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Flagler, Florida and Beyond
FlaglerLive | February 2, 2012
The school prayer bill’s approval overrides objections of senators who said the measure will lead to prayers at school events that students can’t get out of, including possibly in classes, and that some students will have to listen to prayers or risk being ostracized because they come from a different religious tradition.
FlaglerLive | February 2, 2012
The Florida House approved an 8 percent increase and each state university is allowed to add an additional 7 percent, as universities have for the past several years. Gov. Rick Scott is opposed to the tuition hike.
FlaglerLive | February 1, 2012
A measure that would grant in-state tuition to Florida high school students who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are in the country illegally was voted down Tuesday by a Senate committee.
FlaglerLive | January 30, 2012
The list of foods proposed law would prohibit food stamp recipients from buying is much longer, drawing opposition that may convince its sponsor to moderate some of the restrictions. No state dollars are at stake, though food retailers health is.
FlaglerLive | January 30, 2012
The maps the House panels approved would change Flagler’s place in the congressional district, which would no longer include portions of Orange County, where John Mica is based. If Flagler loses Mica, it would mean losing Mica’s seniority and the benefits of his chairmanship of the powerful House Transportation Committee.
FlaglerLive | January 27, 2012
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.
FlaglerLive | January 26, 2012
A legislative proposal to privatize about 30 prisons in most of the southern part of Florida is headed for the Senate floor after a vote in the Budget Committee that angered prison guards who feel they’re not being heard.
FlaglerLive | January 25, 2012
A Republican-dominated House subcommittee approved three anti-abortion bills in party-line votes Tuesday, after testimony and debate that reflected the country’s deep divide over abortion.
FlaglerLive | January 24, 2012
Parents of children in chronically failing schools would get greater power to force the schools to change, including the possibility they could make the school into a charter school or contract its management out, under a Jeb Bush-inspired bill that advanced Tuesday in the Florida House.
FlaglerLive | January 20, 2012
Floridians truly have a meaningful voice in the actions taken by the Florida Senate? Paula Dockery, in her last term as a Republican Senator, thinks not, particularly when it comes to redistricting.
FlaglerLive | January 19, 2012
Disney is asking the state for an array of tax breaks that could cost Floridians as much as $100 million over 20 years. International Speedway Corp., owner of Daytona International Speedway, is in on the deal.
Pierre Tristam | January 16, 2012
Florida’s proposed “Religious Freedom” amendment and a bill that would enable prayer at public school events project the false impression that religious expression in the public sphere is under siege, when the reverse is closer to the mark–as a bias particularly favoring Christianity.
FlaglerLive | January 15, 2012
Florida’s quest for more science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees might eventually lead to a quest for higher tuition for students entering those programs, based on comments by higher education leaders.
FlaglerLive | January 11, 2012
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.
FlaglerLive | January 10, 2012
Citing noise and chanting earlier in the day, the Florida Senate Sergeant at Arms on Tuesday denied Senate viewing gallery access to a group loosely defined as Occupy Tallahassee even though the group members intended only to watch and listen.
FlaglerLive | January 7, 2012
A Senate committee Monday considers a sweeping proposal that would allow three mega-casinos in Florida, offer more slots at pari-mutuel facilities and rein in Internet cafes a little.
FlaglerLive | January 6, 2012
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.
FlaglerLive | January 3, 2012
Although a 57 percent majority of Florida voters are ready to inhale (the proposal, anyway), the staunchly conservative Legislature is unlikely to let the proposed constitutional amendment on medical marijuana go forward.
FlaglerLive | January 1, 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.
FlaglerLive | December 23, 2011
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.
FlaglerLive | December 20, 2011
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.
FlaglerLive | December 19, 2011
South Florida’s Jim Waldman, a Democrat from Coconut Creek, wants to roll back unpopular driver’s license and registration fees, paying for it with a $1 increase in Florida’s cigarette tax, now at $1.34.
FlaglerLive | December 14, 2011
Circuit Judge Terry Lewis struck down only part of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow taxpayer money to go to religious institutions, leaving the door wide open for a fix in time for the 2012 ballot. The case was brought by Palm Coast Rabbi Merrill Shapiro and public education advocates.
FlaglerLive | December 14, 2011
The National Transportation Safety Board is urging states to ban all cell phone use while driving, even hands-free uses, the first such call by a federal agency. Florida is still struggling to impose a hands-free requirement.
FlaglerLive | December 14, 2011
Despite mounting evidence that cell and texting use while driving increases the chances of a crash, Florida continues to resist regulation. A proposed law has yet again been filed to ban drivers’ use of electronic devices.
FlaglerLive | December 12, 2011
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.
FlaglerLive | December 11, 2011
Faced with a series of unanswered questions, economists say they cannot not pinpoint how much money the state would rake in if Florida lawmakers approve a plan for three resort casinos.
FlaglerLive | December 8, 2011
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.”
FlaglerLive | December 7, 2011
More than 660,000 of those currently covered by Medicaid are children, and could be booted off the rolls if their parents have to pay $10 a month in premiums, as the Florida Legislature is proposing.
FlaglerLive | December 6, 2011
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.
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