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Joe's Hit Records!
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HOT!: Catch the latest Florida open government news with The Florida Sunshine Review ...
Open records and meetings links, resources.
Many Web links are born to die. Even if that should happen with those below, this list can still be of value.
Obtain the story by trying the headline or keywords in a search engine for another link, check the online archives or back issues of the news organization involved, or use Lexis-Nexis or other commercial databases that might be available to you or through your local public library.
August 27, 2008
Florida Sunshine Review:
 Orlando Sentinel, by Mike Bianchi: FSU must stop stonewalling on turning over list of NCAA violations …
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, by Kim Hackett: Open government lawsuit could add to Venice budget woes …
Naples Daily News, column by Phil Lewis: Posting e-mails opens “e-meetings” to the public …
August 25, 2008
Heat’s on in the kitchen: State gets tough on health violations in Lee County eateries: Drew Sterwald of the Fort Myers News-Press reviewed three years of reports by the Florida Department of business and Professional Regulation to show that the number of Lee County restaurants shut down by inspectors jumped by more than four times in the fiscal year ending June 30. The story notes that the increase “far outpaced industry growth over the same three years; the number of food service licenses issued for sit-down restaurants in Lee County rose less than 9 percent over the same time period.
Statewide, emergency closures increased 30 percent over the same three years, from 463 to 600.” Beefed up inspections appear to be at least part of the explanation. In a sidebar to this story, Sterwald reports that Florida ranks No. 1 for the last three years on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Most Dangerous States for Eating Out. here.
August 20, 2008
Records rock-a-thon:
Settlement agreement, administrative complaint: Julie Patel of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on unprecedented penalties against Allstate that “requires the insurance company to pay a $5 million fine, reduce homeowner insurance premiums statewide by 5.6 percent within 30 days, add 100,000 new homeowner policies within three years and forgive a $175 million loan to its Florida subsidiaries” ...
Florida Bar referee’s report: Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune about a circuit judge’s recommendation that Sarasota attorney John A. Yanchek be suspended from practicing law for two years after the attorney admitted to mortgage fraud and lying about the existence of escrow funds ...
Police records, driver history records from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: Stephen Thompson of The Tampa Tribune and Yolanda Fernandez of News Channel 8 about a man charged with DUI manslaughter in the deaths of a man and his passenger on a motorcycle in Clearwater ...
Voter registration statistics: Adrian G. Uribarri of the Orlando Sentinel on the breakdown of registered Republicans in state House District 34 as part of a Voter’s Guide piece on the race for the seat ...
August 19, 2008
Florida Sunshine Review:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, by Aaron Kessler: Manatee and Duval County clerks of court will soon offer foreclosure sales online …
Miami Herald, by Matthew I. Pinzur: Online public records become issue in Miami-Dade clerk of courts race …
August 17, 2008
Florida Sunshine Review:
St. Petersburg Times, by Rita Farlow: It’s OK to look at photos in D.C. Madam suicide case but not to publish, judge says …
Tallahassee Democrat, by Bruce Ritchie: Judge orders Jefferson County Tax Collector Lois Howell-Hunter to turn over public records she had denied Caroline Carswell, her opponent in the primary election …
Naples Daily News, column by Phil Lewis: Opinions differ on open government and journalism practice with interviews …
Naples Daily News, by Leslie Williams: State lawmaker questions whether Alligator Alley lease meeting by Florida Department of Transportation officials violated Sunshine Law …
August 16, 2008
Miami grand jury calls for mental health law reform: A local document occasionally can have statewide implications. A Miami-Dade grand jury report obtained by Susannah A. Nesmith of the Miami Herald calls “for sweeping reforms of the state's law dealing with the dangerously mentally ill, warning of another Virginia Tech-like tragedy if the system isn't fixed." Similar to the man who killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech last year, the report says that Florida has similar laws to Virginia’s and also has mentally ill people who are falling through the cracks. The grand jury made 19 recommendations for changes to help diffuse the dangerously mentally ill in Florida before they hurt themselves and others. See the report here.
August 15, 2008
Records on a roll:
Wal-Mart annual report on jobs: Craig Cox of Alachua County Today on how the Wal-Mart Distribution Center has met its obligations to create at least 600 jobs in Alachua based on an annual report the retail giant must make each year until 2014 ...
Inspection reports on health facilities: Bob LaMendola of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about inspection reports and results of complaint investigations involving most Florida health facilities now being put online by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration ...
Search warrant, criminal court records, police report: Nomaan Merchant of the St. Petersburg Times on a 66-year-old sex offender caught up in a youth online sex sting by a state CyberCrime Unit ...
Campaign finance reports: Eric Pfahler of TCPalm.com on the latest St. Lucie County financial reports for local candidates ...
Overtime pay records: Mark Schlueb of the Orlando Sentinel on the soaring costs of overtime as Orlando Police confront crime ...
August 14, 2008
Computer error strikes teen’s DUI conviction: Sometimes the mere checking of a record can lead to righting a wrong. Florida Times-Union reporter Bridget Murphy’s check on a drunken driving conviction revealed “a teenager whose drunken driving paralyzed another motorist disappeared from some state records after computer errors, causing government officials to mistakenly reinstate his driving privileges." Murphy’s check of records at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles found that Brandon Hoffman, the 17-year-old driver who hit Don Worley and left him in a wheelchair following the 2005 crash in Flagler County, had no felony conviction on his record. The revelation prompted the state to revoke Hoffman’s license and restore his conviction record. It also pointed out computer problems to be fixed in the Flagler County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office.
August 13, 2008
Records on the case:
Foreclosure records: Mary Wozniak of the Fort Myers Free-Press about foreclosures of big-ticket homes in Lee County, looking at the Top 10 foreclosures on single-family residences and how “if you live big, you can also lose big." The story includes a photo gallery of the foreclosure mansions and a link for looking up foreclosures in Southwest Florida …
Police personnel files: Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat on the “exemplary" records of two Tallahassee Police Department officers before a drug-and-gun sting operation that went terribly wrong, leading to an undercover informant’s death …
City attorney’s report on contract procedures: Timothy J. Gibbons of The Florida Times-Union Jacksonville city attorneys calling for upgraded procedures at the Jacksonville Port Authority in the wake of an FBI investigation into former board member Tony Nelson and port contracts …
Civil lawsuit that included liens and sworn affidavits: Aisling Swift of the Naples Daily News about a man’s efforts to market, tie up and sell property that its owners did not want to sell ...
August 12, 2008
State let crooked brokers keep stealing: Public records can help expose how devastating it can be for consumers when government regulators do not regulate as they should. Regulatory files and orders, criminal court records, agency reports and other documents fuel this Miami Herald story by Rob Barry, Matthew Haggman and Jack Dolan about how the Florida Department of Financial Services repeatedly caught mortgage professionals breaking the law – including stealing from clients – but allowed them to remain in business with few consequences. One woman with a mortgage company “had forged documents to fleece lenders. She had skimmed money off a customer's loan. She had lied to conceal 19 questionable mortgages," the story said. Regulators, however, didn’t revoke her license or call for a criminal probe. Instead, she got fined, promised to stop breaking the law and then “went on to steal $2.5 million in loans and nine more homes – including one from a recently widowed, disabled Vietnam veteran and another from a blind, 79-year old woman with Alzheimer's disease." Only after a judge had tossed the woman in jail did the department revoke her license, the story says.
August 10, 2008
The Caylee Anthony Case: Public records such as case documents and jail audio recordings make this multi-media presentation from the Orlando Sentinel about the ongoing saga of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony one of the most engaging stories you’ll read online. The presentation includes a video backstory, key players and a timeline of the Caylee case, which has become one of the most followed across the nation. There’s video that includes crime scene technicians visiting Caylee Anthony’s grandparents house; a photo gallery that includes Casey Anthony, Caylee’s mother and a key “person of interest" in the case; and, of course, all the recent stories reported by Sun-Sentinel staffers Sarah Lundy, Amy L. Edwards, Bianca Prieto and Walter Pacheco. Be sure to check out the phone recordings of Casey Anthony and her brother Lee from the Orange County jail, plus the case documents, which include a search warrant in the case and Casey Anthony’s arrest report.
Florida Sunshine Review:
Palm Beach Post, by Jennifer Sorentrue: Former U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen sues South Florida water managers and alleges regarding proposed $1.75 billion U.S. sugar buyout …
Naples Daily News, column by Phil Lewis: State attorney should put Collier School Board to the test on possible Sunshine Law violations …
The News Sun, by Kevin J. Shutt: Clerk grants access to video regarding the theft of county fuel despite attorney’s advice …
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