special session – Page 7 – SaintPetersBlog

Florida legislators already at odds over new Senate maps

Published on October 19, 2015 in Statewide/Top Headlines by Gary Fineout

Florida’s Republican-led Legislature, which has split this year over everything from healthcare spending to new congressional districts, could be engulfed in a new political firestorm. Legislators opened up a 19-day special session on Monday with the goal of redrawing state Senate districts. Legislative leaders called the special session after the Senate acknowledged in court filings that it violated the state constitution by creating previous maps that benefit Republicans and incumbents. But it didn’t take long for the latest round of…

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Today on Context Florida: Government dysfunction, Florida’s infrastructure and crude oil

Published on August 31, 2015 in Apolitical/Top Headlines by Phil Ammann

Today on Context Florida: A less-than-Special Session cost citizens nearly 700 grand, Rick Scott’s legal bills are now north of $1.5 million, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has issued more bear hunting permits than there are bears, and there is a big storm aiming for the Gulf of Mexico. Diane Roberts says that in Florida, government dysfunction is the house style. Florida depends on safe, efficient transportation to accommodate a growing population and about 100 million tourists who flock here…

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Diane Roberts skewers ruling class during Tallahassee talk

Published on August 26, 2015 in Apolitical/Top Headlines by Bill Prescott

Writer, international scholar, FSU English professor, opinion columnist and environmentalist Diane Roberts entertained a crowd of North Florida Democrats Tuesday evening with her incisive wit and pointed observations about the state of Florida and its leaders. Referring to herself as “that professor conservatives warn you about,” Roberts let fly a quiverful of bon mots as she skewered the Legislature, “they argue like kindergartners”; Rick Scott, “Could you screw up any worse? Oh yeah, the governor”; and global warming deniers, “If…

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Arguing Florida lawmakers agree on one thing: silence the Supreme Court

Published on August 24, 2015 in Statewide/Top Headlines by Jim Rosica

Lawmakers couldn’t agree on congressional redistricting but they do seem to agree on one thing: Muzzling the Florida Supreme Court. The latest special session ended last week with no new map to apportion Florida’s 27 U.S. House districts. It did result in lots of rhetoric, including from some Democrats, on “judicial overreach” and breaching the separation of powers. A majority of justices declared the current map violated the “Fair Districts” constitutional amendments, passed to combat gerrymandering, or the drawing of…

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Today on Context Florida: Legislative dysfunction, Jeb & race, public shaming, shrinkage and affordable housing

Published on June 26, 2015 in Apolitical/Top Headlines by Phil Ammann

Today on Context Florida: The Florida Senate and several communities hoping to receive state money for local projects or programs are unhappy, says Bob Sparks. The public food fight between legislative chambers and the governor was an embarrassment that could have serious ramifications. Florida Republicans are giving the Democratic National Committee a layup of an opportunity to portray both legislative chambers and executive leadership as dysfunctional. All they need are news clips from the past four months. So Jeb! didn’t know.…

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Gov. Rick Scott signs state budget in private, averts government shutdown

Published on June 23, 2015 in Statewide/Top Headlines by Gary Fineout

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday ended the state’s biggest budget crisis in more than two decades by signing a more than $78 billion budget into law, but he may have created another divide with some of his fellow Republicans. Scott signed the budget just days after the Florida Legislature approved it during an unusual June special session. State government would have been partially shut down if a new budget had not been in place by July 1. But before he…

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FloridaStrong digital ad blasts Legislature’s ‘misplaced priorities, failed leadership’

Published on June 2, 2015 in Statewide/Top Headlines by Phil Ammann

A new web ad released today by a Democratic-leaning “nonpartisan” group is criticizing the Legislature’s “misplaced priorities and failed leadership” as lawmakers start the 20-day special session. The 60-second digital spot, “Disgraceful,” is the latest salvo in FloridaStrong’s multi-media campaign to educate votes and remind elected officials of the “in-district cost” of the state’s political stalemate over its nearly $80 billion budget. On Monday, Florida Politics reported that the independent group targeted eight House Republicans in swing districts with a mailer accusing…

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Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

special session - page 7

Florida legislators already at odds over new Senate maps

Today on Context Florida: Government dysfunction, Florida’s infrastructure and crude oil

Diane Roberts skewers ruling class during Tallahassee talk

Arguing Florida lawmakers agree on one thing: silence the Supreme Court

Today on Context Florida: Legislative dysfunction, Jeb & race, public shaming, shrinkage and affordable housing

Gov. Rick Scott signs state budget in private, averts government shutdown

FloridaStrong digital ad blasts Legislature’s ‘misplaced priorities, failed leadership’

special session - page 7

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