Graham "Blasts Bush", Condemns Failure To Release 9-11 Report - In a press conference yesterday, Sen. Graham "continued to criticize the Bush administration's delay in declassifying a report on the Sept. 11 attacks written by a joint House-Senate investigations panel that Graham co-chaired. 'They don't want this report to come out,' he said of the White House. 'There has not been in my memory, and I would question whether there has been in modern American history, an administration that was so committed to secrecy as this Bush administration.'" See "Graham . . . condemns 9/11 secrecy" and "Graham blasts Bush".
Bush Allows His 'Glades Bill Critics An Audience - "Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday that he is poised to sign a controversial Everglades bill into law unless his congressional critics can convince him that it will endanger an $8 billion restoration project. Despite overwhelming opposition from environmentalists and leading Republican congressmen, Bush said he's prepared to defend the sugar-industry-backed measure as a `path for continued water-quality improvement.'"
"But Bush said he has promised U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, that he'll hear him out before he signs the bill. Shaw has scolded Bush and the Legislature for pushing the measure, saying it could create mistrust and dampen federal enthusiasm for splitting with the state the cost of an $8 billion project to restore the polluted marsh. Bush said he plans to meet with Shaw next week in Washington, D.C., and said he wants to hear Shaw's concerns `in specific.' Bush said he's been inundated with e-mail, phone calls and letters on the measure, but that his critics lack details." See "Bush set to hear critics of Glades bill". See also "Bush sticks by new Everglades bill".
"Political Demotion" - Among the any good points in the St Pete Times editorial today is this: "the state has given school districts no real way to provide better instruction for the students having trouble. Just three weeks ago, Horne wrote school superintendents around the state, essentially ordering them to "provide research-based intensive summer reading activities for students who have failed to meet third-grade promotion standards." Yet the state provided no money, and the Legislature has proposed cutting remedial programs by $100-million beginning July 1. And Horne's edict came within a month of the end of school for many districts."
"Is this any way to run an education system?"
Graham Offers Tax Cut Proposal - "Sen. Bob Graham takes his presidential campaign to New Hampshire today, armed with a new proposal for limited but immediate tax relief and aid to the states in place of some of President Bush's tax cuts." See "Tax-cut alternative taken to N.H." See also "Graham wants to block Bush's `wealthy' tax breaks". More here and here.
Slashing Higher Education - "Florida's public universities would admit fewer students, offer fewer programs and slash a bevy of campus services if state lawmakers enact a proposed budget that cuts $140 million from higher education, the leaders of five of the state's largest schools said Thursday in Miami." See "University chiefs decry budget cuts". See also "Higher education set to take hit from Legislature".
"Wekiva's Demise" - The Orlado Sentinel reports that these men are to blame for the Legislature's failure to protect the Wekiva river basin.
Now, Can You Give Vets Some Real Benefits? "With the United States fighting in Iraq and patriotic fervor running high, the Legislature found it easy to pass bills to help the military during the session that ended last week. There were bills to make life easier for military personnel, relieving them of responsibility for housing and auto leases and preserving their Bright Futures college scholarships when they are deployed. Others protected them against discrimination when they rent homes and increasing the number who qualify for veterans' preference in hiring. Homeowners were given the right to fly service flags on patriotic holidays regardless of condominium association rules, license tags were created for the Army, Navy, Air Force, paratroopers and Coast Guard -- the Marines already had one -- and highways and bridges were named in honor of POWs and Purple Heart winners." See "Legislative session gives boost to military cause".
DCF Follies - "The problems with the Florida Department of Children and Families were clear when Jerry Regier became the agency's secretary on Sept. 3. DCF was suing a not-for-profit task force hired to help certain districts clear a backlog of more than 50,000 child-abuse cases. The agency had removed 46,000 kids from unsafe homes and placed them with other families. Five-year-old Rilya Wilson, discovered missing from foster care 16 months after her disappearance, had become the hauntingly vivid example of ineptitude in the state's child-welfare system."
"Gov. Bush's appointment of Mr. Regier added to the disbelief. Mr. Regier had once proclaimed that spanking a child to the point of bleeding or causing welts was OK. Just months before coming to Florida, he was running for governor of Oklahoma, but he quit after learning that he did not meet the residency requirement. He never had supervised an agency as large as DCF. He had little foster care experience and few answers."
"Eight months later, Democrats in the Florida Senate who tried to question whether Mr. Regier should be confirmed as DCF secretary were shut up by their Republican colleagues. His undebated confirmation, recommended by a Republican senator from Hialeah, appeared to be a reward for giving special attention to the senator's complaint about rudeness to a relative at a welfare office." See "DCF, a year after Rilya Wilson". See also "Foster care: Where is the commitment?".
What Do You Make Of This? "Environmentalists have issued an all-points bulletin for Benji Brumberg, the state's public advocate within the Department of Environmental Protection. Brumberg, who served as the ombudsman for the DEP in Tallahassee, left the office quietly and without fanfare last month. He did not respond to phone messages left at his Fort Lauderdale home or his Dania Beach optometry office. Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he was unaware that Brumberg had left. A DEP spokeswoman said the ombudsman's office had been reorganized." See "State's environmental ombudsman quietly exits post".