For all the wasted blood spilled on ISIS and al-Qaeda, the real terrorist threat is neither far away nor foreign. It speaks English. It’s white. It’s American. And it’s sanctified by the NRA’s liturgy of guns today, guns tomorrow, guns forever.
Health & Society
That Other American Exceptionalism:
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.
To Fight Obesity, Get Government Involved: Taxes, Regulations, Education
Successful efforts to improve public health — smoking bans, seat-belt laws, and speed limits–have always involved legislation and regulation supplementing education, argues Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff.
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.
Don’t Panic: FPC Will Be the Scene of a Large-Scale “Active Assailant” Exercise Thursday
Emergency management is not releasing more detailed information than that because the aim of the exercise is to simulate a stressful emergency as close to the real thing as possible.
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.
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.
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.