FlaglerLive | April 22, 2013
While granting Gov. Rick Scott $480 million he requested for education, lawmakers rejected a $2,500 across-the-board pay for teachers, tying any raises to merit pay only. The methodology for such increases has itself been controversial.
FlaglerLive | April 21, 2013
Some of the highest-profile issues, from a difference over teacher pay raises to how to structure a major change in Medicaid reimbursements, remained unresolved with a Tuesday deadline looming before legislative leaders take over the negotiations.
FlaglerLive | April 19, 2013
For the first time since June 2008–almost five years–Flagler County’s unemployment has fallen back to single digits, registering 9.5 percent in March as the local economy continued to mirror the state’s and the nation’s, improving slowly but steadily.
FlaglerLive | April 19, 2013
After tense debate that included allegations of lying and large-scale eugenics, the House on Thursday passed a measure banning abortions meant to avoid having a baby of a particular gender or race and criminalized harm of the unborn in the act of harming or killing its mother.
FlaglerLive | April 18, 2013
In Florida in 2012, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 256,443 traffic crashes and of those 4,841 were caused by a driver using some form of electronic device.
FlaglerLive | April 18, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed his sixth death warrant since becoming governor in January 2011. Elmer Carroll will be executed at Starke prison by lethal injection on May 6 at 6 p.m.
FlaglerLive | April 18, 2013
Superintendents expressed frustration with the state’s teacher evaluation law during a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott a day after teachers filed suit in federal court to overturn the law, Scott himself endorsed trying to fix the provision attacked by the lawsuit, but lawmakers must carry out the fix.
FlaglerLive | April 17, 2013
The bill (SB 92) prevents law enforcement use of drones unless a judge has issued a warrant, or in cases where there is a “high risk of terrorist attack,” or a case of imminent danger, such as in a missing person case where the person is thought to be in immediate danger.
FlaglerLive | April 17, 2013
Legislation aimed at putting Florida in line with a U.S. Supreme Court ban on automatic life sentences for juvenile murderers cleared a House panel Tuesday, but with a 50 year minimum sentence that opponents say may keep the state’s law at odds with the court’s aim.
FlaglerLive | April 16, 2013
In a more lurid consequence of sexting, Florida women and girls have been targeted by revenge porn–the online posting of nude images without the victim’s consent–in several documented instances, leading the Legislature to seek to criminalize the practice as a second or third-degree felony.
FlaglerLive | April 15, 2013
The state says it is justified in requiring disclosures of information about political action committee contributions and expenditures. Plaintiffs, arguing their case before a federal appeals court Tuesday, say they should be free to express themselves on political issues without registering as a committee and filling out campaign documents.
FlaglerLive | April 14, 2013
New laws reduce bureaucratic hoops for foster kids and their families who would no longer need approval for certain activities enjoyed by other kids and offer more protection to those nervous of stepping out of its protective wrap.
FlaglerLive | April 12, 2013
The measure would offset the increased revenue brought in by the measure by lowering other taxes, including the communications services tax charged on phone service, cable, and satellite TV and internet connections.
FlaglerLive | April 11, 2013
Florida lawmakers are moving toward erasing the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from myriad state laws, as the word “retarded” has become widely viewed as offensive to people with disabilities.
FlaglerLive | April 10, 2013
Larry Eugene Mann was executed at Starke state prison Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. by lethal injection. I traveled to Starke with a Catholic Church group to witness the vigils–pro and con–outside the prison grounds.
FlaglerLive | April 9, 2013
Bottom line: 19.2 percent of adults and 28.4 percent of children are sometimes hungry in Florida, compared to national averages of 16.1 percent for adults and 21.6 percent for children. About 21 percent of Florida children were living below the federal poverty level in 2009.
FlaglerLive | April 8, 2013
A measure that could land more than $60 million in sales tax rebates for the Daytona International speedway was unanimously supported by the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee on Monday, allegedly to keep the speedway “relevant.”
FlaglerLive | April 6, 2013
Specific benchmarks, along with language expressing the importance of readiness programs, are removed from a proposed committee bill that emerged Thursday in Tallahassee, removing an emphasis on learning and readiness for school.
FlaglerLive | April 5, 2013
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson is the 51st senator to come out in favor of gay marriage. Only two Republicans have joined 49 Democrats ahead of a pair of decisions later this spring by the U.S. Supreme Court on the legality of two related measures, including the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
FlaglerLive | April 5, 2013
Rep. Travis Hutson was among the Republicans crossing party lines to oppose the bill, favered by the charter-school movement, as it would let parents petition their school district to consider a turnaround option for a school that receives an “F” on the state report card for two consecutive years.
FlaglerLive | April 4, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott will sign legislation prohibiting the gaming at Internet cafรฉs, his office said Thursday, following the Senate’s Senate’s 36-4 passage of a bill that flew through the Legislature spurred by an on-going racketeering investigation, and pushed by Sen. John Thrasher, who represents Flagler County.
FlaglerLive | April 4, 2013
What kind of health coverage can you buy for $20 to $30 a month? None. That may sum up the real-world prospects for Health Choice Plus, the plan for low-income uninsured Florida adults that State Sen. Aaron Bean’s committee approved Tuesday along party lines.
FlaglerLive | April 3, 2013
In a room full of people texting updates to and otherwise using electronic devices, a long sought measure to ban such behavior while driving was given a green light to the Florida House floor on Wednesday.
FlaglerLive | April 2, 2013
No one expects any major gun control legislation to pass in Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature, but Rep. Cynthia Stafford said there should be at least a discussion of the issue. There hasn’t been much of one.
FlaglerLive | April 1, 2013
The latest proposal to provide health care to Florida’s poorest snubs federal money while creating limited health accounts the poor may tap, but for limited services, and with burdensome conditions of employment–and premiums that most may not be able to afford.
FlaglerLive | March 31, 2013
Student fees have been something of a known irritant for years, often criticized as a kind of stealth, second tuition imposed on unsuspecting families. But such fees are still on the rise on many campuses. There’s nothing funny about how they can add up.
FlaglerLive | March 29, 2013
The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday lowering motor vehicle fees in exchange for repealing an insurance tax credit, turning aside protests from the insurance industry that the measure would hurt a thriving business.
FlaglerLive | March 29, 2013
Flagler County’s unemployment rate fell sharply in February, to 10.3 percent–from 11 percent the previous month–and matched its lowest level since August 2008. Florida’s unemployment rate also continued to fall, matching the national rate, at 7.7 percent, in February while adding 7,800 jobs.
Flagler continues to rank among the counties with the highest unemployment rate, more ยป
FlaglerLive | March 28, 2013
Former state Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison for essentially stealing from the party, far less than prosecutors wanted but more than Greer’s lawyer argued he really deserved.
FlaglerLive | March 27, 2013
Nelson said during a stop in Tallahassee that he has written the inspector general of the federal Troubled Assets Relief Fund, or TARP, to look into what he called “mismanagement and inaction by Florida officials” in administering a program called “Hardest Hit,” which was supposed to take federal money and help struggling homeowners.
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