January 2014 - Florida Bulldog

By Douglas P. Guarino, Center for Public Integrity

The Environmental Protection Agency is walking away after a decades-long battle with Florida politicians and industry officials over cleaning up phosphate-mining waste in an area that could expose more than 100,000 residents to cancer-causing radiation levels.

Under a decision quietly finalized two weeks ago, the federal agency will leave it to state officials to decide the fate of the sites in and around Lakeland, an approximately 10-square-mile residential area midway between Orlando and Tampa.

Amid rising deaths, a warning that heroin epidemic has begun in South Florida

January 29, 2014 6:13 am

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By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
A new report sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse has determined that a heroin epidemic is underway in South Florida. “The key issue identified in 2013 is the outbreak of a heroin epidemic in South Florida and particularly in Miami-Dade County,”

Guards may be responsible for half of prison sexual assaults

January 24, 2014 6:25 am

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By Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica

State prison inmates
Photo: Florida Department of Corrections

A new Justice Department study shows that allegations of sex abuse in the nation’s prisons and jails are increasing — with correctional officers responsible for half of it — but prosecution is still extremely rare.

The report, released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, takes data collected by correctional administrators representing all of the nation’s federal and state prisons as well as many county jails. It shows that administrators logged more than 8,000 reports of abuse to their overseers each year between 2009 and 2011, up 11 percent from the department’s previous report, which covered 2007 and 2008.

Senate leaders want special districts covered by state lobbyist registration laws

January 21, 2014 6:11 am

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By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Key lawmakers in Tallahassee say they will introduce reform legislation this session to require lobbyists at independent special districts to publicly register and disclose who they work for and how much they’re being paid.

Independent special districts: Where lobbyists ride free and the public is in the dark

January 15, 2014 6:01 am

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By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Nearly 1,000 special-purpose governments across Florida that raise and spend billions of dollars in public funds every year do not require lobbyists who appear before them to register, pay fees or disclose any information about themselves or their clients.

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EPA abandons major radiation cleanup in Florida, despite cancer concerns

Amid rising deaths, a warning that heroin epidemic has begun in South Florida

Guards may be responsible for half of prison sexual assaults

Senate leaders want special districts covered by state lobbyist registration laws

Independent special districts: Where lobbyists ride free and the public is in the dark

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