A proposed $69.2 billion state budget, which pulls millions of dollars from health care programs and pours them into public schools, cleared the House on Thursday over opposition from outnumbered Democrats.

 A year after slashing classroom spending by $1.3 billion, the House is making an election-year reversal — looking to replenish $1 billion. But where ruling Republicans find the money fractured the House along partisan lines.

The measure was approved 79-38. With the Senate expected to complete its budget next week, the two sides are poised to spend the session’s closing month hammering out differences.

The Senate follows a similar course as the House – proposing $1.3 billion more for public schools, while sharply scaling back health and human services spending. But the approach frustrated Democrats, who said cuts ran too deep, and the school money is not enough.

“Florida may be a great place to visit,” said Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach. “But if you’re in the middle class, it stinks to live here right now.”

The deep, $1.3 billion budget cut imposed last year on Florida public schools would be largely offset with a similarly sized increase in classroom dollars proposed Tuesday by the Florida Senate.

Senate Pre-K-12 education budget chief David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said he was looking restore school funding this election year after many districts absorbed thousands of layoffs and program cuts when per-pupil dollars were dragged to their lowest level in six years last fall, by budget-slashing lawmakers.

“It’s not 2005-6, but it sure is good,” Simmons said Tuesday.

The Senate has been slow to release details of its budget proposal and Tuesday mostly just dribbled out its education package. The House, by contrast, is poised to approve its full $69.2 billion spending plan later this week.

But for starters, the Senate has trumped the House in school funding. The House is recommending a $1 billion boost, which amounts to a 2 percent increase per-student. The Senate plan tops 3 percent and would bring per-student dollars up an average $192.70 — about $51 more than what the House is offering.

For Florida’s 28 colleges, the Senate proposed a 3 percent tuition boost. But for universities, the Senate appears to be more closely alligned with Gov. Rick Scott — who has dismissed a call from university presidents for higher tuition.

The Senate’s proposal calls for no base tuition boost. The House would give Florida’s 11 public universities authority for an 8 percent base increase that can be raised to 15 percent for universities, with approval from the State University System’s Board of Governors.

Even with the the Senate snub, universities could still seek  as much as a 15 percent hike from the board. But if Scott digs in, it’s likely the governor-appointed board may be reluctant to OK higher tuition.

The Senate proposal cuts university dollars by 4 percent — about double the cut leveled by the House. Both sides, though, look on track to continue a trend in which state dollars for Florida universities have dropped 24 percent since 2008.  Florida’s average tuition level ranks 45th in the nation — and administrators have been clamoring for more authority to shift costs onto students.

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he’s ready to put the brakes on tuition hikes for college and university students across Florida.

“I don’t believe in tuition hikes,” Scott said. 

He added, “We have to do what the private sector has done, what every family has done. We have to tighten our belts to see how we can save money. That’s the first thing I want to focus on: How do we reduce our costs, rather than how do we raise tuition.”

Last week, 300 Florida university students rallied at the Capitol to oppose what looks like another push by the Legislature to approve a tuition increase. Tuition at five Florida universities has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, while students at the other six public universities have weathered a 45 percent boost in that time.

The presidents of the University of Florida and Florida State University earlier this month urged a House committee to give schools authority to begin charging higher tuition for science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs — the STEM degrees that Scott says are the path to employment in the evolving economy.

The House budget committee Wednesday looks set to approve another potential 15 percent boost in university tuition as part of its $69 billion state spending plan. College tuition would climb 8 percent, under the plan.

Florida’s tuition has been climbing even as state support for universities has dropped 24 percent since 2008, shifting more school costs onto students and their families. The state’s tuition remains the 45th lowest rate in the country.

But while universities have been cutting programs to reduce costs, Scott thinks more reductions can be made at the administrative level.

Six-figure salaries paid to high-level administrators seem to have endured Florida’s prolonged economic slump. Over the past year, they’ve become a rallying point at campus protests.

“I want the cost of living in this state to be lower than other states, I don’t want it to be higher than other states,” Scott said. “Would you think that way in business? You’d wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, gosh. The other business, it costs them more to do things, so let me raise my prices.’ You don’t do that. You figure out, how can we be efficient.” 

With the House already including a potential 15 percent tuition increase in its budget, 300 Florida students rallied at the Capitol Thurday to oppose shelling out more even as lawmakers reduce the state’s share of higher education spending.

Michael Long, chairman of the Florida Student Association, told the crowd that tuition has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, while the state has reduced general revenue support for schools by 24 percent.

“We do not mind contributing to our education as long as its reasonable,” Long said. “But 60 percent in four years is not reasonable.”

In his role as FSA chairman, Long also sits as a member of the State University System’s Board of Governors. Along with opposing the tuition boost, students are opposing separate legislation that would give the governor authority to appoint the BOG’s student representative.

For his part, Gov. Rick Scott didn’t include a tuition increase in the $66.4 billion budget proposal he unveiled last month. He also has questioned the spending priorities of the state’s 11 public universities — nudging them to promote for science and technology programs that employers are said to want.

The Senate so far hasn’t begun serious budget work.  But Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, was among those speaking to the student group Thursday. He pointed out that even with the steady increases, Florida has the fifth lowest average tuition in the country among state systems.

Haridopolos, though, told the crowd that one of the reasons the Senate was moving slowly on the budget was so that it could hear more from those — like the students — affected by the Legislature’s budget building in a year when lawmakers are trying to close a $2 billion shortfall.

Alexander Press, a 22-year-old Florida Atlantic University senior, was among those at the rally.

“It’s a lot of money,” Press said of the tuition hikes. “We’re just starting to make a recovery from this recession, and it’s not easy for families to have to keep paying more.”

House Speaker Dean Cannon and budget-writers revealed some broad brush strokes Thursday for how the House will craft next year’s state spending plan — embracing Gov. Rick Scott’s call for a $1 billion boost in public school funding, but rejecting his call for deep cuts in Medicaid payments to hospitals.

Cannon’s release of spending allocations for budget subcommittees also may heighten pressure on the state Senate, where Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, and budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, have talked about possibly delaying final action on a budget until later this spring.

Cannon, though, also seemed to try to find a middle ground — assuring lawmakers in his budget memo that “contingencies” could be included in a final spending plan that made changes if the economy brightens, or worsens.

 ”These contingencies will provide self-executing direction on how to enact reductions or provide additional spending authority, without accessing reserves, should circumstances change,” wrote Cannon, R-Winter Park, who is a lawyer, by profession.

Alexander, who declined to say much about the House approach, said the Senate did plan to move ahead with its budget work. But he said leaders there were still concerned about economic shifts that might effect the spending plan, which takes effect July 1.

Still, Alexander said the House’s idea about building in proposed cuts as contingencies, “is another option to deal with this concern.”

While Scott built his $1 billion public school increase by cutting almost $2 billion in Medicaid spending, the biggest share coming in cuts to hospitals, Cannon outlines a different course.

He said the House wouldn’t go along with Scott’s plan to overhaul immediately the way hospitals get reimbursed for treating poor, elderly and disabled Floridians. But Cannon hinted that deep reductions in general government, transportation and environmental programs would be deployed, instead, by the House to find school dollars.

The House also pulls close to $300 million from state trust funds for use elsewhere in the budget – double what Scott proposed diverting from these accounts. But the House has to set aside as much as $100 million for tax breaks in the coming year, topping the roughly $35 million the governor has proposed. 

The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union and a powerful ally of the Legislature’s outnumbered Democrats, were cool to the House’s proposal. Andy Ford, the FEA president, said the proposed school increase doesn’t come close to offsetting the $1.3 billion in cuts imposed by Scott and lawmakers last year.

Scott’s proposal would boost average per-pupil spending by $142, to $6,372, which is still well below the record $7,126 reached in 2008, before the recession forced deep cutbacks. Classroom spending currently is at its lowest level in six year.

“Every child in Florida deserves a high-quality neighborhood school – and it’s within our means to provide one,” Ford said. “But we must understand that investing in our children pays the highest dividends…This proposal puts a small bandage on the gashes inflicted with last year’s budget. We need to do better.”

State economists found a few more dollars for lawmakers looking to close a $2 billion budget gap.

But not enough.

Revising their forecast from last October, the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference agreed that tax collections have climbed $48 million more than anticipated this year — but are expected to be $25.7 billion below forecast for 2012-13. The difference means legislators will have about $23 million in extra cash to spread around in the $66-billion budget they are just beginning to cobble together for the year beginning July 1.

“Nothing dramatic happened since the fall,” said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, who is among those making Thursday’s forecast.

Rising costs and the state’s still-fragile economy have combined to leave lawmakers staring at a $2 billion shortfall next year. Still, that’s about half the hole they faced a year ago, a sign, analysts said, that Florida is slowly recovering from the recession.

Sales-tax receipts, the real driver of Florida’s budget, are up slightly. Corporate and real estate taxes also have picked up over the past year, analysts said. But signs of the troubled economy linger — with personal income down in Florida during the third quarter of 2011.

The state still has a two-year backlog of homes for sale, and the number of foreclosures in Florida continues to outstrip home sales, Baker said.

Opening Florida to casino gambling would be good for the state’s economy, but cutting Medicaid spending to find more dollars for education is a bad idea, a poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University shows.

The survey of 1,412 registered voters also shows Gov. Rick Scott is still struggling with low approval ratings.

Fifty percent of respondents say they disapproved of his job performance, compared with 38 percent who like what he’s doing — a slight improvement over a similar Quinnipiac poll in September.

Despite Scott saying that the state’s improving joblesss rate is a sign that things are looking up in Florida, 34 percent of those questioned said the economy is worse than when the governor took office last January, compared with 16 percent who say it’s better. Another 45 percent said the economy is about the same.

With the 2012 Legislature opening Tuesday morning, Quinnipiac’s survey covered the landscape of issues expected to drive the two-month session. Among those topics covered, legislation that would open the state to casinos and clear the way for as many as three ‘destination resorts’ to open, likely in South Florida, was generally supported.

Peter Brown, Quinnipiac’s assistant director of polling, said the survey showed allowing Las Vegas-style casino gambling won  narrow, 48-43 percent backing from voters. But by a wide, 61-33 percent margin, voters said casinos would be good for the state’s economy.

“Creating Las Vegas-style, non-Indian casinos in Florida gets a narrow thumbs up from the voters,” Brown said. “But there are interesting partisan, gender and educational and age differences.”

Registered Republicans narrowly oppose casinos, 48-46 percent. Democrats support them 51-40 percent. Independent voters also look ready to place their bets, backing an expansion of gambling by 53-39 percent.

Scott has proposed as much as a 40 percent reduction in the millions of dollars the state pays hospitals for treating poor, elderly and disabled patients through Medicaid. In turn, Scott would use that cash as the base for a proposed $1 billion increase in funding for public schools — a turnaround from the $1.3 billion cut to schools he signed into law last year.

But the Medicaid cut is rejected by those in the Quinnipiac survey, with voters by a67-24 percent margin rejecting Scott’s approach. Still, those surveyed also don’t appear very optimistic about whatever comes out of the 2012 Legislature.

The poll showed that by a 48-39 percent split, voters think the state budget is unfair to people like them. By a 49-33 percent margin, they also disapprove of the way the Legislature is handling its job.

The survey has a 2.6 percent, plus-or-minus, margin of error. The survey of 1,412 voters was coducted Jan. 4-8.

With the Legislature opening next week, Gov. Rick Scott used his weekly radio address Friday to set some mileposts for lawmakers.

While legislative leaders say they’ll be mostly focused on patching up the state budget and once-a-decade redistricting, Scott has his own trio of priorities.

The second-year governor wants lawmakers to approve a jobs creation package — presumably his mix of economic incentive spending and tax breaks; a reduction in auto insurance rates — likely some form of personal injury protection changes;  and a $1 billion increase in public school spending.

“2011 was a great year,” Scott said. “According to the latest figures, Florida added more than 130,000 jobs.  I will work every day to make sure that we continue to add jobs. I look forward on working with the Legislature in the upcoming session.”

Here’s Scott’s address: Podcast_2012-01-06

One of the state’s more influential business lobbies said Friday it plans to mostly stay out of the Legislature’s fight over casino gambling, saying there are issues more important to business owners.

A poll of National Federation of Independent Business members showed that by a 49-40 percent margin they support allowing for as many as three “destination resort” casinos to be built, most likely in South Florida.

But NFIB executive director Bill Herrle said the organization will not play an active role on either side of the casino fight, which begins in earnest Monday at a Senate committee hearing on the subject.

“We’d need a much strong number than that to become advocates for the issue,” Herrle said.

But he added, “coming through the poll loud and clear is…there are many more economic issues that the Legislature needs to deal with.”

The state’s big business organizations are dividing over gambling. 

Among the largest lobbies, Associated Industries of Florida is promoting the proposed expansion, while the Florida Chamber of Commerce has joined with Walt Disney Co., in fighting the proposal.

Herrle, however, called gambling a “frivolity,” compared with other issues facing businesses. Easing workers’ compensation rates, reducing unemployment compensation taxes, lowering the risk of lawsuits and promoting a ballot measure to create a new, $50,000 tax break on equipment owned by businesses tops NFIB’s agenda heading into the session,  Herrle said.

The NFIB membership poll, which surveyed 400 business owners the last week of December, was conducted by TelOpinion Research, and has a roughly 4 percent margin-of-error. It showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott with a 69 percent approval rating, with only 21 percent of respondents disapproving of the governor’s first year in office.

Scott clearly does far better with business owners than among Floridians, generally. A survey last month by Public Policy Polling gave Scott a 26 percent approval rating, his worst showing yet.  But that came after a Quinnipiac University poll in the fall showed Scott with 37 percent approval — his highest mark as governor.

Gov. Rick Scott said Friday that the state’s new 10 percent unemployment rate for November is a sign that “clearly, we have turned the corner.”

The rate was 0.4 percentage points lower than a revised October rate and below the 11.9 percent posted in November 2010.  In Palm Beach County, the jobless rate was 10.1 percent – slightly topping the statewide figure, but still down .2 percent from the previous month.

“That’s a real positive,” Scott said of the statewide decline.

Florida’s unemployment decline tracks what’s occuring nationally. Florida’s rate still is higher than the nation’s 8.6 percent November jobless level, which is also down .4 percent from a month earlier.

 A total of 8,500 new jobs were added in Florida last month. Scott said that brings the total net new jobs for the year to more than 120,000.

Gov. Scott reading scriptures at Western Wall

Gov. Rick Scott, in the middle of a weeklong trade and cultural trip to Israel, has hit many of the nation’s landmarks — the most recent, a stop at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

“The Jewish community makes invaluable contributions to our state and nation’s spiritual diversity, and it has been a humbling experience to visit this and other important sites to their faith and history,” said Scott, who was joined by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, on the trip.

It’s Scott’s fourth trade mission as governor. Scott also is Florida’s third governor in a row to visit Israel during his first year as chief executive. With an election year looming, both parties nationally are mindful that Florida is home to the nation’s third largest Jewish population.

More Scott photos are here:  http://www.flgov.com/israel/

Even as Gov. Rick Scott’s administration acknowledges it needs to improve oversight of job-creation money, a national report Wednesday graded the state’s incentive programs as average in terms of tracking the dollars and creating jobs which bring decent wages.

Scott is seeking $230 million in next year’s budget for incentive dollars for his newly created Department of Economic Opportunity, more than doubling the cash available to lure businesses to relocate or expand in Florida.

But lawmakers have questioned just how well the state can vouch for the $739 million in incentives it has spread across some 1,600 contracts since 1995.

The report by Good Jobs First, Inc., a non-partisan, nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., gave Florida a C grade for its ability to follow the dollars and turn them into jobs.

 ”With unemployment still so high, taxpayers have a right to expect that economic development investments create significant numbers of quality jobs,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First. “The days of ‘no strings attached’ are largely gone, but the fine print in many states is still full of gaps and loopholes.”

 Good Jobs’ review found Nevada, North Carolina and Vermont did best in applying job standards to their major subsidy programs. The District of Columbia, Alaska and Wyoming rated worst.

Oversight and performance of Florida’s big five economic development programs placed the state eighth best on the national survey.  Although laws governing four of the five subsidy programs set some kind of wage standard, none require employers to provide health benefits to workers, analysts said. 

“This study provides a roadmap for Florida legislators and economic development officials as they attempt to require more accountability from corporations receiving job subsidies,” said Alan Stonecipher, a spokesman for the Florida Cetner for Fiscal and Economic Policy, which co-released the Florida findings.

The report is here: www.goodjobsfirst.org

Florida’s debt level dropped this year for the first time in at least 20 years — helped along by Gov. Rick Scott’s veto of some $135 million in university construction borrowing and a two-year halt on environmental land buys, the governor and Cabinet were told Tuesday.

Florida’s debt level slid to $27.7 billion this year — down $500 million from last year’s record high. That’s a sharp contrast from a year earlier, when $2 billion in additional borrowing pushed state debt to double what it was in 2000, according to the state’s Division of Bond Finance.

Ben Watkins, head of the division, said the state still will have to spend $2.2 billion in next year’s budget just to cover payments on the IOUs. That’s actually up $100 million from last year because of timing of the state’s bond issues. But refinancing of existing debt has saved the state millions this year, Watkins told Scott and the Cabinet.

Fifty-seven percent of what the state owes stems from school, college and university construction. Scott last year, took steps to rein-in that spending with his veto of university building projects, including $3.2 million for new roofing and other work at Florida Atlantic University.

 The only significant university construction work Scott allowed to become law was $35 million for work at the University of South Florida Polytechnic’s Lakeland campus, which was advanced by Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

Scott, who was elected with strong tea party support, has been outspoken in his push to stem Florida’s rising tide of red ink. 

Since former Gov. Jeb Bush took office in 1999, ushering in a dozen years of Republican leadership, Florida’s borrowing has climbed by $12 billion. Roughly $10 billion more debt is expected to be issued through 2019, to cover currently authorized programs, the bond finance division said.

Public school and university construction projects, roadwork and environmental land purchases have driven much of the borrowing, records show. Major tax cuts enacted during Bush’s two terms and recession-forced budget reductions also helped steer lawmakers away from a pay-as-you-go approach in many spending areas.

The economy, however, has helped change the state’s spending policies. The Florida Forever land-buying program, which formerly used to borrow $300 million annually to preserve environmentally sensitive lands, has been mostly on hold the past two years.

The state’s gross receipts tax, which supports school construction projects, also has been declining. The tax is built on levies imposed on utilities — but the economic downturn and societal shift away from land-line telephones has dramatically reduced the dollars available for campus construction.

Connecticut gunmaker Colt’s Manufacturing Co., plans to open a regional manufacturing plant in Central Florida’s Osceola County, bringing with it 63 jobs, Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday.

Scott, who has vowed to create 700,000 jobs in Florida in seven years, also used the announcement to fire-off a defense of the constitutional right to carry one of Colt’s products.

“As a supporter of new job creation and the Second Amendment, this announcement sends the clear message that Florida is both open for business and a defender of our right to bear arms,” Scott said. “My primary responsibility as governor is to be our state’s chief advocate for job creation. My personal involvement in bringing Colt to Florida demonstrates my administration’s deep commitment to rebuilding our economy.”

State officials say Florida has added about 110,000 jobs since Scott was sworn-in in January.

He’s also nuanced his campaign pledge. Scott’s dropped the claim that he would add 700,000 jobs on top of what economists had forecast to be a likely 1 million additional jobs in that time frame, based on normal growth projections.

The 63 jobs expected at the Osceola County plant are expected to pay an average salary of  just over $45,000.

Colt plans to make a $2.5 million investment in equipment and retooling a vacant building owned by Osceola County. The company is getting $250,000 in state incentives and workforce training, while the county will do building renovations and offer a break on rent for the leased structure.

Former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham led a gathering of activists Wednesday calling for Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders to preserve the state’s water resources, while renewing its longstanding commitment to the environment.

“We need strong gubernatorial leadership to reverse the damage that’s been done,” Graham told a rally at the state Capitol.

Graham debuted Wednesday as leader of the Florida Conservation Coalition, which includes Audubon of Florida, 1000 Friends of Florida, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Trust for Public Land and League of Women Voters. The coalition plans to lobby Scott and the Republican-led Legislature to restore funding to water quality programs, the Florida Forever land-buying program, and Everglades restoration, which supporters say have been staggered by budget cuts since 2007.

Graham was joined by state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, Nathaniel Reed of 1000 Friends of Florida and representatives of environmental groups, which generally praised Scott’s environmental stance, but blasting legislative moves which reduced oversight and dollars for green programs.

Advocates derided the Legislature for approving a $210 million cut in water management district property taxes, which has led to wholescale staff layoffs and program reductions, the most profound occuring at the South Florida Water Management District. Graham said taxes were “reduced by the amount of two pizzas a year,” but that the cuts did wide-ranging harm to existing programs and services.

Environmentalists, though, withheld direct criticism of Scott, who campaigned for the reduction and embraced the  cuts. Instead, Graham, apparently buoyed by recent Scott comments which underscored the need for effective environmental policy and Everglades restoration, urged conservationists to “join Scott’s army.”

Graham also warned the coalition planned to hold lawmakers accountable for actions which hurt Florida’s environment.

“We want to alert the voters in 2012 who was responsible for what happened in 2011,” Graham said.

Solantic, the chain of urgent-care clinics Gov. Rick Scott founded — and which just announced plans to move its headquarters from Jacksonville to Nashville, took steps Thursday to downplay the impact of the decision on Florida jobs.

Scott, a day earlier said he was “disappointed,” with the move, which cast a shadow over the governor’s efforts to jump-start Florida’s stalled economy. Scott sold the company in June. His office said he has had no contact with the firm since then.

Solantic, though, appears to be trying to soften the optics of the move for Scott by unveiling numbers Thursday that downplay the impact.

Among them: Of the company’s 567 employees, only 35 work in the Jacksonville office. Even some of those jobs are staying, since Solantic plans to maintain its corporate billing and sales administration there, possibly even adding some positions in Jacksonville, the company said.

 ’The net impact for our Fl base is expected to be positive given the continued growth plans,” spokeswoman Mandy Villalva said in an e-mail.

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he returned from last week’s trade mission to Brazil with $61 million in deals close to completed, including a natural caffeine producer that will open a plant at the Port of Palm Beach.

“People like Florida. They know Florida. They like the people of Florida. They think we’re a good place to do business,” Scott said. “It’s pretty positive. Now, maybe they’re being nice to me.

“My goal is that at the end, so, I want to get to ‘yes,’” Scott added. “What’s the barrier to get to ‘yes.’”

The lineup of deals roughly finalized is still being compiled by Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development arm, which organized the trip attended by 187 Florida government officials and business representatives. But Scott said the list spans a wide range of manufacturers and service providers.

The governor acknowledged his role is not so much deal-maker — but rather, schmoozer-in-chief. Scott said he was mostly a facilitator for discussions already in the works when the entourage arrived in Brazil.

“That’s all it is,” Scott said.

Gov. Rick Scott was among a host of political figures Monday touting Boeing’s decision to open a commercial space capsule assembly facility at Kennedy Space Center — eventually bringing a projected 550 jobs to Florida’s economically ravaged Space Coast.

Scott said the assembly site — housed in an empty shuttle hangar — will yield 140 jobs by June 2013 and as many as 550 positions by December 2015.  Boeing received $131 million from NASA to develop the commercial taxi service to bring astronauts to the International Space Station, beginning in 2016.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, a Rockledge Republican, were expected to be on hand at KSC for the formal announcement Monday.

“Florida has five decades of leadership in the space industry, which makes our state the logical place for the next phase of space travel and exploration,” Scott  said. “Boeing’s choice of Florida for its commercial crew program headquarters is evidence Florida has the world-class facilities and workforce expertise needed for aerospace companies to succeed.”

The move comes only a couple weeks after the latest round of  layoffs in the region, tied to the closing of the shuttle program. When the Space Shuttle Atlantis’ completed its last voyage earlier this month, 1,600 employees of United Space Alliance were dismissed days later — part of wholesale reductions that over the past three years are likely to cost the region some 10,000 jobs.

“This positions our state well for future growth and a leadership role in NASA’s next generation human space exploration initiatives,” said Frank DiBello, president of Space Florida, the state’s economic agency for space ventures. “It is also a key factor in ensuring Florida’s space-related economy continues to thrive in the post-shuttle retirement.”

Scott wasn’t alone in courting Boeing. Among the organizations luring the aerospace giant were the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, Enterprise Florida, the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners and Brevard Workforce.

A couple weeks after Gov. Rick Scott approved a $45.6 million loan for the financially strapped state court system, a workgroup of judges and county clerks of court Friday recommended some sweeping changes to stabilize the system.

The workgroup doesn’t call for increasing filing fees, fines, charges or court costs. Instead, the group, which included Palm Beach County Court Clerk Sharon Bock basically found there is plenty of money now in the system to finance core court functions.

But courts are drawing 80 percent of their basic financing through foreclosure fees, which have rollercoastered the past couple years. And the group is recommending that as much as $22.6 million in fees, fines and other court-related revenue — now scattered across other state agencies — be confined in the court system to help cover costs.

The report is here:   http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/

A federal judge Monday temporarily halted drug-testing of Florida welfare recipients, siding with opponents of the new law championed by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature.

U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven said the testing requirement amounts to an unreasonable search and seizure, chiding state lawmakers for ignoring an “overwhelming body of case law,” when they approved the measure last spring.

The legal challenge was brought by the ACLU of Florida and the Florida Justice Institute, which hailed the judge’s decision.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa,  said Scott and state officials should just abandon efforts to defend the drug-testing policy for applicants for benefits under the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

“Not only is the new law a punishment for being poor, it’s a waste of tax dollars; the overwhelmingly majority of TANF applicants test negative,” Joyner said. “Now, taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars to reimburse these families for a test that exclusively benefits the drug testing industry.”

Since Florida’s new law testing welfare recipients took effect July 1, 7,030 passed, 32 failed and 1,597 did not provide results, according to Florida Department of Children and Families records.

The only other state to implement a similar drug-testing policy, Michigan, had its drug-testing law overturned in 2003 by a federal court.