Florida appears willing to defy federal warnings that the ongoing voter purge may be illegal, although the state is leaving it up to local elections supervisors to make the call. Election officials said earlier this year as many as 180,000 names may be erroneously included on state voter rolls.
Ron DeSantis
Five Questions for Wansley Walters, Head of Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice
Before becoming secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Wansley Walters directed the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department, considered a national model for saving money while reducing the juvenile arrest rate. She’s the first woman to lead DJJ.
FCAT Flack: Gov. Rick Scott Grades Up PR
As the Florida Department of Education tries to handle the fallout of the collapse in FCAT writing scores, the office of Gov. Rick Scott has been intimately involved in efforts to roll out the test scores, according to staff emails.
Hi Governor Scott, It’s Me, an Early Tea Party Supporter. Not That Much Anymore.
Henry Kelley, a tea party activist, ran Rick Scott’s Okaloosa County campaign and was pretty much the only “No Party Affiliated” person, given his deep-seated mistrust of Florida Republicans. He now tells Scott of his disappointment with his tenure.
Dear Gov. Scott: “We Are Going To Start Losing Teachers.” An Ex-School Board Member’s Plea
Evie Shellenberger, the former Flagler County School Board member, writes Gov. Rick Scott to warn him of despairing teachers and a generation of students left behind by Florida’s neglect of vocational education, and invites him to a one-on-one sit down discussion.
GOP National Convention in Tampa: There Will Be Guns
All sorts of weapons that can cause harm are banned in Downtown Tampa for the GOP National Convention in August, except for guns, by order of Gov. Rick Scott and in compliance with a new Florida law forbidding cities from enacting stricter gun regulations than the state.
Rick Scott’s Obsession With Other People’s Urine
Anyone other than my doctor who’d ask me to pee in a cup isn’t just out of line. He’d be out of his mind. Yet an entire industry thrives on such cup-holders, Gov. Rick Scott among them, and millions of Americans are not only complying with the docility of circus animals. They’re encouraging the indignity and asking for more.
Citing Its “Uses and Abuses,” Rival Task Forces Duel Over Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law
As Gov. Rick Scott’s Stand Your Ground task force is criticized for being loaded with NRA and SYG advocates, a rival panel led by Sen. Chris Smith issues its recommendations on amending–not repealing–the law.
Gov. Scott Vetoes Bill Calling For Unlimited Tuition Increases at UF and Florida State
Gov. Rick Scott’s tuition bill veto rejects pleas of higher education and business officials who said steeper tuition would make the schools more competitive. The veto underscores Scott’s emphasis on holding down the cost of living in the state.
Flagler Supervisor of Elections Office Tops State Performance Rankings That Anger Others
Other supervisors of elections are angry over the nature of the survey, calling it inaccurate, but Weeks is almost certain to use the results as vindication of her tenure after nearly four years of conflict with the Flagler County Commission over her budget and confrontational style.
Federal Judge Rules Gov. Rick Scott’s Random Drug-Testing of State Workers Unconstitutional
Federal District Judge Ursula Ungaro found that Scott’s order requiring drug tests violates the Fourth Amendment, as there is no “compelling need for testing.” Scott said he’d appeal the ruling.
A Quarter of Gov. Scott’s Vetoes Slash Health Spending, Research and Education
A sampling of vetoes included money for such things as meningitis immunizations for children, the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Broward County, a fetal-alcohol clinic in Sarasota and a mobile-health unit in rural Gadsden County.
Scott, in St. Johns, Signs $70 Billion Budget, Vetoing Only One-Fifth Last Year’s Amount
The vetoes were a sharp decrease from the $615 million in spending Scott killed last year, though he struck dozens of transportation and cultural programs and asked state universities to limit tuition increases to 5 percent.
His Veto Pen Spilling No Hints, Gov. Rick Scott Readies to Sign Budget in St. Johns Tuesday
Only one thing is clear about what will happen Tuesday when Gov. Rick Scott signs the $70 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1: An increase in state funding for education will stand.
Flagler Mulls Joining Lawsuit Against
Florida Over Reduction in Medicaid Payments
Flagler County commissioners will decide Monday whether to join a Florida Association of Counties lawsuit challenging the state’s decision to try to tap counties for tens of millions of dollars in disputed Medicaid money.
Caylee’s Law Now In Effect, Making Lying About a Missing Child a Felony
Prompted by the death of Orlando two-year-old Caylee Anthony in 2008, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a measure to bolster penalties for lying to police when a child goes missing.
Flagler Clerk Gail Wadsworth Tries a Hail Mary As Courts Take Yet Another Budget Hit
The $31 million statewide budget cut in clerks of court’s budgets translates to a loss of $90,000 to Flagler County’s court system, and up to three jobs, adding to successive cuts going back to 2008 that Clerk Gail Wadsworth calls unsustainable.
Scott Signs a Series of Tax Cut Bills, Including Expansion of Corporate Tax Exemption
While supporters insisted that the legislation signed Wednesday will help provide a better business climate, they were quick to say that a variety of factors were at work in the economy, and it would be difficult to accurately figure out how many jobs the measures might create.
Trayvon Martin Ripples: Attorneys Take On Profiling As NRA Defends Stand Your Ground
A group of Tallahassee criminal defense lawyers called Roundtable for Justice is moving to shed more light on racial profiling in Florida while the NRA’s lead lobbyist on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law defends the measure.
No Zebras Here: Florida Audubon Wants Gov. Scott to Veto Exotic Breeding-Ground Bill
Citing limited land for existing species, Audubon Florida is urging Gov. Rick Scott to veto a measure that would allow zoos and aquariums to lease state land to create breeding and research facilities for exotic birds or hooved animals like zebras, rhinos and giraffes.
Gov. Scott, Veto the School Prayer Bill
Today, several Florida and national leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, including Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro, sent the following letter to Gov. Rick Scott, urging him to veto a school-prayer bill that cleared the Legislature.
Flagler’s and Florida’s Economic Development Hoax
Florida lawmakers and their local replicas seem hypnotized by the buzz of economic development, nattering about it with great stamina. But it’s a hoax, and a costly one. The assault on public and higher education of the last few years proves it.
Defying Legislature’s Rejection, Gov. Scott Says He’ll Look to Privatize Prisons Anyway
Scott’s jump into the controversy – after months of refusing to answer directly what his position was on the idea – drew immediate criticism from the opponents of privatization, including the union that currently represents most state corrections officers.
Florida Corporations Get a Bigger Tax Break, Shoppers Get Another Sales Tax Holiday
Gov. Rick Scott called the corporate tax break “a huge victory” for Floridians that would help businesses create more jobs, though there is little evidence that such tax breaks spur job creation, and some evidence that the tax breaks are closer to corporate welfare.
Scott’s Prison Privatization Scheme Dies
In a rebuke to Gov. Rick Scott, a bipartisan coalition of senators bucked the chamber’s Republican leadership Tuesday and rejected a proposal to privatize several prisons on a 19-21 vote.
House Releases $69.2 Billion Budget, Including 9.5% Increase in Pre-K-12 Funding
House budget builders on Friday released their $69.2 billion spending blueprint that includes more than $1 billion in additional funding for K-12 education and more than $2.5 billion in reserves.
Scott Orders Review of Special Taxing Districts Like Grand Haven, Dunes and Every CRA
The review affects such “community redevelopment agencies” such as Palm Coast’s Town Center. Special taxing districts generate $15 billion in revenue annually. Oversight can be more lax than for more general government revenues.
As Inmate Population Continues to Fall, Florida Will Close 7 Prisons and 4 Work Camps
Declining prison admissions created a surplus of prison beds, allowing the state prison system to cut its budget deficit by closing our older facilities, says Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker.
Less Brawn and Less Substance as Gov. Scott Declares Florida On Its Way Back
There were no surprises and few specifics in Scott’s roughly half hour State of the State speech, with the governor sticking to his year-long theme of getting the state back to work. The opposition is skeptical.
Liberals’ Inexplicable Hatred for Gov. Rick Scott
“I’m thinking of calling Dr. Phil and asking him why Florida liberals hate Gov. Rick Scott so much,” writes Lloyd Brown. “The only zeal I’ve seen that exceeded it was the seething hatred for President George W. Bush.”
What Rick Scott Can Learn from Anthropology
Rick Scott should lay off behavior modification and let people study everything from art to zoology, argues Cary McMullen. Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what we want to be when we grow up.
Florida’s Poor and Elderly Again Brace For Cuts As Legislature Prepares for Tuesday Kickoff
Gov. Rick Scott is proposing further deep cuts in Medicaid payments to hospitals, while lawmakers have filed bills that would help shield emergency-room doctors and workers from costly malpractice lawsuits.
Apostolic Outlook: 12 Stories to Watch in 2012
Instead of rounding up the week’s news, which again was in short supply this week – we look forward to next year with a roundup of the stories we think may be the biggest next year in state government and politics. Happy New Year.
Florida GOP’s Agenda, Once Emboldened, Facing Broad-Based Backlash in Courts
Republicans’ sweeping changes to elections law, welfare drug-testing and state workers’ pension contributions have bogged down in court challenges and judges’ injunctions as Gov. Rick Scott chafes at the push-back.
Borrowing Judge’s Words, Attorney General Bondi Rewrites Religious Aid Amendment
The proposed constitutional amendment language was judged vague and inadmissible in a circuit court ruling earlier this month. In an unusual intervention tinged with implications, Attorney General Pam Bondi rewrote the proposed amendment, which opponents still consider unconstitutional.
Ammons Stays at FAMU, Defying Gov. Scott’s Muscling Into Hazing Homicide Controversy
The Florida A&M University Board of Trustees will meet by phone Monday to decide the fate of President James Ammons in the wake of the hazing death of a drum major on Nov. 19 and the hazing-related brutalization of another student in the band two weeks earlier.
Flagler’s Unemployment Rate Remains Stubbornly At 14% As Florida’s Improves
Flagler County’s unemployment rate remains Florida’s second highest, after Hendry’s 15.1 percent, while job creation in the state, while slow, continues. Gov. Rick Scott took credit for the job creation.
Florida Charter Schools: A Go-Go Industry Awash in Tax Money and Little Oversight
Florida lawmakers have been more concerned about promoting rather than regulating charter schools, so bad charter schools operate with impunity. A Miami Herald investigation uncovers the charter school bandwagon.
Educators Deride Scott’s “Smiley Face” Budget, Hospitals Call It “Tax on the Sick”
Despite Scott’s proposed boost, the state would still spend about $210 million less on education under Scott’s plan than it did five years ago, with overall education funding down about $1.6 billion. Hospital advocates call proposed cuts to Medicaid a “tax on the sick.”
Reversing Trend, Gov. Scott Will Ask for $1 Billion Education Boost Despite Shortfalls
Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday will ask for a near-historic increase in per-student funding despite shortfalls in tax collection. The reversal of the past two year’s trend, if upheld by the Legislature, will relieve education administrators expecting tighter budgets ahead.
Florida Universities Respond to Rick Scott’s Inquisition With a Massive Document Dump
Public university leaders, through thousands of pages of answers that include backup academic studies and appendixes, have replied to Gov. Rick Scott’s request to outline what the schools are doing to ensure graduates meet the need of Florida employers.
Florida’s Unemployment Falls to 10.3%, Lowest in 28 Months; Flagler’s at 14%
While the jobless figures are improving and trends are better than they’ve been, Florida is also paring people off its jobless rolls through artificial means that create a slightly deceptive result.
Rick Scott Opposes Electronic Health Databases Designed to Speed Up Patient Care
Florida’s Health Information Exchange, a national pioneer, replaces paper with electronic records, speeding up patient care and information exchanges between health providers. Rick Scott opposes it, claiming it doesn’t save money and breaches privacy.
Rick Scott’s Liability to Taxpayers: As Lawsuits Against His Policies Mount, So Do Costs
A slew of Gov. Rick Scott-backed laws, from drug-testing welfare recipients to privatizing prisons and restricting voter registration and access have triggered costly lawsuits with potentially costlier hits to the treasury, reflecting the law’s extremism.
Bunnell Commission, With 14 Jobs in Jeopardy, Calls Emergency Meeting for Today
The Florida Department of Transportation has contracted with Bunnell for the past six years for road maintenance. Now Bunnell is one of 24 bidders on the same contract, and it’s heavily disfavored as Gov. Rick Scott pushes for privatization.
Small Crowd, Loud Responses as Awake the State Demonstration Occupies Palm Coast
Some 50 to 60 protesters grabbed drivers’ attention at Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre Tuesday afternoon, echoing in signs much of the outrage that the Occupy Wall Street movement is making familiar across the nation.
With $16 Million in Incentives, Florida Lands Boeing’s Manned Space Flight Venture
Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 or CST-100, might employ 500 by 2015, when the space shuttle replacement vehicle would begin commercial launches as part of the private-public Space Florida venture at the Kennedy Space Center.
Federal Judge Calls Florida’s Drug-Testing Of Welfare Recipients Unconstitutional
Judge Mary Scriven called Florida’s requirement that welfare recipients be drug-tested a violation of 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, and dismissed claims that the law would save money.
Unemployment Largely Stalled: 14.6% in Flagler, 10.6% in Florida; Scott in Brazil
With Florida Gov. Rick Scott touting a recovery from a trip in Brazil with 180 politicians, pals and business interests, Florida’s and Flagler’s unemployment numbers remained more static, 20 percent of Floridians either out of work or under-employed.
Florida Unions Looking to Reward Moderate Republicans for Support–and Influence
Following a brutal legislative session that brought them to the brink, Florida’s public employee unions are shifting strategy and rewarding moderate Republicans in hopes of re-amplifying their diminished influence in Tallahassee.