James Call - page 28

Gov. Rick Scott Thursday tapped Jon Steverson, executive director of the Northwest Florida Management District, to be the secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. Steverson is the second agency director named in two days for Scott’s second administration. “Jon has dedicated his career to serving Floridians through the protection of our state’s water and natural resources and he is committed to our goal of protecting Florida’s natural  treasures so future generations and millions of tourists can enjoy our state’s…

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Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet gathered Tuesday morning outside of the Governor’s Office for the lighting of the state Christmas tree.  Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam presented the Virginia Pine grown on the Havana Christmas Tree Farm in Gadsden County. The tree joins the Flying Spaghetti Monster display and a winter solstice greeting from the Freedom from Religion Foundation at the Capitol building. A Festivus Pole, which started a Florida tradition of displaying unconventional holiday icons near the Great…

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Owen Curry, the 10-year-old son of a fallen firefighter, led Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet in breaking ground for a Capitol memorial honoring firefighters killed in the line of duty.  Owen was 3 years old when his father John, a member of the Volusia County Wildland Fire Team, died after a pine tree fell on him. Scott and the Cabinet passed a 2013 Resolution for a memorial at the state Capitol, partly in recognition of the lobbying efforts of…

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Newly elected Congresswoman Gwen Graham kicked off a jobs tour of the 2nd Congressional District Monday, meeting with 16 business leaders in Tallahassee. The roundtable discussion was on the agenda of a meeting of a Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce board and included small business owners, public relations executives and academic leaders. “This is something that your predecessor never did,” said Edward Murray, Jr. of NAI Talcor, a realty company that hosted the discussion. In a way, that’s how Graham produced a…

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Two Tampa-area lawmakers want to repeal the Advanced Nuclear Cost Recovery Fee, an eight-year-old law that has cost consumers billions. The law was designed to encourage construction of new nuclear plants and to maintain older facilities but does not include a guarantee that a new plant will ever be built. “Floridians are tired of being taxed for projects that will never come to fruition,” said Rep. Amanda Murphy. Murphy and newly elected Rep. Chris Latvala are co-sponsoring a bi-partisan bill…

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With apologies to Sir Walter Scott, oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to allow marijuana to be used as medicine. Implementing the Charlotte’s Web medical marijuana legislation is at a standstill and may remain that way for some time. Last month an administrative law judge rejected proposed rules drafted by the Department of Health. The DOH has until December 15 to decide whether it will appeal the judge’s ruling. The new law authorizes five licenses for…

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As we’ve been predicting for nearly a month, veteran lobbyist Mike Hightower is joining Holland & Knight’s governmental affairs team. Hightower resigned as chair of the Jacksonville Electric and Water and Sewer Authority Friday. “It has been my honor and pleasure to serve JEA nearly sixteen years, twice as chair, appointed by mayors (John) Delaney and Peyton,” he said in a Friday resignation letter to Mayor Alvin Brown. “We have seen JEA, the eighth largest municipally owned utility in the nation,…

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