FIU board approves second tuition hike
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
Florida International University's Board of Trustees voted Monday to raise tuition by an additional 9 percent for the fall semester, bringing the total tuition hike for this year to 15 percent, the maximum allowed under state rules. The board decided, during a special meeting held by conference call, to take advantage of FIU's new differential-tuition status…

School grades to be released today
(Orlando Sentinel © 07/08/2008)
TALLAHASSEE - Teachers across Florida are anxiously awaiting the Department of Education's annual grading of individual schools. Only about a third of Florida's public schools meet the federal No Child Left Behind Act standards and officials are looking for improvement when this year's school grades are released today.

Doctors assess statins for kids to reduce cholesterol
(St. Petersburg Times © 07/08/2008)
Giving powerful cholesterol drugs to children is a drastic, even risky step, several Florida pediatricians said Monday. But doing nothing amid a national epidemic of obese children would be even riskier, they said. "I had a child (patient) with Type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Janet Silverstein, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

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FIU board approves second tuition hike
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
Florida International University's Board of Trustees voted Monday to raise tuition by an additional 9 percent for the fall semester, bringing the total tuition hike for this year to 15 percent, the maximum allowed under state rules. The board decided, during a special meeting held by conference call, to take advantage of FIU's new differential-tuition status…

USF program continues to give students head start
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 07/08/2008)
TAMPA — For some, their childhoods were marked by foster homes and food stamps. Others dodged the drugs and guns that permeated Miami's housing projects. Many were raised in one-parent households where their part-time work helped pay…The University of South Florida is giving them a head start on their freshman year

FAU officials to discuss climate, energy in London
(Palm Beach Post © 07/08/2008)
BOCA RATON - Florida Atlantic University officials will spend an estimated $15,000 next week on a London trip to discuss climate change and formalize partnerships with two British schools to study renewable energy. FAU President Frank Brogan, who will leave Saturday for London…

UCF gets $8.75M for energy research
(Florida Today © 07/08/2008)
Energy experts plan to help Floridians temper rising energy prices through a new statewide consortium fueled by a $50 million state investment. The Florida Energy Systems Consortium will bring together researchers, facilities and technology from state universities to work toward higher energy efficiency.

Is your baby autistic? UF researchers' book helps provide answers
(Orlando Sentinel © 07/08/2008)
For years, the parents of some autistic children have said they knew from shortly after their babies were born that there was something different about them. Now two researchers at the University of Florida, who have spent more than a decade studying the movements of autistic babies, say they often learn to crawl and walk differently than normal babies.

UF study says toads near farms more likely to have abnormalities
(Gainesville Sun © 07/08/2008)
Toads living near farms are more likely to develop sexual abnormalities than toads living in the suburbs, according to a new study by University of Florida researchers. The study compared toads from five South Florida sites with different degrees of agricultural activity. The research has implications for humans, she said, who produce testosterone in the same way as toads.

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School grades to be released today
(Orlando Sentinel © 07/08/2008)
TALLAHASSEE - Teachers across Florida are anxiously awaiting the Department of Education's annual grading of individual schools. Only about a third of Florida's public schools meet the federal No Child Left Behind Act standards and officials are looking for improvement when this year's school grades are released today.

District gets break on repayment
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
The Miami-Dade school district will not have to return the $16 million of construction-fund dollars it used to pay technology support specialists in the 2006-07 fiscal year, state education officials said. But the district had to reimburse its own capital budget for the $2.5 million it spent on software and audio-visual technicians -- money that could have helped close a projected $284 million budget…

Failure not an option for middle school kids
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
Failing English, math, science or social studies classes in middle school never kept Florida students from moving on to high school in the past. That's not the case anymore. Beginning this fall, a Florida law enacted two years ago will require all students to pass their core subjects in middle school in order to be promoted to the ninth grade.

Memo to Pasco school principals was miscommunication
(St. Petersburg Times © 07/08/2008)
LAND O'LAKES — For the second time in just over a year, the Pasco school district's administration division has landed in hot water after issuing a controversial memo without the superintendent's authorization. Last year, assistant superintendent Renalia DuBose sent out a missive in superintendent Heather Fiorentino's name…

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Foster child denied shot at new liver
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
A disabled foster child whose liver is failing has been removed from a Central Florida hospital's organ-transplant waiting list because hospital administrators fear the state's shaky child-welfare system cannot ensure he has a permanent home in which to recover. Shands Hospital in Gainesville removed the boy, 15, from a waiting list for organ recipients…

Doctors assess statins for kids to reduce cholesterol
(St. Petersburg Times © 07/08/2008)
Giving powerful cholesterol drugs to children is a drastic, even risky step, several Florida pediatricians said Monday. But doing nothing amid a national epidemic of obese children would be even riskier, they said. "I had a child (patient) with Type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Janet Silverstein, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Pricey Drugs Put Squeeze on Doctors
(The Wall Street Journal © 07/08/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO -- Long a burden for patients, hyperexpensive cancer drugs are causing economic havoc for another constituency in U.S. health care: doctors. American doctors rarely used to let costs factor into their treatment decisions. But rising prices -- some cancer drugs now cost more than $100,000 a year -- are dramatically changing that ethos in the field of oncology.

Brain boost: How to keep memory lapses at bay
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
You put your keys in the fridge and forgot Mom's birthday. No use denying: Your brain is on its way to becoming a few pounds of petrified gray matter, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Patty Soffer is betting otherwise. Watching her dad, 87, and mom, 79, grow increasingly what she calls ''memory-challenged,''…

NOAA report: US coral reefs in severe decline
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 07/08/2008)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Almost half the coral reef ecosystems in United States territory are in poor or fair condition, mostly because of rising ocean temperatures, according to a government report released Monday. The reefs discussed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin…

Florida Voting: Third Time's the Charm?
(Time Magazine © 07/08/2008)
For more than half of Florida's voters, including residents of the state's five largest counties, Election Day in November will mean choosing a President using a third new voting system in as many presidential elections. First it was those notorious punch cards; then it was ATM-style touch-screen machines. Now these Floridians will have the optical-scan ballot.

High prices nudge Europe nearer to GM food
(Washington Post © 07/08/2008)
ZURICH (Reuters) - Like many in Europe, Switzerland's Coop supermarkets do not specify whether goods are genetically modified -- none are. But a wave of food inflation may help wash away resistance to "Frankenstein foods."  These are already common in the United States and other major food exporters…

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Florida needs 35,000 acres to make 'Glades flow a go
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 07/08/2008)
The powerful and politically savvy Fanjul family is in the catbird seat when it comes to the multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration plan. That's because its Florida Crystals sugar operation owns roughly 35,000 acres of sugar cane that South Florida water managers need if they are to complete their ambitious plan for a "flow-way" connecting Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

Casino targets tribe's gaming
(Miami Herald © 07/08/2008)
Pompano Park's Isle Casino asked a federal judge Monday to halt blackjack and other new card games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, citing Thursday's Florida Supreme Court ruling that struck down the tribe's gambling agreement with the state.The Isle, one of three state-regulated casinos in Broward County and a Hard Rock competitor, asked for a preliminary injunction to stop the games.

Eateries vanishing in the soft economy
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 07/08/2008)
The good days are over for the Rustic Grill, an upscale Zagat-rated restaurant that garnered accolades from across Southwest Florida. Just some restaurants that are no more in the Sarasota and Bradenton areas. Atlanta Bread Co. Boston's Gourmet…National restaurants that have been closing their sites may be harbingers of what is to come for locals…

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