Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Peter SchorschFebruary 15, 2015

Almost all of the headlines surrounding the annual session of the Florida Legislature will have already been written by the time lawmakers are gaveled into business on March 3. Those headlines will involve calls to expand Medicaid; a budget hole created by the federal government’s refusal to fund the Low Income Pool health care program; […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 15, 2015

Remember the Tom Cruise movie “Minority Report,” about Pre-Cogs predicting crimes before they happened so the PreCrime unit could swoop in and punish people before they did anything wrong? Well, apparently the Tampa Bay Times’ Adam Smith thinks that’s how responsible journalism should work, too. You’ll find in Smith’s latest column precise reporting of a future lapse in Jeb Bush’s decorum when he says “our […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 15, 2015

A rising tide lifts all boats; nowhere is that more apparent than recent changes to South Florida’s political journalism. Case in point; reporter Patricia Mazzei is now a new political writer at the Miami Herald. Mazzei has covered Miami’s political scene since 2007. This weekend, she became the successor to Marc Caputo, who recently departed for […]

Martin DyckmanFebruary 15, 2015

The premise underlying Florida’s death penalty is that it will be carried out fairly. To borrow a phrase, that is a bright and shining lie. As the first to re-enact capital punishment after the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1972, Florida’s Legislature provided specific criteria for death sentences and required the state Supreme […]

Daniel TilsonFebruary 15, 2015

“Hello there, Gunshine State. Hello all you folks in the sunset of your winter snowboarding season – better then snow shoveling, right? And hello all you other freedom lovers, thanks for being here at the fair today! “When I’m done talking, make sure you come visit the extinct, uh, the exotic species deep-fry tent on […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 15, 2015

The ironically named Student Success Act of 2011 mandated something called the Valued Added Model, which attempts to quantify each teacher’s influence on each student. The complicated formula purports to predict what a student’s normal gain scores on a standardized test will be from one year to another. If a student gains more or loses […]

Jac VerSteegFebruary 15, 2015

If you don’t like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s stance on education, you might not like President Barack Obama’s stance either. They actually have toured Florida schools together, and both generally are in favor of high-stakes tests that they say bring accountability. Jeb had the FCAT-based school grading system, and the Obama administration was behind […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 15, 2015

Although some pundits say that Jeb Bush is the front-runner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, a trio of new NBC News/Marist polls show in fact that the field is wide open in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. However, the only two candidates with poll numbers in the double […]

Associated PressFebruary 15, 2015

Jeb Bush was preparing to release the emails he sent and received as Florida governor when he was excoriated by a letter-writer to The Miami Herald. The headline: “Don’t trust Jeb Bush with the power of the presidency.” The subject of many of the emails was Terri Schiavo. The letter-writer was her husband, Michael. Bush’s […]

Associated PressFebruary 15, 2015

Millions of immigrants benefiting from President Barack Obama’s executive actions could get a windfall from the IRS, a reversal of fortune after years of paying taxes to help fund government programs they were banned from receiving. Armed with new Social Security numbers, many of these immigrants who were living in the U.S. illegally will now […]

Uncategorized

Big tobacco, Brecht Heuchan, and one of the most interesting food fights of the 2015 Legislative Session

Adam Smith, Pre-Cog

Patricia Mazzei named political writer at Miami Herald

Martin Dyckman: Capital punishment in Florida is death by judicial whim

Daniel Tilson: Vice President Sarah Palin's Presidents Day message

Catherine Martinez: 'Value Added Model' of no value to teaching

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: How Jeb Bush made going nuts seem sane

New NBC News polls shows no clear front-runner in early states

Jeb Bush role in end-of-life dispute as governor now 2016 issue

Republicans say Obama giving immigrants 'amnesty bonuses'