Full Palm Beach Post coverage of the Acreage cancer cluster

4:25 p.m. - The meeting ended after more than an hour of comments from Sen. Bill Nelson and other officials and questions from residents.

Several of the key residents in the cancer cluster debate, such as Greg Dunsford (one of the parents of a child diagnosed with a brain tumor), said they got more answers and the proceedings were much more civil than the last public cancer cluster meeting. The last meeting, held by the health department at Seminole Ridge High School last month, was characterized by hours of people screaming and yelling at each other and speakers from the state health department. (more…)

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is livid over this New York Times report that President Obama will call for an end to NASA moon missions and privatization of future astronaut launches when he unveils his budget plan next week.

Nelson, who as a congressman flew on a 1986 Space Shuttle mission, ripped Obama’s “green-eyeshade-wearing advisors” for pushing the idea and said he will “stand up and fight for NASA, and for the thousands of people who stand to lose their jobs.”

Read his entire statement after the jump….

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President Obama tonight ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to be deployed in Afghanistan and pledged to begin withdrawing forces in 18 months.

The president delivered a prime-time speech from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Some Florida reactions after the jump…..

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U.S. Sen. George LeMieux ruled out a run for attorney general next year but was less definitive when asked today about challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012.

Republican LeMieux was interested in the AG race before Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him to serve the final 16 months of former Sen. Mel Martinez’s Senate term. LeMieux has said he won’t run for a full Senate term next year when Crist seeks the seat.

In response to an audience question at today’s Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch, LeMieux said he can’t serve in the Senate and run for AG.

“This is the most important time in American history for Florida to have two senators. So as much as I would like to be attorney general — it’s a wonderful position, I was the deputy attorney general (when Crist was AG) — I don’t think I can do both.”

He continued: “As for 2012, the future will take care of itself. I’ve got to do the job I’m doing now and hopefully the best job I can and then we’ll figure out what we’re going to do…We’ll make whatever decisions we can for the family after my time is over.”

When President Obama visits China this week, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson wants him to press the Chinese government to compensate Florida homeowners for defective drywall.

“I have asked (Obama) and his staff to take up this issue when he meets with the president of China because the ultimate party that’s responsible is going to have to come up with the financing to help our people,” Nelson said before a meeting with local elected officials.

Many homeowners blame the imported building material for causing respiratory problems and foul odors in their houses.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to find a responsible party that will make these homeowners whole. And that’s the government of China. Because it is the Chinese government that allowed defective Chinese toys years ago to come in and they’re allowing this defective Chinese drywall,” Nelson said.

“I see it as a matter of negotiation that will be taken up by the presidential party in this high-level meeting.”

WEST PALM BEACH — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, meeting this morning with local elected officials, said the state legislature must act quickly to pledge money for Tri-Rail and other high-speed rail projects or lose out on as much as $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money.

He urged state lawmakers to approve money for the rail projects in a special session in December because federal grants will be announced in January.

“If they (state legislators) put it to next spring, that’s too late,” said Nelson, who offered to make phone calls to lawmakers to push for quick action.

“You’re going to have to show that you support Tri-Rail and commuter rail,” Nelson told the group, which includes some state legislators, Palm Beach County commissioners and city officials at West Palm Beach City Hall.

Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson will both be in Palm Beach County today.

Republican Crist will speak to the state Board of Education and Board of Governors joint meeting at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter at 12:30 p.m. He’s also scheduled to address the Florida Council of 100 at The Breakers in Palm Beach tonight.

Democrat Nelson will meet with local elected officials at 10 a.m. at West Palm Beach City Hall, then travel to Fort Pierce, where he’ll join U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, for a 2 p.m. tour of the new Indian River State College public safety complex.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will join U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, Ron Klein and Mario Diaz-Balart tomorrow on a tour of a Boynton Beach doctor’s home contaminated by Chinese drywall.

The entourage, which includes state Sen. Ted Deutch, will visit Steve and Jennifer Robert’s home in Cobblestone Creek. The Roberts’ daughter has been afflicted with frequent respiratory infections possibly caused by the toxic drywall.

Palm Beach County officials, including Wexler and Klein, have pushed Congress to do something about the tainted building product, as has U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

s had on the lives of the Roberts family, who own a home in the community of Cobblestone Creek. Dr. Steve Roberts and his wife Jennifer Roberts have struggled with their 16 month-old daughter’s frequent respiratory infections, and the fact that their home has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in value as a result of this toxic product.

WHO:
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
Congressman Robert Wexler
Congressman Mario-Diaz Balart
Congressman Ron Klein
State Senator Ted Deutch

WHAT:
Press Availability Following Tour of Home

WHERE:
The home of Dr. Steve Roberts and Jennifer Roberts
10013 Cobblestone Creek Drive, Boynton Beach, FL

WHEN:
Tuesday, October 13, 10:30-11:30 am

PALM BEACH GARDENS — After drawing big crowds to Tax Day protests, town hall meetings and a march on Washington, the Tea Party movement can’t rest on its laurels, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey told a lunchtime gathering of activists here.

Armey, chairman of the Washington-based FreedomWorks group that has helped coordinate Tea Party protests, said conservative activists must continue to fight against an expanded government role in health care and then prepare for a fight on a cap-and-trade environmental bill.

“We’ve got the bad guys on the run,” Armey told a crowd of about 150 that crammed the patio of the Yard House restaurant.

“We have given the massive great big government takeover of health care a TKO for the time being. But they’re not going to go away empty handed,” Armey said.

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Confirming his reputation as a swing vote on health care reform, Florida’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Tuesday was one of five Dems to join all 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee to vote against a proposal to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

Nelson later voted for a more modest public-option proposal in the committee. That measure failed 13-10, with three of Nelson’s Democratic colleagues joining Republicans in voting no.

Click here for an account of Tuesday’s drama.

CNN senior politcal analyst Bill Schneider will be the headliner Friday when the venerable Forum Club of the Palm Beaches kicks off its latest powerlunch season.

The event will be at the Cohen Pavilion at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Public tickets are $55 and may be purchased at the event. The buffet begins at 11:30 a.m.

Other Forum Club speakers confirmed so far: Ted Kennedy biographer Peter S. Canellos on Oct. 23, National Urban League CEO Mark Morial on Dec. 15, U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder on Jan. 8 and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Jan. 28.

Last Wednesday’s announcement that 11 Florida employees of activist group ACORN were being charged with voter-registration fraud — after being turned in by ACORN itself — was just the beginning of a week of brutal news for the controversial left-leaning group.

On Thursday, a conservative activist began releasing a series of undercover videos in which he and a female friend pose as a pimp and prostitute and appear to receive advice from ACORN employees in Baltimore, Washington and New York on how to get a mortgage for a brothel.

In response to the videos, ACORN released a statement accusing conservatives of trying to make the organization “their Willy (sic) Horton for 2009.”

The U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with the group Friday.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 for an amendment to block any federal housing grants from going to the group. Both Florida’s Senators — Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican George LeMieux — were in the majority.

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta: “Tonight I hoped to hear that the President has been listening to the American people over the past month. From the town hall meetings I hosted in August it is clear to me that Americans have had enough of the rapid expansion of government especially when it comes to an important issue such as health care. We need a plan that does not punish small businesses and tax individuals. Any type of government takeover of our nation’s health care system is not the answer and is unacceptable.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D): (Reacting to pre-speech excerpts released by the White House) “I’m glad the president is proposing insurance exchanges that will help the nearly one-in-four Floridians who don’t have or cannot get affordable health insurance. Americans who are satisfied with their coverage should be able to keep what they have. And we ought to make coverage affordable for those who don’t have it.”

Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton:“Like all Americans, I was glad to hear President Obama lay out a path ahead on health care reform. After listening carefully to South Floridians on all sides of this debate, it is clear that we all agree that we must make real changes to improve our health care system, increase competition and lower costs…. The most important thing is that we have a final product that lowers costs, improves the quality of health care and ensures that Americans cannot be denied coverage because they get sick.”

Klein on the public option: “I thought he made a very good case. The reason I support a public option in some form is competition.”

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton: “The President is absolutely correct that all Americans must have security and stability in their health insurance, and I was pleased to hear him reiterate his support for a public insurance option. I enthusiastically agree with the priorities that President Obama outlined tonight, which include providing affordable and accessible coverage for all Americans, delivering real competition in the market to drive down costs, and helping seniors afford their prescription drugs. Congress is on the cusp of delivering historic change, and tonight President Obama provided the vision and initiative for us to get this done.”

Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate:
“Tonight’s speech was a game-changer. President Obama brought clarity to the health care debate. His objective is straightforward: offering stability and security in our health insurance system to Floridians with insurance and to Floridians who lack insurance…With over 80 percent agreement among various committee proposals, it is now time to pull together all components into a single piece of legislation. With skyrocketing health care costs bankrupting American families and businesses, doing nothing is not an option. In Florida alone, over 3,500 people lose their health coverage each week. We cannot afford to sit by and do nothing.”

As a demonstration of grass-roots support for health care reform by “Floridians from all walks of life,” Washington, D.C.-based Organizing For America, the post-election version of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, announced that it will deliver declarations of support for reform this morning in Fort Myers to “U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson.”

Ben Nelson is a Democratic U.S. Senator from Nebraska.

Florida’s Democratic U.S. Senator is Bill Nelson.

A copy of the press release is after the jump….

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Bring “hard questions” — and some non-perishable food.

That’s the advice from one group encouraging opponents of Democratic health care overhaul efforts to show up at a Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations meeting next week where U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, is scheduled to speak.

But those hoping to grill Klein may be disappointed. COBWRA President Ken Lassiter says visitors and their non-perishable food donations are indeed welcome at his group’s meeting, but questions from non-COBWRA members won’t be allowed.

In the heated debate over health care reform, groups on the left and right are alerting their members to public appearances by members of Congress during the August recess. Some of the events are town hall gatherings focused on health care. Others, including Klein’s COBWRA appearance, turn out to be something else.

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Some early arrivals at health care rally today.

WEST PALM BEACH — As nationally orchestrated expressions of local sentiment go, it was no Tea Party.

About 50 people showed up in the afternoon heat today outside Sen. Bill Nelson’s local office to demand health care reform. The event was put together by Organizing For America, the post-election version of the 2008 Obama campaign. There were eight such events around the state.

Members of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, who drew 1,000 or more people to an April rally in West Palm Beach, are planning a “No Government Health Care” rally on Saturday in Boca Raton

Florida counties are suggesting something that sounds like a scarlet letter to warn innocents away from households with scary serpents.

It’s the latest twist in the tale of the python-induced paranoia that’s wound up with bounty hunters seeking the critters in throughout Palm Beach County on lands abutting the Everglades.

The July 1 death of a two-year-old girl who was strangled by a pet python in Central Florida set off demands for an open-season on the snakes, which have overrun the national park. Gov. Charlie Crist gladly complied and ordered the bounty hunt for the pests last week. (U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, has had the Burmese python infestation in his sights for some time).

Now, the Florida Association of Counties wants state wildlife officials to give them more control over dangerous animals. The association sent a letter to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission last week asking them to let counties notify neighbors where perilous pythons and other classified creatures reside.

Perhaps the counties have something like the sex offender registry on the Internet where neighbors can see where perpetrators live.

Will the pythons be forced to take up residence under bridges like sex offenders banned from living near schools, parks or other places where children congregate?

A python posse armed with clubs and machetes will start combing the Everglades for the supersized serpents this weekend.

Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the python bounty hunt Wednesday at the urging of two Florida congressmen who were in an uproar after one of the exotic snakes strangled a 2-year-old girl July 1 near Ocala.

That python was a pet and didn’t live in the Everglades. But the case called new attention to the plague of the oversized reptiles that have spread throughout South Florida’s marshes, gobbling wading birds and posing a danger to native wildlife.

Estimates of the python population in the Everglades range between 10,000 and 150,000. They can reach up to 20 feet in length and have long, curved teeth, along with the ability to squeeze their prey to death.

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U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney has filed a bill to blacklist Burmese pythons and other unwelcome animal immigrants from entering the country.

The Tequesta Republican has joined the movement, led by Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, to rid the River of Grass of the perilous pests after a pet python strangled to death a two-year-old Florida girl.

About 150,000 pythons, not native to Florida, have taken up residence in the Everglades, threatening other endangered wildlife there, including Florida panthers and wood storks.

Rooney’s backing two bills to crack down on bringing invasive animals into the country.

One McCarthy-esque proposal would create a black list of nonnative species would create a black list of nonnative species barred from being brought into the United States and a green list of creatures that would be welcome.
The other would add Burmese pythons to the list of dangerous animals, similar to a measure Nelson filed several months ago.

Rooney’s hunting proposal is similar to a Nelson made today asking U.S. Department of the Interior Ken Salazar to approve a python-killing season in the ‘Glades to rid the national treasure of the invaders.

Read Rooney’s press release here.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking federal officials for a posse.

A python posse, that is.

Nelson sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking him to approve a python-kill because the slithering beasts are taking over the River of Grass.

Nelson earlier this year introduced a bill to ban imports of Burmese pythons and classifying them as “injurious animals.”

Two weeks ago, a pet python strangled to death a two-year-old Florida girl, creating an uproar about the invasive predators.

Officials “need to get a grip on pythons invading America’s Everglades,” Nelson wrote.

“They are threatening endangered wildlife there - and, Lord forbid, a visitor in the Everglades ever encounters one,” he wrote.

Nelson’s proposing an organized hunt to diminish the ever-growing python population in the ‘Glades. The posse could consist of park rangers or deputies and volunteers, Nelson suggested.

Read Nelson’s letter after the jump.

Fatal python attack

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