Florida is well ahead of the nation in cremation rates, but for the first time this year cremations nationally will outpace burials. A jewelry industry is marking the shift.
Florida
As Cremation Outpaces Burial Rates,
Rick Gets Richer: Governor’s Net Worth Climbs $14 Million in 2014, Padded By Blind Trust
Scott, who reportedly spent $13 million last year on his re-election, stated he generated $9.8 million last year from his blind trusts. Unlike last year, however, Scott did not disclose the assets of the blind trust in the most recent report.
Disney’s CEO Makes $248 a Minute as Some of His Employees Go Homeless on $8.03 an Hour
Even after a raise to $10 an hour, Disney employees can only expect to take home about $20,000 over the course of a year, not enough to live decently in Orlando. A $15-an-hour wage is more critical, argues Scott Klinger.
Judge Halts Abortion Waiting Period Set to Start Wednesday, Pending ACLU Challenge
But the appeal by Attorney General Pam Bondi triggered an automatic stay on Francis’ decision, which could allow the law to go into effect. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the initial case, immediately responded by asking for Francis to lift that stay.
Supreme Court’s Lethal Injection Ruling Clears Way For More Florida Executions, and Challenges
In the 5-4 majority opinion issued Monday, Justice Alito wrote that the first of the three-drug lethal cocktail used also used in Florida, “entails a substantial risk of severe pain.”
New Laws Kick In This Week: Body Cameras, Drones, Abortion, Traffic Tickets, Secret Recordings, Flags
Florida’s record-setting budget goes into effect on Wednesday, along with 130 other new laws that were produced by the Legislature this year in the regular and special sessions and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. Here’s a run-down.
Bad Judges: Florida Supreme Court Seeks to Rein in Rogues and Hotheads
The number of judges facing sanctions in Florida jumped last year, and the high court is more often seeking harsher penalties than those originally proposed by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Algal Bloom Observed at the Confluence of Flagler’s Dead Lake and Bull Creek
Algal blooms damage the environment because they replace vital food sources, clog fish gills, prevent sunlight from reaching seagrass and contribute to low oxygen “dead-zones” when they degrade.
Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare Subsidies, 6-3, Protecting Benefits For 1.3 Million Floridians
Some 1.3 million Floridians and millions more across the country will not lose their health insurance subsidies as the U.S. Supreme Court this morning ruled decisively, by a 6-3 vote, that the subsidies are legal and must remain in place, even in states that have not established their own health insurance exchanges.
Judge Considering Temporary Block of Florida’s New 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
A judge is considering halting the law from going in effect July 1 while a constitutional challenge goes forward. The challenge was filed by the Florida ACLU.
Scott’s Veto Pen Hits Flagler’s Top Priority, Sinking $600,000 For Malacompra Drainage
The $600,000 appropriation for the Malacompra drainage project was among the 450 line-items and $461 million he vetoed as he approved a $78.2 billion budget.
Environmentalists Sue Florida Lawmakers Over Amendment 1, Claiming Misuse of Dollars
The suit seeks a court declaration that money from the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund, which will handle all the Amendment 1 funding, may not be substituted for general-revenue funds or used to pay for other services and programs.
Lawmakers Again Refuse to Extend KidCare Coverage to Children of Legal Immigrants
The proposal in the Florida Legislature would have eliminated a 5-year waiting period for lawful immigrants to qualify for the subsidized insurance program that serves children from low- and moderate-income families.
$780 Million More for Education in Florida, But a $500 Million Property Tax Increase
The special session’s much-touted tax cut of $427 million is wiped out by a nearly $500 million tax increase to pay for education funding increases.
Taxpayers’ Tab in Gov. Scott’s Losing Drug-Testing Lawsuits: $1.5 Million
The $1.5 million in legal fees, including nearly $1 million to civil-rights lawyers, are because of Gov. Scott’s failed push to force welfare applicants and tens of thousands of state workers to submit to suspicionless drug tests.
Just as Flagler County Resolves Against Fracking, Ratepayers Will Underwrite FPL’s Fracking Bills
FPL can invest $500 million in fracking ventures at ratepayers’ expense, making it the first utility in the nation–according to an analysis by the Public Service Commission–to spend ratepayers dollars on “non-regulated risk.”
Florida’s Nature Conservancy Gets It:
It’s About Land Management
Most Florida environmental groups this special session made a lot of noise and spent a lot of money, but came away empty-handed and unhappy. Not The Nature Conservancy.
Gov. Scott Signs $429 Million Tax-Cut Package, Saving Average Floridians a Few Dollars a Year
The tax savings are projected at less than $2 a month for people paying $100 a month for phone or TV services. The package reduces costs on cell-phone bills, cable TV bills, gun club memberships, college textbooks and luxury boat repairs.
Clinton Still Leads Rubio and Bush in Florida, But Most Voters Call Her Dishonest
Te gender gap is working strongly in Hillary Clinton’s favor: she has a double-digit lead among women when matched against Rubio or Bush, though her overall numbers have weakened since late last year.
Flagler Court Clerk Throws a Switch, and Mass of Criminal and Civil Records Becomes Accessible Online
Flagler County court records, from arrest affidavits to civil, criminal, county and probate court are now all available online, 24 hours a day, in a vast improvement of public record access ordered by the Florida Supreme Court.
Accenting His First Name, Dissing His Last, Jeb Bush Finally Declares for 2016
Jeb Bush made his announcement in Miami with his brother and father, both ex-presidents, nowhere in sight as the latest Bush hopes to redefine the tarnished name in his quest for the White House.
Sedated We Stand: Medicare Paid for Nearly 40 Million Tranquilizer Prescriptions in 2013
Florida had more doctors who prescribed large amounts of benzodiazepines than anywhere else in the country with some 144 Florida doctors wrote at least 2,000 prescriptions for them to Medicare patients.
ACLU and Women’s Health Center Sue Florida Over 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
The lawsuit contends that for women — especially low-income women who must arrange for child care, time off work and overnight travel — the law can push them past the time it is legal to have abortions.
The War on Women, Cont’d: Enough with Mandatory Vaginal Exams, Florida
It’s not enough that in 2011 our Legislature passed a draconian law forcing women to schedule, pay for, and look at an ultrasound of their fetus if they choose to exercise their right to an abortion.
Fossil-Fuel Utilities Band Up to Block Solar-Power Initiative Aiming to Unshackle Industry
Florida’s largest electric utilities, AG Pam Bondi and business groups want the Supreme Court to block a proposed solar-energy ballot initiative that would go before voters in 2016.
Palm Coast Passes on Supporting County In Anti-Fracking and Drilling Resolutions
The Palm Coast City Council chose not to sign on to a pair of resolutions opposing fracking or seismic testing for oil offshore of Florida, saying the county has already spoken.
Citing “Competition,” Lawmakers Want Hospitals Deregulated. Hospitals Disagree.
The measure would eliminate what is known as the hospital “certificate of need” process in Florida, which requires state review and approval of building new hospitals, replacing hospitals and offering certain complex, costly medical services such as organ transplants.
16 Matanzas High Seniors Still Awaiting Diplomas Because of Company’s Late Exam Scores
Pearson, the company scoring the Biology and US History end-of-course exams, has had a poor history of turning in its own work over the many years it’s administered standardized tests in Florida.
Childhood Cancer Clusters in Florida and The Department of Health’s Lethal Silence
Five years have passed since the University of West Florida’s Dr. Raid Amin and his team alerted the state to the presence of cancer clusters in Florida, the state Department of Health remains mum, seemingly uninterested in investigating the issue.
Senator Blasts “Hypocritical” House Over Rejecting Medicaid Money While Getting Set to Borrow
Disagreements led Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, to label the House as “hypocritical” for rejecting federal Medicaid expansion funding while being willing to issue bonds to pay for environmental projects.
More Than 1.3M Floridians May Lose Their Obamacare Subsidies, More Than Any Other State
Floridians received at least $389 million in March from the federal government to help pay for their health insurance. The subsidies are at the center of a Supreme Court case challenging the health law. The case will be decided this month.
In Breakthrough, Lawmakers Agree on Health Budget and “Significant” Increase for Education
Florida House and the Senate reached tentative agreements Saturday on money to hospitals and providers for the poor, and a $207-per-pupil increase in education funding.
At Least Now They’re Talking: Florida House and Senate Reach Deal on Budget Outline
The agreement was the first tangible sign of progress on a budget during a special session that began Monday, but lawmakers still face days of detailed negotiations to hash out the finer points of a deal.
Opposing “Medicaid in Disguise,” Florida House Set to Kill Senate Health Plan Friday
For all of its new provisions, House Republicans said, the so-called Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, remains Medicaid expansion in disguise.
Senate Approves Health Plan to Resolve Budget Impasse, But House Remains Unmoved
Gov. Rick Scott and House Republican leaders staunchly oppose the legislation, which helped grind budget negotiations to a halt earlier this year and spark a special session currently underway.
Federal Government Calls Gov. Scott’s Lawsuit Over Medicaid Expansion “Baseless”
Federal officials fired back in court against Gov. Rick Scott’s contention that the Obama administration has unconstitutionally tried to link expanding Medicaid with the continuation of a key health-care funding program.
Despite Budget Crunch, Cable and Cell Phone Tax Cuts Still Expected in Special Session
Floridians could still get a reduction in their cable-TV and cell-phone bills as part of a new House tax-cut package, though it’ll fall short of the nearly $700 million package projected earlier this year.
Administrator Patrick Johnson Calls It Quits as Flagler Health Department Endures Big Changes
Flagler County Health Department Administrator Patrick Johnson is resigning at the end of the month to take a public health post in North Carolina as county departments in Florida see their roles shift and diminish.
With Florida Overdue for a Hit, Hurricane Season Begins on a Tide of Pessimism
NOAA predicts a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season, with between six to 11 tropical storms, but Florida’s insurance officials say the state’s nine straight hurricane-free seasons can;t last much longer.
What Florida’s Republicans Can Teach Its Diminishing Democrats
The GOP’s brilliance lay in its rebooted website’s recognition that most voters are sick and tired of political parties, platforms, issues and agendas. So instead, it focuses on action, action, action, argues Daniel Tilson.
Palm Coast Wants Protection From Extortionist Lawsuits Over Public Record Requests
Palm Coast and the Florida League of Cities are seeking a change in law that would protect local governments from opportunistic groups more individuals who sue governments and companies over public record violations.
Proposals: Scrap Hospital Regulatory Process, Give Some Nurses More Power to Prescribe Drugs
House Republicans filed six bills Wednesday that delve into hot-button issues such as getting rid of a regulatory process for new or expanded hospitals and allowing advanced-registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe controlled substances.
Senate Leaders Propose Compromise in Budget Impasse, Gov. Scott and House Reject It
Scott and House Republicans have repeatedly said they have no interest in using Medicaid expansion funds from Obamacare to close a $2.2 billion budget gap and insure more Floridians.
Flagler Unemployment, Down to 6.1%, Continues Sharp Recovery Over Last 12 Months
There were in fact 87 fewer Flagler residents with jobs in April than in March, though the number of Flagler residents on the unemployment rolls also declined, by 219, to 2,616.
Feds’ $1 Billion Pledge Cuts Florida Health Deficit in Half, Easing Legislative Standoff
If Florida has to instead offset the remaining $1.2 billion deficit for low-income healthcare with tax revenues, that could eat into funding for other priorities, like public education and tax cuts.
Flagler’s Next Congressman? Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford Announces for DeSantis Seat
Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, term-limited after 12 years, will seek to replace Rep. Ron DeSantis in the 6th Congressional District, which includes all of Flagler County. The open seat is expected to draw numerous candidates.
Crime Rate Falls to Historic Low in Flagler, Mirroring State and National Trend
Flagler’s crime rate is 40 percent lower than Florida’s, and in 2014 it was 29 percent lower than its peak in 2007. Bunnell continues to account for a disproportionate number of arrests.
Meeting in Bunnell, State Board of Education Urges Lawmakers to Preserve Historic Increase in Per-Student Funding
Gov. Rick Scott warned last week that a planned $261 per student funding increase from the current year was in jeopardy if the Legislature does not resolve an impasse over health care funding.
As Gov. Scott Seeks Information For His Health Commission, Hospitals Signal He’s On His Own
As Gov. Rick Scott’s newly created health-care commission prepares to meet Wednesday to begin sifting through data about hospital funding, the governor’s request for information has been met with hospitals essentially telling him to go look it up.
Lawmakers Preparing A Disastrous Overhaul of Florida High School Athletics Ahead
Not a high school in the state of Florida sees anything but disaster in proposed legislation that would overhaul the Florida High School Athletic Association, for good reason, argues Nancy Smith.