FlaglerLive | May 16, 2013
In a statement issued Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott’s administration implied that if Amazon were to locate in Florida and begin collecting taxes, that would amount to a tax increase on Florida residents who use the popular shopping portal.
FlaglerLive | May 16, 2013
Florida’s seaports are set to embark on a massive round of 26 waterfront and transit upgrades as Florida seeks to expand its trade with partners in Central America and South America, while working to attract more Asian traffic that has grown via the Suez Canal and the expansion of the Panama Canal approaches completion.
FlaglerLive | May 14, 2013
The contracts for Florida’s 28 state college presidents range widely, totaling almost $10 million in compensation, and in several cases seem to violate state law, according to a review released Monday by Gov. Rick Scott’s top oversight official.
FlaglerLive | May 14, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott is not waiting to sign a bill that would accelerate the pace of capital-punishment executions in Florida. The death warrants he’s signed since April lead to the fastest-paced series of executions since four inmates were killed in March 1998, when Lawton Chiles was governor.
FlaglerLive | May 10, 2013
The bill closes a legal gap, as state law already bars firearms purchases by people who are involuntarily committed under the Baker Act. This one focuses on people who are found to be an “imminent danger” and face the possibility of being involuntarily committed if they do not admit themselves.
FlaglerLive | May 8, 2013
The Florida Legislature’s $74 billion budget contains, as always, innumerable surprises in the fine print, from $240,000 to be spent on orange juice served visitors at highway stops to $500,000 to advertise stay-in-state vacations to Floridians.
FlaglerLive | May 7, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott got the teacher raise he sought, and a sales-tax exemption for manufacturing equipment in the last legislative session, but his poll numbers haven’t showed improvement as he heads into the 2014 campaign for a second term.
FlaglerLive | May 2, 2013
The Senate voted 39-1 in favor of a bill (SB 52) that makes it illegal to read or type texts or emails while actually driving, though it would remain legal to do it while stopped, such as at a red light. Drivers can;t be stopped for texting, however. They can only be cited if stopped for another offense.
FlaglerLive | May 1, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a bill that would have ended permanent alimony and limited alimony payments based on income and the length of marriage, a victory for thousands of constituents who’d urged the governor to do just that.
FlaglerLive | April 29, 2013
Under the deal on teacher pay raises, one of Gov. Rick Scott’s top two priorities, teachers rated as “effective” would receive a raise of at least $2,500, while those rated “highly effective” would get $3,500. The raises wouldn’t be paid out, though, until June 2014.
FlaglerLive | April 24, 2013
The ethics bill approved by the Florida House dropped a two-year prohibition on legislators taking quasi-lobbying jobs with firms trying to influence the Legislature; it would increase the amount that each contributor can give to candidates during an election, and unlimited donations could go to political committees.
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 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 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 4, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott will sign legislation prohibiting the gaming at Internet cafés, 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 | 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.
FlaglerLive | March 23, 2013
In turns moving, startling and informative, a day-long workshop on the death penalty in Flagler Beach, featuring two exonerated men, urged an assembly of 60 to more actively get involved in a movement to abolish capital punishment in Florida.
FlaglerLive | March 23, 2013
The proposal cleared the chamber on a 75-39 vote, as four Democrats broke with their party to support the GOP-backed measure. The bill would boost contribution limits, allowing each donor to give $5,000 per election to a statewide candidate and $3,000 per election to local and legislative candidates.
FlaglerLive | March 20, 2013
The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Crist beating Scott by 16 points and other Republicans losing as well as Scott’s unpopularity appears to be dragging down the GOP brand.
FlaglerLive | March 16, 2013
Carroll’s political career appears all but finished. Making matters worse for the former Navy lieutenant commander, she will be remembered for her involvement with Allied Veterans of the World, a group that authorities say held itself out as a charity for veterans but actually was a gambling operation that enriched a handful of people.
FlaglerLive | March 5, 2013
As Gov. Rick Scott stepped to the podium Tuesday morning for his third State of the State address — a sort of unofficial midpoint in his term — he embarked on a very different path than the ultraconservative businessman who spent his first two years trying to shake up Tallahassee.
FlaglerLive | March 4, 2013
Only a few hours after Florida’s chief economist said the state can’t afford to leave billions of federal dollars sitting on the table, the House committee on the Affordable Care Act voted to do exactly that.
FlaglerLive | February 27, 2013
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the state had not shown a “special need” for drug testing applicants to the program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It upheld a preliminary injunction issued in 2011 by U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven.
FlaglerLive | February 26, 2013
Florida Governor Rick Scott will join the Flagler County Commission Tuesday morning in the ribbon cutting ceremony of Coastal Cloud, a cutting-edge Information Technology consulting company to be headquartered in Flagler County.
FlaglerLive | February 25, 2013
The panel charged by Gov. Rick Scott with reviewing the state’s ‘stand your ground’ self-defense law did not recommend any major changes to the statute, although it did make suggestions for tweaks by the Legislature in the upcoming session.
FlaglerLive | February 21, 2013
The announcement was a dramatic move for the Republican governor, who launched his political career as an outspoken critic of President Obama’s efforts to overhaul the health-care system. The announcement also shifts the focus of the contentious Medicaid debate squarely to the Legislature, which would have to approve any expansion.
FlaglerLive | February 13, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott’s aggressive economic development effort is getting more legislative pushback as budget committees in both chambers questioned the direction, expense and oversight of the governor’s “jobs, jobs, jobs” agenda.
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