Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Thursday, May 24

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Crist slashes $459 million from budget

Gov. Charlie Crist has just axed a record $459 million from next year’s state budget, slashing legislators’ hometown spending projects throughout Florida while touting his fiscally conservative bona fides.

”We must live within our means, just like the people of Florida must live within theirs,” Crist said, noting the ”crushing” effects of property insurance, property taxes and gas prices.

 

From the Governor’s Office: Governor Crist Signs Fiscally-Conservative $71.5-Billion Budget

TALLAHASSEE – Governor Charlie Crist today signed the $71.5-billion 2007-08 budget, providing record-high funding for public schools, continuing Florida’s investment in restoring America’s Everglades and increasing the safety of Florida’s communities. The fiscally responsible budget also sets aside $7 billion in reserves.

 

ISSUE: The clock is ticking on PIP.

There’s no apparent sign of consensus developing on what to do with mandatory no-fault insurance, needed auto coverage that is plagued with fraud. The Florida Senate wants to keep it, with modifications. The Florida House wants something new.

 

Extension sought for PIP insurance

The House Democrats are asking Gov. Charlie Crist to include a one-year extension of the state’s controversial no-fault auto insurance law in the special session next month on property tax reform.

 

Spitzer Spearheads $2 Billion WTC Insurance Settlement

NEW YORK —New York’s governor and insurance superintendent announced today that the World Trade Center developer and seven insurers had reached a $2 billion settlement of all claims arising from terrorist destruction of the twin towers.

Calif. Regulator Probing Allstate Rates

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said today the Department of Insurance will seek refunds for Allstate home insurance customers if it determines that their rates are excessive.

 

Court OKs $6.4 million settlement for hurricane-damaged screen enclosures

More than 12,000 State Farm Florida Insurance policyholders will receive damages they requested in a $6.8 million settlement of claims filed last year in which they alleged State Farm refused to pay replacement costs of screen enclosures damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, in a class action settlement approved by a Broward County Court.

Guy Carpenter Appoints COO

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Company LLC said Charlie Fry has been named global chief operating officer.

Op-Ed: Focus on funding

Many news stories have surfaced about the state of severely cut hurricane research, replacement of an aging weather satellite called Quikscat critical to monitoring hurricanes and reduction of flight hours of research Hurricane Hunter aircraft stationed at Tampa. Now, news has come to light that administrators in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) insist on changing the long-standing, publicly trusted names of the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service to be ”NOAA’s Hurricane Center” and “NOAA’s Weather Service.”

 

Democratic primary: binding or not?

Howard Dean isn’t getting much help from Florida’s top elected Democrats as he tries to convince the state to back off plans to hold one of the country’s earliest presidential primaries.

 

Rep. Richter wants to be Sen. Richter

In first House term, Garrett Richter announces plan to run for state Senate

After less than a year in the state House, Garrett Richter is bucking for a promotion.

Wednesday on the front steps of the Collier County Courthouse, Richter, R-Naples, announced his candidacy to succeed Burt Saunders in the state Senate in District 37.

 

Lawmakers to Fund Kids’ Health Insurance

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen states whose children’s health insurance plans are running out of money got welcome news from Washington as lawmakers moved toward providing $650 million in emergency funding.

 

Democratic leader urges GOP to move faster on property tax

TALLAHASSEE — The current pace of property tax discussions could prevent lawmakers from reaching their goals for the approaching special session, the state House Democratic leader said in a letter sent Wednesday to his Republican counterparts.

 

Sand hassles in North Florida

The latest and oddest real estate deal on this rustic island surprised full-time residents here — all 15 of them.

An Atlanta real estate developer donated to a university five parcels of land, in an area where storms have washed at least three houses away since 2004, a section that state environmental officials warn is extremely risky for building.

 

Ex-Rep. Arza gets probation in voice mail case

Former state Rep. Ralph Arza pleaded guilty Thursday to two misdemeanor counts of tampering with a witness and was sentenced to 18 months probation and cannot run for office during his probation.

Mental health center awaits Crist’s OK for expansion

The third time was the charm for the David Lawrence Mental Health Center for a state legislative allocation to add more crisis beds for adults at its Golden Gate Parkway campus.

 

First hydrogen station opens

It will fuel eight Ford shuttle buses that will be used at Orlando International Airport.

ORLANDO – Florida’s only hydrogen station opened Wednesday for the first U.S. fleet of Ford shuttle buses powered by the alternative fuel, testing a technology that can lower greenhouse gases and eventually help wean the nation off foreign oil, Gov. Charlie Crist said.

 

Voting change irks supervisors

At a meeting of Florida’s elections chiefs, many were critical of a new state law mandating a change from touch-screen voting machines to optical-scan machines.

SANDESTIN — Florida’s top elections official was forced Wednesday to defend the state’s decision to scrap touch-screen machines and replace them with ones using paper ballots.

2 arrested in probe of condo kickbacks

A contractor and a former condo manager were arrested Wednesday in a Hallandale Beach fraud case that investigators say could reach into the millions of dollars.

Study: Cut Nicotine in Cigarettes

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration should regulate tobacco and develop a plan to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes, a new Institute of Medicine report urged Thursday.

The report calls on Congress and the president to give FDA the authority to enforce standards for nicotine reduction and to regulate companies’ claims that their products reduce exposure or risk.

Lawmakers to Fund Kids’ Health Insurance

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen states whose children’s health insurance plans are running out of money got welcome news from Washington as lawmakers moved toward providing $650 million in emergency funding.

Family of murdered UM football player to get $2 million

MIAMI — The family of slain Miami Hurricanes player Bryan Pata will get $2 million from the insurance companies of the apartment complex where he was murdered, family attorneys said Wednesday.

 

Here come the 527s and their wacky ads

The great satirist Tom Lehrer once said the trouble with defending pornography is that lawyers have to argue about artistic freedom and the First Amendment, rather than just admitting that “dirty books are fun.”

War bill add-ons total $17 billion

White House reluctantly OKs spending

WASHINGTON · Democrats may have lost their fight with President Bush over a timetable for ending the war in Iraq, but they won billions of dollars for farm aid, hurricane victims, veterans and health care for poor children.