House passes Everglades bill that pleases Governor, sugar, environmentalists

The Florida House voted unanimously on a bill aimed at protecting the Everglades on Friday.

Apparently, Gov. Rick Scott, an environmental group and the sugar industry are all happy with the bill, which deals with what has been a highly contentious issue.

Here is an early roundup of reaction from stakeholders:

Statement from Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, Regarding Action on HB 7065 & SB 768

Tallahassee, Fla. – The following statement was released today by Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, regarding action taken on House Bill 7065 and Senate Bill 768:

“The Everglades Foundation is pleased by today’s passage of HB 7065 by the full House, which will ensure continued revenue for protecting America’s Everglades, while also protecting the 1993 Statement of Principles that guide Florida’s restoration efforts.  We also thank members of the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee for their support earlier this week of CS/SB 768, which mirrors HB 7065.

“HB 7065 and SB 768 protect water quality standards, provide a reliable source of funding for implementing the state’s Water Quality Plan and bring together all the stakeholders involved in the future of the Everglades.  Protection and restoration of the Everglades has historically been based on compromise and many parties working together, and I believe this legislation is further proof of that.

“We now look forward to working together with the Florida Senate to usher CS/SB 768 to the Senate floor for full approval, and also working with both chambers to ensure that needed funding is secured to implement the necessary projects and initiatives to continue to restore and protect America’s Everglades.”

Federal cuts would squeeze South Florida from the waterfront to research lab

At PortMiami, federal dollars fund Customs agents, security operations and cargo inspectors. But with a historic cut in federal spending set to begin Friday, port director Bill Johnson must contemplate how to keep the place running with less help from Washington.

“I don’t want to have a bunch of rotten tomatoes,”Johnson said Tuesday. “Or disgruntled cruise passengers.”

This week brought similar discouraging thoughts, scenarios and forecasts from hundreds of agencies, charities and businesses throughout South Florida as the mystery of a federal spending “sequester” approached. On Friday, federal law requires the White House to begin to cut spending by $85 billion this year, the trigger from a 2011 deficit-reduction rule designed to force a compromise on bringing down the nation’s debt.

Republicans and Democrats haven’t reached a deal, and Washington watchers don’t expect one by Friday. What once seemed a remote possibility now threatens to rattle how South Florida spends at least some of its federal dollars, while leaving many to plan for contingencies they’re not sure will actually happen.

The full scope of the furlough’s impact remains unclear — both nationally and in South Florida. But as the deadline approaches, more details on cutbacks and preparations are surfacing. Here’s a look at some of the sequester’s potential impacts across the region. More here from Doug Hanks and Martha Brannigan

 

Florida developer Jay Odom to enter plea in federal campaign finance case

Panhandle developer Jay Odom will appear in federal court next week to enter a plea to federal campaign finance violations.

U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier has scheduled a hearing at 11 a.m. Tuesday to allow Odom to enter a plea. He faces a maximum five-year prison sentence to charges that he laundered $23,000 in contributions to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2007.

Odom, 56, was indicted last month as part of an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section. He is accused of using the names of 10 people to make 2,300 donations each to Huckabee’s presidential campaign.

Story from Times senior correspondent Lucy Morgan here.

Hospitals a bit relieved by Scott's budget

Last year, Gov. Rick Scott delivered quite a shock to the state's medical establishment by proposing a cut of about $2 billion in public funding to hospitals.

So when his $74 billion budget was released Thursday, one of the more interested observers was the Florida Hospital Association. But compared to the previous year, Scott's proposed cut of $82 million, or 2 percent, wasn't so bad, said its president, Bruce Rueben.

"If you’re comparing it to last year, it’s clearly a better start," Rueben said Friday. "It indicates that he's taking a more thoughtful approach. We're still going to have a lot of discussion about the cuts in the coming months. It is time we stop making cuts to the elderly, poor and disabled. Hospitals have been cut by over $1 billion since 2005."

Rueben said Scott's overall message that he would take a hard look at how to implement the expansion of Medicaid through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was encouraging. After all, he could have followed the lead of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has said his state won't implement it.

"(Scott) did not say, 'It’s not going to take place in Florida,'" Rueben said. "He should be commended for taking this seriously." 

 

 

After 25 years, financial woes at Collins Center force it to shut its doors

The Collins Center for Public Policy, one of the state's most well-respected think tanks, announced Thursday it is closing its doors after 25 years as a non-partisan policy center based in Miami.

A roller coaster period of growth, followed by recession-induced decline over the last two years, led to a financial fall from which the organization, named after former Gov. LeRoy Collins, could not recover.

"This is a sad, somber day for the Collins Center, the causes it espoused so valiantly, the numerous people and organizations the center helped and those who've fought to save it from a fiscal abyss that proved too deep to overcome,'' siad Merrett R. Stierheim, the board's most recent chairman, in a statement.

Parker Thomson, a Miami lawyer who served as the board's long-time chairman, said the center had been "the standard bearer for the legacy of former Gov. LeRoy Collins and his vision for a better Florida." 

Florida gave subsidy to gun maker as part of job creation package

Bloomberg's Mike Bender reports today on tax breaks dished to gun manufacturers, raising questions about the $1.6 million tax subsidy given to Colt on Florida. An excerpt:

In Florida, Republican Governor Rick Scott hailed an incentive for the West Hartford, Connecticut-based Colt Manufacturing Co. in 2011 saying it showed the state was “a defender of our right to bear arms.” The deal, for 63 jobs, was worth about $1.66 million in state and local incentives, according to Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development arm. The agreement penalizes the company $50,000 if it doesn’t produce all the jobs.

Frank Attkisson, a commissioner in Osceola County, which provided incentives, said it was a “sweetheart deal” for Colt and that the county would put tougher controls on future subsidies.

Florida state Senator Nancy Detert, the Republican chairwoman of the Commerce Committee, said she’s crafting legislation to make it more difficult to provide incentives for companies that don’t specialize in science and technology. She said she doesn’t want Florida to be known for gun manufacturing.

“We need to be a lot more careful and decide what kind of state we envision,” Detert said.

Leon County judge accused of misconduct by using her office to promote for-profit religious business

Leon County Judge Judith W. Hawkins was charged Wednesday with misconduct, accused of using her office to promote a business that sells Bible study books, souvenirs and other products to attorneys and others who regularly appear in her courtroom.

The charges focus on Gaza Road Ministries, a business that sells books, stages seminars and conferences and sponsors mission trips to other countries, including Guyana, Romania, Mongolia, Mexico and Brazil.

Her sermons have included "Your Day in Court,'' emphasizing that "God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.'' In October she appeared at a seminar discussing, "When Life Gives You Lemons," turning obstacles into opportunities.

Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission alleges that these activities and the use of a judicial assistant who has helped promote the ministry take time away from judicial duties for a profit-making business.

Story by Tampa Bay Times senior correspondent Lucy Morgan here.

Democratic leader pressures Scott, Legislature to implement Obamacare

The incoming Democratic leader in the Florida House is putting pressure on elected officials (read: Republicans) to get moving on implementing the Affordable Care Act.

“With the election over, today I am urging Governor Scott to take action to implement the nation’s health care reform law,” said Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, in a statement.

Thurston said he was encouraged by Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to drop his staunch opposition to the president’s healthcare reform, known as Obamacare. However, the Democrats are putting pressure on Scott and the Republican-led Legislature to take action on implementing the law in order to meet federal deadlines that will be hitting in the coming weeks.

The deadlines to announce plans for a state-based healthcare exchange start as early as Friday. If state lawmakers don’t make proactive plans in the next few weeks, the federal government will act on Florida’s behalf.

Thurston’s Republican counterpart, incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said that the state will begin to move soon, but the federal government has not provided enough guidance.

Tampa socialite becomes next focus in Patraeus scandal

TAMPA — When Dr. Scott T. Kelley moved from the Northeast to become one of Moffitt Cancer Center's most distinct specialists, his wife, Jill, threw herself into the South Tampa social scene.

She volunteered for committees to organize galas and fashion shows benefiting the American Red Cross and the Tampa Museum of Art. But she didn't seem to find her calling in those circles. Then she focused her efforts on helping the military.

Just miles from her Bayshore Boulevard home, representatives from scores of nations that make up the military coalition united to fight terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks were stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. Before long, the Kelley mansion became the place to be seen for coalition officers. Gen. David Petraeus, leader of U.S. Central Command at MacDill, marked his first celebration of the Gasparilla pirate parade on the Kelleys' lawn.

Just three months after they posed with David and Holly Petraeus, strands of Gasparilla beads hanging from their necks, the Kelleys were hit with a foreclosure lawsuit. In the decade since the Kelleys arrived from Pennsylvania, it proved one of several examples of court cases seeking payment of real estate and credit card debts intermingling with catered parties and A-list guests as the couple sought to establish themselves in Tampa.

And now the Kelleys have a national scandal to contend with — one that is quickly growing more and more curious. More from the Tampa Bay Times here

Child's sad death in nursing home fuels feds' case against Rick Scott administration

For 14 years, Doris Freyre cared for her profoundly disabled daughter in her modest Tampa home, pureeing fresh fruit, yams and vegetables and surrounding the girl with family photos and pictures of angels.

Marie Freyre died in the care of a $506-per-day nursing home — sobbing, shaking and screaming for her real home.

She never saw her Minnie Mouse plush toy, her Winnie the Pooh or her Cabbage Patch Kids again. She never again saw her Mami or her Abuela.

Marie had been taken to the Florida Club Care Center against her mother’s wishes. Social workers insisted the Miami Gardens nursing home was the safest place for the 14-year-old, who suffered from, among other things, cerebral palsy and seizures. But the evening Marie arrived, records show, nurses did not give her life-sustaining medications and she may have had no food except applesauce.

When Marie struggled to breathe in the two hours before she died, no one at the nursing home called a doctor.

“We are still mourning for her,” said Jose Freyre, Marie’s grandfather. “She was a part of us. It was like losing a leg or an arm or a heart. We are all hurting.”

Marie’s death stands as a bitter reminder of a dog fight between state health regulators and federal civil rights lawyers, who have accused the state of warehousing sick and disabled children as virtual potted plants. The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights division has threatened to sue the state if it does not take steps to care for sick children outside of large institutions. Story by Carol Marbin Miller here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/10/3091570/no-place-like-home.html#storylink=cpy