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School Districts Grapple With Budget Cuts

April 24, 2011 - 6:00pm

Completely virtual 7th period classes. Teacher furloughs. Layoffs of hundreds of school employees. Four-day school weeks. Fewer school buses.

Those are just a few of the options school districts across the state are mulling to close budget gaps that range from $6 million to $144 million. The budget holes are blamed in part on falling property tax revenue, the disappearance of federal stimulus dollars and proposed reductions in state funding for schools of nearly 7 percent per student.

Washington Week

Elizabeth Letchworth

April 24, 2011 - 6:00pm

Remember the famed U.S. Senate session debates that occurred over the 2009 Christmas holiday? They brought us Obamacare. These were the marathon sessions needed in the Senate in order to slug through the GOP filibuster on the presidents health care bill.

Obama Rail: Another Historic Boondoggle Rolls Down the Tracks

Submitted by Anonymous on April 24, 2011 - 11:31am

Even thinking liberals are jumping off Obama Rail. Writes Richard White in The New York Times:

"It is hard for liberals like me to find good news in the latest agreement to cut the federal budget, but there is at least one silver lining: subsidies for high-speed rail have been sharply reduced. Why is this good news? In his State of the Union address, President Obama compared high-speed rail to the 19th-century transcontinental railroads as parallel examples of American innovation. I fear he may be right.

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Swimming With Sharks: Flacks and Facts in Tallahassee

Nancy Smith

April 24, 2011 - 6:00pm

In Tallahassee, you cant throw out a line without hooking a flack. The water is black with 'em.

The state lists them in all kinds of ways as press secretaries, public information specialists, communications directors/coordinators/assistants, you name it. Titles boggle the mind. But the truth is, flacks feeding at the public trough actually outnumber legislators. They did before the new governor was sworn in, they do now.

Just Like That, SFWMD Finds Way to Cut Its Budget by 40 Percent

Submitted by Nancy Smith on April 23, 2011 - 7:26pm

Scandalized South Florida Water Management District, largest by far of the state's five water management districts, isn't waiting around for the Legislature to dictate how its $1.1 billion budget should be cut. On Friday it released a plan to slash its 2012 budget by 40 percent -- down to $639.9 million. That cut is actually 10 percent deeper than even Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander called for.

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Pastor Terry Jones Barred From Biggest U.S. Mosque for 3 Years

Submitted by Anonymous on April 23, 2011 - 9:07am

In a series of extraordinary court actions, the city of Dearborn barred pastor Terry Jones from going near America's largest mosque for three years.

Jones, who heads the Gainesville-based Dove World Outreach Center, had planned to protest outside the Islamic Center of America on Good Friday. But he instead was hauled before Dearborn 19th District Court after a gun he was carrying accidentally discharged. A jury ruled that Jones' demonstration plans could breach the peace.

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Cliff Stearns, Rick Scott Turn Up Heat on EPA

Nancy Smith

April 22, 2011 - 6:00pm

Florida continues to pile grief on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the standards it set for the Sunshine State to comply with the federal Clean Water Act.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, wrote a stinging, three-page, all-business letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, challenging her to prove -- paper trail included -- that the federal numeric nutrient rulemaking is necessary to keep Floridas lakes and flowing waters clean.

School Districts Grapple With Budget Cuts

The Death of the 'Defined Benefit'

Washington Week

Obama Rail: Another Historic Boondoggle Rolls Down the Tracks

Swimming With Sharks: Flacks and Facts in Tallahassee

Just Like That, SFWMD Finds Way to Cut Its Budget by 40 Percent

Pastor Terry Jones Barred From Biggest U.S. Mosque for 3 Years

Cliff Stearns, Rick Scott Turn Up Heat on EPA

Roundup: Two Weeks Left Plus Zero Budget Conference Equals Worry

The Kansas City Closer

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