Month: July 2013

Today's hearing — the latest battle in the case the Wall Street Journal calls the biggest challenge to the health law — has rekindled the debate over just how much the health insurance market will change once the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes full effect.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday upheld (pdf.) the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act, a decision that deepens the debate between between supporters and detractors of mandatory state and federal E-Verify programs.

A Catholic political action committee has released a video ad asking supporters to call upon lawmakers to pass an amendment that would roll back a recent decision by the Obama administration requiring insurance providers — with the exception of religious employers — to cover birth control as a preventive service. Critics say the amendment will allow an insurance company to exclude coverage of any health service that they deem violates their religious or moral convictions.

In its newly released legislative agenda, the Florida Chamber of Commerce extolls the importance of higher ed reforms. Though the Chamber doesn't delve into specifics, most of its recommendations are seemingly in line with some of Gov. Rick Scott's controversial ideas.

Manuel Guerra — an undocumented immigrant who supports the DREAM Act, and whose deportation case was recently canceled — has earned the backing of some conservatives in Indiantown, Fla.

Yesterday, the Access to Birth Control Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

A controversial Jacksonville-based abstinence education program whose founder has endorsed the work of Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, a chief proponent of that country's Kill the Gays bill, has declined to reapply for Florida Department of Health funds.

In an interview with a news station in Georgia, presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he supports laws requiring welfare beneficiaries to take drug tests.

The Duval County Department of Health is slated to issue a fish-consumption advisory on July 5, notifying residents of elevated levels of potentially harmful chemicals found in two tributaries near Jacksonville's downtown urban core: Hogan's Creek and Longbranch.

Civil rights groups are speaking out against a recent vote in the Florida Senate in favor of a bill that would allow students in public schools to pray during any school event.

A day after signing off on federal funds for Central Florida's planned commuter rail project, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is singing the project's praises on his personal blog.

Five members of Florida's congressional delegation are among the 113 cosponsors of the Free Industry Act, a bill by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.