Category — Florida

Fred Grimm of the Miami Herald wonders: What is the University of Florida thinking?

Ever wonder how we’re perceived, out there in the techie universe?

“Amazed, shocked and angered,” said Zvi Galil, dean of the college of computing at Georgia Tech, reacting to the news that Florida’s flagship university intends to gut its computer science department.

The University of Florida, contemplating a 30 percent budget cut, intends to jettison the department’s teaching assistants, cut more than half the faculty and abandon research. Galil fired off a letter last week to UF President Bernard Machen, “to express, in the strongest possible terms, my concerns about the reckless proposal to dismantle the Department of Computing and Information Science and Engineering.”

Galil then wrote something slightly at odds with our politicians’ pretty talk about Florida’s high-tech future. “And I am by no means alone — the entire computer science/computing community is dumbfounded by the news coming out of Florida. It is unbelievable that a major AAU university would even contemplate such an action in the information age we live in today — an age fueled in great part by computer science!”

The University is cutting $1.7 million from the CISE/IT budget while adding $2 million to the athletics [football] budget. That shows their priorities.

I guess they assume that companies will just use H-1B visas to bring in any tech people that they want, so no need to ‘waste money’ on teaching Americans, so may as well use the money to recruit football players for the real business of Florida universities.

Two 8+ earthquakes off of Sumatra, and minor ones all around the ‘Ring of Fire’. Fortunately they weren’t in the ‘tsunami zone’, but people went to higher ground as soon as they felt the first one hit.

It is probably just the fact that they are getting reported now, but it seems like there have been a lot of big earthquakes in the last decade.

Central Florida is shaking from the arrest of George Zimmerman on a charge of Second Degree Murder. I have to assume that the prosecutor has found something in the autopsy that led to the charge, because by all accounts the initial investigation really lacked ‘professionalism’.

State Attorney Angela Corey is reputed to be a very tough and experienced prosecutor. She wouldn’t bring the charges if she didn’t think she had a case, even if the case was going to be difficult to prove. I was actually expecting Manslaughter if there was a charge, but she is maxing out. Murder Two is a life sentence, while Manslaughter is 30 years.

The important thing for all concerned is that the case is going to be tried in court, not the media, and will be decided by a jury. I wasn’t there, I don’t know what happened, but when you have someone shot to death, there really should be a public trial to determine the facts.

The Tampa Bay Times covers the discussion on city security arrangements for the GOP convention: Showdown looms on GOP convention protest rules

What remains is a sweeping proposal to create a designated protest area near the convention site, plus a much larger “Clean Zone” covering downtown and surrounding areas.

Inside the Clean Zone, virtually anything that could be used as a weapon — with one big exception — would be banned. The city also would establish permit procedures for parades and demonstrations in the Clean Zone, and set a 60-minute time limit on parades and rallies in the zone.

Still, Tampa officials say no amount of tweaking could stop gun owners with concealed weapons permits from bringing their guns to the protests.

That’s because the Legislature passed a 2011 law prohibiting cities from enacting any rules of their own on guns, and socking them with big fines if they do.

You can’t have a water pistol, but a Glock 10mm, no problem. Is this state insane or what?

They are going to force all of the various groups that are demonstrating into a ‘free speech zone’ and some of them are probably going to be armed. This is in the summer, in Florida, so the temperatures and tempers are going to be hot.

I do not envy the cops who have to work this event. This is one of the many reasons the police did not support all of the recent gun legislation – it makes their job more dangerous.

The Orlando Sentinel reports on one of the many ways the Florida legislature is emulating the Reagan process for cutting budgets – send the bill to someone else: Counties will have to pay millions in disputed Medicaid bills

Since 1991, the state has charged for certain Medicaid services provided to county residents. Counties are required to reimburse the state for 35 percent of the cost of hospital stays of 11 to 45 days, except for pregnant women and children, and $55 a month for each Medicaid patient in a nursing home.

But counties have found numerous incidents of errors in the billing process, administered by the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Orange County, for example, had its bills audited and found that bills totaling $3.5 million sent by the state were duplicates. It also found $2 million worth of billings for Medicaid recipients who are not Florida residents.

Reagan did it to the states, the state is doing it to the counties. What makes this especially egregious is that the state legislature keeps limiting the ability of the counties and local governments to raise revenue by putting referenda on the ballot that people approve because ‘they don’t want higher taxes’.

The state is saying that counties have to pay whatever the state bills, and can’t contest the charges. It is a raid on the counties to balance the state budget, because the legislature has already jacked up every fee the state charges.

The Miami Herald reports on the latest screw-up: Sanford police threaten to arrest reporters

A press release sent out Wednesday said police would arrest journalists who attempt to make contact with city employees during non-working hours. They asked to not approach, call or email the city employees at home.

Some city staffers have been “followed or approached at their home or in settings outside of working hours,” the release said.

“Law enforcement officials will not hesitate to make an arrest for stalking.”

However, the Florida statute on stalking does not include language that would provide special protection to city officials or prevent media from asking questions.

Sanford police did not immediately return any calls Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Do they have any concept as to what this sounds like to the outside world? Do they want people to think that it’s OK to gun people down in Sanford, but if you ask public employees questions you are going to jail?

We are finally seeing some decent tourist numbers, and the jobs that go with them, and now we have to deal with this. Be advised that this is not occurring the Central Time Zone of Florida. We are open for business, and disapprove of anyone shooting people who are not breaking into their house.

I have been reluctant to comment on this until I could figure out what was going on in the case, and frankly, it is worse than you think.

I finally figured it out from reading this Miami Herald story, Miami judge decides fatal stabbing was self-defense, which is about a totally different case.

That led me to locate the law itself, and not just the part that everyone quotes. I found it on the site of the Florida legislature, so this is the real deal:

Title XLVI Chapter 776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—

(1) A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if:
(a) The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against that person’s will from the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle; and
(b) The person who uses defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred.
…

(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

The ‘stand your ground’ provision [subsection (3)] is not a general defense, it is only supposed to be related to the specific crimes listed in this law. This is why Durrell Peaden, my former state senator and the author of the law, can correctly state that the Martin case has nothing to do with the ‘stand your ground’ law.

What has happened is that the elected local judges are applying the provision to anything, and everything, without regard to the fact that it is limited to specified crimes. The Miami decision is a case in point. This was the standard theft of a radio from a parked vehicle, and the owner caught the thief in the act. The owner chased the thief about a block and stabbed him with a large kitchen knife, killing him. The vehicle wasn’t occupied, so the ‘stand your ground’ provision wasn’t applicable, but the judge applied it anyway. The prosecutors have already said they will appeal the decision. The Florida Supreme Court needs to tell local judges to stop enabling murder and mayhem.

According to the state there are over 4 million registered Republicans, and normally about half of them would show up for the Presidential primary, so 2 million is the number to watch to gauge the interest in this process.

Florida has blocs of yahoos, like South Carolina, the Cubans, business Republicans, and more moderate types who retired down here, so it provides a cross-section of the GOP. If you look at where the votes are coming from, you can judge the interest level among those blocs.

At the moment, I would guess that the yahoos aren’t very enthused based on the lack of signs. The Cubans are not a group I’m familiar enough with to even guess about, but the business and moderate blocs are probably trending towards Romney.

If the Grinch can fire up the yahoos he has a real shot at this with the latest poll showing a tie between him and Romney. Romney will probably have a decent return from the absentees, as they went out before the South Carolina vote, but early voting doesn’t seem to be very active, especially with the changes that were made to the system.

Another factor to be aware of is that a huge chunk of the yahoos live in the Central Time Zone on the Panhandle, so their votes will be showing up at the end of the count.

Romney decided to show up for the latest of the millions of debates in the Republican primaries, probably as a result of the Grinch’s win in South Carolina.

No major Florida Republican is endorsing anyone in the primary. I think the candidates each sent a note asking our governor not to endorse them [if you saw his approval rating you would understand why], but they were all hoping that JEB and, especially, Marco Rubio would give their seal of approval. No one is making endorsements.

This primary is strictly a Republican primary. There are no amendments or other issues on the ballot, so registered Republicans are the only ones who can vote. The results are going to be determined by turn-out. Ron Paul’s cadre will show up, but there are no real indicators of who else will make the effort. So far there isn’t a lot of early voting.

There are no signs along the roads, none of the usual indicators that an election is taking place. You get the feeling that everyone assumed that Romney would have things sewed up and the campaign would be on cruise control. I don’t think any of the candidates, other than Ron Paul, has a real organization in the state.

At this point the problem for the Republicans is going to be getting people to make the effort to vote. It is anyone’s guess who those who do vote will actually select.

Yesterday was a tough day to be a light pole locally. Within 4 hours three of them were taken out by locals who couldn’t keep their ‘tanks’ between the lines at 40 MPH with a little rain on the road.

People don’t seem to understand that four-wheel-drive is not an advantage on water or ice – it just means you have 4 wheels spinning instead of two. If there is snow or sand to grip they are great, but slow and straight is the only safe way to drive in the rain or on ice – if you must drive at all.

The Local Puppy Trainer had this item this morning: Region’s congressmen sign on to RESTORE Act

Northwest Florida’s U.S. representatives were among those who announced Wednesday that they have signed on as sponsors to a House version of the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act.

The bill, while similar to one moving through the Senate, would allow more freedom to the five Gulf Coast states affected by last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill to spend millions of dollars in BP fines headed their way, said Rep. Jeff Miller.

“It would give local governments more say in how and where the money is spent,” said Miller, the Republican from Chumuckla who represents Florida’s 1st congressional district. “We believe that way the money will be spent more efficiently on more appropriate projects.”

Specifically, Miller said the House bill is designed to limit the power of the federal government to dictate how the BP dollars are spent.

“It has provisions that provide more flexibility to spend the money on economic development instead of restricting it to environmental projects,” Miller said. “The biggest objection (to the Senate bill) for the House sponsors is that there’s not enough to be done to help the economy.”

So, the brain trust that represents South Fundistan doesn’t think that fines for screwing up the environment should be used for cleaning up the mess. No, it should be used for ‘economic development’.

We have a tourist economy. If the environment isn’t clean, the tourists won’t come to visit. First, clean up the mess, which will generate economic activity in the form of jobs in the local area, and if there is any left, you can cut taxes or make pay-offs to campaign contributors, or whatever worthless, ineffective plan that those contributors have ‘guaranteed will work this time’, unlike every other moronic plan they have used to siphon off public money.

If you don’t want the restrictions, don’t take the money.

What has Zero done for the Democratic Party, he’s made it the home of Reagan Republicans.

The Miami Herald reports that Ex-GOP senator to run for House as Democrat

TALLAHASSEE — Saying the Republican Party has left her and is now owned by ideologues, former GOP state Sen. Nancy Argenziano says she will run for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat.

Argenziano will seek the District 2 seat in North Florida now held by freshman Republican Steve Southerland, who unseated longtime Democrat Allen Boyd in November 2010.

In a prepared statement Monday, Argenziano likened herself to a Ronald Reagan Republican.

“The current iteration of the party abandoned real Republican principles long ago to cater to ideologues and corporations — the Koch entities, most notably — whose interests lie in the profiteering of America and the sacking of the middle class,” Argenziano, 56, wrote in a letter announcing her candidacy.

“Current Republican leaders have neither patience with nor allowance for honest elected officials, and they demand that members of the various legislatures — who, after all, have sworn to uphold the Constitution — instead just follow the hijacked party line and shut up.”

The White House will be rushing to help her, because there can never be too many “blue dogs’ in the Democratic caucus.

The Local Puppy Trainer tells us that Local jobless rates rose in June; rates also increased across state

David Goetsch, a local economist and vice president for community relations and workforce development at Northwest Florida State College, also expected to see an increase, but for different reasons.

“Because of the looming problem with the budget in Congress where nobody knows if they’re going to compromise, let it fail or raise the debt ceiling, nothing is happening in government,” Goetsch said. “There’s no government spending going on right now. Think of all of the employers nationwide, in the state and locally who have government contracts — nothing is happening. They’re not getting any new contracts and then the contracts they have, they’re not getting paid. Payment is going out to 120 days instead of 30 days. What that’s doing is forcing layoffs.”

Goetsch said he expects to see local jobless rates level off for July. However, depending on what happens in Washington, D.C., he said it is possible another recession could result.

“We’re inching toward that,” Goetsch said.

The rate went up even though the tourist sector was hiring for the summer. We are in deep yogurt, but no one in the DC Bubble seems to have noticed.

They aren’t as large as those out West, but with the drought Florida has wildfires too, and one of them just turned lethal:

From WTSP in Tampa: Wildfire kills two Florida firefighters

Tallahassee, Florida – Florida is mourning the loss of two veteran firefighters killed when a wildfire suddenly changed direction and flashed over them.

Fifty-two-year old Brett Fulton and 31-year-old Josh Burch were operating bulldozers at the front lines of the Blue Ribbon Fire in Hamilton County on Monday when they were caught in, what fire officials call, a “burn over.”

The fire was relatively small, only 12 acres, but the weather conditions changed quickly and created a firestorm.

Two other firefighters, Robert Marvin and Steve Carpenter, were injured when they ran into the flames to try to rescue their colleagues but the heat and smoke were too bad.
…

Florida is having one of its worst wildfire seasons. More than 1,500 wildfires have burned about 200,000 acres across the state since May 1st.

About a quarter of that acreage was on the West border of Miami. Because of the drought, most are in what are normally marshes, which die off quickly in droughts.

Florida’s Fraudster-in-chief can’t help being a jerk. He suggested that we have a ‘rain dance’.

The Miami Herald ran a piece on the latest Florida job numbers:

Broward’s jobless rate went from 8.9 percent to 9.0 percent, according to state figures. Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate returned to a record 13.4 percent, up from 13.1 percent in April.

The figures from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation are bound to increase worries that the economic rebound that seemed to be gaining steam in early 2011 has now hit some sort of roadblock. But statewide, the trend was more encouraging. Florida’s unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 10.8 percent to 10.6 percent. That is its lowest level since August 2009.
…

Florida’s labor director touted the May report as a good sign for the Sunshine State, which added 28,000 jobs between April and May and nearly 25,000 compared to a year ago. The yearly gain amounted a tiny portion — far less than 1 percent — of the state’s 7.2 million-person workforce.

“Today’s announcement that unemployment continues to drop and businesses continue to add thousands of jobs shows that Florida’s economy is moving in the right direction,” said Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo. “Our unemployment rate is now the lowest it has been in 21 months, and we can expect our state’s heightened focus on economic recovery to spur additional job growth in the months ahead.”

Excuse me, but if 28,000 jobs were added from April to May, and jobs are only up 25,000 from last year, it means that the entire growth for the year was in that one month, and they were primarily the summer hires, not permanent jobs.

When the ‘body count’ from layoffs of teachers and other public employees begins to get tallied, we are in a world of hurt, and going backwards, not forwards.

As with the Federal reports, many people have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits and have just given up finding a job. Last year was actually inflated by the Census jobs, and the stimulus programs, which are now gone.