The Florida Independent

Archive for 2010

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren (Pic via Wikimedia Commons)

Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren to kick off Scott’s $2.5 million inauguration

By | 12.30.10 | 2:57 pm

Fox News anchor and celebrity attorney Greta Van Susteren has been tapped to deliver the keynote speech at Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s inaugural Salute to Women event in Tallahassee next week.

Attorney General Pam Bondi (Pic via Facebook)

Bondi selects former co-worker for statewide prosecutor

By | 12.30.10 | 2:47 pm

Attorney General-elect Pam Bondi has chosen a former co-worker at the Hillsborough state attorney’s office to be Florida’s next statewide prosecutor.

(Pic via Wikimedia Commons)

South Florida ruling may hamper pill mill prosecutions

By | 12.30.10 | 2:40 pm

The Sun Sentinel reports that an appeals court has thrown out drug trafficking charges against two Broward County men who obtained excessive amounts of pain pills by visiting multiple doctors.

Florida resident and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at a 2010 book tour stop in Sarasota (Pic by Cooper Levey-Baker)

Update: Huckabee-affiliated anti-health care reform group fires scam artist

By | 12.30.10 | 1:53 pm

The chairman of Restore America’s Voice issued a statement to media outlets yesterday following reports by Think Progress and The Florida Independent that highlighted the fact that the PAC’s “Repeal it Now” anti-health care reform campaign was being managed by Derek Oberholtzer of 949 Media Group, a scam artist made infamous for his “Apply 2 Save” foreclosure relief program that defrauded distressed homeowners nationwide.

Oil spill claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg (Pic via Wikipedia)

Ethics professor: Feinberg ‘not BP’s lawyer’ (Updated)

By | 12.30.10 | 1:48 pm

The Gulf Coast Claims facility has released a letter (.pdf) from an expert on legal ethics, affirming the independence of oil spill claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg and suggesting steps the fund should take to explain its relationship with BP to claimants.

President Barack Obama in Jacksonville (Pic via Wikimedia Commons)

Obama makes recess appointments, House members complain

By | 12.30.10 | 1:39 pm

President Obama made six recess appointments Wednesday, allowing officials to bypass Senate confirmation to serve for approximately one year.

A concentrated oil burn near Venice, La., in May 2010 (Pic by Deepwater Horizon Response)

Oil spill payments flow to Florida’s west coast, but county-by-county data unavailable

By | 12.30.10 | 12:23 pm

The St. Petersburg Times reports that claimants along the un-oiled portions of Florida’s Gulf Coast are finally receiving money from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, as the fund begins issuing final payments.

(Pic by abarefoot)

Report shows declining teen birthrate

By | 12.30.10 | 11:36 am

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention report (.pdf) issued Dec. 21 shows that the teen birth rate in the U.S. hit a record low in 2009, decreasing in all states except five. The study shows that the birth rate for U.S. teenagers, ages 15-19, fell 6 percent to 39.1 per 1,000, a record low for the nation.

Betsie Gallardo (Pic via Jessica Bussert)

Update on Gallardo case: Dying Florida prisoner transferred to hospital

By | 12.30.10 | 9:06 am

Betsie Gallardo, the HIV-positive woman serving five years in a Florida prison, has been transferred from the prison infirmary to a Miami hospital, reports her mother Jessica Bussert. The transfer was made so Gallardo could begin receiving Total Parenteral Nutrition I.V. treatment.

A chart showing the high number of Florida officials convicted between 1998 and 2007 (Pic via Statewide Grand Jury on Public Corruption)

Grand jury recommends Florida public corruption crackdown measures

By | 12.30.10 | 8:46 am

The Statewide Grand Jury on Public Corruption released its first report (.pdf) late Wednesday, urging lawmakers preparing for the upcoming legislative session to consider a number of measures that could curtail corruption deemed “pervasive at all levels of government” and hold accountable those public officials who “flagrantly abuse their positions,” yet escape reprimand.

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