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6/7/02
 | Justice
approves redistricting plan
The Justice Department says new congressional boundaries do not hurt
minority voting power. |
| Builders
accused of election fraud -- Pensacola-based PAC faces most
charges -- TALLAHASSEE - Affiliates of the Florida Home Builders
Association, from Pensacola to Palm Bay, are caught in a massive
elections fraud case, accused of 166 counts of funneling money through
a chain of political committees to evade campaign contribution limits.
After a nine-month investigation, the Florida Elections Commission
disclosed Thursday it has found probable cause to charge members of 14
state building associations and one St. Lucie County Commission
candidate with violating state elections laws. |
| Five
nominees sent to Gov. Bush for Supreme Court vacancy -
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Three appeal court judges, a circuit judge in
Pensacola and a Miami attorney were recommended Friday to Gov. Jeb
Bush who will fill a vacancy on the Florida Supreme Court. |
| Rainy
day fund shrinks
Gov. Jeb Bush cuts the state's emergency fund to $50-million. That's
four to six times smaller than in previous years. |
| Failing
Florida: Bad policy dims budget's bright spots
Floridians have learned to be grateful for small favors. They got a
little something to celebrate Wednesday, when Gov. Jeb Bush put back
$100 million lawmakers had pilfered from an environmental preservation
fund. |
| Lawyers
want state to advise residents on canker rights - When the
Department of Agriculture comes knocking at your door without a
warrant, looking to inspect or cut down your citrus tree, you have the
right to say no. |
| Frankel
withdraws as candidate for governor
Among Democrats, the three remaining candidates are Janet Reno, Bill
McBride and Daryl Jones. |
| Frankel
ends campaign for governor
Failing to gain needed support, she is now considering the race for
West Palm Beach mayor. |
| Frankel
calls it quits, closes her campaign
Unable to raise money or make her mark in the polls, House minority
leader Lois Frankel called off her campaign for governor Thursday. |
| Giuliani
lifts Bush, Kerrey helps McBride and Sheen aids Reno
Bill McBride, a decorated Vietnam veteran and
Democrat running for governor of Florida, will campaign next week with
another war hero: Bob Kerrey, the former governor and U.S. senator
from Nebraska who earned the Medal of Honor. |
| Governor's
Race: Bill McBride criticizes potential loss of education funding
HIALEAH Tampa lawyer Bill McBride criticized Gov. Jeb Bush's
administration Thursday for jeopardizing federal education funding,
calling the mix-up "another glaring example" showing the
need for new leadership. McBride, picking up an endorsement in this
Hispanic stronghold, seized upon the state's recent scramble to submit
new figures to the federal government after learning the bad
calculations could cost schools in high poverty areas about $32
million. "They've already been slashed to bare bones. No summer
schools. Less teacher salaries. Less supplies. Bigger class
sizes," McBride said. "Now there's another $32 million less
money that's going to be coming from the federal government that we
should've gotten." |
| Hialeah
mayor endorses McBride
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Bill McBride received a campaign
boost Thursday with an endorsement from Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez,
just as House Minority Leader Lois Frankel announced she was ending
her bid to become governor. |
| Governor's
Race: Martin Sheen to campaign with Reno
MIAMI Janet Reno plans to welcome the president this weekend in
her campaign for Florida governor President Josiah Bartlet of
NBC's 'The West Wing.' Actor Martin Sheen will campaign with Reno in
Coral Gables, Deerfield Beach, Orlando and Tampa beginning Friday in
her race to unseat Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of President Bush. |
| GOP
defends district maps in testy hearing
With statistics flying, both parties spar over the state's newly
redrawn voting districts. |
| Local
issues dominate redistrict fight
The new GOP-designed political boundaries that define voting districts
from Pensacola to Key West are on trial this week in a Miami courtroom
and the fight is shaping up as an entirely local battle, involving
Democratic-leaning black voters and reliably Republican Cuban
Americans in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. |
| Redistricting:
GOP chairman, expert for challengers disagree on impact
MIAMI The chairman of the state Republican Party disagreed
Thursday with conclusions drawn by an expert who testified for people
challenging Republican-approved congressional and legislative
redistricting. Al Cardenas, state GOP chief for three years, wrote
more than 12,000 Republican donors and activists in March that
increasing the size of Florida's Republican congressional delegation
was "critical to the president and his agenda." |
| Right
on many vetoes
Gov. Bush was right to preserve money for a
land-buying program. |
| Water
talks on shaky ground
The talks on sharing water from the Apalachicola River system are
approaching the brink - again. Department of Environmental Protection
Secretary David Struhs said Thursday that Florida won't negotiate with
Georgia and Alabama if Georgia continues with its lawsuit to get more
water from the river system. |
| Refinery
cleanup prompts questions
Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials on Thursday
were asking questions as well as answering them during a public
meeting about the St. Marks Refinery cleanup. |
| Report:
DCF computer system missing some records, has errors
FORT LAUDERDALE A computer system designed to keep track of every
child in state care has no record of some children and inaccurate
entries on others, according state documents cited in a published
report. Department of Children & Families officials held a
teleconference Wednesday to discuss the long-delayed $230 million
system, called HomeSafenet, which is to be finished by 2005. |
| DCF
lacks beds as kids stream in - So many abused and neglected
children are flooding into the state's foster-care system that the
Florida Department of Children & Families is at times having
children spend the night in some of its offices.
That has happened twice in the past 10 days at two DCF offices in
Central Florida. |
| State
high-court hopefuls urge death penalty changes
As some of Florida's leading lawyers and jurists compete for a seat on
Florida's Supreme Court, nearly all agree on this: The state's death
penalty system is deeply flawed and in dire need of an overhaul. |
| SCOFLA:
Court won't take up case involving lottery machines
TALLAHASSEE The state Supreme Court has decided not to take a case
involving a long-running dispute between two lottery machine
companies, putting the Lottery's contract with a major vendor in
question. The country's largest lottery machine company, West
Greenwich, R.I.-based GTECH, challenged Florida's contract for
machines with another vendor, Automated Wagering International. |
| SCOFLA:
Court wrestles again with issue of lawyers for kids
TALLAHASSEE The state Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday over
whether abused children should have an attorney before the state puts
them in a mental facility. Some attorneys say a proposed rule that
would allow the children to have lawyers is needed, but the state
Department of Children & Families is opposed to that prospect. |
| SCOFLA:
Divorce ends man's chance to challenge paternity
TALLAHASSEE A man who agrees to pay child support as part of a
divorce can't try to stop payments later by arguing he's not the real
father, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday. "A final
judgment of dissolution of marriage which establishes a child support
obligation for a former husband is a final determination of
paternity," the high court wrote. |
| Childers
to be tried apart from other Escambia commissioners
SHALIMAR W.D. Childers will be tried separately from three other
suspended Escambia County commissioners on charges of violating the
state's open-government "sunshine law," a judge decided
Thursday. Lawyers for Childers also argued at a pretrial conference
that jurors be instructed the state must prove the former Florida
Senate president knew it was against the law to discuss public
business privately with other commissioners. |
| Miami-Dade
moves toward compromise on teacher salaries
MIAMI The school board in the country's fourth-largest district
agreed Thursday to settle the dispute over teachers' pay cuts by
negotiating the return of their lost wages. A plan approved by the
nine-member Miami-Dade County School Board last month called for a
two-day pay cut effective this school year for teachers and other
employees who make more than $20,000. |
| Sales-tax
increase backers begin push for September referendum - Supporters
of a sales-tax increase that would pay to renovate and replace crowded
and dilapidated Orange County schools hope to raise another $100,000
and give some 300 speeches in the months leading up to the September
referendum. |
| Panhandle
family questions medical care of inmate before death
MILTON Family members are questioning the medical care given a
state prison inmate before he died of pneumonia. Joseph Lorenzo
Salter, 27, died Tuesday at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution here.
He was sentenced in this Florida Panhandle city on Jan. 28, 1999 to
five years, 10 months for selling cocaine. |
| Fla.
police unit can now enforce immigration law
TALLAHASSEE -- Police officers in a state antiterrorism unit will have
the power to enforce immigration law under a pilot program created
with the federal government, the state said Thursday. |
| State
officers will have INS powers in terrorism investigations
TALLAHASSEE The state and federal governments are about to sign an
agreement that will give 35 members of Florida's Domestic Security
Task Force power to enforce immigration laws during terrorism
investigations. The agreement will solve, at least for a year,
frustrations the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has expressed
about not having the ability to detain a suspected terrorist for
violating immigration laws. |
| State
seeks $25,000 for gasoline price gouging
TALLAHASSEE The agency that monitors gasoline prices in the state
is seeking $25,000 from nine terminals accused Thursday of increasing
their prices following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Department
of Agriculture is seeking civil penalties ranging from $1,000 to
$5,000. Four terminals were hit with the larger penalty for increasing
their prices between 20 cents and 29 cents a gallon compared to a
lower penalty against five terminals that raised prices between 10 and
14 cents. |
| Florida's
bioterrorism plan gets federal nod
TALLAHASSEE A Jacksonville man comes into the hospital with
unusual symptoms, and doctors aren't sure what's causing it.
Meanwhile, others around the region are showing up at doctors offices
with similar sicknesses. But it might be days before health officials
realize there's some connection. Under that imaginary scenario, more
people could get sick because of the delay in connecting the dots, and
if it is bioterrorism, critical investigation time could be lost. |
| Drugs
identified in 1,300 Florida deaths last year
TALLAHASSEE An average of nearly 110 people died each month in
Florida last year with drugs in their system, the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement said Thursday. Heroin overdose deaths tripled in
2001 in the Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas, the report
said. It showed a 7 percent increase statewide from cocaine-related
deaths and a 30 percent increase in death from heroin overdoses. |
|
First
Eastern equine encephalitis case found in Charlotte County |
| FAU
gets presidential residence
The mansion awaiting FAU's next president is fit for royalty of the
South Florida breed. |
| Appeals
court issues landmark ruling in land-use dispute
A state Supreme Court ruling that will cause the destruction of an
apartment complex because it violates local building regulations will
make Florida developers more cautious because it shows courts will
uphold such laws, experts said Thursday. The justices upheld a lower
court decision ordering the demolition of the $3.3 million complex
because it violates Martin County regulations that say new
developments must be consistent with existing housing. The original
suit had been filed by a neighboring home owner who said the
development hurt property values. |
| Land
speculator shirked payments
Records show that Don Connolly used his money to buy tax deeds, not
make court-ordered restitution payments in a tax case. |
| Archaeologists:
Okeechobee-area canals oldest in North America
ORTONA Archaeologists Thursday announced the discovery of a
sophisticated canal system and a sacred pond dating to the year 200 in
this rural community near Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida.
Measuring seven miles, the two canals represent the longest and oldest
prehistoric canals in North America and show evidence of complexity in
Native American society that people had not previously suspected, said
Robert S. Carr, an archaeologist with the Archaeological and
Historical Conservancy. |
| Oval
Office truths strange as fiction
It's all real through today's date. |
| USDA
loan officer says Atta tried to buy plane
A U.S. Department of Agriculture official says that terrorist
ringleader Mohamed Atta tried to get a $650,000 government loan to buy
a small airplane and that he intended to outfit it with a large
chemical tank. |
| Ignoring
a growing peril
Very weird. The Bush administration has acknowledged that the United
States will experience far-reaching and, in some cases, devastating
environmental consequences as a result of global warming. But it does
not plan to do much about it. The administration has been so poor when
it comes to climate change that this odd bit of news was initially
seen as some sort of progress. |
| SEC
digs into Cheney's past at Halliburton
The SEC is now investigating Halliburton the company formerly
run by Vice President Dick Cheney for accounting irregularities.
What took so long? Dick Cheney's record at Halliburton is one of the
most under-covered stories of the past three years. When you consider
all the time and ink spent on Whitewater, the neglect of the
Cheney-Halliburton story is unfathomable. |
| Greenland
ice cover thinning rapidly
The findings add new urgency to the debate over global warming. |
| Raise
your voices, speak as one, lead the way
Great leadership does not come to the people; it
comes from the people. |
6/6/02
| State
tries to set record straight on school funding
Gov. Bush and others say bad data resulted in less federal education
money than expected. |
| Mistakes
could cost state schools $32 million in federal money
TALLAHASSEE The state scrambled to submit new figures to the
federal government after learning bad calculations could cost schools
in high poverty areas $32 million. The state was expecting about $508
million from the federal Title I program, but the federal government
determined the state should receive only $476 million because of a 1
percent decrease in per student spending during the 1999-2000 school
year. |
| Actions
don't match rhetoric on education
Here's the silver lining in the cloud hanging over Florida's public
schools: Thanks to shifting standards and inadequate funding disguised
as largess, education is as prominent as it has ever been in the
state's consciousness. |
| New
voter rolls system in place
The new database is designed to keep felons and the dead off voter
rolls. |
| Legislature
plays risky game with state budget
...What (they've) done is rely on one-time money ... to pay for
operating expenses. ...For example, to make ends meet, the Legislature
depended on $756 million that agencies didn't spend last year,
although there's no guarantee the agencies won't spend everything they
get this year and there won't be a windfall available to help cover
operating expenses in the next budget.
Legislators also penciled in $153 million to cover operating expenses
from the state's intangibles tax on stocks and bonds -- a tax that is
being phased out next year....
In a continuing effort to boost his "green" bona fides as he
seeks re-election ... To his credit, Bush vetoed the $100 million from
Florida Forever when he signed the budget yesterday, although he left
in tact spending the $104 million from the environmental trust funds.
However, while lamenting the raid on the land buying program, Bush
neglected to mention that the Legislature, at his urging, voluntarily
cut state revenues by handing out $262 million in tax breaks to the
state's large corporations.... |
| Bush
shields fund for land
The governor pleases environmentalists by vetoing a raid on Florida
Forever money. |
| Bush
cuts budget $107 million
Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed $107 million in programs and
projects Wednesday from Florida's $50.4 billion budget, ending a
three-year history of bitter spending conflicts with lawmakers just as
he launches his re-election campaign. |
| Bush
vetoes local projects, transfer of environmental money
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush signed the state budget Wednesday, but
not before vetoing $107 million in local projects and a $100 million
plan to dip into environmental reserves. The $50 billion spending plan
that lawmakers wrote last month in a 15-day special session takes
effect July 1. It's $1.4 billion bigger than the current budget, which
lawmakers trimmed by about $1 billion six months ago in the wake of
the recession and lagging tax collections. "I'm here to tell you
Florida's back," the governor said Wednesday. "Our revenues
are growing." |
| Bush
closes wallet on millions in budget
In twin moves that aggravated some lawmakers but pleased
environmentalists, Gov. Jeb Bush sliced $110 million in lawmakers'
projects from next year's state budget and thwarted legislators' plans
to raid a fund that buys environmentally sensitive lands. |
| Bush
signs budget with few vetoes
Election-year politics and crafty budget-writing blunted Gov. Jeb
Bush's veto ax Wednesday as he cut just $107 million in member
projects from the state's $50.4 billion spending plan. It was the
smallest reduction in his four-year career. |
| State
budget grows greener
Gov. Bush foils a raid on an environmental fund by vetoing more than
$100 million in legislators' hometown projects. |
| Governor
Heralds Education, Prescription Drugs In Budget
TALLAHASSEE - With the orchestrated pomp and
rhetoric of a political rally, Gov. Jeb Bush signed the state's $50.4
billion annual budget Tuesday, touting a quick rebound from a fiscal
crisis exacerbated by the Sept. 11 terrorist ... |
| Area
projects axed in state budget-- TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on
Wednesday vetoed $2 million sought by Northwest Florida lawmakers to
cover the cost of turning Navarre Beach into a state park. And in
signing the $50.4 billion state budget, Bush also used his veto pen to
eliminate another $500,000 in area projects, including a hurricane
shelter in Milton. |
| Bush
veto wipes out 4-year degree program for DBCC
Money for four-year degree programs at Daytona Beach Community College
and a proposed Volusia County Emergency Services Institute were among
the casualties Wednesday when Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed hundreds of
projects from the state budget. |
| State's
new computers have lost track of some foster children - A massive
new computer system that is supposed to keep track of every child in
state care is missing information on some children altogether and has
inaccurate data on others.--
The Department of Children & Families put a plan in place this
week to address the problems, days after missing a deadline to visit
more than 46,000 in state care. The review was ordered by Gov. Jeb
Bush last month after the agency lost track of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson
of Miami. |
| Gov.
Bush signs bill awarding retarded rape victim $8 million
TALLAHASSEE A severely mentally retarded woman who was raped while
in state care will receive $7.6 million under a bill signed by Gov.
Jeb Bush on Wednesday, more than 10 years after the assault. Kimberly
Godwin was raped and impregnated in 1991 while living in a group home
operated by what is now the Department of Children & Families. Her
family later learned she had been abused and neglected in the home for
at least three years before the assault. |
| State
awards rape victim $7.6 million
Kimberly Godwin was abused, raped and impregnated in Fort Pierce while
in a state-approved group home. |
| Democrats
cry politics in redistricting trial
Republican lawyers sharply question Democrats who claimed they were
shut out of the mapmaking process. |
| Democrat
lost district in remap, rebuffed by Republicans
MIAMI A first-term state House Democrat testified Wednesday at a
trial challenging redistricting that she had trouble getting any
Republicans to help her rebuild her district after they drew it out of
existence. State Rep. Cindy Lerner, who represents part of southern
Miami-Dade County, told a three-judge panel she was stood up for an
appointment, got no help from House attorney Miguel De Grandy and was
told by other Miami-Dade representatives that they had nothing to do
moving parts of her district into four others. |
| Agriculture
plans appeal to canker ruling; state keeps cutting
TALLAHASSEE The state will keep cutting down diseased trees while
the courts resolve the legal dispute over the citrus canker
eradication law, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said
Wednesday. The department will continue removing all citrus trees,
even exposed ones, within 1,900-feet of an infected tree if homeowners
give their permission. Crews can continue to take out any infected
trees by getting warrants if a property owner refuses access. The
state's contracted tree cutters worked Wednesday only in Collier
County, where they are getting homeowner permission to remove exposed
trees. |
| State
vows to pursue canker fight despite Broward judge's ruling -
TALLAHASSEE · The state's campaign against citrus canker won't be
stymied by a "misinformed" Broward County judge who struck
down a new canker eradication law and slowed the destruction of
healthy backyard citrus trees, Florida Agriculture Commissioner
Charles Bronson said Wednesday.
Although inspectors now must obtain a search warrant for each property
instead of using a single countywide warrant, Bronson said his
department will continue to cut trees in South Florida and elsewhere
where canker has been found even as it appeals Circuit Judge J.
Leonard Fleet's ruling. |
| A
former prosecutor whose nomination to a federal judgeship by
President...
A former prosecutor whose nomination to a federal judgeship by
President Bush was scuttled by congressional Democrats came under
intense questioning Wednesday in his bid to win a coveted seat on the
Florida Supreme Court. |
| Bob
Graham's higher-ed plan has enough signatures to get on ballot
TALLAHASSEE Supporters of changing the state constitution to
create a panel to oversee Florida's entire public university system
say they have enough signatures to get the measure on the November
ballot. U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has been the main backer of the petition
drive, which needs roughly half a million signatures to go before
voters. |
| University
leaders met secretly
ORLANDO The chairman of the Florida Board of Education has
promised to call no more closed meetings after four Florida newspapers
obtained records from the meetings under the state's open-meetings
law. "I'm sorry I put us all through it, because I don't think
the benefits of holding meetings outside the sunshine were worth the
costs," said Phil Handy, a Winter Park businessman whom Bush
appointed to chair the new state Board of Education. "So I'm
sorry for all that." |
| Handy's
arrogance
Board
of Education Chairman Phil Handy has likely come to realize that the
last thing Gov. Bush needs with his re-election campaign underway is a
messy fight over secret decision making in the upper echelons of the
ivory tower. |
| Too
cavalier -- Florida needs more
accountability for its public-university system. |
| APPOINT
GRAND JURY
There is enough muddy water swirling around the Rilya Wilson case that
a state grand jury should be impaneled to cut through the murk. State
Rep. Frederica Wilson is right to make the request of Gov. Jeb Bush.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernαndez Rundle supports this
idea. |
| Lawyers
prepare to fight DCF over foster care -- ...To this day, police
have no clue who shook Noelia violently enough to cause such
catastrophic injuries. But she is, according to a number of trial
lawyers and child advocates, among hundreds of children who are harmed
more in the state's protective custody every year than they were by
the parents who first failed them. |
| SCOFLA:
High court considers recommendation over Internet records
TALLAHASSEE The Florida Supreme Court grappled Wednesday with the
issue of Internet access to court records, but did not reach a
decision. The Judicial Management Council has recommended that the
justices impose a moratorium on electronic access to trial court
records until statewide polices to protect confidential information
are developed. |
| Ex-director
of crisis center arrested, will face embezzlement charges
For three years, the director and assistant director of the Volusia
County Rape Crisis Center turned away dozens of rape victims needing
services while they embezzled more than $100,000, prosecutors and
center officials said Wednesday. |
| Land
speculator strikes again
Another stunned homeowner emerges in the tax deed drama that has
turned a profiteer into a pariah. There's a happy ending, sort of. |
| Group:
Training, career counseling would help Panhandle economy
CHIPLEY Business and educational representatives throughout the
Panhandle agreed Wednesday that more training and career counselors
would help the region better compete for jobs and business. About 30
teachers and businessmen from 16 counties came up with the suggestions
during a three-hour meeting to brainstorm ideas to stimulate the
economy in northwest Florida. |
| Cleanup
to start at St. Marks refinery
ST. MARKS State officials are expected next week to begin cleanup
of a closed refinery where petroleum and dioxin contamination are
threatening the St. Marks River. State environmental officials found
dioxin at the site, on the Gulf coast 20 miles south of Tallahassee,
in April. |
| Lawsuit
aims to clean up sewage
Some environmentalists say they've lost patience with Apalachicola's
sewage plant problems and have filed a federal lawsuit to force the
city to take action. |
| UF
researcher develops natural control for weed
GAINESVILLE A University of Florida researcher has developed a
natural way to control a rapidly spreading weed whose name sounds like
an exotic drink the tropical soda apple. "The highly invasive
plant, which forms a dense and thorny thicket that is impenetrable to
animals and people, has been classified by the federal government as
one of the nation's most noxious weeds," said Raghavan
Charudattan, professor of plant pathology with UF's Institute of Food
and Agricultural Sciences. |
| Island
bridge work continues
It's going to be higher, wider and safer. It's going to save nesting
birds and hurricane-evacuating residents. So while there remains
concern about how it will affect the famed oyster industry of
Apalachicola Bay, most are excited by construction of the new bridge
to St. George Island. |
| Archeologists
say discovery found near Lake Okeechobee
An archaeological find near Lake Okeechobee that will be announced
Thursday will reveal more about the lives of ancient Florida Indians,
says archaeologist Robert Carr. The discovery in the Glades County
community of Ortona, a former village of the extinct Caloosahatchee
Indian tribes, comes after six years of investigations in the area. |
| Energy
firm scars county wetlands
The surveyors swung onto county land after Caloosa residents rebuked
attempts to survey on their land. |
| Census:
Miami poorest large city in the nation
MIAMI While not as poor as before, the City of Miami is the
poorest large city in the country, topping Newark and New Orleans,
according to the most recent Census numbers. The overall poverty rate
for Miami was nearly 29 percent, down slightly from 31 percent a
decade ago. The poverty rate for Newark was 28.4 percent and 27.9
percent for New Orleans. |
| Miami-Dade
teachers, school board to face off over budget cuts
MIAMI The dispute over a two-day pay cut for teachers and other
employees in the country's fourth-largest school district could climax
at a special meeting of the school board Thursday. The Miami-Dade
County school board will consider altering the $12.8 million pay
reduction it approved two weeks ago and may vote on the issue
Thursday. The cut, supported by Superintendent Merrett Stierheim
during the current budget crisis, has sparked a wave of teacher
protests. |
| Class
cutbacks
Students with the greatest need to improve their reading skills may
not get the chance this summer. In Alachua County, as well as
surrounding counties, summer school offerings have been drastically
reduced over the years because of state budget cuts. |
| Hacking
puts 4,500 students grades in doubt at Western High
Every students grades at Western High School are being re-examined
after a junior admitted hacking into the schools computer and
changing classmates grades for $5, officials said Wednesday. |
| A
lack of focus
The new visa regulations for tens of thousands of visitors from Muslim
countries will divert resources from more effective counterterrorism
efforts. |
| Global
obstinacy: President ignoring science and own advisers
For the first time the Bush administration has admitted that the
activity of humans is directly responsible for climate changes
adversely affecting the environment over the last few decades. But if
you are expecting President Bush to act on the information, you
shouldn't be holding your breath. |
6/5/02
| Schools
with the least to get less
Washington cites a drop in Florida's per pupil spending as it cuts
millions from federal aid to the poorest schools. |
| Be
proactive: Don't let child be 'left behind'
Just a few years ago, the mantra about children was
"leave no child behind." Nowadays, it is becoming more like
"leave every child behind." |
| Trustees
chairmen will open meetings
An extensive public records request revealed that Gov. Jeb Bush's
appointees have been discussing not only public policy, but politics,
outside of the sunshine. |
| Private
Talks Were Wrong, Handy Says
TAMPA - Florida's education chairman
acknowledged Tuesday he was wrong to hold private meetings with state
university leaders, a surprising change of position that will give the
public more access to how its business ... |
| University
leaders met in secret - Leaders of Florida's public universities
met secretly in January to discuss an agenda that included how to
"enhance" Gov. Jeb Bush's re-election and fight a proposed
constitutional amendment that would undo the governor's reorganization
of higher education.
The agenda turned up in documents released after the Orlando Sentinel
and three other newspapers requested records of closed meetings
between Phil Handy, chairman of the Florida Board of Education, and
the chairmen of boards of trustees at the 11 state universities.
Handy, who called the Jan. 9 meeting and insisted it be closed to the
public, said Tuesday that the reference to Bush on the agenda was a
clerical mistake and that the trustee chairmen never discussed how to
help the governor win a second term. |
| University
leaders convened secretly to discuss Gov. Bush's re-election (same
article as above) |
| Put
people before cars to improve quality of life
The solution to South Florida's mobility crisis
will require sweeping changes in the way we have historically
addressed land use and transportation planning. |
| Milking
the campaign cash cow
Congress may have passed a ban on soft money donations at the federal
level, but Florida remains the Switzerland of soft money banking. |
| Audit:
Pension fund does well overall, but one part too risky
TALLAHASSEE Florida's pension fund has outperformed similar-sized
funds in other states in market gains, but one category of investments
appears too risky, a state legislative audit says. Auditors from the
Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, an
arm of the Legislature, are urging the agency that oversees the
roughly $100 billion fund to reassess its investment of a small
portion of that in "alternative" investments. |
| Donors
to state GOP got communications contract before donation
TALLAHASSEE Executives from an investment firm that is one of the
top donors to Florida Republicans formerly worked for a company that
got a 20-year contract to develop a statewide law enforcement radio
system. The Anderson Group of Companies, based in Pittsburgh, gave
$100,000 to the Republican Party of Florida in October. Contributions
to the party are unlimited under state law. |
| Online,
but not off-base
State must be smart about what is on the Web. |
| Candidates
divided on defense of laws
Whether the attorney general should defend laws he thinks are
unconstitutional and how involved he should be in ensuring the
independence of the judiciary were top issues Tuesday night in a
debate among candidates for Florida's top legal post. |
| Judge:
Personal calls are private - TALLAHASSEE -- Records of phone calls
that government workers consider "private" do not need to be
made public, even if the calls are made on government time and on
government phones, a Leon circuit judge ruled Tuesday. |
| Judge
OKs Feeney's blacked-out phone list
House Speaker Tom Feeney followed laws when he released lists
detailing staffers' calls, a judge rules. |
| Feeney
wins fight over phone records while kicking off campaign
TALLAHASSEE Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney, who's been accused
of allowing his staff to illegally mix political and state work, won a
court fight Tuesday over the release of phone numbers called by his
staffers. Feeney's office had released dozens of pages of cell phone
calls to and from his top staff last week but blacked out the phone
numbers that were dialed. |
| Feeney
sets sights on new congressional district - APOPKA
- Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney took a day Tuesday to savor
his biggest legislative achievement: a new congressional seat designed
especially for him.--Feeney and his
family cruised aboard a cushy RV across the sprawling Central Florida
district that was designed, under the speaker's guise, to elect a
conservative Republican.-- The campaign begins even as federal judges
review the state's new congressional districts drawn this year by the
Legislature. |
| Bush
says he wants to veto transfer of environmental reserves
TALLAHASSEE Gov. Jeb Bush wants to veto provisions in the state
budget transferring $200 million from environmental reserves into the
state's all-purpose account. That's one of the last decisions he's
grappling with before signing the $50 billion spending plan Wednesday. |
| Bush
choice: budget or land - TALLAHASSEE
- A plan by the state Legislature to take $100 million from a
fund to buy environmentally sensitive land is an ''egregious act,''
Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday, adding he hopes to veto the measure when
he signs the 2002-03 state budget today. |
| Veto
ax hangs over lawmakers' local projects
The governor decides today where to trim the $50-billion state budget. |
| Out
on a limb to save our trees
Should the state be able to come into your yard and destroy your
citrus trees to fight the spread of citrus canker -- even if your tree
appears healthy? |
| Backlog
of cases swamps DCF
A private agency hired to reduce the number of unresolved cases cites
a long list of concerns about investigations and record keeping. The
state is suing the agency, saying it didn't do proper work. |
| Company:
DCF workers hid, destroyed files to hide shoddy work
TAMPA A company embroiled in a legal battle with the Department of
Children & Families accused state workers Tuesday of hiding child
abuse files to conceal shoddy work and serious allegations that were
never investigated. Officials from the nonprofit company, Florida Task
Force, said DCF workers in Lake County concealed files in the ceiling
so no one would know that cases weren't being investigated. |
| DCF,
firm trade barbs
TAMPA -- A company locked in a legal battle with the Department of
Children & Families accused state workers Tuesday of throwing case
files in the trash and hiding them in office ceilings to cover up
shoddy work.--
Similar scenarios were witnessed across the state, the most troubling
involving Lake County sex-abuse and violent-beating cases left
untouched for years, Tracy Loomis, vice president of the Florida Task
Force for the Protection of Abused and Neglected Children, told a
legislative committee. |
| With
trail gone cold, police seek new leads to find little Miami girl
MIAMI The six weeks since child welfare officials disclosed that
little Rilya Wilson is missing have yielded hand-wringing, political
posturing and recommendations for reform, but still no answer to the
underlying mystery: Where's Rilya? Investigators are scratching for
leads. They are poring over hundreds of pages of documents. |
| Harris
drawn into suit
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris must explain why her
campaign for a seat in Congress does not conflict with her legal
defense, as a state official, of new congressional districts drawn by
the Florida Legislature, a Broward County judge ordered Tuesday. |
| Foes
say districts hamper minorities
Opponents claim the congressional redistricting plan would make it
harder to elect black candidates. |
| Expert:
Three black Democrats lose power base under GOP plan
MIAMI The first three black members of Congress elected in Florida
since Reconstruction lose a notable chunk of their power base under a
Republican redistricting plan, an expert testified Tuesday in a trial
challenging the new lines. |
| Expert:
Black votes now diluted
A witness for Democrats opposed to GOP state voting maps says black
voters have lost clout. |
| Competition
silenced with voters in ghettoes
Court should block state's redistricting. |
| New
lawsuit targets tax referendum
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's Realtors, broadcasters, accountants and
others filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a tax reform referendum
that legislators placed on the November ballot. |
| Third
lawsuit filed against tax measure
TALLAHASSEE The legal assault on a ballot measure that would give
a legislative panel the power to wipe out tax exemptions continued
with a third lawsuit being filed Tuesday. The suit, filed in Circuit
Court by a coalition of business groups, alleges that the ballot
summary describing the proposed constitutional amendment is
misleading. |
| Organizers
of a ballot measure to ban smoking point to support
TALLAHASSEE Sponsors of a constitutional amendment to ban smoking
in restaurants and most other workplaces said Tuesday they've got
endorsements from dozens of groups. Most of the endorsements for the
citizen's initiative have come from health-related groups, such as the
Florida Medical Association and the Florida Hospital Association. |
|
Holland
& Knight to merge with Chicago-based law firm |
| Commission
rejects civilian review over Miami-Dade police - Voting 8-4 along
racial lines, the Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday discarded
two plans for a referendum to create a civilian oversight board,
equipped with subpoena powers, to investigate fatal shootings and
alleged misconduct by Miami-Dade County police officers. |
| Who
runs Martin's government?
Unelected dictating to the elected. |
| Florida
joins lawsuit over generic drug
Bristol-Myers is accused of boosting prices by blocking potential
competitors on a popular cancer-fighting medication. |
| Lawsuit:
Drug maker illegally kept cheap version of drug off market
COLUMBUS, Ohio Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. acted illegally
to maintain its monopoly on the cancer fighting drug Taxol and keep
cheaper generic versions off the market, according to a lawsuit filed
Tuesday by Florida and 28 other states. |
| Refinery
cleanup to begin
A state cleanup of the closed St. Marks Refinery is expected to start
next week with the emptying of tanks and possible removal of some
structures and equipment. |
|
 |
Going
on a feeding frenzy
Bellying
up to the breakfast buffet, hundreds of wading birds, including
egrets, herons, ibises, wood storks, even a roseate spoonbill,
congregated at dawn on Tuesday at drought-parched Newnan's Lake
to continue a large-scale feeding frenzy that has lasted several
days.
JOHN MORAN/The
Gainesville Sun |
|
| Broward
approves purchase of 25 locations for parks, preserves ... The
decision was a large step forward in the county's $400 million effort
to save environmentally sensitive land and improve the area's park
system. After months of controversy over whether work was moving too
slowly, the decision faced criticism from some commissioners who
thought the selections were not spread evenly across Broward.... |
|
|
| Water
at left is from the Fenholloway River before it reaches
Buckeye mill. The other sample was taken just below the
plant.
-- Don Burk/Staff |
|
Florida's
rotten river
PERRY -- Colored like cola, stinking of rotten cabbage and
holding virtually no life, the water in Florida's most polluted
river flows slowly to the Gulf of Mexico.-- A meandering 20
miles from the Buckeye Florida pulp mill that pollutes it, the
tree-shrouded Fenholloway River looks as rugged and natural as
any of North Florida's healthy rivers. Yet even where it meets
the coast, the Fenholloway still stinks as bad as the point the
mill discharges its 46 million gallons of polluted wastewater
into the spring-fed river every day. |
|
|
National
Park Service declares Stiltsville federal property-- MIAMI -- The
seven houses propped up in Biscayne Bay known as Stiltsville are
federal property, a National Park Service advisory board has ruled.
The aging houses in Biscayne National Park have long been in private
hands, but environmental groups sued last year to open up the cottages
to the public. |
| Storm
warning issued? Be on guard
Almost 10 years after Hurricane Andrew, Floridians are losing their
"hurricane culture," the state's emergency chief warned
Tuesday. |
| Staying
home in a hurricane is often safer
TALLAHASSEE -- The state needs to do a better job of not only telling
people who should evacuate during a hurricane, but who should stay
home and ride out the storm, Gov. Jeb Bush and his agency heads heard
Tuesday. |
| Deal
is made for scraps of land
A Pinellas homeowner announces a deal with speculator Don Connolly
that ends a property dispute. |
| Warming
signs: the administration
The Bush administration finally recognizes global warming -- but has
no plan for combating its harmful effects. |
| Sept.
11 panel criticizes CIA-FBI friction
Leaders of the joint Senate-House inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks
completed their historic first hearing Tuesday with a pledge not to
let leaks about intelligence failures derail a comprehensive
investigation. |
| U.S.
House to vote Thursday on making estate tax repeal permanent
These days, people with large estates to bequeath have to strategize
their deaths. The tax-cut package that became law last year eliminates
the burden of estate taxes that heirs must pay on their loved one's
assets. But to get the full advantage of that tax cut, you must die in
2009 or 2010. The estate tax will be back in full force by 2011. |
| Guest
editorial: Accountability for accountants
Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Global Crossing: These days, business news can
resemble a financial police blotter. The erosion of credibility of
many corporations continues, as the Enron affair has unleashed a rash
of allegations of dubious accounting practices, and of market insiders
corrupted by conflicts of interest. These revelations of trouble at
individual companies will continue to rattle the entire stock market
so long as Congress and regulators refuse to shore up safeguards
against corporate chicanery. |
| Guest
editorial: Human guinea pigs
Doing bad things in the name of good has been a recurrent problem for
our federal government. News that thousands of U.S. military personnel
were endangered in tests of deadly chemical and biological agents
during the Cold War looks to be one more chapter in that history. |
| The
new FBI Some new rules are needed
but privacy invasions are not. |
| Molly
Ivins: 'Why didn't somebody do something?'
AUSTIN, Texas Throwing around words like "fantastic" and
"stupefying" is considered bad form outside the tabloid
press. But I'm damned if I know what else to say about the news that
the Bush administration has decided that global warming is indeed
taking place and they are planning to do exactly nothing about it. |
| A
Great Meaningless Accord On Peril of Global Warming |
| Morton
Kondracke: McCain to fight for candidate's TV time
Improbable as enactment of campaign finance reform once looked, the
next step providing candidates with free television time looks
even more difficult. But it ought to happen. It's difficult because
the mighty broadcast TV industry which is gorging itself on
political advertising revenue while spending precious little on
political coverage will fight the idea with all the influence it
can muster. |
| Paul
Krugman: Greed is bad
"The point is, ladies and gentlemen, greed is good. Greed works,
greed is right ... and greed, mark my words, will save not only Teldar
Paper but the other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
Gordon Gekko, the corporate raider who gave that speech in the 1987
movie "Wall Street," got his comeuppance; but in real life
his philosophy came to dominate corporate practice. And that is the
backstory of the wave of scandal now engulfing American business. |
| Tougher
welfare policy ignores current economic reality
Just in time for the re-election campaign, the U.S. House of
Representatives has decided to crack down on welfare again, this time
with a proposal that insists mothers on welfare work a full 40 hours a
week. |
| White
House releases Enron documents
By Amy Schatz, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The White House reluctantly turned over the pages, which include
e-mail and other contacts with Enron. |
6/4/02
| Lawmakers
book posh Miami hotel
By S.V. Dαte, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The Senate's Fort Lauderdale lawyers will stay at Mandarin Oriental in
Miami, where rates are $395-$4,500 a night. |
| Judge:
Florida citrus canker law is unconstitutional, statewide
FORT LAUDERDALE Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet said Monday that his
earlier ruling that the state's new citrus canker eradication law is
unconstitutional applies throughout Florida. The law, passed earlier
this year, required Florida agriculture agents to cut down all healthy
citrus trees within 1,900 feet of any being chopped down because it is
infected with canker. |
| Canker ruling applies to all of Florida
In a victory for homeowners and a major blow to the state citrus industry, a Broward judge ruled on Monday that the state's new citrus canker eradication law is illegal throughout the state. |
| Citrus
cutting order extended
But citrus growers say the decision will allow canker to spread
faster. |
| Local
eradication crews stop cutting after judge rules
Chain saws fell silent in Golden Gate on Monday. The chopping and
grinding stopped, and canker crews called it an early day, after
Broward Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet said his earlier ruling that the
state's new citrus canker eradication law is unconstitutional should
apply statewide. |
| Scientists
looking for better ways to fight citrus canker
LAKE ALFRED Scientists working for better ways to detect and fight
citrus canker have been given more money for their efforts. The
federal government last year authorized $4.4 million over the next
three years for canker-related research, said James Graham Jr., a
professor of soil microbiology at the Citrus Research and Education
Center in Lake Alfred and a leading researcher of the disease. |
| Cut
taxes? Not these Republicans
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Bushes give, so Palm Beach County can't. |
| Sales
tax under review
More business groups are boarding the bandwagon against a
constitutional amendment to review sales tax exemptions. Five business
lobbies plan to file suit today in Leon Circuit Civil Court, seeking
to remove the amendment from November's ballot. |
| School
crowding: Uncool
Tallahassee passes what it once fought. |
| Students
still waiting for change
Today marks Day 72 for a group of Florida State University students
protesting their university's involvement in what they call sweatshop
practices. |
| GOP
darling Giuliani lends star power to Bush campaign
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani lends his star power to Jeb
Bush's campaign. |
| Firefighters'
union endorses Bush
Gov. Jeb Bush, accompanied by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, won
the endorsement of the state firefighters' union Monday. The Florida
Professional Firefighters backed Bush, the first endorsement
announcement of his gubernatorial campaign. The FPF represents 16,500
members from more than 150 departments around the state. |
| George
Sheldon formally announces for Democratic primary
TALLAHASSEE Deputy Attorney General George Sheldon formally
announced his candidacy Monday for the Democratic nomination for
attorney general, saying he would carry on Bob Butterworth's programs.
A former legislator and unsuccessful candidate for education
commissioner in 2000, Sheldon made the announcement at the Capitol on
his 55th birthday. |
| Deputy
attorney general to step down
Deputy Attorney General George Sheldon is leaving his $94,000-per-year
post so he can run for attorney general without the appearance of a
conflict. |
| Redistricting
trial opens with missteps, delays
MIAMI -- Frustrated by repeated delays on the opening day of a
redistricting trial, three federal judges summoned the lawyers to an
extraordinary closed-door meeting late Monday. |
| GOP
maps debated in court
Democratic critics of new, GOP-drawn maps argue in court the maps were
drawn illegally. |
| Orlando
turns up its Sunshine rules
The rules Orlando's elected officials must follow
when they talk about government business are now among the toughest in
the nation under a policy adopted by the City Council on Monday. |
| Develop
people power
The last thing Orange County needs is more influence
by developers. |
| GIVE
RESIDENTS A VOICE
In its review of the Miami-Dade Police Department, the U.S. Justice
Department last week concluded that Miami-Dade officers were not
engaged in a ''pattern or practice'' of unconstitutional conduct. |
| |
