Florida high court strikes 3 amendments from ballot
TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Supreme Court sliced three proposed constitutional amendments from the ballot Tuesday and threw out a challenge to two more, setting the boundaries for the November vote.
In a series of opinions released Tuesday afternoon, justices struck down a legislative redistricting amendment, a measure challenging the federal health care law and a property tax measure. They also ordered a lower court to dismiss a challenge to a pair of citizen-initiative redistricting proposals, meaning the votes on those measures will go forward.
All three redistricting amendments deal with the rules lawmakers will face when they begin crafting the districts for legislative and congressional districts following the results of the 2010 Census.
Amendments 5 and 6, sponsored by the group Fair Districts Florida, are aimed at barring lawmakers from drawing politically gerrymandered districts. The Legislature countered with its own proposal, Amendment 7, arguing that the citizen proposals could endanger some districts drawn to preserve “communities of interest” or allow minority voters to elect representatives of their choice – a charge Fair Districts denies.
On a 5-2 vote, the court ruled that Amendment 7 would have allowed lawmakers to ignore a long-standing constitutional requirement that districts be contiguous, but that the ballot summary didn’t state that.
“This is a matter that should have been clearly and unambiguously stated in the ballot language. Failing this clear explanation, the voters will be unaware of the valuable right – the right to have districts composed of contiguous territory – which may be lost if the amendment is adopted,” the majority ruled.
Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince, Jorge Labarga and E.C. Perry joined the majority.
In a dissent, Chief Justice Charles Canady said the majority misread the amendment and was overstepping its bounds.
“The majority’s decision unduly interferes with a process that is fundamental to our constitutional system of democratic governance,” Canady wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Ricky Polston.
Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said he respected the court.
“However, it’s terribly disappointing to have the work of the legislative branch demolished by a co-equal branch of government, especially when there’s no express authority in the constitution for their doing so,” he said.
In the case dealing with the citizen amendments, the court ordered the dismissal of a case filed by U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, a Democrat from Jacksonville, and Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Miami.
Brown and Diaz-Balart challenged Amendment 6, which deals with congressional districts. Legislators later successfully asked the circuit court hearing the case to add a challenge to Amendment 5, dealing with legislative districts.
Threat of ’serial attacks’
The court ruled that hearing the case after the Supreme Court already upheld the ballot language in an earlier advisory opinion would “encourage serial attacks on citizen initiatives.”
Four justices – Canady, Lewis, Quince and Labarga – joined the decision, Polston joined parts of it while saying the circuit court should hear parts of the case the Supreme Court didn’t touch on in its earlier decision, and Pariente and Perry recused themselves.
Brown and Diaz-Balart denounced the ruling in a joint statement issued late Tuesday.
“I wholeheartedly believe that Amendment 6 is merely a subtle attempt to dilute minority representation on a federal level,” Brown said. “… This amendment is nothing more than a deceitful attempt to turn the clock back to the days before 1992, when Florida did not have any African-American representation in Congress.”
House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, hailed both redistricting decisions.
“The Florida Supreme Court today checked the arrogant abuse of power by Republican legislative leaders by ensuring that voters will have a reasonable opportunity to improve our state’s redistricting process,” he said.
Health care mandates stay
The health care amendment would have barred mandates for health care services in Florida, potentially challenging a provision in the federal health care law requiring citizens to buy insurance.
The state had asked the court to replace the entire amendment for a ballot summary it conceded was misleading, but the court ruled 5-2 that it would not, instead setting aside an unpublished 2004 opinion that allowed a summary to be replaced with the amendment itself.
“Our role in this process is as a reviewer of constitutional validity, not as an editor or author,” the court held.
In a dissent, Canady said the court should have followed the state’s advice.
“The courts should act with restraint when we are asked to interpose judicial power to bar the people from voting on a proposal submitted to them by their elected representatives,” he wrote, in a dissent joined by Polston.
The property tax measure, dealing with a break for non-homesteaded property, was also a 5-2 decision with Canady and Polston dissenting.
Incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, questioned all four decisions.
“It is a sad day when more than 60 percent of the elected representatives of the people of the state of Florida can’t get ballot measures approved by the court, but special interest groups can,” he said.
brandon.larrabee@jacksonville.com,
Del Rio and Garrard are still sensing a Jaguars breakthrough
Forget David Garrard’s ill-timed interception, the nine penalties, the struggles in the red zone and the running game and the failure of the first-string defensive line to get any sacks.
Even though the starters trailed 13-9 late in the third quarter in Tampa Saturday night before the backups pulled out a 19-13 victory, coach Jack Del Rio was upbeat after the game.
So was Garrard. “This offense is definitely ready to start the season,” he said. “This team is ready to start the season.”
The regular season starts in 13 days against the Denver Broncos. There’s one more preseason game, Thursday night at EverBank Field against Atlanta.
And Del Rio is pleased about the progress the Jaguars have made.
“I’m seeing positive signs,” he said. “I thought our tackling was a little better. We will continue to work on it. I am convinced that this football team has, at every turn, [when] demands have been placed on them, [they] have responded and worked. They are embracing the core team values that we have laid out.”
Del Rio added, “They are giving it up for each other. They are challenging each other. They are working hard. They are committed to excellence. I’m proud of the way we are approaching things. I know as a football team, we are getting better.”
The Jaguars appear to have good chemistry and now the question is whether they’ll be ready for a fast start. After the opener, they play at San Diego and home against Philadelphia and Indianapolis.
Del Rio will move a step closer to starting the season today when he indicated he will name his 22 starters. He did add that even though Brad Meester didn’t play much against the Bucs, he will be the starting center.
The Jaguars wanted to give backup center Uche Nwaneri, who will start at guard, work at center while Vince Manuwai and Justin Smiley received a longer look at the guard positions.
They are locked in a battle for the second guard spot with Kynan Forney, who didn’t play.
Deciding the winner of that battle could be one of Del Rio’s toughest decisions.
Manuwai lost the starting position earlier in camp when he had back issues, but he’s healthy now and back in the mix.
“I can’t control what happens,” Manuwai said, “I think I played pretty well, but whatever happens, happens.”
Manuwai said he’s having no problems with his knee after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2008.
Once the five starters are picked on the offensive line, they will have two weeks to get the continuity a line needs to begin the season.
Del Rio didn’t seem concerned that the Jaguars rushed only 11 times for 33 yards in the first half on Saturday night against the Bucs because the offense has been spending so much time working on its passing game.
Del Rio also has to make a decision at safety, but Reggie Nelson returned to the starting lineup and was praised by the coach for being more disciplined.
He appears to have a good chance to keep the job.
The rest of the positions seem set, but the big question is how healthy they’ll be once the season starts.
Del Rio was encouraged that they didn’t suffer any new injuries against the Bucs. Tight end Marcedes Lewis came out with an ankle injury, but Del Rio said he could have played if it had been a regular-season game.
They’ve had to deal with a rash of injuries in camp. Running back Maurice Jones-Drew and all three starting linebackers sat out the Tampa Bay game.
The Jaguars, who cut to 75 Tuesday and 53 next Saturday, also have to decide how to fill out the roster.
Fullback Brock Bolen, who ran seven times for 26 yards in the second half, and John Matthews, who caught a 27-yard touchdown pass for the go-ahead score, both helped themselves in Del Rio’s eyes.
“I think the two guys have been terrific,” Del Rio said. “I think both of them deserve a good, hard look and we are going to make sure we do that as an organization.”
vito.stellino@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4279
0 CommentsEconomic Report: Consumer confidence inches up in August
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Consumer confidence rose slightly in August but still remains weak, according to a report released Friday.
Consumer confidence as measured by a Reuters/University of Michigan final poll improved to 68.9 in August from 67.8 in July. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected an increase to 69.0.
Yet the closely watched Michigan survey stands well below June’s reading of 76.0. David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff, has calculated that the average reading during recessions is about 74, with the average during expansions around 91.
The Big Interview with Robert Shiller
Robert Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale University, sits down with Simon Constable to discuss the sharp falloff in home sales, the likelihood of a double-dip recession and what the Federal Reserve should do to stimulate the U.S. economy.
A slew of data over the past month indicates that the U.S. recovery has slowed after a brief surge earlier in the year.
On Friday, for example, the federal government reported the economy grew just 1.6% in the second quarter, down from an original reading of 2.4%. The economy expanded at a much faster 3.75 clip in the first quarter.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remains near a 27-year high at 9.5%, further depressing consumer confidence about the future.
The University of Michigan’s consumer expectations index finished at 62.9 in August, up slightly from 62.3 in July. The index is 3.2% lower compared to a year earlier.
“Optimism has been the primary characteristic of American consumers during the past half century,” said economist Richard Curtin, who’s in charge of the survey. “Now economic uncertainty reigns.”
The current conditions index, on the other hand, was a much healthier 78.3, compared to 76.5 in July, suggesting little deterioration in the condition of most consumers.
Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.
The Fed: Bernanke talks tough on deflation
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that the central bank would not sit idly and let the U.S. economy sink into a period of deflation.
“The Federal Open Market Committee will strongly resist deviations from price stability in the downward direction,” Bernanke said in a speech opening the Fed’s annual summer policy retreat.
See related First Take on Bernanke speech.
The Fed would be “vigilant and proactive” if inflation falls by a significant amount, he said, though he downplayed concern that the economy would fall back into another downturn, or a double-dip recession.
The Big Interview with Robert Shiller
Robert Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale University, sits down with Simon Constable to discuss the sharp falloff in home sales, the likelihood of a double-dip recession and what the Federal Reserve should do stimulate the U.S. economy.
He said the economy would continue to grow at a slow pace in the last four months of the year and the pace of growth would pick-up in 2011.
See related story on second-quarter growth.
“I expect the economy to continue to expand in the second half of this year, albeit at a relatively modest pace,” he said.
And despite the weak second quarter, “the preconditions for a pickup in growth in 2011 appear to remain in place,” he added.
U.S. stocks turned lower after the Bernanke speech was published, though his speech also coincided with a revenue downgrade by the world’s leading chipmaker, Intel. By late morning, stocks were broadly higher again.
See Market Snapshot.
Bernanke: Fed still has tools
Bernanke said there was only a low risk of deflation. But he acknowledged that inflation has dropped to a level slightly below that which FOMC participants view “as most conducive to a healthy economy in the long run.”
He spoke at length about the tools left in his toolkit to fight deflation and promised to use them if the outlook deteriorated significantly.
Responding almost directly to an op-ed published Thursday by ex-Fed vice chairman Alan Blinder saying the Fed was running low on ammo, Bernanke said: “The issue at this stage is not whether we have the tools to help support economic activity and guard against disinflation. We do. As I will discuss next, the issue is instead whether, at any given juncture, the benefits of each tool, in terms of additional stimulus, outweigh the associated costs or risks of using the tool.”
At the top of his list of options — more purchases of Treasurys by the Fed. Bernanke said these purchases would ease financial market conditions.
He said the central bankers thought that buying Treasurys was the proper course of action. But added “we do not rule out changing the reinvestment strategy if circumstances warrant.”
Bernanke said the FOMC “has not agreed on specific criteria or triggers for further action.”
In early August, the Federal Open Market Committee took a baby step toward further quantitative easing by deciding to hold the size of the Fed’s balance sheet constant through reinvesting principal repayments from mortgage securities into Treasurys. Bernanke described that option Friday as avoiding “an undesirable passive tightening of policy that might otherwise have occurred.”
The economy is slowing at a time when the Fed has already cut interest rates to close to zero. Since March 2009, the Fed has promised to keep rates low for an “extended period.”
Bernanke said Friday the FOMC would consider modifying the language to communicate to investors that it plans to keep the federal funds rate low for a longer period than is currently priced in markets.
He also said the Fed could lower the rate of interest it pays banks on the reserves they park at the central bank, though he stressed that the effect in isolation would likely be relatively small.
One policy option Bernanke rebuffed was to increase medium-term inflation goals above levels consistent with price stability. “I see no support for this option on the FOMC,” the central bank chief said.
He didn’t mention buying private assets like credit-card receivables or corporate debt, as some economists, including Blinder, suggest.
Greg Robb is a senior reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.
Rick Scott wins GOP governor primary
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Health-care executive and health-care reform nemesis Rick Scott narrowly defeated Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP gubernatorial nomination Tuesday night.
“With a deep sense of humility, I’m here tonight to accept the Republican nomination for the office of governor of our great state of Florida,” Scott said, proclaiming victory in a sentence that was interrupted by the cheers of supporters. “The people of Florida have spoken, and I like what they’ve said.”
McCollum’s campaign said he was planning to issue a statement early today, conceding. The attorney general admitted earlier in the evening that he was behind, but said there were still enough uncounted votes in South Florida to swing the election.
Related:
Garden Q&A: Be patient, a fringe tree is a slow grower
I transplanted a fringe tree a couple of years ago that I had potted. It bloomed some in the spring and looks healthy, but doesn’t seem to grow much. Do you think something is wrong?
Everything about your description tells me you have a healthy tree. What you also have is a tree that pretty much grows like a snail moves – slowly.
Chionanthus virginicus, also known as the fringe tree or old-man’s-beard, does indeed grow slowly – 6 to 10 inches a year, maybe a bit more if you fertilize it. While you don’t get the instant gratification effect that you might get with faster growing trees, you have a potentially beautiful specimen.
It is a deciduous tree and as it emerges with new growth in the spring, it puts on a show with its bright white, slightly fragrant flowers. As the tree matures and produces more flowers, it can look like the tree is covered with hundreds of thin strands of silky cotton.
The tree eventually grows 12 to 20 feet in height with a spread of 10 to 12 feet. Consider this tree a lucky find for your landscape as they can be difficult to locate.
My son gave me a plant, which he calls a native hibiscus. If I send you a picture, can you help me learn more about it? Also, it is getting spindly, and I want to know if I can prune it.
I didn’t know what a native hibiscus was until I did some research. The leaves do not resemble the oval type shape that I am used to seeing on hibiscus. What you have is the native Hibiscus coccineus, commonly known as the swamp mallow. As you have experienced, it grows upright, narrowly and reaches a height of 4 to 6 feet. It is a perennial, and, if affected by a freeze, should recover.
Since yours is in a pot, you might want to protect it during freezing weather. Yes, you can prune it now as it should have plenty of time to put on healthy growth before winter comes.
Good News: Jacksonville boy wins laptop in Woody’s design contest
Dylan Owens likes pink pigs. So much so that he made one out of such recycled items as a bleach bottle, plastic juice jugs, toilet paper rolls for hands, soda cans for legs, a plastic fruit bowl for a face, water bottle caps, construction paper and plastic sauce containers.
The 8-year-old Jacksonville resident’s entry so pleased the judges that he took the top prize in the national creative design contested sponsored by Woody’s Bar-B-Q. As a result, he won a laptop computer.
“I think my pig is very cute,” Dylan said in a news release. “I got the idea when we went to Woody’s one day, and I really wanted to do it so I took a picture of the pig on the website.”
His mother, Donna Haas, helped, and it took two days, he said.
“It was so awesome making my own pig, and my mom thinks it’s cool and cute,” he said in the release.
Not only did he win the pig contest but his family has adopted Bartram Road on the Southside in honor of his grandfather, Donald J. Haas, and he helps clean it each month. Additionally, he’s an all-star baseball outfielder with the San Jose All Stars.
Here’s more good news:
- Augustus Bennett captivated audiences with a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare to take first place in the English-Speaking Union’s Jacksonville Branch regional competition.
That won Bennett, a student at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a trip to Lincoln Center in New York for the national competition where he was a semi-finalist among 58 competitors. He also got to attend an acting workshop at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
The school-based program is designed to help students develop speaking and critical thinking skills and an appreciation of literature as they explore Shakespeare’s works.
- Abaca Davine Dowling, a student at Stanton College Preparatory School, has been helping preserve Florida’s waterways. She chose this as her state program while serving as state president of Children of the American Revolution.
She focused on the St. Johns River and its tributaries and sold a preservation pin and bookmark that raised $5,000 for the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a news release said.0
During the year, the teen coordinated meetings and events with the Riverkeeper to acquaint Children of the American Revolution members with the St. Johns. The Riverkeeper helped the group with a guided river cleanup at North Shore Picnic Park, a guided boat trip along the Ortega River and a presentation at the Lightner Museum.
At the organization’s meetings throughout the state, the teen spoke about the St. Johns and the importance of preserving it, while encouraging other chapters to take on waterways in their areas.
- A team of employees from PBS&J’s Jacksonville office and JEA recently spent a week in El Adelanto, Guatemala, installing a water system. Employees joined other volunteers with Wisconsin Water for the World, an organization that provides resources for safe drinking water to people in needy communities, and Agua Para Salud, an in-country nonprofit dedicated to building water systems in Guatemala.
“Locals of El Adelanto face severe health and hygiene issues due to limited access to clean water,” Heather Cavanagh, a volunteer and an engineer with PBS&J, said in a news release.
The team used a nearby mountain spring as its water source. The completed project included a storage tank, collection basin and transmission piping to transport the water from its source to the new faucets. A disinfection mechanism and water meters also were installed.
The new system gives about 50 homes and more than 300 residents access to sanitized water. Recent rains and mudslides from Tropical Storm Agatha damaged nearby water systems, but the new installation in El Adelanto remains intact.
Other donors contributing to the project included Florida Water Environment Association, Florida Rotary Partners and Florida Section of American Water Works Association.
- Terri Taylor, a READ 180 teacher at Englewood High School, is one of four teachers nationwide to receive the 2010 Scholastic Outstanding Educator Award.
Have good news? Send items to goodnews@jacksonville.com or fax them to (904) 359-4478 or mail them to The Florida Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231.
0 CommentsNewsWatch: U.S. stocks hang on Fed, economy in week ahead
By MarketWatch
MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE
Jobless figures put pressure on the Fed to decide on further ‘quantitative easing’ for the economy in the coming week.
See full story.
Five retail stocks that can beat consumers’ blues
Retailers’ earnings picture is mixed nowadays, but investors with a longer and patient horizon may want to focus on five retailers that are positioning their businesses to weather the industry’s challenges.
See full story.
Stocks in focus Monday: Tyson Foods, McDermott
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday’s session are Tyson Foods Inc., McDermott International Inc. and WellCare Health Plans Inc.
See full story.
MarketWatch Top 10 stories for August 2 – 6
U.S. stocks stage another dramatic performance in a hectic week that ended with an abrupt CEO resignation from a tech giant.
See full story.
Research in Motion, Saudi Arabia in deal: reports
Blackberry maker Research in Motion Ltd. and Saudi Arabia’s telecom regulator and local phone operators reportedly reach agreement over government access to encrypted data.
See full story.
MARKETWATCH COMMENTARY
Rambus Inc. investors have been dancing a little jig lately because of some legal victories, but they’ve got a long way to go down litigation road, writes Therese Poletti.
See full story.
MARKETWATCH PERSONAL FINANCE
As the 2010 second-quarter earnings season wraps up, accounting sleuths are once again scouring the latest reports for disconnects between what company executives are telling investors and what the numbers are saying.
See full story.
Peter Brimelow: Gold crawls back on physical demand
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold seems to have stemmed its recent summer slide — perhaps vindicating the gold bugs who watch physical demand, primarily from India.
Last week, when I wrote about gold, gloom was (not for the first time) widespread. (
See July 29 column.) Gold had plunged 2.5% in two days to a level last seen in April. The gold-oriented Aden Report was alarmed, suggesting $1,135 and even $1,080 possible. And The Gartman Letter, which is closely read on many professional trading desks, was even contemplating shorting the metal.
(I noted many in the pro-gold camp would — rather nastily — see Gartman’s move as a “reliable reverse indicator.”)
As it happened, that was about the recent low. (Blind luck, of course.) Gold has crawled up some 3% since then, briefly penetrating $1,200 on Wednesday. Can it go further?
Some in the gold camp are saying it does not matter. They are pointing to the dramatic agreed $7.1 billion takeover by Kinross Gold Corp.
/quotes/comstock/13*!kgc/quotes/nls/kgc
(KGC
15.72,
+0.27,
+1.75%)
of the West African gold-mine developer Red Back Mining Inc.
/quotes/comstock/11t!rbi
(CA:RBI
28.05,
+0.60,
+2.19%)
Owners of Red Back have made 700% from the 2008 low.
The point is that once gold gets to a level at which average gold deposits are viable, the discoverers of somewhat better ones make fortunes. So do patient prospectors amongst the junior gold names. It is a great time for what some deride as “rock hounds.”
This is what happened during the circa-$300 plateau in gold that occurred 1993-96, when it was considered a healthy price.
This summer’s gold decline was stopped by an eruption of physical buying from Asia — just as the radical gold bugs I quoted last week expected.
Edel Tully, the UBS gold analyst, noted on Tuesday: “UBS daily sales to India were the second highest recorded this year. Perhaps more important, the five-day moving average of our sales index currently sits at its greatest level since late November 2008.”
Needless to say this has greatly delighted the hard men of the gold world who are gathered around Bill Murphy at the LeMetropoleCafe Web site. I call them the “radical gold bugs.”
It fits exactly with Murphy’s comment last week: “As long as the physical market holds up, it is only a matter of time before gold and silver go back up.”
This group stresses the seasonal demand surge from India, which usually is seen from late August into early next year.
A somewhat different group of gold enthusiasts is greatly excited by indications from China this week that it will permit broader and more flexible activity in the local gold market.
Nevertheless, gold has not healed the enormous technical damage inflicted by this summer’s slide.
The Aden Forecast hotline posted last night equivocates: “Today’s rise in gold is starting to look promising, but it’s too soon to tell. If gold (basis December) now stays above $1,191, it will be stabilizing, but not until gold rises and stays above $1,202 will the decline be over. Below $1,162 means more weakness to come, and gold could then possibly test the major trend near $1,085. Some gold shares are oversold and rising from this level. The PHLX Gold/Silver
/quotes/comstock/10y!i:xau
(XAU
173.91,
+3.66,
+2.15%)
index is in a solid major uptrend above 164. Keep your positions.”
But Dow Theory Letters’ Richard Russell offered a longer perspective in his posting on Wednesday night: “I sense a real battle in the gold market, with the primary bull trend pushing gold higher and the powerful anti-gold elements doing all they can to keep the price of gold down. Obviously, the next round in the gold battle is to move December gold into the $1,300s.”
“Remember the struggle to get gold over $1,000? That battle is forgotten now. It’s been one long brutal war for and against gold. But I have faith in the primary trend. The primary bull trend of gold is more powerful than all of the world’s central banks taken together.”
Baptist-South nurse blames hospital after legs, fingers amputated
A nurse at Baptist Medical Center-South announced plans to sue her employer Tuesday over the loss of her legs and fingers to a bacterial infection she said hospital staff failed to quickly diagnose.
Jean Law, 40, had both legs amputated below the knee, as well as eight fingers and part of her nose after her flesh began dying from sepsis in February. A complaint has been filed with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and a malpractice lawsuit is planned once a 90-day notice period to the hospital has expired, said attorney Thomas Edwards, one of two representing Law.
A Baptist system spokeswoman had not returned a phone message as of early this afternoon.
