Independent News‘State & National News’ Archives
State GOP raises $4.9 million in three months
The Republican Party of Florida raised in the first quarter of 2011 four times more than the Florida Democratic Party and over $1 million more than the state Republican party did at this point in the last presidential election cycle. Of the $4.9 million, what came from Pensacola? [...]
America’s 20 Most Miserable Cities
Thank God, Pensacola didn't make this list published by Forbes. Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach shared in the dubious distinction. Read more.
Guy Says He Owns 50% Of Facebook
From Business Insider: Paul Ceglia is the man who sued Mark Zuckerberg last July, claiming that, way back in 2003, Zuckerberg had agreed to give him a 50% ownership in the project that became Facebook. He's back with a new law firm and a tons of evidence. Read more.
St. Pete Times: Scott-O-Meter
PolitiFact Florida has compiled promises that Rick Scott made during the 2010 campaign and is tracking their progress on its Scott-O-Meter. The St. Pete Times knows how to do this better than anyone. Read more.
Two stories from Sunday
These two stories of corruption in local government caught my eye. The first one is by the Miami Herald "Robaina at center of Hialeah’s ‘shadow banking’: Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina has played a central role in the city’s ‘shadow banking’ world, where loans get made at double-digit [...]
Gov. Scott’s Twitter war
Orlando Sentinel has an AP story on the Twitter battles between governor's office and capitol press corps. Read more.
Brownsville sale not on agenda, third consecutive month
The sale of Brownsville Middle School failed to make the April agenda for the Escambia County School Board. In January, George Hawthorne and Superintendent Malcolm Thomas announced the the school that had been closed since 2007 would be sold to Hawthorne's company for $1 million. In November 2010, [...]
Ingram fights for manure, not ARC
While ARC Gateway Pensacola is laying off staff and eliminating in-home support, day care and supported living services. State Rep. Clay Ingram's fertilizer bill, HB 457, keeps chugging along. Rarely in the annals of Escambia County politics have we had a lawmaker so openly dedicated to manure, as [...]
Floridians disapprove of Scott, 4-1
"Today, Scott is a four-letter word to many Florida voters, but political popularity can change with time," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "The experience of Scott's predecessor, Charlie Crist, who had 70 percent approval ratings at this [...]
LeMieux to run for U.S. Senate
Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who served for 16 months after he was appointed to finish the term of Mel Martinez, announced this morning that he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Read more.
“Merit” pay could be based on flawed system
Florida Tribune: Florida's new performance pay law would put in place a evaluation system that has been questioned nationally. The teacher evaluation portion of the bill turns on a statistical method that has been called into question – by teachers and economists alike -- in more than one recent [...]
Wachovia laundered money for Mexican drug cartel
Something you won't find in the local daily today: The Observer reported in its Sunday edition that Wachovia Bank laundered billions of dollars for the Mexican drug lords. A 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others [...]