~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Palm Beach Gardens to Consider Domestic Partner Benefits
Press Release
Rand Hoch
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council
www.pbchrc.org
Sept 17, 2006
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL-Palm Beach Gardens Vice Mayor Jody Barnett is askingthe city to offer employees with domestic partners the same family benefitscurrently enjoyed by married city employees. These include, medical anddental insurance, life insurance, accidental death insurance, disabilitybenefits, accrued illness leave, family medical leave, and an employeeassistance program.
"Palm Beach Gardens is a progressive community, recognizing diverse familialrelationships," Vice Mayor Barnett said. "One way to ensure that all personsare treated fairly and equitably is to provide all city employees and theirfamilies the same benefits."
Barnett, who will formally raise the issue at the September 20th CityCouncil meeting, is working closely with the Palm Beach County Human RightsCouncil, a nonprofit organization which has been successful in encouragingpublic employers throughout the county to offer domestic partner benefits.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15551904.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
TEACHER SALARIES
Broward, other school districts appeal funding-formula ruling
TALLAHASSEE - (AP) -- Five Florida school districts, including those inBroward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, asked a three-judge appellatepanel Monday for a new trial in a lawsuit that challenged the state'sfunding formula, which has cost them millions of dollars.
The 2004 Legislature replaced a provision that had given extra dollars toschool districts with high living costs based on consumer prices, includinghousing. The new formula is based on a survey of local wages.
''They are not apples and oranges. They are apples and bread,'' saidTheodore Doran, a lawyer representing Volusia and Monroe counties.
The change was based on the idea that teachers are willing to work for lessin places with beaches and other amenities than in rural areas and otherless glamorous locales.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/17/news_pf/Columns/After_Bush__a_breath.shtml
After Bush, a breath
After eight exhausting years, it's comforting to think that Florida's nextgovernor is not likely to drive the state toward an ideological extreme.
By PHILIP GAILEY, Times Editor of Editorials
Published September 17, 2006
The Jeb Bush era in Florida - or was it a revolution? - is coming to an endafter eight exhausting and contentious years. He came to office with a thinskin, a hard head and a bold agenda. He always seemed to be in a hurry. Hewas criticized for trying to do too much, too quickly. For better or worse,he has put his imprint on everything from education to the judiciary, fromtaxes to affirmative action.
It has been quite a ride, and I suspect even some Florida Republicanswouldn't mind a rest stop. I'm hoping the next governor, either RepublicanCharlie Crist or Democrat Jim Davis, will be a becalming influence inTallahassee. No bold agendas for a while. As one who is suffering from Bushfatigue, it's okay by me if his successor dares to be a little boring aslong as he tends to important business. Neither Crist nor Davis, both men ofmodest vision, is likely to go on a reform binge or start another culturewar. The new state chief executive will have his hands full dealing with thestate's property insurance crisis.
=
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/19/m14a_westpalmtaxes_edit_0919.html
Political tax-dodging
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
All Florida taxpayers have to cast a skeptical eye on the budget numbersthey receive during this period of explosive real-estate growth. A skepticalear comes in handy, too.
For example, West Palm Beach City Commissioner Bill Moss has been boastingto constituents that the city has "lowered the millage rate almost everyyear" since he's been on the commission. What has that been worth? Next tonothing, since property values have soared, and the millage cutsCommissioner Moss touts have been minuscule.
For the budget year that begins Oct. 1, as it does for all cities andcounties, West Palm Beach intends to roll back its tax rate by 5 cents forevery $1,000 of assessed value. That won't reduce the actual taxes residentswill pay. West Palm collected about $69 million in property taxes last year,and will collect about $90 million next year, an increase of 28 percent.Does Commissioner Moss really think this is tax relief?
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/19/news_pf/State/Teachers_union_decrie.shtml
Teachers union decries performance pay rules
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 19, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Education Association is challenging stateguidelines for developing local teacher performance pay plans because theywere written without going through required rulemaking procedures, officialsof the statewide teachers union said Monday.
The union contends that the Florida Education Department has cut teachersout of the guideline-writing process for the new program dubbed SpecialTeachers are Rewarded, or STAR. The challenge is aimed at invalidatingseveral interpretations of the plan the department has made.
Union president Andy Ford said his group doesn't oppose the concept ofperformance pay, which gives more money to those teachers deemed to be doinga better job than their peers. It is premature, though, until all Floridateachers can be paid a salary at or above the national average, Ford said.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15552202.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
GOVERNOR'S RACE
Davis courts labor's clout
Jim Davis turned to the state's biggest union for help in getting himelected governor, while rival Charlie Crist reached across party lines.
BY PHIL LONG AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
TAMPA - Democrat Jim Davis pitched his campaign Monday to a pivotal audiencethat until now has sat on the sidelines of the governor's race: the Florida AFL-CIO.
The state's biggest union declined to back a candidate during the primaryseason, but if the rank and file had a favorite, it would have been Davis'rival Rod Smith. The state senator and former labor lawyer picked up moreendorsements than Davis from local affiliates, including the unionsrepresenting Miami-Dade and Broward teachers.
Now that Davis is the nominee, he is trying to mobilize the union'shalf-million members behind him.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/19/news_pf/State/Crist__Davis_exhibit_.shtml
Crist, Davis exhibit differing styles
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 19, 2006
ORLANDO - Charlie Crist and Jim Davis have a similar message.
Both candidates for governor say they want to do something about risingproperty taxes and homeowners insurance rates.
Both also say that leading the state should be about people, and notpoliticians.
But as both campaigned Monday, Republican nominee Crist was talkingspecifics on those issues, and also making good on his promise to listen tovoters.
Crist outlined plans to control rising insurance rates and talked about hisideas to lower property taxes. Democratic nominee Davis declined to discussthe specifics of his plans before going into a private meeting with unionofficials.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/19/news_pf/State/Crist_s_No_2_defends_.shtml
Crist's No. 2 defends flag role
Jeff Kottkamp says the bill he sponsored was about preserving monuments, not flying the Confederate flag.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published September 19, 2006
JACKSONVILLE -- In the race for governor, Republican Charlie Crist hascriticized Democrat Jim Davis' belated apology for a 1990 vote as a statelegislator to deny compensation to two wrongly convicted black men.
But Crist's new running mate, state Rep. Jeff Kottkamp, R-Cape Coral, wasforced to do some explaining of his own Monday in his first full day ofcampaign appearances as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
As a freshman House member in 2001, Kottkamp was one of dozens of lawmakerswho co-sponsored a racially charged proposal to keep the Confederate flagflying at the state Capitol in Tallahassee.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15552257.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Before execution, be absolutely sure
OUR OPINION: FLORIDA SHOULD REPAIR FLAWED DEATH-PENALTY SYSTEM
Just as doctors take every precaution not to cause a wrongful death, so,too, should the state of Florida take every precaution not to execute aninnocent person. To Florida's shame, though, the state is doing much lessthan it should be doing to prevent an innocent person from being wrongfullyexecuted. The governor and state Legislature have the ability to change lawsand tighten procedures to make it less likely that the wrong person will bekilled by the state -- and they should do so promptly.
22 have been spared
State officials already know that Florida leads the nation in the number ofexonerations of Death Row inmates. Since 1973, at least 22 inmates set to beexecuted have been spared, primarily based on their claims -- affirmed byappellate courts -- that they were innocent or wrongfully convicted. Duringthis same period Florida executed 60 persons.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/19/news_pf/State/Execution_nears_as_is.shtml
Execution nears as issue remains
Some say Clarence Hill was denied a right the Supreme Court granted him tofight lethal injection.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
Published September 19, 2006
Eight months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court stunned legal scholars by delayingthe execution of Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill with just minutes tospare.
The court ruled that Hill should be able to challenge his execution througha civil rights lawsuit, a move that some scholars believed would tie upexecutions for months or years.
But lower courts quickly dismissed Hill's claims that lethal injectionamounted to cruel and unusual punishment, prompting Gov. Jeb Bush toreschedule Hill's execution for Wednesday evening.
=
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/09/19/s1b_JUVENILE_0919.html
Report rips mental health care at juvenile center
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH - A girl locked in Palm Beach County's juvenile detentioncenter asked to see a therapist on the anniversary of her mother's death,but said she never heard back.
A boy at the center was recommended for substance abuse treatment, but ninemonths later, reviewers could find no evidence he ever got it.
And other teens did not get medication they were supposed to be taking formental health problems because workers failed to follow up with theirparents or doctors, according to a report from attorneys at the Legal AidSociety's Juvenile Advocacy Project.
Mental health treatment for teens at the center on 45th Street in West PalmBeach is sporadic and limited, the attorneys said, in part because a privatecompany has not met the terms of its contract.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chome19sep19,0,2844906.story?track=rss
State closes 10 group homes for mentally disabled after 4 'unexpected' deaths
By Bill Hirschman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 19, 2006
State officials shut down a network of 10 southern Florida group homesserving mentally disabled clients following the "unexpected deaths" of fourpeople in eight months.
The state Agency for Persons with Disabilities also cited filthy conditionsand poor record-keeping for ending its contract with Professional GroupHomes Inc., which operates one home in Plantation, five in Miami and four inLehigh Acres near Fort Myers, agency spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges said.
The firm provided housing and intensive services to as many as 40 adults andolder teenagers with disabilities, including retardation and schizophrenia.
=
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/18/a12a_minorityaccess_edit_0918.html
Raise black enrollmentby dropping One Florida
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Monday, September 18, 2006
Whether it's the growing lack of affordability or the failure of his One Florida Initiative, Gov. Bush is leaving lots of higher-education problems to his successor.
A year ago, after African-American freshman enrollment in the 11-member university system had fallen from 17.6 percent to 14.1 percent statewide over five years, Gov. Bush did a photo op with students at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, the state's only historically black college, and promised to do better. FAMU happens to be where massive protests greeted approval of his 2000 One Florida plan, which eliminated affirmative action as an admissions tool. The action, which the governor took to keep off the ballot a vote on affirmative action that could have hurt his brother, also applied to minorities in terms of state contracts.
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MANY MUSICIANS - ONE VISION - FREE CONCERT
Musicians and Singers will be joining together in a free Peace Concert inthe Religious Science Center Auditorium on September 21, at 7:30pm. Sharinga vision of unity and forgiveness, the concert will be a celebration of whatunites us as individuals into a global community.
Artists for the free Peace Concert include: Ellen Bukstel, Shawna Sweeney,Maryel Epps, Katy Peterson, Michael Hulett, SF Mahee, Lin D'Andrea, andMichael McCain. Genres will include jazz, folk, gospel, and pop allfocusing on global unity and forgiveness.
Each artist will be performing gratis at this event, giving of their timeand talent to celebrate all that unites us across our local and globalcommunities. Many will have CDs available for sale following the concert.
"Regardless of labels we employ to segregate us, music is a universallanguage capable of uniting our hearts with one voice," said Rev. Donna L.Conley, the organizer of the events. "Each artist will bring their uniquestyle but share a common passion: Peace."
The Religious Science Center for Spiritual Living is joining hearts withchurches and organizations across the world to celebrate 11 Days of GlobalUnity & a Season of Forgiveness. Peace meditations will be held daily in theReligious Science Center at noon and 7:30 pm offering a place of reflectionand restoration on individual, community and global levels. Everyone iswelcome regardless of religion, race, sexual orientation, or genderidentity.
WHO: Religious Science Center for Spiritual Living
WHAT: Peace Concert
WHEN: September 21, 2006 at 7:30 pm
COST: Free
WHERE: 1550 NE 26th Street; Wilton Manors; 954-566-2868
Dr. Arleen Bump & Dr. Charles Geddes, Co-Pastors
PRESS CONTACT: Katy Peterson; kpeterson@rsiftl.com
WEB RESOURCES: www.RSIFTL.com, www.agnt.org
954-822-0109 mobile
=
CONFERENCE DETAILS, REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT at
WWW.SunServe.Org/conferences.html
3rd Annual Mini-Conference
for Mental Health Professionals
Valuing Our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgender Families
November 10, 2006
This annual mini-conference helps mental health professionals sharpen theirskills in serving their lesbian and gay clients, with special focus onemerging alternative families. The sessions are both didactic andexperiential. Participants will gain practical insights and leave with toolsand resources to enhance their service to this community.
Seven workshops on various topics
..Featuring: "Caring for gender variant young children and their families"with Catherine Tuerk, RN, CS, from the Children's National Medical Center inWashington, DC. NOT TO BE MISSED, especially by school counselors, family therapists and others who work with young children and their families!
Also..
#####
