Byrd's demagoguery
State House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's attack on an imaginary Senate conspiracy is a familiar tactic that plays the people of Florida for fools. 

Politician's phone idea deserves to be cut off
If Florida House Speaker Johnny Byrd gets his way, taxpayers in the state that can't find its dependent children, can't pay its school teachers a living wage and thinks mass transit is a minibus service connecting malls and a few nursing homes will start spending money on telemarketing calls to tell us all what a great job the legislature is doing.Deja vu in Legislature, 

FSU won't take library
Wanted: real estate. About 10.8 linear miles of it to accommodate almost 1 million documents being displaced by state budget downsizing and the elimination of the Florida State Library.

Senate versus House may hurt Bush agenda
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Five weeks into last year's legislative session things were looking bleak. The House Speaker and Senate President were feuding bitterly about taxes and almost nothing was getting done.
Gov. Jeb Bush, who had a list of things he wanted from the Legislature, was a little worried. "Some of the things we might like to get done might get sacrificed," Bush said at the time. "But there's always next year."
Next year is here. And looking at the Legislature's new leaders, things may not have changed.

Bill would reveal wholesale drug price
A proposal would require the pharmaceutical industry to report its average wholesale price benchmark figure for prescription drugs. A state law passed in 2000 requires pharmacies participating in Medicaid to fill prescriptions for seniors at a price no greater than 91 percent of the industry-set average wholesale price of the drugs, plus a $4.50 dispensing fee. But the law doesn't include a provision requiring the industry figure to be publicized

Sen. Graham undergoes successful heart surgery
Doctors on Friday successfully replaced a leaking aortic valve in U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's heart with a valve from a cow's heart.

FAU trustees hire Lt. Gov. Brogan as university president
BOCA RATON - Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan was hired Friday as Florida Atlantic University's next president, beating out a field of academics with his political and business prowess.
FAU trustees voted 13-0 to make him president. Trustees said Brogan's experience in Florida politics outweighed any concerns they had over his lack of a doctorate or college teaching experience. 
Bush: No hurry to name a new No. 2
TALLAHASSEE — With straight man and confidante Frank Brogan considered the frontrunner to be named president of Florida Atlantic University on Friday, Gov. Jeb Bush turns his attention to replacing his lieutenant governor. "The process is just beginning right now since the governor has been busy with his budget and other issues," veteran Bush political adviser Cory Tilley said Thursday.
Brogan has connections, Hanley has the record
Palm Beach Post Editorial
FAU will pick its next president today. 

Ted Turner now a Floridian
TALLAHASSEE — Ted Turner is now officially a Floridian. Turner, the TV mogul who called his apartment atop the CNN Center in Atlanta his official home, now lists his legal residence as his 25,000-acre Avalon Plantation outside of Tallahassee, spokeswoman Maura Donlan said Thursday.
Ted Turner moving south
He's been glimpsed at Arby's by the interstate. He's dropped off his laundry at the Monticello Cleaners downtown. His chef and butler make purchases at the grocery and liquor stores.

Class size supporters: close tax exemptions, forget vouchers
TALLAHASSEE — The campaign that got class-size reduction onto the ballot says the state should close tax exemptions to get the money to build more classrooms and hire more teachers. Lawmakers don't need to cut other programs and shouldn't consider expanding the state's voucher program, according to a report issued Thursday by the Coalition to Reduce Class Size.

Group challenges governor, says state has money to cut class size
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida can pay for the voter mandate to cut class size without increasing taxes on working families, handing out more vouchers or cutting state programs, organizers of the successful constitutional amendment drive said on Thursday.
Last week, Gov. Jeb Bush, who campaigned against the amendment, blamed it for forcing the state to look at budget cuts and higher tuition to free up the dollars needed to trim class sizes. He also suggested counties that raise their own taxes to help cut class size should be rewarded with extra state dollars.
But advocates for smaller classes said Amendment 9 is an affordable mandate that could be paid for by repealing some special-interest and corporate tax breaks or by reallocating lottery dollars -- not by cutting into popular programs, like the Bright Futures college scholarship, or forcing higher local sales taxes.
"It is disturbing that local districts seem like they are becoming the targets," said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Miami Democrat who as a state senator formed Florida's Coalition to Reduce Class Size when the Legislature refused to address the issue...

Regier names another Oklahoman to information officer post
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Department of Children & Families secretary Jerry Regier has hired Ben Harris as the agency's chief information officer. Harris served on Oklahoma's state advisory group for juvenile justice. Regier served as Oklahoma's cabinet secretary for social services for five years before assuming leadership of DCF.

Former death row inmate supports CCR, Holton
TALLAHASSEE — A year after being released from Florida's death row, Juan Melendez said Thursday he is a living example of what's wrong with capital punishment. Melendez, who lived nearly 18 years with a death sentence, told reporters he's also an example of the success of the state legal offices that file appeals for death row inmates. Gov. Jeb Bush has proposed closing the three agencies, which are called the offices of the Capital Collateral Representative Counsel.
Miami state Sen. Wilson wants review of Fla. Death Row cases
Undaunted by the political odds but intent on correcting an ''injustice,'' a Miami state senator says she will push for a thorough review of Florida's death penalty system.
Botched capital case demands review
Even those of us who support capital punishment should be worried by cases like Rudolph Holton's. If his story were an episode of "Law & Order" or "The Practice," we'd enjoy the courtroom drama with the comforting assumption that those things don't really happen. But Holton's case didn't occur in one hour with four commercial out-cues and a preview of next week's "ripped from the headlines" adventure.

Attorney General seeks full rehearing on Megan's Law ruling
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Attorney General Charlie Crist asked a full state appeals court Friday to reconsider a ruling by three of its judge that a state law requiring public identification of "sexual predators" is unconstitutional.
The three judges of the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Miami ruled Jan. 15 that Florida's version of Megan's Law is unconstitutional because it doesn't require hearings in which judges could determine defendants' actual threat to the community.

Court orders $50,000 fine on Pensacola judge
TALLAHASSEE — A Pensacola judge who promised to support police and bend over backward for crime victims during her campaign must pay a $50,000 fine, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Escambia County Judge Patricia Kinsey also will be publicly reprimanded for violating the code of judicial conduct, which requires judges and judicial candidates to be fair and impartial.

INS extends deadline for foreign student tracking system
MIAMI — The Immigration and Naturalization Service has extended by 15 days the deadline for the nation's colleges and universities to begin feeding information about their foreign students into a new Internet database. The INS had set a Thursday deadline for about 3,000 schools to be ready to begin supplying data to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, meant to replace the paper-based system the INS has used for years to track foreign students.

Guest editorial: Food-chain politics
One thing Americans should have figured out over the last week is that politics is following the law of the food chain at its most primal. The weakest levels of government, with the least power to raise money, are being stuck with the tab for the troubled economy. The higher up you go, the more determined elected officials are to ignore the cries from the bottom rung. 

Too much snooping
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Block Pentagon program to monitor Americans. 

Bush's bait and switch
President Bush has learned how to deliver a moving speech. But Tuesday night's State of the Union speech did not address the most important question facing the American people: What kind of nation are we becoming? The president spoke passionately about bringing "food and medicines and supplies and freedom" to the Iraqi people. 

Bush to Saddam: Boost stock market, or else
Promising the nation that he would shift his attention to the U.S. economy with "laser-like intensity," President Bush used his State of the Union address Tuesday to accuse Saddam Hussein of hiding over 1 million American jobs somewhere in Iraq.

Bush pushing for privately run national parks
Two weeks ago the National Parks Conservation Association released its annual list of the 10 most endangered national parks in the country. It's a grim, gray picture for a national treasure.
Everglades National Park again made the list, as it did last year, because of the lack of Park Service input into management plans for the park and the uncertainty surrounding future funding to restore the region's water flows. Yellowstone made the list (bison are being harassed by snowmobiles or killed by Montana officials when they stray off park lands). So did Joshua Tree National Park, where a city may soon sprawl between park boundaries and a nearby natural preserve. So did Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, where pollution is taking a toll on endangered plants and animals. And on down a list of perils damaging the nation's greatest lands....

1/30/03

U.S. Fails to Sway Allies on Iraq 
UNITED NATIONS –– Key members on the U.N. Security Council said Wednesday that the United States had so far failed to convince them that time had run out for a peaceful resolution to the crisis with Iraq.
At a crucial council meeting a day after President Bush's State of the Union speech, 11 of the 15 members supported giving more time to weapons inspectors to pursue Iraq's peaceful disarmament – France, Russia and China who all have veto power as well as Germany, Mexico, Chile, Guinea, Cameroon, Syria, Angola and Pakistan, council diplomats told The Associated Press.

The Empire Strikes First
There was no smoking gun last night. There was merely a smoky allusion.
President Bush tried to sell skittish Americans on a war with Iraq by alluding to the possibility of a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda.
Outlaw regimes seeking bad weapons, Mr. Bush said, "could also give or sell those weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation."
The axis of evil has shrunk to Saddam, evil incarnate. Iran and North Korea were put aside with the dismissive comment: "Different threats require different strategies."
The state of the union is skeptical....

1/29/03

Complaints rise over Bush's proposed cuts
Criticism rises to the governor's proposed budget that would trim programs he considers not central to government's "core mission." ...
Gov. Bush wants to kill two watchdog agencies
In his quest for efficiency, Gov. Jeb Bush has targeted two agencies whose very functions are to root out inefficiency, waste and fraud in state and local government...
Keep Death Row lawyers
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Latest release is fourth in less than three years. ...

Florida Strives To Regain The Title In Death Row Follies
Typical, typical, typical that an Illinois politician would cheat so flagrantly to become No. 1 at something.
When Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 Illinois death row inmates in his waning hours in office, obviously his state vaulted way past Florida as the most screwed-up capital punishment place in the country.
That was so unfair. Especially considering Florida had achieved its prior status as the national leader in death row commutations the old- fashioned way - by botching one case at a time. ...

House speaker says state Senate wants to raise taxes
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd fired the first volley at the Senate today, saying it wants to raise taxes. In what could signal the second contentious Republican-Republican matchup since the GOP took over the Legislature in 1996, Byrd, R-Plant City, blasted the upper chamber for looking at ways to raise taxes to meet a looming budget crunch...

Contract tailored for Bush ex-aide
The Education Department prepares a $50,000 contract for the governor's campaign spokesman...

Deadbeat legislators
Donors to our state's public universities are getting a losing deal with state government not holding up its end of the bargain...

New Florida Cabinet runs afoul of old vote requirement
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush and the new, trimmed-down, three-member Cabinet ran into technical problems at their first meeting Tuesday and deferred action on several agenda items that appeared to require five votes for passage. State law failed to keep pace with the changing Cabinet, which was reduced from six members to three through a constitutional amendment, and still requires five positive votes from the governor and Cabinet to approve actions involving the disposition of state lands...

Speaker exploring phone calls to tout lawmakers' work
TALLAHASSEE — House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is looking for companies that could place thousands of unsolicited, prerecorded phone calls an hour from state representatives to Florida residents. According to documents obtained from Byrd's office by The Palm Beach Post, the calls would be made to "better inform constituents about the important work being done in Tallahassee by the Florida House of Representatives."...

Attorney general names four to department posts
Attorney General Charlie Crist has named Clay Roberts, former director of the state Division of Elections, to run the daily activities of the office...

Dose of reality for doctors
By Phil Galewitz, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
An insurer tells physicians taking part in a walkout that a malpractice cap won't do much to provide the relief they seek. ...

PSC: Florida Water must get state utility approval
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Public Service Commission should conduct public hearings and then determine whether the $500 million purchase of Florida Water Services Corp. assets by a pair of Panhandle cities is in the public interest, state utility regulators say. The PSC staff recommendation, if approved next week by the full commission, would further slow the proposed sale of Florida Water's 152 assets, including the company's second largest utility located on Marco Island. ...

By 5-4 vote, Broward OK's Oliphant bailout
Supervisor pledges to be prudent with the taxpayers' money Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant got another financial bailout from reluctant county commissioners Tuesday, after more than three hours of tense public negotiations.... Oliphant is forced to surrender reports
The state investigation into the office of Broward County Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant took a personal turn Tuesday as she was forced to surrender her 2000 campaign reports...
Can it get worse for Oliphant? Absolutely
Miriam Oliphant's abominable performance before the Broward County Commission last week confirmed the worst fears of voters: They've got a nitwit as supervisor of elections...

Editorial: Open records
If there is one thing that angers citizens more than government waste, it is learning that the fundamental components of public safety are not there as promised. Take two examples brought to light by aggressive reporting by Florida newspapers: ...

Florida State reassigns Scherger
TALLAHASSEE — Unable to resolve a difference in leadership style, Florida State University officials fired the dean of its new medical school Tuesday. The school said Dr. Joseph Scherger was reassigned to a teaching position. "After several discussions over the past few months with Dr. Scherger about leadership within the college, I concluded that we needed a change at this time," said Provost Lawrence G. Abele said...

A matter of basic due process
One of the most disturbing aspects of the Bush administration's war on terrorism is the way it has kept some suspects from the legal system. Unlike John Walker Lindh, Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, the alleged shoe bomber, who were all duly charged and given access to lawyers, the government is keeping two Americans in military brigs, without formal charges and cut off from all communication with the outside world. Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla are both being held as "enemy combatants" by the Defense Department. It says it can hold them indefinitely. The department maintains that Hamdi and Padilla should be given no opportunity to rebut the government's allegations against them, a startling position that essentially calls for the suspension of the Bill of Rights...

1/27-28/03

Molly Ivins: Public policy is sold to the highest bidder
AUSTIN, Texas — The state of the union is that money talks and public policy is sold to the highest bidder. Those who give money in political contributions — less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.S. population gave 83 percent of all campaign contributions in the 2002 elections — get back billions in tax breaks, subsidies and the right to exploit public land at ridiculously low prices. ...

Legislators about to skirt open government law
Florida government operates in the sunshine: Every official act, every government meeting, every document of any sort, including budgets, e-mails, memos, appointment books, anything and everything filed or archived with a government agency must be open to public scrutiny. There are exceptions. But they must be specific. They must explicitly justify why the exemption is in the public interest. And they must be approved by the Legislature.
The most famous recent exemption was the so-called Earnhardt law that limits public access to autopsy photos. But the Legislature has been approving lesser known exemptions rather liberally. Last November, 76 percent of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring that exemptions from public records or public meetings requirements must win two-thirds approval of the Legislature to become law. To prevent end-runs around the new requirement, the amendment makes no exception to the two-thirds rule.
The Legislature just found one.
According to early bills filed in Tallahassee, lawmakers don't intend to follow the two-thirds vote requirement when existing sunshine exemptions come up for renewal...

Pressure rising for a budget blow
Like tectonic plates rubbing against each other, leaders of the Florida House and Senate rumbled long and low this week, creating fault lines in the state's financial future.
Gov. Jeb Bush opened the fissure with an incendiary, blame-the-voters budget Monday set to blow up state government's steady money streams while sucking programs dry for students, troubled teens and the sick.
A continuing economic recession, rising Medicaid costs and new constitutional obligations like reducing the number of students in classrooms have left the state in a cash crunch. The big battle brewing is whether the state's political leaders find the money to continue programs for seniors and students or whether they simply slash state aid...

Bush: Drop state library's funds
Florida's state library was created in 1845, in the dawn of statehood. But if Gov. Jeb Bush gets his way, its million-volume collection won't have a state-owned home for much longer, frustrating historians and librarians statewide...
Plan to close State Library brazenly bad
Incoming Secretary of State Glenda Hood will have an opportunity to leave one doozy of a legacy in her first months of office. She can go down in history as not only our first appointed secretary of state but also the woman who presided over the death of the Florida State Library and sent all the books into hiding...

Report: Privatization adding to DCF woes
The shift toward private management of Florida's foster care system may be worsening an already troubled program, a newly released report by the state Senate says...
Overtime Has A High Cost
An occasional overtime check can be a welcome bit of money for any employee. Like anything else though, too much of a good thing can produce detrimental results.Such is the situation at the Florida Department of Children & Families, which because of high caseloads and excessive staff turnover is doling out enough overtime to give many child-welfare workers an additional 20 to 40 hours at work each week...

Holton says he's not bitter, but nothing can give back death row years
TALLAHASSEE — After losing 16 years of his life to death row, Rudolph Holton said Monday he's not going to let anger or bitterness mar his future as a free man. But he still choked up when he talked about the time he lost. "There's not enough money that can give me back what I lost," Holton told a reporter who asked if there was anything the state can do to compensate him. "Six grandkids — I didn't get to play with or hold them."...
Death penalty under scrutiny
State officials should take a hard look at capital punishment but probably won't, a man who spent 16 years on Death Row said Monday...
Delays in death row case irk governor
Bush may order a review of the case because of a long-delayed police report and recantations by two witnesses that led to a release...
Death Row review is not needed, Bush says
Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday he sees no reason to conduct the kind of exhaustive review that led the former Illinois governor to clear his state's Death Row, even though Florida leads the nation in the number of Death Row inmates whose sentences have been overturned because of questions about guilt and innocence...
Newspaper: DNA test requests overwhelming FDLE labs
ST. PETERSBURG — The state agency responsible for analyzing DNA evidence is overwhelmed by requests for testing evidence in current and past cases, a newspaper reported Mondah. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has nearly 2,700 requests pending for DNA analysis on open cases and about 8,300 additional DNA samples from prison inmates also awaiting testing, FDLE officials told the St. Petersburg Times...

Federal board dismisses complaint against Gov. Jeb Bush
MIAMI — Gov. Jeb Bush has been cleared of wrongdoing by a federal panel that examined his advocacy on behalf of Florida based-Bacardi USA Inc. in a trademark dispute. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which handles appeals for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, dismissed charges on Jan. 21 brought by a joint Cuban-French venture that argued Bush's involvement amounted to an improper one-sided, or ex parte, communication with the patent office's director...

The way we vote
The proposed changes to Florida's voting system are a good beginning, but the job of repairing our elections process is far from over...

Broward warned of election shortfall
By George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A team of election supervisors say Broward County isn't ready for two city elections... 

University police, FBI, joining forces to track terrorism
AMHERST, Mass. — Campus police departments at some universities around the country are helping federal agents track potential terrorists, forming relationships that some professors and civil libertarians fear could threaten academic freedom. At universities in Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois and other states, campus police departments are loaning officers to the anti-terrorism task forces that were created by the FBI after Sept. 11 to increase the flow of information between local departments and federal agents...

Central Florida theme parks take to farming to lower tax bill
Orlando's theme parks have roller coaster rides, live action characters and — if you see their property tax bills — farms. To save millions of dollars in property taxes, Walt Disney World has placed grazing cattle on its property, and SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando have gotten into the pine tree growing business...

Judge compares canker compensation cards to Confederate money
FORT LAUDERDALE — A judge who must decide whether $100 Wal-Mart cards can be used as compensation for trees lost to the state's citrus canker eradication program compared them Monday to Confederate money. Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet didn't immediately rule on the issue, saying he wanted to wait until all parties have filed arguments to render a decision. But he did compare the cards to legal tender issued in the past that today has no legal worth. He said the Constitution prohibits states from issuing their own currency...
State to resume cutting citrus trees in two months
The destruction of residential citrus trees in South Florida will resume in about two months unless the canker eradication program runs into further legal roadblocks, a state Department of Agriculture official said Monday.
Tree-cutting crews will start in West Palm Beach, site of the leading edge of the epidemic, and work south through Broward and Miami-Dade counties, said Mark Fagan, spokesman for the eradication program. More than 200,000 trees need to be cut down to stop the disease from spreading, he said...

More than 800 Florida doctors skip work over malpractice insurance costs
WEST PALM BEACH — More than 800 doctors in Florida, and a dozen more in Mississippi, stayed off the job Monday to protest rising malpractice insurance costs. Organizers of the protest in the Palm Beach County area said the doctors were staying off the job to attend a two-day conference looking at the problem. Palm Beach hospitals prepared for the absence by adding to their emergency room staff and rescheduling elective surgeries. No immediate problems were reported...

Brogan's chances for FAU job increase after finalist drops out
BOCA RATON — The field of candidates for president of Florida Atlantic University narrowed again Monday after one finalist withdrew his name from consideration. The announcement means that FAU trustees will consider only Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan and Thomas Hanley, engineering dean at the University of Louisville, for the job...

National reading exam looms
Florida's scores on a national test to be administered in the next few weeks may show whether public schools are making the gains in reading touted by Gov. Jeb Bush...

Gov. Bush wants churches involved in finding mentors
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday he wants churches, mosques and synagogues to help push mentoring, saying ordinary people working one-on-one with kids is one of the best ways to raise student achievement, He also said that marrying religious institutions with such volunteer programs is a common sense way to close an achievement gap between low-income children and others. Bush has championed mentoring and does it himself, meeting with an eighth grader once a week at a local middle school. He announced Monday that the number of one-on-one mentors participating in the initiative has grown 20 percent to more than 135,000...

Florida lawmakers propose sale of anthrax-tainted building to feds
BOCA RATON — Two Florida lawmakers said Monday they want the federal government to buy and clean up the offices of a tabloid publisher targeted in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw said their plan would have the government pay $1 to acquire the $10 million American Media Inc. building and its 2 acres of real estate. Cleanup costs could run anywhere from $10 million to $100 million, which was the cost of clearing anthrax out the Brentwood Post Office in Washington, the lawmakers said...

Florida manatee count second highest in last decade
ST. PETERSBURG — A second survey of manatees this month produced the second highest count of the mammals in Florida waters since officials began counting them in 1991. Researchers counted 3,113 manatees in a statewide survey done with spotters in the air and at the water level Jan. 21-22, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Monday...
(Note: wasn't the accuracy of this count challenged at one time? ) 

Glades plots path for next 20 years
For the first time in more than two decades, Everglades National Park is thinking about changing what people can -- and can't -- do in South Florida's largest chunk of wilderness. ...

Bill would outlaw lawsuits blaming restaurants for obesity
ORLANDO — Restaurants and food manufacturers could not be held liable for consumers' health problems under proposed federal legislation meant to stop lawsuits that blame Big Macs and french fries for obesity and diabetes. U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., filed the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act on Monday in Washington. The bill wouldn't stop lawsuits in cases where restaurants or food manufacturers failed to comply with regulatory requirements and caused illnesses such E. coli, Keller said...

Guest editorial: The data mining project
Reflecting the deep-seated distrust of privacy and civil liberties groups, the Senate has passed an amendment to put the brakes on the Pentagon's Orwellian-named Total Information Awareness project. The aim of TIA is to "mine" electronic databases — airline reservations, commercial transactions, telephone records, visa applications, chemical sales — for patterns of terrorist activity. And it would do so worldwide...
What does the government know about you?
The Defense Department's plan for amassing oodles of information about everyone in America in a colossal monitoring system known as Total Information Awareness isn't even fully operational, and already it's setting the world topsy-turvy...

Guest editorial: An international right to know
In 1984, 40 tons of lethal gas leaked from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. Thousands of people were killed. The Bhopal disaster led Congress to pass a law requiring companies to disclose chemical emissions. But even though Bhopal was an overseas disaster, the law it inspired applies only in the United States. Dangerous pollutants are just one aspect of corporate behavior that can be hidden abroad. Companies should have to make public information about overseas activities that would be prohibited or subject to disclosure laws at home.
A new report by a coalition of environmental, labor and human rights groups, including the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, Oxfam and Amnesty International, argues for an international right to know. The groups are not seeking new prohibitions on company behavior. Instead, they would require large companies that are traded on United States stock exchanges and have significant international operations to disclose information that could affect the communities in which they operate. ...

'Axis of evil' comment proves more powerful than expected
WASHINGTON -- This is the story of a nice little turn-of-phrase that grew into an international crisis...

U.S. bullying is to blame
North Korea's moves toward developing nuclear weapons have left the Bush administration scrambling to find a policy. The spread of nuclear weaponry makes the world a more dangerous place, and North Korea in particular might be able to threaten the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Or it might sell nuclear technology to others...

A State of the Union address I'd like to hear
As President Bush's speechwriters are putting the finishing touches on his State of the Union address tonight, here is an extra minute or so of material I'd love to see them work in: ...

1/26-25/03

Panhandle shrimpers unhappy with state's assistance offer
FORT WALTON BEACH — Shrimpers from a 70-mile stretch of the Florida Panhandle met with state workers Thursday, hoping to be told of ways to save their industry. Instead, they were told of ways to save themselves.
A workshop in Fort Walton Beach hosted by the Governors Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, drew about a dozen shrimpers from around the Panhandle, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. The shrimpers were told about job placement services, energy assistance and Medicaid.
It wasn't the assistance they wanted. ...

The statistics rain on the governor's tax parade
TALLAHASSEE -- As he brought out his bad-news budget Tuesday, Gov. Jeb Bush meant to put a happy face on it. As tough as things might seem, he said of the spending cuts, "I want to remind you it could be a lot worse." As for taxes, he still wants less of them too. He made a big point of noting how the average state tax burden on Floridians has dropped from 6.44 percent of personal income in his first year to 6.06 percent now...

Republicans lose taste for reform
By Randy Schultz, Palm Beach Post Editor of the Editorial Page
If a stringent ethics policy is good enough for newspapers, why not for the U.S. House of Representatives? ...

Child abuse duties shift to sheriffs
The governor likes the change, but sheriffs who take over DCF investigations expect more funds. ... (see Service Worst update)

DCF lapses violate Bush policy
Child-welfare workers in Broward County are waiting weeks and sometimes months to report missing youngsters to police, despite national embarrassment over the disappearance of a little girl in Miami and promises by top state officials to better track children in their care.
The delays violate Department of Children & Families policy and contradict assurances by Gov. Jeb Bush's administration that the reporting problems have been fixed...

Bush budget to cut into help for teens
Joy Turner remembers only the bad things about her old school, Apopka High: rats on campus, dirty desks, no supplies, pampered athletes, not feeling safe...

Alternative Schools Stunned By Proposed Budget Cuts
TAMPA - D'Vonndrea Blackmon admits she caused her parents and teachers a lot of grief for a couple of years. ``I had a behavior problem,'' she says, grinning at the understatement. ``I was wild.'' ...

Bush: Close state library to save money
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed state budget includes closing the state library and giving its collection of nearly 1 million books and documents to a university to save the $5 million it costs to run it each year.
But so far, no university has agreed to take the collection. The state has been trying to get Florida State University to agree to, but that would simply shift the maintenance cost to the school, which also is facing budget cuts.
"The way it looks is that someone wants us to assume a responsibility but with no money," Florida State President T.K. Wetherell told The Tallahassee Democrat. ...

College students face cost squeeze
Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal to slash nearly $150 million in state funds from Florida's universities to finance smaller classes in public schools is only the latest blow to students and families trying to afford college. ...

State lags on promised funding
After promising to match gifts to Florida universities, the state has failed to come through with $105.2-million...

Florida official criticized amid familiar election chaos
FORT LAUDERDALE — A former fashion model now in charge of the Broward County elections office, Miriam M. Oliphant is used to being in the spotlight. What she had not counted on was being under a microscope after overseeing two disastrous elections, running up a budget deficit and reviving memories of the 2000 presidential election fiasco in Florida. ...
Can it get worse for Oliphant? Absolutely
Miriam Oliphant's abominable performance before the Broward County Commission last week confirmed the worst fears of voters: They've got a nitwit as supervisor of elections...

Jordan elected as Florida's new GOP leader
Carole Jean Jordan has cited her goals as strengthening the party at the local level and making sure a Republican wins a U.S. Senate seat. ...

Tampa Bay tapping bay as new source of drinking water
APOLLO BEACH — The Tampa Bay area's burgeoning population of nearly 2 million people is preparing to tap a new source for its drinking water — Tampa Bay.
The nation's first sea water desalination plant built to serve as a primary source of drinking water is expected to begin providing water by the end of the month to Tampa, St. Petersburg, New Port Richey and surrounding cities. ...
New Smyrna Beach considers desalination solution
Like a toddler visiting the ocean for the first time, New Smyrna Beach officials are sticking a collective toe into the ocean -- for drinking water. ...

Algae spreading, killing coral reef off Palm Beach County coast
JUPITER — Scientists are trying to find out what is behind the spread of algae that is killing coral reefs along the coast of Palm Beach County and driving away marine life.
The algae, native to the Pacific Ocean, is called Caulerpa brachypus, and was first detected along the Palm Beach coast last year. No one knows how far it has spread, but it has been sighted in St. Lucie County, said Brian Lapointe, a marine ecologist at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce.
"It can smother just about everything," Lapointe said Thursday.
The algae was probably pumped into area waters from an oceangoing ship or dumped into the water from a home aquarium, he said. ...

U.S. Congress Gets Short Shrift
WASHINGTON - Call them the 48-hour congressmen. These days, the House of Representatives is in session barely two full days a week. Why? About 4 in 5 House members live with their families in their districts and commute to Washington. ...

A scoundrel, but a cause
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Why Jose Padilla's case matters to all Americans. ...

Democracy suffers when tight lips rule
In an open society such as the United States, secrecy in government is by definition a rare exception, or should be. ...
Bush wages unprecedented, systematic assault on openness
It took President Bush eight months and the attacks of Sept. 11 to "look presidential." It took him no time after that to start acting like an emperor who owed explanations to no one and who was owed deference by all. ...

1/24/03

Forgery charge dismissed against former state tech chief
TALLAHASSEE — A judge has thrown out a forgery charge against former state technology chief Roy Cales because too much time elapsed between the discovery of the alleged forgery and the beginning of the prosecution against him.
Cales still faces a theft charge, but prosecutors were stripped of their key evidence in the case. The state was relying on a letter Cales was accused of forging to secure a $30,000 bank loan on which he later defaulted.
But the state couldn't produce the original letter, and a handwriting expert said he couldn't say for sure from looking at a copy that Cales wrote it. ...

State of denial
Gov. Bush's budget dodges the economic realities in front of him.
Florida's economic future is uncertain at best.
Even a fleeting look at Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed state budget reveals as much. A flaccid national economy, the prospect of a costly war and the burgeoning federal deficit are partially to blame. An archaic state sales-tax structure that lets special-interest groups off the tax hook compounds that burden...

Bush urges federal Medicaid reform
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush has written to his brother, President Bush, urging the Medicaid system that pays for most nursing home care and health care for the poor undergo a complete overhaul, saying its outdated and has a "chokehold on state budgets."
Bush, Connecticut Gov. John Rowland and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens signed the letter, sent Jan. 16 to the president and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, and offered some suggestions, including the possibility of requiring some co-payments by beneficiaries, shifting some of the burden for such care to the private sector and more focus on preventive medicine. 

Is state library about to die?
Barratt Wilkins spent 26 years as the Florida State librarian before retiring earlier this month. He held a title that stretches back to 1925, and he supervised a library that was founded in 1845 when Florida became a state.

Speaker blunts Murman's role on powerful House committee
Tampa Rep. Sandra Murman will now be only co-chair of the powerful Rules Committee after a split with party leaders.

Graham needs heart surgery
The senator now won't decide until mid March whether to enter the race for the presidential nomination.

Vouchers proposed to reduce class sizes
Seeking a dramatic expansion of one of the most controversial measures of his administration, Gov. Jeb Bush proposed Thursday allowing local school districts to offer private-school vouchers to students in overcrowded classrooms. 

Bush turns to carrot, stick
The governor wants to reward schools trying to cut class size, punish those that don't.
Bush spells out class size implementation plan
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday that school districts should be given a "tool box" of options to meet voter's orders to reduce class sizes, including vouchers, and said those tools could be used as hammers against districts that don't act. 
Bush's ideas on schools fuel ire
Florida's school districts need to consider rezoning, more portable classrooms, double sessions and vouchers as they begin to grapple with a constitutional mandate to cut class size, Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday.
Bush unveils class-size plan
Included is a $500 million account to reward counties that have raised their own local taxes. 
Bush's class-size shake-up
Declaring that "the old rules need to be put aside," Gov. Jeb Bush outlined a four-point plan Thursday for county school boards to shrink class sizes.

Parents rushing to get prepaid tuition
As word spreads that Florida's wildly popular prepaid college tuition program could be in jeopardy, record numbers of families are rushing to beat the Jan. 31 registration deadline.

Brogan promises 'incredible commitment'
He'll earn a doctorate, the lieutenant governor tells a panel interviewing FAU presidency finalists.

Equal Rights Amendment makes a legislative comeback
Hang around Florida's Capitol long enough and the debates start to seem like a familiar film; you want to say, "Hey, this is where I came in."

Subpoenas widening probe
The Broward State Attorney's Office will interview more election employees today in what could signal a dramatic widening of the probe into the office of Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant. 

State files for stay in sexual-predator law
TALLAHASSEE — Attorney General Charlie Crist asked an appeals court Thursday to stay its decision striking down the state law that publicly identifies "sexual predators."
If the stay is granted, Florida's version of Megan's Law will remain in effect pending the final outcome of the 3rd District Court of Appeals ruling in Miami. Either party then would have the right to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. 
Amend sex-offender law to target the dangerous
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Florida prosecutors cite the need for a better registry. 

Lawmakers: Why delay in FBI's search?
By Antigone Barton, Eliot Kleinberg and Scott McCabe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Lawmakers asked Thursday why FBI agents searched a Greenacres home 16 months after neighbors called authorities. 
Saudi family is baffled by FBI raid
The Saudi family whose vacant Palm Beach County home was raided by federal agents wonders how an overgrown lawn and tardy homeowner dues could cause such a phenomenal fuss.

Escambia land deal losses at $2 million
PENSACOLA — New appraisals show Escambia County may have overpaid more than $2 million in two real estate transactions, one of which led to indictments against the sellers and three county commissioners.
An appraisal disclosed Wednesday showed commissioners bought a former soccer complex in 2001 for $1.45 million more than it now is worth. That purchase led to the indictments.
A separate appraisal last week found commissioners also bought a defunct auto dealership in 2001 for $600,000 more than it is now worth. 

Security breach at DeBary water plant prompts statewide directive
DEBARY — A recent security breach at a water plant here has prompted state environmental regulators to order water utilities operators statewide to alert the state immediately if anything suspicious happens at their plants.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued the order Wednesday. It requires the water plant officials to notify the agency as soon as they find out about any "suspicious incident, security breach or suspected sabotage."
A county employee at the DeBary water plant found evidence of a security breach on Jan. 12. Sheriff's officials were informed but the county did not notify the state Health Department until almost 36 hours later because they thought the incident was minor. 

Manatees' status still unsettled
A state panel puts off deciding whether they remain endangered.
Deal to protect manatees draws ire of marine industry
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put into effect new rules Friday on the dock-application process in Florida that marine industry groups believe could threaten their constituents' way of life. The regulations would create a formal application process for people seeking to install docks or water strips. 

Regrettable retreat
Our position: The SEC erred in softening some corporate-reform measures.

Economy, war fuel protesters at Brazil event
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil -- Antiglobalization activists banged drums, yelled antiwar slogans and danced the samba at Thursday's start of the World Social Forum, the third annual summit of protests and talks on ways to limit global capitalism's excesses.

White House sees resistance to war grow
The White House continued to press its case for possible military action in Iraq. 

1/23/03

Quit whining, Jeb, use cash to limit class sizes
Jeb Bush has begun his campaign to kill the class-size amendment.
I've heard more whining out of him in two days than I've heard from my 4-year-old in six months.
We will pillage social services and colleges, he says. Our budget will wind up in California-style chaos. We could get in so much debt it will wreck our credit rating.
And it's only going to get worse!!!!
Jeb is trying to turn class size into Florida's Frankenstein. Then when he has everybody sufficiently terrified that the monster will get them next, he will lead the charge to the castle. He will get the Legislature to put the amendment back on the ballot....

SummerCamp gets the go-ahead 
Times Staff Report by Laurel Newman
By unanimous consent before a standing room only crowd in the new courthouse annex, Franklin County commissioners gave their first, formal thumbs-up Tuesday morning to The St. Joe Company’s proposed SummerCamp project on St. James Island at the eastern end of the county.
About 200 people packed into the meeting room to voice opinions at the public hearing to amend the current comprehensive plan in order to facilitate SummerCamp, the largest-ever residential development project in the county.
The hearing was to approve a change of land use from agriculture to mixed-use residential, while establishing conditions, restrictions and limitations on the development project.
Language was added to the amendment to impose responsibilities on developers to provide more information on proposed developments in the areas of protection of natural resources and cultural heritage, promotion of economic development and coastal high hazard awareness, among other requirements.

1/18-22/03

Revamped SummerCamp plan OK'd
SummerCamp, The St. Joe Co.'s controversial proposed development near St. Teresa, is heading back to the state for review. The Franklin County Commission on Tuesday voted 5-0 to approve a rewritten version of the development to meet objections from the Florida Department of Community Affairs...
FSU proposal vexes some St. Joe foes
Florida State University has created a stir among some St. Joe Co. opponents by asking the company for land and $8.4 million to build a public aquarium near St. Teresa in Franklin County...
Growth talk no substitute for to-do list
Controversy has a marvelous way of concentrating the mind.
After months of angry reaction from environmentalists over a series of pro-development votes, last week the Volusia County Council unanimously chose managing growth as the most important work of 2003.
Council members chose it above improving the economy, securing enough drinking water or sharing urban services. And they're right.
"I'm afraid we'll wake up one day and say 'Oh my God, we've become Seminole County,' " said County Manager Cindy Coto, who should know, having worked there for two decades. "We've paved over some of the prettiest parts of the county."...

New secretary of state quits board seat for Minnesota company
TALLAHASSEE · Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood, whose new post as Florida Secretary of State will include overseeing critical state land and growth decisions, is quitting a corporate post that would put her in a legal conflict with her state job.
After questions were raised by the Orlando Sentinel, Hood said Tuesday she had resigned her seat on the corporate board of Allete Inc., a Minnesota-based corporation with significant Florida property and a utilities arm that provides water to growing developments...
Bush: Agency merger would save millions
Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed merger of the Department of State and Department of Community Affairs would cut 218 positions and save the state $20.7 million, Bush said Tuesday.
The new Department of State and Community Partnerships would handle all the big programs of both departments, in particular elections and emergency management, as well as most of the lower-priority activities the two departments now concern themselves with.  (Note that land use regulation isn't a priority...

State records show soft money contributions at all-time high
TALLAHASSEE — More than $100 million was raised by political parties during Florida's 2001-02 campaign cycle, most of it coming in the form of soft money, according to election records.
Florida's Republicans raised a record $55.4 million during the cycle, according to research by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, helping the party not only win the re-election of Gov. Jeb Bush but assume control of every state Cabinet position and retain both halves of the Legislature.
Democrats in Florida raised exactly half of what poured into the statewide Republican coffers, $27.7 million.
Bush raised an additional $7.5 million in individual contributions, compared to the $6 million raised by his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Bill McBride. Other money raised for statewide races pushed the total fund-raising past $100 million for the first time in Florida's history.
"Those special interests are trying to buy something by giving that money," Ben Wilcox of Florida Common Cause, a group seeking campaign reform. "And what they're seeking is to influence the public policy debate." ...

Bush unveils spending plan: $54 billion budget plan starts class-size reduction process.
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush rolled out a $54 billion budget Tuesday that would boost spending on public schools, health care and social services by $2 billion, increase the state's savings and even resume a "sales-tax holiday" for shoppers. But the recommendation also proposes tuition hikes for students at community colleges and state universities and makes about $800 million in cuts to existing programs and services, including a limit on health care for people with serious illnesses, reductions in programs for troubled and criminal teens and cuts in transportation. ...
Read the  budget at http://www.ebudget.state.fl.us/govpriorities.asp 
Bush: Tough times, tough budget
And it will only get worse, the governor says, pointing a finger at class size and other constitutional mandates....
'Tough' budget proposed
Gov. Jeb Bush released a proposed $54 billion state spending plan Tuesday that recommends big increases to shrink class sizes and beef up child welfare staff salaries...
Want small classes? Here, Bush says
By Jim Ash, S.V. Date and Mary Ellen Klas, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
The governor blames the class size amendment for this year's 'tough' $54 billion budget. ... Amendment 9 isn't to blame for Florida's fiscal woes, it's the $6 billion in tax breaks that Bush has championed while in office, Cariseo said. This year, Bush wants to continue a nine-day, $59 million sales tax holiday on back-to-school clothes, as well as a monthlong sales tax holiday for book sales...
Bush urges service cuts, lower taxes
Gov. Jeb Bush, facing the toughest budget year since he took office because of a voter mandate to shrink class sizes, proposed Tuesday that the Legislature chop state services next year -- including university funding and healthcare for critically ill Floridians -- even as he pushed additional tax cuts...
Gov. Bush puts forth 'tough budget' to tackle class size, child welfare
Area programs bear the brunt of funding cuts
Volusia County officials checking over Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed $54 billion budget Tuesday saw an unsettling recurring theme. Zeros...

State budget: Bush blames Amendment 9 for budget woes, Meek fires back
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush blamed the state's budget woes largely on a class-size reduction amendment Tuesday, but the ballot initiative's leader, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, called his comments "a cowardly act." Meek, a Democrat from Miami, said Bush instead should bear heavy responsibility for the state's fiscal and education problems because he backed some $6 billion in tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, during his first four years in office...
Governor keeps up heat on class size cap
Voters who thought they already settled the debate over the size of public school classes will soon learn that the fight is far from over...

Bush budget hits state workers hard
Proposal calls for higher insurance rates, no pay hikes
The $54 billion state budget Gov. Jeb Bush proposed Tuesday contains no pay raises for state workers and would eliminate 2,905 positions.
State employees will also be paying higher insurance premiums beginning July 1, under the first spending plan of the re-elected governor's new term. A revenue-estimating conference late last year projected a $94 million shortfall in the insurance trust fund and Bush said legislators can work out a combination of fee increases and benefit cuts to plug the gap...

Lawmakers attempt to slim down troubled DCF
On the heels of one of the worst scandals in the history of Florida's child welfare program, state lawmakers are proposing a bill that would largely dismantle the Department of Children & Families, at one time the largest state social service agency in the country...
Budget plan raises salaries, slices programs for teens
TALLAHASSEE · After a year of scandal involving Florida's child welfare program, Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he wants to spend more state money for salary increases and additional caseworkers, but he disappointed child advocates by calling for cuts in programs for delinquent teens and runaways.
Bush seeks in his $54 billion budget recommendation to the Legislature an additional 376 Department of Children & Families caseworkers and proposes raising their beginning salary to roughly the national average, about $34,000 a year.

Death penalty office targeted
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush has proposed eliminating the state agency that has successfully overturned death sentences for convicted killers, suggesting he can save money by replacing it with a ''registry'' of private attorneys.
Wiping out the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel -- and its three offices, including one in Fort Lauderdale -- would save about $3.8 million a year, Bush said.
''It's a more efficient way of dealing with this public policy issue,'' said Bush, who has tried unsuccessfully to speed up the time between sentencing and execution.

Higher-education cuts deeper than expected
Higher education leaders never had high hopes for Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed state budget, but they weren't expecting the cuts to be so deep.
Universities are being asked to eliminate $111.5 million from their annual budgets - even after students ante up at least 7 percent more in tuition money. That means no new money for student enrollment growth. An additional $76 million that would have gone to construction projects has been shifted toward paying for smaller classes in K-12 schools...
Wetherell addresses Tiger Bay
Florida State University would have to raise tuition 25 percent just to make up the $17.6 million cut proposed in Gov. Jeb Bush's budget this week...

What's ailing Medicare
MedPAC's math doesn't add up. Medicare should be encouraging home care, which can keep elderly patients out of hospitals and nursing homes. Already the number of patients treated at home is in decline. If rates are cut further, home care agencies are more likely to drop Alzheimer's patients and those suffering other illnesses that are costly to treat...

State squeezes health program
In what's become an uncomfortable early-year tradition, thousands of Floridians who rely on the state for their health care are wondering whether they will still get help come July.

The Johnnie Byrd For Governor Campaign Goes Postal - DANIEL RUTH
A t some point in the pending feed bag also known as the legislative session, some hapless schmo of a back-bench state representative is going to commit the sin of trying to spend public money for something.
Perhaps it will be an appropriation of, say, $100,000 to remodel a community center or $75,000 to buy a rural hospital a piece of equipment, or maybe a volunteer fire department needs $150,000 to upgrade the station house.
It is then that the offending pol will be taken to the woodshed by House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, to get a stern tongue-lashing about fiscal responsibility and the need to safeguard every penny of public funds.
For when it comes to being a skinflint, Johnnie Byrd makes Jack Benny look like a drunken wastrel. ...

New workers comp allies
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Employers, employees against the insurers. ...

FCAT rules revised for disabled
Some advocates say the changes approved by the Florida Board of Education are too little, too late for this year's seniors...

Mandatory school uniforms near in Escambia
PENSACOLA -- The Escambia County School Board approved a proposal for mandatory uniforms in public schools Tuesday, paving the way for a final vote next month...

DCF investigators call job `impossible'
High caseloads, poor salaries and a perceived lack of support from top administrators ''result in a job that is impossible to do,'' Florida child-welfare investigators told a state legislative committee...

Brogan named finalist for FAU presidency
BOCA RATON — As expected, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan became one of five finalists Tuesday in Florida Atlantic University's search for a new president after a search committee eliminated 14 other applicants. If Brogan succeeds in his quest to lead his alma mater, he will be the only Florida public university president with no doctorate degree and no college teaching experience...

College land swap is a bad bargain
Before Florida Gulf Coast University opened in 1997, its ''founding mission statement'' promised an emphasis on environmental education. Located near Fort Myers, the new public university said it would be ''ideally suited'' to study the impact of a soaring population on ''a unique and sensitive'' ecosystem...

Gallagher questions need for mandatory auto insurance
TALLAHASSEE — Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher raised the possibility of repealing mandatory auto insurance Tuesday and told a gathering of newspaper editors and reporters that he will not run for the U.S. Senate next year. The Republican Cabinet member raised the auto coverage issue when asked about sharply rising rates for various types of insurance during an appearance at the annual Associated Press legislative planning session...

Crist seeks expanded civil rights authority
TALLAHASSEE — Attorney General Charlie Crist said Monday he plans to file legislation aimed at expanding his ability to investigate and punish civil rights violations.
Crist said in remarks at Martin Luther King Day celebrations in Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg that he needed expanded authority to investigate civil rights violations without having to show that alleged violators are also committing some sort of economic crime.
Under current law, the state Attorney General doesn't have the power to directly charge companies with discriminating against someone based on their race. ...

Legislators seek to push for Florida to ratify Equal Rights Amendment
ST. PETERSBURG — Two Florida lawmakers have begun a campaign for support in their effort to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the state Constitution.
Speaking before 200 people at a rally Sunday, Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, and Rep. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, asked the audience to urge their elected officials to co-sponsor or support their plan to sponsor an ERA for Florida.
The amendment states: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." ...

State to bail out Broward voting; Oliphant, commissioners clash
The last-minute aid of hundreds of government employees saved the November election from disaster in Broward County, and now the rest of the state is bailing out the upcoming vote in Broward's cities...
Oliphant says she needs another $1.5 million for upcoming elections
FORT LAUDERDALE — Broward County elections supervisor Miriam Oliphant told commissioners Tuesday that she needs an additional $1.5 million to run the February and March elections, but it was not immediately clear if county lawmakers would grant that request. Her office will, however, remain on a scaled-back austerity budget and be subject to monthly county audits...
Oliphant stumbles under county's questions
Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant faltered under questioning by county commissioners Tuesday, and walked away from a three-hour interrogation with no guarantee of county help or money for the upcoming city elections. ...

INS attorney sues boss and Ashcroft
A Miami immigration service attorney has sued Attorney General John Ashcroft and one of her bosses at the immigration agency alleging she has been singled out for retaliation partly for revealing an internal memo that discussed asylum for Elián González...

As shrimper sells nets for food, Gov. Bush offers industry help
PENSACOLA — Kenneth Farguson II was trying to sell his nets Friday to buy food for himself and his wife as Gov. Jeb Bush announced that a series of meetings will be held around Florida next week offering help to struggling and out-of-work shrimpers.
Many are being forced out of business by low-priced foreign competition that has affected the entire U.S. shrimping industry. And there's a double-whammy in some areas, such as the Florida Panhandle, as shrimp stocks have dwindled. ...

State may change manatees' status from endangered to threatened
TAMPA — The manatee's days as an endangered species in Florida could be numbered.
The gentle, slow-moving "sea cow" has been the state's mammal mascot for years, with a county named in its honor and specialty license plates displaying its likeness.
Depending on whom you talk to, manatees are either dying at an increasing rate or they have a steady population and aren't even threatened. ... The change may not affect regulations protecting manatees, but environmentalists and boaters said the decision could influence the public's perception of the situation. ...

Proliferating palms changing Florida Panhandle's face
GULF BREEZE — A landscape dominated by tall pines and stately oaks — many dripping with Spanish moss — once set the western Florida Panhandle apart from the rest of the Sunshine State.
But no more.
A proliferation of palm trees, most imported from central and southern Florida, has changed the area's arboreal face in recent years, and many traditionalists don't appreciate the makeover.
"They're sort of a fake view of what west Florida is like," said Pensacola biologist Alice Harris. "It's sort of grating on those who know better. Our part of Florida doesn't have those trees, but now it does." ...

Will my son 'share sacrifice' with son of affluent means?
Rep. Charles Rangel thinks that the draft should be reinstated to balance out what he calls a disproportionately balanced military -- I guess this would will be a kind of "draft busing." ...

A message but no messenger
It is inescapable that each White House at one time or another will reinvent the wheel. The Bush White House did so Tuesday when it formally blessed an Office of Global Communications — the better to convey "America's message to the world." ...

Taxing the president's ability to reason
Today we go to the Cabinet room inside the White House for a fly-on-the-wall report. I knew these hairy legs of mine would come in handy one day. From my vantage point high amid the floral wallpaper, I can look down and see the president sitting in the plushest chair surrounded by his advisers, who have been summoned to discuss the pressing issues of the day. ...

Paul Krugman: Off the wagon
Picture a recovering alcoholic falling off the wagon. First he says he can handle a few drinks. Then, when his inebriation can't be denied, he insists it's only a temporary lapse. But eventually he turns mean. "What's so great about being sober?" he growls, reaching for another bottle.
As a drunk is to alcohol, the Bush administration is to budget deficits.
During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush often pledged to maintain fiscal responsibility. Right up to the passage of the 2001 tax cut his people said they could cut taxes, pay for new programs like prescription drug coverage, and still pay off most of the federal government's debt.
As soon as the bill passed, those rosy budget projections fell apart...

Bush threatens Iraqis with war crimes prosecution
President Bush warned Iraqi troops that they would be tried as war criminals if they used weapons of mass destruction against U.S. troops, which Pentagon officials said were in place and ready for combat...

EPA: Lab fraud harming public
Private laboratories are increasingly being caught falsifying test results for water supplies, petroleum products, underground tanks and soil, hampering the government's ability to ensure Americans are protected by environmental laws, investigators say...

Official's party invites questions
The Bush administration's point person for telecommunications policy allowed wireless phone company lobbyists to help pay for a private reception at her home and then 10 days later urged a policy change that benefited their industry, according to documents and interviews...

1/14-17/03

Parades, festivities to honor King 
Central Floridians can honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend with parades, marches, a candlelight vigil, a prayer breakfast, a festival and by planting seedlings.
The civil-rights leader was born Jan. 15, 1929. His birthday is recognized as a national holiday on the third Monday of each January....

State retains personnel services
A proposal that allows state agencies to continue providing personnel services to their employees surprised some lawmakers Wednesday, as they thought a private company already was handling it...

Anti-war group revives 'Daisy' ad in Miami, 12 other cities
SAN FRANCISCO — Revisiting one of the most memorable television commercials in the annals of U.S. politics, a grassroots anti-war group has produced a remake of the "Daisy" ad, warning that a war against Iraq could spark nuclear Armageddon. ...

Judge drops charges against anti-war protesters in Tampa
TAMPA — A judge has dismissed first-degree misdemeanor charges against a group of anti-war activists arrested last year for blocking traffic access to MacDill Air Force Base. Hillsborough County Judge Elvin Martinez called the state's case "a stretch," and tossed out the charges of resisting or opposing an officer against the eight activists...

Bush: No rail-lobby conflict
Gov. Jeb Bush says he is not concerned that the son and daughter-in-law of the state's high-speed rail chairman are lobbyists for companies that want to dictate the system's route through Central Florida...

Michigan case is none of our state's business
Why is Jeb Bush filing a legal brief in a Michigan affirmative-action case before the U.S. Supreme Court?...

Democrats complain about being in high places
TALLAHASSEE — Democrats are moving up in the world, but they're not happy about it.
At a nearly all-time low in numbers in the state House, the 39-member Democratic caucus is nearly entirely ensconced in offices on the 10th, 13th, 14th floors of the 22-floor Capitol building.
A few Democratic leaders are on the third floor, but the ones relegated to the rooms with views are complaining.
"Normally the only way we separate each other is on the chamber floor, where the leading party is in the front and the minority party is in the back," Rep. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday. "But in every other instance, you do it by seniority. For the first time, now we've been segregating the office space by party." ...

Former top Bush aide joins GOP-led lobbying firm
TALLAHASSEE — A former key member of Gov. Jeb Bush's administration, Cynthia Henderson, will begin a new career as a lobbyist with the Miami-based law firm headed by outgoing state Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas.
Henderson, who headed the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and also the Department of Management Services, is prohibited from lobbying DMS for two years since he recently left that job. She is, however, free to lobby the governor's office, Legislature and other agencies, including DBPR. ...

SCOFLA: Manatee group loses court fight over endangered species law
TALLAHASSEE — Critics of manatees and sea turtle regulations can file administrative challenges, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting an argument by environmental groups that such challenges could not be made. But the losers aren't too upset. That's because the unanimous decision means Save the Manatee Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation and others in the environmental community will also be able to challenge rules made by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission...

Appeals court rules state can take citrus trees near canker outbreak
WEST PALM BEACH — The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that a law letting the state take any citrus tree found near a canker infestation is constitutional, but said crews must get warrants before searching private property for signs of the disease.
The opinion struck down Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet's ruling in Fort Lauderdale that the searches and destruction of citrus trees violate the rights of homeowners, many of whom have been fighting to save trees they love for their shade and fruit...
Cape Coral opponent of citrus canker eradication plan featured on 'Daily Show'
CAPE CORAL — The state's citrus canker eradication program has become fodder for laughs on "The Daily Show," the irreverent news satire program that airs on the Comedy Central cable network.
Katie Knight, a vocal opponent of the state's plan, was interviewed last month at her home for a segment to be aired this week.
Knight fought the state agriculture department for a month last fall, gathered about 200 names on a petition and chased away inspectors. She also threatened to put land mines in her back yard. ...

University presidents: Enrollment lockdown possible
TALLAHASSEE — University presidents worried about losing top faculty and possible enrollment freezes next year got little encouragement Thursday from Gov. Jeb Bush, who told them to prepare for a tough year. "It's not going to be very pretty," said Bush, who will announce his 2003-2004 budget recommendations Tuesday. "There's no reason to create a rosy scenario where there is not one."...
University presidents: We earned our raises
The leaders of Florida's universities say they were underpaid before a recent spurt of hefty salary increases...
University president juggled offers from Alabama, UCF
The University of Alabama came close to enticing John Hitt into leaving the presidency of the University of Central Florida after his 11 years here, but Hitt said no.
Hitt confirmed Thursday night that he was a finalist for the Alabama presidency until just the past couple of days, when he informed that university he was no longer interested.
Hitt, 62, pursued the job even as he was negotiating a new contract with UCF, one that provided him with a $93,000 raise to $295,000. Even after he signed the five-year contract Jan. 3, he continued to talk to Alabama trustees about the job there...
Brogan applies for top FAU post
Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan applied Wednesday to become president at Florida Atlantic University, just eight days after taking the oath of office to begin his second term in office...

Study: Medicaid cuts won't cure state's budget blues
Cutting Medicaid dollars to help offset Florida's huge budget deficit isn't the way to go because of lost federal money, jobs, wages and business activity that would result, according to an analysis a national health consumer advocacy group released Thursday. "Cuts in Medicaid exacerbate difficult economic conditions already being experienced in states," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA in Washington, D.C. "When states slash Medicaid programs, they hurt everyone in losses in jobs, wages and economic activity."...

Lawmakers spar over rejection of grants
Senate President Jim King says politics were put above health, but House Speaker Johnnie Byrd says the panel acted properly...
Tallahassee's fanatics
House members irresponsibly rejected federal funds that would have paid for programs to improve Floridians' health and protect the environment...
House members block panel from spending federal funds
Even as Florida struggles to find money to pay for critical state services, Republican leaders are bickering over whether to accept free money from the federal government for preventive healthcare education for women, to feed the poor and to remove leaking underground oil tanks...
Federal money? Heaven forbid!
It's one thing to demand accountability in public spending, but another to be so rigid that the outcome is irresponsible. Chalk one up for five House members of the Legislative Budget Commission who on Wednesday turned aside millions of federal dollars that would pay for breast cancer awareness, food for the poor and oil-spill cleanups. Their convoluted reasoning: The state agencies that would manage the money didn't have sound spending plans yet...

Nonprofit group puts hospitals on notice about price-gauging
ORLANDO — The city's hospitals are price gouging uninsured patients by charging them higher prices than those with insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, an advocacy group charged Tuesday. ...

Bush says Florida budget will grow but questions fast train
TALLAHASSEE — With hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank and a 4.1 percent growth in tax revenues, Florida's fiscal health looks pretty good compared to lots of other states, Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday.
But he still said he'll move ahead to scuttle the high-speed train initiative voters approved in 1998 if private companies aren't willing to assume the business risks for the project in contract bids next month. ...
Bush says budget's in good shape
Despite dismal economic conditions elsewhere and dire predictions to the contrary, Florida's budget will grow next year, not face a deficit...

Report: Health vs. wealth counts in paying for insurance
The situation is both disturbing and ironic. Felicia Scotland, a 50-year-old physician’s assistant-turned-financial adviser from Deltona, cannot afford health insurance...

Florida study: Cap non-economic malpractice awards at $250,000
TALLAHASSEE — Jury awards above compensation for economic losses in medical malpractice cases should be capped at $250,000, a task force appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush decided Thursday. The task force voted 3-1 to include a recommendation for the cap on non-economic damages — punitive and pain-and-suffering awards — when it presents Bush with its final report. (not much of a surprise - from JEB's task force...)
Switch drugs, save money
That's how it's supposed to work, but unsealed documents show how some companies steer you to more expensive prescriptions that help line their pockets.
WASHINGTON -- It's called drug switching, and it's supposed to save you money.
Here's how it works: The company that manages pharmacy benefits for your insurance company monitors your prescriptions, persuading your doctor to switch you from high-priced drugs to lower-priced equivalents.
You save and the health care system saves -- in theory.
But if you are one of 65-million Americans whose drug coverage is handled by Medco Health Solutions, drug switching might have cost you or your health plan money, and lots of it.
That's because the New Jersey company is likely to ask your doctor to switch you to a drug manufactured by Medco's parent company, the pharmaceutical giant Merck, even if it is more expensive. ...  (not all the lawyer's fault, eh??)
Legislature: Malpractice victims ask if there's a limit on suffering
TALLAHASSEE — Adam Susser may be the most powerful lobbyist in the fight over what to do about soaring medical malpractice insurance rates.
But he's never talked to a lawmaker. He can't. ...
Speaker appoints lawyer to head House workers comp committee
TALLAHASSEE — House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, saying the state's workers compensation system is nearing a crisis, appointed a representative who has been an attorney for insurance companies to head a committee that will recommend changes. Byrd, R-Plant City, met with representatives of the workers compensation insurance industry before announcing the committee, which will be led by Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland. Ross has been an attorney for workers compensation insurance companies. (... any input from workers here?)
Well-off vets can't enroll for VA care
WASHINGTON -- The Veterans Affairs Department will suspend enrollment today for higher-income vets seeking health care for non-military-related ailments ranging from routine care to heart disease and diabetes.
The suspension, scheduled to last through 2003, goes against VA policy set in 1996, when Congress ordered the agency to open health care to nearly all veterans. The change is expected to affect about 164,000 veterans...
An obligation to honor promises
As thousands of U.S. military men and women ship out to the Middle East, the veterans from World War II and Korea -- men who faced death and lived to tell about it -- are gearing up for a fight, too. Not against a bully in Iraq but against our own government's travesty of broken promises.
The vets' fight isn't about the past, though many people might think so. It's not about "getting theirs," about freebies or special treatment. It is about this nation's obligation to honor its promises to those who risk their lives to protect this country and its democratic ideals...

State will challenge reversal of sexual-predator law
TAMPA — Attorney General Charlie Crist said Thursday that his office was still determining how it will challenge an appeals court decision striking down Florida's version of Megan's Law, which publicly identifies "sexual predators." Meanwhile, Crist's office said it would seek a stay to keep the order from going into effect pending the outcome of any appeals...
Appeals court junks Florida's sexual predator act
MIAMI — An appeals court Wednesday ruled that the Florida Sexual Predator Act, the state's version of Megan's Law, is unconstitutional because it lacks provisions to let judges determine a defendant's actual threat to the community on an individual basis. ...

DCF hires, fires ex-judge involved in Michigan sex scandal
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida's child-welfare agency fired an attorney this week after learning he was accused of using his position as a Michigan judge to solicit sex from women. The Department of Children & Families hired James "Skip" Scandirito in June 2000 as a senior attorney representing caseworkers and abused children, but didn't know about the scandal that preceded his resignation as district judge in Macomb County, Mich., six months earlier...

First black warden being named at Florida State Prison
STARKE — Joseph E. Thompson will become Florida State Prison's first black warden, Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby Jr. announced Thursday. The change was among a number of appointments made by Crosby, who was recently appointed to the top job by Gov. Jeb. Bush...

Gov. won't suspend Oliphant
UPDATED: Gov. Bush will not suspend Broward’s embattled supervisor of elections...
Gov. Bush won't suspend Oliphant; special meeting canceled
Miriam Olphant FORT LAUDERDALE – Shortly after Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday notified the Broward County Commission he will not suspend Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant, commisioners canceled a special afternoon session to vote on a resolution that would have sought her suspension...
County mayor calls for Oliphant's removal from office
FORT LAUDERDALE — Broward County Mayor Diana Wasserman-Rubin has joined the growing chorus of lawmakers asking embattled elections supervisor Miriam Oliphant to resign, saying that her decision is simply "a remedy of last resort" to fix the office's many woes. Wasserman-Rubin has called an emergency meeting of county commissioners for Friday and also will ask them to make a formal request for Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend Oliphant. The governor has the right to fire Oliphant though she's an elected official. ...
Black leaders urge turnout for commission vote on Oliphant; former Oliphant aide files whistleblower suit

Imperiled Everglades
Florida's sensitive Everglades is in critical need of help from Congress.
Most politicians talk a good game when it comes to restoring the imperiled Everglades. But for the new Republican majority, the first real test of congressional support for the ailing River of Grass could come as early as next week...

Decades of deep-well disposal raise fears of Panhandle pollution
PENSACOLA — Solutia Inc. has been injecting toxic waste into the ground 1,400 feet below the western Florida Panhandle for 40 years without tainting the region's drinking water, but some scientists are worried it is just a matter of time before that happens.
Their fears focus largely on more than a dozen abandoned wells within 15 miles of the St. Louis-based company's nylon plant just north of Pensacola.
If not properly plugged, pressure from Solutia's deep-well injection could push saltwater and toxic wastes, including nitrates and potentially deadly formic acid and PCBs, through the wells into a shallow aquifer from which drinking water is drawn. ...

Move to regulate Panhandle wetlands renews after federal action
PENSACOLA — Relaxed federal oversight of isolated wetlands has renewed calls for state regulation in the Panhandle, the only part of Florida now exempt.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have given field staffers instructions that discourage them from protecting any wetlands not connected to navigable waterways, critics say.
"To maintain even a small (wetland), even the size of a backyard, a little tiny patch of habitat may be important," said Dick Snyder, a University of West Florida marine ecologist. "It's part of a larger mosaic." ...
Wetlands high, dry in Bush plan
Just three months after proclaiming this "the year of clean water," the Bush administration is proposing new regulations that are the most serious threat to the Clean Water Act since it was passed by Congress 30 years ago.
Goodbye, Year of Clean Water. Hello, Years of Living Dangerously.
At issue is whether the government will protect wetlands or abandon many of them to the not-so-tender mercies of developers...

Eliot Spitzer's premature capitulation to Wall Street
To hear the media tell it, the headline-grabbing settlement between crusading New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and scandal-rotted Wall Street investment banks is a cause for investor celebration - a towering, game-winning home run belted out of the park by the new Sultan of Shareholder Swat...

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