Gov. Bush considers ending affordable housing trust funds

To get along in the House of Byrd, go along
 TALLAHASSEE - The people of Florida should not be angry at Speaker Johnnie Byrd for saying that members of the House are "like sheep in a way." Don't we want our politicians to tell the truth?
You'll know it's true if he is still speaker by nightfall Tuesday, the first day of the session.

Cloaked fundraising draws Byrd's scrutiny
The house speaker joins the governor and others calling for the reform of "committees of continuous existence."

Election to flavor session
No-fuss politics may dominate the agenda Politicians may rally around popular ideas
There will be something in the air for two months as the Florida Legislature holds its 2004 session. "This one takes on an ambience all its own," Senate President Jim King said. "We've got the presiding officer of one chamber running for statewide office, we've got a governor pushing his brother for re-election in a state that should be pivotal for the White House and just about everybody is up for re-election."

State lawmakers voting records difficult to track
 TALLAHASSEE - Florida lawmakers will cast thousands of votes in the next two months, but holding them accountable can be an arduous task.
Despite millions of tax dollars lawmakers spent on a sophisticated computer system, voters will be hard pressed to track what their elected senators and representatives do during the 2004 session, which begins Tuesday.

Support grows for voucher reform
Abuses in the school voucher program have lawmakers looking for ways to ensure accountability.

The fight for tax fairness
Voting Floridians can sign this petition, which seeks to put on the Nov. 2 ballot an amendment requiring the Legislature to review all sales tax exemptions.

On the issue landscape, gay marriage looms small
We are a nation at war - in at least two different places if you don't count the little incursions.

Elderly inmates swell Florida prisons, fuel rising health costs

Education Secretary would take back 'terrorist' remark

2/27-23/04

Florida members call for suspension of deportations
A growing chorus of South Florida officials and activists is seeking to stop the deportation of Haitians during the current crisis.
Haitians in South Florida are still being deported to their chaotic homeland, and that practice should stop during the current crisis, a bipartisan group of Florida House members said Thursday.

State approves new airport plan
Two plans for a new airport and surrounding property owned by The St. Joe Co. received state approval on Thursday. Critics say moving the Panama City-Bay County International Airport to a 4,000-acre site donated by St. Joe is unnecessary and would spend more than $200 million in taxpayer money mainly to benefit the Jacksonville-based firm.
DEP signs Panhandle wetlands permitting deal with St. Joe

Another Byrd bill
The unintended consequences of Johnnie Byrd's redundant "parental rights" amendment could put children in danger.
Lawmaker: House will vote on its parental rights proposal
Byrd: House members are like sheep, need to be forcefully led

State personnel system not fully privatized yet

Pfeifer to lead agency handling state contracts
 TALLAHASSEE - Florida Department of Management Services Secretary Bill Simon on Tuesday tapped his chief of staff, Pam Pfeifer, to be the director of a new office aimed at standardizing how the state awards contracts for privatized government services.
Pfeifer's new title: director of the Governor's Center for Efficient Government. Gov. Jeb Bush instructed Simon to create the center earlier this month as the state's outsourcing efforts came under fire by auditors. Two audits, by Bush's own Inspector General and the Legislature, found the state's contracting system was in a "state of disrepair."

Funding freeze limits 2 state programs that help the disabled
...But there is a statewide freeze on two programs, Community Care for Disabled Adults and the Disabled Adult Medicaid Waiver, two state funding pools for Floridians age 18 to 59 with physical disabilities. The programs are among the few available to people such as Green -- adults under age 60 who have physical disabilities but are living in their own homes. Many are being cared for by aging parents, who soon will need care themselves.

Evidence shows Miami juvenile jail official told dying teen to 'suck it up'
MIAMI -- A supervising guard at a juvenile jail told a dying teen to ``suck it up'' as the boy retched, wept and moaned from stomach pain, evidence given to a grand jury shows.
Some guards tried to get help for 17-year-old Omar Paisley before he died of a burst appendix, the records show, but their supervisors and jail nurses believed he was faking or exaggerating...

Protest law headed toward repeal
Miami commissioners took the first step late Thursday to repeal a stringent ordinance limiting what items protesters can bring to demonstrations.

Florida high court rules in the right: with restraint
 When the Florida Supreme Court throws out a law passed by the Legislature, the Legislature complains. The leaders of the legislative branch holler about "activist judges" who need to be kicked off the bench.
But when the Supreme Court upholds the Legislature, you don't hear a peep. No word of praise for "judicial restraint."

Groups say utility regulators allow too much secrecy

High court ruling could help Fla. voucher opponents
By S.V. Date, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
The U.S. Supreme Courts ruled 7-2 that state constitutions can prohibit spending tax dollars for religious purposes.
Voucher case in limbo after nearly a year on appeal

Wetherell slings ink onto bill
Trustees vying for power with Board of Governors
Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell this week made his biggest push yet for more autonomy for university boards of trustees - rewriting a proposed Board of Governors' bill that spells out its duties and responsibilities.

Audit: DCF privatization is on track, needs some strengthening

Grand jury finds no cover-up of abuse at Palm Beach girls' prison

TaxWatch says state courts need $140 million boost
Florida TaxWatch said Wednesday state lawmakers should boost state funding of the court system by $140 million next year. The courts had asked for an extra $170 million; Gov. Jeb Bush had recommended $105 million.

Justice delayed
Article V can't wait any longer
More than five years ago, Floridians approved an amendment to the constitution shifting the burden of financial responsibility for the state court system from counties to state government.

MyDoom worm strikes agencies
Two state agencies were infected by the MyDoom computer worm this week, but officials reported Wednesday that the invasion was under control.

Hood, election supervisors unveil voter education program

Sponsor to withdraw parental rights amendment
Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, says she will drop her effort to make Florida the first state to guarantee "parental rights."

Fla. pension fund to make Disney decision Monday
The state of Florida's pension fund is delaying until Monday a decision on how to vote its shares in the battle for control of The Walt Disney Co.

Scientist: Everglades restoration may kill reefs in Florida Keys

Lawsuits try to block Panhandle college land sale

Citrus canker issue still unsettled
Having lost a battle to halt a state tree-chopping attack on the disease, homeowners seek a court ruling that could lead to greater compensation.

Farmworkers to rally at Yum! Brands headquarters
On the heels of a state report detailing worker slavery cases in Florida, a group of Immokalee farmworkers is taking aim once again at a corporate giant known for its fast-food Mexican dishes. More than 100 people — two busloads of local farmworkers and their supporters, including students and labor advocates — are expected to arrive at Yum! Brands headquarters today as part of the continuing boycott against Taco Bell.

Florida a leader in modern slavery
Officials think Florida is a top destination for those who traffic in prostitutes and menial laborers.

Government tells tribe to toe line on casinos
The U.S. government has warned the Seminole Tribe of Florida that it will shut down its casinos unless the tribe stops using illegal gaming devices and ceases a free-wheeling spending program that pumped millions into luxury cars and gifts for council members' cronies.
Indian regulator threatens to shut down Seminole casinos

State, defense department buy buffer land around Camp Blanding

Pensacola's water under state microscope
 PENSACOLA - The state is investigating the source of high levels of radium, ammonia and other harmful pollutants in the groundwater in an industrial area of Pensacola.
The pollution might be linked to contamination in Pensacola drinking-water wells in the past, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

VA chief may order shakeup at troubled St. Petersburg hospital

Florida lawmakers reject call for Social Security cuts
Fed Chief Alan Greenspan says benefits for future recipients must be trimmed because of federal deficits.

Brown rips into Bush administration official

Legislators seek to block Medicare premium test in Florida
A demonstration project that's part of last year's Medicare prescription drug bill may raise premiums.

Molly Ivins: A new tale of privatized profit and socialized risk
AUSTIN, Texas — Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have gone and gotten themselves in big trouble. For those of you who do not follow the business pages, I only wish we were talking about pregnant teen-agers. Fannie and Freddie are the two government-sponsored mortgage companies that help most of us buy homes. Trouble is, they've run themselves into big-time debt — they've doubled the amount they owe in just the last five years. When I say big-time, try $2 trillion.

Turning science into propaganda
Most agencies of the federal government, from the Food and Drug Administration to the National Weather Service, gather and analyze huge amounts of scientific data for use in developing national policy. One quarter of the scientific research done in this country is funded by the federal government. But what if, rather than being a seeker of truth, the federal government rejected the judgment of impartial researchers and began manipulating science to reach a political end?
Doctoring the facts
White House prefers political medicine.

Marriage move likely to pass
The Florida Legislature has always been slow to help change the U.S. Constitution, but lawmakers on both sides of the gay-rights debate said Wednesday that an amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual union would probably pass easily.
Making amends for marriage law
 Only once in 217 years have we allowed a purely social/personal-morality issue to sneak into the U.S. Constitution.
That also was the only time that we used the Constitution to take away the personal freedom of Americans.
The occasion was Prohibition. We ratified the 18th Amendment in 1919, which outlawed "intoxicating liquors."
Culture war president
 Our self-proclaimed "war president" wasn't concentrating on Iraq or the war on terrorism Tuesday. Instead, he was trying to divert the country's attention from such serious issues by launching a pre-emptive attack in the culture wars.
In announcing that he will support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, President Bush turned his back on the more responsible position he (and Vice President Dick Cheney) had espoused previously. In the process, he demeaned his office, cheapened this year's political debate and invited a dangerous defacement of the Constitution.
From marriage debate to burning controversy
Amendment is attempt to exploit emotion.

The Bush administration's White House of mirth
With so many delights on our political plate, it's hard to know where to begin. Take that knee-slapping joke by Education Secretary Rod Paige: He called our largest teachers' union "a terrorist organization." In fun, of course. Gosh darn, HEE-HAW! All over the nation, teachers are just chuckling away.

New rule restricts American boaters from sailing to island
President Bush signs off on regulations that a diplomat says will stop 'pleasure boating traffic to Cuba.'
President Bush on Thursday strengthened emergency powers to choke off previously legal fishing and yacht trips to Cuba. Since 1996, 1,500 U.S. pleasure boats have received Coast Guard permits to tie up in Cuba, said a U.S. diplomat. Now, after a three-year interagency process, the Bush administration has found a formula ''to stop this pleasure boating traffic to Cuba, which has the effect of putting money in the pocket of the regime,'' the diplomat said.
President Bush tightens travel to Cuba; Florida reax mixed

First brother works to blunt Democratic attacks in Georgia

Lawmaker rejects Sept. 11 panel's plea for more time
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., hardens his opposition to extending the deadline for the independent commission studying the attacks.

Nader's decision rekindles memories of 2000 election in Florida

U.S. criticizes human rights in Russia, China
The State Department criticized Russia for manipulating elections and China for backsliding on human rights in a report Wednesday.

2/22-19/04

Legislature: Democrats: When state farms out jobs, they should be in Florida

Payroll test proves problematic
Convergys, the private company contracted to run the state's personnel systems, flunked its first test in a trial run on a small sampling of the state payroll, with a 37-percent error rate in calculating employee payments, according to the Department of Financial Services.
Graham: Privatization not always better
Senator criticizes Bushes' many outsourcing initiatives
Sen. Bob Graham, who did some selective privatization of state services as governor more than 20 years ago, said Friday that Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President George W. Bush, have shown a "naive" belief that the private sector can do things better than government.

State still hasn't resolved recounts
Unless Legislature acts, get ready for lawsuit.

Summit security costs public millions
Providing security at the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit last year turned out to be a $23.9 million expense, and some local leaders find the cost worthwhile in damage avoided.
 - By the numbers
 - Counting the cost
 - Herald coverage of the FTAA meeting

Head of juvenile justice to exit?
The embattled head of Florida's juvenile-justice agency is taking a four-month medical leave -- a possible prelude to his permanent departure from a department facing criticism over the death of an Opa-locka teen and allegations of misconduct at the state's only maximum-security prison for girls.
Bankhead Out Of Time
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has a big mess on its hands, and Bill Bankhead, the man Gov. Jeb Bush appointed to lead the embattled agency, is in the hot seat, as well he should be.
More juvenile officials removed in wake of teen's death

Going to max on image
Juvenile justice: tough job, wrong priorities.
Nine months have passed since the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice renewed a $5.2 million-a-year contract with a private company that has been mismanaging the state's maximum-security prison for teenage girls. After inmates reported sexual abuse by guards and two suffered broken arms from excessive restraints, DJJ Secretary Bill Bankhead downplayed problems at the Florida Institute for Girls west of West Palm Beach. Rather than fix things, the state persists in trying to hide its missteps.

Once again, Legislature takes a shot in the dark
Every year, there's at least one bill in the Florida Legislature that becomes a poster child for the whole shebang up in Tallahassee.
Last year, there were two such award winners. One of them was the bill to raise our telephone rates. The other was the bill that said nobody can sue a dry cleaner whose chemicals pollute the ground...

Putting the brakes on voters' initiatives
Lawmakers want to make it tougher for citizens to alter the state's constitution.
Lawmakers work on changing citizen initiative process

The Capitol two-step: hands out, wallets open
The scent of money was overwhelming in Tallahassee this week. It's a wonder the entire town didn't turn green.
Our Legislature is preparing for its annual 60-day session that begins March 2.
They are like squirrels worried about a long cold winter, stashing cash instead of nuts.

House eyeing reduced budget
Committee proposes a 3.5-percent cut
Agencies, tighten your belts. The Florida House is pondering a state budget for next year that would be 3.5-percent smaller in all areas of ongoing expense - from schools to human services to public safety.

University presidents, professors top state's pay list
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush created a new system in higher education in Florida and it's paid off for those at the top.

Invest in protecting children
State audit shows that money brings safety.
It could happen again.
That's the crucial message from a recent audit of the Florida Department of Children and Families. Another Joshua. Another Tarquez. Another preventable tragedy.
Throughout Florida, about 3,000 children are at risk of suffering a fate similar to Joshua Saccone -- the Palm Beach County toddler who was beaten to death in August 2000 after a previous complaint to DCF -- or Tarquez Woodson, the 4-year-old from Riviera Beach who was beaten to death in August 2002 after the agency became aware of several abuse reports.

KidCare politics
Healing health insurance headaches
Behind nearly every health-care issue in the Florida Legislature looms the high cost of insurance. It's so excessive in so many instances that, unless lawmakers intervene with a plan to somehow cut rates and boost availability, the numbers of the working poor Floridians without insurance will be epidemic.

Legislature: Money for KidCare among main health care issues

Thousands of Florida's disabled live without crucial help
ORLANDO -- Thousands of disabled people in Florida are living without crucial help while state officials try to fix a system that is straining under tight budgets and a growing population.

Horne's hypocrisy
Spite behind $636,000 fine of school district.

Not the lobbyist you see on TV
As lobbyist for Gov. Jeb Bush in 1999, the governor's most successful year, Ken Plante saw a billion-dollar tax cut and dramatic education reforms to passage. Today, at 64, he is a founder and president of the Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists. A former senator from Orlando, he represents Tampa Bay Downs, Tampa Port Authority and Unisys Corp. Earlier this year he sat down with Times Associate Editor Lucy Morgan to talk about Tallahassee and the art of lobbying.

Bush strives to rein in Medicaid
The governor says if left unchecked, the program will swallow the state's budget. Critics contend the needy will lose their coverage.

Legislature: As class sizes shrink, future cost fuels repeal effort

GOP Senate primary beginning to break 11th Commandment

Time for Fla. to re-examine death penalty
TALLAHASSEE - From the moment he confessed, there was little doubt that Richard Cooper should spend the rest of his life in prison for his part in a Pinellas County triple murder. The real question was how long that life would be. Cooper, 40, will complete his 20th year on death row next month and yet he is nowhere near to running out of appeals. His case is a classic example of what's wrong with Florida's death penalty. The problem, some would say, is simply that it's too slow. That is partly true. It is barbaric to keep people in a cage for 15 or 20 years and then kill them. It shouldn't be too swift, either, because that's how big mistakes get made. There might be a proper balance if the system weren't so glutted with dubious cases like Cooper's...

Cheaper housing spurs protest
When a pair of Palm Beach County farmers decided to sell their land for affordable housing for working folk, they set off a controversy in nearby communities.
When farmers Ted and Trudy Winsberg decided to sell some of their land, they thought they were doing the community a favor by ensuring it would be used for affordable housing.

Legislature: Ag panel discusses citrus industry woes, audit of Citrus Dept.

Opponents denounce proposed Panhandle wetlands deal
PANAMA CITY — Critics are denouncing an unprecedented proposal that would free the St. Joe Co. from conventional wetlands permitting for more than 30,000 acres in the Panhandle, saying the plan is a "giveaway" to Florida's largest private land owner.

Envisioning change
Development looms for eastern Franklin County
As she watched her son fish at Ochlockonee Bay in eastern Franklin County, Alexandra Carter said she hopes there always will be land along the Florida coast where people can toss a line into the water.

Panhandle group to campaign against sending water south

Environmentalists say sewage discharges harming water quality

Pistol-whipped pols
A bill that would allow gun range owners to freely pollute our environment with a deadly substance is passing with little opposition through committees in Florida's House and Senate.

Palm Beach prosecutors subpoena Limbaugh's medical records

White House snow job
President repudiates employment forecast.

Iraq war is boon for Halliburton
McDonald's sells Happy Meals. Halliburton Co. sells invisible ones. The mammoth defense firm once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney has suspended outstanding food bills of $174.5 million until it can resolve an embarrassing dispute with the Pentagon.

Molly Ivins: We need to thank Dean for keeping democracy alive
AUSTIN, Texas — Oh boy, a close race in Wisconsin. This is swell! Go, Democrats. A few days ago, a Respected Party Elder advised me to stop dissing John Kerry on account of, "He will be our nominee." He may be "our nominee," but he'll still be a boring stiff. OK, sort of an impressive boring stiff.

Ralph Nader Announces Run for Presidency
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday he will run again for the presidency, declaring that Washington has become "corporate occupied territory" and arguing there is too little difference between the Democratic and Republican parties....
NADER NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR GORE'S LOSS
"BECAUSE OF THE CONTINUED SLANDER OF RALPH NADER by Democrats in deep denial, we went back and looked at the actual poll results in the last months of the 2000 campaign. The chart above shows the change in the average poll percentage from month to month. You will note that except between July and August during a period of minimal change, there was no correlation between Bush's percentage change and that of Nader.
From the Progressive Review 's Undernews July 2002:
A STUDY by the Progressive Review of national and Florida polls during the 2000 election indicates that Ralph Nader's influence on the final results was minimal to non-existent..."

'Unprincipled'? Unserious
Hypocrisy is the kindest word that comes to mind while watching the Bush-Cheney campaign's video attack on Democratic front-runner John Kerry. The unidentified female voice in the video - which is being distributed over the Internet - suggests that Kerry is beholden to special interests that have contributed to his campaign and labels the senator "unprincipled." That's a curious charge for George Bush and Dick Cheney to make.

2/18-16/04

Planners of march seek big turnout
NAACP, others want change for families
Organizers of a march on the Capitol that drew some 11,000 participants four years ago hope to recapture that enthusiasm and channel it to the polls come Election Day.
Black leaders call for protest on government policies

Racial remedy needs test
One Florida ruling prompts reform.

GOP offers a sugar pill instead of health care
Republicans continue to ignore a state need.

Tech agency may be history
Bush seeks bill to move offices to DMS
Gov. Jeb Bush is rethinking whether the State Technology Office, created with much fanfare five years ago, should continue to exist.

State finds new wrinkles as licensing deal unfolds
Last Tuesday's column was about how a big campaign contributor got a contract from Gov. Jeb Bush's administration. That contributor's company will have a role in keeping records on Florida's roughly 470,000 health care professionals.

Officials tout Miami on trade mission
Gov. Jeb Bush, Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty and a slew of business executives will end a trade mission to Central America today aimed at winning Miami the coveted headquarters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The lobbying trip, which brought the governor to three countries in four days, comes two weeks before the deadline for bids from cities that want to be "secretariat" for the FTAA.
Gov. Bush promotes trade in Nicaragua visit

Bankhead Out Of Time
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has a big mess on its hands, and Bill Bankhead, the man Gov. Jeb Bush appointed to lead the embattled agency, is in the hot seat, as well he should be.

Florida's prosecutors want a raise
State attorneys see loss of 'up-and-coming' lawyers
The state's top prosecutors Tuesday asked the Legislature for a $19 million boost to their budget this year, saying they need the extra bucks to recruit and retain top legal talent.

Bill prohibiting lists of gun owners moves forward in Senate

Vendors no longer required to register
Companies wishing to do business with the state will no longer legally be required to register on the state's online purchasing system, www.myfloridamarketplace.com .

Lawmakers work on changing citizen initiative process

Legislature: Future of end-of-life laws unclear

Much at stake
Walt Disney World may not have a "poison pill" strategy to thwart a hostile takeover bid. But state and local leaders definitely need a plan to protect this community if Disney's owners change.

Development is killing paradise
I know many people who are already turned off to the Florida experience due to the dizzying pace of development. It's very hard to have a peaceful day anywhere in Broward now. The constant din of construction equipment and smell of diesel fumes overpowers everything.

 Sitting on gold mines, we still feel oddly poor
I was driving on Dale Mabry Tuesday, making my way to work along with the rest of the rush-hour traffic, when I spotted a billboard. It advertised new condos with spectacular water views - what other kind could there be? - starting at $300,000 on Gandy Boulevard in St. Petersburg.
Starting at $300,000?

Everglades, Big Cypress unharmed in budget plan

Canker relief from courts
Citrus industry doesn't need any more threats.

No bid, no comment
More allegations of Halliburton overcharges.

Molly Ivins: Thank God for the humor-inducing election
AUSTIN, Texas — Anyone who is not enjoying American politics at this point is missing an important gene and a sense of humor. Whee, we're off! Like a dirty shirt, like a herd of turtles, it's the 2004 presidential campaign.

President vows to 'find jobs'
Hint: Try looking in New Delhi, not Detroit.

2/15-13/04

Cuts possible in Medicaid money for poor patients
Big trouble is brewing for hospitals and trauma centers across the country, all the way down to some community clinics that treat the poor. Hospitals that treat large numbers of the poor, trauma centers and some clinics for the needy chalk up major expenses that far outpace their reimbursement. Now, the financial savior that's enabled them to stay above water may soon be cut off.

State rules touch screen ballots out of recounts
TALLAHASSEE - The Department of State has notified elections supervisors that touch screen ballots don't have to be included during manual recounts because there is no question about how voters intended to vote.
Florida bans recounts of touch-screen ballots
State elections officials banned any attempt to recount votes cast on touch-screen voting machines Friday, reversing an earlier decision as counties prepare for the presidential primary less than a month away.
During the recount of January's close legislative election in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the state decided to leave it up to each county whether to print out images of each ballot from the voting machines.
Settle paper-trail issue
Palm Beach Post Editorial
By default, 2004 likely to be a paperless test.
Don't Rush The Printers
Palm Beach County commissioners should be suffering from buyer's remorse.

In an election year, Legislature likely headed for smooth session

Legislators get new gimmick to raise money
Every winter at about this time, Floridians experience a creeping onset of dread and despair. Darkness will soon be upon us. The Legislature is preparing to convene in Tallahassee.

A time when the lobbyists didn't rule
Former Gov. Reubin Askew got a standing ovation from journalists last week, and it underscores the adverse changes in Tallahassee over the past 30-plus years.

Term limits throw out more than lawmakers
When Floridians voted to limit the terms of various state officials to eight years, many opponents predicted it would hand over government to the legislative staff and lobbyist.
They were only half right.
A recent study of term limits across the nation indicates that legislative staffers are disappearing with the members who are forced out of office. That's true in Florida too. New legislative leaders have tossed out some of the most influential staffers and turned to new faces.

Power of the people
The voter initiative process is vital to democracy in our state, especially when Florida citizens are faced with an indifferent Legislature.

Access to public records examined
Survey of agencies in state finds violations
Judging from a recent statewide survey, getting public records in Florida isn't nearly as easy as the Sunshine Law intended. At least four out of every 10 public agencies imposed illegal restrictions in the test conducted last month by 30 Florida newspapers, including the Tallahassee Democrat. In Tallahassee, one city office, one school district office and one county office received lower marks, while the sheriff's office was rated "extremely" helpful. Many of the violations in the state were minor...
Access denied
Citizens must protect right to open records
Your ability to ask for and receive public information - from a school superintendent's latest performance evaluation to marriage licenses or certificates of military service - is a fundamental right in Florida.

Activists praise new DEP leader
Longtime Bush aide Colleen Castille will replace David Struhs. "Things just got better," says an environmentalist.
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush gave Florida's environmental activists an early Valentine Friday, appointing longtime aide Colleen Castille as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Things just got better," said David Guest of Earthjustice, a critic of departing DEP Secretary David Struhs. "You couldn't ask for a better pick."
Bush pick to lead environmental agency praised
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Colleen Castille is a 44-year-old hiker and outdoorswoman who now heads the Florida Department of Community Affairs.
Bush names aide head of state environmental agency

Everglades, state's preserves unharmed in budget recommendation
Two high-profile Florida conservation projects are set to get more or the same amount of federal money despite a large cut in President Bush's budget for the Environmental Protection Agency, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Bush says no to gun range suit immunity
It "isn't going to happen," he declares, despite legislative backing for a bill to shield ranges from lead pollution lawsuits.

One cop refused to 'play game' of stats
A note written last year by a BSO sergeant describes how officers are under pressure to downgrade crimes, not report crimes at all, or report crimes as cleared.
An internal memo typed by Shawn Enser, a Broward sheriff's sergeant who refused to ''play the game,'' was one catalyst for an investigation of whether Broward County's largest law enforcement agency has falsified crime statistics to make itself look good.

A place to call home
Gov. Jeb Bush and DCF Secretary Jerry Regier should do more to ensure enough funding to keep group homes for Florida's developmentally disabled in business
Dignity for the disabled
George Lane had to get out of his wheelchair and crawl up the stairs of a courthouse in Tennessee to reach a hearing on the second floor. Beverly Jones, a court reporter who is also in a wheelchair, had to turn away jobs in some of Tennessee's 23 counties that don't have handicapped-accessible courthouses. She once had to have a judge place her on a toilet because the courthouse didn't have an accessible bathroom.

Dream of dignity collides with reality
Being mentally ill is not a crime, but it can get you arrested. It can get you thrown in jail and keep you confined for months in a terrifying place that does nothing to improve your mental health. Once released, unless you're one of the lucky ones, you're likely to repeat that pattern again and again.

Quacks from high places
 TALLAHASSEE - Jeb Bush's father lost the presidency over a bad rap, the impression that he didn't know how ordinary people shopped. Marie Antoinette got a bad rap too, for which she lost more than a job.
But if there were a Marie Antoinette award for rulers who let themselves look out of touch when they should know better, Jeb Bush would already have a share of this year's prize locked down. You'd think he would have learned by his father's example.
Bush would share the prize with Senate President Jim King and other outwardly clueless legislators who are saying the same insensible thing about children and health insurance...

Florida groups brainstorm on marriage push
As Congress considers a bill that would give $240 million to promote marriage, hundreds of Florida social workers, community and church leaders meet to discuss how to spend it.

Victory For Entire State
Thanks to a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court, judges throughout the state can now order the Department of Children & Families to release records to the public.

Youth lockup chief to step down
George LaFlam becomes the second official to leave the Miami juvenile detention center in the fallout from the death of 17-year-old Omar Paisley.
Two days after a panel of furious lawmakers demanded his ouster, the head of Miami's embattled juvenile detention center resigned Friday -- the second agency official to lose his job since the death of Omar Paisley.
Miami juvenile prison head resigns in wake of teen's death

New plan in works for girls' prison
State and local juvenile justice officials huddled in Tallahassee Friday to come up with an emergency plan for Florida's only maximum-security prison for girls, under the expectation it soon would have to yank a $15 million contract from the company running the prison.
State plans to terminate contract for girls prison

Class size criticism has reached an impasse
Many House and Senate leaders are saying the Legislature will not overturn the voter-approved amendment, at least for now.

Lawmaker: Class size ballot measure unlikely until '06

Poor families face day-care cutbacks in Florida
Agencies across Florida that provide reduced-cost day care for the poor are projecting sizable deficits, forcing them to no longer serve thousands of children.

City board urges ban on homeless services
The city of Orlando's development department, charged with bringing new businesses downtown, is quietly lobbying for measures that would ban outdoor feeding programs and additional agencies serving the homeless from the city's core business districtNo Roof For My Head
TAMPA - They eat in soup kitchens and bathe in the Hillsborough River. At night, they curl up on dry patches of asphalt outside The Salvation Army or beneath Interstate 275.
For the estimated 8,000 homeless people in Hillsborough County, life is finding the next shower, the next meal, the next bed.
It's a life most of us never imagine for ourselves. We see a man holding a cardboard sign and avoid eye contact. We are disgusted by the stench from a storefront turned makeshift bathroom.
Yet evidence shows a job loss, divorce, illness or abuse can put anyone on the street...

Lost citrus trees' value now issue
A Supreme Court ruling opening the way to litigation could cost the state billions, says a foe of the citrus canker war.
Trees can be cut in canker war
In a sweeping victory for the citrus industry, Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the controversial law that allows state canker-eradication crews on to homeowners' properties to destroy seemingly healthy trees.
Smart canker ruling
A unanimous decision by Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday allows the state to resume its controversial citrus-canker eradication program. It's about time.
State Supreme Court upholds canker eradication program
The Florida Supreme Court backed the state's citrus canker eradication program Thursday, a ruling that probably will mean more chain saw-wielding workers cutting down orange trees in South Florida yards in coming months.
Compensation in canker case may rest on 40 words in decision

FPL: Pay us an extra $9.75 a month and we'll burn cleaner fuel
Florida Power & Light Co. on Thursday launched a green power program to allow customers to pay an extra $9.75 a month to support clean sources of energy such as solar or wind.

Appeals court rules in favor of Bush, Schiavo's parents

Bush leads trade mission to Central America

Antiabortion militant pleads guilty in plot to bomb clinics
For the first time, Stephen John Jordi, an evangelical Christian from Coconut Creek, admits making plans to pursue a firebombing terror campaign against abortion clinics, gay bars and churches.
A former Army Ranger inspired by antiabortion activists pleaded guilty Friday to devising a plot to blow up abortion clinics and gay bars nationwide.

Taking gay rights personally
Perhaps most other Americans are more rational than I am. You see, I tend to take most things personally, even the musty, abstract philosophical ideas, such as eschatology and positivism, that I studied in college.
So, then, although I am not gay and cannot imagine myself engaging in a homosexual act, I am personally, along with intellectually, offended by the current outbreak of homophobia surrounding the gay marriage issue.
This outbreak is driven by, among other things, raw hatred, ignorance, illogicality, irrational fear and, alas, crass election-year politics....
Florida same-sex couples declined marriage applications

Merger Could Hurt State
Mickey Mouse, the most valuable rodent in history, demonstrated his worth Wednesday when cable giant Comcast bid $54 billion for the Walt Disney Co. Investors are intrigued by the offer: Disney's stock rose almost 15 percent as word scurried from Fantasyland to Wall Street.

S. Florida charities criticized for improperly loaning money to execs
Officers, directors and employees of a handful of South Florida charities owed their organizations a total of more than $400,000 between 1998 and 2002, a practice some nonprofit experts say is unethical and may be in violation of a rarely enforced state law.

Head off Haiti disaster
Florida lawmakers have two good ideas.
Haitian-Americans urge pause on deportations to troubled nation

U.S. officials seize thousands of illegal roses in Miami
MIAMI Ñ U.S. border authorities have seized thousands of roses imported from Colombia and Ecuador that were grown or distributed without royalties or other fees being paid on brands with trademarks, officials said.

Stack of president's military service files doesn't sway Democrats
Hundreds of pages of documents that the White House said comprise President Bush's entire military record offer no new answers to the election-year questions that have swirled around his Vietnam-era service.
Bush records shed no new light
By Bob Dart and Bob Deans, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
New Air National Guard documents fail to substantiate claims about his service in Alabama in 1972-73.
Why no witnesses to vouch for Lt. Bush?
One would think someone would remember him.
Evidence on Bush adds up to AWOL
The deluge of letters and e-mail prompted by a recent column demands another look: Did George Bush go AWOL? Reacting to my recital of evidence that Lt. Bush didn't show up for a big chunk of his National Guard duty in Alabama and Texas, from May 1972 to May 1973, outraged readers pounced.

Do You Get A Purple Heart For Flossing?
If there is a change in residents next year at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the punditry thumb-sucking class may well point to the incumbent's appearance on ``Meet The Press'' last week as the beginning of the end, the point when the body politic realized - ``Jeepers!'' - Dagwood Bumstead has been running the country....

Mr. President, if I may have a moment of your time?
 Dear Mr. President,
Hello and welcome to Tampa Bay! All politics aside, it is always kind of neat when a president visits. This afternoon, some local folks are going to haul a big statue of you across a bridge over the bay, depicting you with your pants on fire, but I hope you will take that as a sort of, you know, parade in your honor.
Now, they say that you don't read newspapers, but I am hoping you might accidentally see the local rag while you're in town. (If you don't mind me saying, sir, it is really a bad idea not to read newspapers for yourself. I wish at least that you'd pose with a newspaper now and then, just to set a good example for the kids, you know.)...

British whistle-blower faces prison for exposing U.N. spy efforts
Friends of liberty, raise hell! To the barricades, or at least to the post office and the e-mails. A British citizen named Katharine Gun faces two years in prison for revealing that the U.S. National Security Agency tried - and succeeded - in getting the Brits to help us with illegal spying operations at the United Nations. The targets were the delegations of the six countries on the U.N. Security Council that were undecided on how to vote on the critical Iraqi war resolution.

Rumsfeld announces Guantanamo review panel
An administrative panel will annually review the cases of inmates at the U.S. military jail in Cuba, to ensure that none is held any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Castro recites from a published compilation of Bush malapropisms
HAVANA -- America's economy hangs by a thread while Cuba -- after four decades under a U.S. economic blockade -- continues to offer free health care and boasts an infant mortality rate lower than its northern neighbor, President Fidel Castro asserted early Saturday.

2/12-6/04

Judge rejects lawsuit for printers to record votes in Palm Beach County
A Palm Beach County judge dismissed U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's lawsuit against county Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore and Secretary of State Glenda Hood on Wednesday, handing a temporary setback to the congressman's efforts to get printers for the state's touch-screen voting machines
Wexler lawsuit over elections 'paper trail' dismissed
A circuit judge ruled that the issue is one belonging to state lawmakers and elections officials and that the congressman has no legal standing to pursue it.

Deceit surplus, honesty deficit
Count on numbers, not on Bush's promises.

Nonrecurring money keeps coming in
TALLAHASSEE - The Legislature's budget battles this year won't make much sense to the public. Money will be plentiful enough, compared to last year, to rule out another Senate freeze on "member projects," the favored synonym for "turkeys" or "pork." So you'll probably see some water and sewer projects, playgrounds and other local imperatives creeping back into the budget even as schools and health agencies continue to get less than they say they need.
There's an explanation, but it's so arcane that none of the budgeteers relishes trying to explain it to the public.
"Our cup runneth over with money," said one, "but it's all nonrecurring."

Of Byrd and ostrich
The poorest 20 percent of Floridians pay state taxes at five times the rate of the richest 1 percent. But if you ask House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, "nothing's broken."

Report says many Fla. families struggle to afford college tuition
TALLAHASSEE ? Tuition at Florida's public universities is often called the best bargain in the state, but higher education may still not be affordable for many Florida families, according to a new state report.

Abuse of state vouchers reaches criminal stage
Education Department trying to save face.

Guns don't kill; records do?
Bill to restrict pawnshop record-keeping is folly.

Deeming waiting list a bother, Republicans plan to discard it
TALLAHASSEE - For weeks, Democrats have urged Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative leaders to eliminate a waiting list for a popular children's health insurance program.
Senate Republicans want to do just that, but not the way Democrats had hoped.
Under a plan to be unveiled today, the state no longer would maintain a waiting list for the Healthy Kids program. Children who can't enroll would simply try again later.
Don't shut them out
Instead of covering uninsured children, Republican leaders want to cover up the problem. Their plan to chuck the Healthy Kids waiting list - by eliminating the numbers, not the need - is a cynical ploy that stands to benefit state politicians, not Florida's kids.
Legislature 2004: GOP aims to end KidCare wait list, tighten eligibility rules

Concern is not enough
Call it a crisis mentality, Band-Aid approach or short attention span. Whatever its label, Florida lawmakers often display it - a tendency to do just enough to stem the crisis of the day, without resolving the core problems that make those crises recur. That's nowhere more true than in child welfare. A new governmental report suggests - as many have in the past - that lawmakers need a broader, more comprehensive strategy if they want to make significant inroads against child abuse.

High court: Public can request DCF records in county courts

Lawsuit challenges FTAA protest arrest ordinances

Tobacco whistleblower says state misspending settlement money

Former FDLE commissioner typifies culture  of capital
Tallahassee's insider game is seen in Tim Moore, who's now a lobbyist, paid to try to win a contract he helped create.

Medicare for lobbyists
Tauzin leaves Congress for improved 'benefits.'

A continuing education in political ties that bind
This is interesting. The state has hired a private company in Jacksonville to track the "continuing education" classes that Florida requires of doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
It's a contract worth millions. It therefore is worth looking at how the company won it from Gov. Jeb Bush's administration, after the Legislature passed a law creating the job.

On the record
Our public records law allows Floridians to know what government officials are up to. A recent audit, however, shows that not all government offices think the law applies to them.

A degree of dishonesty
A man who stretches the truth on a job application is a bad choice to head the DEP.
Gov. Bush has provided a dead-on assessment of a favorite candidate to replace the state's top environmental regulator, David Struhs. Mr. Struhs is leaving to take a job with a polluter for whom he cut a special deal for a low-interest government loan.
Kirby B. Green III, who wants to replace Mr. Struhs as Department of Environmental Protection secretary, this week was in the spotlight to explain false information on his job application.

Ex-lawmaker in mix for top DEP job
Former Pinellas County Sen. Curt Kiser is among the candidates to replace David Struhs as leader of Florida's environmental agency.

Lawmakers demand action against detention workers
As federal prosecutors monitor their progress, legislators begin reviewing a grand jury report on the death of a teen in a Miami-Dade lockup.
Eight months after Omar Paisley died in a state-run Miami-Dade youth lockup, a committee of infuriated lawmakers demanded Wednesday that Florida's beleaguered juvenile justice chief suspend or fire workers who contributed to the detention center's culture of neglect.
`Utter lack of humanity' killed Paisley
DJJ's conduct `outrageous' The prolonged, pain-racked death of young Omar Paisley is like a tale from the old Soviet gulags. That it happened only last year at the Miami-Dade Regional Juvenile Detention Center is an atrocity, and a heinous stain on Florida's justice system.

Hunger strike at Florida State Prison ends

Look 100 years into Franklin County's future
The St. Joe Co. tonight will unveil a proposed plan that could guide development of its landholdings in eastern Franklin County for the rest of the century.

Georgia wins out in water fight
Federal judge gives state go-ahead to take water from Lake Lanier
A federal judge has ruled in favor of Georgia on a proposed plan to withdraw water from Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River for North Georgia cities.

Everglades restoration escapes Army Corps cutbacks
Funding cuts and delays in Everglades restoration that loomed large last week seemed to disappear this week with a pledge from the Army Corps of Engineers that it would keep the environmental project moving.
Glades renewal is put back on track
Upon further review, the federal agency in charge of Everglades restoration says it won't slow or cut projects as part of a nationwide cutback.
Just a week after the Army Corps of Engineers said it would slow or postpone several Everglades restoration projects as part of a nationwide cutback, the agency has done a sharp about-face.
Report: Everglades phosphorus lessened
An annual report on the progress of the massive Everglades cleanup project applauded the state for adopting a strict standard for water phosphorus levels in 2003, but one environmentalist said the state won't meet its goals until it tightens restrictions on farms.

That wasted $5-million? Just blame the mussels
Let's say that one of the mayors around here - maybe Rick Baker in St. Petersburg, or Pam Iorio in Tampa, or Brian Aungst in Clearwater - had cooked up a scheme that cost $110-million, was running years behind schedule and had suffered lots bankruptcies and setbacks along the way.
$5-million 'hiccup'
Tampa Bay Water did the right thing by buying out the contractor of its desalination plant. Now the utility has only itself to blame should more problems arise.
Tampa Bay Water pays desalination plant builder $5 million to go

For fee, FPL to use green power
FPL's customers will soon have an option to buy clean 'green' power but only if they're willing to pay a small monthly fee.

More meters to gauge airplane noise
In the latest attempt to shield homeowners from excessive noise generated by planes flying to and from the airport, Davie will get new noise meters from Broward County.
As communities next to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International grapple with explosive, continuous growth at the nation's fastest-growing major airport, many local officials have focused their attention on another scourge: insufferable airplane noise.

Court upholds rejection of fetal guardian
Howard Simon never thought a controversial guardianship case was about one unborn child.
Instead, Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the request to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a mentally disabled rape victim was an effort by Gov. Jeb Bush to dismantle abortion rights.
Legislature 2004: Senate president regrets vote keeping Schiavo alive
Tread Lightly, Sen. King
Senate President Jim King is having second thoughts about his support for the Terry Schiavo bill. This week, he said he regrets having succumbed to political pressure last year and voting for the bill

Governor: Sarasota girl's alleged killer should have been in jail

Bush names education activist to state board
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush named a Fort Myers woman to the state Board of Education, filling a vacancy that opened last fall when former aide Sally Bradshaw resigned.

Senator backs away from virtual schools
By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
State Senate President Jim King said the $4.8 million in the Senate budget that is dedicated to the schools will not be renewed.

Judge: Bush's plan is biased
The governor will rework One Florida's contract provisions after a ruling that they aren't neutral on race, ethnicity and gender.
Judge: Florida's race-based contract awards are unconstitutional

Central Florida nervous over possible Disney deal
This isn't the first time Floridians have been faced with news that someone could own Disney other than Disney. In 1983, 12 years after Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, corporate raiders led two attempted leveraged buyouts.

U.S. denies visa to Cuban minister for black history visit

Salvation Army probation contracts questioned in Panhandle

Arab Americans grill Florida political party leaders

Random acts in the city that never sleeps
NEW YORK - In this city that never sleeps, surprises pop up in some of the most mundane and pedestrian situations.
I saw what can happen when technology that is taken for granted fails busy New Yorkers.

Comcast Makes Unsolicited Bid For Disney

Orlando reacts with uncertainty, glee over proposed Disney sale

Bush service documents released
The White House released more documents to support President Bush's service in the Alabama Air National Guard, while several members of the unit said they don't remember ever seeing Bush at their base.

The bikini budget
President Bush's 2005 budget is reminiscent of that old saw about the bikini: What it reveals is interesting but what it conceals is vital. Because of White House obfuscation, only now, more than a week after the budget's unveiling, are analysts beginning to sort out its real costs.

Intelligence reforms get short shrift
Graham frustrated by Bush's indifference.

Bush takes evasive action on direct Iraq questions
Still trying to define 'mission accomplished.'

Molly Ivins: Rewriting the history of the second Gulf War
AUSTIN, Texas ? Just for the record, since the record is in considerable peril. These are Orwellian days, my friends, as the Bush administration attempts to either shove the history of the second Gulf War down the memory hole or to rewrite it entirely. Keeping a firm grip on actual historical fact, all of it easily within our imperfect memories, is not that easy amid the swirling storms of misinformation, misremembering and misstatement. But since the war itself stands as a monument to what happens when we let ourselves get stampeded by a chorus of disinformation, let's draw the line right now.
According to the 500-man American team that spent hundreds of millions of dollars looking for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, there aren't any and have not been any since 1991.

2/5-4/04

Miami police expected to praise themselves in report on free trade demonstrations
When the Miami Police Department's top brass presents its review today of the agency's work during the demonstrations surrounding the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting last November, the public will likely hear a glowing report.

Struhs sold out Florida to cash in for himself
Hired by the polluter he helped to bail out.

State technology officer quits job
TALLAHASSEE - The official Gov. Jeb Bush hired to implement his vision of a single technology system resigned Wednesday, ending a 21/2-year tenure marked by a surge toward privatization and questions about lucrative contracts.
State loses another top official
Florida Chief Information Officer Kim Bahrami announced her resignation Wednesday. She is the third top official in Gov. Jeb Bush's administration to resign in a month...
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs announced his resignation last week to take a position with International Paper. The head of the state Agency for Health Care Administration, Dr. Rhonda Medows, resigned Jan. 14 to spend more time with her family.

Ex-parole chief enters plea
Former Florida Parole Commission Chairman Jimmie Henry pleaded no contest Wednesday to 109 felony and misdemeanor counts of cheating on his state expense accounts and time sheets.

An unfair share
While most Florida corporations take advantage of loopholes that allow them to avoid business taxes, the responsible few do more than their part.

Open communication critical for Scripps deal
Openness remains key, notably on Vavrus land.

Prescription drug fees are halted after uproar
TALLAHASSEE - Just a day after its inception, the state has ended a new program that forced private pharmacists to decide whether poor and medically needy patients should pay fees for prescriptions that have been free.

North Broward Hospital District to cut mental drugs for poor
Perhaps 1,000 county residents could be left with no way to pay for psychiatric drugs as the North Broward Hospital District decides to cut a program for indigents with chronic mental illness.
In a cost-cutting move, the North Broward Hospital District next month will stop paying for psychiatric drugs for impoverished Broward residents with chronic and severe mental illness, leaving perhaps 1,000 clients at risk of losing a critical safety net.

Case highlights snags in elder guardianship
A philanthropist's half-sister runs her life for 60 days before the Boca Raton widow regains control, raising questions about the process of guardianship

Some S. Florida seniors lose Alzheimer's drug coverage in HMO changes
A small pill once a day can give Alzheimer's patients such as Margaret Sause precious extra months, or maybe years, to spend with the people who love them until the disease takes their ability to even remember their names.
But some managed health care plans serving South Florida seniors stopped reimbursing for brand-name drugs last month, switching to generics only. That leaves Alzheimer's patients such as Sause, 68, without coverage for the medications that can stall progress of the devastating disease.
There are no generic drugs to treat Alzheimer's.

Advocates, Democrats criticize proposed tax cuts

Big enough government
TALLAHASSEE - It takes bad news sometimes to remind us that we need government more than it needs us.
Experts say mad cow likely has spread in U.S. cattle
There is a 'high probability' that more American cattle are infected than the one found late last year, an international panel of experts says.

Bush joins push for disclosure of funding
The governor and two top lawmakers want legislation to prevent lawmakers from hiding contributions to fundraising groups.
Bush seeks to unveil donors
Lawmakers' political funds at issue
Gov. Jeb Bush and the incoming legislative leadership want state lawmakers to disclose who donates to their political funds and how they spend the money in climbing their way to the top of the Capitol's power structure.
Governor backs law to identify donors

Bush again seeks bill to create drug database

Cut Off the Pipeline
It looks like the Florida Legislature might get serious this year about cracking down hard on doctors who abuse the Medicaid system by over prescribing prescription drugs for the poor.

House bill would make it harder to end life of incapacitated

Fasano wants flag in every classroom
TALLAHASSEE - Every Florida public classroom would have to display an American flag under a bill a state Senate panel unanimously approved Wednesday.

Universities' student leaders skeptical of technology fee proposal

Playing catch-up in education
In proposing to give community colleges $104.5-million more to spend next year, Gov. Jeb Bush acknowledged the colleges have been left, even in good times, with budgetary "crumbs."

On campus, grim statistics for African-American men
 African-Americans should be afraid - very afraid.
We have many reasons to be afraid, but two that should cause the most alarm are the low number of black men in college and the low number of black men who are graduating from college.

State begins grounding wildfire fighting equipment

State to investigate deaths of 60 pelicans near Jacksonville

President's budget cuts threaten Lee beach projects
A proposed 25 percent cut in funding for beach and shoreline projects in President Bush's budget is threatening at least three Lee County projects and could have an impact on future projects in Collier County as well. The president's proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes $63.7 million for shore protection projects and studies, a 25.6 percent reduction from this fiscal year.

Canker workers stole fruit, violated quarantine rules, official says
CAPE CORAL -- Agriculture officials fired two state workers who violated citrus canker quarantine rules and fined a contracted cutting crew because another two workers stole fruit.

First business court in Florida opens in Orlando

State cites farm labor contractors
The violations at local groves include lack of field sanitation and transportation deficiencies.

Key West pitches tents
KEY WEST - A city that has long grappled with how to manage its growing homeless population is considering a new plan: giving them someplace to live.

Southerners dwindling in the New South
The South is many things, some based in reality and some of the imagination.

The debt that sank America
As Uncle Leo recalled, 'All hell broke loose.'

Political war games
White House wants to control Iraq probe.
Make intelligence probe credible
Now that President George W. Bush has bowed to pressure for an independent investigation of U.S. intelligence failures in Iraq, that investigation needs to be as thorough and credible as possible.
Reversal Of Stance Proper
The United States marched to war against Iraq with the stated goal of ridding the world of a dangerous regime that possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Bush agrees to more time for Sept. 11 panel
President Bush reverses himself and agrees to support a two-month extension of the deadline for the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks

2/3-2/04

Legislature: Lawmakers begin talking about changes to citizen initiatives

If vote trail is on paper, how will trail be clear?
Hanging questions for Palm Beach County.

Toll of 2000 election turmoil: Big turnover for top election administrators

Carrier raises rates on malpractice coverage
A medical malpractice insurance carrier is raising its 2004 rates for Florida doctors by an average of 45 percent.

Decision Merits Further Appeal
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Florida's law prohibiting gays and lesbians from adopting children, saying the issue is one for legislators to decide, not judges.

Rite of peace marks massacre at Rosewood
There are few vestiges of the settlement that vanished when residents had to flee 81 years ago.

Governor Needs To Get New Pal For Liar's Poker
Oh, c'mon now, why all the fuss?
After all, if outgoing Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs gave a possum's patootie about appearances, the Ichetucknee River wouldn't be in the process of being turned into a sluice gate for the Suwanee American Cement Co.

Pelicans being treated at bird sanctuary - chemical in St Johns river

Panthers may be moving north
Some experts think female cats should be moved to help establish a colony in Central Florida.

Rural no more as suburbs bloom
Fast growth and expensive homes force country folks out of western communities.

No water wars this year
Floridians hated the idea, for good reason.

One day before scheduled execution, inmate challenges method used

Inmate hunger strikers claim denial of rights

DCF months behind in reviews of child deaths

DCF plans to merge south, central Florida districts
Jerry Regier, secretary of the state Department of Children & Families, has approved a major restructuring of the department's district offices.
Under the plan, 350 to 410 administrative jobs will be cut, according to a report of the task force set up to consider the consolidation of 14 regional offices into six "zones."

Officials hoping to tame the tags
Having so many specialty plates - 88 in all - can be a hardship for police officers. One lawmaker hopes to cap the number.

Ricin Find Stops Most Senate Business
A white powder found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office tested today as an "active" form of the deadly poison ricin, forcing cancellation of most Senate business in the second such scare from a lethal toxin to hit the capital.

Bonnie Erbe: Raucous right-wing rebellion
Do you hear that giant rumbling sound shaking terra firma from America's beloved heartland to Washington's much-despised innards (a.k.a., the inside of the Washington Beltway)? That rumbling sound is the raucous right-wing rebellion. It's just getting started.

Bush's budget hikes Everglades spending
Everglades spending would increase next year by nearly 8 percent under the budget President Bush sent to Congress Monday.
Budgets of mass destruction
It should be clear to all by now that what we have in the Bush team is a faith-based administration. It launched a faith-based war in Iraq, on the basis of faith-based intelligence, with a faith-based plan for Iraqi reconstruction, supported by faith-based tax cuts to generate faith-based revenues. This group believes that what matters in politics and economics are conviction and will -- not facts, social science or history.
Reassessment Is In Order
President Bush on Monday sent to Congress a $2.4 trillion budget for the next fiscal year, which will be about $414 billion more than what the federal government will be collecting in tax revenue.
State Democrats wary of president's cuts
Big Bend Congressman Allen Boyd said Monday that "bipartisan cooperation" is needed in Washington to cut the federal deficit, but Rep. Ander Crenshaw predicted that economic growth will help President Bush reduce red ink.

Danger of imperious presidency
World knows Bush like the back of his hand.

Intelligence on the eve of war
David Kay, the former weapons inspector, gave the Bush administration some insulation last week against charges that it coerced or manipulated the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify an invasion.

Miscalculation or outright lie?
When President Bush is asked whether he regrets attacking Iraq on what now turns out to have been bad information, he always answers to the effect that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power.

Molly Ivins: When you are in a hole, stop digging
AUSTIN — Let's focus the mind on what really matters. Heat, water, ozone and all that. Two excellent books address disparate aspects of man's folly concerning water, but before we even plunge into those H2Os, let's take a look at a larger debate about environmental debates in general.

Molly Ivins: An American watching in London
LONDON — In a way, it was heartbreaking to watch the Mother of Parliaments deal with half of a particularly nasty problem in an impressive way. It was sad and depressing for an American because the United States seems so unable even to begin to address the first half of the same problem — how and why were we so badly misled about the reasons for going to war with Iraq. Did our leaders lie to us, knowingly distort or exaggerate? Or was their own intelligence that bad, and if so, why? And why isn't something being done about it.

2/1/04 (to January 30)

Leave-taking: DEP chief's dealmaking, judge's denial
 Okay, so it was not exactly a shock that David Struhs, the lightning rod environmental chief under Gov. Jeb Bush, is quitting to go to work for International Paper Co.
Here is what would have been a surprise: "Bush Enviro Chief Quits, Joins Greenpeace."
Pulp nonfiction
 The story line sounds like something right out of a Carl Hiaasen novel, except that David Struhs has beaten the irreverent Florida author to the punch. It goes like this: Florida's top environmental regulator helps bail out a major pulp mill that is pouring gunk into Panhandle waters and then sneaks off to Memphis to become the company's vice president.
This one, though, is all too real.
Bush, paper company defend Struhs on new job

Hey, what's up with my overtime!
Many skilled and semiskilled white-collar workers could soon lose their legal rights to overtime pay in a major reworking of the nation's wage-and-hour rules.

Unemployment checks sent to inmates, dead
Dozens of dead and incarcerated Floridians have received unemployment checks over the past two years because of computer problems in the agency that processes the payments.

End delay on KidCare
No reason for the state to wait until March.

Juvenile Justice secretary urged to resign
A chorus of black state legislators on Friday added their voices to those calling for the resignation of Bill Bankhead, the embattled secretary of the state's Department of Juvenile Justice.
Top juvenile official tries to deflect criticism for teen's death