FLORIDA DIGEST February 5, 2008

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Local10.com

http://www.local10.com/print/15216703/detail.html

Homeowners Seeing Rewards Of New Portability Law
Voters Approve Tax Savings To Move With Homeowners

POSTED: 6:26 pm EST February 4, 2008

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- Robert Wolsky showed off the home he just bought inCoral Springs. It's a big step up from the little house in Margate where heand his family lived for 13 years, but with two growing boys, he said themove was a long time coming.

"My wife and I talked about it a lot, but I always said, 'No way; do youknow what our taxes are gonna do?' " he told Local 10's Roger Lohse.

The new home would have come with a new tax bill of about $7,500, but withthe state's new portability law on the books, the taxes for the home areabout $4,500. That $3,000 savings will help Wolsky.

"It's great; now I don't have to work so many hours, working overtime jobs,"said Wolsky, a Coral Springs police officer.

Last Tuesday, voters statewide approved an amendment to the stateConstitution that allows homesteaded property owners to take their "Save OurHomes" tax savings with them if they move.

more . . . . .



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest02052sbfeb05,0,7403596,print.story

Fort Lauderdale: Registration deadline today in marriage debate

February 5, 2008

Speakers for and against banning gay marriage in Florida will conduct adebate Thursday at the Tower Club, at 100 SE Third Ave.

The breakfast event, hosted by the Tower Forum, begins at 7:15 a.m. and willinclude discussion about a proposal on the November ballot asking Floridavoters whether the state's legal ban against gay marriage should be embeddedin the state constitution.

Supporting the amendment will be Eladio Jose Armesto, a Spanish-languagemedia publisher who years ago tried to repeal Miami-Dade County's gay-rightsamendment. Opposing the amendment will be Richard Milstein, a Miami-basedattorney who focuses on family and marital law, including helping same-sexcouples.

Tickets are $25. The registration deadline is today. Call 954-584-4488.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbaudit0205sbfeb05,0,3171397,print.story

Fort Lauderdale accused of wasting $5.1 million for poor

By Brittany Wallman
February 5, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE

The city mismanaged $5.1 million in federal grants for poor residents andwill have to prove it helped impoverished families or pay the money back, acritical federal audit demands.

The audit, conducted by the U.S. Office of Inspector General, lays down thelaw on Fort Lauderdale's housing office.

The federal audit criticizes the city for using federal money to buy landthat still sits undeveloped years later. The audit also complains of sloppyrecord-keeping for federally funded community services, including streetimprovements, parks and programs for seniors.

Besides the millions the city is at risk of having to repay, the auditthreatens two redevelopment projects in northwest Fort Lauderdale.

"The city lacked effective management controls" over its CommunityDevelopment Block Grants, the audit says. Because of that gap in oversight,the city "had no assurance" that more than $5 million was spent properly.

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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flabudget0205sbfeb05,0,2311325,print.story

Bush budget seeks to increase Everglades spending
$3 trillion proposal includes a $50 million increase for restorationprojects

By WILLIAM E. GIBSON
Washington Bureau Chief
February 5, 2008

WASHINGTON

President Bush asked Congress on Monday to spend $215 million forrestoration of the Everglades next year as part of a $3 trillion budgetproposal.

The Everglades request - which would boost spending by $50 million comparedwith this year - would provide the first federal funding for constructionprojects underway at state and local expense.

It was one of relatively few growth areas in Bush's domestic budget, whichcalled for cutting $196 billion over five years from the projected growth ofMedicare and Medicaid and $330 million from the Environmental ProtectionAgency.

The president proposed spending $588 billion on defense next year, including$70 billion for military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president's budget is essentially a wish list that spells out hispriorities. Congress will conduct hearings and form its own budgetpriorities before providing funding.

Audubon, a national environmental advocacy group based in Washington, andother environmental advocates had recommended as much as $371 million ofEverglades spending, but they called the president's proposal a significantboost in a tight year.

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest02052sbfeb05,0,3663338.story

Fort Lauderdale: Registration deadline today in marriage debate

February 5, 2008

Speakers for and against banning gay marriage in Florida will conduct adebate Thursday at the Tower Club, at 100 SE Third Ave.

The breakfast event, hosted by the Tower Forum, begins at 7:15 a.m. and willinclude discussion about a proposal on the November ballot asking Floridavoters whether the state's legal ban against gay marriage should be embeddedin the state constitution.

Supporting the amendment will be Eladio Jose Armesto, a Spanish-languagemedia publisher who years ago tried to repeal Miami-Dade County's gay-rightsamendment. Opposing the amendment will be Richard Milstein, a Miami-basedattorney who focuses on family and marital law, including helping same-sexcouples.

Tickets are $25. The registration deadline is today. Call 954-584-4488.



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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/406439.html

Sex offenders' living options drop by the day

BY FRED GRIMM
Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2008

Not even here. They've been banished even from this dank address under abridge landing in the middle of Biscayne Bay.

The outcasts have been living with pigeons on a narrow shelf just beneaththe bridge beams at the crest of a steep concrete embankment.

Surely, you think, surveying that pathetic colony of exiled sex offenders,banished from their homes, barred from the most meager housing by thedraconian restrictions of Florida law, this ought to have been punitiveenough.

MISERABLE CONDITIONS

The most savage law and order fanatics could hardly ask for more miserableconditions for men, who, after all, have served out their prison sentences:No running water. No privacy. No sanitation. No protection from the thugsand madmen who roam the underworld.

The outcasts live in eight umbrella tents, pitched along the ledge, or inscrap-wood shacks, amid the all-pervasive stink of homelessness.Electricity, when they have it, comes from a generator rigged with aperilous extension cord.

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbmeekalcee0205sbfeb05,0,4132499.story?track=rss

Black politicians back Clinton as constituents go for Obama

By Anthony Man
Political Writer
February 5, 2008

With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the tightest imaginable contestgoing into today's Super Tuesday voting, South Florida's two most prominentblack elected officials are strongly supporting Clinton.

Their constituents are not.

U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings and Kendrick Meek are campaigning hard forClinton. Hastings spent much of Sunday and Monday pitching Clinton in radiointerviews on stations in Super Tuesday states.

Meek wraps up a punishing schedule today that will have taken him to 16cities in eight states since Wednesday as a high-level surrogate appearingalongside former President Bill Clinton.

Meek and Hastings said they were supporting the best candidate; someconstituents said the congressmen were out of step.

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Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-locprimary05020508feb05,0,7287305.story

Civil-rights leader urges Dems to settle with Florida, Michigan

Brendan Farrington
The Associated Press
February 5, 2008

TALLAHASSEE

The woman who oversaw a federal report documenting voter disenfranchisementduring Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election is asking theDemocratic Party to settle a fight with Florida and Michigan before theparty harms itself.

Mary Frances Berry, who served as U.S. Commission on Civil Rights chairwomanuntil 2004, is concerned that there will be a "bloody" battle at the Augustconvention over the seating of delegates from the two states that have beenpunished by the Democratic National Committee.

She and Roger Wilkins, a George Mason University history professor andformer Justice Department official involved in the civil-rights movement,sent party leader Howard Dean the letter by e-mail Sunday.

"Public floor fights have served the Party badly in the past. They leftdeep-seated ill will and preceded Democratic Party defeats in 1968, and1972," the letter said. "Resolution of this issue is a matter of fairness,justice and practicality."

The DNC declined to comment on the letter, but a spokesman said thecredentials committee will meet before the convention and make arecommendation on seating.

more . . . . .



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Lakeland Ledger

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080205/COLUMNISTS03/802050352/1110/Edit

Build Clean Tech, Economy in Florida

By CHARLIE CRIST
Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Florida's economic future is closely linked to her energy future. The $70billion budget I have proposed moves our state forward in a fiscallyresponsible way during a tight budget year while also building a bridge tobetter economic times. To help us build that bridge, I have introduced a$200 million energy package that will increase our energy efficiency andcreate economic opportunities in the clean-technology industry.

Over the past few years, Florida has stepped onto the world stage as a major marketplace for advanced energy technologies. The use of alternative andrenewable energy is increasing in Florida as we recognize there is gold ingreen.

Increased conservation and energy efficiency will benefit both businessesand consumers. As we learn to conserve more energy, we reduce costs andincrease productivity by making resources stretch further.

This productivity enhances Florida's collective competitiveness and allowsbusinesses to pass along savings to consumers. In the long term, my energypackage will enlarge our alternative-energy sector and help make renewableenergy mainstream - Floridians' energy bills will no longer be tied to theroller-coaster ride of foreign oil prices.

We have long enjoyed the economic benefits realized from our great weather,beautiful beaches and good fishing. Tourism is, in fact, our No. 1 industry,with approximately 18 percent of our state sales tax revenues contributed byvisitors to our state. As a result, it makes sense for us to protect ourstate's natural resources.

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/406491.html

Education board urged to call evolution a `theory'

BY BILL KACZOR
Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2008

A Florida Panhandle lawmaker urged the State Board of Education on Monday tocall evolution a ''theory'' in revised science standards the panel willconsider later this month.

The proposed standards for the first time would use the word ''evolution''instead of such terms as ''biological changes over time.'' They would alsorequire more in-depth study of evolution and other science topics whilesetting specific benchmarks for students to meet.

They have drawn fire from religious conservatives who believe evolutionconflicts with the biblical account of Creation.

Education Commissioner Eric Smith announced the state will hold one morepublic hearing next Monday in Orlando before the board votes on thestandards Feb. 19.

The board was holding a conference call meeting on class size appeals onMonday, but the conversation already had turned to evolution when Rep. MartiColey, R-Marianna, asked if she could make a statement.

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Florida Today

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/BREAKINGNEWS/80204049/1086

Only 31 schools miss class size goal

ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 4, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Less than one percent of traditional Florida public schoolsare in line for financial penalties for failing to meet Florida's class sizereduction requirements after State Board of Education rulings Monday.

The board ruled 31 public schools were out of compliance for not meetingclass size requirements, including schools in 14 of Florida's 67 schooldistricts.

The board recommended the schools be penalized by having a total of $475,324rerouted from their operational budgets, which include teacher salaries andsupplies, to capital outlay for such brick-and-mortar solutions as buildingmore classrooms.

The statewide teachers union and associations representing Florida's schoolboards and superintendents have urged lawmakers to repeal a law requiringthe punishment, arguing deficient schools may need to hire more teachersrather than add class space to meet the size limits.

The schools facing penalties include 21 traditional and eight charterschools, public schools that receive tax dollars but are run by privateorganizations or public agencies other than school boards. They also includetwo traditional university-run laboratory schools.

That's 0.75 percent of all traditional public schools and 2.27 percent ofcharter schools. Another 57 schools that didn't meet class size reductionrequirements were granted appeals on grounds including extraordinary rowth,inability to hire sufficient teachers and data errors.

The Legislative Budget Commission, essentially a joint House-Senatecommittee, will have to approve the penalties later this month.



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Florida Today

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/CD/20080204/CAPITOLNEWS/80204015/-1/capitolnews

DCF tightens standards after porn arrest

By Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital Bureau
February 4, 2008

TALLAHASSEE -- The head of the Department of Children and Families andFlorida's top cop said today the state will tighten its background screeningof employees in the huge agency because of the arrest of a DCF spokesman onchild-pornography charges.

DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth and Florida Department of Law EnforcementCommissioner Gerald Bailey held an afternoon briefing at DCF headquarters onthe case of Al Zimmerman, who was charged Friday with eight counts ofoffering to pay two boys -- described as 16 to 17 years old -- to let himphotograph sex acts.

The identity of the minors was withheld and both Bailey and Butterworth saidthey were unable to say much about evidence in the case, to avoid evenobliquely identifying them.

They said the FBI has seized Zimmerman's office computer and cell phonerecords, to see if he used them to contact any children under DCFprotection. Butterworth said one of the victims in the case had been in DCFcare, but he could not elaborate and it was not known if Zimmerman used hisposition as public-information spokesman for the agency to contact anyyouths.

Butterworth said Zimmerman, 40, had "extremely limited access" to DCFrecords.

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flabudget0205sbfeb05,0,4492417.story

Bush budget seeks to increase Everglades spending
$3 trillion proposal includes a $50 million increase for restorationprojects

By WILLIAM E. GIBSON
Washington Bureau Chief
February 5, 2008

WASHINGTON

President Bush asked Congress on Monday to spend $215 million forrestoration of the Everglades next year as part of a $3 trillion budgetproposal.

The Everglades request - which would boost spending by $50 million comparedwith this year - would provide the first federal funding for constructionprojects underway at state and local expense.

It was one of relatively few growth areas in Bush's domestic budget, whichcalled for cutting $196 billion over five years from the projected growth ofMedicare and Medicaid and $330 million from the Environmental ProtectionAgency.

The president proposed spending $588 billion on defense next year, including$70 billion for military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president's budget is essentially a wish list that spells out hispriorities. Congress will conduct hearings and form its own budgetpriorities before providing funding.

more . . . . .



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ArtsUnited, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the

City of Wilton Manors will present "Oz Under the Starz" from 6:00 to 9:00 PMat Hagen Park on Friday, February 8, 2008. This free outdoor screening ofthe movie classic Wizard of Oz marks the opening of ArtExplosion 2008,ArtsUnited's two week gay and lesbian arts festival. Hagen Park is locatedat 2020 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors. Gates open at 6:00 PM, and the filmstarts at 7:00 PM.

"Oz Under the Starz" is sure to be fun for the whole family, so bring yourblanket or lawn chair and head to Hagen Park on February 8th! Specialguests In Harmony will be on hand to lead a sign-a-long during the movie.Concessions will be available at the park, and proceeds support the manyprograms of the Children's Diagnostic & Treatment Center in Fort Lauderdale.

ArtExplosion 2008 includes dozens of wonderful events throughout SouthFlorida. For a complete listing, go online to www.artexplosiononline.org.
This arts festival is made possible through the generous support of TylenolPM, Comcast, AutoNation, Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale, BankAtlanticFoundation, Createabilities and Pride South Florida. Funding is alsoprovided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners asrecommended by the Broward Cultural Council.

The Express newspaper and 411 magazine are the exclusive media sponsors. TheAtlantic Resort & Spa is the official hotel of ArtExplosion 2008.



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From ArtsUnited

Ft. Lauderdale

Last Call for Visual Artists for ArtExplosion

Applications for visual artists wanting to participate in ArtExplosion 2008is TODAY. Please fax your applications to 954-567-1439 or drop them off atArtServe.


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