When ancient fossils of creatures that live on the ocean floor have been found in rock formations at the summit of Mount Everest, that ought to give us a clue that big changes in the earth are nothing new, and that huge changes have been going on long before human beings appeared on the scene.
As Democrats, after a Sunday rally on the Capitol grounds, marched to the House hand-in-hand to vote health care reform, Tea Partiers reportedly shouted the "n-word" at John Lewis and another black congressman. A third was allegedly spat upon. And Barney Frank was called a nasty name.
As politicians scramble to raise as much as they can before the March 31 quarterly deadline, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson took things to a new level Saturday
in a money-bomb event. Buoyed by the support of nationally known progressives, including former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, U.S. Rep.
Attorney General Bill McCollum's lawsuit against the federal government's newly enacted health-care program has drawn political fire as a costly quixotic venture.
State Sen. Dan Gelber, who is running for McCollum's job, calls the litigation "frivolous" and "destructive to the office."
Gelber, a lawyer from Delray Beach, said he would not have brought the suit, and joins fellow Democrats from around the state in slighting its prospects for success.
Florida didn't make it in phase one of the Race to the Top program and now organizations with a stake in the issue are playing the blame game.
The Florida Education Association says the Department of Education shut them out of the process.
"State DOE ignored the counsel of all the unions who were trying to help," said Mark Pudlow, an FEA spokesperson.
Small business owners planning to create cancer treatment products or new solar panel technology in Florida might be able to look forward to as much as $250,000 from the state to match federal grants.
A popular, $193 million economic development bill that passed the Florida Senate on Thursday, along with a smaller House bill that has yet to reach the floor, would create state matching funds for two federal programs that aid businesses venturing into the highly competitive research sector.
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 29, 2010....With money tight, lawmakers are looking at changing the way the number of hours of mandatory daily care for nursing home patients is counted, reducing the number of required hours of care by certified nursing assistants, and having registered nurses pick up some of that care.
With the legislative session reaching its midpoint, House Democrats have filled out progress reports for how things are going.
So far, not so good, said Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, the Democratic Caucus Policy Chair.
Fitzgerald and incoming House minority leader Ron Saunders, D-Key West, held a news conference Monday and gave House Republicans straight F grades on restoring public trust, improving education, helping small businesses and pushing the interests of Floridians.
