FLORIDA DIGEST - August 25, 2008

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~~FLORIDA GLBT NEWS~~

From Jesse Monteagudo
Friends: I am happy to announce that I am now a contributor to the Floridaedition of "The Bilerico Project - Daily Experiments in GBTQ"(http://florida.bilerico.com). Thanks to Waymon Hudson for inviting me tojoin. -- Jesse


~~FLORIDA GENERAL NEWS~~

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Fla. homes evacuated as waters rise in wake of Fay
Flooding left behind by Tropical Storm Fay forced residents in parts ofnorthern Florida out of their homes Sunday, while the storm's remnants wereforecast to dump several inches of rain on at least four other states.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082400215.html?hpid=moreheadlines


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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Broward property appraiser says Web site has clearer explanation of exemption
Appraisal notices don't make clear that bigger exemption is figured inWith tax appraisal notices hitting mailboxes across Broward County,property owners are getting confused about whether they are receiving theextra tax breaks approved in January.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/sfl-flbproperty0825sbaug25,0,3838235.story

-Broward County 'blue laws' still stir debate
No bar brawls over this. Boynton Beach, like many cities across thecountry, has age-old "blue laws" that ban Sunday alcohol sales before noon.Commissioners considered scaling back on hours and limiting sales onlybetween 2 and 8 a.m. Sundays. The measure was defeated, but it could comeback.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbalcohol0822sbaug25,0,7359873.story

-Wexler named convention vice chairman
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler was appointed Sunday as a vice chairman of theDemocratic National Convention in Denver. He's one of several. In additionto the convention chairwoman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, there are a totalof seven co- and vice-chairmen.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2008/08/wexler_named_convention_vice_c.html

-Despite flooding in Fla., other states hope rain from Fay remnants willbring drought relief
Tropical Storm Fay may be gone but the rain remains. And for some, thatcould be a good thing. Flooding forced residents in parts of northernFlorida out of their homes Sunday. But in other states, the rain bringshopes of some drought relief.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-tropical-weather-fay,0,2425269.story


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Florida gets its full votes at Democratic Convention
Florida delegates will get full voting rights at the national conventionthat starts Monday, although they'll have to ride for 7.9 miles to getthere.
http://www.miamiherald.com/979/story/656437.html

-Restraining of mentally ill foster kids questioned
Last month, a 16-year-old Broward County girl was brought into Circuit JudgeJohn A. Frusciante's courtroom for a hearing. She was handcuffed, her legsshackled with cloth restraints, with two armed deputies leading her by thearm. Her offense? She's never been charged with one. A mentally ill fosterchild who was neglected by her mother and wound up in a psychiatric center,the teen was being restrained to keep her from running away, her attorneysaid.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/656653.html


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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-A hefty trail of paper: 90 tons of ballots piling up in Palm Beach County alone
A mountain of a paper trail is building in Florida as elections supervisorsorder hundreds of thousands of pounds of the stuff for the first statewideuse of optical-scan voting.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/local_news/epaper/2008/08/24/papertrail0825.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Nelson won't back offshore drilling
Though other Democrats in Congress are willing to discuss drilling offFlorida's coast, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson made it clear last week that he isn'tone of them.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080825/COLUMNIST/808250327/2257/NEWS&title=Nelson_won_t_back_offshore_drilling

-Michael Peltier: State starts to add up the Fay tab
Tropical Storm Fay bid Florida a watery adieu over the weekend but notbefore claiming at least 11 lives and causing millions of dollars in damage.Homeowners, businesses and the state's agricultural industry all took theirshare of hits as Fay slowly crisscrossed the state over the course of morethan a week. Now it's time for the state to figure out how to recoup some ofits losses.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/24/michael-peltier-state-starts-add-fay-tab/

-State: Fay claims 11 lives in Florida; storm system still a threat
Both the St. Marks and Sopchoppy rivers in Wakulla County have risen abovemajor flood level after what's now Tropical Depression Fay dumped more than10 inches of rain on the Big Bend. At 8 a.m. Sunday, the St. Marks Riverwas at 12.4 feet, measured at a gauge at Newport. That's higher than thehistoric rise for the river, exceeding the previous record when the waterwaycrested at 11.81 feet in April 1973.
http://floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080824/CAPITOLNEWS/808240336&theme

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From Beverly Gallagher
Re-Elect for Broward School Board, District #2
Thank you so much for your friendship, hard work and support. I'm very proud of my accomplishments I have worked very hard to bring 10 new schools, classroom additions, renovations of our older schools, keeping kids safe and raising teacher salaries. Unfortunately, my opponent has unleashed an untruthful, negative, smear campaign against me filled with innuendos. I need your help now more than ever. Please forward this email to all of your friends. It is very important that we get all of our friends to vote tomorrow. Every vote counts!
If you'd like to help in other ways, please call me.
Bev
Phone- 954-435-5918
Cell- 954-829-6621
Fax- 954-435-5918
bevagallagher@aol.com
www.BevAGallagher.com

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