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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
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6/22/02
 | FEC
version of campaign finance stirs controversy
The FEC has approved the first set of regulations for enforcing the
new campaign finance law...."The country deserves better,
especially from an unelected body," said a joint response issued
Thursday night from the chief congressional co-sponsors of the
campaign finance law, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Russ Feingold, D-Wis.,
and Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass. |
| What
Jeb and George are doing to Florida -The Bush Fraternity is
clearly hoping this happy story (Chevron can't hurt the porpoises
now!) will harvest green votes. But what about the cement plant on the
Ichetucknee, the one that was supposed to be clean as a limestone
spring and as unobtrusive as a water lily? It has gotten bigger and
filthier while your back was turned. What about the legislative raids
on Preservation 2000, the fund set up to buy unspoiled lands for parks
and wilderness areas? Republican oligarchs pirated $75-million from
P2000 in 2001, then swore piously that it was just this once, a fiscal
emergency, and they'd never ever do it again. At least until this year
when they tried to loot $100-million from the P2000 Debt Service
Reserve Fund and the Florida Forever Trust.... (see environment
and great neorthwest)
(may need to Search: "what Jeb and George are doing"
between dates: 06/17/2002 and 06/17/2002
Author: diane roberts) |
| Bush
letter to property rights group raises outcry
Environmentalists say it is inappropriate for the governor to use his
office to urge donations for the group. (JEB2002) |
| Bushes'
bash raises a cool $2.5-million
The Orlando fundraiser, prominently attended by several major
developers and state lobbyists, again proves the GOP's prowess at
raising cash. (money in politics) |
| Bush:
Keep the faith in war on terrorism - ..."I'm here to help
support the Republican Party of this state and make sure your
unbelievably great governor gets re-elected," Bush told diners.
"Anything I can do to help Jeb stay in the governor's office,
I'll do. ... Terry McAuliffe, Democratic National Committee chairman,
criticized the Orlando trip. - "President Bush flew 800 miles, to
raise $2 million, and expects the taxpayers to pick up the $150,000
tab because he watched an eight-minute workout," McAuliffe said. |
| President
boosting brother's re-election campaign
ORLANDO President Bush is shoring up his brother's re-election war
chest by raising $2.5 million for the Florida GOP on Friday and
lifting the total fund-raising take by him and Vice President Dick
Cheney above $100 million for this year alone. While focusing on his
party's financial health, the president also promoted his new fitness
campaign by shining a spotlight on "age-appropriate"
workouts. |
| New
Party Line: Donate While You Can
WASHINGTON - Raymond Caron, successful grandson
of Lebanese immigrants, feels so strongly about involvement in
American democracy that he has dragged his daughter Nicole to
Republican Party events since she was in ... |
| Bush
brothers, state Republicans celebrate, increase party's wealth
President Bush joined his brother and leading Florida Republicans
Friday night for a celebration -- of their wealth. Gov. Jeb Bush,
fresh from a fundraising trip to California, stood beside his powerful
brother at a high-dollar dinner that turned into an impassioned
defense of a massive campaign war chest the governor hopes will ensure
his reelection in November. |
| McBride
isn't shying from showdown - Out on the political range, where
Wild Bill McBride says he has "sized up" Gov. Jeb Bush and
imagines he can "take him," the only one standing between
him and the governor's mansion is that steely Janet Reno.... |
| A
Political Opponent To Give Katherine Harris Paws
--
...To be sure, all manner of pundits and political insiders have
concluded Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris' bid to succeed
U.S. Rep. Dan Miller, R-Bradenton, is more of a certitude than Fidel
Castro being elected to another term....After all, she successfully
bought her state Senate seat and purchased that secretary of state
gig, too. She already has raised enough money to buy the title of
Sultaness of Brunei if she wanted....
So it was that surreal fundraising pace that
ultimately encouraged Percy Genther to throw his bowl in the ring as
the only real conservative alternative to a woman who has staked a
claim on this job as if it were a matter of Manifest Destiny.--
Percy, who is 35 in human years, is a 5-year-old border collie/German
shepherd mix, ...``I wanted her to know you are in a political race,
not a coronation,'' Genther said. |
| Bush,
Harris blast civil rights commission chairwoman
MIAMI Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine
Harris criticized the chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission
on Friday for saying they have not done enough to ensure Florida's
flawed presidential election isn't repeated. Bush called the Mary
Frances Berry's commission "a badly discredited institution"
and saying it is reopening a controversy "that most Floridians
have long forgotten." |
| `Mini-Disaster'
Isn't Likely
Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the U.S. Civil
Rights Commission, proclaimed this week in Miami that Florida has a
"mini-disaster waiting to happen in September." |
| Civil
Rights Commission vows to help Haitian detainees
MIAMI The chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said
it "makes no sense" for the government to continue holding
27 Haitian women refugees who have been imprisoned for seven months as
they seek political asylum. |
| Haitians
tell about sorrows behind bars
A rights panel is urged to probe why Haitians are detained as they
await rulings on asylum. |
| Redistricting
squabbles a sign of fights to come
It's not every day that a judge calls Secretary of State Katherine
Harris a crazy woman, but it happened this week as the state's
redistricting fight coasted to an end. (redistricting) |
| Redistricting
challenge heading to higher court - FORT LAUDERDALE --
Disappointed Democrats are pushing a state appeals court to quickly
send their challenge to the new congressional redistricting map to the
Florida Supreme Court. |
| Democratic
legislators press appeal of voting boundaries-- Disappointed
Democrats are pushing a state appeals court to quickly send their
challenge to the new congressional redistricting map up to the Florida
Supreme Court. |
| Groups
sue over law to list costs on constitutional amendments
TALLAHASSEE Two campaigns that want to get constitutional
amendments on the November ballot have sued to block a new law that
would require that the ballot say how much their proposals would cost
taxpayers. |
| Butterworth,
indicted Escambia official helped woman get jobs
PENSACOLA Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth and a suspended
Escambia County commissioner helped find public jobs for the wife of a
car salesman who has been given immunity in a political corruption
investigation. The Pensacola Police Department hired Jackie Murphy in
1997 after Butterworth gave her a recommendation. |
| More
Escambia stories |
| State
releases school plans' costs
A proposed state constitutional amendment that would force lawmakers
to reduce the size of public school classes would cost Florida
somewhere between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year in teacher
salaries by 2010, according to a preliminary estimate from the
Legislature's economic research office. |
| Give
state an F grade on plan for F schools
Accountability for all except the politicians.-- Tallahassee's
education experts will ride to the rescue of Florida's
"failing" schools, offering seminars, evaluations and
frequent phone calls. Those are the same experts who, with the help of
budget cuts from Gov. Bush and the Legislature, presided over the
increase in F schools from zero last year to 68 this year.--
These are the same Tallahassee experts who supplied incorrect data to
the U.S. Department of Education, jeopardizing $32 million in federal
aid to the state's poorest schools -- that most F schools are.
Presumably, most of these experts have been on staff all year. So
here's one more frustratingly obvious question about Gov. Bush's A+
regime: If the state knows how to keep schools from scoring an F, why
didn't the state keep those 68 schools from scoring an F? (education) |
| To
get A schools, lower class size
Proposed class-size amendment is better than punishment for
low-performing schools. |
| Big
classes score higher on FCAT
But the analysis did not take into consideration the socioeconomic
makeup of the schools. |
| Two
area schools appeal their F's
Two Tampa Bay area schools are appealing their recent F grades. |
| Miami-Dade
considering Bible class for middle and high schools
MIAMI The Miami-Dade County School Board is considering whether to
offer a Bible study class for middle and high school students, raising
the ire of those who don't want religion brought into the classroom.
The course, proposed by the United Teachers of Dade's Christians for
Morality caucus, studies biblical references in literature and art,
uses it to study Middle Eastern history and shows the influence of the
Bible on the U.S. Constitution. |
| Parents
of 106 children notify DOE of intent to use vouchers
TALLAHASSEE The parents of 106 children have notified the state of
their intentions to use vouchers to go to private schools this fall,
an official said Friday. Some 8,900 students attend 10
voucher-eligible schools in four counties. Their parents have until
July 1 to notify the state Department of Education that they plan to
use a voucher. |
| Teachers
lose jobs
Dozens of Central Florida teachers lost their jobs
for the coming school year after the state slashed funding for adult
education, despite high demand for job-training classes.--
Facing massive budget shortfalls, Central Florida districts laid off
71 adult-education staff members -- including 50 teachers,
administrators and support staff in Orange County. The cuts mean it
could take longer for hundreds of people who lost jobs in the
post-Sept. 11 recession to re-enter the work force, state officials
said. |
| FIU
board OK's hikes in tuition, faculty pay
The Florida International University Board of Trustees has agreed to
raise faculty salaries over the next two years and to increase tuition
charges for about 6,000 students this year. (universities) |
| State
leaves foster girls in hotel
Six girls in state custody were checked into a hotel and reportedly
left alone to party with men. (DCF) |
| Foster-care
abuse rises sharply
The number of cases of abuse against children in
Florida's foster-care system soared during the past two years,
according to statistics from the state Department of Children &
Families. |
| Canker
an endless legal game - FORT LAUDERDALE -- Maybe one day, an
entrepreneur will create a board game called the Great Citrus Canker
War. It will be a game that never ends because for every space a
player moves forward, he would have to go back two spaces. (citrus
canker) |
| Florida
charity finds success in feeding millions with farmers' excess
FLORIDA CITY Robert Marquis strained to lift a box of fruits and
vegetables during his monthly trip to the packinghouse-turned-food
charity in south Miami-Dade County. A woman noticed the 72-year-old's
struggle and told him to relax; she would carry the box to his car.
Marquis has been coming to Farm Share, a 10-year-old food distribution
charity, to pick up a free box of food for the past three years. |
| Chattahoochee
water withdrawals under question
Permits for withdrawals from the Chattahoochee River and Lake Lanier
outstrip levels deemed safe by millions of gallons, The Atlanta
Journal- Constitution reported Friday. (water
management) |
| Questionable
deal
The selling of Florida Water Services is rife with
troubling questions. |
| A
case for coalition: Volusia should stand together on water
Most Volusia County leaders realize this area has become addicted to
cheap and plentiful water. The county sits on a large, mostly
self-contained bubble of fresh water that has, until recently,
supplied residents and businesses. But local leaders also understand
that the low-cost, easy-to-reach supply is running out -- faster than
anyone could have imagined 20 years ago. |
| Manatees'
endangered status up for debate
ST. PETERSBURG -- The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
is seeking written comments from the public on whether it should
continue to list the manatee as an endangered species in Florida. (environment) |
| Hillsborough
County donkey tests positive for encephalitis
TAMPA State agriculture officials reported the first case of
Eastern equine encephalitis case in Hillsborough County, saying Friday
that a 20-year-old donkey died of the disease a week ago. The donkey
began showing symptoms of the disease June 10, four days before it
died. State agriculture officials are advising horse and donkey owners
to vaccinate their animals against the mosquito-borne disease. |
| Sinkhole
empties firehouse
For the third time in a month, a sinkhole has
disrupted life in Central Florida, this one forcing a fire station to
close Friday night. |
| Teen
chess whiz makes her move
You might call Cindy Tsai the teen queen of chess. After taking
first-place in her age group at the Pan-American Youth chess
championship girls division three times, the 16-year-old Gainesville
girl won an even-more-prestigious competition. |
| License
information is now online
State officials are offering a new free service to Floridians who
would like to check a driver's license online. (highway
safety) |
| Door-to-door
soliciting is a right
There is nothing more fundamental about this country than the right to
speak without the government's permission. The U.S. Supreme Court on
Monday upheld that principle by striking down a village ordinance in
Ohio that required anyone going door-to-door to obtain and carry an
official permit. The case was brought by the religious ministry,
Jehovah's Witnesses, but the 8-to-1 decision was a solid victory for
all who value the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. |
| Treat
Enron employees fairly--- Misled by
their bosses, Enron workers deserve to claim executives' bonuses. |
| Paul
Krugman: Fear of all sums debunking the Bush plan to save Social
Security
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something,"
wrote Upton Sinclair, "when his salary depends upon his not
understanding it." To make sense of what passes for debate over
Social Security reform, one must realize that advocates of
privatization of replacing the current system, at least in part,
with a system of personal accounts are determined not to
understand basic arithmetic. Otherwise they would have to admit that
such accounts would weaken, not strengthen, the system's finances. |
| Saundra
Smokes: What if you were on death row, Justice Thomas?
To Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: was glad that the majority
of your colleagues chose to overturn a 1989 ruling that had allowed
states to execute the mentally retarded. It made no sense to me that
those with the most limited reasoning ability would be treated the
same as their non-retarded fellow citizens. |
| White
House Watch: The new security agency
WASHINGTON Every day brings more doubts about the viability of the
proposed Department of Homeland Security, raising the question of
whether children ever will vow, "When I grow up, I'm going to
work for the DHS." The other day, homeland security chief Tom
Ridge, as cagey a bureaucrat as ever existed, told Congress his job is
to "pull together all of the major ongoing activities and new
initiatives that the president believes are essential to our long-term
effort to secure the homeland." |
| Internet's
ruling body finds itself snared in controversy - NEW YORK -- The
Internet's key oversight body is facing its most critical test ever,
with decisions expected later this month likely to shape the global
network for years to come.--
Though relatively few Internet users are even aware of the group, the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has broad
influence over the Net's addressing system -- and thus over how people
find Web sites and send e-mail. |
| Power
of dirty power
Bush tries to weaken the Clean Air Act. -- It's bad enough that the
Bush administration wants to weaken the Clean Air Act, but the
president's people are claiming that weaker would mean stronger.-- The
changes, to regulations under the Clean Air Act's "new source
review" section, reward some of the president's big campaign
contributors. The changes would allow power companies and other
industries to increase pollution significantly without installing new
pollution controls whenever they build new generating plants or
upgrade existing plants. |
| DVDs
Trash Reel Technology
Soon, you'll no longer be able to buy movie
videos at Circuit City. No more ``Hunt for Red October,'' no more
``Casablanca'' - at least not to play on your videocassette
recorder. ... |
| Falwell
sues parody Web site, claims trademark on his name
The Rev. Jerry Falwell has gone to federal court to shut down a Web
site that parodies him. |
6/21/02
| Gov.
Bush, way ahead in polls, running like he's behind
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush is way ahead in the polls, as popular as
he's ever been and raising millions more than the Democrats hoping to
challenge him, yet he's running like he's 20 points behind. Bush was
the first and still only candidate to begin airing television
ads, he's crisscrossed the state and country raising millions of
campaign dollars, and has often taken his official state business on
the road. His brother, President George W. Bush, is making his fourth
trip this year to Florida on Friday for a fund-raiser in Orlando. |
| Jebspeak
"It's about time a woman became governor of the state of
Florida," Gov. Jeb Bush told a group of 300 female high school
students Tuesday during a Capitol visit. |
| Political
mailings: Read this column NOW!
You might not guess it, as he zips around Florida in a daily mix of
highly visible state business and plain old re-election politicking,
but Gov. Jeb Bush is "running scared." |
| Signs
Good, But More Needed
It's still too early to pronounce Gov. Jeb Bush's
One Florida program a success, but after two years the signs are
encouraging even to some who initially were skeptical. |
| Bush
visits to pump up GOP
President Bush, a dedicated jogger, will campaign for
physical fitness in Orlando today, but when he returns to Washington
tonight the Republican Party of Florida will be the one in better
shape -- $2.5 million richer. |
| Groups
sue over amendment law
They say a new state law requiring price tags for citizen ballot
initiatives is unconstitutional. |
| Suit
opposes putting price on initiatives
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and state Sen. Kendrick Meek on Thursday
challenged a new law that would put a state-estimated price tag on the
cost of two education initiatives they expect to have on the November
ballot. |
| Horne
Needs To Hit The Books
Jim Horne, Florida's Education Secretary, had
better do his homework. He must present an analysis later this summer
to the Florida Board of Education on a controversial subject -- school
class size. |
| Commissioners
worried about coming Florida elections
MIAMI Members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, which harshly
criticized Florida's flawed presidential election, said they were
worried Thursday that there are major problems ahead. "You've got
a mini-disaster waiting to happen in September," commission
chairwoman Mary Frances Berry said at a meeting called to assess
legislative and policy changes adopted since the 2000 vote. |
| Critics:
Expect election mess
A civil rights commission says the state should have focused on
preventing disenfranchisement. |
| More
election troubles foreseen
Predicting a repeat of confusion Florida voters encountered in 2000,
civil rights leaders and county elections officials on Thursday told
the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that the state deserves an ''F''
for its recent voter-reform efforts. |
| Redistricting
question left to judges
No decision is expected before next week in a series of lawsuits
involving lines for congressional and legislative districts. |
| Critics
slam proposed districts-- TALLAHASSEE -- Three federal judges
deciding the constitutionality of Florida's congressional and
legislative boundaries were told Thursday that the Republican-drawn
plans unfairly punish Democrats and make it impossible for blacks to
elect candidates of their choice. |
| Quick
redistricting ruling expected
Lawyers drew comparisons between redistricting and boxing, saying map
drawers hit below the belt. |
| LePore
misses the point
Trial run would help workers, not just voters.- Palm Beach County
Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore remains steadfast in her belief
that a July 13 trial run at shopping malls and supermarkets is the
best way to test the county's new $14.4 million touch-screen voting
system.-- Ms. LePore rejects the idea of holding a true
dress-rehearsal election with machines in real polling places. She
says that the trial run would cost too much,... |
| Challengers
argue against GOP legislative, congressional lines
TALLAHASSEE Republicans packed Democrats into a few districts when
they redrew Florida's congressional and Legislature districts,
ensuring that the GOP will win the vast majority of those races, the
plan's challengers argued Thursday in federal court. The
Democratic-backed opponents of the new boundaries also argue that the
districts' architects discriminated against black voters in South
Florida, mostly by not taking into account new census data that
separate black Cubans and other black Hispanics from non-Hispanic
black Americans. |
| New
report dissects Death Row reversals
Four months after a national report criticized Florida for leading the
nation in overturned Death Row convictions, a state commission report
says only four of those convictions were reversed because of doubt
about the defendants' guilt.
 | FL
Death Row Glance - The 23 cases of former death row inmates
reviewed by the Florida Commission on Capital Cases (summarized): |
|
| Capital
punishment critic says report plays politics with death
TALLAHASSEE -- Abraham Bonowitz is suspicious of a new state report
describing 23 inmates whose death sentences were overturned. |
| Candidates
Downplay Death Row Mistakes
TALLAHASSEE - As other states suspend or
consider abolishing the death penalty, don't expect Florida's next
attorney general to do the same. ... |
| SCOFLA:
Court orders hearing in death row appeal from Vero Beach
TALLAHASSEE A trial judge must hold a hearing in the appeal of a
death row inmate condemned a second time for the murder of a deputy
near Vero Beach 16 years ago, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Florida's high court dismissed the appeal of a second death row
inmate. |
| Ban
on executing mentally retarded could impact Florida cases
JACKSONVILLE Florida prosecutors, government officials and defense
lawyers spent Thursday trying to determine how the U.S. Supreme
Court's decision that executing mentally retarded people is
unconstitutionally cruel will affect the state's death row inmates.
Although Florida law already prohibits imposing a death sentence on a
mentally retarded person, officials are unsure what the 6-3 ruling
will mean for those on death row, who were sentenced to die before the
2001 law went into effect. |
| A
noble decision:Court bans execution of retarded inmates
In May 1983, police picked up 23-year-old Earl Washington in a rural
county in Virginia. Police originally suspected him of shooting his
brother-in-law. During a lengthy interrogation, Washington confessed
to the shooting and five other crimes, including a burglary, a rape
and the brutal murder of a young woman named Rebecca Williams. |
| SCOFLA:
Suspended license doesn't invoke criminal restitution law
TALLAHASSEE Motorists who drive with suspended licenses don't
necessarily have to pay restitution to victims injured in crashes they
cause, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Under state law, courts
can order criminals to pay restitution if the damage or loss suffered
by the victim is caused "directly or indirectly" by the
crime. |
| Escambia
trial involving alleged bribe money winds down
PENSACOLA The trial of a real estate broker accused of illegally
structuring a credit union withdrawal, which allegedly included money
to bribe an Escambia County commissioner, ended in mistrial Thursday
after the jury hung. The mistrial was declared by Circuit Judge Thomas
Remington because the six-member jury was unable to come to a verdict
after about six hours of deliberations.
|
| Orlando
board recommends passage of gay rights ordinance
ORLANDO A city advisory board unanimously endorsed a proposed
gay-rights ordinance Thursday, saying testimony they heard at an April
hearing makes them believe homosexuals face housing and employment
discrimination. The Orlando Human Relations Board's recommendation
will be presented in August to the City Council, which must hold two
public hearings. It could then vote on the measure, which has received
some support from four of the seven members. It is opposed by some
religious conservatives. |
| Battle
over Orlando gay-rights law could be fierce
An Orlando advisory board on Thursday endorsed a
proposed gay-rights law, setting the stage for what could become the
most contentious battle to hit City Hall in years. |
| Parasite
being freed to fight newest Florida plant pest
MIRAMAR A batch of parasitic wasps will be released Friday in this
South Florida town in hopes of combatting a destructive insect that
threatens farm crops, state officials said Thursday. Department of
Agriculture officials are hoping to stem an outbreak of the pink
hibiscus mealybug, the first confirmed report of the insect in the
United States since a 1999 outbreak in Southern California. |
| Precautionary
boil-water advisory lifted for Florida Keys
KEY WEST A precautionary "boil-water" advisory issued
Monday for most residents of the Florida Keys has been lifted. The
Monroe County Health Department lifted the advisory Thursday after
repairing a ruptured water main on Key Largo. |
| Diners
exposed to hepatitis A-- Because a sick chef came back to work
while still ill, more than 350 diners and staff at a Chili's
restaurant in Lauderhill may have been exposed to hepatitis A and need
shots to ward off the virus.--
Anyone who ate at the popular Tex-Mex eatery the evening of Wednesday,
June 12, should call the Broward County Health Department to arrange
for two injections of gamma globulin, a substance that boosts the
immune system. |
| Volusia
rejects Wal-Mart pitch to build store on sensitive land - ...The
County Council voted unanimously against the retail giant's
development plans, saying the store doesn't belong on a site that
features historic canals, 10 acres of wetlands and sprawling live
oaks. |
| Volusia
says no to Super Wal-Mart in New Smyrna
Responding to vigorous and vocal opposition from residents, the
Volusia County Council told the nation's largest retailer
"no" to its request to permit the construction of a major
new store in the New Smyrna Beach area. |
| Prairie
partners
Gainesville -Since the erection of the ecopassage - the wall and
underpasses that now prevent animals from crossing the highway and
being crushed under the wheels of speeding automobiles - that stretch
of prairie has become an unintended tourist attraction. |
| New
device aims to keep sharks away
Picture a perfect day at the beach. The ocean is warm, the sun is
shining and you're splashing in the surf with your kids. |
| A
bite at the truth: Sharks under siege by myth of attacks
Sharks are not a problem around Volusia County beaches. Nor are
surfers who encroach on the sharks' territory. They know they'll get
nibbled and bitten once in a while. They're willing to take the
chance. The problem, and it isn't much of one, is when surfers drag
their bloody limbs back to shore, where the real feeding frenzy
begins. |
| Snarled
thinking - Orlando-
Leaders are doing little to help motorists deal with commutes. |
| Rush
Hour Making Commutes Even Longer
TAMPA - Local commuters sit in rush-hour
traffic for 45 hours a year, the equivalent to a 40-hour work week
plus 5 hours overtime, or an extra week's vacation lounging on the
beach. ... |
| Embrace
the shredder to keep a shred of privacy
Afew weeks ago I was cleaning out a drawer when I came across an old
journal I had kept during a painful time in my life. |
| DBCC
adopts new salary plan including raises
Despite a tight budget, Daytona Beach Community College employees will
get raises this year -- but some will have to wait until December. |
| Anne
Hopkins resigns as UNF president for health reasons
JACKSONVILLE University of North Florida President Anne Hopkins
will resign Aug. 2 for health reasons, she announced Thursday.
Hopkins, who had a heart surgery in February, told the university's
Board of Trustees that she plans to become a political science
professor at UNF. |
| UNF
president to resign
University of North Florida President Anne Hopkins announced her
resignation Thursday, citing health reasons. Her final day will be
Aug. 2, when she will preside over summer commencement. |
| UNF
increases tuition for graduate and out-of-state students
JACKSONVILLE The University of North Florida approved tuition
increases Thursday for graduate and out-of-state students, adding to
hikes already passed by the Legislature. The Board of Trustees doubled
the 5 percent increase already added by the Legislature for a total
increase of $13.40 per credit hour for in-state graduate students. |
| City,
Broadband agree on deal
Jacksonville leaders and AT&T Broadband executives yesterday
reached a "good faith agreement" on a settlement to
reimburse customers for poor cable customer service dating back to
last summer. |
| Florida
congressman proposes memorial to slaves
DAYTON, Ohio U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns wants Congress to establish a
Washington memorial honoring slaves. Stearns, R-Fla., joined Rep. Tony
Hall, D-Ohio, in Washington on Wednesday to introduce a bill that they
hope will establish a slave memorial on the National Mall in the
"shadow of the Lincoln Memorial." |
| 100
years of cool air change South -- ... Air conditioning celebrates
its 100th birthday this summer, having spent the past century maturing
into a bona fide technological paradox. |
| Southwest's
big problem-- Obese passengers are one
problem, but so are airlines' skimpy seats. |
| Confronting
costly drugs
Democrats support a plan to combat the rising cost of prescriptions
drugs for the elderly, but Republicans don't like it and could derail
it with their own, more risky plan |
| Bob
Herbert: No margin for error on global warming
Global warming is already attacking the world's coral reefs and, if
nothing is done soon, could begin a long-term assault on the vast West
Antarctic Ice Sheet. If the ice sheet begins to disintegrate, the
worldwide consequences over the next several centuries could well be
disastrous. Coral reefs are sometimes called the rain forests of the
oceans because of the tremendous variety of animal and plant life that
they support. |
| Guest
editorial: They are rights, not technicalities
The Bush administration is making a breathtaking assertion of its
right to imprison an American citizen indefinitely, without access to
a court or a lawyer, simply by designating the citizen an "enemy
combatant." And who, precisely, is an enemy combatant? |
| Molly
Ivins: Bush's 'doctrine of pre-emptive action'
AUSTIN, Texas "Jaw, jaw," said Winston Churchill,
"is better than war, war." I bring up the
not-often-contested notion that peace is better than war only because
it seems the Bush administration is incapable of grasping the
self-evident. According to The New York Times, President Bush has
directed his top security people a happy nest of neo-con hawks
"to make a doctrine of pre-emptive action against states and
terrorist groups trying to develop weapons of mass destruction." |
| William
Safire: Enter the Globocourt
WASHINGTON Two weeks before a supernational criminal court opens
over strong U.S. objections a U.N. war crimes tribunal is
setting a legal precedent for the "globocourt" that will add
to the dangers faced by war correspondents from every nation. Nine
years ago, Jonathan Randal of The Washington Post quoted a Bosnian
Serb official who advocated the expulsion of non-Serbs from northwest
Bosnia. |
| States
can protect patients' rights - WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on
Thursday upheld states' authority to protect the rights of patients in
disputes with managed-care companies about denial of recommended
treatments.--
Such protections, guaranteeing outside review of a health plan's
refusal to pay for a procedure that a patient's doctor has authorized,
are a centerpiece of the federal patients'-rights bill that has passed
both houses of Congress in different versions but remains stalled
there.--
Patients' advocates said the 5-4 decision, while a step in the right
direction, did not eliminate the need for congressional action because
the state laws excluded millions of people who could be protected only
through federal legislation. |
| Graham,
Goss seek inquiry into leak of Sept. 10 warning - WASHINGTON --
After angry complaints from the White House, leaders of a
congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Thursday
asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate leaks of
classified information.-
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and Rep. Porter Goss, chairmen of the Senate and
House Intelligence committees, made the request after receiving a
phone call from Vice President Dick Cheney and holding a closed-door
meeting with other members of their combined committees.-
Cheney called to convey President Bush's anger at press reports that
the National Security Agency had intercepted messages in Arabic on
Sept. 10 that seemed to warn of the attacks. They were not translated
until Sept. 12, according to published reports citing
"congressional sources" -- which White House officials went
out of their way Thursday not to confirm. |
| Three
for the road: Stamp prices up to 37 cents in 10 days
Hang on to your pocketbooks. Come June 30, the price of a first-class
postage stamp will jump by three pennies to 37 cents. That means you
have less than 10 days to mail letters, postcards and bills using your
34-cent stamps. |
| When
the study of U.S. history falls prey to creative fiction
It's been a rough few years for historians. The higher the rung, the
greater the fall. Plagiarism infected the works of superstar authors
Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose. Both are prolific writers
who fell prey to pressures of time, sloppy researchers, careless
rewrites and history as big business, all of which interrupted their
20 minutes of academic celebrity. |
| The
implosion of electric deregulation
Back in the Roaring Twenties, the youthful electricity industry roared
as loudly as any. Think dot-coms, and you will have a picture of
electricity in its early years. It was the great new technology that
spread at amazing speed. It also attracted some of the greatest stock
manipulators and speculators in Wall Street's history. Stock
certificates were printed like newspapers, and a new economy had
arrived. |
6/20/02
| NAACP:
State bias harms black students
The civil rights group intends to complain to federal authorities
about alleged discrimination and campaign for a smaller class-size
referendum. |
| NAACP
to allege racial disparities in Florida schools
TALLAHASSEE The NAACP will file a complaint with the U.S.
Department of Education's civil rights office alleging racial
disparities in Florida schools, an official said Wednesday. Minority
students are more often suspended, expelled, moved into special
education programs and stuck in crowded classrooms, according to John
H. Jackson, national director of education for the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP decided
to make the complaint after Florida didn't meet a request that it
submit to the NAACP a plan for cutting the alleged racial disparities
in half and because Gov. Jeb Bush refused to sign a petition for a
constitutional amendment to lower class sizes, Jackson said. |
| NAACP
alleges school troubles
The NAACP, a frequent adversary of Gov. Jeb Bush, said Wednesday it
will file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's civil
rights office charging racial disparities in Florida's public schools. |
| NAACP
Filing Alleges School Discrimination-TALLAHASSEE - Florida
will be one of three states targeted by the NAACP in a federal civil
rights complaint alleging discrimination against minorities in public
schools. |
| NAACP:
Education unequal
NAACP leaders said Wednesday they plan to file a complaint with the
U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, claiming
Florida has widespread racial discrimination in its education system. |
| Accountability
for vouchers
Gov. Bush needs to reveal the performance of students
using vouchers. |
| Challengers
want election halt under GOP plan
MIAMI Challengers to Florida's congressional and legislative
redistricting plans dropped some of their claims Wednesday but
insisted the state should not hold any elections under the
Republican-drawn lines. Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, a Democrat, and
the Rev. Victor Curry, a black community activist in Miami, want a
three-judge federal panel to issue an injunction to halt elections
until a new plan is in place. |
| Election
reforms get more review
Some major players in Florida's 2000 post-presidential drama won't be
on hand as the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reconvenes today to
assess election reforms. |
| |
|
Mayo:
Canker judge? Thorn or hero? - So just who is Judge J. Leonard
Fleet, besides a huge thorn in the states side and a folk hero
to many South Florida homeowners in the controversial citrus
canker battle?
Photo: Judge J. Leonard Fleet, presiding in court on Wednesday,
believes the law is here for the people, not the state, says
a former law partner.(Sun-Sentinel/Mike
Stocker) |
| Sun Sentinel: Let
Highest Court Decide -- It's time for a
conclusive resolution of the citrus canker controversy. |
| GOP
challenger tries again, in anger
Disdain for insurance cutbacks fuels Cary Burns' rematch with the
incumbent. |
| Wright
drops out of Jacksonville congressional race
SANFORD Ishah Wright, the only announced challenger to U.S. Rep.
Corrine Brown in this fall's election, is dropping out of the race,
saying she was bullied and threatened into quitting. Wright's decision
leaves no challengers for Brown, a five-term Democratic incumbent from
Jacksonville, although candidates can enter the race until July 19. |
| Lawyer
in political hot seat
A Miami lawyer who could become the Florida Supreme Court's first
Hispanic justice is under fire for his ties to a militant anti-Castro
activist once accused of plotting to blow up a Cuban airplane. |
| Governor's
testimony on INS proposal to limit international visitor visas
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush testified Wednesday before the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Small Business, on the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's proposed rule on limiting international
visitor visas. This is a text of his remarks, issued by his office in
Tallahassee: |
| Visa
reforms to hurt tourism, panel told
The INS is considering reducing the default length of tourist visas
from six months to 30 days. |
| Escambia
commissioner testifies no intent to repay 'loan'
PENSACOLA A suspended Escambia County commissioner admitted in
court Wednesday that he never intended to repay a $10,000
"loan" he had sought from a real estate salesman. Willie
Junior said the salesman handed him a bank envelope and he slipped it
into his suit pocket when they met at a defunct soccer complex before
he voted to buy the property for $3.9 million on Nov. 1. |
| Commissioners
in court - Escambia |
| Two
employees resign over files
TAMPA -- Two longtime employees at the state's child welfare agency
have resigned after learning they would be fired for arranging an
auction where confidential files were accidentally sold. |
| Former
Tampa area foster child sues DCF case workers
TAMPA A girl abused while in Florida's foster care system is suing
eight current and former Department of Children and Families employees
who handled her case. The lawsuit alleges the defendants recklessly
and deliberately violated Ashley Rhodes-Courter's constitutionally
protected right to be safe while in the foster care system. |
| Panel
wants wider scope to review all child deaths
TAMPA -- A little-known state panel that reviews investigations into
child abuse deaths wants to expand its scope to include all deaths of
children in Florida. |
| Bush-appointed
group examines adding guardians for abused kids
TALLAHASSEE During a time when Florida's child welfare system has
come under fire, a group appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush began Wednesday to
examine whether every abused and neglected child in the state should
get a court-appointed guardian. The task of increasing the
effectiveness of the state's guardian ad litem program, committee
members quickly discovered, is daunting, as there were more than
190,000 child abuse investigations in 2001. |
| State
senator says review of cases finds no innocence
TALLAHASSEE Florida may lead the nation in overturned death
sentences but a state lawmaker said Wednesday a new review of the
nearly two dozen cases shows most of the inmates were hardly innocent.
The Death Penalty Information Center has compiled a list of 101 people
released from death rows across the country on its "Innocence:
Freed from Death Row." |
| FL
Death Row Glance - The 23 cases of former death row inmates
reviewed by the Florida Commission on Capital Cases (summarized): |
| Prisons
set to buy sporting goods
State law now apparently allows prisons to purchase recreation
equipment for inmates. Some officials cry foul. |
| Tampa
student sues for being left out of school yearbook
TAMPA A teen whose rejection of a dress code kept her portrait out
of her high school yearbook sued the school district in federal court
Wednesday. Nikki Youngblood accuses Robinson High and Hillsborough
County school leaders of discrimination as well as violation of her
rights to free expression and equal protection under the law. |
| Tensions
at USF
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft needs to act
quickly to bring credibility to her efforts to win greater autonomy
for USF St. Petersburg. |
| Study
needs bang for bucks
The local governments helping to pay for a $2
million, three-year effort to study Central Florida threatened to pull
the plug on the project Wednesday unless the study comes up with
specific recommendations for solving some the region's rapidly
worsening problems. |
| City
shaping standards for cable TV
Jacksonville can enforce stricter customer service requirements on
AT&T Broadband, even if the cable giant doesn't agree to them,
according to an attorney representing the city. |
| Take
the debate public
Gated communities are issues for counties. |
| S.
Florida secret moves nationwide ...Our problem with movers who
hold furniture hostage in exchange for payments far beyond the
original estimate has caught the attention of the national media and
national law enforcement officials. |
| Connolly
to face judge's questions
And how he answers likely will determine if the land speculator will
avoid prison after charges of violating probation and perjury. |
| West
Nile fears spur warnings
State health officials are asking for the public's help in stopping
the spread of West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses. |
| Delaney
touts benefits of river restoration
Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney Wednesday urged environmentalists
to pursue an "Everglades-style" restoration of the St. Johns
River, saying Northeast Florida would benefit for generations. |
| Just
say no: Wal-Mart plans would destroy wetlands
There comes a time when the only thing to do is say no. The time is
today, when the Volusia County Council reviews the plans for a
proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in New Smyrna Beach. |
| Woman
could face charges for hauling gator away from home
PENSACOLA Wildlife police may charge a local "Crocodile
Hunter" with a misdemeanor for hauling an alligator from her
backyard pond to an area creek. The Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission is deciding whether to charge Rita Gilbert,
41, with illegal possession of an alligator, said Lt. Gary Applewhite.
The offense carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and a year in jail. |
| Tribe
defends land deal
Miccosukee Indians take out newspaper ads criticizing water managers. |
|
Southwest
under fire for making 'people of size' buy two tickets- DALLAS --
Southwest Airlines is under fire for its policy of charging overweight
passengers for two tickets if they spill over into their neighbor's
seat. |
| Dale
McFeatters: The lawn goodbye
Now listed among disappearing American institutions is the front yard.
Front yards are mostly falling prey to a phenomenon that now has its
own noun, the "pave-over." If a household runs short of
parking, the solution of choice now is to pave over the front yard and
park there. |
| Bush
should reconsider plans to attack Iraq
Instead of making oblique references to a preemptive strike against
Iraq, as he did at West Point recently, President Bush should heed the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told him that a war against Saddam Hussein
would be unwise. According to the top military officials, an offensive
in Iraq could endanger the lives of at least 200,000 American
servicemen in bloody ground combat, and might prompt Hussein to use
biological and chemical weapons to strengthen his hand. |
| AIDS
funding targets children in Haiti, Africa
Haiti and Guyana -- which have the highest rates of AIDS and HIV in
the Western Hemisphere -- and 12 African nations would get badly
needed help to keep mothers from passing the virus to their children
under a proposal announced Wednesday by President Bush. |
| CDC:
Say no to ring containment to fight smallpox terrorism
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are today
discussing policy regarding the U.S. stockpile of smallpox vaccine.
They're meeting in secret after holding four hastily put together and
not well-advertised (hence, poorly attended) public forums in New
York, San Francisco, San Antonio and St. Louis. This hardly
constitutes a wellspring of public input, but the CDC apparently
prefers it that way. |
| Jay
Ambrose: The truth disparity about income disparity
Some returns are in from the 2000 census, and what we are learning is
that income inequality is growing, the middle class is disappearing,
and, before you know it, a plutocracy will replace the democracy that
made this country the wonderful place it was until greed started
taking over. There's just one problem with this much-proffered
analysis, namely, that it is wrong, essentially a concoction of
leftist ideologues.
| Here's a recent example of a "leftist idealogue"
concoction:
Paul
Krugman: Plutocracy and politic Kevin Phillips' new
book, "Wealth and Democracy," is a 422-page doorstop,
but much of the book's message is contained in one stunning table.
That table, in the middle of a chapter titled "Millennial
Plutographics," reports the compensation of America's 10 most
highly paid CEOs in 1981, 1988 and 2000. - In 1981 those captains
of industry were paid an average of $3.5 million, which seemed
like a lot at the time. By 1988 the average had soared to $19.3
million, which seemed outrageous. But by 2000 the average annual
pay of the top 10 was $154 million. It's true that wages of
ordinary workers roughly doubled over the same period, though the
bulk of that gain was eaten up by inflation. But earnings of top
executives rose 4,300 percent. |
|
| President
Errs In Opening Loopholes For Polluters-- W hile the details are a
little smoggy, it is clear President George W. Bush's administration
intends to gut the Clean Air Act.-- The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency last week announced it planned to weaken requirements that
power plants install modern pollution controls when undergoing major
renovations. |
| Secret
government
Bush's administration is more concerned with hiding something
than preserving our First Amendment rights. ... A federal judge has
slapped down yet another Bush administration attempt to assert broad,
unchecked powers of secrecy. |
| Punishing
immigrants: INS crackdown victimizes the wrong people
The ineptitude of the Immigration and Naturalization Service is
becoming proverbial. Justified or not and much of the blame should be
directed at Congress' stinginess with INS budgets rather than the INS
itself the agency is responding to the criticism even more dubiously.
To look in charge, the INS has been organizing arrest-and-deportation
sweeps in various parts of the country not of illegal immigrants,
necessarily, but of any immigrant with a criminal past. The result is
enough to call the INS' own actions criminal. |
6/19/02
| Congressional
district challenge goes down to the wire - When attorneys
challenging Florida's new congressional districts argue Thursday in
federal court for the last time, it will be the Democrats' final hope
for erasing the boundaries drawn by the Republican-controlled
Legislature. |
| Judge
blocks state from serving citrus canker search warrants
FORT LAUDERDALE A judge blocked the state from serving 10,000
citrus canker search warrants for Broward and Palm Beach County
properties Tuesday. Circuit Judge J. Leonard Fleet said the warrants
issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture failed to meet
constitutional standards for searches of private property. |
| Judge:
No canker searches
A judge on Tuesday threw out more than 10,000
search warrants that had been issued to the state to look for trees
infected with the citrus canker, dealing another blow to the crippled
canker eradication program. |
| Judge
stops canker searches
A judge says searches conducted under new warrants still violate
property owners' rights. |
| Childers
accused of buying vote
A new indictment charges the suspended Escambia commissioner with
bribing another commissioner. |
| Elliott
trial witness recounts payoff talk - Georgann Elliott withdrew
thousands of dollars in cash last fall so that her husband, real
estate agent Joe Elliott, could pay off an Escambia County
commissioner, according to testimony Tuesday. "I've had to pay
off one of the county commissioners,"... |
| Childers
accused of bribing another Escambia commissioner
PENSACOLA Former Florida Senate President W.D. Childers bribed a
fellow Escambia County commissioner to vote for the $3.9 million
purchase of defunct soccer complex, according to a grand jury
indictment released Tuesday. It accuses Childers of bribing
Commissioner Willie Junior, offering or promising him a bribe and
conducting or attempting to conduct a financial transaction to conceal
details of the $40,000 payoff. |
| Rights
commission to check progress on voting changes
The activists who brought a federal lawsuit against Florida over the
controversial 2000 presidential election will tell the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights at a voting rights briefing on Thursday that recent
election law changes don't go far enough. |
| | |
