Fla. has voting chaos deja vu
(St. Augustine Record © 09/22/2008)
MIAMI -- Missing ballots. A cadre of lawyers. An election recount. Welcome to Palm Beach County in 2008. With less than eight weeks before the November general election, Palm Beach County leaders and Florida elections officials are still trying to sort out what happened during a local election Aug. 26. The problems remind some of the chaos during the Bush-Gore recount in 2000, albeit w...

Budget cuts could limit classroom diversity
(Orlando Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
The number of minorities teaching in Central Florida has grown nearly 30 percent in recent years, during a time when school districts statewide boosted their numbers only about half as much. Budget cuts, however, are forcing districts to back off their recruitment efforts and eliminate jobs, opening a debate about the importance of race in teaching. Some educators and parents say it's crit...

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State looking for ways to curb college textbook costs
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
Many college students find themselves with sticker shock when they make that first trip to the campus bookstore. A recent state report found that students pay an average of $117 per class for textbooks in community colleges and $127 in state universities. For a university student taking 15 hours, that would be about $635 just for books. "I'm taking four classes, and I spent $300 and something on...

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Duval County seeks tougher accreditation
(Florida Times-Union © 09/22/2008)
The Duval County school system wants to join dozens of Florida's school districts by earning a new, more rigorous district-level accreditation next month.     The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the only accrediting body for public schools in 11 southern states, used to evaluate only individual schools on an approximately five-y...

No time to play? Schools face pressure to shave time off recess
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
They start with a lively relay race from a chain-link fence to a sidewalk about 50 yards away. Then it's freeze tag. "Tag! Do it again! Do it again!" a boy shouts at two girls crouching in a runner's stance and shifting from one foot to the other. Every day includes playtime for Stephen DeCotis' fourth-grade class at Croissant Park Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale. The daily half-hou...

Agencies start effort to find more mentors
(Ocala Star Banner © 09/22/2008)
OCALA - There are kids in Marion County who need an adult friend to be a mentor to them. They may be kids just placed in foster homes, or young adults who just moved out of foster care, or a kid from a single-family home who needs a role model. They may be kids who have gotten involved in the juvenile justice system or kids who need to learn to read better. Agencies that work with these yo...

Budget cuts could limit classroom diversity
(Orlando Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
The number of minorities teaching in Central Florida has grown nearly 30 percent in recent years, during a time when school districts statewide boosted their numbers only about half as much. Budget cuts, however, are forcing districts to back off their recruitment efforts and eliminate jobs, opening a debate about the importance of race in teaching. Some educators and parents say it's crit...

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Institutionalized Medicaid recipients sue Florida
(Bradenton Herald © 09/22/2008)
Charles Todd Lee spent a lifetime going backstage at concerts, following politicians on the campaign trail and capturing iconic shots of everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Mick Jagger to Mickey Mantle. Today, he enjoys such freedom only in his dreams. The 67-year-old photographer has been confined to a nursing home for five years, the victim of a stroke that paralyzed his left side. And he's...

Planning is important when it comes to your health-care coverage
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
On your own to bridge the gap between retirement and Medicare? You're not alone. Twenty years ago, two-thirds of employers with 200 or more workers offered health benefits to retirees, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust. Today, that number has dwindled to one-third. Even retirees older than 65 can't be certain they are set for life w...

New health care policy allows parents' plans for children until age 30
(Lehigh News Star © 09/22/2008)
Florida this year becomes one of only two states allowing children to stay on their parents' plans until they are 30, if they meet certain criteria. The only other state to extend dependent benefits that long is New Jersey, according to researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that tracks health policy. Beginning Oct. 1, parents can opt to keep their children covered ...

Federal Reserve changes status of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to bank holding companies
(Orlando Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Federal Reserve said Sunday it had granted a request by the country's last two major investment banks — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to change their status to bank holding companies. The Fed announced that it had approved the request of the two investment banks. The change in status will allow them to create commercial banks that will be able to take deposi...

Fla. has voting chaos deja vu
(St. Augustine Record © 09/22/2008)
MIAMI -- Missing ballots. A cadre of lawyers. An election recount. Welcome to Palm Beach County in 2008. With less than eight weeks before the November general election, Palm Beach County leaders and Florida elections officials are still trying to sort out what happened during a local election Aug. 26. The problems remind some of the chaos during the Bush-Gore recount in 2000, albeit w...

Judge rules against gay adoption ban
(St. Augustine Record © 09/22/2008)
KEY WEST (AP) -- A circuit court judge has ruled unconstitutional Florida's 31-year-old gay adoption ban, one of only two such statewide bans in the country. The Monroe County judge's ruling allows a gay foster parent here to adopt a teenage boy he has raised since 2001, but does not mean there will be any statewide change in policy. Circuit judges in Florida have twice before found the statut...

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Patients say they're battling red tape while they're sick
(Florida Health News © 09/22/2008)
NORTH MIAMI -- First there was the graphic artist who brought her medical bills in one large box, and the pills costing her thousands of dollars a year in another. She couldn’t find an insurance plan that would cover her. Then there was the mother whose infant son with a heart condition needed sildenafil, also known as Viagra—the male sex drug that originated as a treatment for angin...

Record number of women testing for breast cancer genes leads more to ponder testing kids
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 09/22/2008)
CHICAGO (AP) _ Women are going for breast cancer gene testing in record numbers, forcing more parents to face a tough question: Should we test the kids? About 100,000 tests for breast cancer gene mutations were done last year, double the number in 2005. The trend may grow even more because of widening insurance coverage and a new law banning genetic discrimination. Medical experts advise against...

More seniors educating themselves from home
(Gainesville Sun © 09/22/2008)
NEW YORK Kathy Leeds grows animated as she describes the courses she is taking this fall, including classes in current events, art and literature. But Leeds will never step foot on a campus or in a classroom. The 79-year-old widow has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair to get around her Manhattan apartment. Leeds is one of about 500 people enrolled for the fall semester in a telephon...

Storms take toll on Red Cross
(St. Augustine Record © 09/22/2008)
NEW YORK -- The wave of storms battering the U.S. has plunged the American Red Cross deep into debt as it rushes to prepare for Hurricane Ike, prompting a searching look at how to stabilize its finances. Gail McGovern, who became the embattled charity's president in June, said even a request for federal funding is under consideration as the Red Cross seeks to become less dependent on spontaneous...

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