Farewell, separation of church and state! Last week, Florida’s GOP-dominated senate judiciary committee approved SRJ 1218 — a bill with the deliciously doublespeaky nickname “The Religious Freedom Bill” — which allows taxpayer moneys to flow, unobstructed, to religion-based charities.The bill had some surprising opponents. The Baptist Rev. Harry Parrott, the…
For weeks, Gov. Rick Scott hardly blinked at the conflict-of-interest speculation regarding whether the urgent-care clinic owned by his wife would benefit from policies that he supports. (Metaphors aside, Scott hardly blinks at all. In this interview, it looks like someone sliced off his eyelids and he’s happy about it.)He…
Despite the farcical sideshow of Donald Trump’s recent antics, the 2012 presidential election is actually a serious and important issue. And for the second consecutive presidential election cycle, Florida’s importance is stirring some serious controversy. Just like in 2008, the state’s primary is slated for January 31, 2012, in direct…
So much for the governor’s pill mill “strike force.” Florida just may get a prescription-drug-monitoring program after all. Today, the House Appropriations Committee approved a revised bill (HB 7095) that scraps Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to repeal the drug tracking system, which also received strong support from House Speaker Dean…
Remember that high-speed rail project that Governor Rick Scott rejected? The bullet train between Tampa and Orlando would’ve been the first of its kind in the country, made possible by $2.4 billion in federal funds.But Scott returned the cash to Washington, prompting a high-ranking Florida Department of Transportation official to…
Talk about gratitude! The Legislature spends three sleepless weeks bashing out a budget deal, figures out a way to slash $39 billion from the federal budget, and Allen West says it’s not enough?That’s the news, according to The Hill, which reported on Saturday that Allen West would vote “nay” on…
Glenn Beck has endorsed Allen West for the presidency. Also, he’s endorsed Michelle Bachmann for veep, Ron Paul for Treasury secretary, and “Rambo for everything else.” (America must hope Beck would rethink the latter notion if he saw the last John Rambo flick.) This came during the conspiracy theorist’s and…
In early February, Gov. Rick Scott picked Carl Littlefield to run the Agency for Persons With Disabilities. Littlefield quit 17 days later. He stepped down on Monday, February 22, the day before a Senate panel was supposed to question him about sexual abuse allegations at a group home for disabled…
…and this is why we like Marco Rubio. Disagree with his politics, fine. His opinions differ from yours. Whatevs. At least he’s not willing to completely sell out his rational faculties for some desperate scoop at the bottom of the electoral barrel, à la Donald Trump. And he says so!…
Despite the rising contempt for Gov. Rick Scott, this one kind of flew under the radar. With the exception of the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, our local media outlets seem determined not to notice that the credibility of Gov. Scott’s education adviser has been grossly undermined by a cheating…
“As we work to reduce wasteful government spending,” wrote Sen. Marco Rubio in a letter to Mitch McConnell on Thursday, “we recognize that providing for the national defense is a constitutional responsibility of the federal government. Therefore, we must continue to prioritize the security of our nation and the security…
It’s April in the Year of Our Lord 2011, and most Floridians have reached an accommodation with Allen West. As summer looms and West’s congressional career blossoms into maturity, he’s almost begun to seem normal. He still hates Muslims, but at least he’s polite about it. He probably still thinks…
This may come as a bit of a shocker, but a new poll shows that almost half of Florida voters think Gov. Rick Scott is doing a bad job. The survey, conducted by Quinnipiac University, found that the number of Floridians who disapprove of Scott’s job performance has more than…
You can tell a political movement’s serious when it invites Donald Trump to be the keynote speaker on tax day.That’s what the Tea Partiers have done. Trump will appear at “The South Florida Tax Day Tea Party” on April 16 at Sanborn Square in Boca. Read the news release here,…
“I’ve seen the mountaintop!” shouted a woman blowing a whistle and marching in combat-style boots down Okeechobee Boulevard.”We shall overcome Rick Scott’s tyranny!” added a man who followed close behind, limping a little.In three short months in office, Gov. Scott has managed to anger people from all walks of life…
Rick Scott may have pissed off a lot of people with his plans for mandatory drug testing of all state employees and welfare recipients. He’s been verbally thrashed for hypocrisy and scrutinized for conflict of interest. Now, a group of Key West residents will send a giant sample of their…
What follows is a dramatic imagining of ABC journalist Jon Karl interviewing a blogger…
Despite resistance to federal health care reform and the governor’s refusal of a federally funded high-speed rail project, President Barack Obama maintains slightly favorable approval ratings among Floridian voters. And the most formidable of his potential Republican opponents is a former governor who once drove to Canada with the family…
Has West Palm Beach politics ever known a figure as mysterious as Joan Goldberg? She was hired under mysterious circumstances by mayor Lois Frankel, and for her services she received a mystifyingly large paycheck. Her precise duties were shadowy, as were her qualifications to execute them. When it came time…
Two Republican officials blasted Florida today for refusing to move its primary date, which is set for January 31, in violation of the rules of both Republican and Democratic parties. It’s some of the toughest talk we’ve seen so far in the fight over Florida’s 2012 primary date, but Florida…
Even with all the news coverage of the disaster in Japan, it can be easy to forget about the suffering going on half a world away. We’re bogged down in our daily grinds and have to worry about our own severe weather warnings. But students and faculty at Nova Southeastern…
As reported in today’s Herald, the Florida Senate on Monday “quietly inserted language into its newly proposed budget… that seeks to give corporations a chance to run correctional facilities in 16 counties.” These corrections contracts are worth some $600 million.Though this “quiet insertion” was accomplished by Republicans — led by…
