Yet Another Example Of The Woes Of Privatization -Days after a charter school was closed down for financial mismanagement, the school's operator started a private school that eventually received corporate tax-credit vouchers. . . . School district documents also showed that Empowering Young Minds: bounced dozens of checks at its bank, incurring fees of $1,458; failed to properly pay federal payroll taxes, incurring penalties and interest of more than $21,000; put only 40 percent of its tax money into classroom instruction, while the county's non-charter public schools were spending 58 percent of their money in the classroom; failed to provide fingerprints for all of its teachers and hired teachers who were not certified to teach, both of which are required by law; and had on its board two directors who had been convicted of misdemeanor fraud charges for writing worthless checks, one of whom is now on the Beyond the Basics Academy board. "Operator of school that closed started private another days later".
Buddy Nevins Misses The Boat - We disagree with the redoubtable Buddy Nevins' assessment that Mitch Ceasar's criticism of Judge Aleman in Broward was "poor judgment". Aleman is a "conservative judge" appointed by "Jeb!" in 2001. Last month, Caesar "blasted" Aleman "a right-wing nut". Nevins argues that, because Aleman is a GOPer, this criticism from the Broward Dem chief caused so-called "moderate" GOPers to rally around Aleman. However, if the purported GOP "moderates" are rallying to Aleman's support, it exposes them, not as moderates, but zealots who put party loyalty above all other things, including competence of the judiciary (which since "Jeb!" ascended to has, with a few exceptions, been descended into political hackdom).
More Med Mal -Florida's new medical malpractice law hasn't taken effect yet, and the legal challenges haven't begun, but the perpetual feud between doctors and trial lawyers has already moved to another expensive arena: the November 2004 general election ballot.
Each of the politically powerful interest groups has announced it will finance a multimillion-dollar constitutional amendment campaign to win what it failed to get from lawmakers during a series of marathon legislative sessions this year. "Duel continues on eve of malpractice law".