A round-up of Sunday editorials from Florida’s leading newspapers:
Tampa Bay Times – ‘Stand your ground’ can’t be yanked soon enough
President Barack Obama is talking about it, and so is the attorney general. There are marches in Florida and across the country, and protesters have been camped inside the state Capitol for more than a week. Yet Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature’s Republican leaders continue to defend the indefensible “stand your ground” law. That is not a winning strategy for Florida’s national image, its economy or the safety of its residents.
The not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial two weeks ago sparked more outrage over the 2005 “stand your ground” law, which allows the use of lethal force with no duty to retreat if a person reasonably believes his or her life is in danger. While Zimmerman did not seek a pretrial hearing and specifically invoke the law as a defense, the law played a role in his acquittal. The judge referred to the law in open court, the jury instructions included the law’s expanded protections for using force without retreating, and the jurors discussed it. Respecting the jury’s verdict and appreciating the difficulty of its deliberations should not translate into a stubborn defense of bad law.
The argument for repeal was strong even without the Zimmerman case. The Tampa Bay Times reviewed 200 “stand your ground” cases last year, and in about one-third of those cases the defendant started the fight and went free. The law has freed killers and aggressive attackers, drug dealers and other criminals whose claims of self-defense were questionable. Since Florida enacted the law, some two dozen states have embraced similar laws, and one study has found an 8 percent increase in murders and non-negligent manslaughters in those states.
The Bradenton Herald — Blossoming of new medical residency programs boosts Manatee County’s health
Manatee County is blessed with a forward-thinking health care community determined to improve the wellbeing of citizens. Another one of the key findings in the detailed 2008 State of Health Care System in Manatee study will be addressed with a ground-breaking development in the mental health care arena.
Two of county’s premier health care providers, Manatee Glens and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, will join forces to launch a psychiatry residency program. This unique partnership, announced just days ago, will provide an avenue not only for residents to complete their studies and training, expand mental health services to the community and ultimately help alleviate the doctor shortage as the majority of residents remain in the region in which they train.
Manatee Memorial Hospital began building a residency program for osteopathic physicians soon after the 2008 study recommended the county follow that course of action to recruit young doctors, especially family practitioners. The first class of young medical residents — from around the country and world — enrolled in 2011.
This July, Manatee Memorial welcomed a class of 30 medical school graduates in family practice or internal medicine into its three-year residency program.
The hospital’s chief executive officer, Kevin DiLallo, addressed the pivotal point behind the program then: “We hope that some, if not all, will stay in the community after they have finished their programs and make Manatee County their home.”
The Daytona Beach News-Journal — Government can take land without actually seizing it
A recent court decision makes clear that when Florida’s state and local governments regulate a citizen’s land to the point of infringement upon business or value, damages may be due.
And when that happens, taxpayers may end up footing the bill. That is why it is important for state and local officials to carefully weigh the impact of laws and regulations on private property.
Such consideration was not afforded a pig farmer in 2002, the year Florida voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that regulated the confinement of pregnant sows.
The “pregnant-pig” amendment is an odd moment in Florida history, one that still affects Florida politics. After its passage in 2002, business owners and many citizens declared the state Constitution was too easy to amend.
They also argued that simple matters of law — ones the Legislature could easily address — were now being turned into constitutional edicts. The Legislature agreed, and made it tougher to amend the constitution.
Yet the pregnant-pig amendment still stood, and still affected some farmers’ value. Stephen Basford of Jackson County was one such pig farmer.
Basford closed down his pig farm on four acres because he said he could not profitably run the operation after the amendment passed. He also argued he was due compensation for a taking of his pig operation.
On Wednesday, the 1st District Court of Appeal agreed that Basford’s claim was reasonable, and awarded him $505,000, plus interest.
The Lakeland Ledger — Lakeland Police Future: Tricky Route Toward Reform
A town hall meeting Monday night at The Lakeland Center spurred some of the strongest questions and statements about the future of the Lakeland Police Department since withholding of public records by the department resulted in a grand jury inquiry in January.
Thirty-one comments came from an audience of 200 people in the center’s Youkey Theatre.
Some expressed support for the department or Police Chief Lisa Womack, or disapproval of police decisions or actions.
Others wondered, what happens next?
The answers to that question were the most revealing. The commissioners spoke bluntly with City Manager Doug Thomas.
Several commissioners sought to draw a line over which Thomas, Womack and other top administrators may not backtrack.
MISPLACED LOYALTY
City Commissioner Don Selvage focused on the police department sex scandal, which involved 10 on-duty police officers, and more than 20 officers and employees in total.
“Underlying all of this is the question that people are asking, how could we — on the third floor of City Hall over eight years — not know this was going on? Have we been blind to a culture where loyalty to friends and co-workers takes precedence over duty?” Selvage asked.
“In that regard, Mr. City Manager, last week’s letter from the state attorney, to me, was a real blow to the solar plexus. When he accused the head of our Internal Affairs Department, who was conducting and leading the investigation,” Selvage said, “where he favored a friend and a co-worker over his duty. And you say, now, that Assistant Chief Link is in charge of the internal affairs.
“But can you assure us that we have a handle on the investigation — the very thing that we assured our citizens about — we’ve got this in hand?”
The Miami Herald — Florida’s Medicaid debacle requires special session of the Legislature
From our It’s Worse Than You Think File: Not only does Florida refuse to take federal funds to expand Medicaid — spurning $51 billion over the next decade — but it now turns out that it also trails nearly every other state when it comes to accepting federal grants from Washington for healthcare reform.
A report from Health News Florida says state agencies usually refuse to compete for grants, which other states eagerly snatch up. Even worse: Some agencies have on occasion won grants from the feds — and then given the money back! One recent instance involved a $2.3 million grant for a toll-free consumer health information line, which a state agency won but then decided not to take.
It defies logic and common sense for any state to act against the interests of its own residents in this way, particularly in Florida. The state consistently ranks near the bottom in health statistics and has one of the largest medically needy populations in the country, but that apparently counts little in the face of ideological opposition to the healthcare reform law that opponents in Tallahassee scornfully label “Obamacare.”
The refusal to accept federal grants tied to ACA is part and parcel of this anti-Washington political strategy. But as federal officials publicly declared last week, it’s not too late for Florida to accept Medicaid expansion, and as the deadline for full implementation of ACA draws near, the case for acceptance becomes stronger.
Gov. Rick Scott came out in favor of Medicaid expansion after winning federal permision for a special plan to let Floridians obtain insurance through a state-subsidized system. But then Mr. Scottt failed to lift a finger to support this action during the legislative session after the House of Representatives under Speaker Will Weatherford signaled that it would reject the idea as a matter of “conservative” principle.
The expansion plan died — and with it the hopes of 1 million or more people in Florida who will be left without coverage.
But that must not be the end of the discussion.
The Orlando Sentinel — Don’t keep disabled kids stuck in nursing homes
If Pearl Buck was right, and “the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members,” Florida got a failing grade this week.
The U.S. Justice Department filed suit Monday against the state, accusing it of violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to do enough to keep children in Florida with complex medical needs from being sent for care to nursing homes for the elderly. The department’s lawsuit called it “deliberate indifference to the suffering” of those children.
The head of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, Liz Dudek, called the lawsuit “disruptive” and accused “Washington” of wanting to take over the state’s Medicaid and disability programs. But this is not some bureaucratic turf battle. The health and well-being of some of the state’s most vulnerable children are at stake.
The Justice Department says it spent six months investigating the plight of kids in Florida nursing homes before calling on the state last September to do more to give them the option of care at home or in community-based settings. The department filed suit after concluding that it couldn’t count on the state to comply voluntarily.
Dudek, in responding to the lawsuit, cited “improvements” — community or home placement for 40 disabled kids this year. Too little, too late, considering that federal investigators counted 200 children in nursing homes last year.
The blame doesn’t rest soley with AHCA; other state agencies are named in the suit. And legislators have slashed funding for home or community-based care. One program intended to help parents utilize either option has a waiting list of more than 20,000 names. Lawmakers put more money into the program this year, but only enough to cut the list by about 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the state actually increased reimbursements to nursing homes to care for children, and turned down almost $40 million in federal funds that could have been tapped to move kids into home or community-based alternatives.
The Justice Department said the lack of options for disabled children left their parents “the cruel choice of fearing for their child’s life at home or placing their child in a nursing facility.” And in nursing homes, the department said, children are deprived of time with family and friends, and short-changed on social, recreational and educational activities that are vital for their healthy development.
There is no time to waste for children who are growing up in facilities for the elderly instead of at home with their families. Gov. Rick Scott, his appointees, and legislators must provide the necessary funding, oversight and commitment to right this wrong.
The Tampa Tribune — Time to end Central Avenue drama
You’ve got to be kidding, right? A concrete skateboarding bowl built 35 years ago has passed yet another hurdle on the road to being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
What’s next, a nomination for the original Hooters in Clearwater?
We have no problem with the skateboard park (or the original Hooters for that matter), but to elevate its status into the realm of historic significance is demeaning to sites and buildings that are truly representative of our history and culture.
More importantly, the historic designation might intrude on plans to honor more than a century of African-American history in Tampa that unfolded on Central Avenue near Perry Harvey Sr. Park, where the skate park sits.
A recommendation Thursday by a state advisory board that the skate park, known as the Bro Bowl, be placed on the National Register will now be considered by Robert Bendus, the state’s historic preservation officer. If he concurs, it will be sent to National Register staff in Washington for a final decision. Bendus should end this drama by rejecting the panel’s recommendation.
Supporters hope the designation will stop the city from demolishing the Bro Bowl as part of a master plan for redeveloping the area around it. The plans call for apartments, condominiums, a school, a hotel, a grocery and offices. An African-American museum is planned, along with a history walk in the park that honors African-Americans who helped define Tampa.
The redesigned park will be the gateway to that new community, and the Bro Bowl is in the way. Keep it mind that skateboarding won’t be extinguished in the area. Plans call for a larger skate park to be built nearby.
Even if the Bro Bowl wins the historic designation, the city might still be able to proceed as planned. But the designation would certainly slow those efforts, and possibly force the city to alter its plans.
The Palm Beach Post — Palm Beach County should not create south-county arts magnets
The Palm Beach County School District should forcefully reject any suggestion that students attending Boynton Beach High School and Congress Middle School should be evicted to allow those schools to be converted to south-county versions of arts magnets Dreyfoos High School and Bak Middle School.
Some south-county parents say Dreyfoos and Bak, in West Palm Beach, are too far away. Competition, they say, is so intense that many qualified students are rejected. Displacing students from Boynton Beach High and Congress Middle, their thinking goes, would replicate the popular programs and create new slots. But what about the disruption to Boynton High and Congress Middle students, 80 percent-plus of whom are minority? The thinking stops there.
The Florida Times Union — Time now to get Jacksonville pension reform right
An important point in the police and fire pension mess needs to be restated.
The blame for the shaky status of the pension fund doesn’t fall to Mayor Alvin Brown. It goes to past mayors and city councils.
But pointing fingers about the fund’s $1.7 billion unfunded liability and the $148 million in taxpayer money that will be required to support it in the next budget year gets us nowhere.
