The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Health, targeting a South Florida-based company it charges with making an adult video without protecting the performers from sexually transmitted diseases via the use of condoms.
Florida
Giant Gambling Wish List and Seminole Compact on Florida Lawmakers’ Table
Slot machines, blackjack and roulette are back on the table as lawmakers prepare once again to tackle the high-stakes issue of gambling in a state that everyone agrees is already one of the industry’s biggest cash cows.
Insurance Commissioner’s Blurry Prediction of Rate Increases Under Obamacare Contradicted
RAND study findings stand in stark contrast to the widely publicized predictions of Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty that the individual market would see rate increases of 30 to 40 percent for next year.
Another Red State Takes Medicaid Dollars, Contrasting With Florida’s Holdout
Michigan, which like Florida has a Republican governor and legislative majority, has voted to accept federal funds and expand its Medicaid program to the low-income uninsured. It is yet another GOP-dominated state that has done what Florida, which declined $51 billion over 10 years, did not.
GOP Rep. Debbie Mayfield Files Bill to Limit or End Common Core in Florida
Rep. Debbie Mayfield’s measure would require the State Board of Education to meet certain requirements before moving forward with the English and math portions of the standards and specifically bar it from implementing common core in any other subject areas.
Burnishing Green Creds Ahead of Election, Gov. Scott Wants To Give Everglades a Lift
Gov. Rick Scott is proposing $90 million to help lift a section of the Tamiami Trail, which groups such as the Everglades Foundation have called “one of the most prominent dams” blocking the natural flow of the River of Grass.
Police Chiefs and Civil Liberties Lawyers Tangle Over Florida’s Drug-Monitoring Database
Florida Department of Health officials say they want to tighten security on the state’s prescription-drug monitoring program, after the names and detailed prescription-drug histories of more than 3,000 people were released to defense attorneys after a drug sting in May.
Pessimism Creeping Into Floridians’ Consumer Confidence as Index Declines
Consumer confidence among Floridians remained in August at 77, the same as the July after that number was revised downward, the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research reported today. Three of the five components that make up the index declined while two increased, suggesting increased pessimism.
Equality Florida Calls on Cities to Suspend Ties With Russian Sister Cities Over Gay Bashing
Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach are in the clear, but Equality Florida, the gay-rights organization, is asking the more than half a dozen Florida cities with sister cities in Russia to suspend those mostly symbolic ties for now, in protest against rising anti-gay violence and the enactment of strict anti-gay legislation.
Gov. Scott Sets Education Summit Amid Direction’s Growing Uncertainties
The summit, which will last from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon in Clearwater, comes after the resignation of former Education Commissioner Tony Bennett and as debates swirl about the state’s school-grading system and a move to “Common Core” standards.