"Business groups rejoice"

"As business groups rejoice in the return to power of John Thrasher as a state senator, their archenemies in the legal profession downplay the result as just one election."

A former House speaker and lobbyist for doctors and other business interests, Thrasher had the support of former Gov. Jeb Bush and an army of pro-business allies that helped him weather a steady barrage of hard-hitting ads largely funded by personal injury lawyers.

"Business groups cheer John Thrasher's return to Legislature".




A bit much

"Even as Miami-Dade faces its most critical budget crisis in decades, the county is spending more money lobbying the federal government than any other county in the country. Indeed, only the governments of Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania -- a commonwealth and a state -- have spent more than Miami-Dade County this year on federal lobbyists, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based watchdog group that tracks lobbying."

Lobbyist Al Cardenas, a former Republican Party of Florida chairman who lobbies for Miami-Dade along with with Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party -- a relationship that raised eyebrows among Democrats -- said Miami-Dade needs the representation.

"Miami-Dade County highest spender in lobbying U.S.".




Never mind

"A group of 15 Democrats in the Florida House will try to roll back the flood of fee increases and higher license charges that angered drivers across the state last month." "Lawmakers want fee hikes repealed".




Blue (dog) Bill

"U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson finally made clear Wednesday where he stands on health care reform, lending key support to a new compromise bill unveiled in the Senate that does not include a public option sought by many House Democrats and President Barack Obama." "Nelson sees bill as good start".




Rifqa

"In a newly surfaced online video that was apparently filmed before she ran away from her Ohio home and ended up in Florida, a passionate and vivacious Fathima Rifqa Bary shares her testimony and talks about Jesus. The nearly eight-minute video was posted on YouTube earlier this week. The video details state it was filmed by 'Minister Joe of P4CM in May of 2009 while Rifqa was in Ohio.'" "Fathima Rifqa Bary passionately gives testimony in newly surfaced video".




Wingnut theater

"The guerrilla videos were made by 20-somethings James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who is a journalism student at Florida International University." "Can a 'hooker' and 'pimp' defeat ACORN?".

"Gov. Charlie Crist’s press office said it received about 100 inquiries today regarding recent controversies involving ACORN, including one from Crist’s U.S. Senate Republican primary opponent, Marco Rubio." "ACORN controversy sparks citizen inquiries to Gov. Crist".




"Crowing all year"

"State officials, who have been crowing all year about the strides that Florida has made to boost its adoption rate, announced today that the state is receiving a bonus of nearly $10 million from the federal government as a result." "Florida gets $10 million from feds for boosting adoption rate".




"So far, there's little evidence ..."

The Tallahassee Democrat editorial board: "Property owners in Florida need to hope it's true, that all the new insurance companies that Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has been touting as stabilizing the Florida market are solid and available to everyday homeowners."

So far, there's little evidence, however, that if major hurricanes hit Florida, that property owners would be sufficiently covered — or that when giant State Farm Florida withdraws from the state there'll be adequate coverage available for its 770,000 customers.

CFO Alex Sink expressed appropriate skepticism earlier this month when she wrote Mr. McCarty sharply requesting more detailed information on the financial status of the 29 new companies that have come into the state since 2006. She wanted to know how many personal lines of insurance they write and to otherwise gather data to judge how well the homeowners market would be covered, given discounts they must give for storm "hardening" of homes and difficulty in finding backing in the reinsurance market.

"Insurance queasiness".




"Pimping their children to advertisers"

The Daytona Beach News Journal editorial board: "It was no small irony that the same day the Volusia County Board of Education approved a new budget, it considered opening its campuses to advertisers and granting commercial businesses naming rights to school properties. The budget included $54 million in cuts. That's to what tax cuts, Tallahassee's stingy funding and the slower economy are reducing school boards in Florida: Pimping their children to advertisers." "Your ad (not) here: Schoolchildren not for sale".

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