Statewide Reports -July 23-31, 2002

NOTE - 
If the link to the on-line articles has changed, search the paper's archive section by date and title - Palm Beach Post links are only good for the day posted, and there is a fee to access archived articles. 

7/31/02

• Bush reveals income for 9 years - TALLAHASSEE -- Strictly in business terms, these are not Gov. Jeb Bush's best years. His pay as governor, $120,514 last year, pales in contrast to what he made in real estate. .... Bush insists he made no money from a U.S. government-backed sale of water pumps to Nigeria in the early 1990s, when he was a partner in Bush-El Trading with businessman David Eller. Bush says his earnings came from work in other countries, but declines to say how he made $648,000 on Bush-El from 1989-94
• Bush may be called in suit - A man suing a one-time business partner of Gov. Jeb Bush's in a Nigeria water-pump sale that went awry amid allegations of bribery wants to call Bush as a witness in the case whenever it goes to trial, an attorney confirmed Monday.-- In a related development, the governor said Monday he does not want a federal judge to seal records in the case, as his former business partner, J. David Eller, is seeking.
• No real federal-state dialogue about priorities and revenues - .... While Washington continues to dangle tax cuts and boost both defense and domestic spending, dissipating the promised surpluses and running up a deficit for next year conservatively estimated at $165 billion, state and local governments are raising taxes and slashing vital services in order to balance their budgets.-- 
  The paradoxes do not seem to bother Republicans, who have used their control of the White House and their leverage in Congress in ways that cause headaches -- and bring political vulnerability -- for their embattled governors. While President Bush was urging Congress to stay the course on the upper-bracket tax cuts scheduled for coming years and to make them permanent, his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, signed a budget that cut 37,000 low-income Floridians out of Medicaid-financed basic dental care.
• S. Florida food banks running out of supplies to feed hungry
   So many people around South Florida need help feeding themselves and their families these days that local soup kitchens and food pantries are having a hard time meeting the need.
• Positively wrong
  Governor's first ad highlights a problem. -- To start his reelection campaign, Gov. Bush plunged from his corner with elbows and knees flying in the first attack ad of the dismal election season. The man who always promises a high-level campaign, then never delivers, starts this one flailing wildly.-- His Democratic opponents, the ad claims, are squishy on the death penalty and evasive about the grades he gives to schools. Oh, really?
• Payday loan firm to sign up voters
  In the quest to sign up more voters for this year's election, voting-rights organizations are taking all the help they can get. The People for the American Way Foundation and Arrive With Five announced Tuesday that they are teaming up with Advance America, a payday loan company that is currently under investigation by the state Attorney General's Office.
• Sheldon trying to pick up where Butterworth left off
  George Sheldon hopes Attorney General Bob Butterworth's coattails are extra long. They need to stretch from Tallahassee, where just about everyone's heard of Sheldon, all the way to Miami, where he's far from a household word.
• Reversing the trend of rising juvenile crime in Florida
  Juvenile crime is a double tragedy in our society. As with all crime, our hearts first go out to its victims, and our efforts must be focused first on protecting the safety of our law-abiding citizens.
• Yet another DCF fiasco - The Department of Children & Families' latest incident illustrates its problems.-- 
  How many fiascoes will it take at the state Department of Children & Families before Gov. Jeb Bush concedes that problems at that agency run a lot deeper than a few bad employees? The source of many of the agency's problems rests with its leaders.
• DCF visited Panhandle child three days before her death
  PENSACOLA — A Department of Children & Families counselor visited a Crestview toddler three days before the child was found dead from blunt force trauma, an agency official said Tuesday. It was a routine visit that gave no indication that 19-month-old Kayla Regine Mays or her four siblings, including a twin brother, had been harmed or were in danger, said Betty Hooper, spokeswoman for the department's district headquarters in Pensacola.
• Pre-K amendment has necessary signatures; headed for ballot
  TALLAHASSEE — A proposal to provide free pre-kindergarten for Florida's 4-year-olds became the eighth constitutional amendment to qualify for the November ballot, state elections officials said Tuesday. The secretary of state's office said amendment supporters had collected 512,184 signatures, exceeding the 488,722 they needed.
• Feud Over Class Size Outgrows Florida
  TALLAHASSEE - More than half the nearly $1.1 million raised so far by the group seeking smaller class sizes in Florida public schools has come from out-of-state contributors, campaign finance records show. ...The proposed constitutional amendment, which is expected to be approved as early as today for the November ballot, has heavy backing from two national teacher unions, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and People for the American Way. All oppose Gov. Jeb Bush's school voucher program.
• Our state government is home to fiascos, intrigue - All of those folks hoping that the fiasco of 2000 won't be repeated in this fall's elections have to be swallowing hard right about now.- Qualifying candidates to run for office should be a cut-and-dried affair: Fill out the paperwork and pay the filing fee before the deadline.- Even that simple task was bungled last week.-- 
• GOP and voter trust
  Florida's Republican Party shouldn't squelch all criticism in the primary.
• Former Graham consultant files new ethics complaint
  He challenges a deal in which tax-deductible donations to a nonprofit result in cost cuts for Sen. Graham's drive to restore statewide university governance.
• Elect commission with character
  The big issue in Hillsborough County Commission elections this year will not be parks or taxes or fire stations or how often residents may water their lawns. The issue is electing people with character -- candidates who have the know-how and integrity to lead and work together. Nothing more unites people from Carrollwood to Sun City Center than the shared embarrassment of being represented by a board that collectively is defined by meanness, pettiness and paranoia.
• PENSIONS RECALCULATED
  Miami commissioners made a prudent decision to correct the way pension benefits are calculated for elected officials. In the bargain, they've added fairness to a skewed process. Commissioners' preliminary approval helps to ensure that officials don't retire with pensions that exceed their maximum full-time earnings.
• Broward County uses touchscreen voting for first time
  SOUTHWEST RANCHES — In her first experience with Broward County's new touchscreen voting machines, Joanne Mitchell wasn't sure Tuesday which button to push to complete her ballot, which replaced the controversial punchcard system she'd used before. "It was a little bit confusing," said Mitchell, who eventually figured out that she needed to press the flashing "vote" button. "I thought when you press the candidate it goes to vote. I didn't know you had to push another button on the machine."
• Campus newspaper asks Supreme Court to take Earnhardt case
  TALLAHASSEE — The publishers of the Independent Florida Alligator newspaper in Gainesville are asking the state Supreme Court to consider whether the law restricting access to autopsy photos is constitutional. In papers filed earlier this month, Campus Communications asked the high court to review a lower court's decision that the law barring public access to autopsy materials was constitutional.
• FCCJ begins contract talks with educators, new union
  After months of finger-pointing, Florida Community College at Jacksonville administrators and union officials met for the first time yesterday to begin collective bargaining.
• Panhandle doctor arrested in patient abandonment case
  PORT ST. JOE — A doctor has been charged with neglect of a disabled person for allegedly abandoning an apparent stroke victim at a rescue mission in the Florida Panhandle, Gulf County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Tuesday. Dr. Vincent Ivers, an emergency room physician, was arrested Monday and released on his own recognizance. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted of the third-degree felony.
• Pharmacy owner, employee charged with fraud
  The state attorney general's office says they bilked Medicaid out of $1.7 million.
• Insurer builds big profit on denial of needed care
  I read the July 21 Business article "In health insurance, size builds clout, profits," about Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida, and I felt sick to my stomach. My family is on the other side of this equation.
• Money crisis stuns Daytona
  It would take a couple of hands to point fingers at all the reasons why this famous beachside city is facing a budget crisis that may take dozens of police off the street and produce the biggest tax increase in recent memory.
• 90 students now have no school - SANFORD -- A Seminole County charter school abruptly announced Tuesday it won't open this school year, leaving district officials scrambling to find alternative placements for its emotionally disturbed students before classes begin next week.
• Rival accuses Catalfumo of illegal lobbying
  A rival to builder Catalfumo Construction says the firm engaged in questionable lobbying practices.
• Audit critical of city code division
  About half of Jacksonville code inspections aren't done on time, $6.2 million in fines remain uncollected and reporting deficiencies make it difficult to track if problems are corrected, a city audit found.
• Environmental group sues over discharges into Lake Okeechobee
  FORT MYERS — A nonprofit environmental law firm sued the South Florida Water Management District on Tuesday, alleging it has done little to prevent Lake Okeechobee from being regularly polluted with pesticides, oil, grease and other contaminants. Earthjustice said the South Florida Water Management District was given more than 60 days notice about violations to the Clean Water Act but made no changes.
• Wildlife Federation sues agency for pumping polluted water into Lake Okeechobee - The Florida Wildlife Federation accused the district of violating the federal Clean Water Act in the operation of its drainage canals along the lake's southern rim.
• Advocates for manatees force showdown today - Environmentalists fighting federal officials over manatee protections are willing to delay creating new manatee refuges and sanctuaries until December, as long as federal permits for new boat slips and marinas are halted until then.-- 
  That is one way environmentalists, who filed this announcement Monday in federal court in Washington D.C., hope to keep a landmark court settlement intact. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to abolish it.
• County aims to buy lake bed
  Leon County applied Tuesday for a $6.6 million state grant to help buy the dry upper Lake Lafayette lake bed to prevent development.
• The nature of plantations
  The plantation culture of the South has a harsh human history that may never be completely forgotten or forgiven. But these extraordinary tracts of land, which contribute so greatly to the beauty of our countryside, also represent a largely untainted environmental and agriculture history that's well worth sustaining.
• Keep homes away from state park
  Good for animals, and good for development.
• As homeowners battle toxic mold, state holds hearing on insurance coverage -- In the meantime, insurers, builders and homeowners are battling in the media and in the courtroom.-- 
  The Florida Department of Insurance held the first of a trio of meetings Tuesday to hear comments from consumers and the industry about who should pay for mold. Dozens of South Florida residents told harrowing tales of the effects of mold on their lives.- 
  In Florida, insurers are only required to pay for mold cleanup if it resulted from an event that the insurance company covers, such as a pipe or water heater bursting.-- 
  Other states require insurers to cover mold no matter what.
• Turnpike neighbors plead for noise help - WEST BOYNTON · Unwilling to surrender to blaring noise, suburban residents beseeched state Department of Transportation officials Tuesday night to reconsider sound walls for their communities, even though studies already disqualified 10 of 15 communities along Florida's Turnpike.
• Future grim for historic home
   A year ago, Orange County commissioners agreed to spend up to $500,000 to save historic gardens at a turn-of-the-century home once owned by pioneering horticulturist Henry Nehrling.
• 200 Haitians in Miami rally for equal treatment - MIAMI · A passing cabby pumped his fist and another motorist honked rhythmically as a sudden burst of music roused 200 protesters denouncing the government's treatment of Haitian asylum seekers Tuesday evening.
• Haiti's poor caught in aid crisis - PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti · Sonia Jean-Pierre's life is one of apocalyptic misery. With hardly any food or work, her only refuge is a concrete cell. The searing sun is blotted out by cardboard pasted over the windows. On the wall by her bed, she has scrawled, "Jesus Christ is coming soon," like a promise of salvation to greet her every morning.-- 
  Jean-Pierre and hundreds of neighbors live as squatters inside the old Fort Dimanche Prison, once the brutally efficient killing chamber of the Duvalier dictatorships. A prison no longer, it has been renamed, hopefully, Village Democratie. ... ... Nearly eight years after the United States led an invasion of Haiti to oust a military junta and restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, Village Democratie is just one measure of this country's despairing slide. ... Increasingly exasperated with Aristide's government, which has yet to resolve a 2-year-old deadlock with its opposition, the United States and European countries have blocked about $500 million in aid, hoping to encourage greater democracy. Critics say the decision has merely eroded the hopes and deepened the poverty of this country's 7 million or so people.
• Paul Krugman: Today the states, tomorrow ...
  New Jersey has always been a good state for scandals, and last week provided two. One, the case of Web-snooping by a Princeton admissions officer, which involved a total of 11 applicants to Yale, was the subject of front-page stories across the nation. (Disclosure: I'm a Princeton professor.)
• Extortion by another name
  Extortion is happening, even as we speak, right here in the middle of our newly vigilant, corruption-probing capital city. But don't bother calling the corruption-fighters. Because they will just tell you it's all legal. And they should know. Because they are the law-makers and reg-makers. And also they are the ones who are doing the legalized extorting. ...
  But here is what is really happening: Members of Congress get lists of the corporations or other special interests (such as trial lawyers and labor unions) that their specific committees regulate — and telephone the corporations or special interests they regulate and ask for money for their upcoming reelection campaigns. (Some have their political operatives make the call.)
• What's behind our high tolerance for the sin of greed?
  I had to laugh when reading the results of a poll posted Friday on the Internet site Beliefnet.com, asking readers which of the seven deadly sins they were most guilty of committing.
• Economy slows; recession worse than believed
  The U.S. economy lost momentum in the second quarter of this year, growing at an annual rate of just 1.1 percent. New figures today also showed that last year's recession was worse than thought, with the economy shrinking in three quarters of 2001.
• Reviews are in — Let military be military
  The Bush administration said the threat of catastrophic terrorism requires a review of the Posse Comitatus Act, and the reviews have been pouring in. Coming from left, right and in between, they have a message that can be summed up in two words: Forget it.

7/30/02

• Lack of candidates blow to voter choice
  Nearly half the state Senate was elected Saturday. Nearly one-third of Florida's congressional delegation earned office that day, too, including one candidate who had never before run for Congress. Additionally, Tom Gallagher will become Florida's chief financial officer -- a brand new Cabinet post -- without having to make a single campaign stop.
• Roberts' finale anything but dull
  So much for a quiet, dignified end to Clay Roberts' tenure as Florida's elections chief. Only days after discovering that the Division of Elections was charging legislative candidates too little for qualifying for election, Roberts had to deal with chaos Friday when a cargo plane crashed just hours before the qualifying deadline, destroying some candidates' paperwork.
• Harris muffs another
  Ending her inept career on an appropriate note.-- ... When the controversy broke, Ms. Harris not only was out of town, she was conveniently out of touch, in her own undisclosed location. Her staff stressed that she was back in the office Friday -- "the critical day for her to be here." What a relief. She thus was in place to ask Gov. Bush to extend the qualifying deadline for a day because of the "emergency" caused by the plane crash. This would be the same Katherine Harris who saw no "emergency" when a virtual tie in the Florida presidential race demanded that counties get time to count as many legal ballots as possible.
• State senate stint would pad pension
  If he wins a Senate seat, Bob Butterworth would take a pay cut. But his pension would still grow.
• Attorney general candidate fires back at Republican leader
  TALLAHASSEE -- Republican attorney general candidate Tom Warner took exception Monday to party boss Al Cardenas, who criticized Warner for saying another GOP candidate is unqualified. "Since when is it not a legitimate campaign issue to question another candidate's qualifications?" Warner asked. "I thought the purpose of the primaries was to test the candidates and to make sure we had the best and strongest candidate to represent the party."
• One destination, two distinct paths
  Walter Dartland is a latecomer to the race for attorney general, but he's no stranger to the office. Dartland, 67, was a deputy to Attorney General Bob Butterworth for two years after losing to him for the top spot in 1986. He served another four years as a special counsel starting in 1996.
• Recognition, endorsements, funds fuel Dyer powerhouse
  Sen. Buddy Dyer's got the biggest endorsements, the fattest campaign chest and the highest statewide name recognition of any of the four Democrats running for attorney general.
• Bush creates commission to attract retirees to Florida
  TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush announced Monday the formation of a commission to help attract retirees to Florida. Long known for being a haven for retirees, Bush said more seniors are considering settling in other states. "I think the conventional wisdom is that seniors somehow are a burden when in fact they are providing a net benefit to our economy," Bush said. "Seniors are wealthier and in many cases they are healthier."
• University of Florida stymied in its efforts to attract blacks
  Recruiters of black students to the University of Florida continually battle its reputation as a predominantly white institution with admissions standards so high that it is nearly impossible to get into.
• Bush says class size amendment is too costly
  ORLANDO — Gov. Jeb Bush repeated Monday his opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the number of students per class in Florida's schools. He said it would cost too much. "It benefits lower class size, no question about it, but to mandate either higher taxes or cuts in services to achieve it is something I will not support," Bush said.
• Up to 500 FCATs missing, some students may have to retake exams - TAMPA, Fla. - Between 100 and 500 of the state's student assessment tests are missing, according to the Florida Department of Education. -- The missing Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests, among the 3.5 million graded this year, could be misplaced, said department spokeswoman JoAnn Carrin. -- "They could be packed away in a closet or in a wrong box," Carrin said. "We're finding tests every day, and I'm confident we'll find these tests."
• Gay GOP candidate makes waves
  Patrick Howell is seeking conservative Rep. Allen Trovillion's state House seat.
• Yet another DCF fiasco
  The Department of Children & Families' latest incident illustrates its problems.
• State wants U.S. to take part of dam
  The Legislature has not provided money to tear down a dam on the Ocklawaha River.
• A thirsty region still gulps down development
  To reach the Kings Point clubhouse from the parking lot, you have to cross a small footbridge over what appears to be a drainage ditch posing as a creek. The ditch is dry and full of grass.
• State Environmental Agency Wise To Reject This Idea
  T he state Department of Environmental Protection nearly handed Gov. Jeb Bush's Democratic opponents some powerful campaign ammunition. - The DEP lawyers recommended the agency seek attorney fees from an environmental group that fought a state plan that would have allowed a Georgia-Pacific paper mill to dump wastewater into the St. Johns River. -- The move would have served to intimidate citizen groups from challenging destructive projects. -- Fortunately, DEP Secretary David Struhs decided not to pursue the legal fees. 
  The controversy also raises questions about the state's pollution rules. - As the Tribune's Mike Salinero found, the state has never adopted dioxin standards, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers it one of the most deadly chemicals on its list of toxic substances.

• State is losing battle with beach erosion
  PENSACOLA — Florida's beaches are eroding at an alarming rate despite elaborate regulations and millions spent on restoration, say scientists, engineers and environmentalists. Of the 825 miles of sandy shores surrounding the state, almost half — 328 miles — are being eaten away to the point of threatening buildings and recreation although taxpayers have spent more than $886 million on beach nourishment since 1923.
• Emus loose in Florida since market for their meat vanished
  CRESTVIEW — Emus, although native to Australia, have been running wild in Florida since the bottom fell out of the market for their meat in the mid-1990s. An Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy last week shot one of the flightless birds of unknown ownership after it had harassed some dogs in nearby Baker, a rural community in the Florida Panhandle. Emus and their relatives, rheas from South America and ostriches from Africa, had been touted as a lowfat alternative to red meat in the 1980s.
• The NRA poster boy
  Attorney General John Ashcroft wants information that would keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, fugitives and illegal aliens purged after a day.
• Molly Ivins: Hard to tell which story is the parody
  AUSTIN, Texas — The New Yorker magazine published an amusing parody on recent business scandals last week, including this gem: "Mr. Cheney called for an end to innuendo about his activities in a now bankrupt Pitcairn Island firm that sold itself the air rights to a million acres of West Texas flatlands, deducted the transaction from its taxes as an entertainment expense, then borrowed $14 million interest-free from the Liechtenstein bank it owned, using its assets of company-acquired Callaway golf clubs as collateral, to finance the purchase of gifts for some Bessarabian oil prospectors who were then passing through Dallas."
• Scandals yield defiant arrogance instead of shame
  Responding to the bombshell revelation that senior bankers at Citigroup actively helped Enron hide billions in debt, Enron Lawyer of Last Resort Robert Bennett deftly summed up the real reason for the current economic crisis: "Most of the problems - not all of them - are things that have been legal and acceptable."
• Don't extend credit
  Congress revives bad bankruptcy bill.
• GOP extremists overrun Powell
  Any hope that Secretary of State Colin Powell could moderate the right-wing impulses of George Bush must now be abandoned. And perhaps Secretary Powell should abandon the Bush administration, as well, before it ruins his reputation.

7/29/02

• New plan: Raise funds from the newly laid off
  Nothing personal, but Noel Crick probably won't be filling out his "Critical 2002 Personal Endorsement" form or sending a campaign contribution to Gov. Jeb Bush.
• Roll Back Increase
  Leave it to the Florida Legislature to turn their salaries into a political issue during an election year.
• The Florida pipeline: Bush brothers using pork to plunder votes
  With George W. Bush in the White House, little brother Jeb in Tallahassee, and Florida as the once and future swing state in W.'s electoral fortunes, no one expected propriety to replace pork as the defining bond between the two Bushes. Both have plenty to gain from each other. W. needs Florida to win again in 2004. And to get reelected this November, Jeb needs every federal dollar, legate and favor he can get to paint himself as a friend to all those things he's been plundering in his first term education, the environment, workers' rights.
• Reno joins anti-plant group
  Virginia Seacrist still has the souvenir baseball cap Gov. Jeb Bush gave her on a canoe trip down the Ichetucknee River in 1999 - back when state officials were first deciding whether to allow the Suwannee American Co. to build a cement plant a few miles from the stream.
• Unbiased analysis: Chief economist served state well as straight shooter
  Truth and politics can be nervous bedfellows. Maybe that's why Ed Montanaro, the Legislature's chief economist, sometimes looked and sounded uneasy. In his 16-year tenure with the state, he often had to deliver bad news. Despite what must have been powerful temptation to whitewash or distort the truth, Montanaro's reputation as a straight shooter remains untarnished.
• Courts may clarify 'sunshine' law after Escambia convictions
  Convictions of two suspended Escambia County commissioners could lead to appeals that clarify what officials can or cannot discuss in private under the state's open-government "sunshine" law. Lawyers spent hours before and during both trials arguing what is permitted under the open-government law, but Okaloosa County Judge T. Patterson Maney had little case law to help him resolve the issues.
• No place for wordiness
  It was a mistake for legislators to allow themselves overly long ballot questions.
• Candidates face identity crisis
  Top cop or consumer advocate? These two visions of the state attorney general are taking shape as a crowded field of candidates vie for their party's nomination. The three Republican candidates tend toward the tough-on-crime side, while the four Democrats are saying the state's No.1 lawyer must be foremost an advocate for the people.
• Butterworth's surprising step down doesn't mean that he's out
  Bob Butterworth, our state attorney general, certainly could have become a justice of the Florida Supreme Court, if only he had asked the last Democratic governor to appoint him.
• Butterworth's Senate bid triggers scrutiny by GOP
  Attorney General Bob Butterworth's decision to run for a state Senate seat in South Florida is still under review by Republicans.
• GOP plan for state Senate seat could backfire
  Republican leaders in the Florida Senate congratulated themselves two weeks ago when shifting district boundaries prompted one of their own, state Sen. Debby Sanderson, to announce her retirement rather than seek reelection.
• Democratic primary could be a bore
  Three candidates for Florida governor are light on specifics -- and funds.
• District 90 voters set terms
  By Jim Ash and John Murawski, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
  A politically savvy Democratic bloc gets the representation it wants or cleans House.
• For $1,500, you can be local doctor's VIP
  During the last 10 years, Dr. Jason Mercer found himself in a dilemma that was becoming worse. As his practice grew, he felt pressured by health insurance companies to spend less time with patients.
• Better health in 'Glades
  With hospital sound, there's extra money.
• Proposed rules adding up to a lot of 'buts' for the state
  In its proposed blueprint for how the Everglades should be restored, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers speaks broadly about setting goals, monitoring progress, planning projects, and the role of each agency. But, there are a lot of buts. The Corps of Engineers last week released its proposed regulations for the $7.8 billion replumbing of the Florida Everglades. The proposed rules will be subject to two months of public comment before the Corps of Engineers makes a final decision.
• Protect treasure - The governor should name a group to protect the Wekiva and build a road.-- Gov. Jeb Bush has before him a prime opportunity to protect one of the state's premier environmental jewels, promote responsible growth and solve one of Central Florida's most intractable transportation woes.
• Residents Hemmed In By Government
  LITHIA - More than ever, Florida families buy slices of the American dream in subdivisions with sidewalks, deed restrictions and homes with common architectural themes. But some still pursue that dream where homesteads are measured in acres and people wake to a rooster's crow instead of rush-hour traffic. ...
• Waste Water Flows To Bay Today
  PORT MANATEE - Millions of gallons of treated phosphate waste water are ready to be dumped into environmentally sensitive Bishop's Harbor, just south of the Hillsborough-Manatee county line. ...
• County links flooding to CSX - Vaughn Williams' parking lot is producing bubbles as floodwater seeps into cracks in the asphalt.-- 
  The parking lot, which surrounds a 60,000-square-foot building Williams owns on Central Florida Parkway, is submerged in more than one foot of water for the fifth time since he purchased the building in 1995.
• An abuse of law enforcement
  Troopers have no business pulling aside motorists for a high-speed-rail survey.
• Survey shows state is No. 1 nationwide in murder-suicides
  TALLAHASSEE -- Florida has the highest number of murder-suicides in the country, but only a fraction are committed by women over 55, state records show.
• Bowden and Zook hit it off
  Will an amicable meeting lead to a kinder, gentler Florida-FSU rivalry?
• Healing with touch
  Patients and doctors in mainstream hospitals are coming to rely on therapeutic touch.
• Program provides coverage for uninsured
  Some uninsured Jacksonville residents went home from Memorial Hospital Jacksonville Saturday with something they could not afford before -- health coverage.
• Bad meat business
  The meat industry, faced with its second largest recall for contamination, should clean up its act and embrace reforms that will make meat less hazardous to your health.
• Unheralded hard drives a catalyst for better gadgets
  Next to semiconductors that keep screaming more and more gigahertz, there's a quieter catalyst for ever more powerful and shrinking high-tech gadgets: hard drives.
• Guest editorial: The secret history of judges
  When a judge is nominated to a Court of Appeals, one of the powerful courts a level below the Supreme Court, the confirmation process should include a careful review of his or her past rulings. The trouble is that judges are not required to have their opinions printed in official court publications, and Senate procedures make it easy to miss troubling unpublished cases from a nominee's past. The nomination of Judge Dennis Shedd to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., demonstrates the flaws in the current system. The nomination is now pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• Election ruling stirs debate - A recent court decision has opened up debate over what judicial candidates can and can't say during elections.-- And that, some say, could translate into more dynamic judicial elections where voters will get more information out of candidates.-- Others argue the issue politicizes the judiciary and opens judges to attacks, based on what they have said, that could force their recusal on certain cases.
• Make travel to Cuba no longer an illegal trip
  Palm Beach Post Editorial
  Senate should follow the House's lead.
• BACK-DOOR CUBA POLICY
  WHY ENCOURAGE LAWBREAKING? Misguided congressional attempts to ease restrictions on U.S. travel and sales to Cuba are bad public policy.
• U.S. Policy Needs Reform
  The U.S. House has voted to open Cuba to American tourism and trade, while the Senate is expected to take similar action soon.
• BREAK THE IMPASSE
  More than two years have passed since Haiti's ill-fated election of May 2000. Yet fallout from the election has been like a noose around Haiti's neck that has strangled its economy and politics -- and could precipitate its descent into total anarchy.
• Bush should help drug debate
  WASHINGTON -- President Bush is too clever for me.-- When I heard he was going to North Carolina last Thursday to talk to doctors about medical malpractice, I was baffled why he would do such a thing.- Many health care issues were being debated in Congress, but medical malpractice was not one of them.
• Guest editorial: A bankrupt bill
  It was probably expecting too much to think that Congress' stand-up attitude to big business would last until the weekend. A little more than a day after passing tough corporate-governance legislation, lawmakers rushed to approve an ill-advised overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws long sought by credit card companies and other creditors. The House seemed on the verge of approving the bill early Saturday morning, and the Senate is expected to vote on it next week.
• Thomas L. Friedman: In oversight we trust
  Several years ago an Indian journalist friend of mine, who was working in Indonesia, remarked to me that corruption in the Indonesian bureaucracy was so endemic that when he paid a bribe to renew his residency permit, the Indonesian official he paid off actually gave him a receipt for his bribe so my friend could be reimbursed by his newspaper. For anyone who has worked abroad, such stories are not unusual. But they are also a useful prism for examining the epidemic of corporate cheating now wracking America.
• No security in secrecy
  Keep public disclosure in homeland agency.
• MORE INSPECTIONS NEEDED
  The national debate about transportation security embodies an inexplicable illogic. There is a sharp contrast between how much lawmakers and the media have focused on aviation security and how little on other transportation modes, namely water freight.

7/28/02

• A 'real town' revolt
  As it grows, Celebration is feeling the same pressures older towns do. Now some residents, the "Celebration Patriots," are fighting Disney's plan to add more hotel rooms.
• Frozen in time
  Disney now wants to build several hotels and a luxury resort, and double the number of hotel rooms in the middle of the Celebration development. Residents, including one who develops real estate for a living, are mad.
• State is on wrong side in protecting the St. Johns
  Environmental groups fighting to protect the health of the St. Johns River spent much of last week locked in battle with a state agency that's supposed to represent the people but has a record of being chummier with industry and big business instead -- the state Department of Environmental Regulation.
• Jeff Lytle: 'Growth pay for growth' has been politicians' mantra for years
  Collier County can stop growing now. We are killing the beauty, environment and quality of life that wooed us here in the first place. We've reached and even surpassed the magic population figure of 250,000. If we need anything new we can just redevelop the old. Right. Like that's going to happen. But that was the plan nearly three decades ago in a little-known countywide referendum on growth. For some reason the results of the straw ballot never come up in historical perspectives.
• State pension plan hit by market woes - 
  TALLAHASSEE - When Gov. Jeb Bush first proposed changing the state's pension plan two years ago, he promoted it as a way for the state to help out its workers and give the state an ability to attract eager employees who otherwise may avoid public service. -- But the steep declines on Wall Street have scared away many state workers from switching to this new Florida Retirement System ''Investment Plan.'' Four and a half months into the largest ever public pension plan change in the United States, only about 3,000 state workers and other public employees have chosen to give up their traditional pension plan that guarantees them benefits when they retire.
• Controversy over state's 2000 ballots hangs on
   They were hauled across the state; counted and recounted. With leadership of the nation at stake, they were perhaps the most scrutinized pieces of paper in American history. Now Florida must decide whether to preserve them or throw them in the garbage
• Political pitches reflect those of donors
  A handful of donors to House Speaker Tom Feeney's early congressional campaign later benefited in the state budget or had their interests promoted by the Oviedo Republican during the last legislative session, an examination of campaign finance reports and budget documents shows.
• Let the races begin
  Qualifying has closed for Florida elections, and, in far too many races, so have the voters' options. Improved election machinery doesn't mean much when a candidate, unopposed, is elected without a vote. - TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's presidential debacle produced eternal truth in a hot-selling T-shirt that said, "It's not your vote that counts, it's how your vote is counted."-- For 2002, here is a sequel: "There's no vote that counts if you have no vote to be counted." --- When it comes to electing our Legislature this fall, nearly half of us will have no vote to be counted. ---Anybody who claims Florida is a democracy is, to put it kindly, being disingenuous.
• Bush ad tap-dances around accuracy - ... The ad uses humor to deliver a harsh message. It also is clearly misleading.
• Democrats Begin To Diverge
  TAMPA - For many Florida Democrats, the biggest question about the governor's race is not which Democratic candidate they like best, but which one has the best chance of beating Gov. Jeb Bush. ...
• Party tries to rebuild image
  TALLAHASSEE -- As Democrat Daryl Jones entered the state elections office last week to qualify for the governor's race, he shouted to reporters.
• Candidates make most of extension
  Twenty more qualify to run after Gov. Bush extends the deadline. A plane crash Friday had destroyed several candidates' paperwork.
• Election 2002: Libertarians say state lost 12 candidates' petitions
  FORT LAUDERDALE — A dozen Libertarian candidates seeking state offices say their names might miss the November ballot because the state has lost their qualifying forms, a party official said. The third-party candidates have had trouble getting proof that they've sent the required 445 signatures supporting their candidacy, said campaign coordinator Mark Eckert. "We've already lost 12 candidates because the Division of Elections lost the forms," Eckert said. "And the candidate swears up and down they sent it."
• Election 2002: Four petition drives waiting on signature verification
  TALLAHASSEE — Elections supervisors are still verifying thousands of signatures but the writing is pretty much on the wall: Voters are likely to face 11 proposed constitutional changes this fall. The issues range from the death penalty to tax exemptions to the protection of pregnant pigs. And four years after declaring education to be a paramount duty of the state, voters will have a chance to give state lawmakers specific directions on education from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary. Six of the 11 constitutional amendments were put on the ballot by state lawmakers and are assured of a spot.
• Guest commentary: Florida taxpayers deserve real reform
  Florida TaxWatch has been among the strongest and most vocal champions of meaningful tax reform for the past decade and a half. The Florida tax code is in need of serious and thoughtful reform and modernization to ensure that our citizens and businesses are competitive and that our economy is sound and healthy. However, there are good and bad ways to go about it — and the proposed constitutional amendment to create a tax reform commission sets the stage for disaster.
• Close gate on taxation demagoguery
  Rarely has a city official in this area placed ambition so high above responsibility.West Palm Beach began defending itself last week in a complicated lawsuit over whether the city illegally blocked private development of a city-owned marina. If the city loses, taxpayers could be on the hook for millions. The city might have to sell bonds to pay damages.
• Living wage isn't commie thinking -- it's justice - We cannot continue to pay working people so little without extracting a huge cost on our society. In Central Florida, where one in four kids grows up poor, often with parents working two jobs to survive, we see the consequences of our cheapskate service and tourism economy. It costs our public schools more to help those children, it costs the court and prison system more to deal with the wayward ones, and it even costs businesses more in lower productivity and higher turnover among those low-paid workers... ... Here's what the 1990s corporate machinations wrought: Executive pay jumped 571 percent while the average worker's pay rose only 37 percent over the same decade -- 34 percent in Central Florida. During that same time, the S&P rose 297 percent and inflation crept up by 27.5 percent, according to the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.
• Glover helps voice plight of working poor, immigrants
  It's a little after 10 a.m. and actor-turned-activist Danny Glover, who flew into town on a red-eye, is tired. Though lack of sleep is haunting him, there's no time -- not when you have 400 voices chanting in Spanish, English and Creole, ``Yes we can.''
• Front Porch program changes little noticed, but important to some
  TALLAHASSEE — Lizzie Simmons' apartment is just a few blocks from the governor's mansion. But in the Frenchtown section of the capital, it might as well be a world away. Once the proud center of Tallahassee's black community, this is now one of the poorest parts of the city. On a stifling summer morning, Simmons sits in front of a fan in her neatly kept apartment at the Ebony Gardens public housing complex. Forgotten greens and pork are going bad on the kitchen counter. Frail and 88 years old, Simmons has outlived three of her children and though she doesn't like to admit it, needs help just to get through the day.
• Fired DCF worker had past run-ins
  More than a year before former Department of Children & Families caseworker Mirla Pronga was fired ''for behavior that endangered a child,'' agency officials were told by a Miami lawyer that Pronga had been abusive to a teenage foster child, according to a children's advocate.
• `This Is A Hard Job To Do,' According To DCF Worker
  TAMPA - It's a long drive to the day's first case in Gibsonton, giving child abuse investigator Michael Mahoney a chance to talk about the tough times in his 2 1/2 years with the Department of Children and Families. ...
• Breaking point
  Officials say the temporary transfer of state Department of Children & Families workers to the Orlando and Miami areas means more cases for already overworked DCF investigators in North Central Florida - where five children under agency care have died in the past seven years.
• Workers say most cases not clear-cut
  The atmosphere in the small Department of Children & Families' office became tense as protective investigator Laura McCormick, who was ready to go home after having put in hours of overtime, checked her voice mail and found a message from a school counselor reporting a student afraid to go home.
• Illegal telephone tape entangles prosecutors
  Authorities use an illegal recording as leverage in a case. The defense says that pushed them over the line into breaking the law themselves.
• Al-Arian Firing Likely At USF
  TAMPA - University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft widely is expected to fire Professor Sami Al-Arian next month, possibly by unveiling a broader case for dismissal to draw in the Palestinian's alleged ties to terrorism. ...
• Greyhound groups mark Alabama shooting deaths in Pensacola
  PENSACOLA — Two greyhound protection groups held memorial gatherings across the nation Saturday to draw attention to the shooting deaths of up to 3,000 of the racing dogs whose remains were found in nearby Lillian, Ala. Robert Rhodes, 68, a former security guard at Pensacola Greyhound Park, was charged with animal cruelty in Alabama after the remains were uncovered on his property in May. "It's tragic that these beautiful animals were killed simply because they were no longer profitable at the racetrack," said Susan Netboy, founder of the Greyhound Protection League, based in San Francisco.
• Everglades restoration: Don't switch priorities
  Proposed rules are too vague on commitment.-- Even before work has begun on the first project of the $8.4 billion state-federal effort to restore what remains of the Everglades, the restoration is under assault. -- Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will build the structures to retain, redirect and store water, released the final draft of its blueprint for repairing the Everglades. The rules are supposed to specify details of the most ambitious environmental restoration in the country's history, but they still are too vague. They don't require that 80 percent of "new" water supplied through restoration be sent to the Everglades, with 20 percent reserved for public utilities and farms. That percentage has been the objective since work on the plan began. The rules don't list interim goals, to make sure the plan is working, and they fail to give the Interior Department a strong enough role. The rules lack standards that would make them enforceable.
• On the bubble: Volusia must get serious about water woes
  Volusia County sits on an aquifer -- an ancient bubble of fresh water trapped in the limestone layers that lie under much of the county. That bubble provides the water that comes out of taps and showers. It provides the water to irrigate ferns in northeast Volusia and lawns in New Smyrna Beach. It provides the water that sustains wetlands and flows through springs.
• The body toxic - 
  The newest water-pollution threat starts with a simple cup of coffee, a smoke break, a spray of cologne, a few headache pills or some cholesterol-lowering medicine.- 
  Thousands of man-made chemicals and drugs are designed to soothe, clean and heal the human body. But when we wash off the remnants in the shower or flush them out of our bodies into the toilet, the byproducts of our individual habits can accumulate to corrupt our common water sources, new research suggests.
• The grapefruit of wrath
  The rest of the country now gawks at Florida the way it used to gawk at California: with dread, fascination and there-but-for-the-grace-of-God gratitude for living at a safe remove from all the accumulating strangeness, sleaze and hazards to our health.
• Judges, lawyers grapple with humor
  "If this were a sci-fi melodrama, it might be called Speech-zilla meets trademark Kong."-- That's what the judge wrote. Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. I did not make up the quote. If I were making it up, it would be called satire.
• Florida estate becomes airstrip for the rich and famous
  OCALA — Movie star John Travolta's new $2.5-million getaway in Central Florida will look like a small airport, hangars and all. To get there, he won't fuss with the gated entrance enclosing pastures once home to African elephants, 3,500 crocodiles and a gorilla. He can swoop down in one of his jets and land on a private runway as big as those at some public airports. He can taxi to his back door. Pretty cool. Travolta is the latest fascination in a classic Florida story that's a dash Miami Vice, a hint Disney plus a bit Hollywood.
• Corporate contributions tarnish the best of them
  It's hard to be virtuous when you can't stay away from the bordello. That's the problem Democrats have in trying to seize the political high ground on the influence of corporate money on American politics. They have been almost as compromised by corporate dollars as the Republicans. The main difference is that Republicans enter the corporate money bordellos through the front door, while the Democrats sneak in and out of the back door.
• Arrest CEO, buy stocks, watch Dow Jones go up
  Last Wednesday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 488 points, the TV news was crawling with Wall Street analysts eager to explain the phenomenal rebound.
• Bill puts political spin on religion
  A bill before Congress seeks to undo a large part of a President Lyndon Johnson amendment by freeing churches -- but not other charities or nonprofit groups -- to participate in campaigns.  
• The threat of mothers disrobing prompts action
  After the recent victory of village women in Nigeria over oil-giant Chevron Texaco, one can't help but wonder what things would be like if more "mamas" of the world took matters into their own hands more often.

7/27/02

• Former Bush partner wants records sealed in business deal
  MIAMI — A Broward County company headed by Gov. Jeb Bush's former business partner wants to seal records in a lawsuit accusing the firm of bribing Nigerian officials as part of a water pump sale. The records could include any pretrial deposition given by Bush about his role in Bush-El Trading Corp., a company he once owned with J. David Eller.
• No excuse: Manatees and Floridians deserve better
  It's not common to see the federal government foul up this badly, this publicly.
• Reno, Harris point to an intriguing election
  Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno answered questions for more than an hour during a town meeting this week at Tallahassee City Hall.
• GOP has landslide without a vote cast - TALLAHASSEE -- The Republican Party has anchored its hold on Florida state government, offering Democrats few chances for significant gains in November.
• FedEx plane crash snags political races
   Chaos and confusion coursed through what was to be Friday's close of an already bizarre week of filing for Florida political candidates.
• FedEx crash puts candidates in a tailspin
  By S.V. Dáte, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
  Gov. Bush extends the qualifying deadline as candidates scramble when their paperwork burns up in Tallahassee.
• Bush backs Harris' extension request
  By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
  Governor Bush's election qualifying deadline extension has some Democrats crying foul.
• Election 2002: Cabinet races set — barring jet crash-affected candidacies
  TALLAHASSEE — Unless a surprise 11th-hour opponent emerges before Saturday's 5 p.m. extended deadline, Republican Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher will become the state's first chief financial officer. Gallagher, one of the GOP's best vote-getters, had no opposition through Friday's original qualifying deadline. Gov. Jeb Bush gave candidates affected by a cargo plane crash at the Tallahassee airport Friday an extra day to submit qualifying papers.
• Reno searches for Democrats
  By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
  Janet Reno serves meals at a cafe for the homeless during a campaign swing.
• McBride rallies support in area - When McBride showed up at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' hall for his local "campaign kickoff," he drew a standing room-only-crowd - which event organizers estimated at between 200 and 300 people.-- But just who showed up, and why, may be more important than the numbers. Polls have consistently shown former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno ahead of both McBride and state Sen. Daryl Jones in the race for the Democratic nomination. But in Gainesville, McBride's campaign has drawn support from both prominent Democrats and others outside the party.
• Election 2002: Supreme Court to hear arguments over amendment price tags
  TALLAHASSEE — The state Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether voters must be told the cost of some of the constitutional amendments they might see on November's ballot, it was announced Friday. Lawmakers in May passed a law requiring state analysts to prepare statements spelling out the likely cost of citizen initiatives.
• Public help also sought in Miami's 2004 bid
  That city's pursuit of the Democratic convention envisions more taxpayer support than does Tampa's courtship of the GOP.
• DCF inaction blamed in neglected man's death
  WEST PALM BEACH -- An internal investigation into the death of an elderly man found unconscious with rats eating at him has led to the resignation of a supervisor and a shakeup in the embattled state Department of Children and Families.
• Hearing officer upholds firing of Panhandle prison guards
  WEWAHITCHKA — A hearing officer has recommended upholding the firings of three guards accused of abusing an inmate caught with a contraband radio at the state's Gulf Correctional Institution. Hearing officer Jack Ruby accepted testimony accusing Lt. Carmen McLemore, who is also a Gulf County commissioner, and Sgt. Chris Wood of handcuffing the inmate to a tree and then taunting and teasing him in violation of Department of Corrections Policy.
• DCF aide is found drunk, cops say
  A Department of Children & Families caseworker was charged with drunk driving and felony child neglect Thursday after Coral Gables police found her slumped over in her parked car -- with a 7-month-old foster child crying in the back seat.
• Bush names retired Marine McPherson acting director of veterans affairs
  TALLAHASSEE — Col. Warren "Rocky" McPherson was named Friday by Gov. Jeb Bush to serve as acting executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. McPherson will be the interim replacement for Jennifer Carroll, who resigned earlier this month to run for Congress. McPherson, 57, has been director of administration and public information at the department since 1999.
• FEMA, state, contractors to cooperate after disasters
  ORLANDO — In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew a decade ago, South Florida businesses and homeowners found that trying to rebuild could be nearly as painful as the initial devastation. Contractors were beset by shortages of materials and skilled laborers. Those from out of state had licensing problems, and were unfamiliar with the state's building codes.
• Jennifer Sergent: Seminole at the polls; sweet victory for sugar growers
  Add a new language to the list of translations available at the Collier County polls this fall: Seminole Indian. Collier County is already required under the Voting Rights Act to provide bilingual voting assistance to Hispanics and Miccosukee Indians. Starting with this year's election, the county must also provide voting materials in the Seminole language since new U.S. Census numbers were recorded for the tribe in 2000.
• Insurance exec convicted of hiding sports cars, Rolexes during bankruptcy
  MIAMI — An insurance company owner was convicted Friday of concealing sports cars, Rolex watches and other assets totaling more than $2 million from bankruptcy court and his creditors. Thomas A. Warmus was convicted of four counts of bankruptcy fraud stemming from filings on himself and his company, American Way Service Corporation.
• Oviedo boy dies of amoeba infection, Deland boy still critical
  ORLANDO — A central Florida boy died Friday from a rare amebic brain infection he contracted while swimming in a nearby lake. The Oviedo boy, 12, was classified as brain dead around 1 p.m. Friday at Florida Hospital-Orlando, said spokeswoman Stacy Heckman. The boy's family did not want his name released yet.
• Amoeba likely won't hurt swimmers
  Alachua County's Health Department director says people shouldn't be afraid to go in the water despite the death of a boy from a rare amebic brain infection he contracted while swimming in an Orlando-area lake a week ago.
• Guest editorial: Health problems of Hispanic children
  One in every six American children is Hispanic, but it's hard to find them in the research on child health. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Hispanic children suffer from a disproportionate number of health problems that have been poorly studied.
• 8 convicted of Medicare fraud
  A Miami jury convicted eight people -- doctors, pharmacists and owners of pharmacies and medical equipment companies -- of defrauding Medicare of millions of dollars Friday. It was part of the largest Medicare fraud conspiracy ever unraveled in the Southern District of Florida, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
• Paul Krugman: A bad idea that won't quit
  Since the early months of 2000, the Nasdaq has fallen about 75 percent, the broader S&P 500 more than 40 percent. These aren't mere paper losses; they translate into disappointment and even hardship for millions of Americans. Now more than ever we need institutions that provide a safety net for the middle class.
• Lawmakers question delay in recalling tainted beef -- WASHINGTON -- Some congressional Democrats are asking the Agriculture Department to explain why it took months to order a recall of 19 million pounds of hamburger suspected of harboring E. coli bacteria.-- 
  Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said that while some meat was contaminated in mid-April, it was not until July 19 that the Agriculture Department announced a full recall.
• Publix pulls beef that may be tainted
  A national massive ground beef recall expanded to Georgia and Northeast Florida when Publix Super Markets Inc. voluntarily pulled its self-branded meat off the shelves of stores in four states this week.
• Deal near on giving Bush trade control - WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders and the White House worked into the night Friday to pass legislation in the House of Representatives that would give President Bush a freer hand to negotiate international trade agreements.
• Clintons want Whitewater bills paid - WASHINGTON -- Former President Clinton and his wife have asked a court to have taxpayers reimburse them for legal costs related to the Whitewater investigation, their lawyer said in a statement late Friday.-- The Clintons raked in millions last year after leaving the White House. The ex-president earned $9.2 million on the lecture circuit, and Hillary Clinton, now New York's junior senator, received a $2.85 million advance on her memoirs.
• Bush outspent Gore on recount
  WASHINGTON - The Bush campaign poured $13.8 million into winning the post-election battle for Florida's 25 electoral college votes, about four times what the Gore campaign spent, according to documents released Friday.
• Where's the compassion?
  By withholding $34-million from the United Nations Population Fund, President Bush shows he cares more about antiabortion zealots than the reproductive health of Third World women.
• U.S. should follow Dutch on family planning
  The Bush administration recently announced it would permanently withhold $34 million earmarked for the U.N. Population Fund. The administration claims that the organization is complicit in China's continued practices of coerced abortion and sterilization. But this reasoning is unfounded, as a U.S. government study found in May
• Bush's UN phobia
  Increasingly, the Bush Administration is separating itself from the world community in opposing international efforts aimed at making the world less dangerous.
• Mr. President, Open The Files
  In these times of economic turmoil and external threat, Americans need leaders who will level with them. Unfortunately, when it comes to Harken Energy Corp., President Bush prefers to stonewall.
• Bush's UN phobia
  Increasingly, the Bush Administration is separating itself from the world community in opposing international efforts aimed at making the world less dangerous.-- 
  Increasingly, one wonders why the Bush Administration even bothers to continue the farce of U.S. "participation" in the United Nations.-- Since taking office, the administration has backed out of an agreement intended to address global warming, spurned a new international court to try war criminals - on the off chance that an American may ever be accused of a war crime - cut off funding for the UN's internationally respected family planning program and refused to participate in biological weapons talks.-- Now, the U.S. has failed in an effort to delay, perhaps indefinitely, ratification of a new UN anti-torture protocol that would call on participating nations to open their jails and prisons for inspection. Having failed to convince other delegates to reopen negotiations on the protocol - which has already been 10 years in the negotiating phase - the Bush Administration isn't likely to participate once the protocol is ratified by the General Assembly.

7/26/02

• Seal bribe case records, pump firm asks court
  A Broward company headed by a one-time business partner of Gov. Jeb Bush wants to seal records in a federal case in which the firm is accused of having bribed officials in Nigeria as part of a water-pump sale.
• Racing the clock:Voters have one last chance to prevail
  The new boundaries for Florida's 40 Senate districts are unfair, arbitrary and undemocratic. (redistricting)
• Legislators' pay raises anger public employees - TALLAHASSEE -- Word that Florida lawmakers quietly slipped themselves a 5 percent pay raise this month -- double that given other state workers -- drew a storm of criticism Thursday from groups representing teachers, child-care workers and other public employees forced to endure months of belt-tightening.
• The pay raise that 'slipped by'
  Florida legislators' claim they didn't know about a pay raise is a hollow one.
• 'Show Me the Money' costs state nothing
  It never fails. Just when a bunch of lawmakers head out of town on their state-paid trip to the National Conference of State Legislators annual meeting, along comes yet another think tank with yet another frightening budget forecast.
• Butterworth turns sights on a run for state Senate
  The attorney general's decision comes as a surprise. He had been urged to run for another Cabinet post and had considered a judgeship.
• Butterworth seeks Senate job
  By S.V. Dáte and Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
  Bob Butterworth seeks a state Senate seat drawn for a Palm Beach County Republican.
• Butterworth stuns party with bid for state Senate
  Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth qualified Thursday for the ballot -- not for governor, as legions of desperate Democrats begged him to do, but for the Florida Senate.
• Butterworth jumps into race
  In a surprise move with intriguing political angles and an odd legal twist, Attorney General Bob Butterworth jumped into a Broward County state Senate race Thursday.
• Libertarian official says state lost qualifying signatures for candidates - Up to a dozen third-party candidates may not make it on to the ballot for November's general election because their qualifying forms have been lost, according to a top Libertarian Party official.
• Governor's TV commercial wrong, as well as negative  ... The gubernatorial campaign is now going full bore and Gov. Jeb Bush has already gone negative.-- In case you missed it, the Republican Party of Florida launched a television advertising blitz on Bush's behalf this week that depicts what are meant to be the dancing legs of Democratic frontrunners Bill McBride and Janet Reno.-- An announcer says in effect that both are wishy-washy on the issues.--- "On grading schools?" the announcer intones. "Neither will take a stand. On the death penalty? Who knows? Reno and McBride. Nothing but a song and dance."--- Like much of the Bush administration's record, the Republican ad is nothing but smoke and mirrors based on malarkey. --- Both Reno and McBride have taken definite positions on public education and the death penalty. To say otherwise is ludicrous....(see Reno, McBride)
• Chief of Florida's child protection agency comes under fire
  TALLAHASSEE — Kathleen Kearney brought a lot of hope to the Florida Department of Children & Families when she was appointed secretary in 1999. The department had been troubled for as long as anyone could remember, and Kearney — a former prosecutor and judge and a "walking encyclopedia of child protection law" — was one of the state's strongest child welfare advocates and a vocal critic of the department.
• DCF: Gross negligence in man’s death
  An internal DCF inquiry into the death of a Lake Clarke Shores man prompts another shake-up.
• Adapt FCAT for disabled students
  In response to Monday's article, "FCAT rule hurts disabled students," let me share my daughter's struggle to succeed in school.
• Gov. Bush's F-School Statistics Overstated
  TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush staked his claim against critics the day the state issued its annual report card flunking 68 public schools.-- ``For every one of the F schools,'' he said, ``there are four or five examples of schools in the same community with the same demographics that earned a B or better.''-- Bush has echoed that statement for more than a month as he campaigns across the state for re-election, taking sometimes sarcastic aim at those who say F's unfairly target schools struggling with high percentages of poor and minority students.-- ``For every school graded F,'' he told an audience last week in St. Petersburg, ``there are 2 or 3 schools with the exact same demographics that are B and A. Now, why is that? How could it be?''- - How, indeed. The Bush administration's own numbers fail to back up the claim
• Florida suspends license of Wisconsin insurer
  TALLAHASSEE — Florida Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher has suspended the license of a Wisconsin health insurer after finding that customers' premiums skyrocketed if they became sick. United Wisconsin Life Insurance Co.'s suspension is for a year. United Wisconsin can still serve its 30,000 Florida customers but cannot sell any new policies.
• Amid these attractions, can balance be retained?
  Consider the nifty ways that some public schools in Pinellas County will compete to attract parents under the new "controlled choice" program:
• E. coli outbreak has stores asking consumers to return beef
  Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sam's Club, are asking Central Florida customers to return six varieties of ground beef and beef patties that are included in a nationwide recall.
• 2nd rare infection hits a swimmer - A 15-year-old DeLand boy is critically ill with a rare bacterial infection that he got while swimming, prompting Volusia County officials to warn residents Thursday to stay out of freshwater lakes.-- 
  He is the second Central Florida youngster this week to be hospitalized with a deadly lake-borne infection. A 12-year-old Seminole County boy remained in critical condition Thursday with a brain infection caused by amoebas that enter the body when water gets up the nose.
• State extends ban on taking puffer fish in five counties
  TALLAHASSEE — State officials are extending a ban on catching and eating puffer fish caught in the waters of five Florida counties into October. The extension of the ban until Oct. 23 comes following a recent case in which a Brevard County fisherman was sickened by eating a poisonous blowfish.
• Leaping sturgeon bloody Florida boaters
  The large fish annually ply Florida rivers, and when they jump, they send chills down people's spines and leave others nursing wounds in the hospital.
• Jumping sturgeons pack quite a punch
  A young man from Perry got a painful lesson during the July Fourth weekend when the leaping fish knocked him off of his watercraft.
• DEP Backs Off Legal Fee Fight
  TALLAHASSEE - The state Department of Environmental Protection has dropped its attempt to make three environmental groups pay its attorney fees after they unsuccessfully challenged a DEP permit for a Palatka paper mill. ...
• DEP holds public forum for input on polluted waters list
  The state's top environmental agency is less than two weeks away from releasing a revised list of polluted waters that's expected to be signed and adopted by the end of August. The Florida DEP held a public meeting Thursday to talk about the impaired waters list, a group of water bodies the state says are polluted.
• TALLAHASSEE
  The Sierra Club's Big Bend group will host a meeting Monday night in Tallahassee to discuss area water quality. The meeting's purpose is to help citizens identify water quality problems and get polluted waters cleaned up. Linda Young, southeast region coordinator for the Clean Water Network, will speak at the meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at the Leon County training and community center at the train station, 918 Railroad Ave. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled on Aug. 7 to propose a final draft list of waters in the area that would receive pollution limits. Those limits are known as TMDLs, for total maximum daily load. Some community activists want Lake Jackson and some other area waterways added to the list. 
• 'Living-wage' backers push for more
  A day after Orange County adopted one of the weakest "living-wage" policies in the nation, advocates vowed to continue their fight to bring higher wages to low-paid government workers throughout the region.
• Panel: Schools facing deficit
  Leon County Schools Superintendent Bill Montford said he will ask School Board members next month to call for a new half-cent sales tax. His announcement came after a citizens' advisory panel Thursday said there was no other way to meet the district's pressing construction and technology needs.
• Woman suing airline over toy
  She says Delta Airlines workers held her up for ridicule after finding an adult novelty in her luggage.
• Visitors bureau backs GOP bid
  The Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau's stand comes shortly before a site inspection team arrives.
• Guest editorial: A day of hype
  "Today was a day of action and accomplishment," President Bush told reporters. The Justice Department had demonstrated his administration would be tough on "corporate executives who break the law." Staying on message, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer proclaimed it "a day of action and accomplishment in the president's fight against corporate corruption," as he opened the White House briefing.
• Morton Kondracke: Dems' ties to trial lawyers deserve debate
  Besides taxes and social spending, if there's a key issue separating the political parties -- and therefore, a fit subject for campaign debate -- it's legal reform. But it's a muted topic, at best. Democrats often accuse Republicans of being the "party of special interests" -- drug and oil companies and big business in general -- but the Democrats rarely get tagged as "the party of trial lawyers," which they are.
• 'Goldilocks' government
  With a professed small-government Republican in office, the federal payroll is growing again.
• House OKs Homeland Worker Amendment- WASHINGTON -- The House voted Friday to give President Bush authority to waive labor protections under dire circumstances for workers in the new Homeland Security Department, a power the president says is crucial in swiftly confronting terrorist threats.-- 
  The 229-201 vote on an amendment by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., came a few hours after Bush sternly warned Congress not to pass legislation creating the agency that would limit his budgetary and personnel powers. He has threatened to veto a Senate version over those issues.-- 
  "A time of war is the wrong time to weaken the president's ability to protect the American people," Bush told a White House audience that included governors, mayors, firefighters, police and lawmakers.
• Stage set for Homeland bill fight
  By Scott Shepard and Cynthia Kopkowski, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
  A Senate panel approved a homeland security bill without the special employment rules the president demanded.
• Ashcroft defends program to Senate committee
  By Stephen Krupin, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
  John Ashcroft defended a controversial program that asks Americans to report suspicious activity.
• Psssssssst! Hey, Buddy! Have I Got Some TIPS For You!
  In its never-ending quest to turn the populace into a nation of crazed, delusional vigilantes, President Bush's administration is promoting an idea called TIPS.-- The name is an acronym for Terrorism Information and Prevention System or Totally Insane People Stalking. --- Behind TIPS is the idea that all Americans will be called upon to be more vigilant of their surroundings, and other people, to be ready to notify the proper authorities if, perchance, they happen upon some terrorist up to evildoing. ... ...  Some years ago, during a visit to Cuba, I noticed every neighborhood had something called the Committee For the Defense of the Revolution. --- These were, of course, the area snitches, whose job was to report to the government any suspicious activity they observed - from plotting to overthrow Fidel Castro to the really subversive behavior of trying to pick up ``Flipper'' on Miami television.
• Spy America:
  Anti-terrorism doesn't justify national snooping
  As part of its homeland security package for America, the Bush administration devised a plan that would turn mail carriers, utility workers, the cable guy and a few other service types with high access to private homes into government informants.
• Military 'police'
  It would be a mistake to assume that soldiers are police officers. Posse Comitatus has stood America in good stead for more than a century and should not be lightly tampered with.
• Don't give up
  Congress should approve a prescription-drug plan for seniors.
• Pension Plans Shortfalls Hit Record - WASHINGTON -- Shortfalls in private companies' pension plans soared to $111 billion last year, the highest level ever reported by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.-- 
  That was four times the $26 billion shortfall that companies reported for 2000, according to the PBGC, the government's insurance program for private workers' pensions. A shortfall is the amount of money that would be owed to pension participants if a plan was terminated.
• Army's clueless leader
  Thomas White, late of Enron, claims he knew nothing on the way to $50 million.
• A RAISE FOR MR. PITT?
  The stock market has tanked, investors have lost confidence in business, and corporate executives are under investigation for fraud and mismanagement. But embattled Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey L. Pitt has one to top all that: He wants a $30,000 raise. Better still, he wants a promotion to Cabinet-level status in which he would outrank even CIA Director George Tenet. In short, Mr. Pitt thinks he has done a great job overseeing corporate America.
• Bush family planning policy on China boggles the mind
  Over the years, I thought my mind had become boggle-proof. It's a side effect of journalism. Sooner or later, we just lose the ability to be astonished by anything the government says. We lose the capacity to be overwhelmed by even the most nimble political spin.
• Bill would let entertainment industry disrupt Internet music downloads
  Hollywood escalated its fight against Internet trading of movies and music, successfully urging key lawmakers to consider letting the industry use hacker tactics to stop Americans' exchange of songs and films they didn't buy.

7/25/02

• Administration Wants Manatees Accord Scrapped - WASHINGTON - The Bush administration wants a federal judge to scuttle a settlement negotiated with environmentalists last year for protecting endangered manatees from boaters off the coast of Florida.-- Assistant Attorney General Thomas L. Sansonetti said in court papers filed late Tuesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cannot require 16 manatee sanctuaries and reduced speed zones specified in the settlement without first going through a formal regulatory process.
• Federal agency backs off deal to protect manatees
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues in court that the settlement it reached with environmental groups was illegal.
• Agency says settlement for manatees is illegal
  A landmark settlement for manatee protection is illegal because it forces federal wildlife officials to create protective refuges and sanctuaries for the endangered sea cows, Justice Department attorneys argued Tuesday.
• U.S. meets resistance with plan to delay manatee safety areas
  The Bush administration, under orders from a federal judge to move ahead with declaring a string of manatee refuges in Florida, wants more time to do the job.
• Judge invalidates Senate districts
  OCALA -- A judge declared Marion County's four new state Senate districts invalid Wednesday, saying they are unconstitutional because they split the county and leave it without a home seat.
• Employee complaints rejected
  Gov. Jeb Bush's top investigator Wednesday rejected complaints by the State Board of Administration personnel director, who said agency officials shrugged off allegations of sexual harassment and hostility in the office.
• IG finds whistleblower's complaints unsubstantiated
  TALLAHASSEE — Allegations that senior managers at the state Board of Administration ignored sexual harassment aren't substantiated, an inspector general concluded Wednesday. The allegations had held up a manager's bid to become its chief. Gov. Jeb Bush and the other trustees of the agency that invests state money put its search for a new director on hold in May because of a whistleblower's complaint against the top prospect.
• Legislative economist resigning in August
  One of the Legislature's leading economists, who has twice this year bumped heads with Republican leaders, said Wednesday he intends to step down next month after almost 25 years with the state.
• Legislature's top economist resigns
  TALLAHASSEE — The state Legislature's top economist has resigned after 16 years to go back to school to become a Spanish teacher. "It's time for something different," Ed Montanaro said Wednesday. Since 1986, Montanaro has directed the legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
• Convention Budget Miffs GOP Leaders
  TAMPA - At a time when local Republicans want to present a united front to win the party's 2004 national convention, some high-ranking legislators are bristling after learning the budget includes $10 million from the state. ...
• Political ads and hypocrites
  It borders on the hilarious for Jeb Bush and the Florida Republican Party to be accusing anyone else of taking liberties with the campaign finance law. On the same day the Republicans formally charged that television spots sponsored by the teachers' union represent an illegal contribution to Democrat Bill McBride, the GOP unleashed a questionable ad of its own.
• $43.20 qualifies as big goof
  A mistake by the state has legislative candidates scrambling to scrape together a few more dollars for their election filing fees.
• Elections division errs; candidates pay
  A mix-up concerning state qualifying fees has left close to 100 legislative candidates scrambling to save their campaigns. The Florida Division of Elections began notifying candidates for the House or Senate on Wednesday morning that if they had qualified to run for office by paying a fee, they had paid too little. They have until noon Friday to pay the difference or they could be kicked off the ballot.
• State blasted for mix-up over filing fees for legislative candidates - TALLAHASSEE · Florida's 2002 election season is barely under way, and state elections officials are already being criticized for a qualifying fee mix-up that is causing panic among legislative candidates. -- 
  The snafu comes just two days after the state Division of Elections goofed when it ordered Democratic gubernatorial contender Janet Reno to pay the wrong qualifying fee.
• Live Webcast scheduled (post your questions)
  Join us Friday at 3 p.m. for a live audio Webcast with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Daryl Jones.(Florida Times-Union)
• Reno dispenses remedy for high prescription costs
  SOUTH PASADENA -- No matter how much the candidates for governor talk about prescription drug coverage, Doris Fortner doubts her friends will be satisfied.
• 2 Democrats, 2 views on democracy
  In September and again in November, Floridians will head to the polls to engage in the most fundamental act of democracy. While anyone can cast a ballot, true democracy demands that voters have the knowledge necessary to make informed choices. Though both political parties support this principle, the Democratic Party has long prided itself on being the champion of voting rights, campaign-finance reform, and other initiatives to enhance informed participation in the democratic process. However, recent events have shown that some Democrats take that mission more seriously than others.
• McBride qualifies for primary run
  The Democrat focuses on the governor, but his test comes against Janet Reno.
• McBride takes potshots at Bush during flying trip - ... In a broadside at Gov. Jeb Bush, McBride proposed a formula that considers class size, school funding and teacher quality but does not grade schools on an A-to-F scale based on student tests.-- 
  "I'd eliminate this absurd grading system," he said. "The current simplistic approach creates more harm than good -- stigmatizing schools, communities and school staff."
• McBride Traverses State To Visit Influential Campaigning Sites - WEST PALM BEACH - Tampa lawyer Bill McBride sought to rev up his Democratic gubernatorial campaign Wednesday with a whirlwind tour of key battleground communities across Florida.
• McBride assails Gov. Bush on schools
  Making one of his most pointed attacks to date on Gov. Jeb Bush's policies, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride on Wednesday called the governor's education program ''a mirage'' and ''an illusion,'' and said the governor's school testing plan is ``foolish.''
• Bush Ad Launches Negative Tactics - TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush is running the first attack ad of the 2002 political season, taking double-barreled aim at Democratic opponents Bill McBride and Janet Reno.
• Four petition drives waiting on signature verification
  TALLAHASSEE — Elections supervisors are still verifying thousands of signatures but the writing is pretty much on the wall: Voters are likely to face 11 proposed constitutional changes this fall. The issues range from the death penalty to tax exemptions to the protection of pregnant pigs. And four years after declaring education to be a paramount duty of the state, voters will have a chance to give state lawmakers specific directions on education from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary.
• The 7 constitutional amendments on the ballot
  The seven constitutional amendments on the 2002 ballot. All were placed on the ballot by the Legislature except for the sixth, which is a citizen's initiative .
• Candidate's Petition Thrown Out
  TAMPA - Hillsborough County's election office mistakenly told a county commission candidate in early July that she had qualified for the 2002 vote.-- On Tuesday, Jacqueline Knight's petitions, with about 1,400 signatures, were tossed out because there is no affidavit on file that Knight only would collect the signatures of qualified voters in her district. The affidavit is required before any signatures are collected, said Pam Iorio, supervisor of elections. Knight was never given the affidavit, Iorio said.
• Convention price tag is shock
  Area officials can't see taxpayers footing $21.8-million of the bill for holding a GOP convention in Tampa.
• Commission Amends Public Access TV Contract - TAMPA - Public access television in Hillsborough County has survived for at least a while.- County commissioners voted Wednesday to amend its contract with Speak Up Tampa Bay, the nonprofit that operates the station.- Speak Up has been in trouble with commissioners for months, but a show in March featuring White Chocolate, a character who hosts a raunchy talk show that sometimes includes video of nude women, was particularly bothersome.
• Tallahassee briefs: Judge allows refinery lawsuit to stand
  Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls on Wednesday denied the state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the St. Marks Refinery Inc., an attorney for the company said. The refinery sued earlier this year claiming that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection was illegally trying to hold it responsible for cleaning up petroleum contamination at the closed refinery site in St. Marks. The state last month launched a new cleanup of the site, which has widespread petroleum contamination dating back..
• Beach closings increased last year
  TALLAHASSEE -- The number of beach closings in Florida because of pollution increased last year, but one reason was better monitoring of water quality, a national environmental group said Wednesday.
• Florida improves beach program
  An environmental group says Florida has improved its water monitoring program at public beaches.
• Clean win for Everglades
  Palm Beach Post Editorial
  True friends of the Everglades will be happy with the court's refusal to rehear the "Polluter Pays" Act.
• Acidic Water To Be Treated, Dumped Into Bay - PORT MANATEE - The state will use advanced reverse osmosis water treatment technology to improve the quality of water that will be released next week from the shuttered Piney Point phosphate plant.-- Recent heavy rains hastened the need for the controlled release of water into an area of Tampa Bay known as Bishop's Harbor, state Department of Environmental Protection officials said. The release will prevent the potential of a harmful overflow of acidic water from the site's phosphogypsum stacks, which are mountains of slightly radioactive waste left when phosphate is processed into fertilizer.
• Amoebas attack boy, 12, in lake
  The Oviedo swimmer has a brain infection caused by organisms in lakes, doctors said.-- "If we wanted to avoid all potential exposures to this organism, we would have to close all bodies of water in the state of Florida," said Dr. Steven Wiersma, state epidemiologist with the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee. "That's just not possible."--- 
  Health officials say people are more likely to get infected if they swim near the lake bottom, disturb the soil where the organism lives, or take in a lot of water through their noses.
• Canker spreads to citrus center
  Hendry County, which led the state in citrus production during the 2000-01 season, is the site of the latest outbreak.
• Grove torched after large canker find in Hendry County
  LABELLE — State agriculture inspectors say they have discovered 99 grapefruit trees infected with citrus canker in a commercial grove in southwest Florida's Hendry County, one of Florida's largest citrus producers. It was one of the largest canker finds in several months. Crews began torching the grove in the area west of Lake Okeechobee within two hours of the Tuesday find.
• Wildlife officials block plans to restore Broward's beaches -... The $45 million project would widen 12 miles of beach using 2.5 million cubic yards of sand from offshore deposits. The work has created deep divisions between beach residents and businesses, including the new Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, concerned about erosion and environmentalists concerned about the impact on the reefs.
• Don't Dam The Wild Yellow River - T he Yellow River flows from Alabama through Panhandle woodlands to Blackwater Bay near Pensacola. The wild river is known for fine bass fishing and has been designated an Outstanding Florida Waterway. Its fresh water flow is vital to the marine life in Blackwater Bay.-- Yet some north Florida residents are campaigning to destroy the river. They want to sacrifice the Yellow for new development. They would dam the river and use the resulting reservoir as a water supply source.
• Palm Beach County considers moratorium on development -- Surprising developers, their own planners and even themselves, Palm Beach County commissioners agreed Wednesday to consider temporarily halting development.-- The idea came from Commissioner Mary McCarty, who envisions perhaps a six-month period during which the county wouldn’t approve any new developments. Projects already approved could continue.- Other commissioners gave the idea mixed reviews but said they are willing to give the moratorium idea, as well as other possible strategies for controlling future traffic congestion, a fuller airing in October, and possibly even next month.
• Alachua to consider development ban
  The City Commission will consider a one-year timeout on nearly all development in the 40-square-mile city, giving the Alachua a chance to revise its comprehensive plan and land-use regulations.

• Photo by: GARY RINGS Builders circle the county center as commissioners discuss how to meet water needs without banning further development.

  Talk Of Building Ban Hits Brick Wall   TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners have banished the word ``moratorium'' from the debate over residential growth and water problems plaguing the southern part of the county. ... TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners have banished the word ``moratorium'' from the debate over residential growth and water problems plaguing the southern part of the county.-- Prodded by several hundred contractors, a couple of backhoes and dump trucks honking horns, commissioners instead decided to hold a series of regional workshops to discuss how to meet water needs without closing the door for builders.

• Developers' high- rise plan attacked
  Developers slammed for plan to replace Wiggins Pass Marina with two 22-story condominiums.
  It was an unpopular proposal pitched to unhappy people already fed up with what they call unbridled growth in Collier County. A hostile crowd of some 260 people heckled and laughed at developers who pitched a plan to replace Wiggins Pass Marina with two 22-story condos Wednesday night. Some even called for the county to purchase the 450-slip marina next to the county's Cocohatchee River Park in North Naples. The standing-room-only crowd at the county-mandated public meeting held by developers remained under control throughout the two-hour meeting at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Naples. But they held nothing back.
• Business leaders support Miami-Dade's gay rights rule
  MIAMI — A group of business leaders voiced support Wednesday for Miami-Dade County's ordinance banning discrimination against gays, saying the efforts to repeal the rule in September could drive away businesses and tourists. The "Business Says No to Discrimination" committee praised the economic impact of the county's 1998 law that bars discrimination in housing, employment and finance based on sexual orientation.
• Attorneys burn out: Prosecutors face heavy loads, are low paid
  Ginger Barry stood surrounded by four defense attorneys, with a fifth peering around her shoulder. It was a case management day earlier this year, and everybody wanted some attention from Barry, 26, a felony prosecutor for the State Attorney's Office. There were pleas to hammer out, trial dates to set and motions to schedule for hearing.
• State plan targets delinquency prevention - PEMBROKE PINES · The state unveiled a strategy on Wednesday to target $7.5 million in delinquency prevention programs to areas where lots of juvenile offenders live. -- 
  The goal is to reach students at risk of getting into trouble with the law before they commit a crime, said Tim Center, head of the delinquency prevention division of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
• FCAT questions are hard; a lot is expected from kids
  It's been a long time since I've chewed on a No. 2 pencil and had sweaty palms.
• Sheriff, DCF Investigating Infant Death At Day Care - BRANDON - The death of a 7-week-old boy at what officials are calling an unlicensed in-home day care center has sparked an investigation into the home and left a family mourning its infant son.
• Con artists targeting seniors
  Investigators have found a list used by scam artists that contains personal information about senior women living in the Tallahassee area.
• Hearing on conflicting evidence in Broward deputy's killing
  MIAMI — The state insists the right man is serving a life term in the killing of a Broward County sheriff's deputy, but the inmate's lawyers were just as adamant Wednesday that the wrong man is behind bars. In an unusual court review, a federal judge began hearing evidence that Timothy Brown didn't kill Deputy Patrick Behan and fired jail guard Andrew Johnson did.
• EXONERATED BY DNA
  Samuel Lee Roberts, 44, walked out of the Broward County Courthouse this week a free man thanks to DNA testing. The case is another example of DNA's value as a powerful forensic tool that can exonerate as well as incriminate defendants.
• Molly Ivins: Enron Economics the wave of the future
  AUSTIN, Texas — Now some fools want to fire Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, the only straight-shooter in the Cabinet. Tell you what I like about O'Neill: He's from Widget World. This Cabinet is wall-to-wall corporate America, but most of them — including the president — are from Enron Economics, whereas O'Neill was CEO of a business that makes something useful, to wit, aluminum.
• Bush to urge malpractice-award limits
  By Larry Lipman, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
  The president wants 'pain and suffering' and punitive damages in medical malpractice suits kept to $250,000.
• SEC chief's promotion request assailed
  By Amy Schatz, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
  Harvey Pitt's request for his agency to be given Cabinet-level status brings cries for his resignation.
• Honing homeland security
  Civil liberties and privacy deserve protection in a new federal department.
• Hog-tied on guns
  Even in the midst of America's new war on terrorism, Attorney General John Aschroft is willing to tie the FBI's hands in its ability to try to trace firearms sales to suspected terrorists.
• BROAD-BRUSH JUSTICE
  The Justice Department's plan for immigrants to file change-of-address cards is a bad idea and bad public policy. It is virtually unworkable, and if it did work, it would paint all immigrants with the same terrorist-suspect brush.
• Reconciling the actions of a distant, dirty war
  Palm Beach Post Editorial
  Salvadoran generals guilty. So were others.

7/24/02

• FHP troopers stop derailing motorists on I-4 for survey on high-speed train - The Florida Highway Patrol on Tuesday halted a controversial program of randomly herding drivers off busy Interstate 4 near Lakeland, waving them into a rest stop just to be surveyed by crews working for the state's high-speed rail system. ... 'State troopers in uniform directing people into a line is `voluntary' participation?'' Simon mocked. ... Haddad disagreed: ``It's really not an infringement or a forced type of stopping.  (WF: then what is it?)
• Editorial: Florida redistricting
  We wondered who Florida lawmakers were listening to when they carved the state into new U.S. House districts. Actually, we did know. They were listening to friends in high political places — Florida's big cities and Washington. We were asking rhetorically, because we knew lawmakers were not listening to Southwest Florida constituents who wanted to stick together.
• GOP ad bashes Bush rivals McBride, Reno
  It says the Democratic challengers to Gov. Jeb Bush dodge the issues, but they've taken stands on two the ad cites.
• TV spot from GOP ridicules Reno, McBride - The strategy of attacking early -- before Reno has yet to air an ad -- mirrors one employed successfully by Bush in 1998, when he ran ads that tagged his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay, as a ''tax raiser'' and played off MacKay's first name by telling voters, ``He's not your buddy.''-- That ad allowed Bush to define MacKay before most voters had a solid opinion of him.--- The dancing leg commercial -- airing just days after Reno's South Beach dance party -- is considered by strategists to be a ''soft negative'' because it jabs in jest. It was created by the same Republican consultant, Mike Murphy, who did the McKay attack ad in '98.
• Florida GOP to debut TV attack ad today -  ... Florida Republican Party spokesman Towson Fraser had no comment on the ad. Bush spokesman Todd Harris said "the public deserves to know the records, or lack thereof, of every candidate in this race."
• McBride's former firm funds GOP
  Even as its former managing partner seeks the Democratic nomination to unseat Gov. Jeb Bush, the Holland & Knight law firm and its lawyers have poured more than $100,000 into Republican coffers to help Bush stay in office.
• Sen. Jones' campaign seeking resonance in governor's race
  State Sen. Daryl Jones became on Tuesday the first African American in recent Florida history to appear on the ballot for governor. But the one-time nominee for U.S. Air Force secretary is struggling for political legitimacy and, with poll numbers in the single digits, risks becoming a sideshow in the race for the governor's mansion.
• Bush, Jones file in second wave of qualifiers
  State Sen. Daryl Jones filed his qualifying papers to run for governor Tuesday and adamantly ruled out taking the second spot on any other Democrat's ticket.
• Son files papers for Bush candidacy
  George P. Bush, 26, a law student, vouches for his dad's ability to serve as governor.
• Nursing home group backs governor - A group representing Florida's nursing homes Tuesday endorsed the reelection of Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who has worked to protect the industry from lawsuits and increase staffing. ... ''Democrats are the one who stand up for patients and caregivers, while Bush and the Republicans stand up for the industry,'' said Ryan Banfill, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party.
• GOP squabbling; Warner goes on offensive
  TALLAHASSEE — Republican attorney general candidate Tom Warner said Education Commissioner Charlie Crist is a professional politician and not qualified to become the state's chief legal official. Warner, the state's solicitor general and a former legislator, said Crist, one of his two opponents in the Sept. 10 Republican primary, "does not have the knowledge, skills, background or experience to be the state's top lawyer."
• GOP's attorney general race heats up
  The Republican battle for attorney general turned nasty Tuesday, when Solicitor General Tom Warner attacked Education Commissioner Charlie Crist's qualifications for the job.
• Bush names new interim director of state labor agency
  TALLAHASSEE — Luci Hadi was named interim director of the state Agency for Workforce Innovation, filling in for Tom McGurk, who resigned to run for Congress. Hadi, named to head the agency Monday by Gov. Jeb Bush, had been deputy director of the agency, which formerly was known as the state Department of Labor.
• GOP convention may cost public $21.8-million
  The new estimate for Tampa to play host in 2004 is $11-million more than organizers have said.
• Alachua prosecutor defends different philosophies
  William P. Cervone is the state attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit, which includes Alachua County - the county often compared to Leon because of its similar size, demographics and types of crimes. But a look at the numbers for the two state attorneys' offices shows some marked contrasts.
• Does it have any teeth?
  Orange commissioners should not blow the chance to enforce a lobbying law.-- Orange County no longer is in "uncharted territory" when it comes to enforcing its eight-year-old lobbying law.-- 
  That's the excuse some commissioners made in March, when they did little more than scold the first lobbyist ever investigated for violating the county's registration requirements. Bertica Cabrera Morris acknowledged that she didn't properly register two clients whose interests she represented before the board, and she was admonished never to do so again.--- 
  Now commissioners will decide what to do with a second violator -- Universal Studios lobbyist John McReynolds.
• State Medicaid cut takes big bite from dental care for poor - Marc Berube's kidney disease has drained the calcium from his bones and weakened his teeth to the point he needs the top row pulled and replaced by dentures.-- 
  Two broken hips and dialysis treatments keep him out of work, so he can't afford costly dental care. A Medicaid program was set to pay for the work last month, but Berube had a reaction to anaesthetic and planned to come back later. -- As of July 1, however, he need not bother.-- 
  More than 37,000 low-income adults no longer have access to basic dental care and dentures as a result of state Medicaid budget cuts effective this month. Only emergency services are still available. - 
• Reject GL Homes plan
  Palm Beach Post Editorial
  Selling out voters, as well as the Ag Reserve.
• Canker found in Hendry County - In one of the largest finds in several months, state citrus canker inspectors said Tuesday they have discovered 99 infected grapefruit trees in a commercial citrus grove in Hendry County, west of Lake Okeechobee.
• Orlando forgets owing $800,000 to the homeless - Nearly $1 million from the sale of the former Navy base earmarked for local homeless programs has been mostly unpaid by Orlando for more than two years.-- 
  City officials call their failure to pay two annual installments totaling $400,000 to the Orlando Area Trust for the Homeless an oversight.
• Unfair practices -  Florida is not being fair to disabled students in its FCAT testing.
  Ahivng rtuolbe eradign?
  Having trouble reading that? Imagine a whole page full of test questions that look like alphabet stew. That's how the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test appears to students whose dyslexia makes them see jumbled letters and words. Yet those students may have a strong grasp of vocabulary, grammar, syntax and the use of the English language. They may easily comprehend complex material.
  Denying those bright students reasonable ways to earn a regular Florida diploma makes no more sense than depriving blind students of a diploma because they can't see letters on a page.
• EPA's catch of the day: Anxiety
  By Sally Swartz, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
  Celebrating clean water with poisoned fish.
• Lack Of State Dioxin Limit Curbs Environmentalists - TALLAHASSEE - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers dioxin one of the most deadly chemicals on its official list of toxic substances.-- So dangerous that it has established limits for how much is too much in streams, rivers and lakes. -- Yet in Florida, the state Department of Environmental Protection has never adopted dioxin standards and now is using that fact to silence environmental groups opposing a new discharge permit for a paper mill near Palatka.
  • Environmental Protection Agency: Dioxin
  • Florida Department of Environmental Protection: Dioxin
• Bacteria Continues To Plague Weekiwachee - WEEKI WACHEE - On Friday afternoon, the Renwick family did what many river residents do. They plunged into the Weekiwachee River for a refreshing swim. - Little did they know that less than a mile downstream, health officials were posting signs warning of high levels of fecal coliform bacteria.
• Feds reveal new plan to fix Glades
  Federal officials released a revised blueprint on Tuesday for replumbing the Everglades, saying they'd significantly strengthened an earlier proposal that had drawn harsh criticism from environmental groups.
• Bush administration releases rules for Everglades restoration
  WEST PALM BEACH — The Bush administration released federal regulations Tuesday governing the 25-year Everglades restoration project, setting out how the natural flow of water will be restored after being drained and rechanneled for decades. The regulations call for creating reservoirs for drinking water, removing canals and levees to restore the water's natural flow and creating wells to capture the huge amounts of groundwater seeping away into the Atlantic Ocean.
• Reviews mixed on new Everglades plan
  By Jessica Sabbath, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
  Revisions to the Everglades Restoration Plan released Tuesday receive a cool reception from environmentalists.
• Environmentalists criticize new rules on restoring the Everglades-- Strike two, environmentalists decided Tuesday after digging into a rewrite of the rules that would guide restoration of the Everglades. -- 
  Their criticism of the 80 pages of regulations echoed their complaints about the initial draft seven months ago. And they counter the assertion of the Army Corps of Engineers that the rules they authored do in fact contain "strong assurances for ecological restoration" -- safeguards to prevent it from simply becoming a plan to capture water for urban and agricultural needs.
• CUT GREENHOUSE GASES
  In a word-association game, a reference to California conjures up images of smog and last summer's energy crisis. Until now. With passage this week of a law requiring cars to meet new emissions standards, California has set a clean example for the nation. The new law will help clear up California's polluted air. It also could force automakers nationwide to develop more energy-efficient, less polluting cars.
• Jay Ambrose: California at it again
  California has enacted a law aimed at limiting auto emissions, and some politicians, environmentalists and pundits are saying, glory, glory, hallelujah, we are about to put the wicked auto industry in its place and cool the Earth. Excuse me, but may I make a point? The law is a farce.
• Senate drug bills fail
  Two plans to help seniors pay prescription drug costs fail to win Senate approval Tuesday.
• Hospital Deaths Preventable
  In the best tradition of crusading investigative journalism, a new Chicago Tribune probe blows the whistle on a major national health care crisis. The disclosure demands an urgent and effective response.
• Guest editorial: Crime and punishment
  How's this for justice? You're a big-time stock speculator who gets caught making $19 million in illegal profits on insider tips. You plead guilty to securities fraud, a crime for which the penalty is five years, but you end up serving only 21 months. You're ordered to pay $100 million in restitution, but the law allows you to write off half that on your federal income taxes.
• HELP FOR POOR DEFENDANTS
  The Senate Judiciary Committee has endorsed a promising bill that could prevent people who have been wrongly convicted of capital crimes from being executed.
• WHITE HOUSE ABOUT-FACE
  President Bush's decision this week to cut the $34 million earmarked for the United Nations Population Fund is a slap in the face to the international-aid community, pro-choice voters and advocates of women's. The president's assertion that the Population Fund finances coerced abortion in China defies the logic that he says supports his decision and challenges his self-description as a compassionate conservative.
• Guest editorial: Playing politics with foreign policy
  President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, appears to be running the foreign policy of the United States. From the steel tariffs to the farm bill, the White House has shown a disturbing propensity for letting domestic political considerations override U.S. foreign policy interests. The latest is the administration's announcement that it will withhold $34 million, in money already approved by Bush and Congress, from the United Nations Population Fund.
• Guest editorial: Population-control politics
  There is a mind-bending illogic behind the Bush administration's decision on Monday to withhold $34 million from the U.N. Population Fund, which is working in China despite continued practices there of coerced abortion and sterilization. It is precisely because of China's reprehensible policies that the U.N. presence is important. Cutting off funds to the agency is an inexcusable sop to right-wing anti-abortion activists in an election year.
• Victory could bring more torture suits
  The verdict against two Salvadoran generals is a huge win for human-rights activists.
• Senators tell elderly to wait for drug benefit - WASHINGTON -- Despite years of campaign promises from both parties to help the elderly pay soaring prescription-drug costs, the Senate fought to a draw on the politically charged issue Tuesday, with scant hope of breaking the impasse this year. ... Either alternative would have represented the biggest expansion of government aid to the elderly since Medicare was established in 1965. "This is a vote about national character and priorities," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the few still in the Senate who served in 1965
• Reverse course on TIPS
  The American public isn't comfortable with the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, which is not only an invasion of privacy but also a futile attempt to make us safer.
• Militarized homeland: Leave domestic security to civil authorities
  Welding homeland security to its fortress mentality, the Bush administration last week proposed expanding the military's role into domestic law enforcement. A day later, Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart, who will head the newly established command for North American defense, publicly encouraged the proposal in itself an unusual military intervention in the public debate.
• Seek Unity Before Acting
  President Bush has left no doubt through his rhetoric that he is preparing to take pre-emptive military action against nations that pose a danger to the United States because of their development of weapons of mass destruction.
• House votes to end travel ban to Cuba
  The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba and to authorize private financing of food sales to the government of Fidel Castro, underscoring the growing rift between Congress and President Bush on U.S. policy toward the island.
• 2 ex-Adelphia execs arrested on federal charges-source
  NEW YORK - The founder of cable television giant Adelphia Communications Corp. was arrested Wednesday along with two of his sons, accused of looting the now-bankrupt company and using it as their ``personal piggy bank.''
• Astronomers tracking asteroid that may hit Earth in 2019 - LONDON -- Astronomers are carefully monitoring a newly discovered 1.2-mile-wide asteroid to determine whether it is on a collision course with Earth. - 
  Initial calculations indicate there is a chance the asteroid -- known as 2002 NT7 -- will hit the Earth on Feb. 1, 2019. But scientists said Wednesday that the calculations are preliminary and the risk to the planet is low.

7/23/02

• `But Officer, I Didn't Do Anything!'
  LAKELAND - They call it a ``Voluntary Roadside Interview.'' But for hundreds of motorists flagged down by state troopers Monday on Interstate 4, there was nothing voluntary about ...
• Red flags in the Glades
  There is a serious possibility that the restoration of the Everglades is being subverted by politics and an underlying agenda to disguise the costs of creating a dependable water supply for agriculture and future growth.
• Emotional coddling as policy
  The Florida Legislature was not doing the Earnhardt family a favor when it forbade public access to Dale Earnhardt's autopsy pictures. Quite the reverse. The Legislature turned the Earnhardt family's emotions into a weapon in an ongoing war on open record laws that is, on Floridians' right to know what their government is doing. Dale Earnhardt was nothing more than ammo in legislators' strategy, and their misuse of Earnhardt's name was more obscene than any Internet peddler's. Internet postings of corpses may be mildly ghoulish (and mostly dull), but the effect is more prurient than consequential, fading the moment a more topical image hits the circuit. A law's consequences never end. One bad law infects new ones, turning a virus into a precedent. The Earnhardt law is one such virus.
• Cruise group rewards GOP
  The cruise industry shows its appreciation for Gov. Bush's support by becoming the party's largest contributor.
• Has The FEA Become The SPECTRE Of The Hustings?  ...The Tampa Democrat's gubernatorial campaign has gone and done it now, royally riling up the Florida Republican Party - which, as we all know, always plays fair, never bends the rules, and indeed is filled with regular Marquess of Queensberry types
• Tallahassee TV station to put ads back on the air
  TALLAHASSEE — A Tallahassee TV station decided Monday to again air an ad featuring Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Bill McBride that's paid for by the state teachers union. The station — WCTV-CBS 6 — pulled the 30-second spot Friday after the state Republican Party complained the ad wasn't properly labeled. WCTV General Manager Jere Pigue said Monday the station would start airing the ad Wednesday on advice of their corporate attorney.
• Candidate Reno makes her case
  Janet Reno said Monday she will end a climate of fear among state employees if she beats Gov. Jeb Bush in November. "I'm going to be frank with you - it is of real concern to me to hear how frightened state employees are," she told about 200 voters at City Hall. "That is wrong, ladies and gentlemen, just plain wrong."
• Refining the reform
  Gov. Jeb Bush touts his Service First workforce reform initiative in almost messianic terms. The program is designed to make state government leaner and more efficient through a combination of out-sourcing, re-engineering and good old competition. Administration rhetoric suggests the initiative is a godsend for taxpayers and state employees alike.
• Reno becomes first to qualify to run
  ..."Public service is the most rewarding occupation I know," Reno told the crowd. "You get cussed at and fussed at, but there is nothing more rewarding."
• Reno marches to Capitol, makes candidacy official -- ...Reno pledged to improve state worker training and pay and to slow Bush's drive toward privatizing state services. AFSCME, which represents some 110,000 public employees, is the largest union to endorse Reno, whose leading rival, Democrat Bill McBride, has been endorsed by the state teachers' union and the state's AFL-CIO.
• Reno makes it official by filing to run-- TALLAHASSEE · As Florida's once-powerful Democratic Party fights just to hang onto its much-diminished clout in the Capitol, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno was the first gubernatorial candidate to officially qualify for the fall elections when filing for state and local offices opened Monday.
• Reno's personal worth: $2.5 mil- 
  ... Unlike Bush, who had his money heavily invested in stock mutual funds last year -- and in which he lost about a half-million dollars -- much of Reno's net worth is in state and federal pensions, the house she lives in and traditional savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money-market accounts. According to her disclosure form, Reno has no money invested in the stock market.-- ''You don't see in here someone who has taken risks with her money, or someone who has gambled her money away, or someone who is involved in any kind of corporate shenanigans,'' said her campaign manager, Mo Elleithee. ``Through years and years of hard work, she has been very frugal.''
• Early qualifiers' prize: Sound bites
  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Reno was among hopefuls who showed up in Tallahassee to qualify for campaigns.
• Elections office gets confused about how much Reno owes - TALLAHASSEE -- The folks at Florida's elections office still are having trouble counting.
• 'Nice' McBride should get tough
  Bill McBride wants Florida to be a place that rewards hard work with a living wage, helps children succeed in public schools and cares for its sick elderly who increasingly can't afford the escalating costs of prescription drugs. All of that while expanding opportunities for businesses to thrive.
• Dyer calls for tougher corporate crime laws
  Sen. Buddy Dyer, a candidate for attorney general, is calling upon the state Legislature to toughen laws against corporate "cowards and thieves" preying on Florida citizens.
• Senate ethics committee dismisses complaint against Graham
  TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. Senate ethics committee dismissed a complaint a California businessman filed against Sen. Bob Graham accusing him of using his government staff to promote a proposed state constitutional amendment. Robert Kaplan, whose company Zonetal was fired as a fund-raiser for the ballot initiative, filed the complaint claiming the Democrat used his Capitol staff to work on the campaign to create a panel to oversee the state's public university system.
• Voters should oust Jeb Bush
  I was startled one recent Saturday to see where Barbara Peters Smith, another of your friendly neighborhood ustawuzes who are allowed to spread their fragrance on the sometimes desert air via these pages, suggested that we all join in and return Jeb Bush to office come November.-- We-the-not-quite-fully-departed do not ordinarily do such things, though we come close, I guess. But I was intrigued by this new precedent for making mischief and after ruminating awhile decided that duty as I see it compels me to write a piece explaining why we should all join in and kick Little Brother out. (Sunday, 07/21/2002 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
• Accountability at DCF doesn't go high enough
  Management failure breaking down system.
• State argues canker ruling - The judge who struck down Florida's new citrus canker law misinterpreted both the scientific and constitutional issues of the case, the state Department of Agriculture said in an appeal brief filed Monday.
• Trial Of Ages: Florida Power Bias Suit Opens
  OCALA - To hear the former workers' attorney tell it, the only sin for 11 men and one woman was that their hair was graying. ...
• Layoffs, cutbacks proposed for Daytona Beach
  Scrambling to keep the city from running out of money next year, city staff Monday proposed employee layoffs and cutting services to residents.
• Clay commission weighs cable fines
  GREEN COVE SPRINGS -- A new cable ordinance imposing fines of up to $50,000 for service failures by cable companies likely will be approved this afternoon by the Clay County Commission.
• Curbs On Growth Embroil Counties
  TAMPA - Counties don't often take the drastic step of shutting off the spigot on building permits.-- Still, it's not unheard of. ... More recently, stop-work orders on new development have found traction in Collier, Leon and Monroe counties. Local governments and courts are also grappling with the rights of private-property owners who are told they can't develop their land. -- In April, the U.S. Supreme Court sided 6-3 with planners over landowners who sued after being denied building permits at Lake Tahoe. Many have seen this as a boost to local governments that want to slow growth.
• Group opposing county's growth plan meets up - A group of rural landowners intent on nullifying Alachua County's newly revised long-term growth plan, designed to encourage development in urban areas, met Monday afternoon to lay out their objections once again.-- The landowners, which have formed a corporation called Preserving Rural Property Values, say the county's comprehensive plan strips their property rights by establishing extensive rules on how rural lands can be developed, subdivided and maintained. They also contend that the policies trying to restrict growth in farm areas will severely decrease land values, impacting their ability to gain credit.
• St. Johns panel to vote on residential-commercial project
  Developers of a 545-home gated community and commercial center will seek approval today for the twice-denied northwest St. Johns County project.
• Tests discover lead at juvenile detention site
  Potentially hazardous lead has been found in the ground at a state-run juvenile detention center in Jacksonville, stopping construction of a $1.2 million holding unit over an old dump.
• 'Impaired' water list contested
  Some Leon County community activists on Monday called on the state to add Lake Jackson to a cleanup list of "impaired" waters and to speed the process for cleaning up other area waterways.
• DEP calls for input on impaired waters - Gainesville - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection opened its "draft impaired waters" list of the Suwannee River Basin to public comment today, identifying a number of environmental concerns along the drainage basin, including abnormal oxygen levels and high nutrient loads.
• Mercury in fish: Inadequate advisory hurts consumers, state
  Florida is a fish-eater's dream come true: the abundance and variety of fresh, succulent fish translates night-after-night into delectable meals. -- Yet that luxury is endangered by mercury, the unhealthy chemical that travels largely through the air and falls into streams, lakes and the ocean, where it enters the food chain. Changed into methylmercury by microorganisms, it is swallowed by bottom-dwelling fish, which are then eaten by other fish. Because mercury is persistent and bioaccumulative, the highest levels of contamination can be found in the larger fish, such as sharks, swordfish and large-mouth bass. -- The result is that a lot of the popular fish on the market today may have been exposed to mercury. -- Yet people don't know for certain if the fish they plan to eat is safe -- whether they buy it or catch it. Florida's methods of measuring mercury contamination and informing the public are inadequate and inconsistent.
• Minnow-Size Fish Put Bite On Mosquitoes - HOMOSASSA SPRINGS - A larvae-loving fish is putting a big bite on mosquitoes in Citrus County.-- The mosquitofish, also known as gambusia, have been used for years. But the mosquito control office recently leased a hatchery in Hernando from the county and received stock fish from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
• U.S. to attack nasty snakehead fish
  Interior Secretary Gale Norton plans to announce today the initial step in banning the Asian fish. -- the bizarre, voracious fish with razor-sharp teeth that has attacked people and has been found from Maine to Broward County.
• INS says foreigners must report moving
  The Justice Department announced Monday that it intends to use criminal penalties against immigrants and foreign visitors who fail to notify the government within 10 days of changing their addresses.
• An officer and an INS agent -- FDLE cross-training 35 police officers to also serve as INS agents -- While Florida law enforcement officials spearhead a pilot program designating officers to also serve as INS agents, all eyes are on the Sunshine State in anticipation of what could become the national model for domestic security. On July 9, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Domestic Security Task Force began cross-training 35 officers from police agencies statewide to increase their expertise in federal immigration matters.
• Gephardt vows aid for illegal workers
  House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt told a national Hispanic rights group meeting in Miami Beach on Monday that he plans to introduce a bill within the next few weeks that would grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.
• LA RAZA'S TIMELY REMINDER
  One of the nation's premier civil-rights groups is meeting in Miami Beach this week, and it's timing couldn't be better. For 34 years, the National Council of La Raza has worked to improve opportunities, reduce discrimination and advocate for Hispanics in this country. Now, in the wake of Sept. 11, it faces great challenges in the way our government is changing its approach to immigrants, including Hispanic communities.
• Tests are unfair to disabled, opponents tell state panel
   Florida is either going to have to change the way it tests special-education students or face a lawsuit that will force those changes, a nationally recognized attorney said Monday.
• Report: Universal executive broke rules about lobbying - A Universal Orlando vice president violated Orange County's lobbying rules at least three times in the past year, a county investigation has concluded.
• 'Living-wage' may lead to 66 raises
  Study: More than 600 Orange County employees earn less than $18,100 a year.
• Corporate royalty can sneer at their debt
  I am putting myself on a diet -- not the kind where you count your starches and eat your fruit and drink eight glasses of water a day, but the one where you pick up the scissors and start cutting the credit cards.
• Molly Ivins: Coming to a radio near you — the same company
  AUSTIN, Texas — OK, it's now hundreds of thousands of words past the WorldCom bankruptcy, with the media might of this great nation devoted to explaining it all to you, and there are still six words I cannot find anywhere — the Telecommunications Deregulation Act of 1996. Don't you think that's carrying our famously ahistorical journalism a little too far?
• Morton Kondracke: Dow's drop endangers GOP prospects
  For 21 years, Republican pollster Bill McInturff has been tracking the linkage between consumer confidence, voter attitudes about the country's direction, presidential approval ratings and the outcome of elections. On this basis, he predicted that President Bush's father, despite soaring approval ratings after the 1991 Gulf War, would face a tough re-election race, which he ultimately lost.
• A chill in the library
  Under the USA-Patriot Act, passed by Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, librarians have been made unwitting partners in the FBI's search for potential terrorists. Any records a library might retain on a patron's reading choices or Internet use are now retrievable by federal law enforcement with an easily obtainable court order. Librarians, traditionally defenders of intellectual freedom, are being pressed to become extensions of law enforcement, and many are balking at the new job description.
• Guest editorial: Informant fever
  If, starting next month, your neighbors begin showing unexpected interest in your travel plans, your cable TV repairman asks what magazines you subscribe to and the pizza delivery boy starts trying to draw you out about your views on the Middle East, it could be that everyone is just getting a lot friendlier.
• Guest editorial: Soldier cops
  The Posse Comitatus Act is more doctrine than law. It was passed in 1878 to prevent civil authorities from pressing federal troops into service on posses. Since then, it has grown into a general prohibition against using the U.S. military to perform domestic police functions.

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