Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineMarch 7, 2017

Karen-Woodall-Florida-Center-for-Fuscal-and-Economic-Policy.jpg

Poverty appeared to matter as the Florida Legislature opened its 2017 regular session Tuesday. Gov. Rick Scott, during his State of the State speech, recalled his impoverished youth and the importance of jobs to lift Floridians out of economic despair. Surely, music to Karen Woodall‘s ears? Now at the Florida Center for Economic and Fiscal Policy, she’s […]

Staff ReportsJune 8, 2016

For many kids in Florida, summer is a carefree time of hiding from the scorching sun in a pool or a shaded hammock. But, as a growing area of study shows, summer is the season when the country’s most underprivileged students begin to fall behind their peers, as access to publicly funded meals and stimulation […]

Marc YachtJanuary 6, 2016

Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson finds the voters fickle. As they say in the theater, “His star is fading.” After enjoying a top-notch rating since appearing on the political scene, the neurosurgeon seems fated to the dustbin of political history. Carson sinks faster than a leaky wooden boat. What happened to this Trump challenger? His […]

Marc YachtNovember 18, 2015

Being a strong imperial power offers no guarantee of continued existence. Ask any Mayan whose empire survived 3,500 years. They sit alongside the Roman, British, Spanish and Mongol empires. The French faced the revolution with Madame Defarge knitting while the People’s Court sentenced French nobility to death. One cannot ignore the Russian revolution and the […]

Marc YachtSeptember 28, 2015

The welfare system is crashing, healthcare is broken and the politicians are paralyzed by personal attacks and inaction. Roads, bridges, municipal sewer, water systems, and electrical power capacity need attention. Urban areas are starved for high capacity speed transit and operating transportation systems are in dire need of upgrade and repair. Public schools are underfunded […]

Marc YachtAugust 26, 2015

Poverty’s narrow definition relates to income and consumption but a much broader meaning is necessary to understand America’s poor. Federal guidelines qualify individuals and families by addressing income, but don’t provide an accurate depiction of needy families and their living conditions. The better understanding of the poor must look beyond income and at the larger […]

Marc YachtAugust 24, 2015

A recent Gallup Poll asked Americans what they thought to be the most pressing challenges facing the nation. The concerns were divided into economic and non-economic issues. It would behoove the current presidential aspirants to study the country through its citizens’ eyes rather than standard party politics. It’s clear the average Joe and Jane have […]

Guest AuthorJuly 22, 2015

When I first began my teaching career it was in an inner city school where extreme poverty permeated nearly every child’s life. It hung in the air outside the chain-link fence surrounding the school like an oppressive fog, waiting to engulf my students as soon as the school day ended. Knowing what they were headed toward […]

Julie DelegalJune 15, 2015

State Rep. Mia Jones tried. In the spirit of compromise, the Democrat from Jacksonville moved right to embrace the health care-expansion plan backed by the Florida Senate: the Florida Healthcare Affordability Insurance Exchange, aka FHIX. Jones told The Jacksonville Times-Union that she had set aside her doubts about the plan and would “stand on the […]

Guest AuthorJune 2, 2015

Darian Davis spent five years in prison for selling drugs. While incarcerated, his son was born as his wife waited for his release. Days after he stepped beyond the barbed-wire fencing, now three years ago, a man known in his neighborhood as “Frog” got busy landing work. Darian worked his first job from 7:30 am […]

Tag: poverty

Anti-poverty lobbyist skeptical as 2017 legislative session opens in Tallahassee

Lawmakers hosting Farm Share events as summer sets in for Florida’s needy

Marc Yacht: Ben Carson is fading because he's not qualified to be president

Dr. Marc J. Yacht: The mighty always have fallen. Always.

Dr. Marc J. Yacht: Profiteering, rigid ideologies undermining U.S.

Dr. Marc J. Yacht: Our country’s shameful legacy of poverty

Dr. Marc Yacht: It’s time that politicians listen

Andy Ford: Free public schools to help break shackles of poverty

Julie Delegal: Health care defeated by politics of personal resentment

Dale Brill: Help 45 percent of Floridians living on the economic edge take up the slack