FLORIDA DIGEST October 10, 2007

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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest10102nboct10,0,3532382,print.story

Wilton Manors: Transgender identity tentatively added to policy

October 10, 2007

Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to add gender expression andgender identity to the city's nondiscrimination policy.

Commissioners will make a final decision on the ordinance at the Oct. 16meeting.

The policy already protects municipal employees based on race, color,religion, sex, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, sexualorientation or medical condition.

Commissioner Joe Angelo proposed the change to protect current and futuremunicipal employees, following Oakland Park's decision to do the same lastmonth.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation defines transgender peopleas those who feel an innate sense of gender other than their birth sex. Thisincludes transsexuals, cross-dressers and people who simply feel theirbiological sex fails to reflect their true gender.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpbusradio1010pnoct10,0,270612,print.story

Palm Beach County schools consider bus radios with 'age-appropriate' music

By Marc Freeman
October 10, 2007

Look out, local disc jockeys. Palm Beach County school officials are readyto throw you under the bus.

To seize control of radio broadcasts on school buses, the School Board todaywill consider accepting a free trial of a national radio show from suburbanBoston called Bus Radio - programming under attack by some consumeradvocates.

In a limited roll-out this fall, 200 of the school district's 645 buseswould be equipped with new radios that play pre-programmed, Top 40 songswith "age-appropriate content," public safety messages and commercials,administrators say. These devices, which also have AM/FM tuners, wouldreplace radios on the buses that drivers now use at their discretion.

Driver Angela Burgess predicts students will tune out the new sound.

"The kids will listen to their own CDs, iPods and radios," said Burgess, whodrives routes in north county. "They like their own types of music."

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MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/v-print/story/266138.html

Crist to begin meeting with Broward sheriff candidates

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007
By WANDA DEMARZO

Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday will begin the process of selecting an interimsheriff who will head the Broward Sheriff's Office -- one of the largestsheriff's agencies in the nation, with 6,300 employees and a $700 millionbudget.

Crist has scheduled interviews with nine candidates who want to serve in aninterim capacity, until the general election in November 2008.

So far, 17 people have applied for the post since former Sheriff Ken Jenneresigned amid corruption charges in September. Crist tapped a longtime BSOveteran, Al Lamberti, to head the agency until the governor finds an interimchief.

Of the 17 candidates, two have formally filed to run for the post next year.Several others, including Lamberti, have said they want to run but have notfiled the paperwork.

The governor's office has said there is no deadline to apply for the interimjob.

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MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/v-print/story/266440.html

Sex orientation clubs banned in schools

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007

(AP) -- The Okeechobee County School Board decided Tuesday that clubs basedon sexual orientation are not allowed.

Schools Superintendent Patricia Cooper recommended the change to strengthenthe district's existing policy. Cooper wrote in a memo that the change would``assure that student clubs and organizations do not interfere with theSchool Board's abstinence only sex education policy.''

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the district lastyear over whether the student Gay-Straight Alliance should be allowed tomeet at Okeechobee High School. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of YasminGonzalez, who graduated last year.

A judge ruled earlier this year the club should be allowed to meet until thelawsuit is settled. The case is expected to be heard in March.

Because of the judge's ruling, the Gay-Straight Alliance still will beallowed to meet at the school, Assistant Superintendent Ken Kenworthy said.But the rule change will prevent future clubs from meeting at the school.

A message left for the ACLU after hours Tuesday was not immediatelyreturned.



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MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/v-print/story/266196.html

Boot camp guards describe disciplining of teen

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007
BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH

A former Bay County boot camp drill instructor had a simple answer whenasked Tuesday if he wished he had done anything different to a teenageinmate who died after being beaten at the camp.

''Everything,'' said Patrick Garrett, almost inaudibly, choking back tears.

''After the fact, after all this, obviously you would wish that we wouldhave done something differently to let him recover,'' said Garrett, an Armyveteran.

Garrett's testimony was part of an emotional day in the trial of sevenformer boot camp guards and a nurse accused of letting 14-year-old MartinLee Anderson die last year.

The guards were videotaped hitting and kicking the teen for almost 30minutes, as the nurse looked on, before they called an ambulance.

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MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/v-print/story/266194.html

Crist pushes scaled-down property tax plan

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND MARC CAPUTO

With three weeks to go before a property-tax referendum would be dead for ayear, Gov. Charlie Crist pushed legislators hard Tuesday to embrace ascaled-down plan he says will revive the real estate market -- but thatwould save the average homeowner less than $250 a year.

The key differences between Crist's proposal and the one a judge threw offthe Jan. 29 ballot: It protects the Save Our Homes tax cap, provides''portability'' to allow homeowners to transfer tax savings to a new home,boasts a number of pro-business savings and doesn't take money from schools.

The governor and legislators have until Oct. 31 to come up with a plan toreplace the invalidated property-tax amendment. Otherwise, a vote is likelyto wait until November 2008. With time running out and agreement hard toreach, Crist has increased the pressure -- and lowered expectations.

On Tuesday, Crist suggested extending lawmakers' special session intoovertime this week to vote out his plan, even though the estimated $6.3billion in tax savings over five years falls short of his promise to maketaxes ``drop like a rock.''

The relatively low savings concerns many of Crist's fellow Republicans, whowant big numbers to tout when they run for reelection.

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St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/10/State/Dean_to_Florida__No_h.shtml

Dean to Florida: No hard feelings

The Democratic chairman downplays the state's loss of national delegates.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO, Times Staff Writer
Published October 10, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - On his first public trip back to the Sunshine State sinceFlorida Democrats got punished for scheduling an early primary, DemocraticNational Committee chairman Howard Dean tried to strike a conciliatory noteon Tuesday.

He called the recent upheaval that is poised to make the Florida Democraticprimary meaningless a "spat between politicians."

"Do I wish this fight weren't happening? Yes," said Dean, who had drivenfrom Jacksonville to Tallahassee for a $100-per-person fundraiser. "At theend of the day, I think Iraq, health care, education and ethics matter farmore than a fight between politicians."

The DNC allows only four states - Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and SouthCarolina - to schedule primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5.

As Florida Democrats continue to refuse to change or move their Jan. 29primary set by the Legislature this year, the DNC, following Dean'sleadership, has promised to yank the state's 210 delegates from the nationalconvention.

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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/266138.html

Crist to begin meeting with Broward sheriff candidates

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007
By WANDA DEMARZO

Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday will begin the process of selecting an interimsheriff who will head the Broward Sheriff's Office -- one of the largestsheriff's agencies in the nation, with 6,300 employees and a $700 millionbudget.

Crist has scheduled interviews with nine candidates who want to serve in aninterim capacity, until the general election in November 2008.

So far, 17 people have applied for the post since former Sheriff Ken Jenneresigned amid corruption charges in September. Crist tapped a longtime BSOveteran, Al Lamberti, to head the agency until the governor finds an interimchief.

Of the 17 candidates, two have formally filed to run for the post next year.Several others, including Lamberti, have said they want to run but have notfiled the paperwork.

The governor's office has said there is no deadline to apply for the interimjob.

more . . . . .



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The Palm Beach Post

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/10/10/a11a_XGR_PROPTAX_1010.html

Crist pushing on property taxes

By S.V. DÁTE
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday continued pushing forlegislative action on property taxes as early as this weekend, with a goalof replacing the "super" exemption proposal crafted during the June propertytax special session.

"I think the people like Save Our Homes and they're my boss and I'm going tolisten to them," Crist said of the new, still-unsettled proposal that wouldprobably double the $25,000 homestead exemption and let homeowners take someof their built-up Save Our Homes benefit with them when they move. "And whatI have also learned, after the members went home after the June specialsession, they heard from the boss, too. If that's what the people want, weought to give it to them."

The June proposal, which a Leon County circuit judge tossed from the ballotfor being "misleading," would have phased out the 3 percent assessment capover the years and replaced it with an exemption as large as $195,000.

"I think it's pretty obvious that the things we've picked are very popular,"said Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, the architect of the superexemption.

Webster, R-Winter Garden, said he still believes it is good public policy,if perhaps difficult to sell to voters.

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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/360/story/266268.html

Study examines public, private schools

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD

Low-income students who attend urban public high schools generally do justas well as private-school students with similar backgrounds, according to astudy being released Wednesday.

Students at independent private schools and most parochial schools scoredthe same on 12th-grade achievement tests in core academic subjects as thosein traditional public high schools when income and other familycharacteristics were taken into account, according to the study by thenonpartisan Center on Education Policy.

While the finding is in line with a handful of recent studies, it's at oddswith a larger body of research over the years that has found private-schoolstudents outperform those in public schools. Some of that research found aprivate-school advantage even when income levels are taken into account.

However, the new study not only compared students by income levels but alsolooked at a range of other family characteristics, such as whether a parentparticipates in school life.

"When these were taken into account, the private-school advantage wentaway," the report states.

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