Florida News -Sept 9-15, 2002

NOTE - 
If the link to the on-line articles has changed, search the paper's archive section by date and title - i.e. Sometimes Palm Beach Post links are only good for the day posted, and there is a fee to access archived articles. 

9/15/02

Paradise Sold?
The first people made mounds to celebrate the sacredness of Florida's land. The 16th- century voyager Juan Ponce de Leon thought Florida might have rejuvenating waters and named it after the flowers of Easter. The 18th-century naturalist William Bartram saw it as an only slightly fallen Eden, "a glorious apartment in the boundless palace of the Sovereign Creator, inexpressibly beautiful and pleasing." It seems 21st-century Floridians just want to make a profit.

Bush denies lobbying for company after donation
The governor wrote a federal official to help the Florida liquor manufacturer and GOP donor in a trademark dispute....

Shift blame in elections from voters-- "What is it with Democrats having a hard time voting? I don't know," Jeb Bush said Tuesday.-- 
What is it with Jeb Bush having a hard time being serious about voting? I don't know.

TV ads portray Bush as an advocate of 'average' people - TALLAHASSEE -- While Democrats are mired in confusion over who represents them in the governor's race, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has begun a new, upbeat stage of his campaign for re-election in November.
Call this one: Jeb Bush, man of the people.
The Republican Party of Florida, which has spent $9 million since July, has started airing a new television ad statewide on the governor's behalf, telling the story of a traffic light that Bush placed in front of a school in rural Macclenny, in North Florida.
This will be followed through the fall by a one-a-day release of campaign testaments from "average" Floridians about what the governor has done for them -- including people who have seen the traffic-light ad and e-mailed with offers of help...

Reno campaign: Miami-Dade results narrowing McBride's lead
MIAMI -- Bill McBride's lead over Janet Reno in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary has dwindled to 5,198 votes, according to numbers released Sunday by the Reno campaign. ... With only three questionable precincts left in Miami-Dade and with fewer votes expected from Broward - the only place expected to turn up a significant number of new votes _ it appears that it would be difficult for Reno to pick up more than 5,000 votes and overtake McBride when official results are certified Tuesday.
Miami-Dade officials said they would not release details about the number of votes found until Tuesday, the state deadline. County Elections supervisor David Leahy refused to say how Reno's campaign got the numbers or to guess if she could catch McBride....

Fee fie fo fum, who's that atop Bill's beanstalk?
They're calling Bill McBride the giant killer, having apparently vanquished former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno by the narrowest of margins. But the real giant lives, and he resides in the governor's mansion McBride would claim as his own. 

To get to Tallahassee, you have to travel I-4
The first campaign I covered in Florida occurred in 1986. Bob Martinez, the mayor of Tampa who switched from Democrat to Republican in the great wave of Democratic defections in the South, was running for governor....

Primary Turmoil May End Tuesday
TAMPA - The traumatic Democratic primary for governor should come to an end Tuesday, the Janet Reno and Bill McBride campaigns both said Saturday. ...

Cheaper touch-screen equals system failure- It was common knowledge among Florida election officials that the million- dollar voting machines produced by elections giant Election Systems & Software were ill-suited for large, urban counties.-- 
That didn't stop price-conscious Miami-Dade and Broward counties from buying the ES&S system and putting it to its biggest public test yet in Tuesday's statewide primary....

Broward election problems no surprise-- DADE CITY -- Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning wasn't surprised by the election meltdown in Broward County. Nor was he surprised at the fierce criticism of rookie Broward election chief Miriam Oliphant.
"I think you'd find other supervisors would agree with me. We knew there were going to be problems in Broward," he said.
Browning said he became concerned about Broward when Oliphant began missing meetings of the election bosses from the 11 counties using ES&S machines for the first time. They got together regularly for months before the election, discussing problems and brainstorming solutions. The idea was to avoid the confusion and breakdowns that marred the state's presidential election in 2000.

Lack of training, complex technology led to major mistakes on Election Day
In Pasco County, poll workers received 12 hours of training before Election Day on how to use new touch-screen voting machines. Sarasota County's poll clerks did, too -- and they had to pass a written test. The few who didn't pass got more training. Other counties with new touch screens held dry runs and mock elections.

Hand-count works for Union County
Sometimes, the old ways are best. Union County, for example, has had trouble-free elections dating back at least to the early 1920s as the only county in Florida that continued to hand count its ballots. But that changed this year, with a state mandate decreeing all counties use voting equipment that automatically tallies votes at each precinct and spits them back at the voter if they're filled out incorrectly.

We don't know what we're dealing with - "Forget it, Jake -- it's Chinatown."
That is the last line to the movie Chinatown...I've been thinking about Chinatown since Tuesday, when the supposedly new-and-improved Florida election process turned into another mess.
We thought we knew what we were dealing with, but believe me, we didn't.
And is there any better line than "Forget it, Jake -- it's Chinatown" to explain to the rest of the country what happened here?...

Shift blame in elections from voters
In Election Fiasco II, 'stupid' is as 'stupid' does.

Some real funny business in this election
In a stunning twist to last week's election debacle, late poll results from Miami-Dade and Broward counties have catapulted the comedian known as Carrot Top ahead of front-runners Bill McBride and Janet Reno in the Democratic race for governor.

McBride hits the campaign trail-- Janet Reno says the business at
hand is counting all the votes -- 
MIAMI — Workers waded through stacks of machines looking for uncounted votes Saturday, as Bill McBride said it was time to get past Florida's disputed gubernatorial primary and work on unseating Jeb Bush. McBride spoke to a raucous crowd of about 200 chanting "Bill! Bill! Bill!" at a Florida Education Association meeting in Orlando. But former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who trailed McBride by 8,196 votes in unofficial totals, says the business at hand is counting all the votes — including thousands that may have been missed in her South Florida strongholds of Broward and Miami-Dade...

Ongoing counts hobble McBride
The political neophyte can't get out of the starting blocks in his race with Gov. Jeb Bush because of voting questions...

McBride campaign hurt
Janet Reno's voting challenge has cost Bill McBride the momentum that comes with a primary victory.

McBride's breakthrough
The final vote still isn't official, but the controversy shouldn't overshadow Bill McBride's remarkable surge in the Democratic gubernatorial primary...

Cash will flow in governor's race
Jeb Bush won't have to worry about money as he campaigns for re-election this fall.

Another Florida election
Bill McBride's unorthodox campaign demolished all the early assumptions about the Democratic race for governor...

They're laughing at us in Texas
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- That sound behind me is not that of a mugger about to relieve me of my hard-earned cash or a wayward longhorn fixing to pin me to a mesquite tree...

In 2004, Dade will try going with a coin flip
After recounting the votes, a Miami-Dade County election official declared Al Gore the winner of the gubernatorial primary.

Florida election workers in Reno stronghold find uncounted votes; examination continues
Election workers in Janet Reno's stronghold of Broward County have found uncounted votes from last week's primary, though officials didn't say how many. The votes were found Saturday in a precinct that first reported no votes, said Willie Weslie, project manager with Election Systems & Software Inc., which made the touchscreen voting machines used in the county...

Miami-Dade officials try to explain what happened-- 
Eleven other Florida counties had the same kind of touch-screen voting machines used in Miami-Dade County, where voting irregularities have tied up another major election. They were operated by similar crews of mainly elderly volunteers who had worked low- tech elections for years. So why did Tuesday's primary go so well in those places and so miserably here?...

South Florida's voting machine trouble could be used as weapon against Bush
Janet Reno's campaign for governor is trying to build a sweeping case against the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines that campaign officials believe may be responsible for Reno's losing thousands of votes in the Democratic primary.

Misdirected blame won't explain the Election Day debacle
It's not always easy being a Florida Democrat. Sometimes it requires you to shut down your critical faculties and disconnect yourself from reality in order to buy into the party line...

Medicare cuts impact patients and physicians-- 
Medicare patients don't know it, but doctors may roll up the welcome mat come January. Nothing personal, physicians say. The blame goes to Congress and the federal government. Reimbursement cuts for patient care under Medicare, the government insurance for people 65 and older, is causing a simmering revolt — and physicians aren't going to take it anymore...

More health costs, less access
By Fran Hathaway, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
As employers cut back, employees go without.

Public School Inc.
Charter schools are evolving into something radically different from what lawmakers intended -- and they are wildly popular. Does it matter that educating Florida's children is falling to private corporations? ...

FCAT Requirement May Hold Back Some Learning- Disabled Students
TAMPA - Actor Tom Cruise and businessman Charles Schwab have the same type of learning disabilities that may keep some Florida students from earning high school diplomas this year. ...

Man: Incident a misunderstanding -- 
DAVIE — Insisting he and his friends bore no resentment toward anyone, one of the three men detained in a terror scare said Sunday that the entire situation was a misunderstanding. Kambiz Butt, 25, said that he and fellow medical students Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary, 23, simply want to clear their names and be allowed to continue their education in the United States. "We're medical students. We are not terrorists," Butt said, flanked by Gheith and Choudhary. "Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want to help people. We do not want to hurt."...

Muslims turned away after scare 
The head of a Miami hospital says the three men detained on Alligator Alley aren't welcome there...

Noelle Bush's counselors subpoenaed; lawyer says they won't talk-- An attorney for workers at the drug-treatment center where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter was caught with crack cocaine last week said it is illegal for staffers to cooperate with police...

Birds fall prey to signal towers
Millions die every year, leading groups to petition the FCC for a moratorium on new structures along the Gulf Coast.

Ranchers, intruders face off over mind-blowing fungi
Angry cattle ranchers throughout Central Florida — a region awash in nearly daily deluges — say they're chasing off the mushroom hunters several times a week. "I've had nothing but trouble since the rains began," said Jim Adams, who manages 2,000 acres where he keeps 300 head of cattle in east Orange County. "This year has been worse than ever."

Mayor says spring break is no place for kids - DAYTONA BEACH -- The mayor has a message for high school students who want to crash spring break this year: The party's over.

Hiding millions more complicated 
Legislation would place new limits on those trying to cheat the system by buying mansions.

A court's troubling secrecy
It is troubling that the first-ever hearing of a special federal appellate court, whose function is to review decisions on the extent of the government's wiretap authority, was conducted in secret and without input from any source outside the Justice Department.

Bush's religious prescription
They say no one has the zeal of a convert, and our president is living proof. The former ne'er-do-well frat boy beat back his problem with alcohol by finding religion. Now Bush wants to put the nation on a prayer diet. For whatever ails you, Bush believes a spoonful of salvation is the answer. And while a prescription drug plan for seniors will have to wait, Bush is determined to get government to underwrite his religious prescription -- whether or not he has congressional approval...

Never forget what?
Candor is so little prized in Washington that you want to shake the hand of anyone who dares commit it. So cheers to Andrew Card, the president's chief of staff, for telling The Times' Elisabeth Bumiller the real reason that his boss withheld his full-frontal move on Saddam Hussein until September: "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."...

Graham steps up - In the looming question concerning possible U.S. military action against Iraq, Florida's U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is playing an important role in the framing of the debate.
As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Graham has extraordinary access to national security secrets. So his declaration last week that President Bush's focus on Saddam Hussein diverts attention from more deserving targets in the war on terrorism cannot be easily dismissed....

Maureen Dowd: W.'S conflicts of interest
When George W. Bush ran for president, he mocked Bill Clinton's addiction to pollsters and promised to tear down the cynical White House trellis of politics and policy. As it turned out, Bush didn't need the permanent campaign. He has something far more potent: the permanent war....

9/14/02

2,000 votes found in Miami-Dade, Broward also reviewing totals
A day after Bill McBride claimed the Democratic nomination for governor, election supervisors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties launched a precinct-by-precinct review of election returns that could throw the outcome of the governor’s race into doubt.

Elections board rejects Reno request for statewide recount
MIAMI -- The Florida elections board rejected Janet Reno's request Friday for a statewide, manual recount in the gubernatorial primary, while South Florida officials continued searching for uncounted votes, perhaps enough to erase Bill McBride's lead

State turns down Janet Reno's request for statewide recount in bungled Florida primary race
MIAMI — Janet Reno asked for a statewide recount Friday of every vote in Florida's botched primary and was promptly turned down by the state elections board. The secretary of state, however, said counties could continue to look for untallied votes that could erase Bill McBride's lead in the Democratic race for governor.

Miami-Dade, Broward reviewing votes to see how many went uncounted
Janet Reno wants elections officials in South Florida to review results from more than 300 precincts that she believes may yield thousands of uncounted votes that could help her overtake Bill McBride for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The Reno campaign released lists of more than 300 precincts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties where she thinks votes were not accurately counted.

Broward County may have to search for missing ballots; Dade review begins
Concern over the accuracy of results from this week's primary spread into Broward County on Friday as Miami-Dade County launched a comprehensive review of votes harvested from its new touch-screen machines.

No recount for Reno
Friction grows between the McBride and Reno camps, worrying state Democratic Party officials.

McBride: 'We need to get on' with race; Reno: Let's make sure all votes counted
Despite declaring himself the winner of the Democratic nomination for governor, Bill McBride found his campaign paralyzed Friday as he failed to wrest the public's attention away from South Florida's voting fiasco.-- 

McBride Team Reorganizing For Campaign TAMPA - Announcing that he's ``not waiting any more,'' Bill McBride told his staff Friday he's going ahead with his campaign, with or without a concession from Janet Reno. -- 
``I'm the Democratic nominee, and I need to get on with my election against Jeb Bush,'' he said. ``We're losing days here.'' -- 
The campaign will be in reorganization mode over the weekend, focusing in part on a new campaign manager and a running mate. 

Unsettled Florida primary could undermine Democrats' efforts to bring down Gov. Bush
TAMPA — Bill McBride had promised to "whip out like a slingshot" into the general election, building on the momentum of taking down a giant in Janet Reno as he turned his focus on an even bigger target — Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. But Reno's refusal to concede the Democratic nomination could slow McBride's momentum and undermine the Democratic effort to oust Bush this fall.

Unity, focus on issues crucial for Democrats
On the apparent losing side of a razor-thin margin, with voting irregularities afflicting Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Reno has every right to be extremely frustrated. Every Floridian does, regardless of party.

NAACP threatens election lawsuits
Black leaders may sue Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida over voting problems.

Blacks Feel Disenfranchised in Fla. -- It wasn't supposed to happen again. The state spent $32 million and counties spent millions more to train poll workers on high-tech voting systems to replace the punchcard ballots and hanging chads of the last election.
Miami-Dade County alone spent $25 million preparing for this election.
But when Christopher Edley Jr. and other members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission visited the state in June, elections officials said they weren't ready. And Edley warned that "a disaster seemed to be in the making."
"My fear is that officials haven't taken the necessary steps to counter these traditional patterns, starving poor communities and minority communities of the resources they need for the democratic infrastructure," says Edley, a Harvard Law School professor.-- 
"The Constitution no longer permits votes to be discounted on the basis of color and class. And whether that happens by intention or by accident, it's a problem we ought to fix."...

Miami leads the country with percentage living in poverty - The number of impoverished households led by single mothers has also decreased. In 1990, 4,728, or 70.8 percent, single mothers with children under the age of five in Miami were living below the poverty level. That number dropped to 3,398, or 61 percent, in the latest census.

Lucy Morgan - Elections are scarier than a terrorist threat
Once again we get a civics lesson -- at our expense.

Get accurate vote count
Orlando Sentinel: A recount of primary ballots is justified given South Florida voting discrepancies.

Elections on the ballot in the vote for governor
Palm Beach Post Editorial
New responsibilities for state's next leader.

Jones is one to watch
The head pounds. The palms sweat. The mind races. Bill McBride or Janet Reno? Who really won the Democratic primary for governor despite all the messes at polling places from Miami to Orlando to Jacksonville? Would the results have been different if the elections had gone smoothly without the usual bungling by local elections supervisors?

High Court agrees Florida ballot price tag law unconstitutional
TALLAHASSEE — A new state law requiring that voters be presented with price tags for proposed ballot initiatives is unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, agreeing with a lower court judge. Lawmakers in May passed a law requiring state analysts to prepare statements spelling out the likely cost of citizen initiatives.

Regier seeks raises for DCF workers
TALLAHASSEE -- Department of Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier said Friday he will ask for more money for salary increases when he delivers his budget proposal to Gov. Jeb Bush next week.

Broward DCF chief criticized for e-mails -- The top child welfare administrator in Broward County is under fire for writing inflammatory e-mails that describe a former child advocate as a "sourpuss" and seek to oust a legislator from a key committee post.

USF speech canceled in protest
TAMPA -- A prominent Islamic scholar at Georgetown University has canceled a speech at the University of South Florida next month because of the school's handling of the case of professor Sami Al-Arian.

Genshaft allies cite her religion in Al- Arian case
An Internet petition seeks support for her among Jewish advocacy groups.

Glazing over ethics: Flagler School Board crossed a line
Earlier this week Flagler County voters approved a half-cent sales tax to benefit the School Board's construction and technology initiatives, and that is a very good thing. Not so good is the way the School Board and its teachers went about selling the initiative to voters. A clear line keeps politics and schools' mission separate. The board and teachers crossed it. 

Noelle Bush's court hearing is postponed
A court hearing was postponed Friday for Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, who police said was caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehabilitation center earlier this week, because clinic staffers are refusing to cooperate with investigators.

Drug-treatment staff subpoenaed
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office has joined the Orlando Police Department in the drug investigation of Noelle Bush, issuing subpoenas to four workers at the drug-treatment center where the governor's 25-year-old daughter is staying.

Protecting gays good business, city is told
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, in town to speak at a convention of advocates for gay rights in the workplace, called on Orlando leaders to adopt a controversial measure to protect local gays from discrimination.

811 AMI letters among items collected - BOCA RATON · At least 811 letters are part of the almost 5,000 pieces of evidence removed from the anthrax-contaminated American Media Inc. building in the past two weeks -- part of a yearlong investigation that has yet to reveal the letter that exposed tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens to the deadly disease.

Alligator Alley reopened after terror scare
Authorities found no explosives in two cars belonging to three men of Middle Eastern descent who were stopped on a South Florida interstate Friday after a woman reported they had made suspicious comments at a Georgia restaurant.

Trio stopped after Georgia woman's tip
What began Friday morning as a potential terrorism attack on Miami that fixed South Floridians to their televisions, tied up hundreds of police officers and shut down one of the state's busiest highways for nearly 16 hours ended Friday evening with a colossal thud.

Man calls his detention in terror scare an injustice
NAPLES -- One of three men detained after a terror scare on a Florida highway said the experience was an injustice that should never be repeated.-- ``I learned that injustice, regardless against whom, is wrong,'' Ayman Gheith said in an interview late Friday on CNN. ``It is against us today, tomorrow it could be against you.'' ... ``We are very upset. I think this is all fabrication. I don't know what the lady in the restaurant heard or assumed. She must have had some kind of prejudice,'' said Javed Chaudhary, a native of Pakistan.

FDLE chief: Prevention works
The Friday apprehension of three men who were suspected of planning a terrorist attack in South Florida shows the state is prepared, said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore.

Incident shows post-9/11 changes
In an unchanged America, the snippet of conversation between three young men in a Shoney's restaurant might have gone unnoticed by the woman sitting at a nearby table.

Citrus growers: State's citrus advertising tax not a sweet deal
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida citrus growers have sued the state's citrus agency, saying the $8 million they paid in advertising tax to fund the board's juice marketing campaign wasn't such a sweet deal. Five citrus growers filed suit Thursday against the state Department of Citrus in Leon County Circuit Court.

Two more Floridians contract West Nile
TALLAHASSEE — Two more Floridians are believed to have contracted the potentially fatal West Nile virus, bringing to eight the number of human cases this year in Florida. The Department of Health said Friday that a 28-year-old Escambia County resident and an 83-year-old Sarasota County resident have West Nile, a mosquito- borne virus that can cause fatal encephalitis in some cases.

Officials: Everglades restoration moving forward
WASHINGTON — Although some projects are on hold because of lawsuits, Bush administration officials said Friday the $7.8 billion Florida Everglades restoration program is moving forward as expected with a final implementation plan expected by the end of the year.

Senate updated on Glades progress
The restoration project is on schedule, officials say. But there's concern about a lag in land buying.

The guns of September
President Bush on Thursday offered an eloquent, forceful and overdue call for the U.N. to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. Just one problem: He cited no evidence of any immediate threat, no reason that invading Iraq is any more urgent today than it was in, say, 2000, when Bush as a candidate huffed and puffed about Saddam but never shared with voters any plans for an invasion.

Scare tactics as foreign policy
Need an easy answer? Here's Saddam Hussein.Adults of a certain age can remember when the foremost terrorist was the bogeyman, a remorseless creature so evil that he was ever ready to wreak destruction at any time. Once upon a time, the mere mention of his name was enough to keep children in line. Parents desiring to maintain their power to make unilateral decisions often mentioned this hobgoblin.

9/15/02

Paradise Sold?
The first people made mounds to celebrate the sacredness of Florida's land. The 16th- century voyager Juan Ponce de Leon thought Florida might have rejuvenating waters and named it after the flowers of Easter. The 18th-century naturalist William Bartram saw it as an only slightly fallen Eden, "a glorious apartment in the boundless palace of the Sovereign Creator, inexpressibly beautiful and pleasing." It seems 21st-century Floridians just want to make a profit.

Bush denies lobbying for company after donation
The governor wrote a federal official to help the Florida liquor manufacturer and GOP donor in a trademark dispute....

Shift blame in elections from voters-- "What is it with Democrats having a hard time voting? I don't know," Jeb Bush said Tuesday.-- 
What is it with Jeb Bush having a hard time being serious about voting? I don't know.

TV ads portray Bush as an advocate of 'average' people - TALLAHASSEE -- While Democrats are mired in confusion over who represents them in the governor's race, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has begun a new, upbeat stage of his campaign for re-election in November.
Call this one: Jeb Bush, man of the people.
The Republican Party of Florida, which has spent $9 million since July, has started airing a new television ad statewide on the governor's behalf, telling the story of a traffic light that Bush placed in front of a school in rural Macclenny, in North Florida.
This will be followed through the fall by a one-a-day release of campaign testaments from "average" Floridians about what the governor has done for them -- including people who have seen the traffic-light ad and e-mailed with offers of help...

Reno campaign: Miami-Dade results narrowing McBride's lead
MIAMI -- Bill McBride's lead over Janet Reno in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary has dwindled to 5,198 votes, according to numbers released Sunday by the Reno campaign. ... With only three questionable precincts left in Miami-Dade and with fewer votes expected from Broward - the only place expected to turn up a significant number of new votes _ it appears that it would be difficult for Reno to pick up more than 5,000 votes and overtake McBride when official results are certified Tuesday.
Miami-Dade officials said they would not release details about the number of votes found until Tuesday, the state deadline. County Elections supervisor David Leahy refused to say how Reno's campaign got the numbers or to guess if she could catch McBride....

Fee fie fo fum, who's that atop Bill's beanstalk?
They're calling Bill McBride the giant killer, having apparently vanquished former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno by the narrowest of margins. But the real giant lives, and he resides in the governor's mansion McBride would claim as his own. 

To get to Tallahassee, you have to travel I-4
The first campaign I covered in Florida occurred in 1986. Bob Martinez, the mayor of Tampa who switched from Democrat to Republican in the great wave of Democratic defections in the South, was running for governor....

Primary Turmoil May End Tuesday
TAMPA - The traumatic Democratic primary for governor should come to an end Tuesday, the Janet Reno and Bill McBride campaigns both said Saturday. ...

Cheaper touch-screen equals system failure- It was common knowledge among Florida election officials that the million- dollar voting machines produced by elections giant Election Systems & Software were ill-suited for large, urban counties.-- 
That didn't stop price-conscious Miami-Dade and Broward counties from buying the ES&S system and putting it to its biggest public test yet in Tuesday's statewide primary....

Broward election problems no surprise-- DADE CITY -- Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning wasn't surprised by the election meltdown in Broward County. Nor was he surprised at the fierce criticism of rookie Broward election chief Miriam Oliphant.
"I think you'd find other supervisors would agree with me. We knew there were going to be problems in Broward," he said.
Browning said he became concerned about Broward when Oliphant began missing meetings of the election bosses from the 11 counties using ES&S machines for the first time. They got together regularly for months before the election, discussing problems and brainstorming solutions. The idea was to avoid the confusion and breakdowns that marred the state's presidential election in 2000.

Lack of training, complex technology led to major mistakes on Election Day
In Pasco County, poll workers received 12 hours of training before Election Day on how to use new touch-screen voting machines. Sarasota County's poll clerks did, too -- and they had to pass a written test. The few who didn't pass got more training. Other counties with new touch screens held dry runs and mock elections.

Hand-count works for Union County
Sometimes, the old ways are best. Union County, for example, has had trouble-free elections dating back at least to the early 1920s as the only county in Florida that continued to hand count its ballots. But that changed this year, with a state mandate decreeing all counties use voting equipment that automatically tallies votes at each precinct and spits them back at the voter if they're filled out incorrectly.

We don't know what we're dealing with - "Forget it, Jake -- it's Chinatown."
That is the last line to the movie Chinatown...I've been thinking about Chinatown since Tuesday, when the supposedly new-and-improved Florida election process turned into another mess.
We thought we knew what we were dealing with, but believe me, we didn't.
And is there any better line than "Forget it, Jake -- it's Chinatown" to explain to the rest of the country what happened here?...

Shift blame in elections from voters
In Election Fiasco II, 'stupid' is as 'stupid' does.

Some real funny business in this election
In a stunning twist to last week's election debacle, late poll results from Miami-Dade and Broward counties have catapulted the comedian known as Carrot Top ahead of front-runners Bill McBride and Janet Reno in the Democratic race for governor.

McBride hits the campaign trail-- Janet Reno says the business at
hand is counting all the votes -- 
MIAMI — Workers waded through stacks of machines looking for uncounted votes Saturday, as Bill McBride said it was time to get past Florida's disputed gubernatorial primary and work on unseating Jeb Bush. McBride spoke to a raucous crowd of about 200 chanting "Bill! Bill! Bill!" at a Florida Education Association meeting in Orlando. But former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who trailed McBride by 8,196 votes in unofficial totals, says the business at hand is counting all the votes — including thousands that may have been missed in her South Florida strongholds of Broward and Miami-Dade...

Ongoing counts hobble McBride
The political neophyte can't get out of the starting blocks in his race with Gov. Jeb Bush because of voting questions...

McBride campaign hurt
Janet Reno's voting challenge has cost Bill McBride the momentum that comes with a primary victory.

McBride's breakthrough
The final vote still isn't official, but the controversy shouldn't overshadow Bill McBride's remarkable surge in the Democratic gubernatorial primary...

Cash will flow in governor's race
Jeb Bush won't have to worry about money as he campaigns for re-election this fall.

Another Florida election
Bill McBride's unorthodox campaign demolished all the early assumptions about the Democratic race for governor...

They're laughing at us in Texas
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- That sound behind me is not that of a mugger about to relieve me of my hard-earned cash or a wayward longhorn fixing to pin me to a mesquite tree...

In 2004, Dade will try going with a coin flip
After recounting the votes, a Miami-Dade County election official declared Al Gore the winner of the gubernatorial primary.

Florida election workers in Reno stronghold find uncounted votes; examination continues
Election workers in Janet Reno's stronghold of Broward County have found uncounted votes from last week's primary, though officials didn't say how many. The votes were found Saturday in a precinct that first reported no votes, said Willie Weslie, project manager with Election Systems & Software Inc., which made the touchscreen voting machines used in the county...

Miami-Dade officials try to explain what happened-- 
Eleven other Florida counties had the same kind of touch-screen voting machines used in Miami-Dade County, where voting irregularities have tied up another major election. They were operated by similar crews of mainly elderly volunteers who had worked low- tech elections for years. So why did Tuesday's primary go so well in those places and so miserably here?...

South Florida's voting machine trouble could be used as weapon against Bush
Janet Reno's campaign for governor is trying to build a sweeping case against the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines that campaign officials believe may be responsible for Reno's losing thousands of votes in the Democratic primary.

Misdirected blame won't explain the Election Day debacle
It's not always easy being a Florida Democrat. Sometimes it requires you to shut down your critical faculties and disconnect yourself from reality in order to buy into the party line...

Medicare cuts impact patients and physicians-- 
Medicare patients don't know it, but doctors may roll up the welcome mat come January. Nothing personal, physicians say. The blame goes to Congress and the federal government. Reimbursement cuts for patient care under Medicare, the government insurance for people 65 and older, is causing a simmering revolt — and physicians aren't going to take it anymore...

More health costs, less access
By Fran Hathaway, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
As employers cut back, employees go without.

Public School Inc.
Charter schools are evolving into something radically different from what lawmakers intended -- and they are wildly popular. Does it matter that educating Florida's children is falling to private corporations? ...

FCAT Requirement May Hold Back Some Learning- Disabled Students
TAMPA - Actor Tom Cruise and businessman Charles Schwab have the same type of learning disabilities that may keep some Florida students from earning high school diplomas this year. ...

Man: Incident a misunderstanding -- 
DAVIE — Insisting he and his friends bore no resentment toward anyone, one of the three men detained in a terror scare said Sunday that the entire situation was a misunderstanding. Kambiz Butt, 25, said that he and fellow medical students Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary, 23, simply want to clear their names and be allowed to continue their education in the United States. "We're medical students. We are not terrorists," Butt said, flanked by Gheith and Choudhary. "Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want to help people. We do not want to hurt."...

Muslims turned away after scare 
The head of a Miami hospital says the three men detained on Alligator Alley aren't welcome there...

Noelle Bush's counselors subpoenaed; lawyer says they won't talk-- An attorney for workers at the drug-treatment center where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter was caught with crack cocaine last week said it is illegal for staffers to cooperate with police...

Birds fall prey to signal towers
Millions die every year, leading groups to petition the FCC for a moratorium on new structures along the Gulf Coast.

Ranchers, intruders face off over mind-blowing fungi
Angry cattle ranchers throughout Central Florida — a region awash in nearly daily deluges — say they're chasing off the mushroom hunters several times a week. "I've had nothing but trouble since the rains began," said Jim Adams, who manages 2,000 acres where he keeps 300 head of cattle in east Orange County. "This year has been worse than ever."

Mayor says spring break is no place for kids - DAYTONA BEACH -- The mayor has a message for high school students who want to crash spring break this year: The party's over.

Hiding millions more complicated 
Legislation would place new limits on those trying to cheat the system by buying mansions.

A court's troubling secrecy
It is troubling that the first-ever hearing of a special federal appellate court, whose function is to review decisions on the extent of the government's wiretap authority, was conducted in secret and without input from any source outside the Justice Department.

Bush's religious prescription
They say no one has the zeal of a convert, and our president is living proof. The former ne'er-do-well frat boy beat back his problem with alcohol by finding religion. Now Bush wants to put the nation on a prayer diet. For whatever ails you, Bush believes a spoonful of salvation is the answer. And while a prescription drug plan for seniors will have to wait, Bush is determined to get government to underwrite his religious prescription -- whether or not he has congressional approval...

Never forget what?
Candor is so little prized in Washington that you want to shake the hand of anyone who dares commit it. So cheers to Andrew Card, the president's chief of staff, for telling The Times' Elisabeth Bumiller the real reason that his boss withheld his full-frontal move on Saddam Hussein until September: "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."...

Graham steps up - In the looming question concerning possible U.S. military action against Iraq, Florida's U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is playing an important role in the framing of the debate.
As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Graham has extraordinary access to national security secrets. So his declaration last week that President Bush's focus on Saddam Hussein diverts attention from more deserving targets in the war on terrorism cannot be easily dismissed....

Maureen Dowd: W.'S conflicts of interest
When George W. Bush ran for president, he mocked Bill Clinton's addiction to pollsters and promised to tear down the cynical White House trellis of politics and policy. As it turned out, Bush didn't need the permanent campaign. He has something far more potent: the permanent war....

9/14/02

2,000 votes found in Miami-Dade, Broward also reviewing totals
A day after Bill McBride claimed the Democratic nomination for governor, election supervisors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties launched a precinct-by-precinct review of election returns that could throw the outcome of the governor’s race into doubt.

Elections board rejects Reno request for statewide recount
MIAMI -- The Florida elections board rejected Janet Reno's request Friday for a statewide, manual recount in the gubernatorial primary, while South Florida officials continued searching for uncounted votes, perhaps enough to erase Bill McBride's lead

State turns down Janet Reno's request for statewide recount in bungled Florida primary race
MIAMI — Janet Reno asked for a statewide recount Friday of every vote in Florida's botched primary and was promptly turned down by the state elections board. The secretary of state, however, said counties could continue to look for untallied votes that could erase Bill McBride's lead in the Democratic race for governor.

Miami-Dade, Broward reviewing votes to see how many went uncounted
Janet Reno wants elections officials in South Florida to review results from more than 300 precincts that she believes may yield thousands of uncounted votes that could help her overtake Bill McBride for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The Reno campaign released lists of more than 300 precincts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties where she thinks votes were not accurately counted.

Broward County may have to search for missing ballots; Dade review begins
Concern over the accuracy of results from this week's primary spread into Broward County on Friday as Miami-Dade County launched a comprehensive review of votes harvested from its new touch-screen machines.

No recount for Reno
Friction grows between the McBride and Reno camps, worrying state Democratic Party officials.

McBride: 'We need to get on' with race; Reno: Let's make sure all votes counted
Despite declaring himself the winner of the Democratic nomination for governor, Bill McBride found his campaign paralyzed Friday as he failed to wrest the public's attention away from South Florida's voting fiasco.-- 

McBride Team Reorganizing For Campaign TAMPA - Announcing that he's ``not waiting any more,'' Bill McBride told his staff Friday he's going ahead with his campaign, with or without a concession from Janet Reno. -- 
``I'm the Democratic nominee, and I need to get on with my election against Jeb Bush,'' he said. ``We're losing days here.'' -- 
The campaign will be in reorganization mode over the weekend, focusing in part on a new campaign manager and a running mate. 

Unsettled Florida primary could undermine Democrats' efforts to bring down Gov. Bush
TAMPA — Bill McBride had promised to "whip out like a slingshot" into the general election, building on the momentum of taking down a giant in Janet Reno as he turned his focus on an even bigger target — Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. But Reno's refusal to concede the Democratic nomination could slow McBride's momentum and undermine the Democratic effort to oust Bush this fall.

Unity, focus on issues crucial for Democrats
On the apparent losing side of a razor-thin margin, with voting irregularities afflicting Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Reno has every right to be extremely frustrated. Every Floridian does, regardless of party.

NAACP threatens election lawsuits
Black leaders may sue Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida over voting problems.

Blacks Feel Disenfranchised in Fla. -- It wasn't supposed to happen again. The state spent $32 million and counties spent millions more to train poll workers on high-tech voting systems to replace the punchcard ballots and hanging chads of the last election.
Miami-Dade County alone spent $25 million preparing for this election.
But when Christopher Edley Jr. and other members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission visited the state in June, elections officials said they weren't ready. And Edley warned that "a disaster seemed to be in the making."
"My fear is that officials haven't taken the necessary steps to counter these traditional patterns, starving poor communities and minority communities of the resources they need for the democratic infrastructure," says Edley, a Harvard Law School professor.-- 
"The Constitution no longer permits votes to be discounted on the basis of color and class. And whether that happens by intention or by accident, it's a problem we ought to fix."...

Miami leads the country with percentage living in poverty - The number of impoverished households led by single mothers has also decreased. In 1990, 4,728, or 70.8 percent, single mothers with children under the age of five in Miami were living below the poverty level. That number dropped to 3,398, or 61 percent, in the latest census.

Lucy Morgan - Elections are scarier than a terrorist threat
Once again we get a civics lesson -- at our expense.

Get accurate vote count
Orlando Sentinel: A recount of primary ballots is justified given South Florida voting discrepancies.

Elections on the ballot in the vote for governor
Palm Beach Post Editorial
New responsibilities for state's next leader.

Jones is one to watch
The head pounds. The palms sweat. The mind races. Bill McBride or Janet Reno? Who really won the Democratic primary for governor despite all the messes at polling places from Miami to Orlando to Jacksonville? Would the results have been different if the elections had gone smoothly without the usual bungling by local elections supervisors?

High Court agrees Florida ballot price tag law unconstitutional
TALLAHASSEE — A new state law requiring that voters be presented with price tags for proposed ballot initiatives is unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, agreeing with a lower court judge. Lawmakers in May passed a law requiring state analysts to prepare statements spelling out the likely cost of citizen initiatives.

Regier seeks raises for DCF workers
TALLAHASSEE -- Department of Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier said Friday he will ask for more money for salary increases when he delivers his budget proposal to Gov. Jeb Bush next week.

Broward DCF chief criticized for e-mails -- The top child welfare administrator in Broward County is under fire for writing inflammatory e-mails that describe a former child advocate as a "sourpuss" and seek to oust a legislator from a key committee post.

USF speech canceled in protest
TAMPA -- A prominent Islamic scholar at Georgetown University has canceled a speech at the University of South Florida next month because of the school's handling of the case of professor Sami Al-Arian.

Genshaft allies cite her religion in Al- Arian case
An Internet petition seeks support for her among Jewish advocacy groups.

Glazing over ethics: Flagler School Board crossed a line
Earlier this week Flagler County voters approved a half-cent sales tax to benefit the School Board's construction and technology initiatives, and that is a very good thing. Not so good is the way the School Board and its teachers went about selling the initiative to voters. A clear line keeps politics and schools' mission separate. The board and teachers crossed it. 

Noelle Bush's court hearing is postponed
A court hearing was postponed Friday for Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, who police said was caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehabilitation center earlier this week, because clinic staffers are refusing to cooperate with investigators.

Drug-treatment staff subpoenaed
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office has joined the Orlando Police Department in the drug investigation of Noelle Bush, issuing subpoenas to four workers at the drug-treatment center where the governor's 25-year-old daughter is staying.

Protecting gays good business, city is told
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, in town to speak at a convention of advocates for gay rights in the workplace, called on Orlando leaders to adopt a controversial measure to protect local gays from discrimination.

811 AMI letters among items collected - BOCA RATON · At least 811 letters are part of the almost 5,000 pieces of evidence removed from the anthrax-contaminated American Media Inc. building in the past two weeks -- part of a yearlong investigation that has yet to reveal the letter that exposed tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens to the deadly disease.

Alligator Alley reopened after terror scare
Authorities found no explosives in two cars belonging to three men of Middle Eastern descent who were stopped on a South Florida interstate Friday after a woman reported they had made suspicious comments at a Georgia restaurant.

Trio stopped after Georgia woman's tip
What began Friday morning as a potential terrorism attack on Miami that fixed South Floridians to their televisions, tied up hundreds of police officers and shut down one of the state's busiest highways for nearly 16 hours ended Friday evening with a colossal thud.

Man calls his detention in terror scare an injustice
NAPLES -- One of three men detained after a terror scare on a Florida highway said the experience was an injustice that should never be repeated.-- ``I learned that injustice, regardless against whom, is wrong,'' Ayman Gheith said in an interview late Friday on CNN. ``It is against us today, tomorrow it could be against you.'' ... ``We are very upset. I think this is all fabrication. I don't know what the lady in the restaurant heard or assumed. She must have had some kind of prejudice,'' said Javed Chaudhary, a native of Pakistan.

FDLE chief: Prevention works
The Friday apprehension of three men who were suspected of planning a terrorist attack in South Florida shows the state is prepared, said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore.

Incident shows post-9/11 changes
In an unchanged America, the snippet of conversation between three young men in a Shoney's restaurant might have gone unnoticed by the woman sitting at a nearby table.

Citrus growers: State's citrus advertising tax not a sweet deal
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida citrus growers have sued the state's citrus agency, saying the $8 million they paid in advertising tax to fund the board's juice marketing campaign wasn't such a sweet deal. Five citrus growers filed suit Thursday against the state Department of Citrus in Leon County Circuit Court.

Two more Floridians contract West Nile
TALLAHASSEE — Two more Floridians are believed to have contracted the potentially fatal West Nile virus, bringing to eight the number of human cases this year in Florida. The Department of Health said Friday that a 28-year-old Escambia County resident and an 83-year-old Sarasota County resident have West Nile, a mosquito- borne virus that can cause fatal encephalitis in some cases.

Officials: Everglades restoration moving forward
WASHINGTON — Although some projects are on hold because of lawsuits, Bush administration officials said Friday the $7.8 billion Florida Everglades restoration program is moving forward as expected with a final implementation plan expected by the end of the year.

Senate updated on Glades progress
The restoration project is on schedule, officials say. But there's concern about a lag in land buying.

The guns of September
President Bush on Thursday offered an eloquent, forceful and overdue call for the U.N. to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. Just one problem: He cited no evidence of any immediate threat, no reason that invading Iraq is any more urgent today than it was in, say, 2000, when Bush as a candidate huffed and puffed about Saddam but never shared with voters any plans for an invasion.

Scare tactics as foreign policy
Need an easy answer? Here's Saddam Hussein. Adults of a certain age can remember when the foremost terrorist was the bogeyman, a remorseless creature so evil that he was ever ready to wreak destruction at any time. Once upon a time, the mere mention of his name was enough to keep children in line. Parents desiring to maintain their power to make unilateral decisions often mentioned this hobgoblin.

9/13/02

Tropical storm watch posted from N. Fla. to Mississippi-- 
UPDATE — Tropical Storm Hanna swirled Friday in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting a tropical storm watch to be posted from northern Florida to Mississippi.

Part of I-75 remains closed; 3 detained in security probe-- 
UPDATE: Three people in two vehicles were detained Friday on Interstate 75 east of Naples based on possible terrorist threat information from Georgia, authorities said. ... I-75 is closed between the Naples toll plaza and State Road 29 and authorities have not said when it will reopen

Election 2000 suit closed so solution can be invoked
With complaints swirling over primary voting, a federal judge wrapped up a lawsuit against the state Thursday over the 2000 presidential election.

McBride declares victory in disputed primary; Reno won't concede
MIAMI — Political newcomer Bill McBride claimed the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Thursday, but Janet Reno refused to concede, citing possible problems with the counting of ballots in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. McBride, a Tampa attorney seeking his first political office since college, said he had been notified by state election officials late Thursday that he had won Tuesday's primary. He had a lead of about 8,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast, according to unofficial results released by the state Thursday.

McBride claims nomination
Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed in a primary marked by massive polling errors in Florida's most populous counties, Bill McBride claimed the Democratic nomination for governor Thursday.

McBride: I win; Reno: Not so fast
Bill McBride claims an 8,196-vote victory, but Janet Reno weighs challenging the results.

Reno campaign challenging vote tallies in Florida cliffhanger
MIAMI — Political newcomer Bill McBride claimed the Democratic nomination for governor Thursday after unofficial returns showed him finishing 8,196 votes ahead of Janet Reno in Florida's bungled primary. Reno refused to concede, saying she had too many questions about balloting in two big counties where she had expected to do well. The former attorney general refused to rule out a possible court challenge to determine who will take on Republican Gov. Jeb Bush this fall. "I think the Democratic Party is known as the party of the people, a party that wants its peoples' votes counted," Reno said. "We have experienced many questions about the electoral process. I think those questions must be answered."

Reno says she's ready for a fight
Even as evidence mounted that perhaps thousands of votes in Miami-Dade County had not been counted, Bill McBride declared victory Thursday night as the Democratic nominee for governor.

Miami-Dade still checking votes
By Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Workers found four precincts were some votes weren't reported and are checking 10 others.

Eyes tell Dade voters not to believe ears on counts-- Miami-Dade County says only one person voted at the Sans Souci Manor precinct in the northeast part of the county on Tuesday.-- 
Don't tell that to Jill Brothers, 63, and her neighbors. Brothers voted at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The place was packed.

Irregularities could alter the outcome-- The results of the Democratic gubernatorial primary could be altered by Janet Reno's allegations of voting irregularities in at least 77 precincts across Miami-Dade County.- 
The precincts Reno singled out hold more than 30,000 registered Democrats. Of those, close to 60 percent are black and more than half are over 65 years old. Both groups represent a substantial portion of Reno's base.

Dade may check every machine
Even as evidence mounted that perhaps thousands of votes in Miami-Dade County had not been counted, Bill McBride declared victory Thursday night as the Democratic nominee for governor.

Leahy blames unskilled workers
Miami-Dade County officials lost faith Thursday in their own ballot count, saying a spot check of returns from Tuesday's botched primary revealed serious discrepancies that could require a re-examination of all 7,200 machines.

How to vote in 1 easy step: Use chisel, tablet
The question you're asking yourself is: Does South Florida contain the highest concentration of morons in the entire world? Or just in the United States?

No single factor cost Reno the election
MIAMI -- The Democratic nomination for governor was Janet Reno's to lose, and she did, for lots of reasons, with dysfunctional democracy in South Florida providing the exclamation mark for a star- crossed campaign.

Commissioner plans to ask for fraud investigation
FORT LAUDERDALE — Broward County Commissioner Benjamin Graber said Thursday he plans to ask the state attorney's office to investigate possible fraud in the county's primary. Graber said four "suspicious circumstances" need to be examined

Oliphant reaches out, even to critics, for help and support
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant, fighting for her job amid talk of possible suspension by Gov. Jeb Bush, spent Thursday quietly marshaling support from all corners of the county, even from her critics.

Election worker breaks into polling place to open on time
FORT PIERCE — The desperate measures taken in Florida's election fiasco included a break in ordered by an elections chief. The order was given after poll workers couldn't get inside their precinct just before 7 a.m. Tuesday. They had the keys to the outside door at the American Legion post, but not to an inside door.

Florida election worker says he baby-sat ballots for 16 hours in Broward County
TAMARAC — A Broward County precinct clerk said he baby-sat ballots for nearly 16 hours because he was unable to contact voting officials to collect them. Bill McKamy, 80, said he did the best he could at his precinct in Tamarac. But McKamy's story of what went wrong was one of many that plagued Tuesday's primary elections.

Poll troubles may haunt Bush re- election effort in Florida
FORT LAUDERDALE — Over the past six months, advisers to Gov. Jeb Bush have grown increasingly confident about Bush's prospects for re-election, concluding that memories of his role in President Bush's messy Florida victory in 2000 were fading from the minds of voters. No longer were they afraid that one Bush's victory had planted the seed for another Bush's defeat. But that calculation may have changed after another dysfunctional day at the polls in Florida, this time in what had seemed to be a rather elementary electoral exercise: a three-way statewide primary among Democrats seeking to run against Bush in November.

Supervising elections
The election blunders can't be blamed on the governor or the secretary of state or the voting machines, but on incompetence that needs to be remedied by November.

State's model county for elections
It all comes down to a competent supervisor

Money isn't everything
Orlando Sentinel: Two races proved that big dollars don't always mean more votes.

An avoidable fiasco
Orlando Sentinel: There are ways for Florida to forestall another election calamity.

Political leaders persuade Oliphant to accept help
Under intense pressure from Broward County’s most powerful political leaders, Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant agreed Thursday to accept help in ensuring November’s election is not a repeat of this week’s disaster.

Voters picked the House's 2005 speaker
Voters just thought they were selecting candidates for the 2003-2004 Legislature when they went to the polls this week. But what they were really deciding was who should be the House speaker in 2005.

Illusion of merit pay for teachers
Teachers who work extra hard ought to get extra money, but Florida's new merit pay plan is little more than an illusion.

Bush: Help older students read
Acknowledging that Florida's struggling schools will be a key issue in this year's gubernatorial race, Gov. Jeb Bush Thursday vowed to greatly expand reading programs for high school and middle school students.

DCF chief says progress made in finding kids
MIAMI — Nearly 20 percent of the children missing from the care of Florida's child welfare agency have been located in the past several days, the department's head said Thursday. Although the number of missing kids in the agency's care fluctuates daily, an increased focus on investigation was producing results, said Department of Children & Families secretary Jerry Regier.

DCF chided over records request
The Department of Children and Families asked the court to open records of children listed as missing.

Mack adds voice to class-size opponents
TALLAHASSEE — Retired U.S. Sen. Connie Mack added his voice Thursday to the Republican chorus against a ballot proposal that would force the state to lower class sizes in public schools. "Like most Floridans, I want to see smaller class sizes," Mack told reporters during a conference call by the Coalition to Protect Florida, a group that has organized to oppose Amendment 9.

GOP group to fight class size
It aims to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment for smaller classes in public schools. Coalition to Protect Florida aims to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment mandating smaller classes in public schools.

800 anthrax-tainted letters at AMI
The FBI says its two weeks spent inside examining the Boca building was a major success.

Judge refuses to dismiss Childers'sunshine' cases
PENSACOLA — A judge on Thursday refused to overturn suspended Escambia County Commissioner W.D. Childers' conviction for violating Florida's open- government "sunshine" law or dismiss a second such charge. A jury in June convicted Childers, a former Florida Senate president, on a single count for discussing public business in private with another commissioner. The panel, however, also acquitted him on two other sunshine counts but deadlocked on a fourth, causing a mistrial on that charge.

Noelle Bush's Orlando drug court hearing postponed-- ORLANDO, Fla. - A judge cancelled a Friday drug court hearing for Noelle Bush, the governor's daughter, who police said was caught with crack cocaine at a rehab center earlier this week.
The hearing was called off because clinic staffers are refusing to cooperate with police, police and prosecutors said.

U.S. sues union that built Diplomat, saying leaders misspent members' pension fund - The leaders of a union pension fund built the $800 million Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa without any real financial plan, doling out sweetheart deals to unqualified companies with close family connections to a union official, the U.S. Department of Labor alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Fort Lauderdale.- 
In an unusual move, the Labor Department is seeking to remove all five trustees of the Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund. It is seeking to hold them personally liable for all losses for "failure to prudently manage and invest their members' pension funds through its involvement in the Diplomat Resort project,'' said Ann Combs, assistant secretary for the Labor Department's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration.

Bill would discourage land deals that gouge
The measure would would have property owners notified before adjacent land is offered at a tax deed sale.

Noisy plane at Boca airport? Track it via Internet - Hear a noisy jet overhead at 3 a.m.? Tracking down the offender is as simple as pulling up the Web site and clicking on the icon to get information about the airplane and its altitude. The tracking system is available at www.bocaratonairport.com , under the "Flight Tracks" label near the top of the home page.

Boynton residents get quick results from Citizen Action SystemChappel's request was among the 800- plus requests tracked and handled by the Citizen Action System since it was launched in July. Called CAS, the new, citywide computer system is designed to record resident complaints or requests, automatically direct them to the appropriate department and track the progress of each request until it is resolved.

Strong Everglades rules
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sen. Graham wants what the restoration project needs.

Officials restrict boat speeds to protect manatees
KISSIMMEE — State wildlife officials voted Thursday to restrict boating speeds to protect manatees in 10 waterways primarily on the state's west coast. Boaters are now required to slow down on parts of some waterways in Charlotte, Indian River, Sarasota, Manatee, Citrus, Hillsborough and DeSoto counties.

Bird expert falls prey to Audubon budget ax
A nationally respected expert in rehabilitating raptors has been dismissed from her job as director of Audubon's Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland.

CDC: 4 patients got virus from transplant organs
ATLANTA — The CDC confirmed Thursday that four transplant patients infected with the West Nile virus got it from the donated organs — the first documented cases in which the mosquito-borne virus was spread this way. The episode has raised concerns about the safety of both transplant organs and blood transfusions.

Molly Ivins: The millionaire protection amendment
AUSTIN, Texas — Sometimes you have to connect the dots, and sometimes the connections just hit you over the head. Congress is on the verge of taking a final vote on the bankruptcy bill, the product of a five-year effort by credit-card companies to stack the law in their favor and against average citizens. But you will be relieved to learn that our lawmakers have thoughtfully included a loophole that leaves six states, including Florida and Texas, free to continue providing extraordinary advantages to rich citizens from all over the country who need to shelter their gelt from bankruptcy proceedings.

Bush's Iraq fixation:
U.N. speech unravels a dangerous course for America
President Bush's performance at the United Nations on Thursday was reasoned, low- key, as temperate as an autumn day in New York. Don't be fooled. The president didn't take off his shoe and pound the podium, but his message to Iraq had the same ring as Nikita Kruschev's to the West at the same podium 32 years ago: "We will bury you." His offer to the U.N. was equally ominous: "Join us or get out of the way." 

Expert hits talk of attack -- Nobody gave U.S. the right, he says
America should not attack Iraq to remove its leader Saddam Hussein, says one of the foremost American experts on that country, because it could do "stupid things for unverified reasons" and create terrible instability in the Middle East. ... "America does not understand the rest of the world," Peck said. "Nobody has given our country the right to decide who runs Iraq." .... "Nobody else in the world considers Iraq a threat but us, and we're 7,000 miles away. That should create a doubt in your mind."...

9/12/02

100 % OF PRECINCTS COUNTED- 6717 of 6717 precincts reporting.  McBride wins by 7,991 votes.
Bill McBride 600,425  44.5%
Janet Reno  592,434  43.9%
Daryl L. Jones 156,165  11.6%

Smith doesn't see need for recount; McBride leads by 7,991
MIAMI -- Florida's secretary of state said Thursday he doesn't think there will be a need for a recount in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary and that he believes Bill McBride will be declared the winner over former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

Up-and-comer McBride facing more tough tests-- Bill McBride's stunning upset of Janet Reno may have come a little late, but it gives him the title he needs to mount a credible challenge to Gov. Jeb Bush: giant-killer.- 
Not only did the previously unknown Tampa lawyer convincingly beat the famous former U.S. attorney general by eating up her near 40-point lead in the polls, McBride also defied an aggressive attack campaign launched by a governor and Republican Party intent on halting his candidacy before he became a threat.

After the election jokes end, questions of integrity linger - ... The Florida experience shows that real reform means more than replacing voting machines, said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House leader on reform legislation.
``That's why it's crucial -- to the integrity of our democracy and public confidence in our election system -- that Congress immediately finish its work on federal election reform,'' Hoyer said. ``The American people deserve no less, and our democracy demands it.''

Sunshine State Is Clouded In Confusion-- Tampa- ...I have to tell you, the view from ground level on Bayshore was staggering. Looking out from near the official platform toward the Bay, there was nothing but a sea of flags and people. Beyond the crowd, a half-dozen helicopters circled over police boats in the water below.

Judge denies motion of Harris challenger
TALLAHASSEE — A day after winning the GOP primary for a southwest Florida congressional district, Katherine Harris got more good news Wednesday when a Tallahassee judge rejected a legal effort by her defeated opponent to remove her from the ballot.

Rule deleting some election runoffs faces review
Some lawmakers like runoffs. Others say they're a waste of money. This year they might have influenced races.

Add 'south' to Florida election punchlines
You can hear the Florida jokes on Letterman and Leno already.

Balloting blunders blamed on elections workers - Some poll workers never showed up. Others refused to stay an extra two hours, despite the governor's orders to do so.- 
Many of Florida's election problems Tuesday can be traced to a dwindling group of aging, often under-trained poll workers. And this year a perennial problem was compounded because the workers were forced to deal with new high-tech voting equipment.

Blame piles in Miami-Dade, Broward
Finger-pointing intensifies in the aftermath of Florida's latest election meltdown.

Votes missing; observers hissing
MIAMI -- A new wave of election problems in South Florida on Wednesday kept elections officials laboring for a second straight night to retrieve votes from touch screen machines that had been expected to spit out results in record time.

Criticized after first test, supervisor remains upbeat
FORT LAUDERDALE -- With the polls long closed and thousands of votes still uncounted, Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant sounded pleased with her performance early Wednesday.

Data transmission problems delay Collier vote counting
UPDATE — More than 20 hours after the polls closed, Collier County Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards released final unofficial vote totals gathered by the new touch- screen voting machines that were supposed to make this election a breeze. Data transmission problems appear to have caused glitches in the vote counting at six Collier precincts with a total of 56 machines, Edwards said.

Finger pointing, recount talk and Nov. election worries
Despite a $32 million renovation, Florida's new election system crashed in an embarrassment that, like the 2000 election, left voters wondering whether their votes counted, candidates pondering recounts and everyone asking who's to blame.

New system, new issues, as Florida goes to polls
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Assigning blame not as easy as it seems.

VOTERS BETRAYED
What a mess! In the first statewide vote since the 2000 presidential election, we in South Florida have embarrassed ourselves -- again. We completely botched an important election while the nation watched. Counties throughout the state reported some problems, but the most severe and damaging occurred in Miami-Dade and Broward.

Snafu, Part II: What went wrong at state's polls this time around?
For the second statewide election in a row, Florida officials spent the day after trying to figure out what went wrong and who won.

Balky machines and rushed training blamed for the latest ballot blunders
An interlocking web of blunders and complications -- including last-minute changes in poll worker instructions and new machines that proved balky and complex -- entangled South Florida in its latest electoral fiasco, experts and poll workers said Wednesday.

Reno contemplates legal action - ..."She's extremely upset about the disenfranchisement," said Reno spokeswoman Nicole Harburger. "People were not allowed their right to vote ... That's unacceptable to her."...

Election system criticized for failure- ...Despite $32 million spent to reform the voting system, the primary was tarnished by faulty vote-counting machines, absent poll workers and exasperated voters unable to cast ballots....

Dems to use problems against GOP- Democrats signaled an eagerness Wednesday to turn Florida's newest election woes against Gov. Jeb Bush this fall, while expressing hope for a speedy end to their own tangled primary struggle.

How recounts are done if close election- State law requires that counties report official returns to the state Division of Elections by noon Thursday....

Congressional attention quickly shifts to general election
Florida may have only a few competitive congressional races in November, but the state could help decide whether Republicans or Democrats control the House of Representatives, party officials said after a primary election that produced no surprises. The short list of competitive races is unlikely to include the 13th District on the southwest coast where the most celebrated primary winner, former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, coasted to an easy victory Tuesday.

Jones, defeated in gubernatorial primary, criticizes election
MIAMI — While the winner of the Democratic gubernatorial nomination remains unknown, third- place finisher Daryl Jones acknowledged his defeat Wednesday while criticizing the election process. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, the Miami state senator garnered 12 percent of the vote compared to 45 percent for Tampa lawyer Bill McBride and 43 percent for former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

Legislative rivals in Cabinet showdown
TALLAHASSEE — State Sen. Buddy Dyer of Orlando defeated Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox in a photo finish for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, setting up and an Election Day showdown against Republican Charlie Crist, a runaway winner in the GOP primary.

Unknown teacher scores victory in Dems primary
TALLAHASSEE — David Nelson took a day off from his duties at a Miami middle school Wednesday and started to think about his newest challenge — Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. Nelson, a 39-year-old school librarian and one-time science teacher, shocked the political establishment Tuesday with an impressive victory in a three-way race for the Democratic nomination and the right to challenge incumbent Bronson.

'Opie factor' blamed in upset
The 'Opie factor' is being blamed in an unknown candidate's win. ...Nelson did not sponsor television advertisements, but a citrus-backed group called "Florida's Working Families" promoted him in an ad aired in South Florida. Nelson said he knows nothing about it and is not connected to the group.-- 
The same group, which has ties to citrus grower Ben Hill Griffin, Inc., and the U.S. Sugar Corp., sponsored attack ads against Barley.--
Barley spent about $250,000 on a 30-second advertisement countering the attack ad, calling her opponents "corporate polluters."

Voters keep Miami-Dade's gay rights law- MIAMI — Miami-Dade County's gay rights ordinance withstood a challenge from Christian conservatives, as voters rejected a proposal to repeal the law. The county's political and business leaders had pushed for the ordinance's retention, fearing a boycott from gay and liberal groups and the rejection of the region's bid to hold the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

The race for governor-- But the primary is over. And voters now deserve an opportunity to hear more than political platitudes and marginally truthful attack ads from those hoping to lead the state the next four years. They deserve to know just what the candidates have in mind to fix mediocre public schools, improve transportation, protect abused and neglected children and the like.

California schools could offer us a lesson
TALLAHASSEE -- It has been five years since Charlie Reed, who had been chancellor of our university system for 12 years, departed for a better place with a quip that Florida's state motto ought to be "We're cheap, and proud of it."

Bad health habits unaffordable
The latest national survey of health insurance trends is guaranteed to depress millions of Americans even as it flattens their wallets. It may even make them willing to take a look at their poor eating and exercise habits, the better to manage costs. The survey tells a story of double-digit price increases — at 12.7 percent the largest since the 1990s — declining coverage for people who work in businesses employing three to 199, the elimination of post-retirement coverage for new hires or existing employees (watch out baby boomers), and larger deductibles and co-pays.

Noelle Bush, caught with crack, to learn fate Friday
ORLANDO — Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, caught with crack cocaine while in court-ordered drug rehab, could be sent back to jail when she goes before a judge Friday, court officials said. Noelle Bush will make her regularly scheduled drug court appearance before Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead that afternoon.

Suspended Escambia commissioner pleads no contest
PENSACOLA — One of two suspended Escambia County commissioners who have made deals with prosecutors entered no-contest pleas Wednesday as part of an agreement that includes testifying against W.D. Childers, another suspended commissioner. Childers, who also is a former Florida Senate president, is the only commissioner still facing trial on felony charges that resulted from a grand jury investigation of alleged political corruption.

Workers Sue TECO Over Spill Effects - APOLLO BEACH - Seven current and former employees of Tampa Electric Co. are suing the utility, saying they suffer from neurological damage after a chemical leak at Big Bend Station in 1999.

Canker scare grows by 3 trees
Central Florida grove owners grew more wary Wednesday after state officials found three new cases of citrus canker, bringing the disease closer to the heart of the region's commercial groves.

Tropical depression building off Panhandle; S. Florida flood watch posted -- ...At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression was nearly stationary and centered about 215 miles south of Pensacola, and was expected to move northeast near 5 mph. Sustained winds were near 35 mph with higher gusts. A slow northward track is expected top begin soon and depression No. 9 is expected to become a tropical storm later in the day.

Maureen Dowd: Echo of the bullhorn
WASHINGTON — At 4 a.m., I was awakened by the roar of F-16s, once more patrolling. At 8 a.m., I packed khakis and a sweater, because a TV expert was warning that those working near the White House should have a change of clothes in case of a smallpox, anthrax or nerve agent attack. At 12:30 p.m., Dick Cheney canceled his appearance at a dinner honoring Henry Kissinger and hurried back to his Secure Undisclosed Location. At 1:35 p.m., John Ashcroft revealed that al-Qaida "chatter" was back; the color- coded chart was back, ascending to a "high risk" orange alert; the fear of "dispersion of radiological contaminants" was back; the oxymoronic exhortation to be fearful and fearless was back.

Case for war is snaky, not proven
They've been like apostles of slaughter, one former secretary of state after another -- Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, George Schultz, James Baker -- calling for war against Iraq to echo every other member of the Bush administration doing the same on the Sunday talk show circuit. But the louder the drumbeat, the dimmer the rationale. 

9/11/02

Election crisis: McBride and Reno watching, waiting Update 9:35pm
Florida's first major election since the 2000 debacle was marred by mechanical and human glitches that frustrated voters and prompted Janet Reno to consider challenging results that showed her trailing Bill McBride in the race for governor.

Voters keep Miami-Dade’s gay rights law Update 9:35pm
Miami-Dade County’s gay rights ordinance withstood a challenge from Christian conservatives, as voters rejected a proposal to repeal the law.

Gubernatorial primary still too close to call - latest updates can be found at http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/enight.asp (state site not updated this AM) - see AP results at Sentinel results

Race too close to call (5:25PM)Update - tally unchanged
Janet Reno and Bill McBride await final vote counts in Democratic gubernatorial primary.
     Bill McBride 596,472 45%
     Janet Reno 577,380 43%
     * 97% of precincts reporting

Anger at Jeb Bush likely to grow after voting foul-ups - TAMPA -- Florida has fouled another pivotal election, and that should make the next vote a fiery one -- virtually ensuring that all the emotions swirling around the historic election of 2000 are replayed in November.

Long delays leave some black voters angry and suspicious
After computer foul-ups, leaders see echoes of 2000 - South Florida's black community, still struggling to heal from the disputed 2000 presidential election, demanded answers Tuesday for the ''unconscionable'' screw-ups that caused voters in some of their precincts to wait hours before casting ballots.

For Some Primary Voters, Another Flori-Duh Election
TALLAHASSEE - Here we go again. Instead of dimpled chad and butterfly ballots, it was missing or confused poll-workers and finicky new voting machines ...

Another Florida election in doubt - TAMPA -- Bill McBride, a Tampa lawyer virtually unknown by most Floridians just six months ago, clung to a healthy but uncertain lead for the Democratic nomination for governor early today, hoping for a historic upset over Janet Reno that would pit him against Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in November. 

Another election day, another nightmare
Florida: The home of voting history. Of the wrong kind. In its first statewide election since the Election 2000 controversy, Florida stumbled again in Tuesday's primary balloting. Voting machine problems and ill-prepared poll workers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties kept hundreds - perhaps thousands - of voters from casting a ballot when they first showed up.

Fight to finish: Court challenge is a possibility after problems at the polls -- TALLAHASSEE -- The primary for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor that had once been predicted to be a sleepy runaway victory for Janet Reno turned into a problem-plagued, down-to-the-wire battle with Bill McBride, who is striving to pull off an extraordinary political upset.

Errors plague polling places, irritate voters in Broward
For the second time in two years, Broward County on Tuesday descended into election chaos.

Obstacles greet many residents as they head to the polls (Broward County)....Many ballots were cast without a hitch Tuesday, and voters said they liked the new touch-screen voting machines. But from morning to evening, voters from all parts of the county were reporting troubles.-- 
Some polls opened one, two, three or more hours late, because equipment or voter registration rolls were missing. Some people had to vote on paper ballots and, in some precincts, those ran out. Some were given ballots for the wrong party or were allowed to choose. Or they were allowed to vote on ballot questions for a city they didn't live in. Or they went to vote after work and were told the polls were closing.

Florida has another election disaster
The governor extends the time for balloting after human and machine failures prevent many from voting.

Bungling the first big test
County by county summary of voting problems by AP

"It's shameful. The state put up money - significant sums of money...
"It's shameful. The state put up money - significant sums of money - for training, for machines. ... There's no excuse for not having precinct workers in a precinct for voting, no excuse for not turning on the machines."

Voting chaos
Florida should have been prepared for the worst, and it wasn't.

Extended hours bring confusion
Palm Beach County had to notify 643 precincts to stay open until 9 p.m. Only one was apparently missed.

Long hours but few failures as election system runs smoothly in Palm Beach - Perhaps the biggest problem experienced in Palm Beach County, known worldwide for its starring role in the troubled 2000 presidential election, was caused by the massive errors in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Delayed precinct openings led Gov. Jeb Bush to declare a state of emergency and issue an order Tuesday afternoon adding two voting hours statewide -- creating a chaotic scramble to keep Palm Beach County's 643 precincts open until 9 p.m.

Problems plague precincts: Exit of poll workers just one predicament -- Volusia-
Stella Hendricks needed her medicine and was very tired. So at 7 p.m. Tuesday, the 81- year-old Holly Hill poll worker left her post at Precinct 327 along with five other workers who didn't feel up to staying until 9 p.m., as the governor had ordered. Uncle Sam just shook his head.

Chaotic, close: Reno-McBride race undecided as poll problems anger voters
Bill McBride appeared close early today to pulling an upset victory over Janet Reno for the Democratic nomination for governor, although rampant polling snags in Reno's South Florida stronghold left the final tally in doubt.

Two years later, system still broken - Florida's rebuilt election system collapsed Tuesday in South Florida, tainting a close Democratic primary for governor and reviving images of the state that can't vote straight

Jones runs third, rejects notion of joining Democratic Party ticket
State Sen. Daryl Jones wrapped up his history-making run for governor Tuesday at a Kendall hotel, surrounded by a few supporters and family members whose eyes were glued to television reports that showed him in last place among Democratic primary candidates.

All attention turns to November
An hour after Floridians began voting Tuesday, Gov. Jeb Bush began his general election campaign by saying he didn't care which Democrat he faces Nov. 5.

Bush ready to take on either Democrat in November
The pregame show is over, and Jeb Bush is now standing ready at the plate. For Democrats, it's like winding up against Barry Bonds.

Novice leads key race for Cabinet
Miami-Dade educator David Nelson -- a library director at South Miami Middle School and an unknown in state politics -- held an early lead late Tuesday in the three-way Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner, a Cabinet post that oversees Florida's second-largest industry.

Crist wins GOP race for attorney general
TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Charlie Crist easily won his party's attorney general primary Tuesday, but Democrats Buddy Dyer and Scott Maddox were in a dead heat in their party's primary three hours after the polls had closed.

Miami-Dade appears to reject bid to repeal gay rights law - (as of 3:37AM) MIAMI -- With 87 percent of the votes counted, an effort to repeal a Miami-Dade County law that protects gay men and lesbians from discrimination was losing by a narrow margin early this morning. Fifty-three percent of votes counted were against the repeal.-- The results were hailed by gay advocates and their supporters as a victory against bigotry. But opponents of the law said they were confident that voters would eventually reject the measure, which they said was based on "fraudulent claims of discrimination."

Malfunction causes delay in Collier vote counting - 
UPDATE — A malfunction in the new touch-screen voting machines kept Collier County officials from computing the final results of Tuesday's election. At 8:35 a.m. Wednesday there was no word from the elections supervisor's office on the status of the count this morning.

Text of Executive Order extending polling hours
The full text of Governor Jeb Bush's Executive Order 02-248 directing that polling places throughout the state remain open for an additional two hours beyond their regularly-scheduled closing times.

Norton defends manatee protection effort
The Interior secretary says seven refuges and sanctuaries will be designated next week. The department's Fish and Wildlife Service will publish an order in the Sept. 16 Federal Register designating three emergency refuges and four sanctuaries in Citrus, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in response to a federal court order issued in July.-- Sanctuaries are areas where all water-borne activities, including boating, swimming and fishing, are prohibited; refuges are areas where activities are restricted.

GOP defies Bush, votes for drought aid-- WASHINGTON -- With many Republicans from agricultural states defying President Bush, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to provide almost $6 billion to help farmers and ranchers hurt by the drought.-- 
The 79-16 vote, coming eight weeks before the elections that will determine who controls Congress, was a striking validation of the cliche that "all politics is local."

Anthrax search in Boca building ends

Coffee 'flood' leads to shutdown of feds' offices - WEST PALM BEACH -- A 15-story office tower that houses the FBI, CIA and Secret Service will be without electricity on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because of a flood over the weekend.

Record foreclosures raise questions
A record percentage of U.S. homeowners are facing foreclosure. Many more are falling behind on house payments.

Police: Noelle Bush caught with drugs
Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter has suffered another apparent relapse while in drug treatment. Noelle Bush, 25, was found with a 0.2-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe at the Orlando residential treatment center where she is a patient, according to police.

Treatment counselor finds drug in Noelle Bush's shoe, police say
Noelle Bush, the daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush, is under investigation after a counselor found cocaine in her shoe at the drug-treatment center in Orlando where she is staying, police said Tuesday.

Regier: 'I think we can change'-- Florida's new child-protection chief met privately with front-line workers in Central Florida on Tuesday and heard complaints about low pay and a need for more training.

AT&T won't offer local phone service
AT&T Corp. decided Tuesday that it won't offer local phone service in Florida because it would be too expensive to use BellSouth Corp.'s infrastructure throughout the state.

Old cell phones may pose risk-- BALTIMORE -- In what could bolster an $800 million lawsuit against Motorola and major cell-phone carriers, a new study found a possible link between older cell phones and brain tumors.-- 
Although many studies have found no cancer risk from cell-phone use, the research published in the latest European Journal of Cancer Prevention said long-term users of analog phones are at least 30 percent more likely than nonusers to develop brain tumors.

OUR NEW NATION
We are a nation forever changed. That is the legacy of Sept. 11, 2001. The terror attacks destroyed our innocence, removed our belief in an impenetrable homeland -- and left a permanent scar. But they also roused our patriotism, stoked our resolve, and rekindled our faith in each other and the power of our collective might. We mustn't allow terror to shroud us in a blanket of fear, secrecy and diminished rights.

Analysis: A catastrophe seen around the world, but examined by few at home ... One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths in Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic, which sank in the middle of an ocean, in the dead of night.

Guest commentary: Overreacting to terrorism?
In the year since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks cigarettes, guns, and automobiles have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, while terrorists have killed none. If the logic of the war on terrorism were extended to these other threats to homeland security, our government would institute a totalitarian police state that would attempt to seize all cigarettes, guns and cars, and that would imprison anyone suspected of smoking a cigarette, driving a car or possessing a handgun. Why do we tolerate the carnage inflicted by such things?

Guest editorial: Star chambers
In the fight against terrorism, government often must operate in secrecy. But the Bush administration has cast the veil of secrecy far beyond the battle lines and deep into the nation's justice system. It has claimed the power to hold deportation hearings in total secrecy anytime a case might involve national security. As a federal appeals court ruled Aug. 26, such blanket secrecy is unnecessary and unconstitutional.

Molly Ivins: Subsidizing corporate misbehavior
AUSTIN, Texas — Here's another to add to our growing list of needed corporate reforms. When some poor company — caught in endless coils of red tape, strangled by mean government bureaucrats, its last gasp of entrepreneurial energy driven out by nasty investigators — is finally forced to pay for some slightly overzealous bit of capitalist behavior, what is that poor company to do? Write the fine off on its taxes, of course. Yes, incredible as it sounds, when corporations are fined for breaking the law, they can deduct the fine from their tax bill.

9/10/02

Banner, Sign Rule Criticized By ACLU
TAMPA - Civil libertarians are criticizing a plan for a ``free speech zone'' for those who want to carry signs or banners Wednesday morning at ``Flags Along the Bayshore: Tampa Remembers 9-11.'' ...

Remember past year's experiences and vote
Heard enough about 9/11 yet?

It's a whole new ball game with touch screen balloting.
TAMPA -- Today, before you go to the church or recreational center where you usually vote, stop a moment.

Confusion at Florida polls; Janet Reno among voters delayed
Hundreds of Florida voters, former Attorney General Janet Reno among them, were delayed at the polls Tuesday when problems with new voting machines caused many precincts to open late to long lines.

Governor's race the main event-- 
MIAMI — The race to see who will oppose Gov. Jeb Bush in November will be the main attraction Tuesday as Democrats are expected to turn out in larger numbers for the primary election. Democrats and Republicans will choose a candidate for attorney general, Democrats will select an opponent to face Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and in some areas, voters will choose lawmakers to represent them at the Capitol because primary winners will not have a November opponent.

Wild cards make tight race harder to predict
In a race that once seemed a yawn-inspiring blowout but now has captured the nation's attention, Florida Democrats will choose their nominee today to take on Gov. Jeb Bush in November.

Squeaker possible at polls
Reno-McBride battle is expected to hinge on turnout as Floridians vote in primaries.

Voters not tied to party on rise
Florida's voters are less partisan and more diverse than they were in 1994, the last time the state held a primary election for governor, the latest registration records show.

Elections officials scramble as state prepares for voting test
WEST PALM BEACH — On the eve of the first statewide test of Florida's new computerized voting machines, Palm Beach County elections chief Theresa LePore scrambled Monday to find poll workers after 100 abruptly quit over the weekend. The preprimary election frenzy intensified the pressure already felt in Palm Beach, the birthplace of the infamous butterfly ballot and the center of the 2000 presidential election debacle. The workers quit after learning that they were assigned to new precincts because of the state's reapportionment, even though the changes were explained during training, LePore said.

Wrong sample ballots chagrin Volusia - DELAND -- Volusia's election officials Monday were dealing with an embarrassing mistake on the eve of today's election after learning they misidentified two Oak Hill races on sample ballots published in newspapers and on their Web page.

Absent voters absent minded
By JOEL ENGELHARDT, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Errors have voided hundreds of the absentee ballots cast in Palm Beach County for today's primary.

Guest editorial: Electoral reform in Florida
One of the more disturbing aspects of Florida's presidential election fiasco in November 2000, was that voters were turned away from the polls after being told, inexplicably, that their names weren't on the registration list. That many of those denied the vote were minorities fueled suspicion that election officials were trying to take votes away from the Democratic candidate, Al Gore.

Jones picks up a pair of newspaper endorsements
BOCA RATON — State Sen. Daryl Jones, running a distant third in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, picked up his second newspaper endorsement over the weekend when The Boca Raton News recommended him. The Naples Daily News endorsed Jones in an editorial Thursday.

Governor stumps in Central Florida
A day before the primary, the governor touts his plan's success during campaign stops.

Harris' hometown paper endorses no one in Republican primary
SARASOTA — Katherine Harris' hometown newspaper refused to endorse her in Tuesday's Republican congressional primary, citing her sudden resignation as Florida secretary of state because she failed to file the proper paperwork when she qualified for the ballot. "Mistakes and misjudgments, which continued right through Harris' confounding resignation as secretary of state, can no longer be dismissed as the products of inexperience," the paper wrote.

Frivolous suits threaten quality of our health care
Doctors are leaving the state of Florida due to the unaffordable medical malpractice insurance. Insurance rates are skyrocketing due to a civil justice crisis in Florida manifested by an abundance of frivolous lawsuits filed by unscrupulous personal injury attorneys. The problem has become so bad that the Florida Medical Association is keeping track of doctors leaving the state.

HMO exodus may force 200,000 to change plans - WASHINGTON -- Nearly 200,000 people may have to change health plans next year as health-maintenance organizations continue their exodus from the Medicare program, according to a survey by an HMO trade group.

Insurance to gobble paychecks
Workers will have to help offset this year's and next year's increases of 20%.

Appeals court upholds judge who upheld drug list
TALLAHASSEE — A federal appeals court has upheld the decision of a judge who approved Florida's new policy of making drug manufacturers give rebates if they want their drugs covered by Medicaid. In late December, U.S. District Judge William Stafford ruled against a pharmaceutical trade group that had challenged Florida's list of preferred drugs.

Maryland won't pay Florida company because of lapses in services
BALTIMORE — A state agency has negotiated a $792,470 reduction in payments to a Florida contractor that runs a boys' detention center because of escapes and failure to deliver educational services, a department spokesman said Monday. Maryland's Department of Juvenile Justice has a four-year, $46 million contract with Correctional Services Corp., of Sarasota, to run the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County. The contract started in March 1999.

Attacking the spirit when a mind needs repair
Citrus County Circuit Judge Ric Howard operates by his own moral compass. Mercy is nowhere on it.

Noelle Bush found with cocaine 
Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter caught while in an Orlando drug treatment center. 

DCF to run more frequent checks for employee criminal history
MIAMI — The state Department of Children & Families will run employee names through criminal databases twice a year, the agency's new chief said Monday after a newspaper probe found at least 183 DCF employees had criminal records. DCF Secretary Jerry Regier responded to the report that found some of those employees had committed felonies such as child molestation, child abuse, sex crimes and drug dealing.

Leaders: DCF Changes Arduous
TAMPA - Sometimes good intentions have unintended consequences. Child welfare workers in Pinellas and Pasco counties, complying with a new state guideline to photograph and ...

Orlando takes up gay rights
After months of public debate, a City Council workshop, and 7,000 letters and phone calls to local leaders,it is unclear when -- or if -- a proposed gay- rights law will come to a vote in Orlando.

Miami may cut teachers' raises to fund rising insurance costs
MIAMI — The nation's fourth largest school district may be forced to cut positions, reduce employee benefits and skip teacher raises because of rising medical insurance rates, officials said. Insurance companies hoping to represent the Miami-Dade school district's 40,000 employees in 2003 have asked for double- digit rate hikes in the $160 million insurance contract, district officials said.

Fewer students in school to prove costly
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Merrett Stierheim said Monday that an unexpected drop in projected student enrollment during the first two weeks of school would cost the district $12 million in state per-pupil funding -- adding to the fiscal woes already plaguing the district.

Interim president at New College says he wants to stay on
Gordon "Mike" Michalson, interim president of New College, wants to become the permanent leader of the small, nationally known liberal arts school in Sarasota.

BellSouth gets long distance go-ahead
The Public Service Commission ruled in favor of allowing the corporation to offer the service in Florida.

Three more Floridians contract West Nile
TALLAHASSEE — Three more Florida residents have contracted the West Nile virus, state health officials said Monday. The Department of Health said a 28- year-old Polk County resident, a 38-year-old Orange County resident and a 29-year-old Escambia County resident have tested positive for the virus, which is usually transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause potentially fatal encephalitis. Officials haven't identified the victims any further, and haven't said whether they are hospitalized or what condition they are in. State epidemiologist Steven Wiersma did say that none of the three has died.

Creepy spider crawls into hidden spaces of bay area Brown widows move north from Miami. But the timid spider will keep its poisonous fangs to itself if left alone. [Times photo: Chris Zuppa]

Another Fox Tests Positive For Rabies - NEW PORT RICHEY - After the third fox in as many months tested positive for rabies late last week, the Pasco County Health Department on Monday issued a countywide rabies alert.

Bonnie Erbe: We're in the red again
Here's a new song for Willie Nelson, sung to the tune of his hit, "On the Road Again." This one's called, "In the Red Again." Here are the lyrics: "We're in the Red again. Don't cry my dear, we're in the Red again./ Our politicians pledge they'll keep us in the black /We keep on headin' back/ to that wrong financial track/ We're in the Red again."

Divorce case sheds light on hidden CEO payouts
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Expenses for GE's Welch a surprise to shareholders.

Senate expected to OK faith-based bill
By Andrew Mollison, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
A Senate vote is likely soon on federal support for faith-based groups.

Mushroom clouds? Just show us the evidence
The public wants a smoking gun -- evidence to invade Iraq. No problem. The Bushies paint mushroom clouds of hysteria in this war against terrorism.

Keeping Iraq dissent out of sight
President, media go for style, not substance.

William Safire: How to listen to Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln's words at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery will be the speech repeated at the commemoration of Sept. 11 by the governor of New York and by countless other speakers across the nation. The lips of many listeners will silently form many of the famous phrases. "Four score and seven years ago" — a sonorous way of recalling the founding of the nation 87 years before he spoke — is a phrase many now recite by rote, as is "the last full measure of devotion."

Protecting the homeland or protecting the bureaucracy?
In July, Congress overwhelmingly passed genuine whistleblower protection for corporate workers defending the health of America's financial markets.

Sept. 11 ceremonies slight truths of the tragedy
My personal acre of hell froze over for an instant last month: I felt a lusty pang of love for Phyllis Schlafly, baroness of the religious right and most things wrong. Schlafly, you see, offered the best advice to schools regarding this week's anniversary of Sept. 11: "There is nothing that schools can add to what happened on September 11, that the children haven't already seen in the media. They should stay off it and teach what's true." Like English and math. 

9/9/02

Note from the Gator/Hurricane game... Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was in attendance. That announcement was met with a mixture of cheers and boos. . . 

The Most Important Battle In The War Against Terror - ... Election Day proves to our enemies that they can try to intimidate us, weaken us, inflict the most horrific violence upon us, yet we remain citizens in control of our future.-- 
We will not be ruled by fear.- 
We will be ruled by yeas and nays....

Close election will test Florida
Changes to the state's voting system after the 2000 presidential debacle will be put to the test in Tuesday's primary.

Will Florida flub it again? Tuesday's primary in national spotlight
For better or worse, Florida's performance at the polls on Tuesday will be held up to the nation as the leading test case for election reform.

Jeb makes wrong case
Gov. Bush's ads criticizing Bill McBride's business record not only pay him a compliment but open up an issue for whichever Democrat takes on the governor in November. ... Under Mr. McBride, Holland & Knight went from 284 lawyers to 1,278 lawyers. It paid a living wage and did lots of free public service work. Gov. Bush still hasn't made full disclosure of his work for a company that the Justice Department alleges committed fraud in getting government-backed loans for Nigeria. We'd love to see Mr. McBride compare business records with the governor. The fact that the governor doesn't want to face Mr. McBride suggests that the last thing the governor wants to talk about is his own business record.

Times-Union says McBride best hope for Democrats
The Florida Times-Union endorsed Bill McBride in the Democratic gubernatorial primary on Sunday, adding to his list of newspaper recommendations. McBride, polls show, has closed fast in recent weeks in his bid to win the nomination against former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and state Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami.

Fired fundraiser gives Graham campaign fits
Attorneys for U.S. Sen. Bob Graham have had enough. Robin Gibson, general counsel for a Graham committee supporting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, has asked a California arbitrator to issue a gag order for Robert Kaplan, president of a company Graham hired to raise money for the campaign.

Orlando's council set to discuss gay rights
The fate of a proposed ban on discrimination against gays -- the subject of nine months of debate in Orlando -- could hinge on the City Council's discussions today.

Newspaper: more than 180 DCF employees have criminal past
The state's child welfare agency employs at least 183 people with criminal pasts, including felonies such as child molestation, child abuse, sex crimes and drug dealing, according to a newspaper probe. Among the Department of Children & Families employees with criminal records, three were punished for child abuse, 22 for grand theft, seven for aggravated battery, two for DUI manslaughter, three for dealing drugs, 10 for aggravated assault with a weapon and nine for welfare fraud, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

To spank or not?
Children's deaths from abuse in Florida and controversy enveloping the DCF spark a debate. 

UF begins 150th anniversary celebration with Web site
A century and a half ago, there was no University of Florida, no Florida Gators and the college that grew into the state's flagship university was in Ocala. The University of Florida, which is preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary, recently established a Web site that traces its history back to 1853 and the creation of the East Florida Seminary in Ocala. More than 15,000 computer users have already visited the site. www.ufl.edu/150 

Endangered wildlife: Florida commission wise to suspend species downgrade The fight to save endangered species in Florida is the fight to save Florida itself. 

Manatees may provide clues to human cancer
Despite rising disputes over manatee slow-speed zones, sea cows and humans are forging a new partnership. The flabby giants that have been at the center of political fights in the last decade could help scientists find ways to treat cervical cancer and understand the nature of diseases such as AIDS. At the center of the study, recently started by scientists at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, is a virus found in manatees that is similar to one that causes cervical cancer in humans.

INS to begin fingerprinting 'suspicious' tourists
Immigration agents at the nation's border crossings, airports and seaports will begin this week to fingerprint foreigners they suspect may pose security risks and will require those visitors regularly to report where they are staying and what they are doing in the United States.

U.S. Must Lead Global Effort
The United States drew its usual criticism from environmental activists at the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development, and as usual much of the criticism was unfair. But not all.

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