FLORIDA DIGEST January 02, 2007

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To: Ray's List Subscribers

For the past 2 days QueerNet has been "stopped" by Yahoo. As you may know, our Ray's List mailings use QueerNet and have been sporadic at best.

Yahoo and AOL's antics are not only a great inconvenience to groups like ours, they threaten the freedom and security of the internet. These two "giants" are attempting to extract extra fees for their services from "senders." They like to frame the discussion that this is about "security for their subscribers." But, it is a blatant attempt to control the internet to their advantage.

Those of us who care about the free internet must stop supporting AOL and Yahoo!

Best to you in 2007!

Ray and Michael
Ray's List




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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fcristbox02jan02,0,6613762.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

Crist's Must-do List

Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau

January 2, 2007


A sampling of what the new governor faces:


INSURANCE


Having campaigned to bring down the high cost of homeowner insurance,Charlie Crist must oversee a special session of Florida's Legislature oninsurance starting Jan. 16. He has yet to reach agreement with legislatorson what to do.


PROPERTY TAX REDUCTIONS

Crist has proposed doubling the homestead exemption to $50,000 and allowingFloridians to keep paying their property taxes at the old rate if they moveto a new, pricier home.


CAPITAL PUNISHMENT



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The Miami

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16364160.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Tue, Jan. 02, 2007


Crist to be sworn in as 44th governor as popular Bush departs

BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press



TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Charlie Crist was to become Florida's 44th governorTuesday, keeping the state in Republican control for at least four moreyears as he takes over from Jeb Bush.

A swearing-in ceremony was set for late morning, followed by Crist'sinaugural address, in front of the Old Capitol building.

Crist's brief marriage ended in divorce in 1979, so he is the first bachelorto be sworn in since Claude Kirk in 1966. He planned to have other relativeswith him at his inauguration. Fred Lewis, the Florida Supreme Court's chiefjustice, was expected to administer the oath of office to Crist, and toincoming Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp.

At a morning prayer breakfast on the Florida A&M University campus, Cristthanked his parents, former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack - his political mentor -and asked a crowd of an estimated 1,200 for their trust.



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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pckennedy01jan01,0,2102051.story

Prayers pour in for the Rev. Kennedy after heart attack

By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted January 1 2007


Worshipers at Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church offered prayers Sunday for the recovery of the Rev. D. James Kennedy, the church's charismatic leader.

Kennedy, 76, an icon of the Christian conservative movement, was rushed to a hospital Thursday night after suffering a heart attack. His condition, initially seen as grave, has been improving, church leaders told the congregation.

"The doctors are amazed," said Mary Anne Bunker, Kennedy's longtime assistant, after the 11:15 a.m. service. "It's the power of prayer."

With 10,000 church members and millions of people in almost 200 nations tuning in to his TV and radio broadcasts, Kennedy no doubt has a large group praying for his recovery.



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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fcristbioboxjan02,0,5938979.story?coll=sfla-news-floridaThefacts


The facts about Gov. Charlie Crist

Posted January 2 2007


Party: Republican

Age: 50. Born July 24, 1956, in Altoona, Pa. Moved to St. Petersburgin 1960.

Personal: Divorced, no children. He is the second of four children.

Education: Attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina. AwardedB.A. at Florida State University, 1978. Awarded J.D. at Cumberland School ofLaw, Birmingham, Ala., 1981.

Professional highlights: Attorney for the minor league division of theBaseball Commissioner's Office. State director in the office of U.S. Sen.Connie Mack. Practiced law with the Tampa firm of Wood and Crist.

Political history: Elected to the Florida Senate in 1992. Appointeddeputy secretary of the state Department of Business and ProfessionalRegulation in 1999. Elected commissioner of education in 2000 and attorneygeneral in 2002. Elected governor Nov. 7, defeating the Democraticcandidate, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis.



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The Ledger

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070101&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=701010351&SectionCat=&Template=printart


Published Monday, January 1, 2007
Monday, January 1, 2007

Crist Puts Personal Over the Political

By Joe Follick
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau


CHARLIE CRIST
Born: July 24, 1956, Altoona, Pa.

Education: Attended Wake Forest University; Florida State University,
bachelor's degree in government; Cumberland School of Law, J.D. 1981.

Family: Divorced in 1980.

Public office: Elected Florida attorney general in 2002. Previously servedas state education commissioner, 2000-02, director of Florida Department ofBusiness and Professional Regulation, 1998-2000; state Senate, 1992-98.

Other: Former quarterback for St. Petersburg High. Only work outside ofpublic office occurred in 1980s when he was general counsel for minor leaguedivision of the Baseball Commissioner's Office and short-time employee ofprivate law with his brother-in-law in Tampa.




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The Florida Times-Union Jacksonville

http://cgi.jacksonville.com/cgi-bin/printit.cgi?story=ZZNOSTORYZZ


January 2, 2007

Special legislative session aims to soothe state's insurance woes

By J. TAYLOR RUSHING
Capital Bureau Chief

TALLAHASSEE - A rude return from the holidays is waiting in Tallahassee forstate legislators, with an immediate special session to defuse climbinginsurance rates, an agency in a funding crisis, looming teacher shortagesand a new governor who has vowed to insist on a crime bill before anythingelse.

More Times-Union legislative coverage Learn more about members of the First Coast legislative delegation State budget coverage Florida health services coverage State education coverage Public safety legislation

Following Charlie Crist's inauguration today as Florida's 44th chiefexecutive, the Legislature will begin gearing up for the 2007 session.Although the Legislature won't convene until March, committees in the Houseand Senate will start meeting Jan. 9, followed by a Jan. 16 speciallegislative session Crist has called to reattempt a solution to the state'sinsurance problems.



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Gainesville.com

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070102/EDITORIALS/70101008/-1/editorials&template=printart


Article published Jan 2, 2007
Jan 1, 2007

An unfettered CFO


Alex Sink is Florida's new Chief Financial Officer. She is also the onlyDemocrat on an all-Republican state Cabinet. That gives the former bankexecutive a certain freedom of operation as the only statewide electedofficial with no ties to the previous administration.

A key part of the Jeb Bush "legacy" was his effort to privatize as manystate services as possible. Bush says he saved taxpayer dollars and improvedservices. But under his watch, one privatization scheme after another provedto be more expensive and less efficient than promised.

Sink recently told the Orlando Sentinel she intends to look "closely at theadvisability of doing so much privatizing." And so she should.




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http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/02/news_pf/State/Lawsuit_challenges_at.shtml


Lawsuit challenges attitudes on gays

The ACLU supports a push for a school gay-straight club.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 2, 2007


OKEECHOBEE - The message to gays in this rural cattle town is spokenpolitely, sometimes with a drawl, sometimes quoting the Bible, but themeaning is anything but a hospitable Southern welcome.

High school senior Yasmin Gonzalez has been hearing it a lot - from kidshanging out bus windows shouting, "Are you the one that's gay?" to theteacher who said homosexuals should die.

Gonzalez, 17, has become something of a target since November, when theAmerican Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf againstOkeechobee High School's principal and the School Board for refusing to lether establish a Gay-Straight Alliance, an afterschool club that promotestolerance.

"There's so much discrimination here," she said.



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