Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Diane RobertsMarch 19, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE–When the Death Mermaid shows up, pay attention. Back in 1881, she appeared to Hamilton Disston, warning him against trying to drain the Everglades. Old Ham, never the most emotionally stable of multimillionaires, shut his eyes tight and swore on his mother’s grave he’d stop drinking cologne. In 1969, she scared the feds into […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 17, 2015

A House subcommittee chairman’s proposal for environmental spending ignores the will of voters who supported Amendment 1, environmental groups said Tuesday. “Most of Florida was left out of this budget,” said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida. “Most of Florida was left out of this budget,” Draper said. He was responding to the 2015-16 […]

Diane RobertsMarch 17, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE–When the Death Mermaid shows up, pay attention. Back in 1881, she appeared to Hamilton Disston, warning him against trying to drain the Everglades. Old Ham, never the most emotionally stable of multimillionaires, shut his eyes tight and swore on his mother’s grave he’d stop drinking cologne. In 1969, she scared the feds into […]

Sally SwartzMarch 11, 2015

Florida’s newest Critical Wildlife Area, a tiny bird island in the Indian River Lagoon near Sewall’s Point, has survived erosion, hurricanes and the curiosity of boaters and fishermen. Now it faces a challenge – again – from an early dumping of Lake Okeechobee’s murky water. The 1.5 acre spoil island, created from sand dredged from […]

Guest AuthorMarch 10, 2015

Only two months into the New Year and already the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started to release polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, resulting in water flowing into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, and the Indian River Lagoon, which is expected to continue over the coming weeks and months. Millions of Floridians are […]

Diane RobertsMarch 9, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE–You think you live in a representative democracy. You don’t. You live on a sugar plantation. You call it “Florida.” And while you may reside far from the muck farms and wouldn’t know a cane field from a pawpaw patch, it doesn’t matter. Your state government works for Big Sugar. In 2012 and 2014, […]

Ryan RayMarch 8, 2015

Amid a great deal of noise currently being made about the environment in Florida – from Amendment 1’s sweeping mandates on land and water preservation funding to reports that Gov. Rick Scott has outlawed any official discussion about climate change – one player not getting much burn in that arena these days is Jeb Bush. That’s strange, […]

Ryan RayMarch 8, 2015

Amid a great deal of noise currently being made about the environment in Florida – from Amendment 1’s sweeping mandates on land and water preservation funding to reports that Gov. Rick Scott has outlawed any official discussion about climate change – one player not getting much burn in that arena these days is Jeb Bush. That’s strange, […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 2, 2015

Environmental groups pushing for the state purchase of U.S. Sugar Corp. land south of Lake Okeechobee may have received a boost Monday when a University of Florida study said additional land is needed for water storage. Environmental groups have been pushing the state to exercise an option to buy 46,800 acres for water storage to […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 26, 2015

Benjamin Franklin delivered the memorable line, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Were he alive today, I believe Franklin would amend his short list of inevitabilities with a declaration that Florida Republicans can solidly count on negative editorials from the Tampa Bay Times. Such is the case with […]

Tag: Everglades
Lake Mary’s team celebrates in the eighth inning of the Little League World Series Championship game against Taiwan. Florida won in eight innings 2-1. Image via AP.

Legislators, ignore the Death Mermaid at your peril

Enviro groups: House budget proposal ignores Amendment 1 intent

Diane Roberts: Legislators, ignore the Death Mermaid at your peril

Sally Swartz: Dumping dirty water threatens Bird Island

Eric Eikenberg: To stop polluting rivers, buy land for reservoir

Diane Roberts: Florida Legislature in the sticky embrace of Big Shug

Good read from Politico — Jeb in the 'glades

Good read from Politico — Jeb in the ‘glades

UF study says more water storage needed south of Lake Okeechobee

Steve Crisafulli: Tampa Bay Times editorial distorts House water plan