Security Tight for Space Shuttle and First Israeli Astronaut
By WARREN E. LEARY (NYT)
The space shuttle Columbia is poised to take off this week on one of the most politically delicate missions in the space program's history.

Bush address provokes an ideological debate
Shifting from policy wonk to preacher with a blunt rebuke of government's role, Gov. Jeb Bush used his second-term inaugural address last week to spark a fundamental debate in Florida politics that could define his legacy as much as any new program or initiative. 

Reno doesn't rule out a bid for U.S. Senate if seat is open
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters after she lost a bid for governor last year that she was done with politics.

Budget savior seen in trust funds
GOP leaders who don't want to raise taxes propose raiding the hundreds of fiscal cubbyholes created for specific purposes.

New year heralds in beginning of 'part-time legislature'
TALLAHASSEE — Article III of Florida's Constitution is clear. Legislators will meet in regular session for 60 days a year to do the state's business. The implication of it is also clear, it's supposed to be a part-time thing. Tell that to the current class of 2003, which began the New Year last week by heralding in a Republican incumbent and ended it by entering the thicket of controversy and competing interests surrounding medical costs and liability. 

New pension plan favored by just a few
For good reasons - namely, the economy and skepticism of an aging, shrinking work force - the state's new pension investment plan is off to a slow start.

DCF official's raise appropriate?
By Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Richard Collura, supervisor of a case of a beating fatality, got a 20 percent raise a month later. 

Former officer publishes book about speed trap town
WALDO — As a former police officer who patrolled the streets and highways of this small north Florida town, Chris Kirkland writes from firsthand experience about what it was like to be on the front lines of a speed trap. In his self-published book about Waldo, a small town about 15 miles north of Gainesville dubbed one of the worst speed traps in the United States, Kirkland claims officers used ticket quotas, speed traps, and coercion to generate more money for the town.

Developer wants to relocate eagles
A pair of bald eagles might have to fake it to keep nesting in a northern Collier County neighborhood. Signature Communities has plans to build a string of five high-rise condominiums with 590 units that would overrun the eagles' real nest tree overlooking a mangrove-lined shore northeast of Wiggins Pass. In return for permission to run off the eagles, a threatened species, the developer is proposing to build an artificial pine tree to give the eagles a place to set up house about a mile away and out of the way of development

Searching for cancer cures at the bottom of the Atlantic and the Caribbean
FORT PIERCE — Scientists plunging to deep corners of the ocean are finding rare sponges that they hope, against astronomical odds, could lead them to a cure for cancer or other diseases. Researchers at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution pull hundreds of new specimens from the sea every year, hoping at least one of them will be tougher than the cancer cells they carefully grow in a laboratory. The team journeys to polluted and pristine waters throughout the year to collect sea life from a submarine with mechanical claws and arms, pulling in bunches of orange, yellow and brown sponges that have developed their own systems of self protection.

Teacher may be fired for condom demonstration
Health teacher Colin Nicholas instructed students how to put a condom on a banana and may lose his job. He was told condoms have no place inside Collier County public schools. He was told he showed poor judgment. He was told he no longer could teach at Gulf Coast High School.

The war against women
Running for the White House in the fall of 2000, George W. Bush did not talk about ending the right to abortion. To avoid scaring off moderate voters, he promoted a larger "reverence for life" agenda that also included adoption and tougher drunken driving laws. Voters were encouraged to believe that while Bush was anti-choice, he was not out to reverse Roe vs. Wade. 

Bush's tax cut seems like a reflex
I don't quite get the president's new economic package. I dare say you don't either, but that's another matter. I get part of it, of course. I understand the argument that collecting an income tax on dividends amounts to double taxation. The company you're invested in pays income tax on its profits and then, when those profits are distributed to shareholders as dividends, they're taxed again.

1/9-12/03

Watch what Jeb does, not what he says
Gov. Bush took his second oath of office Tuesday and vowed to make "government less necessary." You wonder whether he has a sense of irony...

It will be piety vs. gambling in Tallahassee
The Republican Party is known for its stern opposition to sin, vice and lust in the lives of private citizens, though more flexible standards are applied in the halls of government.

A climate where hard questions can't grow
We're having a little environmental control problem in Tallahassee these days.
The governor and other public officials we see every day want to control their environment by determining when -- and sometimes which -- reporters will be allowed to see and hear what they are doing.
The governor's staff says they want "a controlled environment," so they strictly limited access to Bush for a recent round of interviews looking ahead to the new year. ...
Too many secrets
The Bush administration is keeping far too much information closed. 
Open government has been a bedrock principle of American democracy since Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "governments derive their just powers from the informed consent of the governed."
In 1966, that principle was enshrined in the federal Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA declared government information, except in a few categories, open to the public. In signing the act, President Lyndon Johnson expressed his "deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people's right to know is cherished and guarded."
But that right has been under siege during President George W. Bush's administration. Consider:...  (....must be Bush family tradition)
Bush's power has new heights
A /new era began Tuesday, and Gov. Jeb Bush is now the mightiest governor in Florida history. Bush's inauguration was historic for more than the fact that he is the first Republican governor ever to win re-election. It also ushered in a smaller Cabinet and signified the culmination of almost a decade of changes to the structure of state government.

A missed opportunity
Our position: Gov. Bush's inaugural address failed to set forth a vision for his term.
Where's the vision?
Floridians can't help but wonder after hearing Gov. Jeb Bush's inaugural address Tuesday. Generally, politicians seize such an opportunity to lay out lofty ideals for their coming years in office. The governor, though, spent most of his time waxing poetic about strong families, friends and personal responsibility.
Certainly, those are noble aspirations. But what is the legacy the governor hopes to leave after eight years in office? "The human heart" and "kindness and caring" -- Mr. Bush's apparent answer to less taxes and a leaner government -- cannot be forced upon a populace.
It is government's responsibility, after all, to provide a safety net for those most in need, to be competitive in the global marketplace, to protect natural resources and to finance basic services...

Does Bush have the right to name Brogan successor?
For weeks, reporters have dutifully asked Gov. Jeb Bush whom he might appoint to replace his lieutenant governor, Frank Brogan, when Brogan leaves to become a university president.

Scratch-offs projected to overtake Florida Lotto
By S.V. Date, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Although sales of the tickets are increasingly radically, the benefit to education will be far less dramatic. ...
That's because Bush and lawmakers last spring gave the lottery the ability to increase the percentage of instant ticket sales that return to players as prizes while reducing the cut going to education. Lottery officials successfully argued that the increased volume of instant ticket sales would result in more money for education: about $30 million this year and $57 million next.
Those projections, however, included a $20 million math error that was not caught until the bill was unanimously passed in both chambers and signed by Bush into law....

Free speech takes a hit in our nation's newsrooms
Bill Cotterell is back at work at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Lemmings: not extinct enough
I'd like to see more connect-the-dots thinking and sure hope that Florida teachers are working this into their high-stakes testing preparations.
Connecting the dots means drawing your own mental pictures of what's going on in the world around you. And it's altogether different from those dot-to-dot games where the picture is already drawn and all you do is take the journey to finding out what it is.
Drawing Your Own Conclusions 101 is the class too many Americans are skipping. The result is runaway groupthink - or, what my friend Sonny "The Roundman" Branch describes as the "70-percent-plus lemming-sheepal factor."
Here at the newspaper we've been bombarded for more than two weeks by bastions of groupthink. It's arrived in the form of close to 15,000 e-mails from people who were urged by a national Islamic-American organization to protest three grievances: a pointed editorial cartoon by Doug Marlette; an intemperate private e-mail from political writer Bill Cotterell (to a recipient who, by the way, forwarded it around the world without his knowledge or permission); and a blunt syndicated column by Kathleen Parker...

Indian mascot debate resurfaces
A group would like all Florida schools to do what Seminole Middle has done. The Pinellas School Board head will revisit the issue.

New prisons chief from the ranks
James V. Crosby Jr. spent 27 years in corrections without being snagged by scandals.

Panhandle congressman: jobless aid counterproductive
FORT WALTON BEACH — U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, one of only four congressmen who voted against extending federal unemployment benefits, says such aid is counterproductive and may discourage people from seeking work. ...

Election 2004: Graham, pondering presidential bid, meets with Warren Buffett
MIAMI — Florida Sen. Bob Graham met with billionaire investor Warren Buffett Thursday in Washington in the latest step in his exploration of a possible presidential bid.
Graham has said he is seriously considering entering the Democratic field to challenge President Bush in 2004. The three-term senator has said he could announce his decision later this month. ...
Graham upbeat about running
Blurting that ''I am going to be the next president of the United States,'' U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said Saturday that he has begun building a political team to put him in the White House. 

Legislature: Medicaid costs run-ups may mean more cuts
TALLAHASSEE — The state will have to consider cutting Medicaid benefits and shrinking the number of people eligible for the health-care program for the poor as it grapples with skyrocketing medical costs and a budget deficit, Senate President Jim King said Thursday. ...
Legislature: Democrats propose prescription discount program
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Democrats proposed a prescription drug program Thursday that would require discounts for more people than are presently eligible for the state's health care program for the poor.
But with Democrats heavily outnumbered in both chambers of the Legislature and the program likely to be opposed by some drug makers, chances for the plan look slim. ...
Republicans toss Democrats to the state Capitol towers
TALLAHASSEE -- As places of punishment go, the tower of Florida's Capitol is not exactly the old Tower of London. The view is better, for one thing. Better yet, everybody comes out alive. Still, it is definitely not where most members of the House of Representatives prefer their offices to be.

Bush picks private sector attorney to oversee agency
TALLAHASSEE — Tallahassee attorney Diane Carr, who specializes in administrative law, was named Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush as the new secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Carr will head the agency responsible for licensing and regulating about 20 professions and eight industries. She has represented some of those industries in her current job as a private attorney. ...

Bush: DCF will not get all of what new secretary wants
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush said he will seek a budget that will raise social service workers' salaries, but he will not recommend the state hire as many child welfare case workers as his new Department of Children & Families secretary is seeking. ...

Still no state payout for disabled woman
Seven months after Gov. Jeb Bush signed a state law to pay $7.6 million to a profoundly mentally disabled woman who was raped and beaten while living in state-approved group homes, the woman still has not been paid.

Nine Florida Catholic bishops asking President Bush to free Haitian migrants
MIAMI — Nine Catholic bishops from Florida are asking President Bush to release more than 200 Haitians who have been detained since their freighter ran aground in October off Biscayne Bay.
In a signed letter to Bush made public Wednesday, the bishops said the Bush administration has not shown a "compelling moral or security-based rationale" for detaining the Haitians who arrived Oct. 29.
"For more than two months now, these 228 Haitian asylum-seekers have suffered the humiliation of continued detention, separated from their awaiting families and community sponsors," the bishops wrote. "We call on President Bush to apply the same standard set for all others who seek political asylum to the detained Haitians, and their children as well."
The bishops also implored Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's state and federal lawmakers to ask Bush to immediately release the Haitians. ...

All they're asking for is fairness
None of it was true. All of it was made up.
But for the Maali family in Orlando, the damage has been done. Add the mobster label to the terrorist stigma. Arab-Americans everywhere have reason to be angry. All they're asking for is fairness.
Since The Reckoning of Sept. 11, all they've gotten is hysterical hyperbole -- and from the government, no less...

SCOFLA: Court hears arguments over citrus compensation
TALLAHASSEE — A Miami Beach lawyer who lost three healthy grapefruit trees, two healthy lime trees and one healthy orange tree to the state's fight against citrus canker brought his appeal Friday to the Florida Supreme Court.
Brian Patchen loved the six fruit-laden citrus trees on his half-acre property. Four were there when he bought his home 18 years ago, two were planted soon.
But he told reporters after oral arguments that he also loved the legal principle that everyone is entitled to the protection of the law.
"The actions of the government here were outrageous," Patchen said. "They literally came into our home with chainsaws." ...

Graham warns Everglades restoration project can't be delayed
DELRAY BEACH — U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said a federal plan to restore the dying Florida Everglades is making progress, but delays in the $8.5 billion plan are posing a serious challenge to the plan. "You have all heard me say that Everglades restoration is like open-heart surgery — it cannot be stopped in the middle and, if halted while in progress, survival is impossible," Graham told more than 40 environmental groups at The Everglades Coalition's 18th Annual Congress. ...
Senator's plan blocks Glades farmland loss
With Big Sugar fast using up its fields in the Everglades, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham on Saturday suggested it was time to consider a buyout.

Hot market in Pasco prompts land save effort
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Here's a test for optimists and pessimists: Is Pasco County half full of rampant and random development and strip malls, or is it half empty, with environmentally sensitive land worth saving while there is still time?

Historic black towns struggle
Three communities, one in Central Florida, are among those trying to endure against odds.

Environmentalists: Less phosphorous should reach Everglades
DELRAY BEACH — Decades worth of pollution in the Everglades is allowing foreign plants like cattails to multiply, taking over natural saw grass prairies and changing the habitat enjoyed by birds, fish and other wildlife.
Environmentalists say lowering the amount of phosphorous flowing into the River of Grass will help reduce these damaging changes. A coalition of environmental groups meeting this week at an annual conference is urging a state commission to set a standard in the next few months that would limit the amount of phosphorous allowed in waters reaching the Everglades. ...

More wastewater may end up in Tampa Bay
PALMETTO -- State environmental officials want to more than double the amount of treated wastewater dumped daily into Tampa Bay from a toxic cleanup...

Navy identifies Florida ranges to replace Vieques
WASHINGTON — The Navy formalized plans Friday to move training exercises from Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico, to bombing ranges and other facilities in Florida and elsewhere on the U.S. mainland. ...

New Smyrna may tap into Atlantic for drinking water
In Tampa: Getting the salt out of the water Not too long ago, desalting the sea to make drinking water seemed a far-fetched idea...

State finalizes new guidelines for fish with high mercury levels
TAMPA — Florida health officials have finished new guidelines for consuming fish that inhabit the state's mercury-polluted waterways.
Several new species, including cobia, bluefish, little tunny and greater amberjack were added Thursday to the list of fish that should not be eaten frequently, especially by children or women of childbearing age.
Blackfin tuna caught by anglers on Florida's east coast also made the list. But canned tuna, which a growing number of states have added to their consumption advisories, was not added. 
Mercury in large enough doses can damage the human nervous system and harm the development of fetuses. Women of childbearing age and children younger than 10 should not eat more than 8 ounces of the fish on the list in a month, and everyone else should not eat more than 8 ounces a week. ...

Spiraling Medicaid costs pose major challenge
TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers working on this year's state spending plan are grasping for ways to curb the growing cost of Medicaid. They're not finding any easy answers. Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program for the poor, elderly and disabled, covers 2 million Floridians. It's the second largest part of the budget after education and since 1999 its cost has increased 13 percent a year to nearly $11.4 billion...

Landowners file class-action lawsuit against county
Foes of Collier County's new plan for rural growth raised the stakes Friday by filing a class-action lawsuit against the Collier County Commission and members of the Florida Cabinet. The lawsuit filed in Collier Circuit Court asks a judge to declare that members of a landowner class caught up in a virtual moratorium on growth in the county's rural area be awarded compensation for having use of their land restricted since 1999...

Panhandle's Wellstream pipe plant sold to U.K. company
PANAMA CITY — Wellstream Inc., a Panama City-based flexpipe operation that employs about 240 people, has been sold to a startup company in the United Kingdom. Blossomgrange Ltd., formed in November, bought Wellstream from its parent company, Halliburton...

Transfer of ATF has many worried
By Eunice Moscoso, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A government plan to move the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Department of Justice has both sides of the gun debate worried.
Some gun owners, already skeptical of the Bush administration's efforts to monitor the activity of citizens, fear that the change could increase surveillance and make big government even bigger.
Meanwhile, proponents of gun control are concerned that Attorney General John Ashcroft's support of gun rights will translate into a watered-down ATF....

Islamic groups concerned about foreign nationals being detained
MIAMI — Islamic groups are concerned about foreign nationals who are complying with a national order to register with immigration authorities being detained on various alleged immigration violations.
Under a program enacted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, some 24,200 men 16 and older from 20 countries are required to visit local Immigration and Naturalization Service offices to be photographed, fingerprinted and show certain documents. ...

Waiting for the flood
The U.S. State Department has posted a series called "Muslim Life in America," but it is clearly for foreign consumption. The upbeat collection of stories and photographs on the department's official Web site deftly mixes profiles with patriotic propaganda, designed to illustrate the complex but comfortable life that adherents of Islam enjoy in America today. ... That neatly sums up the characterization of religious life that America is eager to project to the world: modern, decentralized, accepting of differences, tolerant of others. Something comfortable to all.
And totally out of touch with emerging reality...

A chilling specter
During war, the balance of power between the executive and the other branches of government is likely to shift. The president is certainly entitled to greater deference in making some types of national security assessments. But a federal appellate court on Wednesday went too far in granting executive-branch officials virtually unreviewable authority to hold, indefinitely and without access to counsel, an American captured in Afghanistan. The decision ignored the Constitution and relegated the courts to the role of rubber stamp...

Illinois Gov. to empty death row
Gov. George Ryan will empty Illinois' death row by issuing a blanket commutation...

War-Mart in Washington
Palm Beach Post Editorial
The Bush administration's PR position is that if it has to have an estimated cost, it might as well have a low one. ...

No war, Americans say
With U.S. troops heading for the Persian Gulf, Americans say in overwhelming numbers that they oppose unilateral U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, according to a national Knight Ridder poll...

1/6-8/03

Bush sworn in as first Republican re-elected Florida governor
TALLAHASSEE — Jeb Bush was sworn in Tuesday as the first Republican to be re-elected governor in Florida, promising to promote strong families and the conservative agenda he began four years ago. Bush stressed that faith and families are needed to strengthen Florida and he spoke of a dream that government buildings will someday sit empty as the state plays a lesser role in people's lives...
Historic inaugural focuses on family
Bush's goals are concise but ambitious: improve reading, strengthen families and diversify an economy dominated by low-wage service jobs...
Governor strikes a delicate balance
The tone of Gov. Jeb Bush's second inaugural address Tuesday was striking in its spirituality. It was not lip service, either -- not rah-rah, God-and-country stuff -- but deeper, more introspective...
Bush's fancy
Gov. Jeb Bush's second inaugural reiterated his desire for minimalist government but didn't mention state's money problems that lie ahead. It was his day to do as he wished.
Governor calls for caring, cuts
By Brian Crowley and Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
At his second inauguration, Jeb Bush make clear his preference for personal, not governmental, action. ...
Bush envisions small role for government in future
Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday leveled a stinging ideological attack on the role of government, using his second inaugural address to deride as ''folly'' the notion that more public money can solve social ills....
Connections provide reserved seats, other perks
... But what the celebration lacked in geographic diversity -- only a Sunday barbecue in Miami was outside Tallahassee -- it made up for in perks for the very people and interest groups that funded the festivities and helped put Bush into office.
A partial list of more than 150 sponsors, who footed the $1.4 million bill that enabled free admission to everything but Monday night's ball, read like a who's who of Florida influence. Among them: Outback Steakhouse Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, JM Family Enterprises Inc, Walt Disney World, Sprint, Verizon, Claer Channel Communications, U.S. Sugar Corp., Darden Restaurants, Burger King, CSX Transportation and Convergys Corp.
For sponsors, the investment may have already paid off, as the three-day event entitled them to invitation-only venues where it was far easier to pass a business card to the governor or some other state official.
And save for Tuesday's open house and street carnival at the governor's mansion, at all other inaugural events Bush spent at least as much time in the smaller, invitation-only gatherings for sponsors and key supporters as he did with the general public...
The governor's goals: Look to Bush's past to predict what's ahead
Gov. Jeb Bush began his second term Tuesday with terms of endearment. "Faith, friends and family" are the foundations for building lives, he said, not government....

Bush: Let's strengthen Florida's families
Florida has a tremendous army of individuals who make lasting differences in the lives of those in need.
During the past four years, I have worked to encourage state government to listen to their ideas and incorporate them in our solutions. This administration is committed to removing obstacles so the enduring institutions of faith, family and friends can reach their amazing potential. The best and brightest ideas do not come from Tallahassee, but from citizens across our diverse state...
Family issues get high priority
His own family no exception, Bush says... But his suggestion that government can play a role drew immediate fire from critics -- and even a close ally, Senate President Jim King, who said he fears government intrusion into family matters.
''I, too, believe that a strong family network benefits us all,'' King said. ``However, I believe there is a limited role that government should play in people's personal lives. We must be careful to not be overzealous.'' ...
A Call To Family Values
Bush enters his second term as the most powerful Florida governor ever. He will work with a Republican-controlled Legislature and will head a Cabinet devoid of Democrats. The state Board of Education, whose members Bush appointed, will carry out the governor's sweeping educational reforms. And Bush is slowly remaking the judiciary in a more conservative mold, ...
Bush considers his legacy, recommits to his family
Gov. Jeb Bush is just beginning his second four-year term, but he's already looking well beyond 2006. "In my first inaugural address at the dawn of this new century, I talked about how the forces of the previous 100 years would shape my first four years in office," Bush said during his inaugural address Tuesday. "Today, I want you to consider how we may, in the next four years, shape the 100 years that come after."

Florida gets mixed grades in annual 50-state education report card
TALLAHASSEE — Florida earned a top grade in "standards and accountability" from Education Week in the publication's 50-state report card but got a D plus in "adequacy of resources." The publication released its report Tuesday as Gov. Jeb Bush began his second term as office by calling improvements in education the "pinnacle" of the achievements in his first term...
Study details teacher gap in high-needs schools
Florida's poor students are nearly seven times more likely than their more affluent peers to have teachers who are not certified in the subject they teach, according to a national study unveiled Tuesday...

House: Despite economy, no new taxes
TALLAHASSEE — Republican leaders in the House sent a message Monday that they're unwilling to consider raising taxes as a way of dealing with a budget shortfall, regardless of how sluggish the economy is.
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd told a meeting of the House Policy Committee that Republicans, with a commanding 81-39 majority in the House, need to remain true to the principles that got them elected no matter what the economy does. The number one priority on his list: less taxation.
Byrd, R-Plant City, said Florida residents had overwhelmingly approved of Republican principles and that even in tough times they shouldn't abandon them. ...

Legislators already arguing over budget
While preparations for a day of pomp and circumstance continued just yards away, leaders of the state House and Senate met Monday with their top lieutenants and prepared for a legislative session sure to be much less bright than today's inaugural festivities...

Board of Governors meets first time; Tom Petway III takes chair
TALLAHASSEE — The new Florida Board of Governors, meeting for the first time, chose Jacksonville businessman Tom Petway III as its chairman Tuesday and ratified Gordon E. Michalson Jr. as president of New College of Florida...
University boards belie voters' will for change
The Board of Governors picks trustees from among the same people Gov. Bush chose before...
University trustees retain most powers
By Larry Keller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
But the new Board of Governors must sign off on budgets and presidential choices. ...

Handy reappointed; Bradshaw named to education panel
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush renamed Phil Handy as chairman of the Florida Board of Education on Monday, despite the Senate's refusal to confirm Handy last year, and appointed longtime political adviser Sally Bradshaw to the panel responsible for overseeing the state's K-12 education system. ...

Democrats say college scholarships must be protected
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's popular prepaid tuition plan and its Bright Futures scholarship program should not be scaled back even in a tight budget year, Democratic lawmakers said Monday. ...

New justice takes oath of office in quiet courtroom
TALLAHASSEE — New Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Bell took his oath of office in a quiet courtroom Tuesday, a week after being appointed and a day before he sits with his new colleagues to hear oral arguments on his first cases. Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead administered the oath to Bell with little fanfare, witnessed by just a handful of people...

Former Florida State Prison head to lead state's penitentiaries
TALLAHASSEE — The man who served as warden when a death row inmate was fatally beaten at Florida State Prison was named the new head of the Department of Corrections on Monday. ...

Crist turns aside 12-year statewide prosecutor, names replacement
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Peter Williams, was named statewide prosecutor Monday by Attorney General-elect Charlie Crist. ...

Trial for 11 Miami officers accused of planting guns, cover-ups
MIAMI — Attitudes toward police officers drove jury selection Monday in the trial of 11 Miami officers accused of planting guns at the scene of police shootings or covering up their actions.
The trial began the same day John Timoney was sworn in as police chief. The former Philadelphia chief, who was once called America's best police officer by Esquire magazine, drew a distinction between good and bad officers. ...

George P. Bush handles emcee duties for dad's inauguration
TALLAHASSEE — The Bush family showcased what might be the next generation of its political dynasty Tuesday when 27-year-old George P. Bush hosted the inauguration of his father, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The younger Bush, who is finishing law school at the University of Texas, hasn't said exactly what he'll be doing when he graduates, but said he's thinking of taking the bar exam in Texas and Florida...
Governor's daughter attends inaugural
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle temporarily left an Orlando drug treatment center to attend her father's inauguration Tuesday, accompanied by a counselor who helps with her court-ordered treatment program...

Tampa desalination plant set to start operating at end of month
TAMPA — The nation's first sea water desalination plant built to serve as a primary source of drinking water is expected to begin providing water for residents here by the end of the month.
It is expected to reach full capacity by March, generating 25 million gallons a day of drinking water, officials say. ...

State readying updated list of fish species with high mercury levels
ST. PETERSBURG — Biologists have asked state officials to add several species of fish to an upcoming health advisory warning Floridians about marine life found to have potentially dangerous levels of mercury. ...

Hopes high $235,000 study will sink FEMA flood maps
Local politicians believe they have found a way to sink the flood maps proposed for Collier County. For more than three years, the Naples City Council and the Collier County Commission have complained that the flood maps proposed by FEMA are incorrect...

Some say increase in cruise passengers bad for Key West
KEY WEST — Some merchants and hoteliers and at least one city commissioner in this island city are worried that an increase in arrivals of cruise passengers jams streets, scares away more upscale tourists and cheapens its appeal.
Key West has become a major port of call in recent years. At least 800,000 cruise ship passengers disembarked in Key West last year, and 81 vessels docked in its port last month. ...

Kane's Furniture sues over complaint Web site
ST. PETERSBURG — Kane's Furniture has won a court fight to shut down a consumer-oriented Web site that had steered hundreds of complaints to state regulators over the past three years. The Web site, www.kanes-furniture.net, helped the Florida Attorney General's Office forge a rare civil suit against the Pinellas Park retailer in November...

Let these possessors go
Twenty-five years ago, Lester Grinspoon noted in his classic study "Marihuana Reconsidered" that "the single greatest risk encountered by the user of the drug is that of being apprehended as a common criminal, incarcerated, and subjected to untold damage to his social life and career." Around 700,000 Americans are arrested annually for simply possessing marijuana, and more than 10,000 Americans are currently in jails and prisons because they have been convicted of marijuana possession, and no other crime. ...

Flu deaths on rise
CDC researchers say that influenza-related deaths have climbed from 13,294 in 1976 to 45,817 in 1999. ...

Paul Krugman: An irrelevant proposal
Here's how it works. Faced with a real problem — terrorism, the economy, nukes in North Korea — the Bush administration's response has nothing to do with solving that problem. Instead it exploits the issue to advance its political agenda. Nonetheless, the faithful laud our glorious leader's wisdom. ...

A quicker, leaner government
Occasional appearances to the contrary, the nation's capital does not lack for good ideas. Some of them have been around for decades. On Tuesday, the National Commission on the Public Service, a bipartisan panel of heavy hitters chaired by former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, recommended — again — a sweeping reorganization of the federal government. ...

Molly Ivins: Witnessing the effects of the Seriously Dumb Tax Cut
AUSTIN, Texas — One interesting aspect of the Seriously Dumb Tax Cut we are watching develop in Washington is that we are simultaneously witnessing the effects of Seriously Dumb Tax Cuts at the state level. The states are plotzing right and left, caught in hideous binds — whether it is better to release dangerous prisoners or cut back the schools, cut back health care for kids or nursing homes for old folks. ...

Tax plan questions and answers
By Bob Deans, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Questions and answers about President Bush's new proposal for tax cuts and unemployment benefits... 
There's little stimulus in Bush stimulus plan
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Money goes where the economy doesn't need it. ...

U.S. faces serious kumquat
The president made it perfectly clear: He didn't want his advisers using words that might alarm the nation and the world and make a bad situation worse. So Jimmy Carter's chairman of the Council of Wage and Price Stability, Alfred Kahn, was ordered to never again utter the word "recession" in publicly discussing the nation's deteriorating economy. The irrepressible and resourceful Kahn found a fruitful substitute — he used the word "banana" — and candidly warned his next audience: "The danger of a serious banana is increased if we do not bring the inflation rate down." ...

'The greatest of great men'
While in North Korea years ago, I barged into as many private homes as possible, and every single one had The Speaker. The Speaker is like a radio, but permanently on and without a choice of stations. It's the electronic umbilical cord from the Great Leader, waking citizens up each morning and putting them to bed each evening with a mix of heroic songs, denunciations of "the American war-maniacs" and tributes to Kim Jong Il, "the greatest of great men produced by heaven." ...

Thomas L. Friedman: A war for oil?
Our family spent winter vacation in Colorado, and one day I saw the most unusual site: two women marching around the Aspen Mountain ski lift, waving signs protesting against war in Iraq. One sign said: "Just War or Just Oil?"
As I watched this two-woman demonstration, I couldn't help noticing the auto traffic whizzing by them: one gas-guzzling SUV or Jeep after another, with even a Humvee or two tossed in for good measure. The whole scene made me wonder whether those two women weren't — indeed — asking the right question: Is the war that the Bush team is preparing to launch in Iraq really a war for oil?
My short answer is yes....

GE Employees to Strike Over Health Care
first since 1969

Drug companies offer help to poor
Patients who normally can't afford prescription drugs can get them free or discounted directly from the drug company...

1/5/03

Guard activation affecting many
PENSACOLA — Staff Sgt. Curtis McQuaid deployed overseas to Bosnia, Korea and Saudi Arabia during 11 years of active duty with the Army. That was something he thought he probably would avoid when he joined the National Guard. Married and the father of five, McQuaid has since received what he says is a "very rude, very sudden" awakening. ...
Bush to issue compensation deal for troops
Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday announced a resolution that he and other members of the Cabinet will issue to help minimize the financial hardships on the activated troops and their families...

Inaugural festivities nearing
Just before he was sworn in as Florida's first governor under statehood, William Moseley was handed a note by an officious dignitary. Thinking it was his oath of office, Moseley began to read it - and found that the guy wanted a job...

Jeb is in a position to make the Bushes a true dynasty
Despite the ostensibly modest symbolism of a barbecue and a blue-jeans ball to celebrate the inauguration of Gov. Jeb Bush's second term, Tuesday's swearing-in carries grand implications for a governor who is more than ever one of the Republican Party's most important national leaders...
Another suspect deal, another Bush brother in the mix
The new year begs for a fresh start. But business accusations of international bribery, nefarious investors and a Bush brother awkwardly involved in a troubled company all have a too-familiar ring.
Here's the latest Robert Ludlum-style financial spat.
Former investors in South Florida's Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. recently filed a $60-million lawsuit accusing...

Jeb Bush enters powerful term
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
When Gov. Jeb Bush takes the oath of office Tuesday, he will be the most powerful governor Florida has ever had. ...
Budget crunch among challenges
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Jeb Bush must overcome a host of challenges that threaten to dull his legacy. ...

Governor Bush appears determined to do little to implement Amendment 11
By the political cast of those appointed to the Board of Governors for the new university governance system, Governor Bush has, effectively, thumbed his nose at the almost 3 million Floridians who on Nov. 5 voted overwhelmingly to pass Amendment 11 to the Florida Constitution. His appointees to that board represent only the party faithful and those who went all out to defeat it. ...

Class-size sneakiness
Education officials aren't making a good-faith effort to reduce class size...
Vouchers as tax write-off not an education reform
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Amendment 9 offers no excuse for expansion. ...

Clouded justice
The state Supreme Court justice selected last week by Gov. Jeb Bush comes with a blemished record and a questionable attitude about the role of the judiciary. ...

Governor 'ready to roll' in 2nd term
When Jeb Bush is sworn in as Florida's first Republican governor to win re-election, the 49-year-old chief executive will face big changes and challenges, including a looming budget crisis and the possible resignation of his lieutenant governor...

Bruised state Democrats select Maddox as chief
The state party sees Scott Maddox's vision and his youth as the key to picking up the pieces after a poor performance in November...

Quick action needed to revive 'sick' classrooms
Occupational and environmental exposure to black mold and other fungal organisms is an increasingly problematic issue in the workplace or home — but what about the classroom? Does the fact that several hundred children, teachers and support staff at one of our Collier County Public Schools have been inhaling or ingesting spores that are potentially allergenic or in the worst case scenario, carcinogenic, warrant public outcry?... 

DCF chief Regier hires new central Florida administrator
TALLAHASSEE — Department of Children & Families chief Jerry Regier said he has hired one of his former employees in Oklahoma's child welfare agency to run the department's central Florida district. Effective Monday, David Dennis will replace outgoing District 7 administrator Robert Morin, who was ousted along with seven other officials last month in Regier's first shake-up of the troubled agency. ...

Disabled students can't work within demands of FCAT
TALLAHASSEE -- The toughest problem for any governor is often neither the budget nor the Legislature, but making the bureaucracy do what he wants done...

Hillsborough's elections head resigns; may run for Tampa mayor
TAMPA — Pam Iorio, Hillsborough County's election supervisor and head of the state association of county election chiefs during the 2000 presidential race recount, has announced her resignation as she considers running for Tampa mayor. Iorio handed out copies of her one-sentence resignation letter to employees Friday. ...

Teachers do not vote in one bloc
Most teachers go to the polls, but many don't support the state teachers union's positions, an analysis shows...

Unemployed deserve help
 Extending unemployment benefits makes sense, particularly with tax cuts...

State sets new rules for power plant proposals
SARASOTA — The state's Public Service Commission has created more transparent bidding procedures for energy producers trying to build power plants in Florida in an effort to keep those projects' budgets under control. ...

Trade set to resume from Tampa Bay to Cuba after 40 years
PORT MANATEE — Trade between the Tampa Bay area and communist Cuba was slated to resume after 40 years with a shipment of animal feed Saturday night bound for the southern Cuban port of Cienfuegos. The shipment of 3,150 metric tons of dicalcium phosphate will take less than three days aboard the 330-foot vessel Frigga...

Lawyers get high-tech help to pick jurors
PENSACOLA — Say you're on trial. You're a woman, an attractive blonde hairdresser falsely accused of stabbing your husband with a freshly sharpened pair of scissors. There are 40 people in the jury pool. Three years ago, one of those potential jurors divorced her husband after he ran off with another blonde hairdresser. What would it take to expose that bias and keep that woman off your jury? How about 10 or so questions, a quick assessment of body language and 240,000 lines of computer code?...

Contractors Take money, use labor, give nothing: Why do our laws let them get away with it?
The story of Ruben Leon and his company, SRL Associates Properties, compels attention. As many as 40 families contracted with him and his construction firm and paid their money, as promised, for new homes. They are left with shattered dreams. One family has the shell of a house — stripped clean of plumbing and other fixtures by angry and unpaid subcontractors who in good faith performed the installation. Customers are Hispanics, Haitians and other first-time homebuyers asking only for a fair shake. ...
Pay up -- or leave
The 182 owners made the same mistake: they bought at what turned out to be a woefully constructed development. Now they -- not the builder -- have to come up with millions to fix things. It's killing them...

Ben Bova: All the news that's fit to print, but according to whose standard?
Freedom of the press. It's one of the fundamental guarantees of our individual rights and freedoms. Thomas Jefferson said in 1787, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." But what freedom of the press boils down to, in these United States, is freedom for the publisher to print whatever he (or she) wishes, providing it's not proved libelous in a court of law. ...

Beware the Clone Police
`You can still go back to your office and treat me as a fraud. You have one week to do that.'' Thus spoke Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, the chemist who called a press conference in South Florida to announce the first successful human cloning...

Key West rethinks increase in cruises
The view these days from the patio of Key West's famed Rooftop Cafe includes multilayered cruise ships that tower like giant wedding cakes over Key West's historic waterfront...

Status of species rides on state's annual manatee count
As the single-engine Cessna plane took a steep bank over the Indian River, circling toward the Florida Power & Light Co.'s Canaveral power plant, Brian Sharp spotted the manatees...

Ice Age in Florida brought little ice
WEST PALM BEACH — When winter dawned in Florida during the Ice Age, glaciers were as far away as Illinois and snow only rarely dusted the peninsula. Escaping the harsher weather to the north were the Paleo-Indians, who lived on Florida's sand-dune prairies alongside giant sloths, camels and a less-hairy version of the woolly mammoth. An armadillo the size of a small car, called a glyptodont, whacked predators with a tail resembling a spiked club. ...

Gators Jumping Ship
Grossman bids farewell to Gators ;  Several hint they may exit UF

1/1-4/03

Florida clears money manager in pension fund losses stemming from Enron bankruptcy
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The state attorney general's office has dropped its racketeering investigation of an investment firm that put Florida pension money into failing Enron stock, resulting in a loss of more than $300 million.
The yearlong investigation of Alliance Capital Management found no evidence that the firm engaged in racketeering, Attorney General Richard Doran said Friday...

Governor moving state Supreme Court away from judicial activism
TALLAHASSEE — Conservatives in Florida have complained perhaps more loudly about one part of government than any other in recent years — the state Supreme Court.
The Republican-led Legislature got so fed up they tried several measures to get justices off the bench — from shorter terms to making Supreme Court justice an elected post.
Such attempts failed, but Gov. Jeb Bush, who also has professed repeated frustration with the court, is slowly moving it to the right, most recently with the naming Monday of Kenneth Bell to replace retiring Justice Leander Shaw, considered one of the court's most liberal jurists.
Conservatives argue the court has been too "activist" — that it has essentially made new law as, time and again, it struck down what the Legislature had done. ...
Bush names Pensacola trial judge to state Supreme Court
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell of Pensacola as a state Supreme Court justice Monday, saying he would enhance the court's geographic diversity as the first justice since 1917 to live west of Tallahassee. ...

Tallahassee's suite deal
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Legislators get perks as programs get cuts. ...

Political Leaders Must Resolve To Tell Voters The Harsh Truth
During the explosive 1970s, when there was fierce resistance to court- ordered desegregation efforts, particularly the busing of schoolchildren, Gov. Reubin Askew resolved to do something he thought would ruin his political career. 
He urged citizens to accept busing and desegregation. It was not a popular stand. Yet Askew did not hesitate or equivocate. ...
Such straight talk is exceedingly rare today. Politicians are concerned chiefly with the next election and are averse to upsetting voters with the painful truth. Term limits for many elective posts have exaggerated politicians' tendency to worry only about what is advantageous in the short term, not about long-term results. ...

Tallahassee Democrat reporter suspended for e-mail criticizing Arabs
TALLAHASSEE — A Tallahassee Democrat reporter was suspended Thursday for using strong language in an e-mail criticizing Arab nations for the way they've reacted to Israel.
Political writer and columnist Bill Cotterell, in an e-mail exchange, wrote "Except for Jordan and Egypt, no Arab nation has a peace treaty with Israel. They've had 54 years to get over it. They choose not to."
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations sent an alert to its members calling the remarks anti-Muslim and anti-Arab. ...
Democrat reporter suspended following offensive e-mail
Political writer Bill Cotterell has been suspended from the Tallahassee Democrat for offensive e-mail remarks to a reader, Executive Editor John Winn Miller announced Thursday...
Cartoons, religion: Combustible
By C.B. Hanif, Palm Beach Post Ombudsman
From the editorial page to the comics page. ...
Cartoon's target is fanatics
Doug Marlette has made a habit of annoying and angering people in his 30 years of drawing editorial cartoons. ... (the cartoon is about) the lengths that some religious and secular fanatics will go to to hijack a religious icon for their own benefit. And if there's one consistent thread to Marlette's career, it's the enthusiasm with which he skewers people who hijack religious icons for their own benefit. ...
Here's the cartoon:

Click picture to view other articles and comments about this issue...

Pre-paid college program, Bright Futures may be in trouble
FORT LAUDERDALE — Two popular programs designed to make it affordable for families to pay for college could be in jeopardy as the state pushes for tuition increases for Florida's universities.
The Board of Education has proposed tuition hikes of up to 12.5 percent for the state's 11 colleges and universities. Officials say a large increase could bankrupt the Florida Prepaid College Plan, which allows parents of any income to pay current tuition rates regardless of when their child is to begin college.
"If this is adopted, the Florida Prepaid College Program is out of business," said Prepaid College Board Chairman Stanley G. Tate. More than 737,000 families have enrolled in the program during the past 15 years. ...

Bush picks Cabinet affairs director for community affairs post
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush picked one of his top aides Thursday to lead the Department of Community Affairs — a position that would disappear under a reorganization plan Bush plans to give the Legislature.
Bush named Cabinet Affairs Director Colleen Castille to head the department, which would be merged with the Department of State under a proposal Bush will release before the Legislature begins its session in March.
But Bush said Castille will still play a role overseeing growth management, handled by Community Affairs, under the new department...
Bush aide to oversee growth
Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday appointed Cabinet aide Colleen Castille to lead Florida's growth-management agency, though he indicated that it may not be a job she'll hold for long...
A Good Choice But Bad Plan At DCA
Gov. Jeb Bush looks to have picked the right person to head the state agency that oversees growth and planning. Unfortunately, that selection may be irrelevant if the governor succeeds in implementing a plan that would destroy the state's ability to manage growth.
Bush appointed Colleen Castille, his chief Cabinet aide, as secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. Castille is highly regarded by environmentalists and others who have worked with her on growth matters. She has a reputation for carefully considering all sides of an issue. She will replace Steve Seibert, who resigned in November.
While Bush's choice merits applause, his growth-management strategy does not. Bush wants to fold the Department of Community Affairs into the secretary of state's office. The two agencies have nothing in common, and the consolidation would further handicap an understaffed DCA.
The governor believes growth decisions should be left largely to local governments, a view that is out of touch with reality. Local governments, vulnerable to special-interest pressure, are responsible for most of the planning decisions that have ended up proving both costly and destructive. Some state review is essential.
The governor has offered some worthy ideas on growth, such as developing a system to accurately calculate the likely costs and benefits of a new development. But his plan to diminish DCA is deeply disturbing and should be dismissed by lawmakers, who would have the final say on such a restructuring.

Judge to rule next week on DCF information on missing kids
TALLAHASSEE — A judge is expected to rule next week whether the Department of Children & Families must release information on children that were once missing from state custody but have since been found. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is seeking documents showing how long the children were missing, whether any were harmed and what actions DCF took once the children were found...
Newspaper: State placed foster children in homes of felons
MIAMI — The state has placed foster children in the homes of convicted felons, including former drug dealers and armed robbers, according to a newspaper report published Tuesday. ...
Report: Agencies fail in abuse deaths
By Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Most child deaths in 2001 could have been prevented, a legislature-mandated review says. ...

Panel recommends state encourage early voting
TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers should make it easier and more convenient for people to vote early, while also setting in place standards to reduce fraud, a state panel recommended Friday. The Select Task Force on Election Procedures, Standards and Technology took testimony from county elections supervisors, congressional officials and state Division of Elections staff, as well as voters, at a meeting last month in Orlando...
Elections escape major reforms
Poll workers would have to meet a minimum standard of performance, and voters would get more options to vote early under a series of recommendations made Friday by a task force appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush...

Cotter refuses request to return to elections office
Joe Cotter rejected entreaties on Friday from Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant that he return to work as her deputy and help oversee the upcoming municipal elections.

Tallahassee mayor to become next state Democratic Party chairman
TALLAHASSEE — Democrats will select Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox as their new state leader Saturday as the party tries to regroup after a dismal showing in the November election. Party officials say Maddox, who has actively pursued the job of party chairman, has no competition as Democrats vote to select a replacement for Bob Poe...

Dyer announces bid to become Orlando's mayor
ORLANDO — Former state senator and failed attorney general candidate Buddy Dyer announced Monday that he is running for mayor of Orlando. ...

More schools at risk of failing
More Florida public schools will soon be at risk of being categorized as failing -- even if most students show improvement -- because of the way new federal education regulations are written, education officials said Friday...

New board, old policy?
Gov. Bush's business and political allies dominate his 14 appointments to the new Board of Governors that will oversee Florida's public universities. Among the nominees are several former members of the Board of Regents, the governing group that Gov. Bush helped to abolish two years ago. Overall, his appointments suggest that voters might not get what they wanted in November when they approved strongly a constitutional amendment to restore independent statewide oversight of the university system. If that happens, voters will know who didn't deliver...

Wetherell ratified as FSU president
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Board of Education ratified former House Speaker T.K. Wetherell as Florida State University president Thursday.
The university's board of trustees recommended Wetherell two weeks ago in a decision backed by prominent legislators and alumni. ...

Survey: Florida's community colleges top South for graduation
ORLANDO — Florida's community colleges have the highest graduation rate in the South because they encourage students to transfer to four-year colleges, officials said.
A new survey by a nonprofit organization monitoring schools and colleges from Maryland to Oklahoma found that 30 percent of Florida's community college students graduate within four years, far ahead of 15 other Southern states. The state's community colleges also are best at keeping students enrolled, found the survey by the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board. ...

Desmond Tutu to teach at University of North Florida
JACKSONVILLE — Archbishop Desmond Tutu will join the University of North Florida next week as a visiting scholar-in-residence for the spring. The Nobel Prize winner spoke at the university in 1999 for a presidential lecture series and accepted an invitation to return Tuesday as a faculty member...

Where stars can get clean quickly
A new detox

This Big Phosphate Mess Offers Lessons For Lawmakers
State officials thought they had more than enough money to fund the restoration of phosphate mines when they decided to stop collecting money for the reclamation trust fund.
They had not planned on having to take over a decrepit phosphate operation. But that is what occurred when Mulberry Corp. went bankrupt last year. The state Department of Environmental Protection assumed management of the company's fertilizer plants and three mounds of phosphogypsum - the slightly radioactive byproduct of fertilizer production.  center in West Palm Beach is designed for discretion - if you've got the cash. ...

For second year in row, sea turtles deaths at record level
ST. PETERSBURG — Sea turtles died in near record numbers in 2002, almost matching the record set the year before, biologists at the Florida Marine Research Institute said Thursday. At least 1,265 dead or dying turtles were found along Florida's coast last year, the second highest number since monitoring started in 1980, said officials at the St. Petersburg institute...

'Dolphin safe' standard called too lax
By Jeff Nesmith, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Current fishing practices kill an estimated 2,000 dolphins a year but are deemed acceptable. ...

INS closes advocacy center office at Krome processing center
MIAMI — The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center must vacate its office at Krome Detention Center by the end of next week, officials said Thursday. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Michael Gilhooly said the space must be available to all immigration attorneys, not limited to one group...

Legalized gambling a bad bet
Pro-gambling lobbyists across the country cannot believe their good fortune. The worst budgetary outlook in decades has left plenty of desperate state governments, once again, vulnerable to being snookered by the gambling lobby's alluring "something-for-nothing" sales pitch, the fiscal equivalent of a comped buffet. States should know better by now. ...

Health care remains critical
Eight years after Bill Clinton's attempt to restructure the health-care system nearly capsized his presidency, circumstances are propelling President Bush toward another confrontation with the enduring problems of cost, access and equity in American medicine...
Take drugmaker money out of doctors' decisions
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Industry resists attempt to end kickback system. ...
Stealth attack on health
Palm Beach Post Editorial
White House chooses ideology over science. ...

Bush Steers Government Into Secrecy
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has put a much tighter lid than recent presidents on government proceedings and the public release of information, exhibiting a penchant for secrecy that has been striking to historians, legal experts and lawmakers of both parties. ...

Games nations play
What game does the Bush administration think it's playing in Korea? That's not a rhetorical question. During the Cold War, the U.S. government employed experts in game theory to analyze strategies of nuclear deterrence. The intellectual quality of these analyses was impressive, but their main conclusion was simple: Deterrence requires a credible commitment to punish bad behavior and reward good behavior. ...

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