FLORIDA DIGEST January 11, 2007

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


=

The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431642.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007

TALLAHASSEE
Crist rejects all of Bush's picks
Saying the state needs 'new blood,' Gov. Charlie Crist pulled all of JebBush's nominees for state boards.
By MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com



TALLAHASSEE - In an act of far-reaching political independence, Gov. CharlieCrist on Wednesday canceled the nominations of 283 people former Gov. JebBush tapped to sit on numerous state boards and commissions that regulateeverything from the environment to telephone bills.

''It's time for a fresh new start,'' said Crist, who campaigned last fall asboth a steward of Bush's legacy and as the consumer-oriented ``people'sgovernor.''

First up for Crist: The powerful Public Service Commission, which regulatestelephone and electric companies. Crist said he would name his PSC pickstoday.




=

Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/highered/sfl-cdonation11jan11,0,5001901,print.story?coll=sfla-education-highered

Donation to FAU a record $16 million

By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 11, 2007



BOCA RATON ? Florida Atlantic University received its largest donation ever,and one of the biggest for a state public university, after insurancemagnate Barry Kaye pledged $16 million to enhance the College of Business.

The college will be renamed the Barry Kaye College of Business in honor ofthe Boca Raton businessman.

Kaye and his wife, Carole, agreed in 2005 to donate $5 million but increasedit $11 million. The donation will be paid in installments over the next fiveyears, FAU officials said. "I just saw all the great things they've beendoing in the past year," Barry Kaye said. "And when they said they wanted toname the college after me, they won me over."



=

From Paul Harris, Publisher
The Independent Gay News
http://www.indynews.4t.com/


Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 2:34 PM

Subject: List of People of the Year Award Winners

Person of the Year
Father Bill Collins (Founder of Poverello which this year celebrates its
20th anniversary)

Unsung Heroes
Jack Cole (Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus)
Ray Rideout and Michael Cooper (Ray's List)

Contribution to the Sporting Community
John Grzeszczak (Hammerheads)

Special Award
The Gateway Cinema on Sunrise Blvd.

Straight Ally of the Year Award
Ms Vicky Keller

Lifetime Achievement Award
Gary Keating (contribution to the Gay Choral Movement)

Community Awards
Toni Barone (lately of "Elements")
Church of the Holy SpiritSong


=


Florida Safe Schools Summit
January 20, 2007

9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Mast Academy
3979 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida
mast.dade.k12.fl.us

FROM EQUALITY FLORIDA -- PLEASE JOIN US!

Dear Florida Safe Schools Coalition Allies,

This is our year. This is the year when Florida will finally pass a safeschools law to address the harassment and bullying students face in ourschools.

How strong and effective that law is depends on us.

We need YOU:

Agency leaders
Concerned citizens

Leading safe schools advocates from across Florida

Parents
Political champions
School board members
Student organizers

EVERYONE CONCERNED WITH CREATING SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR OURCHILDREN

This is a strategy summit, and we'll need all of our best minds acrossFlorida to build a winning plan.

YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL.

After seven years of work, we are so close to victory for our students.Please RSVP to let us know you are attending.

For more information contact Mallory Wells - 407-617-6682 / Mallory@eqfl.org



=

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Million-Dollar-Trailers.html?pagewanted=print


January 10, 2007
Fla. Trailer Park OKs Megabucks Sellout
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:56 p.m. ET



BRINY BREEZES, Fla. (AP) -- Residents of this trailer-park town sitting onbeachfront property have voted overwhelmingly to sell their community to adeveloper for more than $510 million, which could make most of themmillionaires.

Some residents bought their homes for as little as $35,000.

The contract isn't official -- and residents don't get any money -- until2009. If the sale goes through, nearly every owner will get more than $1million.

About 80 percent of the town's shareholders who cast ballots approved thesale, while 17 percent opposed it, according to a statement Wednesday fromthe town's corporate office. More than 97 percent of shareholders voted.



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001340_pf.html


Ex-lawmaker Foley had $1.75 mln in coffer

By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 2:44 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Foley, who resigned his seat in the U.S.Congress after a scandal involving inappropriate e-mails to interns, hadalmost $1.75 million left in his campaign coffers, according to his latestdisclosure report made public on Wednesday.

The Florida Republican, who was in his sixth term, stepped down September 29after ABC News reported that he had sent some sexually explicit messages toformer teenage male interns, known as congressional pages.

Foley could use the money to set up a legal defense fund, give it to otherpolitical campaigns, donate it to charity or return the contributions,according to Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a campaignwatchdog group.



=

Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zmoving11jan11,0,2754098,print.story?coll=sfla-business-front


Florida exodus? Statistics show residents starting to leave for less costlylocales

By Paul Owers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 11, 2007

For the first time in 30 years, United Van Lines Inc. says it moved morepeople out of Florida than in, and analysts see that as a sign thatconsumers are looking elsewhere for a cheaper slice of life.


The nation's largest moving company reported 16,212 inbound shipments toFlorida last year and 17,019 outbound shipments. United moved more people toFlorida in each year from 1999 to 2004, but the number of inbound moves fellin 2005, spokeswoman Jennifer Bonham said.


The study isn't scientific, but it does underscore a recent trend in whichfed-up Floridians are moving to other parts of the country, in part toescape rising property taxes and insurance rates.



=

Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdmanateesjan11,0,4444313.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial


Wildlife

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board


January 11, 2007

ISSUE: Manatees death toll highest in a decade.

"Threatened" or "endangered"? You be the judge. And should there even bemuch of a difference?

The number of manatees killed in Florida waters last year was the highestsince 1996, when state records listed 415 manatee deaths. Floridians shouldtake note, however, that the carnage in 2006 occurred in the same year thestate downgraded the marine mammal's protected status to "threatened" from"endangered."

In all, some 416 manatees died last year, up from 396 in 2005. The Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission report on the manatee deaths saidscientists could not pinpoint an exact reason why so many of the marinemammals were found dead last year.



=

The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16431653.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007

MIAMI-DADE COMMISSION
County commissioners defend private meeting
Some county commissioners met privately Tuesday, but said it was OK becausethey discussed politics, not county business.
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com



Despite a warning from the Miami-Dade county attorney, six countycommissioners met in the office of Chairman Bruno Barreiro just before noonTuesday to organize a plan to fight the strong mayor initiative, they said.

The issue of meeting in private originally came up during an early Decembercommission meeting in which board members discussed ways to fight the Jan.23 vote that, if passed, would increase the powers of Mayor Carlos Alvarez.

County Attorney Murray Greenberg warned: ``My job is to try to protect you,and sometimes it's protecting you from yourselves. The issues that will comeup -- as sure as I am short, bald and wear bifocals -- are issues that willcome back before this board.''



=

The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431644.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007

TALLAHASSEE
Mentally ill inmates to get help
Florida will spend millions to move mentally ill inmates from county jailsto psychiatric hospitals for treatment.
BY GARY FINEOUT AND SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com



TALLAHASSEE - Florida lawmakers agreed Wednesday to spend nearly $17 millionto move hundreds of mentally ill inmates now languishing in county jailsinto psychiatric hospital beds.

Legislators approved the emergency spending request after a Pinellas Countyjudge had threatened to jail the former head of the Department of Children &Families for ignoring a law that requires that jail inmates ruledincompetent to stand trial be removed from jail and given treatment.

''The judges in the state are frustrated, as you are, and they've taken someactions to get our attention and they obviously have,'' said BobButterworth, the new DCF secretary. Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him toreplace Lucy Hadi, whom a judge threatened to jail last November.



[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]

#####