contractors suppressed
their frustration as Floridians got their first look at the state
budget Monday.
- Senate
votes for delay in tax cut
TALLAHASSEE -- The Senate voted Monday to postpone for 18 months the
next cut in a state tax on investments, a move that will leave an
estimated $130-million in the treasury and avoid deeper budget cuts.
- Cautious
use of emergency fund
A visitor accustomed to rational government would find it hard to
understand why Florida is imposing more than $1-billion in midyear
budget cuts on its schools and other essential services without using
a single penny from its $941-million emergency fund. Perhaps the
recession might have been foreseen when the budget was enacted last
spring, but not the terrorism of Sept. 11. If that doesn't qualify as
an emergency, what would?
- Schools
face tough times
State's cuts force reserve spending School districts say they will
survive the state's plan to cut $309 million from their budgets but
contend it won't be easy. Most will have to spend their reserve funds.
Many already have canceled summer school. And several are looking at
cuts for next year amid worries that state funding will be rolled back
to 1999-2000 levels.
- Lawmakers
cut deeper into schools' spending
By Mary Ellen Flannery, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
In their second swipe at slicing state spending, Tallahassee
legislators nearly doubled the amount of money that the Palm Beach
County School District will lose this year. School officials said
Monday they still don't know...
- Senate
takes aim at terror
Spurred by fear of terrorist attacks, the Florida
Senate voted Monday to expand the legal definition of terrorism, to
stiffen criminal penalties for terrorist crimes, to give police new
powers to wiretap cell phone calls and to keep some public records
secret.
- Senate
passes security bills but limits records measure
State senators passed a slew of security bills Monday but ditched a
proposal to let law enforcement officials seek court orders to close
public records on a case-by-case basis. The Senate limited the scope
of another public records bill concerning drug stockpiles before
sending it and 10 other measures to the House.
-
Florida Senate backs tighter security laws - TALLAHASSEE -- Trying
to keep controversy to a minimum, the state Senate passed several
security-related measures Tuesday, but never took up a proposal that
would have let state police secretly petition a judge to seal public
records.
- State
senators pass bill allowing police to listen in on cell phones
TALLAHASSEE · Spurred by fear of terrorist attacks, the Florida
Senate voted Monday to expand the legal definition of terrorism, to
stiffen criminal penalties for terrorist crimes, to give police new
powers to wiretap cell phone calls and to keep some public records
secret.
- Senate
lets public records bill die
TALLAHASSEE -- A controversial state Senate proposal to let police and
a single judge close court and police records on a case-by-case basis
in the name of fighting terrorism never came up for a vote Monday.
- Dispelling
a myth
Over the years, lawmakers have realized that sending minor drug users
to prison only exposes them to hardened criminals and increases the
likelihood of future felonies.
- Tabloid
empire may leave
Support lacking, publisher says DELRAY BEACH - American Media Inc.'s
chief said Monday he may move the tabloid empire out of Florida
because of lack of support from county and business leaders following
his building's anthrax contamination.
-
Endangered
cranes glide to safety
CHASSAHOWITZKA - Six endangered whooping cranes made a safe landing at
a wildlife refuge Monday, completing an experimental, 48-day journey
researchers hope will help save the endangered bird. The birds ended
their 1,200-mile journey behind an ultralight aircraft shortly after
dawn. A seventh bird that had trouble staying on track arrived by
vehicle.
- Hotel
pays $1 million in bias suit
Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts has agreed to pay
the largest discrimination settlement ever paid by a hotel company --
$1.1 million to Florida's historically black colleges and to hotel
guests who think they were mistreated during the 1999 Black College
Reunion here.
- Toll-taker
shirts go back on sale at turnpike plazas -
- State
demands removal of judge who ordered canker cuttings halted -
After sparing thousands of South Florida's citrus trees from the
canker eradication crews, a state judge has come under attack from the
Florida Department of Agriculture.
- Nature
Conservancy boasts of saving 1 million acres in Florida -After
completing a deal in October to protect a chunk of the Pinhook Swamp
in north Florida, the non-profit can now boast it has helped preserve
1 million acres of undeveloped land across the state.
- Moves
Send Wrong Message
The U.S. Department of Interior seems to be sending
the message that it doesn't care all that much about Everglades
restoration. If this is true, then the future of a vital national
resource is in jeopardy.
- Free
thought is best weapon
The United States' war on terrorism is only half
the war if it does not seek to eliminate its cause. The cause -- or
the other half of the war -- is against ignorance and illiteracy,
which together make an intoxicating "faith-based" cocktail
that attracts an eager cadre of martyrs.
12/3/01
12/2/01
- New
voter rolls arouse more fears
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's unreliable statewide voter database sparked
ugly complaints after the 2000 election. Hundreds of people said they
were told they could not vote, and some fought to get their names off
"scrub lists" of supposed felons.
- Dispute
brewing over state voter data base contract - TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -
An overhaul of the database of voters that proved faulty during the
presidential election has sparked new controversy because it was
awarded to a private company instead of the state's court clerks, as
intended by the Legislature.
- A
shameful retreat on arsenic
The arrogance and greed that have come to grip the Florida Legislature
were on full display Tuesday in Tallahassee. There, lawmakers siding
with big-business lobbyists killed a bill to outlaw arsenic-laced wood
from Florida's public playgrounds.
- More
shenanigans
Our position: The Florida Senate is at it again this
week in its assault on public records.
- The Florida Senate, historically a tight-knit fraternity that rarely
airs its dirty laundry, is swirling in a soap opera of personal feuds,
Machiavellian maneuverings and political intrigue... Some say
privately they have heard from Bush emissaries, gently suggesting that
good job opportunities await them in Tallahassee or Washington if they
help Webster.
- State's
drug czar says his budget will rebound from lawmakers' cutbacks
By Scott McCabe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
While Florida lawmakers slash nearly $1 billion in social services
this weekend, the state's drug czar Saturday reassured Palm Beach
County's rehab community that his budget will remain virtually
unscathed.
- Education
with all the trimmings
School budget cuts cause headaches for Legislature
Whether to let schools use construction money to pay for day-to-day
operations was the main sticking point Saturday as budget negotiators
continued trimming about $1 billion from the state spending plan.
- Schools
face budget sting
House and Senate negotiators on Saturday resolved
most of their differences over how to trim more than $1 billion in
state spending, leaving only a handful of thorny issues for the top
leaders to hammer out today.
-
Schools
brace for state cuts -No one can pinpoint how state budget
cutbacks will creep into the classroom, but educators and parents
statewide know it's only a matter of time. Escambia County K-12
schools could lose a minimum of $5.2 million, and Santa Rosa schools
could lose at least $2.6 million, depending on the special legislative
session's outcome.
- Cutbacks
will cost university millions
The House and Senate agreed to cut $93 million in funding for public
universities.
- The
food chain
The Florida Legislature is getting ready to hack more than a billion
dollars out of the state budget and they're hoping that voters will
take their anger out next year on locally elected school board
members.
- Court:
Ban on candidate gifts unlawful
Nonprofit group said law illegally barred hopefuls' private donations
MIAMI - A federal appeals court overturned a Florida law banning
political candidates from contributing personal or campaign funds to
nonprofit groups, saying it violates the groups' right to free speech
and free association.
-
Future without reform ensures second-rate state
Inside Lewis Carroll's rabbit hole, Alice's view of reality lacks
common sense. She's living in a dream. Too many of Florida's political
leaders are living in their own rabbit hole - Gov. Jeb Bush highest
among them.
- Safe
driving record not required
ST. PETERSBURG -- Carl Lester Byrd had a DUI accident in 1984: His car
struck and killed a pedestrian. He tested positive at work this year
for marijuana, and he has eight recent tickets and three at-fault
accidents.
- Red
Tide still killing fish in Pinellas
ST. PETERSBURG -- Red Tide continued to cause scattered fish kills
Saturday in Boca Ciega Bay and the Vinoy Basin, authorities said.
-
Budget
woes could affect Everglades restoration next year- WEST PALM
BEACH, Fla. -- The massive replumbing of the Everglades could be at
risk if the state's money woes continue next year, environmentalists
and lawmakers said.
- Toxic
cleanup plan not enough - The level of treatment proposed by the
Environmental Protection Agency for toxic pollution at the Escambia
Treating Co. Superfund site in Pensacola is not good enough.
- Lost
Holdings Haunt Black Families
For generations, black families passed down the
tales in uneasy whispers: ``They stole our land.'' These were family
secrets shared after the children fell asleep - old stories locked in
fear and shame. ...
- Schools
pass kids who cannot read
Gov. Jeb Bush stood in a classroom at Orlando's Dover
Shores Elementary School in September to launch the most ambitious
step of his 3-year-old plan to overhaul Florida's mediocre education
system -- a push to ensure that every schoolchild can read by age 9.
- Enforce
the law
Our position: Orange County needs to get serious
about regulating lobbyists.
- S.
Floridians snagged in INS dragnet - In normal times, Fahad
Rashid's technical violations of his student visa would have gone
unnoticed by immigration authorities.
- War
and the Constitution
The inconvenient thing about the U.S. system of justice is that we are
usually challenged to protect it at the most inopportune moments.
Right now the country wants very much to be supportive of the war on
terrorism, and is finding it hard to summon up much outrage over
military tribunals, secret detentions or the possible mistreatment of
immigrants from the Mideast. There is a strong temptation not to
notice. That makes it even more important to speak up.
- Anthony
Lewis: It can happen here
On the basis of secret evidence, the government accuses a non-citizen
of connections to terrorism, and holds him in prison for three years.
Then a judge conducts a full trial and rejects the terrorism charges.
He releases the prisoner. A year later government agents rearrest the
man, hold him in solitary confinement and state as facts the terrorism
charges that the judge found untrue. Could that happen in America? In
John Ashcroft's America it has happened.
12/1/01
- Workers
fear for jobs as agency rebuilds
Employees not guaranteed any of revamped positions In a high-stakes
game of musical chairs, 200 state employees this week learned their
jobs are being revamped and they'll have to apply for the new ones.
- Teachers'
insurance a boondoggle
When Gov. Jeb Bush said new programs should be the first ones
sacrificed to the deficit, did he really mean it? Not exactly. On Nov.
19, his Department of Management Services awarded a $1.2-million
contract for professional liability insurance for teachers, a new
program, even though the Legislature had voted in the first special
session last month to rescind the appropriation. In the new special
session, only the Senate still wants to kill it. The House voted 68 to
50 to defeat an amendment aimed at using the money to restore deep
cuts in programs for deaf, blind and developmentally disabled
children. Merely seven Republicans voted for the children. Bush's
press office says he regards the insurance program as an aid to
teacher recruitment and retention.All the same, it's a boondoggle; the
Senate should hang tough.
Most teachers already have liability insurance as a union benefit. The
state-paid insurance was sponsored by Republican legislators whose
transparent motive was to weaken the union. Surely there are better
uses for the state's money.
- Accord
near in budget battle
Please see SESSION, 2A House, Senate likely to find compromise by end
of weekend House and Senate budget negotiators worked into the night
Friday trying to agree on about $1 billion in cuts to the state's
current spending plan.
- 2
sides near deal on budget
The House and Senate tentatively agree to slightly more than
$1-billion in cuts for the rest of the fiscal year.
- Senate
slashes $1 billion, sets up talks with HouseThe Florida
Senate agreed Friday to slash nearly $1 billion in spending from this
year's $48 billion state budget, setting the stage for weekend
deal-making with the House.
- Lawmakers
nearly done cutting budget -Florida's Republican-led Legislature
rushed toward agreement Friday on budget cuts to fix the state's $1.3
billion revenue shortfall.
- Senate
faces tough decisions on state budget cuts
- TALLAHASSEE -- South Florida homeowners may still receive
compensation for trees felled for citrus canker eradication, but it
won't be as much as the Legislature promised last spring.
-
Shortfall leaves students in lurch - College students at Florida's
public universities and colleges may find it harder next semester to
take the classes they want. They also may see many of the remaining
ones grow in size.
- Saving
kids by computer
Florida children will suffer if lawmakers pull the plug on the state's
bungled child-welfare computer system instead of insisting on a plan
to fix it.
- Save
our Everglades Sugar After battling big sugar for years in the
courts and at the polls, environmentalists with Save Our Everglades
are now taking the fight to supermarket shelves throughout the
region.
- Part
of campaign law is tossed out
The federal court ruled that the law violated the First Amendment.-
...Attorney General Bob Butterworth said he thinks legislators can
easily redraft the law and resolve the problem. But others suggested
the decision will open the door to more and more "shadow
advertising" in political campaigns.
- Reno
won't let baggage hold her back
The former U.S. Attorney General confronts with humor what many see as
drawbacks to her chances against Jeb Bush if she is the Democrats'
choice.
- FAMU
searching close to home
Florida A&M University's interim president will be selected from
within the ranks of the school, the board of trustees decided Friday
morning.
-
Al-Najjar
being kept in solitary
TAMPA -- The U.S. government gave Mazen Al-Najjar limited freedom
during the 3 1/2 years he was jailed on secret evidence, accused of
having terrorist ties. He visited the jail library, watched TV and
made phone calls and had visits from family.
- Analyst:
Paper Outlines `Subversive Action`
The outline envisions a vast covert
intelligence and training operation spread throughout the United
States. It describes an organization with everything from a team of
researchers engaged in academic studies to groups that get ...
- Protesters
Oppose Arrest Of Al-Najjar - TAMPA - As authorities tried to ease
concerns of the Muslim community about plans to interview 600 Middle
Eastern men in Florida, a small group took to the streets in Tampa on
Friday to oppose the government's post-Sept. 11 actions.
- New
diplomat heads to Rome
Mel and Betty Sembler leave this weekend for Rome, where he will take
up his post as U.S. ambassador to Italy. This is the second plum
diplomatic assignment for the St. Petersburg developer and Republican
fundraiser who served as ambassador to Australia in the first Bush
administration.
- Tourism
opportunity -Commerce
Secretary Donald Evans could help tourism by rejecting drilling.
- Anthrax
found all over AMI building - All three office floors of American
Media Inc.'s headquarters at 5401 N.W. Broken Sound Blvd. in Boca
Raton are contaminated with the potentially lethal spores, the federal
Environmental Protection Agency said Friday. An underground parking
garage has no spores.
- Florida's
shame - Floridians should be shamed by the disclosure this week
that four out of every five child abuse deaths that occurred in this
state over the past two years could have been prevented.
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