Karen Cyphers - page 15

Math may not be the most popular subject in school, but it is the clear winner when Americans are asked which subject has been the most valuable to them in their lives. According to a Gallup survey released Wednesday, math earns the vote of more than one-third of respondents (34%) followed by English/literature at 21 percent. While these findings are consistent with responses from August 2002, science/physics/biology has dramatically increased in its “value” over the past decade from 4 percent…

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Out of the 55.5 million married-couple households in the United States, over one out of five of them (21 percent) have at least one spouse born in another country. According to a US Census Bureau report released today, about 13 percent (7.3 million) of married-couple households are comprised of two foreign-born spouses, and the remaining 7 percent have one native-born and one foreign-born spouse. These data, collected from the American Community Survey, focused only on those couples in which both…

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During the 2013 legislative session, Sen. Jeff Brandes successfully forwarded an amendment to remedy various problems with red-light camera ticketing. The Brandes amendment provided greater time for drivers to appeal such tickets at lower rates, provided caps on associated administrative costs, and limited the ability of red light cameras to issue “right-turn on red” citations. But to Brandes, these fixes are just not enough. On Wednesday he filed SB 144 to repeal Florida’s red light traffic laws. Red light cameras…

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The Florida Department of Health (DOH) announced Wednesday the appointment of Marco Paredes, Jr., as the new director of legislative planning.  Paredes joins the department from his most recent role as senior manager of state government affairs for Amgen, where he focused on Medicaid budgeting, health care, labor and tax policy.  Paredes received his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and his JD from Georgetown law. He previously served as legislative director for Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, and…

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Last week, Florida’s former lieutenant governor Jeff Kottkamp penned an column for Context Florida describing the historic importance of the state’s number two executive.  And on Tuesday, former lieutenant governor Frank Brogan did the same in an interview with Tia Mitchell of the Tampa Bay Times. Kottkamp wrote that the six-month vacancy in Florida’s office of lieutenant governor has raised the question of whether the state needs the role at all. This isn’t the first time folks have wondered the…

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Today marks the halfway point in the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which spans June 1 through November 30.   Either predictions were way off this year, or we’re due for one heck of a second half.    While pre-season forecasts warned of above average hurricane activity, this is the first season since 2002 to have no hurricanes through the month of August. To date, just six tropical storms have been named.  Of all of the agencies to offer official forecasts, the…

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In a special report on health insurance published Tuesday, Florida Trend describes how employers are still struggling to understand the Affordable Care Act as the implementation date nears.  “The Affordable Care Act is poised to transform our health insurance system, encouraging more people to buy insurance,” Lilly Rockwell wrote. “But as the full implementation date nears, health insurers are raising rates, and employers are scrambling to understand what it means for them.” If there’s any group poised to help consumers…

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