Bush names new Florida Supreme Court justice
Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell as a state Supreme Court justice today, replacing retiring Justice Leander Shaw.
Justice to be named
A new Supreme Court justice will replace the retiring Justice Leander Shaw.
Miami's King Mango Strut Parade pokes fun at life's problems
King Mango Strut parade Masquerading as pedophile priests, drunken pilots and pregnant pigs, more than 500 people took to the streets of Coconut Grove on Sunday in the 21st annual King Mango Strut parade.
Bush inaugural goes casual this time
At a time when other states are swearing in governors with low-key ceremonies, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is planning a three-day celebration to mark his second term in office.
Republican sweep, amendments mark state politics
The Republican Party's two-decade march to dominance in Florida politics peaked in 2002 with a clean sweep of top state offices. But many veteran political observers say the story of the year was not about powerful people, but irresistible ideas whose time had come. From freeing pregnant pigs from confining crates to snuffing out smoking in restaurants, Florida voters spoke by their ballots Nov. 5 - rattling budget-conscious legislators with mandates that will overshadow their 2003 session.
Florida delays decision on preserving 2000 presidential ballots
Florida has postponed a decision on whether to preserve its 2000 presidential ballots, notorious hanging chads included, for future study of the bitter election that put George W. Bush in the White House. Florida's Division of Library and Information Services, which oversees which state records get retained and for how long, has told elections supervisors of the state's 67 counties to hold onto all materials related to the November 2000 election until July 1. Ballots in Florida normally can be destroyed 22 months after an election.
Florida Democrats see mayor as savior
Charismatic Scott Maddox, 34, favored for state chairman, is raising eyebrows and shaping a message.
Candidates differ on salary, staff
Mayor Scott Maddox took two controversial steps after he was elected in 1997. He voted to approve a higher salary for himself and increased the number of staff members in the mayor's office.
Five years later, mayor's role still hazy
Five years after Tallahassee elected its first leadership mayor, the job remains a work in progress. That's a challenge for candidates wishing to look like strong contenders for what is, by design, a weak position.
Lax work, critical error proved fatal for children
Josι Antonio Pιrez beat his own children to death with a pointed, 15-pound steel rod. Ana, 13, was sleeping in bed when her father struck her three times on the back of her head. Younger brother Anthony, 12, tried to run away.
Pharmaceutical kickbacks
A doctor's choice of prescription drug for a patient should be weighed against many factors, one of which should not be financial reward from the pharmaceutical company.
Agency ready to regulate state moving businesses
After examining the records of 455 South Florida movers earlier this month, state investigators are poised to crack down on the companies that are not complying with a new state law.
EagleWatch
2003, a joint venture of OrlandoSentinel.com and the Audubon of Florida, tracks the nesting season for a pair of Florida's Bald Eagles right here in Central Florida.
(Great little video clip:) http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-eaglevideo121602,0,4014540.realvideo
Tobacco farmers find new digs
Under a slate gray sky, tobacco farmer Brian Crews recently planted for a future of yellow wildflowers. Crews is among five Florida tobacco farmers who are using money from the state's $13.5 billion settlement of a lawsuit against tobacco companies to grow what they hope is a new cash crop - wildflower seeds for roadsides and natural areas.
Homeowners holding out against high-rises
Construction workers labor all around the once-grand house now decaying behind a chain-link fence, preparing the foundation for a massive new apartment and retail complex in one of Miami's newest waterfront boomlets.
The Balance of Media Power Is Poised to Change
Regulation F.C.C.'s Chief Seeks to Remove Restraints
If all goes according to plan, 2003 will be the most important year in the tenure of Michael K. Powell as head of the Federal Communications Commission.
Mr. Powell is preparing to unleash a set of proposals in the next few months that will unshackle the nation's largest broadcasters and telecommunications conglomerates from restraints that have prevented them from growing. He is armed with a broad deregulatory agenda and a series of court opinions that have questioned or struck down some of the agency's most pivotal and longest-lasting rules....
Voter News Service Is in Danger of Dissolution
he major television news networks and The Associated Press are seriously considering dissolving their decadelong partnership in the Voter News Service, the Election Day polling organization that was at the heart of the problems they had in reporting the results of the last two national elections, network executives close to the discussions said.
At the very least, the partnership will probably scrap the multimillion-dollar upgrade of the service's computer system, its main component, which has been fraught with technical problems, the executives said.
The dissolution of the partnership would leave in doubt the news media's plans for reporting the results of the primaries and the general election with only a little more than a year to go before the presidential campaign's first test in Iowa. The service has dozens of subscribers, including The New York Times, which rely on it as the main source of Election Day projections and analysis...
Bush administration preparing for high court vacancy by June
WASHINGTON White House officials are so convinced that there will be at least one Supreme Court vacancy by the end of the current term in early summer that President Bush's senior aides have discussed virtually every permutation and the political implications of prospective candidates. The internal conversations have taken on a new urgency because of the age of some justices and, if for no other reason, because Republicans have been waiting so long to make new appointments.
Bush limits the glitz, favors lower-key, more formal White House
WASHINGTON Less Hollywood glitz. Rare formal state dinners. Fewer playings of "Hail to the Chief." It's the barely-any-frills White House. With changes big and small, President Bush has sought to shape White House life in a way that suits him, his preferences and his political agenda. The buttoned-down Bush administration says the result is a more honorable and respectable White House.
The welcome mat frays
The United States has always been a special destination for those fleeing oppression. Sadly, that seems to be changing. A 1996 law gravely limited America's embrace of those fleeing persecution. Now, in the name of fighting terror, the Bush administration has put additional limits on asylum seekers. Caution after Sept. 11 is warranted, but some of the new regulations have no possible anti-terror justification. The United States can find ways to protect legitimate asylum seekers without admitting those who wish the nation ill.
Pakistani sees no way out of Krome
By Louis J. Salome, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Held since Sept. 9, 2001, Muhammad Ehtisham can't do much more than wait.
Set non-terrorists free
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Some wrongly detained at Guantanamo.
Ax falls on head with Big Idea
By Tom Blackburn, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
O'Neill wanted total reform of federal taxes.
Disloyal citizens:Keep promise to squeeze corporate tax havens
For many corporations tax cheating is a no-contact sport -- no contact in the sense that they practice it without too much fear of being found out. Tax laws are complicated, and unless it's a storyline on "The Sopranos," tax evasion just isn't something to which people tune their scandal-meter.
With mixed feelings, troops assemble
Members of the Florida National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve are called up for active duty...
Suddenly soldiers, call-ups scurry to put affairs in order
Merrith Knight of Hollywood and his fiancιe hurried to the altar, where a military chaplain married them just before he and fellow members of the 724th Military Police detachment were to be shipped out to active duty.
...
Awaiting an uncertain future
They don't know where they're going. Or even when they're leaving. But members of Alpha Company, mustering at the National Guard Armory in Tallahassee on Friday, say they're ready. Ready for wherever war takes them...
Activism grows against Iraq attack
This is the holiday season of peace, and 2002 has been a banner year for the peace movement. As the Bush administration continues to rattle its Tomahawk missiles and bully its allies into joining a pre-emptive strike at Iraq -- and an injurious strike at international law and stability -- anti-war protesters have lit up American streets and conscience more intensely than at any point since the height of the Vietnam War.
More jobless lose benefits
WASHINGTON - Already facing a sputtering economy and slow hiring, nearly 800,000 unemployed Americans face a new woe today when their federal unemployment benefits end.
Democrats and labor unions, sensing political opportunity, are blaming the cuts on President Bush and Republicans in Congress. Bush, in a late show of support for an extension, urged Congress last week to get it done when lawmakers return to work next month.
"Regrettably, the House Republican leadership turned their backs on these families and refused to act, and the administration chose not to intervene before Congress adjourned," Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Friday. "This inaction by Republicans was unconscionable then, and it is even more so now."...
Neglect, death and DCF
A Herald investigation of more than 2OO child deaths statewide has found that flawed probes on the part of the DCF may have contributed to the deaths of at least 100 Florida children over the past five years.
...
Firebrand Maddox won't get mad . . .
"Don't get mad. Get Maddox." This was the clarion call for a young man's ambitious, albeit failed, campaign for state office. Now it's the rallying cry for his entire struggling party.
Scott Maddox, a genuine firebrand, will become chairman of the Florida Democratic Party when its executive committee assembles at the Orlando airport's hotel on Saturday...
Where will the ballots go?
Two years after Palm Beach County's hanging chad debacle, the ballots remain in a warehouse.
...
Candid Kirk on today's politics
A question-and-answer session with former Florida Gov. Claude Kirk. ...
Bush's No. 2 surely knows his place in history
Does the name Tom Adams ring a bell?...
Faith-based mentoring program fuels debate
MIAMI Gov. Jeb Bush's awarding of an $80,000 mentoring grant to an Orlando-area Christian group has left some civil libertarians worried the decision could lead to mentors proselytizing to students. Frontline Outreach, a nonprofit ministry, was among several groups to share in a $900,000 grant for the state's mentoring initiative pairing schoolchildren with adults to help on class work.
...
Faith-based mentoring program fuels debate
When Gov. Jeb Bush announced $900,000 in new grants for his mentoring initiative this month, one of the largest recipients was an Orlando-area Christian group that wants to recruit volunteers from churches...
Tourism
agency says: Independent check clears Florida tourism agency in e-mail hoax
TALLAHASSEE The state's tourism marketing agency said Saturday an independent review has confirmed that an e-mail calling the governors of South Carolina and Georgia racists did not originate from its offices. Visit Florida officials are trying to find the source of the message, which purports to start a "whisper campaign" against those states to boost tourism in Florida...
Agency: Outsider sent 'racist' message TALLAHASSEE -- The state's tourism marketing agency said an internal check Friday proved an e-mail calling the governors of South Carolina and Georgia racists did not originate out if its offices...
Wildlife officials to decide manatee status
After more than 100 years of boat propellers and beach developments, the manatee's difficult encounter with human civilization will reach a milestone next month when the state wildlife commission decides whether to take away its status as an endangered species.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to vote Jan. 23 whether to downlist the manatee from endangered to threatened. The move would be largely symbolic, since the manatee would retain its protection on the federal endangered species list. But all sides say the symbol would be important and could lead to concrete changes such as fewer slow-speed zones for boats and looser rules on dock-building.
Trust, funds of charity depleted
Earth Share forces out its director and pores over its books after he ran up debts for personal expenses.ST. PETERSBURG -- The phone has been disconnected. The calendar is still turned to August. And though the office of Earth Share of Florida in downtown St. Petersburg remains unlocked, no one sits at the front desk.
It's been like that since Earth Share executive director John T. "Jack" LaBounty was forced out four months ago. Now LaBounty is under investigation by St. Petersburg police, and the charity's auditors are trying to piece together what happened.
Yet hundreds of people in Florida, many of them state and federal employees, continue to send a few dollars every week to Earth Share. They expect the money deducted from their paycheck will go to support 22 environmental organizations around the state, including the Friends of the Everglades, Audubon of Florida and the Save the Manatee Club.
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Congress' lapse means no new federal flood insurance, for now
SARASOTA Congress' failure to renew a flood insurance program's authority to issue policies could temporarily leave some Floridians without a coverage that is required to get a mortgage in flood-prone areas of the state, federal officials said.
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Bush administration issues new wetlands guidelines
WASHINGTON In response to criticism that the federal government was failing to meet its goals for wetlands conservation, the Bush administration on Friday revised its guidelines to the Army Corps of Engineers for mitigating the loss of wetlands from highways and other development. The new guidelines require a "watershed-based" approach in which the wetland needs of an entire watershed are taken into account, rather than only the site of the development.
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Ignoring the war that really counts
All Americans are sleeping easier this holiday season knowing that our country is ''perfectly capable'' of waging two wars at once.
The man who said this, Donald Rumsfeld, has never actually been to war himself, though as secretary of defense he gets to hang around lots of officers who have....
Freed From Prison, but Still Paying a Penalty
CHICAGO Maurice Stewart finally got out of prison last summer after serving 14 years for armed robbery and manslaughter. He needed a place to live, so he called his mother.
Mr. Stewart, a husky 33-year-old, wanted to come home to Stateway Gardens, the decaying public housing project on Chicago's South Side where he had grown up.
It sounded simple enough. But his mother, Pamela Stewart, knew otherwise. Under a little-noticed provision of federal law, anyone convicted of a crime is barred from public housing, and if Mrs. Stewart took her son in, even for a visit, the Chicago Housing Authority could evict her.
Rising Cost Of Generics A Real Pill
Prices of generic drugs are rising almost twice as rapidly as prices of brand-name drugs, even as many insurers and the Bush administration are pressing Americans to switch in the name of saving money. ...
Military units around state called to duty
More than 1,350 Florida Army National Guard and U.S. Army reservists, including 150 from a military police unit based in Fort Lauderdale, were called to active duty this week in the war against terrorism -- the largest call-up since World War II for the state guard units.
...
Tourism officials deny tie to e-mail alleging racism
MIAMI -- An e-mail that calls the new governors of South Carolina and Georgia racists and purports to start a "whisper campaign" against those states to boost tourism in Florida is a hoax, state officials said Thursday...
Altered FCAT in works for disabled
A state task force recommends changes in the way the FCAT is given to Florida's disabled children...
Federal law could snag Florida schools
By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The state's accountabilty system puts it ahead of the game, but it faces other problems.
...
Students choose computers over campus
Rising tuition, crowded classes and busy lifestyles are forcing more and more students off university campuses and onto the Internet, where a college degree could be as close as a laptop computer...
Overpaid CEOs? Try Suing the Paymasters
Delaware judge, in warning signal to boards, opens door to courtroom remedy.
In 1941 the New York Supreme Court expressed amazement at the bonuses pocketed by officers of American Tobacco Co., which a shareholder lawsuit had challenged as excessive. "To the wage earner eking out an existence they would be fabulous," the court wrote, "and the unemployed might regard them as fantastic, if not criminal." Even so, the court concluded, it wasn't the judges' place to say how much was too much.
That pretty much slammed the door on lawsuits challenging CEO pay. Now, six decades later, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware--where more than half the FORTUNE 500 are incorporated--may have opened the door a crack. In a roundtable discussion to appear in the January issue of Harvard Business Review, Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey suggests that corporate directors who don't meet certain standards when setting executives' pay could face legal liability. "Basically it's an invitation: 'Bring the court a case, please,' " says Charles Elson, an expert on corporate governance at the University of Delaware and the roundtable's moderator. "It's a monumental change in jurisprudence if, in fact, it occurs...
Bush: Let faith-based group find mentors
Gov. Jeb Bush, who has encouraged recruiting volunteer mentors from government and private business to help school kids with their studies, is now turning to a new, potentially controversial source for volunteers: church groups...
Wekiva: The Bush barometer
"Jeb Bush, visionary leader or arrogant purveyor of privilege?" pundits asked after November's mandate....
A perfect plan: The guv could appoint 'P'
Gov. Jeb Bush is in a pickle. First, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez turned him down. Turns out he'd rather work in Washington for Jeb's older brother.
Then, Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood decided being secretary of state would be more fun....
Do the words "Choose Life" belong on Florida auto license plates?
No, they don't. Neither do words like "Legalize Abortion," "Ban Handguns" or "Abolish the Death Penalty," which would never show up on a license plate today. They might in the future, however, if the philosophy of the Legislature were to radically change.
These are political slogans, plain and simple, and have no place on official state license plates.
...
Religious Sect Says It Will Announce the First Cloned Baby
A religious sect that contends space travelers created the human race by cloning themselves said that it would announce that the first cloned human baby has been born.
A representative of the group, the Raλlians, said the announcement would be made at a news conference in Florida by Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who directs a Bahamian company formed to clone humans and is scientific director of the sect. Dr. Boisselier's spokeswoman, Nadine Gary, would give out little information but said the baby had been born by Caesarean section and was a clone of the woman who gave birth to her. ...
Wetlands rules are revised
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration adopted a new plan and guidelines Thursday for replacing swamps and bogs that have been filled or drained to make way for highway, housing or other projects.
Administration officials said their approach, based on input from six agencies, will not diminish the role of wetlands in providing habitat to wildlife, flood control and water quality. They said the focus will be on the quality of new wetlands created, rather than the traditional emphasis on maintaining total wetlands acreage.
...
Julie Sibbing, a wetlands expert with the National Wildlife Federation, said her group was pleased officials tackled a tough area of regulation, but their ideas seemed vague.
"There's no details," Sibbing said. "It doesn't commit to improving mitigation at all in the short term, and it appears to leave the door open to practices that have contributed to net loss of wetlands in the past."...
Ozone hole redefines life at bottom of world
PUNTA ARENAS, Chile -- Everything is different here at the bottom of the world, starting with the weather. Before Alejandra Mundaca lets her two children go out, she checks the forecast for the temperature, the chance of rain and the level of ultraviolet rays.
For the past decade, the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has been forming earlier in the Southern Hemisphere spring and growing larger. The 125,000 residents of the southernmost city on the planet, here on the Strait of Magellan, have reluctantly learned to adapt.
They closely watch the color-coded warnings of a "solar stoplight" publicized on TV and radio, and even posted on street corners here. Even on warm days, most people wear jackets or long-sleeved shirts or blouses. Many wear sunglasses and make sure to apply 50-proof sun block even when the sky is blanketed in clouds.
"Life has changed a lot for us over the past few years, and I know that my sons are not going to be able to enjoy the same kind of childhood that I had growing up here," said Mundaca, 33, a schoolteacher...
Odd gusher creates spectacle in Orlando
There she blows. An accidental oddity of geology and engineering has roared to life along the western shore of Lake Warren, and has residents in a tiny patch of south Orlando wondering if their neighborhood has its own version of Old Faithful...
Crab invasion could put pinch on native species
Along the shore of the Intracoastal Waterway, two researchers kneel over a tray filled with oysters and look for tiny animals hiding between shells.
...
State tests copper levels at Flagler's Marine Park
MARINELAND -- The Florida Department of Environmental Protection wants to make sure routine lagoon dredging at Marine Park isn't threatening local marine life.
The department plans to test copper sulfate levels in the seawater and soil of the Marine Park's lagoon to protect neighboring oysters and crabs in the Intracoastal Waterway. Toxic copper sulfate levels could threaten not only to the marine life, but any human who eats a lot of them, officials say.
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Telemarketer agrees to deal
If you're offering a shady deal, probably tops on your list of people not to call would be law enforcement officers. A telemarketer who didn't take that advice has agreed to give back all the money he took from Floridians, after an ill-fated sales solicitation call went to Senior Assistant Attorney General John Newton...
Lincoln statue called 'slap in the face'
RICHMOND, Va. -- Abraham Lincoln, who visited the seat of the Confederacy soon after Southern forces abandoned the city in flames in April 1865, is returning to the capital, much to the chagrin of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
A bronze statue of the Civil War president and his youngest child, Tad, will be unveiled on April 5, the 138th anniversary of Lincoln's only visit to Richmond...
Law in lock-up:
Dubious tactics, dubious allies in war on al-Qaida
When two near-centenarians who barely knew where they were, or why, were released in late October and sent home with new clothes and -- maybe -- an apology, it was a hint that not all of the 600-odd captives from Afghanistan held at Guantanamo Bay are unqualified evildoers, as the Bush administration claims...
Beltway pundits shouldn't underestimate Bob Graham
The news from Washington about Bob Graham considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination brings back some memories. State Capitol reporters think of themselves as pundits, capable of pondering one or two political developments and projecting any number of possible results. Reading the same tea leaves, we can convince ourselves of the utter inevitability, or implausibility, of just about anything...
Child welfare troubled
Florida's slow pace of privatizing child welfare services has had success, but a lack of funds to support the handoff and erratic quality measures across the state will make it hard to tell if a private system works better, a national group has found...
Florida's university presidents
It's easy to see why trustees at Florida Gulf Coast and the other 10 state universities choose now to give presidents hefty pay raises in the 30 percent-and-up range. Assuming all these presidents are doing good work, the trustees realize they could soon lose some power to a voter-mandated revival of the supervisory Board of Regents, which might be less likely to hand out such raises.
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Court funding: another state fairness issue
Court funding: another state fairness issue Lest anyone think government operates at warp speed, consider Revision 7, a constitutional amendment to Article 5, which was approved in 1998 and relates to funding the judicial branch...
Shortfalls force states to ponder higher taxes
Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee shocked legislators recently with a proposal to raise the general state sales tax by five-eighths of a cent...
Corporate tax breaks are voucher boon
By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Parents -- and companies -- are capitalizing on the private school tuition plan.
...
Buddy Dyer says he is leaning toward running for Orlando mayor
ORLANDO Former Florida attorney general candidate Buddy Dyer said he is "leaning toward" joining the race to be Orlando's next mayor. Dyer, a Democratic party leader with more than 10 years of experience in the state Senate, would likely emerge as a front-runner in the nonpartisan race. A "tremendous" number of people have called to encourage him to run since rumors began circulating in the fall that Mayor Glenda Hood would be leaving office soon, Dyer said.
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IRS looking into Seminole tribe's spending practices
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. Although three fired Seminole tribal workers were acquitted earlier this month of federal embezzlement charges after a judge cited lack of evidence, the probe into the tribe's financial practices is continuing.
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Sanford trees go down in history
In a city that proudly displays the designation "Tree City USA" -- and has for 15 years -- 85 giant sabal palms are going the way of the chain saw...
Trained dogs may one day sniff out citrus canker
Dogs sniff trees for a lot of reasons, but someday they may put their noses to work in Florida's orange and grapefruit groves and help inspectors hunt for the dreaded citrus canker...
The foreign scholar dossiers
The FBI is asking the nation's colleges and universities to turn over personal information about all their foreign students and faculty, but there is some question about whether and under what circumstances the schools have to comply. The Justice Department claims it has the power to gather the information under the USA Patriot Act, the wide-ranging security law hastily passed in the wake of 9/11.
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Secure civil liberties
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Outside Beltway, Patriot Act raises fears. ...
Civil-rights groups sue U.S. to stop arrests of Arab men
- LOS ANGELES -- Groups representing Middle Easterners are suing the government to seek an injunction to bar arrests under rules adopted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The suit, which seeks class-action status, also asked a federal court to prevent the detention without bail, or deportation of, detainees who "have avenues available to legalize their status."...
Comp Plan before
SummerCamp, group says
A St. Joe Co. opposition group said Tuesday that Franklin County should delay approval of the proposed SummerCamp development until it finishes rewriting its Comprehensive Plan - a process that could take the county at least a year...
What's left of wild Florida needs our help
Late on a Sunday afternoon recently, my wife and I visited a park near our home in Winter Park where there is one of the very few stands of big old cypress trees left in Florida. The late autumn sun illuminated the great straight trunks and one could imagine in past years a forest of such trees surrounding every lake, and the cypress, in turn, surrounded by tall longleaf pine and spreading live oak...
Follow manatee accord
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Put safe zones in place before building docks. ...
University presidents thrive in sour economy
The effects of today's severely depressed economy are well known to Americans, who have lost billions in the stock market or even their jobs and hope for retirement.
But we'd never know we are living in such troubling times, as we read about the large salary increases being doled out in Florida to our university presidents.
The rapid salary escalation began last year after the Legislature, with Gov. Jeb Bush's approval, abolished the Board of Regents that, along with its predecessor Board of Control, had governed the university system for almost 100 years. In place of the Regents, the Legislature set up a new governance system, which gave each university its own board of trustees, which now sets presidential compensation...
Gov. Bush appoints 14 to university board
TALLAHASSEE · Gov. Jeb Bush named 14 people Monday to the new governing body for Florida's public universities, pulling most of his appointees from the boards of trustees now running the schools.
The Board of Governors, created by a constitutional amendment approved by voters last month, comes into being Jan. 7.
Friends exchange same Christmas card since 1953
VERO BEACH Back in 1953, fed up with holiday cheer, Joe Staab bought coworker Gerry Champion an "ugly little Christmas Card," green and brown with pinecones on the front. Staab and Champion, with a few missed years here and there, are still sending that same tattered old card back and forth at Christmastime.
Citrus quarantine possible
Strict measures to control canker in Palm Beach County could come soon, officials say...
Florida ready to vaccinate thousands
Girding itself against the threat of biological terrorism, Florida announced plans Monday to vaccinate 35,000 hospital workers against smallpox by the end of February, with another 400,000 public safety employees receiving the vaccine by the end of next year...
State: Vaccine program funds limited
Just a month before a massive effort begins to inoculate Florida health and safety workers against smallpox, state officials say they are unsure how they will pay for the program and fear other counterterrorism priorities will be cut to cover the bill....
Katherine Harris, center of 2000 election, heads to Washington
SARASOTA Katherine Harris' political career has come full circle. Once an intern in the U.S. House and Senate, Harris returns to the nation's Capitol as a congresswoman, representing the 13th District on Florida's southwest coast. In the years in between, she has been a state senator and secretary of state...
DCF attempting to reduce backlog of 30,000 cases
TALLAHASSEE The Department of Children & Families will conduct a massive blitz on a backlog of more than 30,000 cases of possible child abuse and neglect, trying to drastically reduce the pending cases by next summer. DCF hopes its "Backlog Reduction Cleanup," launched more than two weeks ago, will cut the number of cases in half by the end of February...
Season for children won't take a holiday
Palm Beach Post Editorial
From schools to the Department of Children and Families, needs will test Florida.
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Exit gracefully
- Sentinel's position: Now is the time for Mayor Glenda Hood to leave, not in February.
There's no reason for Glenda Hood to continue hanging around Orlando City Hall.
Mrs. Hood said last week that she was resigning the mayor's job to become Florida's next secretary of state. However, she also said she will stay at City Hall until the new mayor is elected. It would be best for Orlando if she left now, rather than later...
Earthjustice accuses Walton County of violating settlement
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS An environmental group says Walton County violated a court settlement when it put school buildings on conservation land that was purchased with state money. Earthjustice officials say they sued the Florida Panhandle county and its school board Monday, asking the Circuit Court here to enforce the settlement...
The Osceola wildlife area is a jewel that would benefit from more land.
At first glance, the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, pictured above, about 20 miles south of St. Cloud in Osceola County, doesn't look like much.
Yet the seemingly endless stretches of swamps, prairie and woods that sweep from U.S. Highway 441 across to lakes Kissimmee, Jackson and Marian contain some of the most environmentally valuable land in Central Florida...
Paul
Krugman: The good guys
Time magazine's persons of the year are three whistle-blowers: Sherron Watkins of Enron, Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom and Coleen Rowley of the FBI.
They deserve to be celebrated. After all, thanks to Watkins and Cooper, Jeff Skilling, Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers have been indicted, and the politicians who did their bidding have been disgraced. Thanks to Rowley, incompetent officials at the FBI and CIA have been removed from their posts, and we've had a searching inquiry into what went wrong on Sept. 11.
Oh, I'm sorry. None of that actually happened. The bravery of the whistle-blowers was real enough, but Time seems to be celebrating what should have been, not what was...
Bush seeks increase in debt ceiling
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Tuesday asked Congress to take prompt action to boost the government's borrowing authority, a change needed to avoid the risk of defaulting on the national debt.
The Treasury Department said the government could hit the existing debt limit in late February because of the slow economy and increased government spending after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The request, which came in a letter to key members on the traditionally low-key day before Christmas, could become politically charged when Congress resumes next year. Ultimately, however, lawmakers likely will approve it.
Even so, many Republicans pride themselves on fiscal conservatism and do not like being asked to vote to raise the debt ceiling. And House Democrats were nearly unanimous in voting against a boost last summer, saying President Bush should first reconsider parts of his tax-cutting plan...
Legislative leaders go ahead with $1.5 million office renovations
TALLAHASSEE The state Legislature's leaders plan to spend $1.5 million refurbishing lawmakers' offices, just two years after millions of dollars were spent on other renovations, a newspaper reported Sunday. The bill for this latest round of renovations is expected to reach $750,000 for House offices and more than $760,000 for Senate offices, as legislators face a struggle to balance next year's state budget, the newspaper said. To deal with a possible budget shortfall, Senate President Jim King has said he is open to tax increases, while House Speaker Johnnie Byrd has said lawmakers
have to live within their means." ...
Broward elections office in dire straits
-Broward County's problem-plagued elections office is rapidly running out of cash again and can't count on the help of hundreds of government employees to run next year's municipal elections as they did with last month's vote...
Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant spent two-thirds of her $5.8 million budget in the first 80 days of the fiscal year, according to financial data she provided county administrators Friday. Oliphant promised to rein in her spending after going $1 million over budget last year, and county commissioners are deeply concerned about the prospect of bailing her out once again...
Cries grow for ousting Oliphant or reforming vote office
Some Broward County commissioners called Friday for sweeping government reforms that would strip Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant of power, while other politicians demanded that Gov. Jeb Bush remove her from office altogether...
Orlando mayor named Fla. secretary of state
Since Gov. Jeb Bush moved to Tallahassee nearly four years ago, the office of governor in Florida has evolved from one of the nation's weakest to one of the strongest...
Hood is new Fla. secretary of state
MIAMI Gov. Jeb Bush named Orlando's mayor Saturday to be Florida's next secretary of state, making her the first person appointed to the position after it was removed from the elected Cabinet. Glenda Hood will take office in February, pending state Senate confirmation, and will report directly to Bush, who begins his second term in January. "Over the years, Glenda has shown her dedication to Orlando and Florida, always answering the call to serve," Bush said...
Mayor aimed high but often fell short
-- As Glenda Hood plans her exit from the city she spent two decades helping to shape, she leaves behind a legacy of big dreams that haven't always materialized...
Lobbyist faces election complaint
A complaint submitted to the Florida Elections Commission on Thursday alleges influential Broward County lobbyist Judith Stern organized and paid for bogus endorsement cards to mislead black voters on Election Day 2002...
LeRoy Collins, Trent Lott: a study in contrasts
TALLAHASSEE -- Trent Lott professed that he meant only to flatter a very old man when he remarked that the nation would not have had "all these problems over all these years" if Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948. As the Dixiecrats' drum beat the single note of segregation, it is difficult to imagine what else might have inspired Lott's nostalgia. Moreover, it was not the first time he had said it...
FSU shuns pay-raise pressure
While several state universities are giving their presidents salary increases of 30 percent or higher, Florida State University is so far bucking the trend...
The huge cost of harsh sentences
Sometimes the right things happen for the wrong reasons. With state after state facing looming budget deficits, legislatures are starting to look anew at the harsh sentencing laws passed during the era when being "tough on crime" was a ticket to political office. Finally, counterproductive laws, such as mandatory minimums that put nonviolent, first-time drug offenders away for a decade or more, are being reviewed. It may be happening due to a new interest in the bottom line, but whatever the reason, the trend is positive...
George and Nancy Lyons said they loved their life in Naples -- their friends, the golf courses and winters so much warmer than their native Michigan.
But slowly, the summer heat and winter traffic got to them. One summer, after 11 years in Florida, they headed to Big Canoe, Ga., to cool off for a few weeks.
"After three trips up there she fell in love with it," George Lyons said of his wife.
Their gated community has mountain views, tennis courts and 27 holes of golf. It has miles of hiking trails interlaced through nearly 8,000 acres. It's their piece of paradise in the north Georgia mountains.
They are among the growing number of Florida snowbirds who have had enough of the Sunshine State, with its jammed roads, scorching summer heat and high crime rate.
"About the only thing going for Florida is no income tax," George Lyons said....
200 rally against war with Iraq
Nearly 200 antiwar protesters converged on Young Circle Park in Hollywood Saturday night, briefly stopping traffic along Hollywood Boulevard during their demonstration...
Key West looking to shift homeless 150 miles north to Miami
KEY WEST City officials have devised a plan to rid this island tourist spot of homeless: pay shelters and homeless outreach centers 150 miles north in Miami-Dade County to take them in. Last week, the city mailed out its proposal to a dozen centers in Miami-Dade. "The city of Key West would pay transportation of the unfortunate individuals who need emergency shelter to your location and pay you a daily fee for a set time," wrote John Jones, Key West's assistant city manager.'
...
Time' picks 3 whistleblowers
Three women 'whistleblowers' -- an FBI agent, 2 execs -- are 'Time's' Persons of the Year...
A trap for older workers
Palm Beach Post Editorial
New pension rules would legalize broken promises. ...
Invasion of the Everglades: Giant snakes have a new hangout
This thing, this tremendous thing, swimming toward his boat deep in the middle of mangrove nowhere just wasn't supposed to be there...
FDA to allow unverified health claims on food labels
WASHINGTON · The Food and Drug Administration, saying it wants to help consumers make more healthful choices, has announced that it will allow food makers to list health claims on product labels before they have been scientifically proven.
FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan also said his agency will crack down on false health claims made by manufacturers of dietary supplements.
The two-pronged initiative, the first major policy action by the new FDA commissioner, moves the agency clearly in a direction favored by McClellan -- providing more information to consumers while regulating industry less...
Sometimes, dissent gets the job done
The battle between the public interest and the special interests can be a demoralizing one. It sometimes seems like every dispatch from the front brings bad news. A judge appointed by President Bush rules that Dick Cheney can keep all the secrets he wants. Major GOP donor Eli Lilly gets a legislative gift worth billions slipped into the homeland security bill. The president's pick to take over Treasury is CEO of a company that, despite close to a billion dollars in profits, paid no federal taxes...
Have a merry
little solstice
Nobody goes around saying Happy Winter Solstice any more. If they ever did. But the truth is, winter solstice, which happens today, has always been a big deal for human beings.
...
Abuse of new power-
The danger of allowing a governor complete power over the selection of judges became real last week when Gov. Bush rewarded a political ally with a place on one of Florida's most important courts.
Paul Hawkes served briefly in the Legislature a decade ago, but for the past six years, he has been a paid adviser/propagandist for the Republican-run House of Representatives. At one point, he and a partner got $120,000 to advise then-House Speaker Dan Webster, the sort of favoritism Mr. Webster had criticized when Democrats did it. One of Mr. Hawkes' sharper pieces of advice was to privatize the printing of House documents. The company couldn't keep up with the demands of the session.
As a top aide to Tom Feeney, House speaker for the past two years, Mr. Hawkes was part of an office that didn't see a special-interest group it couldn't help -- so long as the group donated to the party...
Bush's marriage reform -- a vow to love, honor and shame
Shame on us.
A society that finds no shame in doing what's wrong cannot expect people to do what's right.
This is basic to Jeb Bush's view of the world. It is the underpinning of the governor's approach to public policy.
Who can quarrel with such a righteous outlook? The devil, as they say, is in the details.
It's clear, as Bush approaches his final term as governor, that he considers the creation of a moral tone unfinished business....
The issue of contraceptive coverage has come up regularly in the Florida...
The issue of contraceptive coverage has come up regularly in the Florida Legislature, thanks largely to efforts by Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines...
Homeowner's premiums may rise by 50 percent
By Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
State's last-resort insurer is cheaper than many traditional policies, prompting the hike...
Gov. Jeb Bush requests for statewide grand jury to investigate organized crime
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush asked Friday that a statewide grand jury be assembled to investigate organized crime. The grand jury is needed to investigate crimes including bribery, burglary, carjacking, home invasion robbery, criminal usury,
kidnaping, larceny, murder, prostitution, perjury and violations of the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act, Bush wrote in his petition to the Florida Supreme Court...
Airport expansion chief admits to taking huge bribes
Miami International Airport's one-time construction chief on Friday admitted selling contracts for cash and cheating the IRS, the biggest conviction netted to date in an ongoing probe of an airport undergoing the costliest public works project in county history...
More than 12,700 Florida seniors need to pass March FCAT for diplomas
MIAMI More than 12,700 Florida high school seniors have one last chance to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and earn their diplomas on time, state officials said. The 12,711 seniors failed the test for the fifth time in October, leaving only the sixth and final try in March...
Fostering doubt: Florida's kids need protection
Where are the 400 children who were missing from state foster care in August?
...
Hood to step down as mayor after accepting top state job
Center of attention. Gov. Jeb Bush today announced that Glenda Hood, the mayor of Orlando, will serve as Secretary of State in his new administration...
State unemployment at its lowest since 9-11 attacks
TALLAHASSEE Florida's unemployment rate is at its lowest point since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, dropping to 5 percent in November, according to figures released Friday by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. November's unemployment rate was down slightly from 5.2 percent in October...
AFSCME sues over campus contracts
The state employee union asked a Leon County court Thursday to stop what it considers illegal union-busting on Florida university campuses...
HMO offers to pay woman's chemo medication
WEST PALM BEACH An HMO offered to start sending monthly payments for a chemotherapy drug to treat a woman's brain cancer Friday, a day after she sued them for refusing to cover the prescription. However, the woman's lawyer said he had not been contacted by the HMO and had no immediate plans to drop the lawsuit...
Panel recommends award limits for malpractice lawsuits
TALLAHASSEE People who sue physicians and hospitals for malpractice would be limited in the amount of money they could recover under a preliminary proposal recommended Friday by a panel appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush...
Land preservation
Maybe Gov. Jeb Bush has something there. When he reacted in shock to the price of 60 wild acres in San Carlos Park, perhaps it was overdue. Bush, at a Florida Cabinet meeting, told an entourage of hopeful Lee County officials and nature champions that the price, $1.8 million, is a sharp difference from the $500,000 that a real estate agent paid five years ago.
...
Legal services under attack
Legal services for the poor across the country are seriously underfinanced. One key source of money for them is an ingenious program that exists in all 50 states. It pools the short-term deposits that lawyers hold in trust for their clients and uses the interest produced to finance indigent legal services. The Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a challenge to these programs, brought by a conservative legal group that says this practice is an unconstitutional taking of property.
...
Elections won, Republicans are all politics, but no policy
The day after the Republican triumph in the midterm elections, a jubilant Trent Lott held a celebratory press conference. "Let's roll!" he exulted. (Good taste is not one of Lott's strong points.) Six weeks later, we have to ask: Roll where (aside from Baghdad)? The storm that has broken over Lott's head is justified. But it may also reflect buyers' remorse: post-election polls suggest broad public unease about where Lott's party is taking us.
...
An anti-life crusade
Asia is expected to be the site of the next AIDS explosion. Yet at a United Nations population conference in Bangkok this week the American delegation tried to block an endorsement of condom use to prevent AIDS. It's not often that a vote is taken at a U.N. meeting, where consensus is usually the goal. But this time participants voted and the other nations united in striking down the American position.
...
Imperiling the Internet
A troubling Australian court ruling should spur Washington to support an international agreement to protect U.S. publications from overseas censors...
Union goes to court to stop new university law
TALLAHASSEE A union representing 25,000 workers at Florida's public universities went to court Thursday to try to stop the state from implementing a new law that gives university boards greater powers. The law is in conflict with a constitutional amendment approved by voters last month, which doesn't do away with the local boards but creates a statewide board of governors to oversee governance of universities...
Bush wants state, churches to team up on making marriages work
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he plans to enlist religious organizations to help with his goal of creating stronger marriages. Bush, who said strengthening families is a priority for his second term, said the state is also considering a survey of Floridians to measure their attitudes on family life and culture...
Bush envisions state buttressing marriages
The governor's Building Florida's Families initiative would enlist faith-based groups to aid the effort...
Doctors' plea: Help us keep Medicare dollars
Cuts will force them to drop patients, they say, as they urge you to contact your lawmaker...
Cancer patient sues HMO to cover chemotherapy drug
WEST PALM BEACH A woman with brain cancer is suing her HMO for refusing to cover a chemotherapy drug prescribed by her doctor. Shelley Otis' doctor prescribed the drug after she had surgery to remove a brain tumor. But she said her insurance company, Well Care HMO Inc., has refused to pay for it. The drug costs about $9,000 a month...
Ag officials announce citrus canker quarantine area in Cape Coral, another expected in Orange County
State agriculture officials created a new citrus canker quarantine area in Cape Coral, and said they expected to announce another in Orange County soon.
Quarantine of citrus is anticipated within week
A citrus canker quarantine is expected within a week for parts of southwest and east Orange County, meaning thousands of residents won't be allowed to plant or move citrus trees -- or the fruit from them -- for at least two years. ...
Everglades report urges more study
The science behind fixing decades worth of neglect in Florida's River of Grass needs more attention and funding, according to a new report from the National Research Council...
Wildlife agencies seeking
answers to pelican deaths
Reports of dead and sick brown pelicans from Tampa Bay to Fort Myers Beach have wildlife agencies on search for elusive clues. Biologist Alex Kropp said Thursday that the agency has a "few more reports than usual" and is hoping to collect fresh carcasses to send to a University of Florida laboratory for testing...
Compromise may be
at hand in manatee case
WASHINGTON Environmentalists and representatives for Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Thursday they are close to reaching a compromise that would increase protection for Florida manatees vulnerable to death and injury from boat propellers...
Leaving Bush
It was a big deal in Washington, but probably little remarked elsewhere: Nick
Calio, President Bush's legislative director, announced he was leaving for the private sector. His reasons, he said: "the two F's family and financial." Calio was like a lot of the Bush team, loyal and with longstanding ties...
Last-minute, one-stop bookstore shopping for all
AUSTIN, Texas All right, fellow procrastinators. Of course, we have days to go before Christmas no point in precipitously plunging into purchasing yet. On the other hand, it is not too soon to begin thinking about just how long we can put it off. And following our customary habit of last-minute, one-stop shopping for all, check on the location of your nearest independent bookstore. Failing that, fall back on a chain. ...
William
Safire: Bush's stumble the So San affair
WASHINGTON The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under its new chairman, Richard
Lugar, should make its first order of business an inquiry into President Bush's maladroit and shortsighted decision-making in the So San affair. Our National Security Agency, to its credit, spotted the movement of 15 Scud missiles and 85 drums of chemicals from a factory in North Korea to its secret loading aboard the freighter So San, and tracked the unflagged ship around the world to the Arabian Sea. ...
Broward County election officials resigns in protest over supervisor's actions
FORT LAUDERDALE The official brought in to help Broward County run its November election after a botched September primary resigned Wednesday in protest of the supervisor of elections' dismissal of another employee. Joe Cotter took over most of Election Supervisor Miriam Oliphant's powers in September in a deal that allowed her to remain in office despite heavy criticism over the flawed primary. But Cotter said Oliphant broke that agreement last week when she fired his government affairs liaison, Robert Cantrell...
Investigation targets Oliphant for mismanagement, voting irregularities
State prosecutors have launched a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of mismanagement and voting irregularities involving Broward County's embattled elections supervisor, Miriam
Oliphant.
Investigators for State Attorney Michael Satz have subpoenaed records and begun interviewing election workers over the past week. The investigation is focusing not only on charges raised in a county-ordered audit last month that Oliphant violated state law and constitutional mandates, but also the possibility that hundreds of absentee votes were thrown away in the September primary without being counted...
The case for runoffs
Many of Florida's most revered public officials were elected in runoffs, which some shortsighted lawmakers want to do away with altogether.
Two Army National Guard units in St. Augustine on alert
ST. AUGUSTINE -- About 1,000 soldiers from two Florida Army National Guard infantry units have received orders to prepare for possible mobilization and deployment, officials said Wednesday.
The Florida National Guard's 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 124th Infantry Regiment, received notice to begin preparations in event a mobilization order is issued...
Florida drunk driving deaths up
Officials fear complacency about drinking and driving might have set in...
Florida ranks third in gun thefts
Nationwide, nearly 1.7 million firearms have been stolen since 1993. ...
DCF chided for not upgrading computers
A legislative agency has scolded the Department of Children & Families for failing to fix its computer system, which was designed to track abused and neglected children but instead has mushroomed into a $230 million debacle...
DCF gets plan to cut backlog on child-abuse investigations
Fewer than 40 percent of child abuse investigations are completed within the two months state law demands -- a statistic that's intolerable to Jerry Regier, the secretary of Florida's child welfare agency.
So starting Friday, the Department of Children & Families will begin a massive project to eliminate the backlog of 30,500 investigations that have remained open longer than 60 days...
Report: More money needed
for Everglades restoration
WEST PALM BEACH The science behind fixing decades worth of neglect in Florida's River of Grass needs more attention and funding, according to a new report from the National Research Council. The report points to the many uncertainties surrounding the restoration of the Everglades and details areas where more research is needed. "It could be really expensive to go in there on our best judgment and make a big mistake and have to tear it out," said Mark Kraus, Audubon of Florida's director of restoration science...
University heads rake it in
and politicians see possibilities
The new president of Florida State University may be announced today. It's down to two boring out-of-state academic types and former speaker of the Florida House
T.K. Wetherell...
USF trustees approve 37 percent raise for Genshaft
TAMPA University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft received a five-year contract from the school's board of trustees Wednesday that makes her the state's second-highest paid public university president. Genshaft's salary jumps to $325,000 annually, a 37 percent raise, continuing a pattern that's seen several Florida public university presidents receive raises in recent weeks.
Former FSU football star chosen to lead his alma mater
TALLAHASSEE Backed by prominent legislators and alumni, former Florida State football star
T.K. Wetherell won the recommendation of the school's trustees Wednesday to become the university's 13th president. The recommendation is expected to be ratified by Florida's Board of Education later this month...
Bush announces $900,000 in mentoring grants
TALLAHASSEE Governor Jeb Bush awarded more than $900,000 in mentoring grants Wednesday to programs across the state, including a Florida State University study on the benefits of mentoring. Bush, who has promoted mentoring since taking office four years ago, made the announcement at Raa Middle School...
Former lawmaker vies for state job
Mark Flanagan applies for banking regulator, a job he helped create while serving in the House. after spending an hour with the boy he counsels, eighth-grader Burgess Brown...
Collier defies trend, rejects gay rights law
NAPLES -- The Collier County Commission on Tuesday rejected a gay rights ordinance after hearing comment from about 80 members of the community. Commissioners were considering an ordinance that would include sexual orientation in a law protecting people from discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, marital status or disability...
Bush could cause crisis in health research
President Bush could achieve a great legacy as the conqueror of major dreaded diseases, but not if he goes through with next year's plans to curtail funding for medical research in 2004. After nearly fulfilling his campaign promise to finish doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health over a five-year period, Bush is on the verge of proposing increases so small that they will cause a crisis in medical research...
Wild Florida: What's left of it needs help
Late on a Sunday afternoon recently, my wife and I visited the Kraft Azalea Park on Lake Osceola in Winter Park. These few acres of greenspace have beautiful azaleas in the spring, but by far their most dominant feature is one of the very few stands of big old cypress trees left in Central Florida...
As nitrogen levels have been rising and causing algae growth in springs...
As nitrogen levels have been rising and causing algae growth in springs along the Suwannee River, researchers and state officials have encouraged farmers in the area to improve waste disposal at livestock farms...
Senate freshman to serve as majority leader
TALLAHASSEE Newly elected state Sen. Dennis Jones, a 22-year House member, was named Senate majority leader Monday. Jones, R-Treasure Island, was chosen by Senate President Jim King, who was close to Jones during their tenure in the House...
Smoking ban raises tricky issues
It seemed pretty simple when voters decided to mandate smoke-free workplaces last month. But for thousands of restaurant and bar owners across Florida, tobacco is going to be a complicated - and maybe costly - habit to kick during the 2003 legislative session. ..
Class size responsibility one hot potato
Legislators and the School Board don't have answers on how to meet a new mandate...
State's higher education chancellor leaving before he starts
TALLAHASSEE Florida lost its new college and universities chancellor on Monday, two weeks before he was expected to start his new job. In announcing he has turned down the job, Daniel S. Papp cited "changed circumstances and remaining uncertainties about the roles and responsibilities of the position."
Papp, who accepted the position of chancellor of the state's Division of Colleges and Universities in August, will remain in Georgia's educational system. He was scheduled to begin his new Florida duties Jan. 1.
USF trustees expected to approve 37 percent raise for Genshaft
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft is expected to be awarded a new five-year contract by the school's board of trustees, one that would give Genshaft the second-highest salary of any public university president in the state.
A group of the school's trustees decided the terms of the five-year contract Monday. Genshaft's salary would jump to $325,000 annually, a raise of 37 percent.
Genshaft would also receive state university tuition for her two children; $4,000 a year in travel expenses for her husband, Steve Greenbaum; a six-month sabbatical for every completed five-year contract; a country club membership; and a driver for a university-provided vehicle.
"She's underpaid," board member Lee Arnold said...
Coarse in politics: State universities'
trustees in crude competition
Florida's public universities are in a perverse race to raise the salaries of their presidents to unprecedented and unjustified levels and to appoint new presidents whose strongest credentials are their political connections...
One-up in pay for university president
While the effects of today's severely depressed economy are well known to those who have lost billions in the stock market, it has been absolutely painful for those who have lost their jobs or suffered major reductions in their health-care benefits, as well as for those who are now having to postpone retirement in order to make ends meet. ...
Chris Kise of Tampa to be Crist's solicitor general
Attorney General-elect Charlie Crist has appointed Tampa lawyer Chris Kise to serve as Florida's solicitor general, representing the state in important cases...
Hood appears likely to land top state post
Center of attention. Gov. Jeb Bush is close to naming Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood his new secretary of state, culminating a delicate political dance that began weeks ago, according to sources close to the governor...
Bush to receive report on missing DCF children
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush will receive a report Tuesday on his demand that every child missing from Department of Children & Families custody be found. Bush ordered DCF and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in August to find 393 children missing from state care, most of whom were runaways or had been taken by a noncustodial relative. ...
Children still missing from DCF
Report says officials could not find 103 of 393 children missing from DCF care.
DCF needs money, not new leaders
A citizens group says recent firings won't help the agency and gives legislastors a to-do list. ...
State approves transfer of teen killers to juvenile center
PENSACOLA Two teenage brothers who pleaded guilty to killing their father have been transferred to juvenile detention from adult prison over objections from the judge and prosecutor, officials said Monday. Alex and Derek King, 13 and 14, were turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice on Friday in response to a request from state prison officials, said Bill
Bankhead, the department's secretary. The agency is prohibited from disclosing where inmates are sent. A lawyer for their mother said they have been separated....
Sex offenders say registration law violates their privacy rights
WEST PALM BEACH Four sex offenders are challenging a state law that requires their names, mug shots and addresses to be posted on a Web site, saying it violates their privacy rights. The federal lawsuit pits the rights of victims and potential victims against the privacy of people who have served their criminal sentences and may be trying to start anew...
Federal judge dismisses university's lawsuit against Palestinian professor
TAMPA A federal judge threw out a University of South Florida lawsuit Monday that was aimed at getting the court's blessing before it fired a tenured Palestinian professor with alleged terrorist ties. The university had wanted U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew to rule that its plan to fire computer science professor Sami Al-Arian would not violate his constitutional rights. In her six-page order, Bucklew said that her action in the case "would not be a wise and practical use of judicial
resources...
Release of 17 Haitian children demanded by relatives, advocates
MIAMI Local Haitian immigrants and advocates demanded Monday that the federal government release 17 unaccompanied Haitian children before Christmas, saying that holding them through the holiday would be cruel. Relatives of the children said they would be willing to take care of the children, who have been held since Oct. 29 when they and about 200 adults came ashore when their boat grounded near downtown Miami...
Seminoles acquitted in embezzlement case
A judge threw out the embezzlement case against three former Seminole tribe employees this morning, acquitting all three after a 10-day trial that had spotlighted the enormous sums of cash generated by the tribal casino empire and the free-spending habits of those who controlled it. ...
"Florida business leaders rally for trade pact
TAMPA One of the state's top economic development officials said Monday that a free-trade pact that will link the United States to all of Latin America has the potential to make Florida "one of the most advantageous business addresses in the entire world." Pam Dana, director of the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, told 200 business leaders from around the state that they must all get onboard if Florida is to fully benefit from the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which will create the largest free trade region in the world...
Florida Power hides in trees in Winter Park
- Florida Power has nobody to blame but itself for this column.
I was set to spend Sunday watching the Tampa Bay Bucs when the Florida Power power went out.
That left me with nothing to do but rummage through a pile of Florida Power court documents. The utility is in a legal battle with Winter Park, which wants to take over its power system.
The most interesting tidbits are about the outages that plague the city. Florida Power has traditionally blamed the city's tree canopy.
But a company report last December also gives other reasons.
"The cost reduction strategies of [Florida Power in] the early to mid-1990s resulted in reduced investment in the electrical distribution system in Central Florida. This subsequently resulted in reduced reliability and reduced customer satisfaction."...
Evictions loom over Parramore
..."They're treating us like dogs, but we don't even get a bone," Reames said. "The city needs to come out and talk to the renters."
"I'm going to have to call Mayor Glenda Hood before she goes to Tallahassee," Reames added, referring to speculation that Hood may resign to become Florida's secretary of state. "She may leave, but she has some real issues here. People are losing their homes. Mayor Hood, please don't be the
Grinch."...
Nelson tries to resolve 'Mount Dioxin' dispute
PENSACOLA U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson tried on Monday to resolve a dispute between people who once lived near a pair of toxic waste sites and researchers that could threaten continued federal funding for a health study. The Florida Democrat met with both sides as doctors began examining those who once lived near an abandoned wood treating facility known as "Mount Dioxin" and a former fertilizer plant in the same neighborhood. The sites' former neighbors are feuding with researchers over worries that the study's methodology is not sound...
Local U.S. representatives polarized in voting
By Angel Wilson, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Local Republican lawmakers backed President Bush more often than other state or national GOP representatives. ...
No favor to the faithful
President Bush's executive order promoting key pieces of his faith-based initiative not only usurps congressional power but is a slap in the face for religious organizations that have struggled to do good work for the needy in their communities without government manipulation...
Taking faith to a fault
President Bush is so intent on sending federal tax dollars to religious organizations involved in charity work that he bypassed Congress last week and signed an executive order allowing church groups to receive public monies even if they maintain discriminatory hiring practices...
Bush gets lots of
'amens,' but the sermon isn't new
If President Bush really did bring deliverance to religion, as he described it in Philadelphia last week, he usurped the lawmaking power of Congress, and a judge should slap him down. But maybe it wasn't as big a deal as he made out....
"The days of discriminating against religious groups just because they are religious are coming to an end."
After all that, the executive orders Mr. Bush signed say only that religious groups can get federal money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and some others on the same basis they have been getting money for job training, day care, housing and addiction programs. The basis is that they can hire strictly people of their own faith to provide the service. That basis has been a matter of law since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, reinforced in the Charitable Choice Act of 1996. The groups can't discriminate among clients for services, nor can they use the money to proselytize.
Mr. Bush talked as if he were breaking new ground. ... What was new in Mr. Bush's speech wasn't true, and what was true isn't new...
Molly
Ivins: A disinformation office is not a good idea
AUSTIN Damn, it is hard to kill a bad idea. And this one is so rank that if Osama bin Laden had come up with it, we'd be forced to admit it was a stroke of genius: how to infuriate our allies, cause an explosion of anti-American paranoia and encourage terrorism, all in one swell
foop, as one of our old Texas pols used to say. Unfortunately, this idea is Donald
Rumsfeld's...
Bush repeats Reagan's spending strategy
President Bush evidently plans to win re-election by jolting the economy with huge new tax cuts and defense outlays and damning the deficit consequences. It's a repeat of the formula that worked for President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and, this time, Congressional Republicans intend to smooth the process by using "dynamic" bookkeeping that transforms tax cuts into revenue gains...
Bush to deploy missile defense
NEW: President Bush to begin deploying a limited system by 2004, officials said...
Changes needed: Federal deficits ought to be a priority for the president's economic advisers...
Gore's exit puts Florida back in limelight
Al Gore's decision not to seek a rematch against President Bush in 2004 has unleashed a scramble among a growing list of Democratic White House hopefuls looking for a foothold in the state that decided the 2000 election...
Best policy: Silence
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Gov. Bush appointed a qualified committee to study the state's medical malpractice insurance problem and make recommendations. The governor should keep quiet until those recommendations are in at year's end. Instead, Gov. Bush said this month that he supports caps on punitive damages in malpractice lawsuits and thinks that "after a scholarly review," the five-member panel will agree with him.
Perhaps the governor simply is accustomed to getting the answers he wants. Last spring, he picked four people to review the Department of Children and Families after the agency lost track of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson. All the panel members had ties to the governor, and they deflected most of the blame from his administration. Or maybe the governor's comment was a mild attempt at intimidation. On the malpractice committee are two state university presidents and the University of Miami president. Directly and indirectly, Gov. Bush can affect their budgets...
Tuition waiver a tricky topic for employees
Florida State is a tough school to get into, especially if you're a state employee trying to take a few free courses. While Tallahassee Community College is aggressively seeking state workers on the six-hour fee waiver, FSU can't take many. It's not that the university doesn't want to, it's just that the campus is "over-enrolled" in most courses that state employees would want...
Right off the bat: reason to be alarmed
Speaker Johnnie Byrd has named a new crop of lawmakers to two dozen of the top leadership positions in the House, which he himself describes as the "entry-level Legislature" because the members are so sorely lacking in experience. Thirty are brand new and another 60 are starting only their second two-year term in the 120-member House...
Byrd who? He's out to tell Florida
The House speaker assembles a publicity crew that includes a TV producer. Some ask, what next for Byrd?
...
House speaker is less of a mystery, more of a master
Johnnie Byrd, the still-obscure Florida House of Representatives speaker who has rocketed through the ranks of power after just six years of experience, is becoming less the enigma and more the savvy politician...
Seminole legislator to become Senate's majority leader today
TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, will become majority leader of the Florida Senate today...
GOP strategist found greatest success in Bush's Florida
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
Mike Murphy's strategies have twice helped elect Jeb Bush governor and has boosted other Florida Republicans.
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Congress can't diminish freedom of press; neither can local judge
Steve Andrews, who is an investigative reporter for WFLA-Ch. 8, has delivered a series of reports about how judges in Tampa are handling drunken-driving cases...
Weevils take aim at local growth of melaleuca
Driving past the 18-acre field on the northeast corner of Williams Road and U.S. 41, it's easy to dismiss the property as just another future development site, but look closer. The land is a war machine. The troops come in the form of bead-sized weevils and nearly microscopic sap-sucking
psyllids. The enemy takes the form of an Australian tree called melaleuca...
Blossoms fade from namesake trail
The Orange Blossom Trail has reached a milestone: It's last 2 citrus groves are for sale...
High bid selected for water security
SANFORD -- Seminole County officials plan to pay a general contractor $1.7 million to make water plants more secure, rejecting considerably less-expensive bids from two companies that specialize in security.
It's unclear what any of the companies specifically offered, because the county is citing security issues as an exemption to public disclosure. But one of the losing companies, which offered to do the work for $990,000, has gone to court to fight the award.
NuTech Fire and Security Inc., a Maitland company that has done security work for Lockheed Martin Corp. and U.S. Customs, argues that the county is spending too much money on a company that is less qualified to do the job...
More than 200 passengers hit by illness on New Orleans-based cruise
About 229 guests on the cruise ship Carnival Conquest reported symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness on a voyage that ended Sunday, Carnival Cruise Lines said. Miami-based Carnival said it was working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the cause of the outbreak...
Hope for Speedy Release of Haitian Refugees Fades
By DANA CANEDY (NYT)
The Bush administration tightened immigration rules, making it virtually impossible for the more than 200 Haitians taken into custody in October to be released soon...
MIA: Culture of greed alleged
Feds say bribes fattened the bank account of the man in charge of one of America's largest public works projects, the $5 billion expansion of Miami International Airport.
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Alabama Paper Plans to Go Nonprofit
By FELICITY BARRINGER
H. Brandt Ayers, the publisher of The Anniston Star, a small newspaper in northeastern Alabama, announced a plan yesterday to ensure its long-term local ownership by establishing an institute to train journalists and a foundation that is expected to eventually own all the stock in the newspaper's parent company.
The plan, still a work in progress, adopts some of the elements that set up independent, nonprofit local ownership for newspapers like The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, said Judith F. Todd, the Birmingham lawyer who worked with Mr. Ayers to develop it.
It anticipates a partnership with the University of Alabama, with graduate students using The Star as the equivalent of a teaching hospital while earning credits toward masters degrees in community journalism. The Star, with a circulation of about 28,000, is known in the industry as a training ground for journalists...
Did I mention some of my best friends are . . .?
Sen. Trent Lott Apology (#1) My fellow Americans, On Dec. 5, at a party celebrating the 100th birthday of my distinguished colleague, Sen. Strom Thurmond, I made the following statement:
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White House leaves states, cities dangling
The Bush White House and Congress are quarrelling with governors and mayors in what may be the federal system's most bitter conflict in a century or more.
While Washington talks economic stimulus, including
politically expedient tax cuts, the recession is ripping into state and
city budgets, triggering immense deficits - a cumulative shortfall as high
as $67 billion for the current fiscal year, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures."Nearly every state is in fiscal
crisis," reports the National Association of State Budget Officials.
With a stalled national economy, state tax collections have plummeted.
And all that Washington is doing seems to make matters
worse...
U.S. should take heed over anti-Americanism in Mideast
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- At last, the American grand strategy for the Middle East is crystallizing.
The focus is on foes like Saddam Hussein, but only in the short term. In the long run, some Americans, particularly among political conservatives, are looking to undo and transform the region in its entirety -- from Iraq to Iran, Saudi Arabia to Syria, Lebanon to the Palestinians.
Speaking at a conference in Prague, Czech Republic, recently, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the "biggest piece of unfinished business is the Middle East."...
Bush gets set to tackle state's booming growth
Tallahassee · Gov. Jeb Bush is preparing to revamp state government to tackle what he has described as his biggest disappointment of his first term, his administration's inability to get a grip on Florida's mushrooming growth.
The governor is almost certain to dismantle the Department of Community Affairs, the 450-employee agency that oversees the way land is developed in Florida's 67 counties.
Last week, Bush acknowledged the department's land-planning duties should be put under the Secretary of State, a position that been an elected one but one which Bush will get to appoint next month. A restructured Secretary of State's office could make growth management a top priority, Bush said. ... ...
Though Bush hasn't revealed details of his reorganization or what legislation he'll push, he has made his priorities clear in past interviews:
