Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorDecember 22, 2014

Clinton and a Bush are gearing up for a run at the White House. Is it 1990 or 2014? Congress is under Republican control with a Democrat in the White House. Is it 1946, 1994 or 2014? A Republican is heading to Florida’s Governor’s Mansion after just half of registered voters turned out to vote. […]

Bruce RitchieDecember 22, 2014

Whether candidates or elected officials want to acknowledge it’s true, the environment always is important in Florida. From a statewide perspective, here are my top 10 environmental stories from 2014: Scott re-elected Gov. Rick Scott was re-elected over former Gov. Charlie Crist despite cutting the budgets of water management districts, dismantling of the state planning […]

Mark FerruloDecember 15, 2014

The health of Florida’s environment and economy is inextricably linked to the health and well-being of our coastline. Florida’s coasts and marine waters provide the economic lifeblood for hundreds of tourism and fishing communities, providing billions of dollars of economic activity and millions of jobs. That’s why for decades Floridians have successfully thwarted efforts to […]

Bruce RitchieOctober 16, 2014

The environment was front and center in Wednesday’s gubernatorial debate even if an electric fan received the most media attention. By now you may know that former Gov. Charlie Crist was on stage for about five minutes at the start of a televised debate without Gov. Rick Scott. That’s because of a dispute over whether […]

Bruce RitchieSeptember 18, 2014

State Rep. Jimmy Patronis told me more than once that I would miss him after this year when he leaves the Florida Legislature because of term limits. Maybe I won’t be covering him in the Legislature any more. But he’ll still be in Tallahassee. Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday appointed Patronis, R-Panama City, to the […]

Bruce RitchieJuly 24, 2014

What a difference a year makes — an election year especially — when it comes to a bike trail connector across Central Florida. In May 2013, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a $50-million appropriation for the “Coast to Coast Connector” that would link 275 miles of bike trails across the region. Scott told reporters last year […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 27, 2014

Today’s world is full of hustle and bustle, instant downloads and constant online access. Although it creates an atmosphere of hyper-connectivity and efficiency, and it’s fascinating to see what we’ll think of next as we advance further and further into a digitally dominated culture, it can be easy to lose sight of the one thing […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 23, 2014

An editorial in Fort Myers’ News-Press early this month stated that 2014 will be the year of the environment, but I think a better characterization would be that 2014 should be the year of the environment. For years, environmental issues have been discussed at the local, state and federal levels but there has been even […]

Tag: environment

Mark Pafford: Florida Democrats will stay focused on our key issues

Bruce Ritchie: Florida’s top 10 environmental stories of 2014

Mark Ferrulo: Florida should continue to oppose offshore drilling

Bruce Ritchie: Crist, Scott also got hot over environment, climate change during debate

Bruce Ritchie: Rep. Jimmy Patronis’ appointment to the PSC is no surprise

Bruce Ritchie: Gov. Rick Scott and the bike trail: What a difference an election year makes

Peter A. Clark: There’s much more we can do to protect Tampa Bay

Cecil Pendergrass: 2014 should be about funding for vital water projects