The Florida court’s decision stemmed from a controversial 2013 law the Republican-controlled Legislature passed after a lobbying battle between groups such as doctors and plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Florida
Charlie Crist Says He’ll Run for Congress If Redistricting Goes His Address’ Way
The newly redrawn district is expected to include Crist’s home, fueling widespread speculation recently that the 58-year-old Crist would launch another political comeback.
Service Specter: Rick Scott’s Job-Growth Puffery Masks Florida’s Low-Wage Future
About two of three of those new jobs is a low-paying service-sector one, mirroring years of Florida job growth in low-pay, no-benefits, dead-end jobs in Team Scott’s tourism-driven economy.
Affordable Care Act Becoming Less Affordable as Florida Insurers Prepare Big Rate Hikes
If 1.6 million more Floridians have insurance thanks to Obamacare, sticker shocks keep coming as insurers have submitted 14 rate-hike requests to state regulators.
Scott Bolsters Protection for Florida National Guard in Wake of Tennessee Marines’ Murders
In an executive order, Scott directed Adjutant Gen. Michael Calhoun to temporarily move National Guard members from six “storefront” recruitment centers to armories.
Florida’s Impending “Pastor Protection Act” Weds Spurious Scenarios With Homophobia
The proposal is aimed at safeguarding clergy members from being forced to perform gay-marriage ceremonies even though they’re categorically protected from doing so by the First Amendment.
Opposing Floridians for Solar Choice, Right-Wing Launches Amendment Drive of Its Own
Consumers for Smart Solar includes two ex-lawmakers, a Jacksonville tea-party founder and an ex-chairman of the Florida Public Service Commission.
Against Protest, Walton County in Panhandle Joins Marion to Let Confederate Flag Fly For Now
Walton County flew started flying the Confederate flag at its courthouse in 1964 in direct opposition to the Civil Rights Act, which extended rights protections to blacks.
Florida Adds Still More Specialty License Plates to Some 120 Accenting Causes
It’s not as if Floridians need more specialized license plates. But more are going on the market and some are being redesigned.
Millionaires Make Up Nearly One-Third Of the Florida Legislature, More in Senate
Almost half of the Florida Senate is in the millionaires club, and more than two dozen senators saw their net worths grow in the past year.
Signature Crop Loses Its Juice as Florida’s Orange Production Falls to New Low
Florida orange production for the 2014-15 season fell to 96.7 million boxes, a drop of 4 percent from last year, and a vastly worse total than projected last October.
Supreme Court Declares Numerous Congressional Districts Corruptly Drawn, Forcing Another Special Session
The court ruled the congressional map was corrupted by the efforts of Republican political consultants, violating an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment voters approved in 2010. The Legislature must draw new districts within 100 days.
As South Carolina Folds the Confederate Flag, Florida County Votes to Raise It Back Up
The Marion County Commission voted unanimously to raise the Confederate flag again on government grounds after removing it last week, just as the South Carolina Legislature ended debate this morning ina vote to remove it from state grounds.
Florida’s Lagging Early-Childhood Education Programs Again Fail to Win More Legislative Support
Florida’s voluntary pre-kindergarten and school-readiness programs are funded below national averages. Advocates turn their hopes toward federal support.
Court Will Hear Argument That Guns Should Be Allowed at UF Dorms as They Are At Home
A circuit judge ruled against Florida Carry Inc.’s argument last year that people have a legal right to possess firearms at University of Florida housing just as they do in their homes.
Charter Schools Are Not Required To Provide Bus Transportation to Students, Judge Rules
As part of a school-choice movement heavily backed by state Republican leaders, charter schools do not have to operate under all of the same requirements as more-traditional public schools.
As Cremation Outpaces Burial Rates,
Jewelry Glitters the Afterlife
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.
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.