Hurdles remain
Florida's voter database won't be ready in time
Florida has spent tens of millions of dollars on new equipment, voter education and poll worker training since the 2000 election meltdown. But none of those reforms will matter if the would-be voter is denied a chance to cast a ballot to begin with.

Panhandle airport referendum again denied on tie vote 11/27

FTAA:

King Air
For all its charms, Florida's capital city is inconveniently situated for most of the state's people and suffers chronically poor commercial airline service. But every member of the Legislature knew that before volunteering for a job that requires frequent commuting to Tallahassee, so there's no excuse for any of them to be using the state aircraft pool as private taxis.
Lawmakers use state planes to fly from Capitol to home 11/24

Johnnie Byrd's holiday wish
In this season of giving, Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is inspired. But let him tell you in his own words:

Census figures show wide gap between Florida's rich and poor 11/25

State auditor to report on $27 million disabled funding dispute 11/29

Maybe the state should tax corporate loopholes
We, as individual citizens, do not have the option of telling the state: "No, thanks, I don't feel like paying any state taxes this time."
We're taxed by the state at the cash register. We're taxed at the gas pump. We're taxed for our sins, alcohol and tobacco.
There's no escaping state taxes.
Unless, of course, you're a business.

Loosen state exemption on Scripps records
It's impossible to follow the public money.
Biotechnology boom or bust?
The Texas Research Park was supposed to spark a biotech boom in San Antonio, with 100 companies and 30,000 employees by 2020. Thirteen years later, only 15 companies with about 300 employees have set up shop. Are Florida's goals for a boom led by Scripps Research Institute overly ambitious?
FAU to pay $10 million for temporary Scripps building 11/27

Many die as doctors exploit Medicaid
A small group of Florida doctors are drugging the poor at taxpayer expense.

Voucher oversight problems slowly came to light
At first, the Department of Education did not know which students or schools were receiving the tax credit vouchers.

Jeb fudging on his scores
Fourth-grade reading scores a narrow achievement.

UF president to be among highest paid in the nation11/24

State to investigate financed at Florida A&M University 11/30

Feds still reject funding over Florida education Internet server 11/27

Justice hangs in the balance by state's reluctance to fund courts
The rule of law in Florida is in jeopardy, says Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead.
It would be a terrible tragedy, Anstead says, if at the very time President Bush is advocating the rule of law to curb terrorism the concept is diminished in Florida, where the president's brother is governor.

Legal fees mount in computer suit
The costs are escalating for fighting a lawsuit accusing the House of breach of contract over an online legislative system. 11/30

A ringing nonendorsement
Charlie Crist is doing Floridians a service by standing up to the big phone companies. Last week, the attorney general called on state regulators to reject a hefty rate hike proposal. Crist says the phone companies have failed to show that higher rates will benefit consumers in any way. He is right, and Florida's Public Service Commission should dismiss the request.

Though bill is dead, toll lanes on I-75 are still possible
A proposal to add toll lanes to Interstate 75 in Southwest Florida is gaining steam. Southwest Florida officials plan to gather next month to discuss possible ways to accomplish the project through interlocal agreements among counties stretching from Collier to as far north as Sarasota, or through the creation of a new, locally controlled expressway authority. 11/30

State will no longer be able to dump wastewater into Gulf 11/27

Radium tests of Panhandle drinking water to be conducted 11/25

Cabinet agrees to buy 13,000 acres of Panhandle land 11/26

Restoring Lake Toho bass has far-reaching effects for Everglades 11/29

Everglades projects erase decades-old development, pollution 11/27

Editorial: Cleaning up the Gulf
"America's sea, the once teeming and vibrant Gulf of Mexico, is gravely sick..." That's how this newspaper introduced a 15-part, 118-page special report exactly two months ago entitled "Deep Trouble: The Gulf in Peril." The series, which received attention on both the state and national level, wasn't all about doom and gloom. There also was hope, best expressed on the 15th day when the special report concluded with 18 specific problems and possible solutions.

Swanee Hunt: Coercive conservatism
 "When I am interviewed by the press, I must choose the words I say very carefully and must limit what I can speak about."
Confessions of political activists in a totalitarian regime? No, these are words of overseas workers in reproductive health services that receive U.S. dollars for family planning assistance...

Political prescription won't help Medicare
Bill contains nothing to lower drug costs.

Iraq becomes Operation Sitting Duck
A few days ago, two American soldiers in Iraq were shot, dragged from a truck and viciously beaten with concrete blocks. Their bodies were left on a dusty street in Mosul, a city once considered one of the safest for U.S. forces.

An un-American activity
When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in May 2002 that he was lifting restrictions on domestic spying by the FBI - rules that had been put in place in response to the bureau's excesses during the 1960s and '70s - he promised the sweeping new powers would be used only "for the purpose of detecting and preventing terrorism."

Molly Ivins: Let's give thanks for freedom
AUSTIN, Texas --This being the season, let us give thanks for freedom. As President Bush said in London: "Freedom is beautiful. It is a fantastic thing to come to a country where people are able to express their views." Indeed, freedom is so beautiful, so precious that one needs to be zealous, to be watchful, lest this priceless beauty come to harm.
Imagine my surprise to see in the headlines this Thanksgiving week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is "targeting peace groups." Operation Cointelpro is back. Now, of the various menaces faced by our republic, I must admit peace groups are not high on my list. A motley assortment of vegetarians, Unitarians, Quakers, miscellaneous pacifists, unclassified idealists, sweet damn fools, followers of Gandhi and Dr. King, and some others I suspect are far ahead of the rest of us both morally and politically. ...

Molly Ivins: Record-shattering bad legislation after another
AUSTIN, Texas -- Wow! Not one, but two huge, horrible, last-minute life-changing bills, and the second is even worse than the first! Record-shattering bad legislation immediately eclipsed by record-shattering bad legislation. These Republicans have talent: It is not easy to do this much damage to people's lives with a straight face and that unctuous air of piety.
I like the timing, too -- slipped that Medicare deform bill through just in time for the drug companies, the insurance companies and the HMOs to give loud hosannas around their Thanksgiving tables....

11/23-18/03

Are we ready?
As Election 2004 nears, Florida will be under the national microscope once again
The hanging chad is history. You won't find a punch-card voting machine or a butterfly ballot in the state. Except, that is, on display in museums as a bitter reminder of Election 2000 - a 36-day odyssey that placed Florida's hodgepodge elections procedure under a global microscope. 11/23
See also: California requires electronic voting machines to make receipts 11/23

FTAA:

Plan to transfer water meets sea of protest
CHIEFLAND - They piled into pickup trucks, church buses and vans, then headed Thursday night to this small Levy County town, driven by the one issue that unites them all:
Water.
The estimated 1,000 residents who showed up at rural Chiefland High School, home of the 10-1 Indians football team, would never advocate pumping North Florida water to the state's urban areas.

Scripps' legislative 'shield' criticized
A law meant to protect the research institute's scientific discoveries is so broad it may violate state Sunshine Laws. 11/23
Protect region's water in planning for Scripps
Otherwise, project won't be economic salvation 11/22

New med mal insurance provider approved; 2 others raising rates 11/21

Starve `Beast,' Starve Us All
Those who speak longingly of "starving the beast" by underfunding the federal government would do well to consider two scientific studies that made news in recent days.

Income's not only impediment to health coverage, panel hears
TAMPA - Jacqui Knight's leg was pinned by a garbage can filled with 400 pounds of concrete and tile, and her biggest worry was how she would pay for medical care if her leg was crushed...

State fails, then shifts the blame
The disabled have the nerve to use services... DCF Secretary Jerry Regier boasted last week that the state has increased the budget for services to the developmentally disabled by 118 percent during the past five years. But the number of people served by the program has tripled. And while the new rate for service providers reflects "an average increase of 11 percent" over last year, some districts are receiving less money... 11/21

Lawmakers fly free on taxpayers' tab
It costs thousands of dollars for legislators to use state planes to fly home - even though the law restricts the planes from commuting purposes. 11/23

Loophole foe resigns from tax committee
TALLAHASSEE - A day before he was to launch a drive to close loopholes in Florida's corporate income tax law, state Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell was replaced Wednesday as chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee.

In Florida, tax system out of date
The system got to be unfair because most of the sales-tax exemptions came from lobbyists.

Whistleblowers say company resold drugs under state contract 11/22

Martin Dyckman: Taking the initiative
TALLLAHASSEE - The lobbies that actually run Florida seem to be getting mighty apprehensive of the voters who ought to.

Fla. Senate wants to reform initiatives
A special committee is convened to change the process for citizens to amend the constitution. 11/20

Legislators pick new public advocate
Harold McLean, who was an associate public counsel from 1990 to2000, is appointed for one year. 11/22
The Tallahassee job market
 In Tallahassee today, a decision set to be made by a normally obscure committee will tell whether hope remains for the legislative process, or whether it has become so corrupt and contemptuous that members no longer even pretend to care what the public thinks.
The five senators and five House members of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee will interview and choose among the three remaining candidates to succeed Jack Shreve as public counsel. 11/21
McLean chosen as consumer advocate at Florida PSC 11/22

Common Cause opposes Florida phone rate increase 11/21
Crist fights attempts to increase phone rates 11/18
State Attorney General Charlie Crist Monday urged the Florida Public Service Commission to dismiss applications by Verizon, Sprint and BellSouth to sharply increase their rates for local basic service, saying the companies haven't shown how the changes will benefit residential customers.
Crist's Help Welcome
Florida consumers could use every helping hand they can get, and the one offered by Attorney General Charlie Crist is showing up just in time.
Senator calls for investigation of conference 11/20
Crist joins the parade
The attorney general has stirred himself to help Florida consumers - and himself. 11/19

Florida Commission on Human Relations sparks debate about human rights vs. homeland security
Human-rights activists and Homeland Security officials came together to debate the contentious issue of balancing civil liberties with the war on terrorism.

Lawmakers cry poverty on class sizes 11/21

Education commissioner concedes voucher failings 11/19
Jim Horne says he takes the blame for the mismanagement critics have identified within the program.

School-by-school tuition would undermine system
Risks to the prepaid plan, Bright Futures. 11/23

Parents rush to prepay college
Parents are signing up in record numbers for Florida's prepaid college plan, even as similar programs are struggling or closing across the country.11/23

American dream stalls for immigrant students seeking higher education 11/23

State decides not to raise FCAT bar to higher standards
The Florida Board of Education chooses not to change achievement standards, though state rules call for changes.

GOP governors cite challenges for Bush
Some Republican governors, meeting in Boca Raton, say concerns over the economy and the White House's mission in Iraq could threaten the president's reelection.
Even as President Bush's reelection campaign manager laid out plans for a GOP landslide in 2004, some Republican governors and strategists worried aloud Saturday that the White House is underestimating the political dangers of job losses and the increasingly bloody war in Iraq. 11/23
Republican governors talk politics, presidential campaign, Iraq 11/23

Undemocratic Democrats
All nine presidential candidates say they won't come to the state party convention if the delegates -- gasp -- vote.

Bush appeals judge's refusal to drop out of Schiavo case 11/22

GUN CONTROL
Legislators' attempt to block police from ownership records absurd
If you're a prosecutor or a police officer in Florida, here are some names to remember: Juan-Carlos Planas of Westchester; Carl Domino of Jupiter; Ken Sorensen of Key Largo; Mark Mahon, John Quinones and Mike Davis of Jacksonville; Curtis Richardson and Lorraine Ausley of Tallahassee; Don Davis of Naples; Dennis Ross of Lakeland; Jeffrey Kottkamp of Cape Coral; Kevin Ambler of Lutz; and Gaton Catens of Miami.

Florida death sentence elicits outrage in Spain
Spaniards have raised $150,000 to pay for the Death Row appeal of Pablo Ibar, who was convicted of a 1994 triple murder in Miramar.
When George W. Bush traveled oversees for his first major diplomatic mission two years ago, Spaniards held vigils in the streets for three men on Florida's Death Row.

Volatile nature derailed Oliphant
 Miriam Oliphant stood beaming beside Gov. Lawton Chiles 12 years ago this month as he lavished praise on her before more than 150 political insiders and education activists gathered at the Rio Vista home of influential lobbyist George Platt. 11/23
A timely dismissal
Gov. Jeb Bush's removal Thursday of Broward County's incompetent elections chief starts the process of restoring public faith in one of nation's largest voting jurisdictions. Miriam Oliphant was unfit for office. She failed repeatedly, after several opportunities, to show she could conduct valid elections and instill confidence in the electoral process. 11/21
Broward elections supervisor removed by governor 11/21

Hastings not running for Graham's Senate seat 11/21
U.S. Rep. Hastings endorses Lieberman for president 11/20

Prejudices set in stone are relevant today
An older African-American man approached me a few days ago and, after confirming that I write for the St. Petersburg Times, asked if I had read the plaque in Williams Park that is dedicated to World War I veterans. Although I have lived in St. Petersburg 10 years, rent a mailbox at the outdoor post office and go there every day, I had not read the plaque.

Slavery? In Florida? In 2003? Yes
Three stood up for the state's farm workers.

How Rush can be a model addict
Stand up for those who can't get treatment.11/23
Source: Authorities investigating Limbaugh for money laundering 11/20
Limbaugh returns to radio after drug treatment, promises 'more honesty' 11/18

UF software knocks swappers offline 11/23

State stalls manatee decision, adds butterfly to endangered list 11/20
Retain manatee status
Wrong vote by state panel would shift momentum. 11/18

Feral cats to be trapped
Amid protests from animal-rights groups and neighbors, the government will trap feral cats in Key Largo with the aim of saving the endangered Key Largo woodrat and cotton mouse.
Bad kitty. The government says you've been killing endangered animals, a crime that may cost you your life. After years of wringing their hands over the fast demise of endangered Key Largo rodents, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has launched a program to trap and kill feral cats in Key Largo's Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Animal rights activists are outraged. Others wonder why cats need to be caught at all in a refuge inhabited by large, voracious reptiles. 11/23

Vet under fire for approving wood chipper for chickens
A complaint was filed against a veterinarian who allegedly authorized killing 30,000 hens by dumping them alive into a wood chipper. 11/23

Overtime pay revise close to punching in
Sweeping changes in federal rules for overtime pay were headed for approval after Sen. Arlen Specter gave up attempts to block them.

House-Senate conferees approve Medicare plan
Bitterly divided House and Senate conferees approve a sweeping restructuring of Medicare, including a prescription drug benefit. 11/21

A powerless public
'New' energy bill would not meet nation's needs.

White House Watch: Husband of outed spy making noise 11/22
WASHINGTON -- What do you do if the White House gets angry at you -- really, really angry?
If you're Joe Wilson, you become a media star, and you don't get mad -- you get even.

Molly Ivins: The sin of omission
AUSTIN, Texas -- Sins of omission, sins of omission, so often so much more grave than our sins of commission. And we rarely pay for them in a timely fashion -- it is usually further on down the road that the gravity of whatever it was we should have done and failed to do becomes apparent. But the Bush administration seems to be an exception to this rule. The consequences of what the Bushies resolutely ignore, shove under the rug or divert our attention from seems to come back to bite them with atypical speed.

11/17-13/03

FTAA: U.S., Brazil deal to make things easier turns into roadblock
MIAMI -- Negotiations to turn the Americas into the world's largest free trade zone hit an early roadblock Monday as Canada and Chile complained about a deal reached by Brazil and the United States that was aimed at making the talks smoother.
Brazilian, U.S. business leaders discuss need for FTAA
Governments must work to achieve a hemispheric free trade agreement despite differences in how each country views such a treaty, U.S. and Brazilian business leaders told a luncheon audience at the Americas Business Forum on Monday.
Streets calm as trade talks begin
A work week like few in South Florida history began today with nothing more than modest traffic delays, a few gas masks confiscated, a visible display of authority in Downtown Miami and only a hint of what might lie in store for the rest of the week.
First protest peaceful, but tensions stay high
A march against the Free Trade Area of the Americas is peaceful, but tensions surrounding this week's summit remain high as protesters say they are targets for arrest.
Even as the first major protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit went off without a hitch in Broward County Sunday, police in downtown Miami were out in force and some businesses were shuttered.
VIDEO: Police prepare for protesters at FTAA talks (WB39)
Anti-globalization protesters share same goal: Shut down free trade talks
FTAA protesters start 34-mile march from Broward to Miami
FORT LAUDERDALE · With the pageantry of a parade and the passion of a prayer revival, hundreds of protesters began a three-day march Sunday through Broward County, a trek that will end in downtown Miami with a massive demonstration against the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.
Trade talks put Miami on edge
The city prepares to host a trade agreement meeting and the people who want to denounce it.
Sun Sentinel FTAA coverage
Some 20,000 protesters are expected as Miami hosts a Free Trade Area of the Americas summit from Nov. 17-21. The free trade pact would include 34 nations is is a keystone of President Bush's Latin American policy. The protesters range from union workers to anarchists, people concerned about the loss of U.S. jobs, exploitation of foreign workers, environmental harm and unchecked corporate imperialism.
**Miami braces for protesters, trade disputes at globalization talks
**Miami bans specific items from hands of trade talk protesters
**Three arrested ahead of free trade talks in Miami
**Speedy trial guarantees to be suspended in Miami for trade talks
**U.S. businesses take sides on free trade area spanning Western Hemisphere
**Miami vying with at least eight cities for free trade headquarters

Undressed to protest
Gapatista group sheds clothes in demonstration
Six members of a group called the Gapatistas and five other local people stripped to their underwear Sunday evening at an Old Navy store to protest alleged sweatshop conditions worldwide and redwood-forest destruction led by the Fisher family, which founded Gap Inc.

Expert: State fails in antismoking efforts
Legislators are chided for slashing antismoking funds for teens and not helping adults to quit.

Senators to look at ballot process
King seeks tougher amendment rules
Senate President Jim King thinks the Florida Constitution is too easy to change - so he's putting together a select committee on constitutional-amendment reform to recommend ways to make it more difficult.

Florida Attorney General asks PSC to reject phone rate hike
TALLAHASSEE -- Attorney General Charlie Crist joined the fray over a proposed local service rate hike for the state's three largest phone companies Monday, asking regulators to throw out the $350 million request for lack of evidence of a corresponding drop in long distance rates.

State appoints panel to guide investment in biotechnology firm

Better at getting worse
After the Legislature passed a version of malpractice insurance reform in four tries, the premiums aren't going down. They're just going up more slowly.

Admissions Game
The stakes are higher. The rules have changed. And not everyone can win.

State disguises dropout rate
Brevard reported the second-best dropout rate in Florida last year, with just 0.7 percent of high school students dropping out compared with 3.1 percent statewide. Because Florida doesn't count students leaving for adult education or GED programs as dropouts, some critics say Florida's low dropout rate disguises the real number of students falling out of the system.

Bush signs measures to give schools money
$69 million for public schools, state colleges and universities

Bush says Florida will put up $2 million for vouchers

Office shows downfalls of privatization
The Florida Legislature's accountants have struck a small blow against privatization. A new report by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability is not going to roll back the trend of "outsourcing" government work to private companies.  But OPPAGA's study of the Florida Retirement System's programs for employee education at least shows how an objective cost-benefit comparison can be done.

Manatees remain threatened
All these years we've been worrying about manatees, the lumbering, lovable, weed-munching icon of Florida bays and waterways. Hacked by boat propellers, poisoned by red tides, annihilated by winter chills -- it's been a sad story.

Sen. Graham searches for new challenges

Florida Dems cancel straw ballot
Instead of the non-binding Florida beauty contest many activists wanted, Democratic hopefuls for the White House will attend town hall meetings and receptions.
Florida Democrats helped spark the presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in years past with an early ''straw poll'' of activists, but they will not get that chance this time.
Democrats scrap straw poll
Bowing to pressure from the Democratic National Committee and the party's many candidates for president, Florida's Democratic Party will stage an Orlando-area state convention in December without a "straw-poll" popularity contest for the candidates.

President Bush tends to politics in Sunshine State

Bush-Cheney training activists for the 2004 Florida campaign

Bill targets racist place names
Senator wants offensive slurs off map
Appalled by worldwide news reports that a rural Florida bridge bore the offensive name of a character in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," a veteran South Florida legislator wants public agencies to check their maps for any racial slurs.

Florida high court says NAACP can challenge rules eliminating affirmative action

Elections chief's fate fans passions
The Broward County supervisor, who faces possible suspension, is rallying allies in a debate rife with racial overtones.

Demand for Five Wishes living will up tenfold

Gov. Bush declines investigation of Panhandle special prosecutor

Farm workers get another raw deal
The fate of the nation's farm workers is again at the center of immigration and labor legislation in Washington. Again, these invaluable workers are getting a raw deal. The big difference this time is that most farm worker advocacy organizations have compromised with lawmakers and growers on policies they traditionally have rejected.

Security versus liberty
Holding terrorism suspects outside U.S. territory to keep them away from jurisdiction of the American legal system sets a risky precedent.

11/12/03

Miami gets ready for free trade talks
As the U.S. and other nations in the Free Trade Area of the Americas prepare for another round of meetings, South Florida - and those who will come to Miami to support or protest the free trading bloc - is gearing up.
FTAA in Miami: Complete coverage from Miami Herald

Former Bay planning commissioner sues St. Joe over development

State report on Oliphant won't be issued today
A widely anticipated report on the performance of Broward's elections office will not be released as expected today, prolonging the tension over whether Supervisor Miriam Oliphant will be suspended by the governor.

FCAT confidential
Contents shouldn't be top secret
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is as powerful as it is controversial, the results determining not only the academic fate of individual students but also the grade given to public schools they attend. Despite the FCAT's influence on so many Floridians, however, its contents have remained - as far as parents are concerned - classified.

Bush aides considered fabricating voucher explanations
Palm Beach Post reports on a suspect corporate voucher program prompted the never-adopted strategy.

Vouchers withheld from 41 schools
Several private schools fail to comply with state rules requiring extra information in order to receive payments.
Judge: State must post $2 million to keep running voucher program

Scripps waffles on research site
The biotech group changes its mind about land it chose for a Florida facility and now may want to be next to FAU.
Landowners scramble over Scripps
The developer of Abacoa adds a wrinkle, and some see drawbacks in locating there.

Byrd bonds with Scripps deal
Cancer, schmancer. Real goal is better marriages.

Lawsuit to be filed again
One day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a federal lawsuit aimed at overhauling Florida's foster-care system, a local children's advocate promised to refile the suit in state court.

DCF to audit developmentally disabled service providers\

State agency spent $1 million in Broward day-care funds on books, toys
A state agency that hands out tax dollars to poor families in Broward County to offset the cost of day care and preschool bought about $1 million in educational books and toys with surplus funds late in the last fiscal year rather than return the money to the state.

Disabled adults may be evicted from group homes due to state budget cuts
Hundreds of developmentally disabled adults throughout Florida face eviction from group homes because of unexpected cuts by the state's child welfare agency.

Review finds convictions, arrests in Juvenile Justice staff

Politics turns a tragedy into cruel charade
Schiavo law should be overturned In an act of callous political opportunism, Gov. Jeb Bush last week basically kicked down the door of a hospice and forced a feeding tube down poor Terri Schiavo's throat. (10/26/03)

Clearwater judge turns down Bush move to dismiss Schiavo lawsuit

Environmental groups ask to join defense in manatee suit

Construction of Everglades filter marshes nearly complete
But many questions still remain concerning efforts to reduce phosphorus levels in the Everglades.

Too weak on Everglades
Restoration rules leave too much wiggle room.

Environmental lawyer named to referee Everglades cleanup dispute

Escambia officials worried about runoff from 'Mount Dioxin'

Tariff Backfires - In Spades
The United States and a duty it levies on steel imports have been dealt a hard blow, again proving that using commercial policy to curry favor with domestic voters can backfire badly.
An appellate panel at the World Trade Organization, which settles commercial disputes between countries, has ruled that special U.S. duties on imported steel are illegal. The ruling is not official until the WTO formally accepts it, which could happen later this month.

Limbaugh to resume show Monday
The conservative commentator returns after completing a 5-week addiction treatment program.

Partisan hypocrisy on display
Starting today, Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his fellow Republicans plan to stage a 30-hour speechfest to accuse Democrats of imposing ideological litmus tests on President Bush's judicial nominees. The showboating is partisan hypocrisy of the first order, and it can only further poison the nominating process for federal judges.

Going soft on dirty air
Polluters are about to get another break from the Bush administration. As many as 50 power plants that are in apparent violation of clean air regulations are likely to be let off the hook, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency revealed recently. Instead of pursuing those cases, the EPA will wait until next month when weaker regulations are in place and then re-evaluate the situation. Under that scenario, many or all of the plants could avoid any sanctions.

Bush grows increasingly distant from women's issues
Look at all that gloating testosterone. If ever there was an image that testifies to President Bush's growing disconnect with women voters, it's the bill-signing ceremony last week to ban a type of late-term abortion that Republicans have dubbed partial-birth abortion.

God blesses -- but also punishes
George W. Bush and the miraculous election.

11/2/03

Sorry, no news until the November 14 or thereabouts.  The news posting will resume when we return from the National Conference on Media Reform .

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