Statewide Reports -July  1-6,2002

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. 

7/6/02

  • DOT won't reinstate contract manager who accused House Speaker
    TALLAHASSEE -- The manager of a computer contract between one of House Speaker Tom Feeney's legal clients and the Florida Department of Transportation is not protected by the state's whistle-blower law and should not be returned to her job, a DOT attorney argued Friday.
    Mavis Georgalis, the DOT worker who oversaw an $8 million computer contract with Yang Enterprises of Oviedo, for whom Feeney serves as general counsel, was forced to resign April 1.
    Georgalis was one of two DOT workers pushed from their jobs after telling DOT investigators that Yang was submitting fraudulent invoices to the state and that Feeney, R-Oviedo, was improperly using his position to benefit his client.
  • To save duo, lawyers challenge death law
    An alliance of defense lawyers across the state attacked Florida's death penalty law late Friday, filing emergency papers to halt next week's executions of Linroy Bottoson and Amos King and to block the sentencing of convicted killer William Coday in Fort Lauderdale.
  • Broward County Democrats urge party unity
    DAVIE — Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Tampa lawyer Bill McBride told Broward County Democrats Saturday that they were working to re-energize and mobilize the party for the September primary. But as the gubernatorial candidates told a small gathering of party activists about their stances on education and health care, many local Democratic club presidents said they were concerned about party unity. "It's a very valid concern," said Ann Zucker, the president of the Weston Democratic Club. "I don't see money being as big of an issue as unity."
  • McBride stresses Florida roots at campaign stop - TALLAHASSEE -- Democratic candidate for governor Bill McBride may not be as well-known as Gov. Jeb Bush or have as many millions in campaign funds.-- 
    But McBride claims one bragging point that the Republican governor can do little to change -- McBride says he is more of a Floridian.
  • Reno touts public school support in Volusia campaign visit
    The state should worry more about fixing public schools than issuing vouchers, Democratic candidate for governor Janet Reno said Friday.
  • Record has minorities giving Bush a new look
    FORT LAUDERDALE -- Gov. Jeb Bush calls it "crazy." A lot of Democrats would agree.
  • Reno's fundraising lags for campaign
    Her campaign will report it raised fewer funds in the second quarter than it did in the first.
  • Nuclear transport troubles park officials
    BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK — A proposal to transfer nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev., has raised concerns at Biscayne National Park, which sits along one of the possible transport routes. More than 100 barges would cross the park to haul their radioactive cargo from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant to the Port of Miami, under a scenario prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy.
  • Centerpiece: Growing pains in Southwest Florida
    Editor's Note: The Washington Post published a four-day series titled "The Swamp" from June 23 to June 26. It examined the $7.8 billion plan to restore the Everglades and was based on more than 200 interviews and thousands of pages of documents. Day 3 of the series focused on growth and environmental concerns in Naples and the rest of Southwest Florida. The complete text of that story follows with the permission of The Washington Post. The entire four-day series is available on the Internet at www.washingtonpost.com.
  • Editorial: Redistricting
    Three judges meet in Tallahassee on Monday at the 11th hour — perhaps 11 1/8 would be more accurate — to make a final decision on political boundaries in Collier County. It's the culmination of reapportionment, a politically charged job that rolls around every 10 years to even up state House, state Senate and congressional voting districts. While Florida's redrawn voting districts for state Senate and U.S. Congress passed muster, the state House voting lines did not.
  • State failed to visit 1,841 children in June
    TALLAHASSEE — Florida's child welfare agency failed to visit 1,841 children in state custody in June, nearly twice the number of children that did not receive visits in May. With three extra days in July to finish the June contracts, child protection workers for the Department of Children & Families saw 96 percent of the 44,599 children in state care, according to figures released by the agency Friday.
  • Puffer fish from Indian River lagoon poisons man
    Despite repeated warnings and even a ban on eating puffer fish, another fisherman has been poisoned after eating puffer fish caught in the Indian River lagoon.
  • Growers share blame in farm slavery case
    System lets growers avoid legal culpability.
  • Orange County canker search widens
    Citrus canker surveyors will move into a southern Orange County neighborhood Monday, scouring backyards as they resume their search for more signs of the tree disease near the heart of the Citrus Belt.
  • Zoo: Wallabies that died there appeared healthy upon arrival
    TAMPA — The zoo that was sued by a breeder for the deaths of three wallabies claims that the animals appeared to be in good health when they arrived at the zoo. Melinda Morgan, president of a Marion County breeding company, blames Lowry Park Zoo for the February deaths of the wallabies the morning after a zoo veterinarian drove them to the zoo in a rental truck.
  • Popularity of illegal fireworks soars
    Officials say there were more fireworks shot off by residents than ever before.
  • Toppling-tree zone
    Gainesville residents beware: Your city's becoming a falling-tree zone.
  • Ike's policies paved state's future
    Jack Kerouac, the famous beat writer and anti-establishment social critic, was living in Orlando's College Park in 1957-58 when he went on national TV and shocked the literati: He liked Ike.
  • Selling out to polluters
    There is a simple justice to the concept of making polluters pay for cleaning up their messes. Since its inception in 1980, the Superfund program has worked that way. Chemical plants, refineries and other industries that created toxic wastes were held accountable. And when they couldn't be, the cleanup was funded by a tax on the chemicals and petroleum products that cause much of the pollution.
  • Washington Today: Bush's position on regulation changes to reflect political realities
    WASHINGTON — When President Bush goes to Wall Street on Tuesday to outline his proposals for tougher penalties on corporate officials, he will be completing a remarkable turnabout on the issue of government regulation. As a candidate and early in his presidency, Bush advocated a relaxation of rules, saying they often stifled business creativity and productivity. "Our new governing vision says government should be active, but limited; engaged, but not overbearing," he told a joint session of Congress in February 2001.

7/5/02

  • 1776: Florida pledges allegiance to ... Britain
    When news came of the Declaration, an angry mob gathered in St. Augustine's public square to announce its displeasure with treasonous colonies. They burned the likenesses of John Adams and John Hancock in effigy. In Pensacola, the governor of East Florida called out the militia to join royal troops in resisting what he called the "perfidious insurrection" of neighboring colonies.
  • Death Row duo's lawyers weighing options
    Lawyers for the first two men scheduled to be executed in Florida since last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty decided late Thursday against asking judges in Pinellas and Orange counties to block the executions -- at least for now.
  • Political mapmaking needs earlier schedule
    Draw Florida districts a year before election.
  • Six seek role of people's lawyer
    The candidates for attorney general are struggling for attention, but the prize is a position of power.
  • Reno campaign call: 'Protect government'
    The current push to privatize is sapping its ability to meet social needs, she tells a Volusia crowd.
  • '02 ballots to have a lot more Libertarians -- "I think the biggest problem that we have is that not enough people know that we exist or what we stand for, for that matter," said Coakley, 33, of Winter Springs.-- 
    Libertarians are out to change that by targeting Tallahassee like never before. They're taking advantage of a once-a-decade loophole in the elections law by mounting a campaign called "Operation Full Slate."
  • Democrats see issue in business scandals-- WASHINGTON -- The corporate scandals that have roiled the stock markets and unnerved investors are turning into a potent political issue just in time for this year's House and Senate elections.
  • Money for charities, not salaries
    Nothing obligates Tampa firefighters to raise money for charity. But if the firefighters' union solicits donations, it has an obligation to do it right. Eight cents of every dime the Tampa union raises in the name of charity actually goes for salaries and other overhead. Larding the effort with administrative costs does not help the needy in this community or honor a donor's good intentions.
  • The SAT tries to cram
    Revisions won't head off irrelevance.
  • Sept. 11 hovers over celebrations -Taking his acoustic guitar off his shoulder after a country-gospel performance with fellow musician Paul Conger, Overbaugh said Americans shouldn't let events of last year cause them to forget the reason for the holiday.--  "The big thing is the independence of the country. It's not about 9-11," he said.
  • Small-town festivities abound
    Across the region, thousands more gathered for hometown Fourth of July celebrations: parades, citywide picnics and fireworks displays.
  • Taking the holiday off
    The poor souls working on federal holidays should take comfort in a new poll by the Gallup Organization. The survey suggests that many are more exhausted after taking a vacation than they were before they left. More than half the 1,000 respondents returned home tired. One in five were "exhausted."
  • Plunge Against Grunge held to raise awareness about polluted canals -- Lake Worth · Donning their swim trunks and swimsuits, more than 40 people on Thursday morning braved the murky waters of the Intracoastal Waterway during the annual Plunge Against the Grunge to rally the public to fight pollution.
  • Officials dispel rumors about al-Qaida presence in Jacksonville
    JACKSONVILLE — Federal and state officials said Thursday that rumors circulating about the presence of al-Qaida cells in Jacksonville were unfounded. The stories spread after an interview aired Thursday on NBC's "Today Show" in which Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz discussed possible terrorist links in Afghanistan, Hamburg, Germany, and Jacksonville.
  • Terror cell not active in Duval
     Law enforcement officials say a nationally televised statement yesterday by the deputy secretary of defense about an al-Qaida terrorist cell in Jacksonville was off-base.
  • Officer who said peers raped her fired-
  • UF's IFAS praised in report by watchdog
    The draft report's positive findings may not be what lawmakers, possibly considering deeper cuts, want to hear.
  • Lobbying rules going online - In the wake of Orange County's second investigation into a lobbyist's activities, officials are planning to post lobbying rules and registration forms on its Web site. ...The Web site will be linked to Orange County's site: www.orangecountyfl.net  
  • Higher insurance rates after 9-11 impact area
    Still smarting from the effects of Sept. 11, insurance companies are raising rates for just about every type of insurance.
  • Investigators seize ECC computer hard drives
    Collier County sheriff's deputies seized several computer hard drives from the Lely campus of Edison Community College on Wednesday to examine them for possible terrorist activity. Deputies were called to the campus at 7007 Lely Cultural Parkway in East Naples around 8:20 p.m., according to sheriff's spokeswoman Tina Osceola.
  • Slow fixes at Palm Beach schools keep mold and mildew lingering- WEST PALM BEACH - Even while students and teachers complain of mildew and mold, the Palm Beach County School District is lagging in its efforts to repair faulty air-conditioning systems.
  • Battle lines drawn on development site
    Some historians contend that the site where multimillion-dollar homes are being built used to be a fort.
  • Fishy legislation: Nasty barbs snagging marine conservation act
    Fewer of the fish we like to eat swim in the oceans, and Congress is being asked to protect the remaining stocks from overfishing by vastly expanding a controversial quota system. That would be a mistake.
  • Explore state prison history on Web site
    I know we just celebrated our freedom, but let's now turn to those who - mostly through their own actions - have given up theirs. The Florida Department of Corrections has made our work easy with "Florida Corrections: Centuries of Progress," an unbelievably thorough Web site  www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/index.html  . It features the history of that department starting with the state's first penitentiary, which had 42 inmates in Chattahoochee in 1868. It continues to the present, when a massive...
  • Betsy Hart: Not so good for families
    It appears all is not sweetness and light in today's modern, socially correct family-friendly workplace. According to Reuters newswire, singles and the childless are complaining that in today's "pro-family" work environment they are constantly shouldering the burden of their fellow workers with children. You have a kid's dental appointment? School play? The little tyke is sick? You need to meet with his teacher? You have to leave early for a birthday party? You can't take on that extra assignment or travel to another city because it would encroach on "family time?" Jim or Susie over there will fill in — they don't have kids.
  • Test case on drug costs
    Will court let Maine take on drug-makers?
  • PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SENIORS
    Many of the 40 million Americans on Medicare struggle to cover the increasingly high costs of medications. For them and others, the need for a drug-prescription plan is real. Yet conventional wisdom says that Congress won't approve a plan this year, because of competing legislation and partisan rhetoric.
  • Molly Ivins: Independence Day should be a celebration of us
    AUSTIN, Texas — Happy National Birthday to Everybody! Here we still are, by gum, after 226 years (and the last one was a real stinker), still struggling to get it right on liberty and justice for all. And ain't give up yet. I think this holiday is not just about the Foundin' Daddies and those who gave the last full measure of devotion, it is also a celebration of us.
  • 'Under God' doesn't qualify as an American tradition
    Once on the West Coast, I passed a restaurant with a sign proclaiming it was "A Seattle Tradition Since 1976." There was nothing unusual about this boast except that the year was 1982.
  • William Safire: Nixon's spirit speaks
    WASHINGTON — From a small but oval office in purgatory, as he expiates his sin of suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold, Richard Nixon occasionally grants his former speechwriter an interview:
  • J.C. Watts' departure is no surprise
    The surprise is that it took so long. On Monday, U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the fourth-ranking member of the House Republican leadership and the only black Republican in Congress, said he would not seek re-election to a fifth term. He said that, with many of his goals accomplished, he wanted to spend more time with his family. His departure is a serious setback to the Republican Party's hope of broadening its appeal to minorities.
  • Hussein stepson admits he made error on U.S. visa

7/4/02

  • Splendid little gulag: How juvenile justice looks past child abuse
    The steep rise in abuse cases reported by Florida's juvenile prisoners to the Department of Children and Families is disturbing enough: An 85 percent increase between 1997-98, the last year before Gov. Jeb Bush took office, and 2000-01. Many of those cases are unsubstantiated allegations. But the number of verified cases also spiked 80 percent. Clearly, violence is on the rise in the state's juvenile lock-ups.
  • Bush campaigns among enemy
    Jeb Bush takes his campaign to Florida's most Democratic county, hoping to win over voters who spurned him in 1998.
  • Black leader: Bush an option - "If Bush has done as much for the black community as he says, we've got to consider him," Carter said. "We've got to be willing to look at both sides and get away from just party labels."-- 
    Carter said he would spend time in the next few months studying whether what Bush said is true before he decides on whether to endorse the governor's re-election.
  • Bush may get black votes
    A Broward black leader's comments could hurt Democrats in the governor's race.
  • Gov. Bush courts minority voters on Broward tour - The daylong tour was billed as a political strike behind enemy lines, because Broward has more Democrats than any other Florida county and minorities have traditionally balked at the Republican Party.--''I'm not conceding any votes,'' Bush told reporters. ``I'm excited to make my case in front of people that I hope will respond positively.''-- But like all events organized by a sophisticated campaign like the governor's, the crowds at each stop were handpicked by Bush supporters.
  • Bush speaks to state's Hispanics in Spanish-language TV spots-- TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush speaks Spanish in a new TV campaign ad that begins airing today on Hispanic television in Florida, the first step of a major media drive for Hispanic voters by the state's Republican Party.
  • Jesse Ventura is no Jeb Bush - thank goodness
    While at a conference in October in St. Petersburg, I told a storeowner my life story during a long lunch break. As he wrapped a vase, I told him that being temporarily in Jeb Bush country was creepy.
  • Florida GOP aims big TV ad campaign at Hispanics
    Its coffers overflowing with millions of dollars from wealthy contributors, the Florida Republican Party began spending a chunk of the money Wednesday on television ads aimed at Hispanic voters.
  • House-broken opponent
    Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who is running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District, has a new opponent - a 5-year-old black-and-while border collie named Percy.
  • XXX marked mentoring spot on Net
    Those seeking the governor's site were detoured down the seedy road to Web porn.
  • Redistricting mess
    The Legislature's contempt for the public is showing again. The attempt to avoid a special session to fix the House redistricting is an affront to Florida voters.
  • Fix The Process For The Future
    Florida is running out of time and legal options to fix a badly flawed redistricting plan for Congress and the state Legislature. Voters and politicians likely confront a worst-case scenario: 10 years of living with a harmful, unfair and bizarrely distorted mapmaker's nightmare. Voters should vow: Never again.
  • Citrus canker found in area
    The disease found on grapefruit tree east of Orlando marks farthest north location.
  • Canker found near Orlando
    Two canker-infested trees have been found outside Orlando near the heart of commercial citrus country, officials said Wednesday, as the state's canker eradication crews forayed back into Miami-Dade, search warrants in hand.
  • Much to celebrate and protect
    We are especially mindful this July 4th of the fundamental values on which our nation was founded. On this first Independence Day since the terrorist attacks, the nation exudes a spirit of unity and purpose. Most Americans don't seem cowed by warnings that terrorists may see this holiday's festivities as an opportunity to launch a new attack. They have accepted restrictions on their movements and other security inconveniences with few complaints. And many Americans -- about half, some polls say -- are willing to give up some of their liberties in the name of fighting terrorism. Even the slightest loss of freedom is nothing to celebrate.
  • Broward judge upholds Florida death sentence
    FORT LAUDERDALE — A Broward County judge has upheld the state's death penalty statute, a week after the U.S. Supreme Court left its constitutionality in question. Broward Circuit Judge Alfred Horowitz rejected a motion Tuesday to strike down the Florida law, which gives juries an advisory role and lets judges issue the final sentence.
  • Broward judge upholds law restricting access to autopsy photos
    FORT LAUDERDALE — A judge Wednesday upheld a Florida law restricting public access to autopsy photos that was being challenged by several of the state's newspapers. The law was passed in March 2001 after the death of race car driver Dale Earnhardt. "The right to privacy, the right to freedom of press and speech, the right of the people to have access to public records and the right to be left alone are important rights to all who live in this county," Circuit Judge Leroy Moe wrote in his order.
  • FDLE, DCF to hold videoconferences on missing children
    HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The state's top police agency is working with the Department of Children & Families in an effort to coordinate attempts to prevent more children under state care from falling through the cracks of the system. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, DCF and local law enforcement agencies throughout the state will take part in three two-hour videoconferencing seminars July 9-11.
  • High court rules in domestic violence, juvenile predator cases
    TALLAHASSEE — State law is clear: A person can't be charged with burglary for going into a public place — even if he's under court order to stay out, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. But that doesn't mean he can't be prosecuted on other charges — such as violation of the restraining order and first-degree murder of his wife, the court added.
  • Migrant workers sue medical company for refunds
    FORT PIERCE — Five migrant workers have filed a class-action lawsuit against a company they say charged them $800 each to deliver their babies, even though Medicaid had already paid for their medical care. The women were assured by a clinic run by Trinity Medical Inc. that their money would be refunded once they gave birth and enrolled in an emergency state insurance program, according to the civil suit filed Tuesday in state circuit court.
  • Ocala to dedicate monument to slaves - The simple chunk of polished gray stone bordered by deep red brick will pay homage to the slaves from the time of the Spanish Conquistadors until Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: "Negro Slaves Remembered; 1613-1863; God Bless America."
  • Lawyer wants to gain respect
    For generations, comedians have been poking fun at attorneys. Miami lawyer Tod Aronovitz is fed up with the abuse.
  • New study shows seniors' economic impact on state
    TAMPA — Contrary to popular belief, a new study suggests that Florida's retirees and senior citizens contribute much more to the state's economy than the state spends on them. Not only are Florida seniors mostly self-supportive, they provide the state a net economic benefit of $1.4 billion, according to the study by the consulting firm Thomas, Warren and Associates. The study was paid for by WCI Communities, a developer of senior communities.
  • Bush urged to back airline loan
    Lawmakers have urged President Bush to support a loan guarantee for US Airways.
  • Medical examiner feels pressure
    The pathologist who ruled that an Orange County Jail inmate died last year from forced methadone withdrawal is accusing county officials of pressuring him to change his diagnosis.
  • Court: City does not have to release all e-mail
    The 2nd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a decision that the city of Clearwater does not have to release to the St. Petersburg Times e-mails that two city employees sent on government computers but deemed "personal."
  • State high court may decide if government e-mail public - TALLAHASSEE -- In a ruling that could have a sweeping impact on whether the public can see what their government officials are saying online, the Florida Supreme Court has been asked to decide if e-mail in government computers should be open to the public.
  • Ecologists ready to sue U.S. in off-road vehicle dispute - A coalition of environmental groups on Wednesday threatened to sue the National Park Service for failing to stop off-road vehicles from damaging Big Cypress National Preserve.-
    The Florida Biodiversity Project, Natural Trails & Waters Coalition and nine other groups served a formal notice letter on the park service, saying it is violating the Clean Water Act by allowing "massive, unmitigated rutting" and churning of "vast amounts of preserve soils and vegetation."
  • Key Largo group sponsors count of fish species off coast
    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A Key Largo group has agreed to sponsor a monthlong fish count off the South Carolina coast. The count, sponsored by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation of Key Largo, Fla., has compiled more than 40,000 surveys in the last 10 years but never one in South Carolina, said Alex Score, the group's education and outreach coordinator.
  • Scientists surveying habitat and species throughout Florida Keys
    DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK — In the crystal blue waters that straddle one of the continent's most remote national park, schools of yellow-tailed snappers and dark chubs mix with yellow and black-striped sergeant majors along the sea grass beds and coral reefs. Scientists studying fish stocks in the Florida Keys say the pinch of overfishing continues to hamper the region and reinforces the need to properly manage the waters, considered some of the most fertile fishing spots in the hemisphere.
  • U.S. plan to save endangered bird is made official
    After more than a year of debate, the newest federal plan to protect the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow was made official Wednesday.
  • Analysis: California again challenging Washington on environmental policy
    With one vote, California has once again declared its intention to challenge the federal government for the lead in setting environmental policy in the United States. If signed by Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, a bill given final approval by the Assembly on Monday night would most likely lead to cuts in the tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases by cars and light trucks, a major defeat for the auto industry in the nation's largest car market and a victory for a coalition of environmentalists and leading national Democrats.
  • Bush's business practices under question
    WASHINGTON - As a Texas oilman, President Bush engaged in some of the same kinds of business practices he's now promising to clean up in response to a wave of corporate scandals.
  • Openness for detainees
    Ashcroft seeks powers that are too broad.
  • Saddam's stepson arrested
    Saddam Hussein's stepson was arrested in Miami Wednesday on immigration charges.

7/3/02

  • Many things to celebrate; many others to put right
    Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right.
  •  
  • FSU tent protest enters 100th day
    TALLAHASSEE -- For more than three months, a small group of Florida State University students has endured thunderstorms, oppressive heat and other hardships as they camp in tents on a campus square in protest. (see Westcott)
  • Attorney General Joins Tax Battle-- Attorney General Bob Butterworth, the lone Democrat in the state's Cabinet, said Monday that his office will help Senate President John McKay, R-Bradenton, defend a proposed constitutional amendment against lawsuits from Florida business groups.
  • Florida in the habit of Sunshine
    Like alcoholics searching for their next drink, Florida legislators are addicted to hiding one public record after another and holding one public meeting after another beyond public view.
  • Price of small classes: A political calculation
    Class-size amendment opponents seek to confuse voters.
  • Report cards tell just part of the story
    Florida's School Report Cards released by the Department of Education recently give parents and others a sterile and limited look at what's going on in public school classrooms today.
  • Buying fireworks legal, sort of, but using them is not
    Light the fuse on a firecracker or a Roman candle in Florida and it's breaking the law.
  • Followers watch and wait for Reno's campaign to gel
    Bill McBride builds a statewide presence as Reno fans await an organization to match her name recognition.
  • Jeb Bush brings fight for votes to Broward-- In an unusually lengthy campaign foray into Democrat-rich Broward, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush will crisscross the county today to reach out to Hispanic, African-American and Jewish leaders.-- Bush last visited Broward two weeks ago to collect more than $400,000 at a private fundraiser at the Signature Grand banquet hall in Davie.
  • Governor's net worth drops 20 percent
    Gov. Jeb Bush may be the scion of a powerful political dynasty, but he is not immune to the ravages of Wall Street. A new financial disclosure form filed by the governor this week and obtained by The Herald shows that his net worth dropped by more than 20 percent last year, from about $2 million to $1.6 million.
  • Voting files' errors targeted-- A controversial database that led to the wrongful removal of voters from county rolls two years ago will be reprocessed in search of names that should be reinstated, under a settlement announced Tuesday in a federal voting rights lawsuit.-- It would be the first time since the contentious 2000 presidential election that the central voter files would be corrected for errors.
  • Judges approve congressional map
    The federal judges also endorsed state Senate boundaries, but problems remain with the House map.
  • Judges OK most districts - TALLAHASSEE -- In a victory for Republican legislators, a panel of three federal judges on Tuesday upheld new boundary lines for Florida's congressional and state Senate districts.-- 
    But the judges left open the possibility of redrawing several South Florida state House seats, offering a glimmer of hope to Democrats who say the maps are unfair to minorities and Democrats.
  • Three judge panel upholds congressional, state Senate maps
    TALLAHASSEE — A panel of three federal judges upheld new boundary lines Tuesday for Florida's congressional and state Senate districts. In an order from one of the judges, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan of Miami, the panel said it was delaying a ruling on state House districts because of a pending objection to that plan by the U.S. Department of Justice.
  • Judges uphold Florida voting districts
    In a major boost to Republicans in Florida and across the nation, three federal judges on Tuesday upheld the state's new GOP-designed congressional districts, improving the party's chances of maintaining its edge in the House of Representatives.
  • House Attorneys Adjust Proposed District Lines - ...House attorneys rejiggered the lines Tuesday and asked federal judges to approve the revamped plan with a promise the Legislature will officially approve them next year.
  • State's 50th chief justice takes his post
    One of the Florida Supreme Court's most popular justices became its leader Tuesday, when Justice Harry Lee Anstead was sworn in as the 50th chief justice in state history.
  • Grant Review By High Court
    From the point of view of the state of Florida and its beleaguered citrus industry, the timing couldn't have been worse. Broward County Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet's temporary injunction halting the state's citrus canker eradication program came just as the region was heading into the rainy season, which is now well under way. Rain and wind are the chief natural enemies of those fighting to stop the spread of the disease.
  • Broward DCF chief sends stern message against criticism - Broward County’s top social service director warned the executive of a private agency in April to stop bad-mouthing the state’s foster care system or her funding would be cut.... Officials at DCF have long been accused of using heavy-handed tactics to control people who express views contrary to the department’s interests. ...“How do we fix things if we can’t talk about it?” said David Bazerman, a Legal Aid Service attorney who represents children in Broward County dependency court proceedings. Bazerman is a frequent DCF detractor. “This is the Emperor’s New Clothes. We all have to walk around and say everything’s fine.”
  • REVIEW DEATH PENALTY
    Next week, Florida will make national headlines for doing what it hasn't done for more than a year -- execute a condemned man. In fact, Florida plans to execute two murderers: Linroy Bottoson on Monday and Amos King on Wednesday.
  • Attorneys working on execution appeals
    TALLAHASSEE — Lawyers for two men scheduled for execution next week worked Tuesday on how best to persuade a state court that Florida's death penalty law, like Arizona's, is unconstitutional. Linroy Bottoson is scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday at 6 p.m. and Amos King 48 hours later.
  • FSU jacks up tuition rates
    Taylor Schlairet's parents knew they would end up paying more for their daughter's college education when she opted to leave Georgia to attend Florida State University.
  • Lawsuit claims USF professor is senior member of terror group
    TAMPA — A former U.S. Justice Department attorney has sued a suspended professor linked to terrorists, saying the academic is the No. 2 official in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The lawsuit claims University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian is also a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network because of the confederation of terror groups.
  • Web site tracks foreign students
    About 260 institutions have logged on to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
  • Slavery alive in Florida agriculture industry
    With more regularity, federal officials who monitor farm labor issues are digging out the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Written in 1865, it officially ended slavery in America. Again, the 13th Amendment "officially" ended slavery.
  • State to remove more tanks
    The St. Marks Refinery Inc. says it will allow more tanks to be removed from the contaminated plant site as requested by state environmental officials.
  • St. Pete, Clearwater Get EPA Cleanup Grants- ...The state Department of Environmental Protection grants are used to assess and clean up leaks from federally regulated underground storage tanks to help revitalize areas.
  • White Springs lauds water plant
    The new plant is replacing the last publicly owned facility that discharges wastewater into the Suwannee River.
  • Development And Water Needs Require Careful Stewardship-- 
    South Hillsborough residents are furious that they are saddled with an outdoor watering ban this summer, while Hillsborough County government allows apartments and subdivisions to be constructed throughout the area.
  • Pricey condos expected to boost beach economy  Pensacola - Imagine elevator doors swooshing open to the floor of your condominium at Pensacola Beach.
    You step out to silence. No tourists dragging their kids decked out in floatation devices or loud neighbors. You only have one neighbor on the floor, and they use a different elevator that opens to their side of the building.
    Imagine no more: For $650,000 you can make it a reality.
  • NASA finds crack in 3rd space shuttle-- WASHINGTON -- NASA engineers have found at least one crack in the liner of a fuel pipe inside the engines of the space shuttle Columbia, the third orbiter to exhibit such a problem.-- 
    Last week, the agency grounded the entire four-shuttle fleet after finding similar tiny cracks in Atlantis and Discovery.
  • Cyber High staff stuck without paychecks
    Walter McNeal is crushed. The special-education teacher never got paid $1,375 for his last month on the job at the now-defunct Cyber High Charter School.
  • State lawyers appeal in favor of ban on gay adoptions
    ATLANTA — The Florida Legislature has the authority to forbid homosexuals from adopting children, lawyers for the state wrote in a brief filed in a federal appeals court. The attorneys argued that as Florida limits the legal number of spouses and recognizes only heterosexual marriages, it is well within the Legislature's purview to allow only heterosexuals to adopt, to "further the public moral sense."
  • Saudi princess fined $1,000 for pushing maid down stairs
    ORLANDO — A Saudi princess accused of pushing her maid down a flight of stairs was fined $1,000 and put on unsupervised probation after a court accepted her no-contest plea Tuesday. Princess Buniah al-Saud is in Saudi Arabia and didn't appear at the five-minute hearing in which her attorneys didn't contest a misdemeanor battery charge filed in Florida Circuit Court.
  • Michigan attorney general acts against Florida company
    LANSING, Mich. — State officials warned Michigan school districts Tuesday to beware of a Florida company which they say is trying to force schools to buy unwanted products and swindle them out of thousands of dollars. Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and state schools Superintendent Tom Watkins held a joint news conference to announce legal action against Paragon Laboratories.
  • Bothersome bear caught, relocated to wildlife preserve
    WELLINGTON — State wildlife officers caught a 211-pound black bear that had wandered for two weeks through Palm Beach County neighborhoods after it was spotted Tuesday on a front porch. The bear, who had evaded capture in doughnut-baited traps, climbed 15 feet up a pine tree when officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived.
  • Zoo sued over death of three Wallabies after trip to Tampa
    TAMPA — A kangaroo breeder has sued the Lowry Park Zoo, charging them with the death of three wallabies on loan for an Australian-themed exhibit. The wallabies, which are a smaller version of a kangaroo, died after the zoo brought them from Ocala to Tampa in an unventilated Ryder truck on Feb. 19, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Hillsborough Circuit Court.
  • Federal 'clear skies' program will allow dirtier air
    In response to Gregory Choppin's column ("Misguided emissions policy discourages clean air technology," My View, June 23): An important battle is underway in Washington to protect our clean air laws against an attack by coal, utility and other big energy industries. The outcome will have an enormous impact on how well we live and breathe for years to come.
  • Guest editorial: FEC soft on soft money
    In translating an act of Congress into federal regulations, the devil is in the details. And for some prominent supporters of the election-campaign-reform bill signed by President Bush in March, demonic forces have been at work at the Federal Election Commission. Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who was a House co-sponsor of the legislation, accuses the FEC of drafting regulations that go soft on the "soft money" campaign contributions that Congress voted to remove from federal election campaigns.
  • Pitt bull
    SEC chairman Harvey Pitt distorts history when he tries to deny his own role in blocking reforms that might have prevented Wall Street's ethical meltdown.
  • Guest commentary: Anthrax? The FBI yawns
    The FBI's bumbling before 9/11 is water under the bridge. But the bureau's lackadaisical ineptitude in pursuing the anthrax killer continues to threaten America's national security by permitting him to strike again or, more likely, to flee to Iran or North Korea. Almost everyone who has encountered the FBI anthrax investigation is aghast at the bureau's lethargy.
  • Witness says Salvadoran generals knew of torture
    WEST PALM BEACH — During El Salvador's civil war, human rights workers sent thousands of letters asking Salvadoran officials to acknowledge taking prisoners and to free those who rights groups feared were being tortured, a human rights monitor testified Tuesday. Michael McClintock identified letters that were sent to Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the former director of the National Guard, or Jose Guillermo Garcia, a former defense minister, about civilians who disappeared.
  • Analysis: U.N. rift shows two ways of looking at the world
    The showdown this week between the United States and other members of the U.N. Security Council was the latest and strongest confirmation that the international solidarity forged after the terror attacks on Sept. 11 was probably superficial and temporary. The immediate issue at the United Nations was Washington's demand that U.S. troops and all other U.N. peacekeeping forces be exempted from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which came into existence Monday under the shadow of intense hostility from the Bush administration.
  • Guest editorial: U.S. should stop undermining ICC
    The senseless American effort to undermine and marginalize the International Criminal Court must come to an end. The U.S. case against the court is bogus on its face. The real problem is the Bush administration's wholesale rejection of multilateralism and its desire to curry favor with the extreme right of its political base. The ICC now is a reality. It opened shop this week in the Hague and will be up and running within a year.
  • Contempt of court
    One nation was conspicuously absent from the founding of the International Criminal Court's new headquarters in The Hague: The United States.

7/2/02

  • Justice Department wants state House districts redrawn
    The Legislature's new House districts violate the rights of Hispanics in Collier County, a federal official says.
  • State House redistricting map rejected by Justice Department-- TALLAHASSEE -- The U.S. Justice Department on Monday rejected a redistricting plan for the Florida House of Representatives, saying it violates the U.S. Voting Rights Act by eliminating a Hispanic-majority district in South Florida.- 
    The ruling could force lawmakers into special session, possibly as early as next week, two weeks before candidate filing opens for legislative races.
  • House district borders rejected
    In a surprising move that could cause chaos on the campaign trail, the U.S. Justice Department on Monday rejected the new GOP-designed political boundaries for the Florida House of Representatives, declaring they discriminate against Hispanics in Collier County.
  • INS injustice: Immigration policies anything but American
    Imprisoning law-abiding individuals in the name of national security was supposed to have stopped for good when the last of 10 concentration camps for 120,000 Japanese-Americans closed in 1946. But "internment" is back.
  • Jail cites INS secrecy rule in denying attorney access
    A policy that requires the whereabouts of INS detainees to be kept secret came into question Monday after the Orange County Jail refused to let a Syrian-born businessman speak to his attorney over the weekend.
  • Clay County denies INS detainees are abused
    GREEN COVE SPRINGS — The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says it plans to look into complaints that federal immigration detainees are being abused at the Clay County Jail. A spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office said Monday that the inquiry will find that all inmates at the jail, including 122 on federal holds, are humanely treated.
  • Pakistanis face visa charges
    Four Pakistanis - three men and a woman - picked up by federal authorities in an immigration sweep last week are still being held in a Wakulla County prison.
  • McBride turns to Panhandle notable for boost
    A virtual unknown in the region, the gubernatorial hopeful stumps with a familiar face as he woos North Florida voters.
  • Former foe endorses McBride for governor - BRISTOL, Fla. - Bill McBride huddled in the back room of a catfish restaurant here with two dozen party loyalists Monday morning, the smell of the food bar set out for the early lunch rush wafting into the paneled dining room.
  • Three key workers quit Reno campaign
    Janet Reno's campaign for governor, often criticized for disorganization and fielding a minor-league team for a major-league race, is undergoing an overhaul.
  • Harris has 4-legged foe
    SARASOTA -- The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix. (see Percy's photo)
  • Dog runs as write-in candidate against Katherine Harris
    SARASOTA — The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix. Percy the dog is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary, said his owner and campaign manager, Wayne Genthner.
  • Survey: Bush still way ahead of others
    Gov. Jeb Bush continues to hold a commanding lead over his Democratic rivals for governor, but he is still far from delivering a knockout blow, a new statewide survey shows.
  • Bush: Resume executions
    Gov. Jeb Bush kept his word late Monday to resume capital punishment in the state by resetting the executions of two inmates on death row, including an Eatonville killer.
  • Keep executions on hold
    Florida can wait to get the new rules right.
  • Governor interviews high court candidates
    Preparing to make one of the most important decisions of his tenure, Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday conducted closed-door interviews with five candidates for a vacancy on the Florida Supreme Court, including a Miami attorney whose ties to a militant Cuban activist have drawn controversy.
  • State Farm spreads the pain - not the policies
    Florida latest state to hear all but the truth.
  • Despite opposition, State Farm collecting on policies
    State Farm Florida halted sales Monday of most new homeowners insurance policies while continuing to collect up to 28 percent more in premiums from its existing 44,000 residential customers in the Volusia/Flagler market.
  • Prisons need better food service
    Florida officials are gambling with prison safety by continuing to employ Aramark Corp. as the principal food service provider for the state's correctional facilities. Since the company took over prison kitchens last year, it has continually violated regulations designed to promote sanitation and safety within the facilities.
  • DCF struggles to make visits-- By late last week, DCF caseworkers should have seen at least 90 percent of the 45,000 children living with foster parents or relatives under state supervision.-- But in some parts of the state, as many as 45 percent of the children still had not been visited, according to an e-mail obtained by the Sun-Sentinel. It was sent from Larry Pintacuda, assistant secretary for operations, to local DCF administrators Friday.
  • Backers finish Florida class size tour with extra signatures
    MIAMI — The NAACP has wrapped up a statewide bus tour rousing support and collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to reduce class size in Florida public schools. An estimated 550,000 signatures were collected and submitted to county election departments throughout the state to be verified.
  • Soaring value of real estate bolsters property taxes in Broward
  • States' water-sharing debated
    Environmentalists on Monday pressed Florida officials to craft a flexible water-sharing agreement for the Apalachicola River system that protects fish and wildlife.
  • Cuts at EPA hinder cleanup in Clermont-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday released specific cuts in funding for work at Tower Chemical Co. near Clermont and at 32 other sites in the nation contaminated with toxins.-- 
    The agency's Superfund program has been running out of money for several years, leaving the Bush administration pressed to pay for work at hundreds of polluted properties where owners won't take responsibility.
  • 773 canker fines issued since '99
    Lawn maintenance operators are the most frequent violators of canker rules.
  • Stakes upped in fight for trees - State citrus canker eradication officials want to take their frustrating fight with a Broward County judge straight to the Florida Supreme Court, bypassing a court of appeals.-- The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services plans to ask the Fourth District Court of Appeal to relinquish its jurisdiction over a major anti-eradication lawsuit by citizens and governments in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
  • Plan B, for Bear
    A black bear evaded captors again over the weekend, so wildlife officials are bringing in a better trap and snares.
  • Looking out for lifesavers
    A new state law requires motorists to change lanes if possible and go 20 mph under the limit near flashing signals.
  • Suit against Al-Arian filed again
    TAMPA -- Controversial University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian is the second in command of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the most violent terrorist groups in the world, according to a lawsuit refiled Monday by former federal prosecutor John Loftus.
  • Rev. Lyons asks for alimony from wife
    He thinks she should take responsibility for part of the $6-million debt he was ordered to pay.
  • Bush's ultimatum could play right into Arafat's hands
    George W. Bush has sent Palestinians the same ultimatum John F. Kennedy sent the Cubans: Dump your leader! Ditch Yasser Arafat, Bush demanded; then, and only then, we can do business. It's the same command JFK issued to the Cuban people the week before a pro-Castro zealot assassinated him.
  • Men in suits terrorize American economy
    If there is such a thing as economic terrorism -- and I don't see why there can't be -- then I have to wonder whether we are at more risk from al-Qaida or from the corporations (and their accountants) that are supposed to be the backbone of this nation's strength.
  • A fresh face for 2004?
    Now he tells us. The former vice president told a weekend gathering of key Democratic fundraisers that the Al Gore who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush was an imposter . . . well, sort of. Gore conceded that he made the mistake of allowing himself to be programmed by consultants and influenced too much by polls and tactical maneuvering. They kept the real Al Gore in a political lockbox. Gore told fundraisers that if he decides to run for president in 2004, he won't make that mistake again.
  • Bob Herbert: The 'iota' standard
    It is both perverse and cruel of state officials to raise the academic requirements for public school students in New York City while fighting furiously against efforts to provide the resources that the students need to reach those higher standards. Gov. George Pataki has ascended to stunning new heights of hypocrisy on this matter.
  • Dan K. Thomasson: The CEO scandal
    WASHINGTON — Shortly after the end of World War II, a friend I admire immensely borrowed $25,000 to begin his own engineering business. As a Seabee, he had survived the earliest hours of Iwo Jima, landing with his Marine colleagues in the bloodiest fight of that defining battle. He was anxious to get started with his life.
  • Guest editorial: A measure of heroism
    Those who have fashioned agricultural policy in this country, and who were responsible for the recent farm bill, like to claim status as heroes. But here is a measure of that heroism: $1 billion worth of nonfat, powdered milk that the U.S. government has purchased from dairy farmers and stuck away in caves and warehouses at a storage cost of $20 million a year.
  • Molly Ivins: How Bush can pretend to be a populist in 10 easy steps
    AUSTIN, Texas — Our personal trainer the president, up and running after his colonoscopy (I did not need to know about that), is trying out a new role — Scourge of Corporate Misbehavior. This has approximately the same effect as opening the refrigerator door and finding Fidel Castro inside. Smoking a cigar. "Hard to believe" barely begins to hint at the surrealism of this development.
  • Corporate terrorists need Hall of Shame
    A couple of days after the attacks of 9-11, while trading on the stock market was suspended, I received an e-mail encouraging me to purchase stock when the markets opened on Monday 9-17. The e-mail made a patriotic pitch to invest any amount of money, no matter how small, to keep the economy humming and the terrorists at bay. "We cannot let the terrorists win" was the theme of the message.
  • U.S. CAN'T WIN ALONE
    The U.S. government is going too far trying to exempt Americans from the reach of the new International Criminal Court. The United States did more harm than good last weekend when it threatened the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Bosnia with a lone vote against a Security Council resolution supported by all 14 council members, including close allies.

7/1/02

  • Real underdog challenges Harris for House -- SARASOTA -- Katherine Harris' bid for Washington has finally gone to the dogs.-- 
    Well, just one dog, really: a salt-and-pepper border collie-German shepherd mix named Percy, who is challenging the Secretary of State in the Republican primary....
    A campaign Web site, www.percyforcongress.org , is home to such creative campaign slogans as, "PERCY! Putting the LICK back into Republican."
  • Nuke train raises fear of disaster
    As a U.S. Senate vote approaches on plans for hauling spent nuclear fuel cross-country, nuclear safety concerns are drawing new attention in Northeast Florida.
  • Backers finish Florida class size tour with extra signatures
  • Judge rules on death penalty
    NEW YORK -- The federal death penalty was declared unconstitutional today by a judge who said too many innocent people have been executed before they could be vindicated.-- 
    U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff is the first federal judge to declare the 1994 Death Penalty Act unconstitutional, said Lee Ginsberg, lawyer for one of the defendants whose case led to the decision. Today's ruling would not affect individual states' death penalty statutes.
  • Laid-off to get first chance at jobs
    Both sides are claiming victory in the settlement of a legal dispute over layoffs that hit the Department of Juvenile Justice when legislators cut the state budget late last year.
  • State bonus pool runs deep in places
    The state has shelled out $13,746,666.47 in bonuses for state employees. Gov. Jeb Bush didn't budget any pay raises this year. Instead, he called for continuation of the performance bonuses he started last year.
  • Newspaper: Reports of alleged abuse in juvenile inmates increasing
    DAYTONA BEACH — Reports of alleged abuse of incarcerated children in Florida by corrections staff members nearly doubled over the past four years, a newspaper investigation found.- 
    In the 1997-98 budget year — the last term before Gov. Jeb Bush took office and appointed former state Sen. Mill Bankhead to run the Juvenile Justice Department — there were 1,237 allegations of abuse from juvenile inmates.-
    There were 2,285 complaints in the 2000-2001 budget year, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported in a Sunday story.
  • Review of foster care files finds blank signed forms
    TALLAHASSEE — Abysmal record-keeping threatens the health and safety of children in foster care, the Statewide Advocacy Council has concluded after reviewing more than a thousand files. Virtually all the Department of Children & Families case files reviewed during a yearlong investigation were disorganized and incomplete.
  • Shoddy records called threat to kids
    A yearlong investigation by a group charged by the governor with overseeing the Department of Children & Families has concluded that abysmal record keeping constitutes a ``threat to the health, safety and welfare of the children placed in foster care.''
  • Young lives lost
    Florida legislators have refused to fix the fatal flaw in Florida's seat belt law because many of them adhere to the foolish notion that the decision to buckle up or not ought to be one of personal choice.
  • Mr. President, we'll keep Jeb if you fix foster care
    Karen Gievers, a lawyer who frequently represents the Democratic Party and has sued the state over its care of foster children, has suggested a way for President Bush to help his brother Jeb's re-election campaign: Fix Florida's foster care system. (WF:????)
  • Tax vouchers' quick start should not impede need for scrutiny
    A lot of attention has been paid to Florida's school voucher program that moves kids out of "failing" public schools, and also to the "McKay Scholarship" program that pays for disabled kids to attend private school.
  • More than 300 Florida school children signed up for vouchers
    The parents of 338 students had notified the Florida Department of Education by Monday's deadline that they intended to use vouchers when school starts.
  • Bush Renews School Voucher Fight-- CLEVELAND -- President Bush stepped back into the battle over school vouchers Monday, saying the Supreme Court's decision upholding government funding of private school education was as historic as one that outlawed separate schools for blacks.
  • High court may hear canker case
    Agriculture officials worry that the case will be bogged down in appeals process.
  • State asks that canker case be moved to Supreme Court at once
    WEST PALM BEACH -- Worried that a decision striking down a citrus canker law will get bogged down in a lengthy appeals process, agriculture officials prepared to ask an appellate court Monday to move the case directly to the Florida Supreme Court.
  • You, Too, Can Be A Pollworker
     - Broward -Were you upset by all the problems at some voting precincts on Election Day in November 2000?-- 
    Did it bother you that some voters who had their registration cards weren't allowed to vote because of paperwork foulups? Or that some voters were wrongly purged from the rolls? Or that some pollworkers weren't helpful when voters couldn't understand the instructions, made an error in punching their ballots or didn't speak English fluently?-- 
    Did you ever say, "I could do a much better job"?---
    Here's your opportunity to make a difference and make voting a friendlier, simpler, less confusing, more satisfying and more convenient experience for everyone this year. Just apply to be a pollworker on election day Sept. 10 or Nov. 5.
  • Peterson endorses McBride campaign-- TALLAHASSEE -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride picked up the endorsement of fellow war hero Pete Peterson on Monday, and the former congressman said he'd help McBride court veterans' votes.
  • Democrats shift gubernatorial campaigns into high gear - July 1 -- today -- is traditionally when the race for governor shifts into high gear as the Sept. 10 primary approaches. It's the period when most television advertising begins, attracting attention to the race. It's the period when the candidates' schedules intensify as they try to reach every voter in the state.
  • Critical time for raising money is over
    From Janet Reno and Gov. Jeb Bush down, political candidates for all offices on the ballot this fall have been engaged in a money-raising frenzy during the past two weeks
  • It's tough for growth foes to recruit a hero - So far, no candidate with the support of the environmental movement has challenged Pool. And now, just weeks before the final qualifying deadline, the slow-growth advocates in south Lake County are realizing that they may not get their candidate. In fact, the only person to enter Pool's race is a Republican who works for a construction-management firm.
  • Development plows over farming life- ...Three decades ago, more than 15,000 people like Whaley earned their living in agriculture in Central Florida, according to census data.-
    Today, only 5,463 remain. -- 
    The number of farming jobs has plunged nearly 75 percent when population growth is taken into account. At least 134,000 acres of farmland has vanished in the past decade alone.
  • Whooping Cranes To Take Flight Again--CHASSAHOWITZKA - They're coming back.-- Whooping cranes will make a return visit to Citrus County this fall when Joe Duff and company make their second migration from Wisconsin's Necedah National Wildlife Refuge to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, west of U.S. 19 on the Citrus-Hernando county line.... You can follow their progress on the Internet at www.operationmigration.com
  • UF's leader at crossroads
    After nearly three years of part-time service to the University of Florida, shuttling between there and UCLA, President Charles E. "Chuck" Young is ready to start living and working full time at Florida's flagship university.
  • Bush to tap new justice after interviews
    Five nominees, including a Hispanic lawyer from Miami and an appeals court judge from Tampa, vie for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
  • High court candidates say why they'd be a good justice
    TALLAHASSEE — The five men who made the short list for the Florida Supreme Court answered a lot of questions just to apply for the position. So Gov. Jeb Bush, who planned to interview the nominees Monday, has a wealth of information about the nominees to succeed retiring Justice Major Harding.
  • Ghosts of 2000 election haunt District 24 congressional race
    ORLANDO — When Republican House Speaker Tom Feeney talks to GOP groups about his likely Democratic opponent in Florida's District 24 congressional race, one subject always comes up. "The 2000 presidential election," Feeney said. Like it or not, the probable matchup between Feeney and Democratic attorney Harry Jacobs is going to be haunted by the ghosts of that election.
  • An erosion of rights
    In ruling that random drug testing in schools is constitutional, the Supreme Court is encouraging the indiscriminate violation of student privacy.
  • Everglades restoration cash flows with new laws
    More than 100 new laws cover areas such as victims' rights, DUI and HIV testing, drivers' licenses, sports agents and loitering near schools.
  • Bicycling commuters gain ground in bay area - In 1990, census figures showed that 2,339 people in Hillsborough County and 3,918 people in Pinellas County said they usually commuted to work by bicycle. By the 2000 census, those numbers had grown to 3,731 in Hillsborough and 7,279 in Pinellas.
  • Witnesses will connect Salvadoran generals to torture-- WEST PALM BEACH — For the second time in 19 months, two Salvadoran generals are spending weeks in a courtroom hearing allegations of secret torture chambers, rapes and murders committed under their watch. This time, the generals face three survivors: a surgeon with scars from gunshot wounds whose fingers are ruined, a teacher forced to flee after eight days of blindfolded torture and a church worker, eight months pregnant when she was abducted, whose stomach was used as the base for a seesaw with soldiers standing at each end.
  • Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts to Retire - NORMAN, Okla. -- Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the only black Republican in Congress, said Monday that he will not seek a fifth term this fall, setting up a wide-open race that could help Democrats in their drive to regain control of the House.
  • Bush plans first-strike toga party
    President tries on the sandals of Caesars.
  • Montana's Glacier National Park melting
    By Mike Toner, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
    The glaciers, receding like others worldwide in a warming climate, could vanish within 30 years.
  • Congress staying cozy with corporate bandits
    Palm Beach Post Editorial
    Raising money, not tightening enforcement.
  • Bush slashing Superfund aid - WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has designated 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in funding under the Superfund cleanup program, according to a new report to Congress by the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency.


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