Emails & Opinions

Diane RobertsMarch 6, 2016

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE – Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith is getting evicted from Statuary Hall. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are not happy. Sen. Don Gaetz, a native of that little-known Old South state of North Dakota, is not happy: “There is nothing in the bill analysis, nothing in the testimony, that tells us any reason why […]

Dominic CalabroMarch 6, 2016

While most Floridians are working and going to school this week, elected officials in Tallahassee are considering how to spend an eye-popping $80 billion of your hard-earned tax money. That’s nearly $4,000 for every adult and child in the state. Too few Floridians have the time to keep an eye on Tallahassee to make sure […]

Guest AuthorMarch 6, 2016

After the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the partisan maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature violated the Fair Districts amendments, Rep. John Wood, R-Polk, called for impeachment proceedings against the justices. Now, Wood and his colleagues in the House are asking the people of Florida to believe that the judicial term-limits bill passed in the […]

Darryl PaulsonMarch 6, 2016

I know! I know! Everyone’s first thought is that there is nothing in common between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. After all, the two belong to different political parties and certainly have differing views on the major political issues. But I would argue that there is a real connection between these two politicians and it […]

Peter SchorschMarch 6, 2016

Friday’s failure to move the Seminole Compact was a microcosm of the next-to-last-week blues afflicting the Florida Legislature. Plus things are also getting a little weird, like when Senate President Andy Gardiner seemed to suggest that legislative inaction is a kind of action. The inaction was in the case of Gov. Rick Scott‘s state surgeon general and Health Secretary […]

Phil AmmannMarch 6, 2016

A roundup of Sunday editorials from Florida’s leading newspapers: Tampa Bay Times — Death penalty fix should have gone further Unwilling to abolish the death penalty, the Florida Legislature at least should have done everything possible to ensure the sentencing process is constitutional. Instead, lawmakers pulled up just short. That mistake will leave Florida an […]

Peter SchorschMarch 4, 2016

As the Legislature’s “big chairs” meet this weekend to try to take the 2016-17 state budget in for a landing, there are few issues more pressing and in the public eye than fixing Florida’s ailing Department of Corrections and prison system in general. The department has gained a reputation for cutting corners in a way that […]

Martin DyckmanMarch 4, 2016

Donald Trump doubled down on war crimes in that gutter-level brawl the other night, insisting that military personnel who have been trained to refuse illegal commands would not dare to disobey his orders to torture terrorism suspects and murder their families. “They’re not going to refuse me,” said the would-be egotist-in-chief. “If I say do […]

Guest AuthorMarch 4, 2016

There are people who I am thankful for in the trajectory of my “success” in life, especially my family and my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Walker. I was Mrs. Walker’s student assistant in third and fourth grades. I ran errands and alphabetized the checkout cards. But mostly I read books. And she encouraged me to […]

Mitch PerryMarch 4, 2016

Undoubtedly, we’ll hear in the next week (and into the fall) about how Florida is so important nationally because it’s a “Purple State” that reflects the views of our nation about diversity. Yet on far too many issues our state is severely conservative, to quote Mitt Romney. Take its laws on how we decide who qualifies […]

Emails & Opinions

Diane Roberts: Let’s replace Confederate general with a statue of the “Florida Man”

Dominic Calabro: Floridians deserve an accountable and transparent budgeting process

Eric Lesh and Mark Ferrulo: Another legislative power grab for control of the courts

Darryl Paulson: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders: Birds of a Feather?

Takeaways from Tallahassee – Sine Die on the brain

A roundup of Sunday editorials from Florida’s leading newspapers

Don’t cut corners on Dept. of Corrections health funding

Martin Dyckman: To stop Donald Trump, vote for Marco Rubio on March 15

Yolanda Hood: We all have the right to read what we want

Mitch Perry Report for 3.4.16 — After being forced, Legislature finally moves on death penalty law