edited by: Kay Day,
Florida Editor
The U.S. Senate just voted 60-39 to advance the health care bill, exposing deep division that will continue to play out during debate after Thanksgiving. Florida Senators reflected the party line vote.
"This is a debate that we must have. It is a debate that we cannot afford not to have," [...]
WASHINGTON — George LeMieux has been a member of the U.S. Senate only two months but has managed to jam up legislation on oil drilling, a bill cutting funding for Radio Marti and he is blocking President Barack Obama's nominee for ambassador to Brazil.
But what [...]
The answer [...]
One day after the Tampa City Council voted to protect transgender people from discrimination, state Rep. Kelly Skidmore has filed a perennial state bill that would do the same.
Like the city’s new… [...]
A motion motion filed today with the First District Court of Appeal, lays out several technical arguments why the appeal is justified and asks the appellate court [...]
The 2010 races are fueling more than fund-raisers and flurries of press releases. They’re also spawning eBay auctions. A quick round of searches on contenders for statewide office produced hits including:
-Five copies of the Sept. 7, 2009 National Review featuring GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio—$15.65 a-piece. One seller is… [...]
State Sen. Mike Bennett sent an angry letter to the state's five Public Service Commissioners this week, "appalled with the lack of oversight'' in the general counsel selection process when it let agency executive director Mary Bane "change the rules as you go in order to accommodate candidates who failed to meet the deadlines.''
"With [...]
Pinellas County Democrats will have their Kennedy-King dinner on Feb. 27 at the Hilton hotel in the Carillon Park area of St. Petersburg.
No speakers have been confirmed, though CFO/governor's candidate Alex Sink is expected to be the speaker, chairman Ramsay McLauchlan said. She still has to confirm. The party is [...]
What do Nintendo, the A-Team, MTV, and Microsoft Windows have in common?
That was the question posed to dozens of top Democratic fundraisers gathered last night at the lakefront Thonotosassa home of Alex Sink for a [...]
UPDATE: Florida's Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson will vote to move the bill forward. Listen to his floor speech
Sen. George LeMieux said he will vote against moving the health care bill to the floor, contending it is still an unfinished product. "It's out for six weeks in Harry Reid's conference [...]The Tampa City Council on Thursday scheduled a vote on the police union contract for Dec. 2 at 1:30 p.m. Mayor Pam Iorio and the union have been at an impasse in negotiations since July, largely over raises, so the council has to settle the dispute. But even scheduling the date [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist is in D.C. today raising money at Holland & Knight but insisted he is also focused on the dreadful state of the Florida economy, reinforced by a fresh report about 11.2 percent unemployment.
"I just think it's so important to stay focused on jobs, jobs, jobs," the [...]
A poll commissioned by Al Lawson's campaign shows him even with U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District.
In the head-to-head match up, Lawson took 34.9 percent to Boyd's 30.7 percent, a slight lead that fell within the 4.6 percent margin of error, the results from [...]
This just in from the state Agency for Workforce Innovation: Florida’s unemployment rate inched up again last month to 11.2 percent, reflecting the fact the fact that 1.027 million Floridians were out of work.
That’s just a hair worse that September’s rate of 11.1 percent, but a full percentage… [...]
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has endorsed fellow Republican Jack Latvala as Latvala seeks to return to the Florida Senate. Latvala faces Democrat Nina Hayden, a Pinellas School Board member, in the 2010 race.
"Jack Latvala has valuable experience that will benefit our region in Tallahassee. He accomplished many things for [...]
Cigarettes sales are down 27 percent in Florida during the past four months, thanks to a new $1-a-pack tax designed to balance the budget and cut down on smoking.
But despite the drop in sales, tobacco tax collections in Florida are high and holding steady. That's because state economists accurately factored [...]
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cDaily Show: The Rogue Warriorwww.thedailyshow.comDaily ShowThis shouldn't be much of a surprise, but Florida GOP leaders took no formal action at their closed door meeting in Lake County this afternoon - called to help iron out concerns many party leaders expressed about the state Chairman Jim Greer.
"It was productive, definitely. Just open discussion,'' said Hillsborough [...]
Florida Trend: A U.S. Commerce Department spokeswoman told Florida Trend Thursday that the agency is frustrated over the delay in Frank Sanchez’s confirmation to be under secretary of international trade but rejected speculation that the holdup is related to anything other than the fact that the [...]
FSU's presidential search committee just released a timeline for choosing longtime President T.K. Wetherell's successor, with the aim of sending a list of finalists to the Board of Trustees by early December.
The search consultant, John Hicks of Academic Search Inc., said the schedule is "expedited" because several other universities nationwide [...]
Jim Cassady, chief of staff for state of the state Department of Financial Services for Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, is going to move over to Sink’s campaign for governor—but not as campaign manager.
The Sink campaign for governor already has a top administrator, campaign manager Paul Dunn.
Dunn… [...]
By a 5-1 vote, the Tampa City Council today voted to expand its human rights ordinance to protect people from discrimination based on "gender identity and expression."
Charlie Miranda cast the lone dissenting vote after expressing concern about disruptions at work caused when someone comes to work dressed as [...]
If Pam Bondi gets into the Republican primary for Florida attorney general, it could be a contest among dog lovers.
Bondi, an assistant state attorney and press spokeswoman in the Hillsborough state attorney’s office, is considering running against Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and former state health care administration Chief Holly… [...]
CFO Alex Sink just announced she is promoting deputy chief financial officer Tammy Teston to serve as her chief of staff for the Department of Financial Services. The change will take effect in January, when Teston will replace current Chief of Staff Jim Cassady, who is leaving then to work on the [...]
Robo poll from liberal DailyKos and Research 2000: Gov. Charlie Crist leads Rubio 47 percent to 37 percent among Republicans. In January, Crist led 57 percent to 11 percent. Among all voters, Crist beats Kendrick Meek 50-33, while Meek beats Rubio 38-30. Birthers prefer Rubio 54-31.
These trendlines are bleak for Crist, [...]
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum is (finally) taking a position on whether the Republican Governor's Association should return the $200,000 that disgraced donor Scott Rothstein gave the organization.
"As I have said on many occasions over the last few weeks, I believe that any individual or organization that has received money [...]
A Tampa company got a $900,000 Air Force contract through a program benefiting veteran-owned businesses but funneled the job to another firm, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The GAO report on fraud and abuse cites 10 examples in which firms obtained $100 million in contracts [...]
On the heels of Sen. George LeMieux's active use of "holds" to block legislation and the U.S. ambassador to Brazil comes word that he has been reviewing U.S. attorney recommendations suggested to the White House by Sen. Bill Nelson and former Sen. Mel Martinez.
LeMieux met with White House counsel Greg [...]
If we have to blog one more lob in this week's tit-for-tat between Democrats and Republicans on the whole unemployment compensation/federal stimulus deal, we might pull our hair out.
So we talked to Amy Baker, the state's chief economist, to try and bring this partisan finger-pointing to a conclusion.
Baker's [...]
Three days ago we asked the Bill McCollum gubernatorial campaign if he intended to call on the Republican Governor's Association to return the $200,000 contribution it received Nov. 17, 2008 from Scott Rothstein. McCollum, after all, was quick to call for both the state GOP and [...]
Following word that Florida employers could face a major tax increase for unemployment compensation next year, Kendrick Meek is trying to pin down Gov. Charlie Crist on accepting federal unemployment aid under the stimulus package.
The fund that pays unemployment compensation claims in Florida is running dry because of the… [...]
The Center for Public Integrity today is criticizing a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek that would get rid of a competitive bidding program for Medicare.
"The dispute concerns so-called durable medical equipment — items like power wheelchairs and oxygen supplies. Federal investigators have long complained that the equipment business [...]
My father-in-law, former Raleigh Times editor A.C. Snow, hails from the same rural North Carolina County as Alex Sink. Here's his column on what lessons we may learn from Alex Sink's great grandfather Cheng, of the original Siamese Twins, Cheng and Eng:
The next time [...]
OOPSIE!!!!
