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6/29-30/02
 | Health
care dilemma
Universal health care doesn't have to be government-funded. It may be
possible to retain the best of private enterprise, while still
extending health care coverage to all Americans.--
When it came to prescription drugs, over a quarter (26 percent) of
Americans reported that they did not fill a prescription due to cost,
compared to 19 percent in Australia, 13 percent in Canada, 15 percent
in New Zealand and 7 percent in the United Kingdom.--
Differences in ability to get needed medical care were particularly
stark among people whose incomes were below their country's median.
Among those with below-average incomes, 36 percent of U.S. residents
did not visit a doctor for needed care because of cost concerns,
compared to 14 percent of Australians, 9 percent of Canadians, 24
percent of New Zealanders and 4 percent of U.K. residents. |
| Rapid
Growth Stifling State Wetland Areas
TAMPA - For weeks the clouds have hung like
angry fists on the horizon - dark, brooding clumps of gray lined with
the silver promise of quenching the long drought. ... ``In
the urban world around us, we are developing in a way that changes
permeable soils into impermeable barriers,'' said Richard Garrity of
the county Environmental Protection Commission.
Every ribbon of road and slab of concrete alters the hydrology that
has replenished Florida's aquifer for eons.
The development-driven destruction of wetlands - especially the
forested wetlands the Bay Area has lost to subdivisions and pavement
in recent decades - is critical to our water supply. |
| CIO
for state's tech office named
Kim Bahrami, who has been serving as Florida's acting chief
information officer for almost a year, was awarded the job on a more
permanent basis Friday. |
| Patients
stand to lose in state liability crisis
Florida's health care news has taken on an ominous tone in recent
weeks. On the heels of headlines about the state's desperate need for
nurses, the American Medical Association dropped this bombshell:
Florida is one of 12 states where skyrocketing malpractice insurance
premiums have "seriously threatened" patient access to
physician care. |
| Pension
draws praise, concern
The Legislature's fiscal watchdog is concerned about state pension
money going into venture capital funds and some other long-term
investments. |
| Pension
plan guru joining lobbying firm
INSIDE POLITICS Tom Herndon, whose last day as director of the State
Board of Administration was Friday, said he will join lobbying firm
Southern Strategy Group Inc. in August. |
| Just
say 'duh'
The only possible rationale for a "reject them all and let the
politicians sort it out" campaign is that voters are too dumb to
understand all of the the issues involved with the proposed state
constitutional amendments. |
| Justice
Reaches Plan With Counties On Voting - ORLANDO - The Justice
Department and two Florida counties reached agreements Friday over
voting rights violations, ending the possibility of a protracted court
battle. |
| Court
lifts stays in death penalty cases
The nation's high court clears the way for two
executions. The inmates will appeal using the court's recent decision. |
| Death
Penalty In Florida Escapes High Court Ruling TALLAHASSEE - Four
days after finding capital punishment laws in five states
unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court ended its term Friday without
passing judgment on Florida's death penalty law. |
| Refusing
to see injustice
TALLAHASSEE -- This may come as news to Sen. Locke Burt, a legislator
who is running for attorney general, but people whose criminal
convictions are overturned are just as innocent, in every legal sense,
as he is. |
| ACLU
helping Florida's ex-felons regain right to vote
APOPKA Anthony Flowers was a long-term menace to society, with a
life of violence and drugs interrupted only by stays in the penal
system. Flowers, now 43, feels he's paid his debt after living seven
clean years paying his taxes, attending church and raising a family.
But as an ex-felon, he's lost many of his civil rights, including the
right to vote. Until he gets those rights back, Flowers will wonder if
he'll ever finish serving time. |
| Ex-Felons
And The Right To Vote ... It remains to be seen how big a voting
bloc ex-offenders will be - not much of one, we believe - but better a
few of them vote than that even one law-abiding citizen see his right
denied. |
| Jeff
Lytle: New rules will affect the strategy in this fall's primary
elections
A few things to remember as you follow the jockeying for local fall
elections: In partisan races (county commissions, governor and
Legislature, for example) the rules are different this year. No party
runoffs. That means a candidate can earn less than a majority
normally 50 percent plus one of his or her party's votes and still
get launched into office. In a primary with two or more opponents, the
victor needs only to beat them by a whisker. |
| Reno
Finds Friends And Foes While Campaigning In Tampa-- TAMPA - Janet
Reno found enthusiastic supporters - and a few enthusiastic opponents
- in her campaign for governor as she toured a West Tampa neighborhood
and shopping mall Saturday afternoon. |
| Class
size initiative may be biggest foe for Bush
Gov. Jeb Bush's toughest opponent this fall may not be
Janet Reno or Bill McBride. |
| Bush
touts experience in private business in campaign stops
OCALA Gov. Jeb Bush told about 200 supporters at a rally Saturday
that his experience in private business makes him the best candidate
for governor. Bush, who was a partner in a Miami commercial real
estate business and a vice president of Texas Commerce Bank before
becoming Florida's governor, said he understands the workings of the
state's public and private sectors better than one of his opponents
for governor. |
| Star
power, not policies may help Bush
It happens every time Jeb Bush shows up in public, and it was no
different on this steamy Saturday afternoon in Marion County. A buzz,
an excitement, an eagerness among anyone near him. |
| Clouded
horizon: Is Florida ready for the 2002 election? -- ... Both
Harris and Gov. Jeb Bush have brushed aside serious allegations about
voting disparities in minority and poor neighborhoods. The U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights has visited the state three times to hold
hearings, but Harris and Bush refused to attend the most recent
hearing last week. As people were testifying about being turned away
from the polls or being refused help they needed to vote, Bush was
releasing a statement saying the nation's top civil-liberties
authority had been "badly discredited." Instead, it's Bush's
credibility that has been tattered in this debacle. |
| Hunker
down for onslaught of Florida ETV -- Election Television-- Savor
the serenity of the remaining few days of television without campaign
ads, for when the summer wave breaks it will swamp you and spin you. |
| Vouching
for vouchers, not for schools-
Great. Just what Florida needs. More distraction from real education
reform.--
The state has about 2.5 million public school students. From what you
hear out of Tallahassee, however, the ones who matter most are the
9,000 who became eligible this year for vouchers. Not all will be able
to use the vouchers; private schools don't have room, or alternatives
aren't close enough. But because Gov. Bush has made vouchers such a
key part of his education program -- after saying in his 1998 campaign
that they weren't -- the state finds itself concentrating on a gimmick
that involves relatively few students and contradicting its own wider
policy for all the other students.--
The governor and other members of the anti-public school political
Establishment say vouchers offer students at "failing"
schools a better alternative. But while the state determines voucher
schools solely on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, private
schools that voucher students attend don't have to release FCAT
results. They don't have to go by any of the accountability rules that
the state requires for public schools, even though private schools
will be getting public money. So there's no way to tell whether the
voucher has offered the student a better alternative. |
| Trustees
unlikely to evaluate Young
Monday marks the one-year anniversary for the boards of trustees Gov.
Jeb Bush put in charge of the state's universities, but none has yet
performed one of the boards' primary duties: formally evaluating the
president. |
| Criminal
Injustice: Get-tough hysteria gives nod to harsh sentencing
In colonial America, the only "minimum mandatory" judges had
to worry about was whether the rope was long enough to make a good
noose. Most crimes were punishable by either death or a fine; prisons
were all but unheard of. |
| Juvenile
detainees' abuse reports spike
Reports to state investigators alleging abuse of incarcerated children
nearly doubled statewide over the past four years under Florida's
"Tough Love" approach to juvenile justice. |
| DCF
fares poorly in poll
Most Florida voters feel state government does a poor
job of protecting children in its care, but even more say this problem
will have no bearing on their vote for governor in the November
election, a new statewide survey shows. |
| Foster
care dilemma staggers DCF
Numbers indicate enough foster care homes, but many reject kids with
behavior problems. |
| Florida's
child-welfare system guilty, but not charged
Real reforms begin with new leadership and must go beyond Gov. Bush's
handpicked panel. |
| 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.'' |
| Childers
facing possible jail time, more trials in Panhandle
PENSACOLA W.D. Childers, once one of the most powerful political
figures in Florida, is facing possible jail time for violating the
state's open-government "sunshine" law and as many as two
more trials. A jury late Friday convicted the former Florida Senate
President on one count of illegally discussing public business in
private with another now-suspended Escambia County commissioner, Terry
Smith, last year. |
| Long
arm of sunshine
Had the Sunshine Law not been on the books, all of W.D. Childers'
shenigans might never have come to public light. |
| Ex-lawmaker
Willie Logan settles ethics case
TALLAHASSEE Former state Rep. Willie Logan has agreed to be
publicly reprimanded and pay an $8,000 fine for wrongly using state
money as part of a settlement with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
The proposed punishment would end an inquiry whether the Opa-locka
Democrat broke the law by misusing the state money he was given to run
his legislative office in South Florida. |
| Top
Homicide Prosecutor Fired By State Attorney- TAMPA - Hillsborough
County State Attorney Mark Ober has fired his top homicide prosecutor,
claiming she lied to him. |
| Many
new laws to take effect July 1
TALLAHASSEE People who loiter around schools or spray paint on
them will face new penalties as of July 1. Other new laws will help
the state pay for the Everglades restoration, require HIV testing of
prisoners and allow underage culinary students to sip wine as long
as they spit it out. There will be more than 100 new laws covering a
wide range of areas, from technical measures dealing with state trust
funds to new rules governing foreigners' driver's licenses. |
| New
law intended to make road shoulders a bit safer
If flashing lights alone could have prevented the tragic accident on
Interstate 95 on Sept. 4, 1998, then Daytona Beach Police Officer
Kevin Fischer would still be alive.
Related item:
New
state laws go into effect tomorrow |
| Young
can raise up UF - if state will let him
Florida's new system makes his job harder. |
| Cultivating
a cure for canker
Although the bacteria have a head start, scientists are making inroads
in the search for a way to vanquish the costly disease. |
| Toxin
found in sediment
Dioxin has been found in St. Marks River sediment, raising new
questions about the extent of contamination and the possible threat to
human health. |
| Bob
Graham's idea won't help the Everglades
The $7.8 billion Everglades restoration will not
restore the Everglades. |
| Fundraiser
has tax exemption
Until recently, the GOP supporter was the only
cardiologist who didn't pay into a fund to assist indigent patients. |
| Jewish
voters noticing GOP's pro-Israel moves
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is beginning to spill over into U.S.
politics, with Republicans gaining favor among Jewish voters, long a
liberal constituency of the Democratic Party. Even before President
Bush called for Yasser Arafat's political head last week, leading
congressional Democrats were concerned that Jewish voters and donors
were reassessing their relationship with the GOP. |
| Doctors
seeking to drop insurance
Many view the risk as less onerous than paying, for example, $100,000
a year for $250,000 in malpractice coverage. |
| City
renters bear burden
It's a rather dubious honor: Tallahassee leads the nation in the
unaffordability of rental living for a city its size. The "rent
burden" - the amount a renter pays in relation to his or her
income - for residents of Florida's capital city is the highest of all
large cities, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census
Bureau. Large cities are considered those having more than 50,000
occupied housing units. |
| Rights
group applauds convictions for slavery
A human rights group applauds the conviction of three
Florida men for holding hundreds of workers against their will. |
| Rights
group says conviction may end farmworker abuse
The conviction of three citrus contractors on federal slavery charges
in Florida could help end the violence and farmworker mistreatment
that has plagued the industry, a human rights group said Friday. |
| As
tempest roars, she fights for her family
Nahla Al-Arian is a woman under siege. There's no tear gas, no rubber
bullets, no tanks rumbling through the streets. But every night she
goes to bed with the same fear. |
| Guest
editorial: Mammograms that miss tumors
Pity the poor mammogram patient. For months now she has been
witnessing a dispute among professionals over whether mammograms can
save lives by detecting tumors early, when they are most treatable.
Now she must confront the sad truth that in day-to-day medical
practice, many mammograms are interpreted by radiologists who miss an
alarmingly high percentage of the cancers they should be detecting. |
| Analysis:
Alternatives to neighborhood school are vaster than ever. Is that
good?
The landscape of American public schools is slowly fragmenting,
breaking into a wider array of educational choices. Where once
students headed off each morning to their neighborhood or village
schoolhouse, families today can choose among magnet schools, charter
schools, home schooling and, most recently, privately run public
schools and publicly financed voucher programs. That last option
gained new momentum on Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld
Cleveland's voucher program, in which 96 percent of participating
students attend religious schools. |
| Guest
editorial: Enron's Connecticut connection
No one would accuse them of moving expeditiously, but Connecticut
prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the way that
tentacles of the Enron fiasco squeezed state taxpayers out of nearly
$200 million. The implications are potentially enormous because of
questions over the role of the popular two-term governor, John
Rowland. |
| Guest
editorial: Scorched-earth politics
A third dry summer in a row has brought another wave of forest fires
to the American West. With 2 million acres already gone and summer
just begun, it would seem logical for everyone to set differences
aside and pursue the sound firefighting strategy devised by the
Clinton administration and ratified by President Bush last year. Yet
as Pat Williams, a former Montana congressman, observed, "The
only thing that burns hotter than a wildfire in the West is the
demagoguery of some politicians trying to take advantage of it." |
| Guest
editorial: The politics of embarrassment
Having finally come to grips with the necessity of raising the federal
debt limit, Congress may feel it has earned the right to a weeklong
Fourth of July holiday. Perhaps only in Washington can people plunge
the nation deep into debt and then think of themselves as profiles in
courage when they summon the nerve to authorize the Treasury to borrow
money to pay the bills. It actually took considerable pressure from
the White House to get House Republicans to vote to raise the
statutory ceiling on federal debt. While the lawmakers couldn't wait
to lower taxes and raise spending, no one wanted to acknowledge the
obvious consequences. |
| Maureen
Dowd: Makin' us dizzy
WASHINGTON Dick Cheney is a sly old fox. He wanted the
congressional cat to start chasing its tail. So he sicced the FBI dogs
on it. The vice president called Porter Goss and Bob Graham, the
chairmen of the congressional intelligence committees looking into the
9/11 security debacle, to berate them about a leak to the press
detailing missed interceptions at the National Security Agency about
"zero hour" and "the big match." Never mind that
this story had been circulating for months and that any number of
agencies could have leaked it. |
| Investors
inquire: Where's the new wealth?
If the U.S. economy is growing at anything like the
6.1 percent annual clip reported last quarter, why are U.S. stock
markets sagging and economic confidence still shaky? |
| Europeans
are far from united in acknowledging their Christian past --
VIENNA, Austria -- Unquestionably, the region is steeped in
Christianity from the faith's earliest days. The Apostle Paul brought
the religion to Europe's shores around A.D. 50. Later, the continent
became the center of Roman Catholicism and the birthplace of the
Protestant Reformation.-- But that was then and this is now. Today's
Europe is a multiethnic melting pot of Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Buddhism, Hinduism and other faiths -- making the question a ticklish
one as churches lobby for a mention of the continent's Christian
heritage in a key document on the future of the European Union. |
6/28/02
|
Airport
workshop debates question of need -- Panama City - "Bottom
line, I dont think we need a new airport," said Panama City
Beach resident Pete Rougier. "This is a rush to judgment that
will enhance only one major company." |
| Sarasota
editor resigns after expressing opinion on Harris race
SARASOTA The managing editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
resigned Thursday after she expressed her personal views about
congressional candidate Katherine Harris in an e-mail to a reader.
Rosemary Armao, who served as the newspaper's managing editor for
nearly three years, told the reader that she would not vote for
Harris, who gained national attention during the 2000 election recount
as Florida's Republican secretary of state. |
| |
|
| Group
fights nuclear waste trek
Beginning in eight years, Florida residents might be seeing
5,223 casks of nuclear waste like the full-size fiberglass
replica displayed by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
at City Hall on Thursday.
Shipments of the casks containing nuclear waste from the
state's five nuclear power plants would be made along Florida's
highways and railroads if the Senate approves a centralized
nuclear storage facility in Yucca Mountain, Nev. |
Gainesville
Mayor Tom Bussing, third from right, speaksr during a press
conference held by the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice
outside City Hall Thursday to bring attention to the possible
transport of nuclear waste through Gainesville. Jon M.
Fletcher/The Gainesville Sun |
|
| State
fund loses again
Fresh on the heels of the Enron fiasco, Florida's public employee
pension fund took another hit this week when telecom giant WorldCom
announced accounting troubles and possible bankruptcy. |
| Election
echoes still ringing in our weary ears
A confluence of events has left me wondering if we will ever shed this
pall, or whether the ghost of elections past will forever haunt our
fair state. |
| Bush,
McBride air education differences
The governor defends his system of mandatory tests and school
accountability. The Tampa lawyer says there's a better way. |
| Peterson
to endorse McBride over Reno - BOCA RATON -- Pete Peterson, once
portrayed as the Democratic Party's best prospect for challenging Gov.
Jeb Bush, plans to back another Democrat waging a long-shot campaign
against the Republican governor: Bill McBride. |
| Reno
refuses to commit to any gubernatorial debates - ..."We
haven't yet confirmed for any debates but we intend to,"
Harburger said. "We're just reviewing and considering each
invitation." |
| Ex-consultant
files ethics complaint in tiff with Graham-- WASHINGTON -- A
former consultant for the drive to bring back an independent board
overseeing Florida's universities has filed a federal ethics complaint
saying U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's staff has been working on the initiative
while on taxpayer time....
Kaplan, who is involved in a breach of contract lawsuit with the
committee, also sent complaints to Attorney General Bob Butterworth,
the Florida Elections Commission and the state attorneys in
Tallahassee and Orlando. That letter accuses the committee of filing
inaccurate or misleading campaign documents. |
| Vouchers
allowed for religious schools
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a
school voucher program in Cleveland, declaring that public money can
be used to pay tuition at religious schools. |
| Despite
Supreme Court, Florida voucher challenge to continue
TALLAHASSEE Critics of Florida's voucher law said Thursday they
won't abandon their legal fight despite the 5-4 ruling from the U.S.
Supreme Court upholding a similar Ohio law. A Tallahassee judge put
Florida's voucher lawsuit on hold in February because of the Ohio case
in the nation's high court. A hearing before Circuit Judge Kevin Davey
is scheduled for next month. |
| Voucher
ruling won't stop lawsuit in Florida
A ruling Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the
constitutionality of taxpayer-funded vouchers going to religious
schools won't deter a group that's filed a similar lawsuit against
such vouchers in Florida. |
| Making
vouchers legal doesn't make them good
Florida's plan still flunks under state law. |
| Church
and state
The U.S. Supreme Court all but knocked down the wall between church
and state when it ruled, in a 5-4 decision that vouchers are
constitutional. |
| School
'choice': Voucher opinion obscures fundamental issue
The U.S. Supreme Court's approval of taxpayer-funded vouchers deals a
harsh blow to the traditions of public education and religious
liberty. |
| Drug
tests OK'd for many high school students
The Supreme Court put public high school students on notice Thursday:
Drug tests may be required for playing chess or joining the
cheerleader squad. |
| COST
ESTIMATES State economists on Thursday drew up language explaining...
COST ESTIMATES State economists on Thursday drew up language
explaining the potential cost of four constitutional amendments
proposed for the November ballot and a fifth aimed for 2004. Here are
the statements: |
| NAACP
pushes state amendment to limit class sizes-- The NAACP wants to
see some changes in Florida's school system, and the organization sent
some of its highest ranking officers on a two-week tour of the state
to try to bring those changes to pass.--
The civil rights organization is collecting signatures to get a state
constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would limit class
sizes from kindergarten through high school, said Bill McCormick, Fort
Lauderdale president for the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. Amendments need 500,000 signatures to get on the
November ballot. |
| Class
size amendments carry hefty price tag
Thanks to a new law, for the first time, economists are calculating
the costs of proposed citizen initiatives. Some say it's politics as
usual. |
| Class-size
plan to cost $20 billion
State economists assign price tags and impact statements to issues on
the November ballot. |
| Economists
consider cost language for constitutional amendments
TALLAHASSEE Florida voters considering a constitutional amendment
limiting the number of students in each classroom may have to decide
if the state can afford the billions of dollars it would cost. A group
of state economists estimated Thursday it would cost between $20
billion and $27.5 billion over eight years to pay for the additional
classrooms and teachers that would be needed if an amendment sponsored
by Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, is successful at the polls. |
| State
Farm loses bid for big rate hike on home insurance -- for now
Only weeks before Floridas largest property insurer planned to
impose a major rate hike, Florida Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher
on Thursday blocked State Farm Florida Insurance Co.s request. |
| Would-be
judges free to state views - Code similar to
Florida's is overturned - In a
landmark ruling that could alter Florida's judicial campaigns, the
U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that rules preventing candidates from
talking about legal and political issues are unconstitutional. |
| Judicial
hopefuls can speak on issues
The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down limits on what judicial candidates
can tell voters about their opinions. |
| State
rests case in Childers' Pensacola 'sunshine' trial
PENSACOLA The state rested its case Thursday against former
Florida Senate President W.D. Childers on charges he illegally
discussed public business in private with other now-suspended Escambia
County commissioners. Defense lawyer Fred Levin said Childers would
take the witness stand later Thursday or Friday to dispute allegations
he violated Florida's open-government "sunshine" law |
| Childers
takes the stand, disputes details of talks |
| Poorly
paid workers gain allies
Members of a grassroots effort to bring higher wages
to the region's poorest-paid government workers have developed a draft
ordinance they hope Orange County will consider in the coming months. |
| Study:
Senior housing shortage looms
The number of seniors may double in 30 years, with many needing
financial or medical help.
|
| Finding
explosives challenge for scan machines
The machines trigger alarms about 20 to 30 percent of the time but
many are false. |
| Man's
Pledge crusade had its roots in south Florida
FORT LAUDERDALE -- An atheist's crusade to get the words "under
God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance began in Broward
County four years ago. |
| Feds
mum on Pensacola shopping mall arrests
PENSACOLA At least three merchants who appear to be of Middle
Eastern or southern Asian descent were arrested by FBI and Immigration
and Naturalization Service agents at two shopping malls, witnesses
said. FBI spokesman Bill Hurlburt said Wednesday's action was part of
a joint investigation by the two agencies and that there would be no
further comment because it was continuing. |
| Judge:
Muslim woman can challenge driver's license photo law
ORLANDO A judge ruled a Muslim woman can pursue her legal fight to
wear a veil for a driver license photo, despite objections from the
state that it jeopardizes public safety. Orange County Circuit Judge
Ted Coleman denied a motion Thursday by the state to dismiss a civil
lawsuit brought by Sultaana Freeman, whose driver license was revoked
when she refused to replace her photograph with one showing her face
unveiled. |
| Guest
editorial: The Hamdi paradox
The Bush administration apparently doesn't want Yaser Esam Hamdi to
know he has any rights for fear he might exercise them. Hamdi is the
U.S.-born Saudi brought to Norfolk Navy brig from Guantanamo Bay in
April because the military believed he could claim American
citizenship. He has been held incommunicado and without charge ever
since. |
| Taxation
cases target Connolly
The state files four tax warrants as a criminal investigation focuses
on federal tax issues. |
| Rolling
appeal denied
The Florida Supreme Court denied killer Danny Rolling's appeal
Thursday that argued defense attorneys should have moved his case out
of Alachua County, where he murdered five college students. |
| Florida
high court rejects Rolling appeal in Gainesville slayings
TALLAHASSEE Danny Rolling lost his second appeal Thursday in the
Florida Supreme Court. In an unsigned opinion, the state's high court
rejected legal issues raised by attorney for Rolling, including the
argument that his five death sentences were recommended by a jury
biased by fear. |
| Citrus
County bat colony freed from blocked cave
WITHLACOOCHEE STATE FOREST About 6,000 bats are flying free again
thanks to volunteers who spent hours opening the mouth of the
mosquito-eating mammals' cave. The colony, mostly female bats and
their babies, had been trapped in the cave by heavy silt pushed by
heavy rains. The cave's opening became clogged Tuesday as
thunderstorms swept across the Withlacoochee State Forest in the
southeastern portion of Citrus County. |
| Population
growth, drought drying north Florida springs
BRONSON Four years of drought and a growing population are causing
popular north Florida springs to dry up and rivers and streams to be
at record low levels, a hydrologist said Thursday. Blue Springs,
outside Bronson in Levy County, is where generations of kids have
plunked down 35 cents to spend a day flopping into the cool, blue
water. But this year the water is no longer moving at the minimum
requirement of 500 gallons per swimmer per day. In fact, it's not
moving at all. |
| We're
slip-sliding away as deluges of rain keep hitting
No matter where we live in Central Florida, we all
have one thing in common these days: We're getting wet. Awfully wet. |
| Scientists
evaluating Tortugas fishing restrictions
DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK After nearly a month at sea, scientists
studying the impact of a no-fish zone around the Dry Tortugas estimate
80 percent of the snappers, groupers and grunts are being overfished
in the Florida Keys. Their study comes one year after federal
officials declared 151 square miles of waters around the Dry Tortugas
National Park off-limits to fishing. |
| Guest
editorial: Power failure
There's a major disconnect between the Bush administration and those
around the country who want cleaner air. The Environmental Protection
Agency argues adamantly that its proposal released June 13 to revise a
section of the Clean Air Act would do more to improve the nation's air
than leaving the 25-year-old landmark law as it is. |
| Expanding
the state, Bush style - The Bush administration's statism is
becoming routine. Many of its big-government solutions are designed to
crush terrorists, and thus are largely appropriate. But elsewhere,
Team Bush breezily subverts the free-market principles the president
supposedly embraces. Consider the subsidies, surveillance and
centralization the administration proposed during seven days in June. |
| Dan
K. Thomasson: Secrecy for the sake of secrecy
WASHINGTON If information has been published, does the government
have a right, months later when it surfaces again, to contend that the
information is still a secret vital to national security? That's what
seems to be occurring in the case of recent reports that the National
Security Agency had intercepted a coded conversation between al Qaeda
operatives the day before Sept. 11. The conversation that clearly
pointed to a terrorist operation scheduled for the next day wasn't
examined until Sept. 12. |
| Witness
tells of 8 days of torture, blames Salvadoran general
WEST PALM BEACH Blindfolded and handcuffed, Carlos Mauricio
suffered a blow to the head or stomach every time he refused to
confess while being detained by soldiers in El Salvador in June 1983.
He testified Thursday that during eight days of torture at the hands
of the military, he often thought his arms, tied to a rope holding him
up, would be pulled off. |
| Maureen
Dowd: The age of acquiescence
A friend of mine over the weekend was recalling her days as an
idealistic child of the '60s. Students sitting around the dorm, amid
the water bongs, water beds, strobe lights and Che posters, listening
to Led Zeppelin and Dylan, dreaming about remaking the world in their
own image, trading nightmares about spying Big Brother and
soul-robbing corporations. She recalled all the old leftist tracts in
the Nixon years about a secret government plan to suspend the
Constitution and declare a national security emergency and round up
people without charges, and that the oil companies and banks would
plunge us into nuclear war. |
6/27/02
| Labor
agency in final days
Scraps of paper are taped to the arms of chairs and the legs of
tables, proclaiming their new destinations. The nail-studded office
walls resonate with that forlorn echo of emptiness. |
| U.S.
plan would ship radioactive waste through S. Florida
Dozens of barges of radioactive waste could arrive at Port Everglades
and the Port of Miami under a federal plan to store the nations
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev. |
| Ethics
complaint to Senate names Graham
Bob Graham is accused of using Senate staff and offices to work on a
state university ballot initiative. |
| Federal
scrutiny of law could let felons vote
Questioning by the U.S. Justice Department may hold up elections
officials' use of a state list to purge voting rolls. |
| Voting
database under fire
Federal rejection of Florida's plan to stop felons from voting doesn't
mean many ex-cons will illegally cast ballots, state and local
elections officials said Wednesday. |
| Elections
officials: State likely won't stop felons voting
TALLAHASSEE Florida might not be able to stop felons from voting
illegally in the September primary because of federal concerns a new
state law might keep legal voters from casting ballots. The U.S.
Justice Department this week ordered the state to delay implementing a
new law that makes local elections supervisors purge those suspected
of being felons from the list of legal voters. |
| Voter-discrimination
suit against state to proceed - TALLAHASSEE -- A lawsuit alleging
rampant voter discrimination in Orange, Volusia and other counties
during the 2000 presidential election will go to trial in Miami this
August. |
| Osceola
County reaches terms of settlement with DOJ
KISSIMMEE Osceola County will avert a lawsuit by the U.S.
Department of Justice by agreeing to make voting easier for
Spanish-speaking citizens. Orange County this week could finish
hammering out a settlement similar to Osceola's proposed agreement,
which requires more bilingual poll workers and a new
"facilitator" in each precinct to trouble shoot any
problems, elections officials said, The Orlando Sentinel reported
Thursday. |
| Orange
settles vote complaint
Orange County Election Supervisor Bill Cowles reached
a deal with the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to hire more
bilingual poll workers, heading off a threatened lawsuit over
complaints that Spanish-speaking voters didn't get enough help in the
2000 election. |
| Too
soft on soft money
Perhaps Florida's Democratic and Republican party leaders should
attend a workshop in Colombia on the tricks of money laundering. Then
again, their skills already appear to be finely honed. |
| First
canker found in Keys
Citrus canker has been discovered for the first time in the Florida
Keys, making Monroe the 11th county in the state to get the tree
disease since the latest outbreak began in 1995 in neighboring
Miami-Dade. |
| Workers
return to cut citrus -- MIAMI -- Workers will return to Miami-Dade
County yards this week to cut down nearly 800 citrus trees infected
with canker.-
It will be the first widespread cutting since a judge found
unconstitutional a new eradication law that gave canker crews access
to private property to inspect and remove citrus trees.--
At the same time, state workers will be asking owners of as many as
1,700 properties in Palm Beach County and inside the city of Boca for
permission to remove their citrus trees, said Liz Compton, state
Agriculture Department spokeswoman. |
| Under
Horne, Handy classes are politi-sized
Playing with numbers to defeat class-size amendment. |
| Agency
left 13 kids with West Palm-area couple, despite neglect warnings |
| Floridians
say state agency most responsible for problems
JACKSONVILLE A statewide poll conducted in the wake of a
5-year-old Miami girl's disappearance shows a large number of
Floridians believe the Department of Children & Families was most
responsible for the case's problems. The poll, conducted the Florida
Center for Public and Leadership, also found strong support for reform
of the state's foster care system. |
| Report:
6 in care of DCF were seeing men - Allegations that six Palm Beach
County girls partied with adult men at a Residence Inn by Marriott has
prompted the state's child welfare agency to halt the placement of
children in hotels and also to halt their supervision by a private
nursing company.--
The Department of Children & Families began paying Maxim
Healthcare Services Inc. to baby-sit the youngsters in local motels
and hotels about six weeks ago as a short-term fix. |
| DCF
Oversight Must Improve
The Florida Department of Children & Families
just can't catch a break. Losing little Rilya Wilson was bad enough.
Now comes word that six girls under the agency's care had been left
alone at night in a hotel for three weeks and were seen partying with
men who may have been sleeping with them. |
| State
Agency Sued Over Cause Of Firing-- TAMPA - A former employee filed
a federal lawsuit on Monday, accusing the Florida Department of
Children and Families of firing her because she is from Pakistan and
practices Islam. |
| Death
sentences
The Supreme Court's ruling was just and reasonable. And although
Florida's death law has not been placed in immediate jeopardy, state
legislators should act as soon as possible to change the state statute
to comply with the court's decision. |
| Witness
waffles in case against ex-Senate chief -- PENSACOLA -- A key
witness against suspended Escambia County Commissioner W.D. Childers
testified Wednesday at Childers' trial on charges of violating
Florida's open-government law.--
Willie Junior, responding to a question from the lawyer for the former
Florida Senate president, admitted having a memory problem. |
| Childers'
dark sunshine -W. D. Childers' position on the Sunshine Law is
ludicrous. Monologues count.--
Legendary state lawmaker W.D. Childers always has walked a fine
ethical line, artfully manipulating the little understood vagaries of
the political system to his own perceived benefit. |
| Seniors
go hospital shopping
Blue Cross will no longer pay for some seniors'
visits to Orlando Regional hospitals. |
| Pensacola
charter school dean accused of armed robbery
PENSACOLA A charter school dean, whose duties include disciplining
students, has been charged with the armed robbery of a convenience
store. Anthony B. Woods, 37, a former assistant coach for the
Pensacola Barracudas, a minor league arena football team, was arrested
Tuesday, a day after the robbery. He remained at the Escambia County
Jail under a $100,000 bond Wednesday. |
| RTA
Proposal Clears A Hurdle
There may yet be hope for South Florida. The region
still has an ever-worsening problem with transportation gridlock, but
at least the political gridlock seems to be easing. |
| County
Shakes Up 2 Jobs To Revamp Growth Division - TAMPA - Hillsborough
County officials removed two key planning and growth employees from
their positions this week, opening the door for widespread changes to
how the county handles community development issues. |
| Prairie
fenced off
A strip of highway that has become one of the area's hottest spots for
gator-watching was deserted Wednesday, except for a Florida Highway
Patrol car and a few workers unrolling a band of metal fencing on the
grassy shoulder on the west side of U.S. 441. |
| End
run on Everglades
Decide water standard before the election. |
| Parkway
doesn't hurt protected species, court rules
The Sierra Club failed to prove any threat to the animals, the appeals
court says. |
| Bat
colony infested Bradenton apartment; extermination illegal
BRADENTON Grant Griffin's one-bedroom apartment isn't big enough
for him and the bats that have turned up in his shower, sink and
sheets. But it's Griffin that's moving.Exterminators are not allowed
to kill the bats, which are considered native wildlife and can't be
trapped or poisoned, said University of Florida assistant professor
Mark Hostetler. |
| Bright
lights could confuse Florida's sea turtle hatchlings
SARASOTA Sea turtles have begun hatching along Florida's coasts,
so it's time to dim the lights. The Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission is asking residents and visitors along the
shore to turn down their lights at night until the hatching season
ends in early fall. Baby turtles hatch in the sand at night. They
instinctively head toward light, which to them, signifies the ocean. |
| Misguided
people a threat to 'Hershey'
A wildlife officer asks that specifics about bear sightings be kept
confidential until it's caught. |
| Waitress
is latest Broward hepatitis victim
A waitress at the Hard Rock Cafe at Sawgrass Mills has been diagnosed
with hepatitis A, prompting the Broward County Health Department to
urge patrons who might have been exposed to the contagious disease to
call the department. |
| Volusia
encephalitis death may not be mosquito related
DAYTONA BEACH Health officials have sent specimens to a state lab
to determine if an encephalitis death in Volusia County was caused by
disease-transmitting mosquitoes. Initial laboratory results indicate
Laurence Williams, 40, of Daytona Beach, did not contract the disease
from a mosquito bite, said Kate Holcomb, a spokeswoman for Halifax
Medical Center. |
| Workers
Accused Of Covering Up American Indian Grave - POMPANO BEACH - Two
builders hoping to avoid construction delays purposely reburied
ancient skeletal remains unearthed while digging a trench,
investigators said. |
| Federal
court rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional-- And to the
Republic, for which it stands, one nation, ----------, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all. Everyone whos been to school
in the past five decades knows whats missing in that final stanza
of the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| Pledge's
history: Changes, controversy
First penned in 1892 by a Baptist minister, the Pledge of Allegiance
has sparked two Supreme Court cases. |
| Pledge
Author Lived In Tampa
TAMPA - People in Tampa might take the Pledge
of Allegiance a little more personally than others because its author,
Francis Bellamy, wrote the final chapter of his life here. ... |
| Where
the religion is the (U.S.) state
How Utah's papers cover America's 'theocracy.' |
| INS
vigilantism: Deportation in absentia assaults liberty
As of Tuesday, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was
imprisoning 130 people at the Clay County Jail (where the INS has been
sending prisoners for a year and a half). Although 90 percent of them
are Cubans from the Miami area, it is impossible to know how many of
those prisoners are being held for legitimate reasons. But legitimacy
is an issue. Details about the cases of two prisoners are disturbing
enough to seriously question the legality and propriety of INS actions
against immigrants. |
| Dale
McFeatters: Signs a company is headed for financial disaster
You have to love the language. Due to what was daintily called
accounting "errors" or "improprieties" or
"gimmicks," WorldCom is out $3.8 billion. Post-dating a $25
check on the iffy expectations that $25 will be there to cover it is a
"gimmick." Mislaying $3.8 billion is the mother of all
accounting frauds. |
| Guest
editorial: A threat of derailment
Reckless brinkmanship in Washington is threatening to disrupt the
Northeast's economy and jeopardize millions of Americans' summer
travel. The Bush administration has said it will find a way to provide
Amtrak with the $200 million it needs to hobble on until the end of
the current fiscal year, but it has yet to do so. David Gunn, Amtrak's
president, has warned that without a transfusion, the railroad will be
forced to shut down. |
| U.S.
employees left holding bag as CEOs bail
Now comes WorldCom, the latest conglomerate to
destroy the lives of its employees. |
| WorldCom's
ex-CFO owns Boca home
By Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Scott Sullivan bought the home for $170,000 in 1990. Now he's building
a $15 million mansion. |
| O'Neill:
Executives Should Go to Jail |
| Guest
editorial: Don't just say no
Conservatives in Congress are undoubtedly right when they say that
abstinence is the best way for teenagers to avoid pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases. If you don't engage in sexual activity,
you can't very well get into trouble on either count. But they are
recklessly wrong when they insist that sex education programs in the
schools should teach abstinence only. The Senate Finance Committee
needs to modify the government's blinkered approach when it meets on
Wednesday to mark up the latest welfare reform bill. |
| Molly
Ivins: Start working out to forget about Bush's foreign policy
AUSTIN, Texas How nice, President Bush has found his nickey at
last (nickey is the East Texas pronunciation of niche), The
Presidential Pepster, the First Gym Rat, the P.E. Teacher in Chief has
turned his talents to getting us to shape up. Getting the nation
perfectly fit is a perfect fit for a man of his talents. |
| Washington
Today: U.S. has mixed record of trying to install new leaders
WASHINGTON If it's any consolation to Yasser Arafat, he has a lot
of company. The United States has a long history of trying to get rid
of foreign leaders who don't measure up. Some methods are more
decorous than others. President Bush made known his desire that Arafat
be removed in a nationally televised address. Elsewhere over the
years, U.S. efforts at regime change have been less gentlemanly. In
this category are outright assassination, invasions, covert plots. |
| American
priest tells of Salvadoran torture - WEST PALM BEACH -- A father
was shot in front of his children and people were taken from their
homes and killed in El Salvador during the early 1980s, an American
priest testified Wednesday in the civil trial of two former Salvadoran
generals. ... The Rev. Paul Schindler, now a priest in
Akron, Ohio, said he regularly helped bury bodies in 1980 and 1981,
when he worked in El Salvador.- "Constantly there would be people
who disappeared... |
| Witnesses
testify to rights abuses in trial of Salvadoran generals
The civil trial of two former Salvadoran generals continued Wednesday
with testimony from people who said serious human rights abuses were
committed by the military against the civilian population during the
turbulent early 1980s. |
| McCain
attacks campaign finance rules
Sen. John McCain charges that federal regulators are gutting the
nation's new campaign finance law and announced a multi-front
counterattack. |
| Don't
Relax Faulty System
The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm
of Congress, has come up with a troubling statistic: From 1998 to
2001, 3,000 domestic abusers were able to buy firearms because the FBI
was not able to complete required criminal background checks within
three days. |
6/26/02
| Moving
road draws mixed reviews
For the third time this year, The St. Joe Co. drew a big crowd in
Franklin County, this time for its proposal to move the coastal
highway. |
| Road
project stopped for now
Leon County has halted temporarily a road project through the
Apalachicola National Forest because of concerns about it possibly
harming wildlife. |
| Protesters
share nuclear waste transport fears (photo)
Motorists traveling through Volusia and Flagler counties could share
Interstate 95 with trucks carrying three tons of nuclear waste if the
U.S. Senate allows the radioactive cargo to be transported to Nevada
for disposal.-- Special interest groups alarmed by the potential
dangers stopped in Daytona Beach on Tuesday on a cross-country public
relations tour, urging elected officials to oppose a plan to ship the
waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev. |
| Chain
saws returning for canker
Armed with new search warrants, state citrus-canker eradication crews
plan to return to 470 yards around Miami-Dade County on Thursday or
Friday to cut down infected trees. |
| Canker
crews to ask Palm Beach County residents for OK to cut trees -
Florida Department of Agriculture officials, frustrated by their
inability to use search warrants to hunt for citrus canker, have
decided to ask Palm Beach County residents for permission to cut trees
exposed to the disease.--
"Based on a recent court decision, the logistics involved in
imposing restrictions make it cumbersome and difficult to go forward
in an efficient and practical manner," said Mark Fagan, spokesman
for the department. |
| Attack
plan is 'no' to them all
Bristling at the costs of citizen ballot initiatives, businesses may
lobby voters to kill everything. |
| Teachers
union gives Florida an F
TALLAHASSEE -- When it comes to class size, teacher salaries, test
scores and five other indicators, Florida doesn't make the grade, the
state's teachers union said Tuesday. |
| Teacher's
union gives state education system an 'F'
TALLAHASSEE Florida's public education system got a failing grade
from the teacher's union Tuesday just two weeks after state government
said 9 out of 10 schools earned a grade of C or above. The Florida
Education Association, a longtime critic of Gov. Jeb Bush, graded the
state's K-12 school system in eight "subjects," ranging from
how much is spent on schools to graduation rates and SAT scores. |
| Teachers
union flunks state's education system - TALLAHASSEE
- Florida's teachers union, citing data from the U.S.
Department of Education, said Tuesday the state public school system
deserves a failing grade for poor funding, lackadaisical student
achievement and overcrowded schools. |
| Union
Calls Schools Rock Bottom - ``We want to be part of a Florida
public school system that isn't rock bottom and getting worse,'' said
Maureen Dinnen, president of the 122,000-member Florida Education
Association. |
| U.S.
to give state $300-million for reading program
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida will receive $300-million over the next six
years in federal reading grants, education officials announced
Tuesday. |
| Florida
gets $45.6 million in federal reading money
TALLAHASSEE Florida will get $45.6 million in federal funds for
reading programs this year, the U.S. Department of Education said
Tuesday. The grant was one of the first made under the $900 million
federal Reading First initiative; Alabama also got a grant of $15.5
million and Colorado got a one-year grant of $9 million. |
| Strict
rules limit bonuses for teachers-- Volusia County School
District's rules for its new merit-pay program are so tough only a
fraction of its teachers could receive the bonuses officials are
required to offer this coming school year. |
| FAMU
board hikes tuition
Florida A&M University students can expect to pay 5 percent to 20
percent more tuition this fall for the same education. FAMU trustees
Tuesday raised tuition to the maximum amounts allowed by the state. |
| FAMU
agrees to pay new presiden | |
