Gov. Rick Scott two years ago signed a law restricting early voting days to eight. His shift back to allow up to 14 days would give local supervisors more choice, but could also be an unfunded mandate: if supervisors don’t have the money to expand voting days, they’ll take the political blame for not doing so.
Rights & Liberties
Let’s Holster Incendiary Rhetoric and Get Flagler Started on Meaningful Gun Talk
Flagler County must have an honest, open dialogue about the place of guns in our community, Milissa Holland argues, but to do so the extremists on both sides must be willing to calm down and let reason facilitate the dialogue.
Public Schools Are No Place for Bible-Thumping–Or Any Other Thumping
The World Changers of Florida, Inc. is giving Bibles to students at several dozen high Florida schools. It’s wrong. Students of all faiths and traditions attend public schools and they deserve to be respected. We interfere with an already stressful time by making some of them feel like outsiders.
Trayvon Martin’s Mother Calls for Repeal Of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law
Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, said the Stand Your Ground law protected her son’s killer, George Zimmerman, who pursued Martin before a violent confrontation when Zimmerman shot the 17-year-old boy.
Bill Filed to Repeal Florida Prohibition On Doctors Asking Patients About Guns
Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, filed the measure (SB 314) to repeal the 2011 “Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act,” which isn’t currently being enforced because a federal judge threw it out in July. The state, however, is appealing that ruling.
How the Word ‘Retarded’ Hurts The Developmentally Disabled
Americans with developmental disabilities still remain second-class citizens in the eyes of the law and our fellow human beings. There is no greater symbolic gesture of the ridicule they endure than the accepted use of the word “retarded” in day-to-day speech.
Senate Committee Approves Drone Ban in Florida Skies, With Some Police Exceptions
The ban on unmanned drones used by police in Florida would include exceptions for use with a search warrant or in certain cases, as when a child in danger. The measure (SB 92) was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
Arming Teachers Isn’t Enough: A Proposal of Modest Caliber
The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre is proposing having an armed guard in every school. That’s insane, because it’s not enough: teachers, principals, librarians, counselors, bus drivers should all be armed, and of course children, too, should be armed.
Bill to Repeal “Stand Your Ground” Is Filed In Florida, But May Be Dead on Arrival
Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, filed the measure on Wednesday, but it would have to get past Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, who co-sponsored the self-defense law in 2005, though Baxley has often said that the law was never intended to protect those who pursue their victims.
Spying on Grandma: Health Companies Sell Surveillance as a Benefit and a Saving
Health care is joining a national trend toward greater surveillance of everyday life. Whether this costly technology will ultimately prove clinically or economically effective remains uncertain. So, too, is whether a benign health care purpose can help overcome the unsettling “Big Brother” overtones.
Showing Cops the Middle Finger
When John Swartz was arrested for flipping off a cop, he sued, and appears headed for a win–as he should: rude expression is not a crime, and the obscenity is far surpassed by that of cops exercising arbitrary authority over bruised egos.
Put God Back in Public Schools?
If we’re going to put God back in schools, which God are we talking about? Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of a United Methodist Church, calmly argues against the notion that God has ever left the public schools, and need not be forced back in.
Obama Rule Gives 1 Million Undocumented Immigrants Clearer Path to Legal Status
Many of Florida’s 700,000 undocumented immigrants would be eligible for the new path to the permanent residency status that is also a step toward citizenship as the Obama administration recalibrates the immigration issue.
City Thuggery: Florida Supreme Court Should Ban Red-Light Spy-and-Snap Traffic Cameras
Florida’s new law legalizing red-light cameras ensures that state coffers are on the take. But it does not address the fundamental problems with spy-and-snap cameras. There are innumerable reasons to ban them. There’s only one reason to keep them, and it’s a slimy one: money.
Amend the Second Amendment
If we want to transform American society for generations to come, tinkering with our existing patchwork quilt of federal, state, and municipal laws dealing with firearms is a waste of time. The only transformational vehicle for meaningful action, writes Angel Castillo, is to change the Constitution.
In Florida, an NRA-Dominated Legislature Steers Clear Of Gun-Control Conversation
The tragic mass killing at a Connecticut school last week has produced a stream of ideas on gun control and school safety at the national level — but reaction in Florida has been muted, at least in the form of concrete legislation.
Abuse of Girls at Milton Detention Facility Exposes Flaws in Florida’s Juvenile Justice
The Florida juvenile prison for girls got a 100 percent satisfactory rating from the state a year ago, though two staffers have been accused of abusing girls there, and one was caught on video.
The Soft-Core Terrorism
Of Florida’s Gun Worship
Florida’s gun-worship is part of a lethal, juvenile romance for guns and a national disease that doesn’t hesitate to lock and load the words “gun” and “hobby” in the same chamber while vilifying those who’d imply a connection with the consequences.
Florida’s New Gay Lawmakers: Pride For LGBT Community, Perspective in Tallahassee
With the election of Resp. Joel Saunders of Orlando and David Richardson of Miami, Florida was one of seven states to break the straight barrier in legislatures. Nationwide, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender candidates were elected to the U.S. Senate and House, and dozens to state legislatures.
Title IX Lets Girls Be Both Quarterback and Homecoming Queen
Erin DiMeglio made history as the first female in Florida to play quarterback in a varsity high school game, and was elected South Plantation High’s homecoming queen. That wouldn’t have happened without Title IX, the landmark legislation assuring females the same opportunities as boys at both the high school and college levels.
First in Firearms: One Million Concealed Gun Permits in Florida, Doubling Since 2007
The number of concealed weapons license holders will top 5 percent of Florida’s 19.1 million residents in a state that is number one nationally in licenses issued.
How Legal Weed Might Wash in Florida
Full marijuana legalization is coming, eventually. But if you’re planning to go into the marijuana business, Bill Cotterell argues, you might want to ask Joe Camel what happens a few years down the road.
Bill Filed to Ban Police from Using Drones To Gather Evidence Anywhere in Florida
Miami Police were the first civilian police agency in the nation to use unmanned drones, but police anywhere in Florida would be prohibited from using un-manned drones to gather evidence or other information, under a bill filed Thursday by Senate Republican Joe Negron.
Supreme Court Denies Last Appeal by Manuel Pardo, Cop Turned Executioner Scheduled to Die Dec. 11
Manuel Pardo, 56, is scheduled to die Dec. 11 at Florida State Prison in Starke. Pardo was convicted in 1988 after admitting to nine execution-style murders. He said he should avoid culpability because he believed all the victims to be drug dealers who he said “have no right to live.”
Bill Filed to Guarantee In-State Tuition to Florida Children of Undocumented Immigrants
Unlike the federal Dream Act, which covers children brought to the country illegally, the Florida bill filed Tuesday only deals with children who are American citizens by virtue of being born in the United States.
Ex-Cop Jailed After Taunting Neighbor With Shotgun and “Stand Your Ground” Sign
Douglas Pulaski, a 50-year-old former police officer and resident of the W Section in Palm Coast was arrested Saturday night after displaying a 20-gauge shotgun at a neighbor and allegedly telling him “I never miss” as he pointed to a hand-painted sign in his driveway that read “Stand Your Ground.”
Mazel Not: Israel and the United States, Married on the Wrong Side of History
Israel likes to claim that Palestinians deny Israel’s right to exist. the reality is the opposite. Israel has spent the last six decades denying Palestinians’ right to exist in fact, going as far as denying them their history and identity. The UN vote for Palestinian statehood begins to right the injustice.
Children in Nursing Homes: Florida Rejects Court Oversight in Dispute With U.S. Justice
The Department of Justice in September threatened legal action over Florida’s violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by improperly placing disabled children in nursing homes and threatened legal action. Florida wants to resolve the dispute but opposes federal court oversight.
In Juvenile Detention for Girls, Health Care Is Shoddy, Absent or Geared Only to Boys
Incarcerated girls are “one of the most vulnerable and unfortunately invisible populations in the country,” and up to 90 percent have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, yet the health care provided to children, and girls in particular, in juvenile detention is often ill-equipped to deal with their complex health needs.
What’s In Your Gun Closet? In Florida, a Doctor’s Right to Ask Is Under Threat
Should doctors be able to ask patients or patients’ parents whether they own a gun? What about health insurers, employers or health-care officials implementing the federal health law? Can they ask about gun ownership? The issue is playing out in Florida, where lawmakers want to ban doctors from asking the questions.
Parental Notification: Court Reverses Florida Teen’s Abortion Disclosure Requirement
In a case that offers a glimpse of the complexity of Florida’s parental-notification of abortion law, a divided appeals court overruled a Polk County judge and said a 17-year-old girl could receive an abortion without her mother being told.
Mocking the Pledge of Allegiance
A reporter is fired after only reluctantly mentioning that a city councilman refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in the latest example of ignorance replacing the very values the Pledge stands for, values that apply especially for those who choose to sit it out.
Do Prisoners Have a Constitutional Right to Dental Floss?
In Florida, five inmates have separately sued Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in federal court, claiming deprivation of federally protected civil rights through the denial of dental floss. The sheriff is denying it to them. Angel Castillo argues the sheriff is wrong.
Corporal Punishment: When a Religious Exemption Becomes a License to Brutalize
A harrowing recent series in the Tampa Bay Times detailed how for 30 years a handful of homes for troubled youth have used a misguided exemption in Florida law to get away with all manner of abuses by using religion as a shield.
Don’t Expect Much Change in Stand Your Ground Law as Scott Panel Completes Work
A group tasked by Gov. Rick Scott with reviewing the state’s “stand your ground” self defense law appears unlikely to recommend any major revamping of the statute, although it will make suggestions for additional study by lawmakers.
Dan Gelber: Time for a Constitutional Amendment to Ensure Voter Access
It’s very sad that the citizens of Florida need their rights protected from their own government. But if there is anything this last election has taught us, it’s that our right to vote is clearly imperiled in Florida, argues Dan Gelber.
Amendment Shock: A More Tolerant Nation Is By-Passing Smug, Regressive Florida
Many of Tuesday’s 176 popular referendum that passed speak of a more tolerant, more freedom-loving nation. Except in Florida, where the Legislature’s 11 proposals put the state at odds with national trenbds–and the Florida Legislature at odds with the people it claims to represent.
How Companies Mine Your Facebook Profile, Tweets and Posts, and Sell Your Habits
Some companies record — and then resell — your screen names, web site addresses, interests, hometown and professional history, and how many friends or followers you have, according to a report released this week. Some companies also collect and analyze information about users’ “tweets, posts, comments, likes, shares, and recommendations.”
State Attorney Files Felony Charge Against Timothy Draper for Shooting a Gun at Public Park
Jeremy Blackwelder and Timothy Draper were riding around Herschel King Park off Colbert Lane late the night of Oct. 29, with two women and a child, when Draper allegedly fired a .22 from a Chevy’s window, not far from the Grand Haven community.
Crossing Out Amendment 8: Public Money Does Not Belong in Religious Schools
Religious groups have no rights to public money when it comes to funding private schools, precisely because religious indoctrination is part and parcel of the mission of those schools, and taxpayers should not have to pay for that, argues Cary McMullen.
William Merrill, Who Shot and Killed His Wife With an AK-47, Is Sentenced to 25 Years
William Carson Merrill, who shot his wife with an AK-47 in their Palm Coast home in February as she gave their daughter a bath and he played with the assault rifle, faced a maximum of 30 years for manslaughter–almost what Judge Raul Zambrano handed down in a full courtroom Monday afternoon.
Ghost Election: Obama, Romney and The Future of the U.S. Supreme Court
The next president could very well appoint one or two new justices. And who steps down among the justices first could also depend on who’s elected. Here’s a guide to the election and the U.S. Supreme Court.
How Companies Track Your Politics And Assemble Profiles Through the Internet
If you’re a registered voter and surf the web, one of the sites you visit has almost certainly placed a tiny piece of data on your computer flagging your political preferences. That piece of data, called a cookie, marks you as a Democrat or Republican, when you last voted, and what contributions you’ve made. It also can include factors like your estimated income, what you do for a living, and what you’ve bought at the local mall.
Amendment 6: Narrowing Down Florida’s Abortion and Privacy Rights
Sandwiched within a long list of issues on a crowded ballot, Amendment 6 is emerging as a multi-million dollar fight touching abortion, parental rights and privacy protections now guaranteed in the Florida Constitution.
For Opponents of Amendment 8, “Religious Freedom” Has Never Been Under Threat
The so-called “religious freedom” proposal to amend the Florida constitution would create a government bureaucracy to channel tax dollars to religious organizations, its opponents say, jeopardizing the very religious freedoms it claims to be protecting.
Counties Begin Push-Back Against State’s Prohibition of Stronger Gun-Control
Circuit Judge John Cooper said during a hearing that the counties can continue suing Gov. Scott over part of the law that would give the governor the power to remove local officials for violations — a provision that Palm Beach and Broward say exceeds the governor’s constitutional authority.
The News-Journal’s Predatory Sensationalism On Sex Offenders Near Local Schools
A News-Journal article on 445 registered sex offenders living near Flagler and Volusia elementary schools was dangerously alarming and misleading, argues George Griffin, and perpetuates numerous myths about sex offenders, encouraging bad laws.
Anti-Terror “Fusion Centers” Like Central Florida’s Slammed as Ineffective and Intrusive
A two-year Senate investigation finds that Department of Homeland Security efforts to engage state and local intelligence “fusion centers”–six of which are set up in Florida, including one in central Florida–has not yielded significant useful information to support federal counterterrorism intelligence efforts.
For Florida Justices, Two Lesbian Mothers, One Child, and a Question of Parenthood
The case pits two former lesbian partners, one of whom provided an egg that was fertilized and implanted in the other woman, who later gave birth. After the relationship ended, the woman who gave birth blocked her former partner from having parental rights.
Jose Godinez-Samperio, Undocumented Immigrant and Lawyer, Falters at Florida Court
A skeptical Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may be powerless to let Jose Godinez-Samperio, an undocumented immigrant, practice law in the state despite recent moves by the Obama administration to allow immigrants brought to the country as children pathway to permanent status in the United States.