Category — Florida

Last year we didn’t have a single day of 100° [38° C] temperatures. We barely had a heat index [how it feels based on temperature and humidity] that high. Well, we are making up for it.

We have had Heat Advisories [heat index over 100° (38° C)] for over a week, and now we have had Excessive Heat Warnings [heat index over 110° (43° C)] for a couple of days. This is something that happens in August, not June.

This isn’t the dry heat of the desert, this is the soggy, humid, swimming-in-your-own-sweat heat of the South. The skies are hazy with the humidity, so you just know there will be second degree burns on the beach, and the Gulf will feel like warm spit, rather than refreshing.

I feel like hooking up a sprinkler for my front yard and sleeping under the spray because the ground water stays at 70° [21° C], while the tap water which is pumped into towers to supply pressure comes out lukewarm.

There are thunderstorms predicted for later in the week. I hope they show up.

Valerie Whitney of the Daytona News-Journal tells us the “shoots” are wilted in Florida: State jobless rate hits record 10.2%

DAYTONA BEACH — Florida was one of eight states that set unemployment records for May, with jobless claims reaching 10.2 percent, according to figures released Friday by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Flagler County posted the highest jobless rate in the state at 14.4 percent, up from 8.7 percent a year ago. Volusia County reported 10.8 percent unemployment, compared to 5.9 percent last year.

And at least one expert says the bad news is not over.

“Florida’s labor market will be the ugly scar that is slow to fade and serves as a reminder of the economic trauma we have endured,” said economist Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

“We’re going to experience double-digit pain not just for a few months, but through the middle of 2011,” Snaith said Friday.
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The Orlando Sentinel reports on the latest failure of privatizing public services: Florida’s charter school students perform “significantly worse” than peers in traditional schools, new report says

Students in Florida’s charter schools, on average, maker fewer academic gains than kids in traditional public schools, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers released today.

The study found that Florida is one of six states where “on average the student in a charter school learns statistically and significantly less than they would have in a traditional public school,” said Margaret Raymond, the study’s lead author.

The study used eight years worth of math and reading test data and compared charter school students to their “virtual twins” in regular schools — that is students with similar demographics and starting test scores.
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Charter schools — public schools run by private groups and freed from some public school bureaucracy — need more “quality control” so that the good ones can be replicated and the bad ones weeded out, Raymond added.

So, you give public money to private groups who have no accountability and you are surprised when they provide less than the public employees they “replaced”. This is not unusual, this is the norm. This is how the privatization scam always works.

Greed has never produced quality. That is why privatization doesn’t work. The incentive is to maximize profit, not provide a better product or service. We don’t live in a world dominated by self-serve gas stations and Wal-Mart because business is trying to please its customers. Does anyone honestly believe that customer call centers in Asia was a response to people desperately wanting to talk to someone they can’t understand?

The Local Puppy Trainer noticed that the Senate is trying to put oil rigs off our coast: Nelson, Miller denounce oil-drilling amendment

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is leading the fight against the amendment, which he claims would allow drilling within 10 miles of the coast and inside the area known as the Destin Dome.

It also would make the Air Force a “third priority” party in discussion of where oil platforms could be built in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, said Nelson spokeswoman Susie Perez-Quinn.

“The bottom line is they (military officials) would be notified after the fact,” Perez-Quinn said. “They’d find out after the (drilling) management areas had been opened up and the Department of the Interior had given their approval.”

The military long has opposed drilling anywhere east of an imaginary boundary known as the military mission line, which runs from approximately Hurlburt Field south into the gulf.

This time, because the Dems are in charge, local Congresscritter Jefferson B. Miller (R-Chumuckla), has decided it’s a bad idea. Of course, when the Repugs were in charge in 2006, he voted to lift the ban.

Apparently a commercial fisherman was out in the Gulf to catch grouper and ended up with a Sidewinder on his longline.

The St. Petersburg Times has the story.

MADEIRA BEACH — Commercial fisherman Rodney Salomon ensnared an 8-foot-long missile in his longline while out in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City late last month.

Salomon tied the missile to the top of his boat, the Bold Venture, and kept it there for the rest of the 14-day fishing trip. He brought the missile ashore Monday evening along with his 5,000 pounds of grouper.

Rodney figured the missile was inert, and he’d keep it as a souvenir.

Only one problem: It was live.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range heat-seeking missile normally used in dogfighting. If the warhead had detonated it would definitely have ruined that guy’s day and it’s a long way to shore from where you fish for grouper. The test area is marked on the navigation charts, and there is no point in using inert weapons over the Gulf. If it is used on the Gulf range, it is supposed to go boom.

The Miami Herald writes about the wonderful world of Florida’s privatized services: Prison vendor sues state over secret deal

The lawsuit was filed by MHM Correctional Services, which wants to extend its 2 ½ year contract to provide mental health care to more than 15,000 inmates in a dozen South Florida prisons.

In an effort to save money, the state privatized prison health care several years ago, but a legislative watchdog agency said in a report last January that the change has yielded “mixed results.”

The Department of Corrections wants to fire MHM and replace it with a rival, Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis, even though CMS would charge the state $5.5 million more for the same service over a five-year period.
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Republican message discipline is breaking down: Senator criticizes Florida’s privatization initiatives

TALLAHASSEE — The state’s decision to consider a no-bid contract extension for a controversial human-resources company has renewed criticism from a leading state senator who says privatization initiatives have cost taxpayers $200 million with little to show for the money.

Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander persuaded fellow lawmakers during the spring legislative session to increase scrutiny of large state contracts — only to see Gov. Charlie Crist veto the proposal last week.
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As attorney general, Crist in 2006 persuaded a court to seal a whistle-blower complaint by a former Convergys employee. A judge criticized Crist as an unjustified “interloper” in the case. And the former employee filed an ethics complaint, alleging Crist became involved because his top fundraiser, Brian Ballard, is a Convergys lobbyist.

Both denied wrongdoing and the ex-employee’s complaints were dismissed.
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Howard Troxler of the St. Petersburg Times writes on one of the many travesties that have come out of this latest session of the clown college legislature: Crist signs growth bill, sells Florida down the river

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So if you live in a “dense urban area” in Florida — which this law brilliantly defines as more than ONE PERSON PER ACRE …

If you live in any of Florida’s biggest counties, including Hillsborough and Pinellas, or in one of more than 200 Florida cities …

If you live anywhere that your local government labels as a “community redevelopment area” …

Or even if you have the misfortune of living where somebody wants to build a “job creation project” …

Then tough noogies for you.

The main thing is roads. Developers no longer have to make sure that our roads can handle the growth they are bringing.

Once again developers are exempt from the cost of the infrastructure needed to support their projects, and can continue to destroy the state with over-building. Developers don’t have to factor in the cost of roads, water, sewer treatment, or any other public service, they can just build, take their profits, and leave. The taxpayers are stuck with the bills.

Some days you have to wonder if anyone is paying attention or connecting the dots. Ray Sansom is obviously political toast, even if he isn’t convicted, so the Local Puppy Trainer starts looking for possible replacements: Who’ll run to replace Sansom? Here are some names:

[Kabe] Woods said one of his potential rivals, Matt Gaetz, an attorney and son of state Sen. Don Gaetz, would probably be untouchable on the fund-raising side of a campaign.

“He’ll get more money overnight than I’ll be able to raise in two years. I know that’s what’s going to happen,” Woods said.

“It’s a situation where he’s a young man with an overwhelming amount of resources, a name and a father in a power position. He will bring a lot of backing and a lot of resources and is capable of sweeping just about any candidate off the slate.

“Except me.”

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In order to generate “local excitement” [sell stuff] the chamber of commerce is once again annoying people with the Billy Bowlegs Festival. This year the unavoidable part runs from Friday, June 5^th and finishes up on Monday with a really annoying parade that screws up traffic and sends a lot of noisy people through my neighborhood.

Almost at bad as the Monday traffic jam are the Friday fireworks. I know a lot of people enjoy fireworks, but they probably have not seen what loud noises and flashes of light can do to people and aircraft – I am definitely not a fan.

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The time has come for you to cut Richburg and Odom loose, and cop a plea. The first one to deal is going to get the best deal. Based on the Miami Herald story, the latest from Richburg’s files pretty much makes conviction a foregone conclusion, and they are in a lot better position than you to weather what’s coming.

If you jump in quick enough you might avoid prison, but I have to be honest, if the State’s Attorney has a political bone in his body, he has to see this case as the basis for a run at Attorney General. Saving the state $6 million in hard times and battling corruption look really good on a resume, and your political “friends” have already deserted you.

Cutting the deal can be your first step towards redemption, and you have to know either one of the others wouldn’t hesitate to sell you down the river.

The time has come to tell the truth.

The Local Puppy Trainer covers that quality in Walton County: New $4.6 million beach access lot needs repairs

MIRAMAR BEACH – Less than two weeks after a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the reopening of the Miramar Regional Beach Access, a crew already is at work repairing damage to the parking deck.

What caused the crack in the pavement is not clear, but those involved with the project suspect it was caused by an overweight UPS truck that drove into the lot on Tuesday or Wednesday, said Sonny Mares, executive director of the Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council.

The TDC helped fund the $4.6 million project, which took about eight months to complete.

A UPS truck? This sucker broke because a UPS truck drove on it?

This is what you get with low bid. I sure didn’t see any rebar in the picture.

This happened yesterday but I had to stop celebrating before mentioning it, from the Miami Herald: Another indictment for former House Speaker Ray Sansom

TALLAHASSEE — A grand jury investigating Ray Sansom’s ties to a Panhandle college issued a second round of indictments Wednesday, accusing the ousted House speaker of lying about a developer’s plans to store aircraft in a taxpayer-funded building.

The felony perjury charge is based on newly surfaced documents, including an e-mail Sansom received from the college president indicating that developer Jay Odom, who was also indicted Wednesday, would use part of the facility.

“Jay and I agreed that the project is to be held close until after your actions and until after we receive guidance from you,” president Bob Richburg wrote to Sansom in April 2007 — with a subject line “Meeting with Jay.”

The budget lawmakers approved a month later included $6 million Sansom appropriated for the college. Sansom, R-Destin, has insisted that it was his idea and that he did not know about Odom’s plans for a taxpayer-funded hangar.
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The Pensacola News Journal reports on the “crusaders”: Pace principal: We won’t back down

It may cost him his job, but Pace High School Principal Frank Lay says he won’t sit back and watch student leaders be denied a chance to speak at their own graduation — despite worries they may violate a federal consent decree.

“No way are we going to back down, back off, lay down or roll over,” he said to the applause of more than 700 people who attended a Students’ Rights Rally at Pace Assembly of God on Tuesday night.
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Lay said it is time the community takes responsibility.

“The blame game is the devil’s game,” he said. “It is the devil’s distraction for what we need to do, and we need to get busy as Christian people.”

In other words, the consent decree, which saved Frank Lay’s job, is too restrictive because it prevents Frank Lay from indoctrinating students into his personal creed. People shouldn’t look too closely at who is to blame for the existence of the consent decree, because it turns out, it is Frank Lay.

Two students at Frank Lay’s high school complained that their civil rights were being abrogated by the way that Frank Lay included proselytizing into every event at the school, and rather than firing Frank Lay and telling the teachers to stop it, the board signed a consent decree and told Lay to cut it out.

Frank Lay needs to start his own church or get a job at one of the “Christian” high schools in the area, not expect the public to provide him with a salary, a staff, a facility, and a captive congregation.