President Trump issued an order directing the Secretary of Interior to revisit the 5 year drilling plan of proposed oil and gas development the the Outer Continental Shelf including the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico.
To clarify, while the executive order DOES NOT require leasing in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, opening the door to more drilling anywhere in the Gulf still threatens our coastal communities here in Florida. As we know from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, oil spills have no boundaries.
Jennifer Rubiello, state director of Environment Florida, issued the following updated statement:
“Florida’s coasts and oceans are home to stunning wildlife, beautiful beaches and support a robust tourism economy, all things that stand to lose from offshore drilling. The President’s action opens the door to expanded drilling into our public waters, including drilling that could threaten waters and coastal communities in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico – a move that goes against the values a majority of Floridians share: that our oceans and beaches should be preserved, not sold off to the highest bidder.
“Instead of risking our coasts, President Trump should pay attention to the thousands of citizens, fishermen, and business owners along Florida’s coasts and the millions of Americans from Alaska to Maine who have already said no to offshore drilling. Today’s action is the wrong decision and we will continue fighting in whatever venue it takes to block proposals to drill off our coasts.”
“Seven years after BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded causing the most massive oil spill in history, businesses, communities, and wildlife here in our Gulf region have yet to fully recover. This order exposes all of our oceans to similar risk of disaster.”
“To make matters worse, we are already experiencing record sea-level rise and extreme weather events fueled by climate change. We must not dig that hole any deeper by opening new areas to more drilling.”
The expected executive order comes just weeks before hundreds will gather on May 20th on Treasure Island and throughout Florida for Hands Across the Sand to oppose drilling off our shores and support clean, renewable energy.
Featured
May is Motorcycle Safety Month
Florida has great weather and roads for motorcycle enthusiasts. More than a million drivers in Florida have a motorcycle endorsement on their driver licenses, and many visitors ride motorcycles in the Sunshine State.
FDOT Interim Secretary Rachel Cone said, “At FDOT, we want to make highways safe for all road users, including motorcycles. Motorcyclists should ride smart, and motorists should watch for motorcycles, as they can be difficult to see in traffic.”
FDOT is committed to making roads safe for all, including motorcyclists. The responsibility for safety is on motorists as well as motorcyclists. FDOT is observing motorcycle safety month in May and asking motorcyclists and motorists to share the road by using these simple tips.
Tips for motorcyclists:
- Say no to Drinking and Riding.
- Make yourself more visible to motorists: Wear bright colors.
- Always wear adequate riding gear.
- Ride in Control (within legal and personal limits).
- Train regularly and get endorsed.
- Inspect your motorcycle before each ride to ensure your safety by having it in good working order.
Tips for drivers:
- Always allow a motorcyclist the full lane width; never try to share a lane.
- Check for motorcycles by looking in your mirrors and blind spots before entering or leaving a lane of traffic and at intersections. Remain extra vigilant when entering or crossing intersections.
- Do not tailgate. Allow more following distance when following a motorcycle, so the motorcyclist has enough time to maneuver or stop in an emergency.
- Don’t drive distracted– eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, and mind on driving.
- Always drive sober.
Click here for a link to Governor Scott’s proclamation.
LeadingAge Florida Offers Alternative PPS Plan that Protects Seniors
Plan Preserves Funding for Highly Rated Nursing Homes
As the Florida Senate and House of Representatives begin budget conference, LeadingAge Florida today offered an alternative Prospective Payment System (PPS) plan, that was delivered to Representative Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford), chair of the House health care budget subcommittee, along with other House members serving on the budget subcommittee, that would protect Florida seniors and preserve funding to highly rated nursing homes. To view the cover letter and plan, please click here or visit http://bit.ly/2pF7PjO.
The current PPS plan, which was included in the Florida Senate budget and LeadingAge Florida continues to oppose, would make significant funding cuts to 152 four- and five-star nursing homes, while 97 one- and two-star nursing home facilities would receive substantial additional funding.
LeadingAge Florida’s proposed alternative PPS plan, however, minimizes losses and gains, is not dependent on $57 million in new funding and does not shift $44 million from direct care to property.
“We wanted to offer an alternative PPS plan to demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to work with lawmakers and other stakeholders to develop a plan that holds highly rated nursing homes harmless, directs money to care rather than property, and protects our seniors, while still moving toward a prospective payment model,” said Steve Bahmer, president & CEO of LeadingAge Florida. “The reality is, under the Florida Senate’s proposed PPS plan, 312 of our state’s nursing homes would lose upwards of $90 million. Worse, 97 poorly rated homes would gain $29 million. We don’t believe this is good public policy and we believe our plan is a better alternative that merits consideration as the legislature begins budget conference.”
The alternative plan LeadingAge Florida developed would address a number of policy concerns, including the following:
• Recognizing size and geographic location variations in staffing and operating costs;
• Establishing reasonable payment limits and incorporating quality incentives;
• Eliminating the concern that the Senate plan does not require one- and two-star
nursing homes to spend new funding on quality; and,
• Is not dependent on a 5-year transition period.
“We respectfully ask that lawmakers in both the Senate and the House take a moment to consider the real and damaging effects that the Senate’s PPS plan will have on our seniors, and consider an alternative – or delay implementation of a PPS plan until all parties come to a fair and equitable solution that holds our seniors and high-quality nursing homes harmless,” concluded Bahmer.
To learn more about LeadingAge Florida, please visit LeadingAgeFlorida.org, FB.com/LeadingAgeFlorida and @LeadingAgeFL.
LeadingAge Florida
For 54 years, LeadingAge Florida has served as an association of more than 250 mission-driven communities, including many of the highest rated nursing homes affected by the plan inserted into the Senate budget. LeadingAge Florida is proud to serve quality leaders who devote themselves to creating a culture of excellence that motivates and inspires others throughout the aging continuum. LeadingAge Florida’s members are trusted with providing quality care and services to Florida’s seniors. LeadingAge Florida promotes practices that support, enable and empower people to live fully as they age.
Nelson introduces bill to prevent feds from garnishing Social Security benefits to pay off student loans
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced legislation today to protect seniors who are struggling to pay off outstanding federal debts, such as student loans.
The legislation would repeal a decades-old law that allows the federal government to garnish someone’s Social Security benefits to pay off an outstanding federal debt, such as student loans or home loans owed to the Veterans Administration.
“Social Security is not just a program, it’s a promise we made to help care for older Americans who worked hard and paid into the program,” Nelson said. “This bill will help us keep that promise for those who need it most.”
According to a Government Accountability Office report released in December, the number of Americans who have had their benefits garnished by the federal government has dramatically increased in recent years – from 36,000 in 2002 to 173,000 in 2015. That includes some people under the age of 65 who receive Social Security Disability Insurance.
Social Security was established to provide a fundamental lifeline for millions of Americans who worked and paid into the system. To support the purpose of the program, the original law protected these earned benefits from attempts to recover debts. However, in 1996, Congress revised the original law to allow certain benefits to be garnished if the beneficiary had an outstanding federal debt. The legislation Nelson and others filed today would reestablish the original protections to Social Security and other benefit programs, such as Railroad Retirement and Black Lung Benefits.
In addition to Nelson, the bill is sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
The bill is supported by Social Security Works, The Arc of the United States, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), AFL-CIO, The Economic Opportunity Institute, The National Organization for Women, Justice in Aging, Gray Panthers NYC, Alliance for Retired Americans, The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Global Policy Solutions, AARP, The American Federation of Government Employees and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW.
Text of the bill is available here.
Nelson files bill to block expansion of offshore drilling
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and others filed legislation today to block the administration from opening up any additional areas to offshore drilling until at least 2022.
The move comes amid reports that President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order Friday directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to open up new areas to offshore oil drilling.
Such a move would require Zinke to alter the current five-year oil and gas leasing plan that took effect earlier this year. That plan, which expires in 2022, does not allow oil and gas drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic Coast. The legislation Nelson filed today – along with Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and others – would prohibit the secretary from making any changes to the current plan.
“Drilling near Florida’s coast poses a direct threat to Florida’s environment and multi-billion-dollar, tourism-driven economy,” Nelson said. “Ever since I was a young congressman, I’ve been fighting to keep oil rigs away from Florida’s coast and I’m not going to stop now.”
Nelson, a long-time opponent of having oil rigs too close to Florida, often cites the state’s unique environment, its multi-billion dollar, tourism-driven economy and the vital national military training areas in the Gulf as reasons why drilling should not be allowed there.
In 2006, he and then-Sen. Mel Martinez successfully brokered a deal to ban drilling off Florida’s Gulf coast through the year 2022. Nelson filed legislation earlier this year to extend the ban an additional five years, to 2027.
The legislation Nelson and others filed today now heads to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for consideration.
Full text of the bill can be found here.
Florida Supreme Court: New Posting, 4/27/2017, 2:10 p.m. ET
New material has been posted to the Supreme Court website in:
- Aramis D. Ayala v. Rick Scott (order requiring the petitioner to make supplemental filings in the case & other filings)
Follow the links at: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org.
First 100 days of Trump administration is disaster for Florida’s environment
First 100 days of Trump administration is disaster
for Florida’s environment and our families’ health
In his first 100 days, President Trump has taken dozens of actions that threaten clean air, clean water, and treasured places from the Suwannee River to Tampa Bay to the Everglades.
“There is no question, President Trump is a disaster for our environment and public health. His actions will make our air and water dirtier; ensure we experience the worst effects of climate change even more swiftly; and will put Florida’s coastal communities at risk. Bottomline these rollbacks put the health of Florida families at risk,” said Jennifer Rubiello, state director at Environment Florida.
We are quickly approaching the point where scientists say we won’t be able to stave off the most disastrous impacts of global warming. President Trump’s plans and policies move us in the wrong direction. He stacked his cabinet with big oil allies and climate deniers, plans to dismantle the Clean Power Plan which put the first ever federal limits on global warming pollution from power plants, and ordered the EPA to reconsider clean car standards.
All of this is happening as global warming pollution and other pollution resulting from burning fossil fuels is extending the smog season and harming our families’ health. Across Florida, 21 cities and metro areas had unhealthy levels of air pollution with an average of 17 dirty air days during 2015. Increases in particulate matter can cause coughing and throat irritation, asthma and permanent damage to lung tissue, as well as heart attacks and heart failure.
“We used to say climate change was a problem happening somewhere else in the world to somebody else. Unfortunately that’s no longer true. It is here and now and only going to get worse for us here in Florida, around the country and the world if President Trump has his way,” said David Hastings, Professor of Marine Science and Chemistry at Eckerd College.
Clean water is vital to our ecology, our health, and our quality of life. Many Americans depend on rivers and streams for safe drinking water. But the Trump administration is working to rewrite the Clean Water Rule, putting drinking water for 1 in 3 Americans, including nearly 2 million Floridians, at risk. President Trump’s proposed budget also severely cuts funding for restoring the Everglades and protecting the health of waters like Tampa Bay.
Likewise, our parks, forest, oceans and special places are part of what makes America great. Offshore drilling and fracking risks Florida’ public lands including places like Big Cypress National Preserve. Plans to expand drilling both offshore and on land threaten the water we drink, and risks Florida’s outdoor recreation industry, which generates over $2.5 billion in state and local revenue and 329,000 jobs.
“Some of the biggest benefits of living here in Florida for many of my family and friends include getting out to the beach or paddling down Florida’s many rivers, like the Hillsborough and the Suwannee,” said Tim Martin, conservation chair with the Suncoast Sierra Club. “Trump’s policies put these treasured places and many others across the state and the nation at risk.”
A swift transition to renewable energy is important for reducing global warming pollution, and will make our air cleaner while keeping many of the nation’s landscapes more pristine. We have the technology and sources of energy needed to make a rapid transition away from dirty energy to renewable power. Unfortunately, President Trump is doubling down on the dirty energy of the past by approving projects like the Dakota Access and Keystone East pipelines, and dramatically reducing funding for needed research. Without a commitment to transitioning to clean and renewable energy, facilities like our national laboratories that focus on research in solar, wind and renewable sources of power are at risk. President Trump’s policies move us in the wrong direction at a time when we need to be setting ambitious clean energy goals, bolstering learning and research, and driving innovation.
“Cities in Florida like St. Petersburg have been a leader in making a commitment to moving towards clean energy,” said Susan Glickman, Florida Director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “It would be a travesty if President Trump’s policies put all of that progress in jeopardy.”
President Trump is also taking action that will expose our children and families to even more toxic chemicals. His budget proposal eliminates two different programs within the EPA that protect kids from lead paint, as well as eliminating $330 million in Superfund money to cleanup the worst toxic waste sites, including 92 here in Florida. His EPA has also approved use of a pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that their own scientific research has shown is unsafe for public health, water quality, and wildlife.
“No matter who we voted for last November, none of us wants to expose our kids to more toxic chemicals, make our air and water dirtier. The vast majority of Americans oppose moving backwards on climate, or selling off our public lands to the highest bidder. Anyway you look at it, these last 100 days have been a disaster for our environment and our families’ health,” said Rubiello.
RoadWatch Advisory: US 301 at Hernando Desoto Bridge in Manatee County
MANATEE COUNTY
US 301 at the Hernando Desoto Bridge: Construction project: Construction on the Hernando Desoto Bridge begins Monday, May 1. Improvements include concrete repairs, installing pile jackets, and repairing the bridge fender system.
In order to clear up previous confusing reports the skate park and portions of Riverwalk will be closed from early May through the end of August, by recommendation of the City of Bradenton.
The $1.1 million project is expected to be complete in fall 2017.
2017 Gladys Prior Awards for Career Teaching Excellence Honor Four Teachers
On the 20th anniversary of the award, four Jacksonville teachers were surprised in their classrooms yesterday and today, Thursday, April 27, with the 2017 Gladys Prior Awards for Career Teaching Excellence, which were established in 1998 by Gilchrist Berg, founder and president of Water Street Capital, to honor teachers who have had lifelong careers in teaching and inspiring students.
As of this year, 80 teachers will have been recognized with a Gladys Prior Award. To date, Berg has given more than $1 million to honor Jacksonville teachers with an award named after his fourth-grade teacher, Gladys Prior, at Ortega Elementary. The University of North Florida College of Education and Human Services manages this gift and coordinates the annual award competition. Each of these career teachers will receive $15,000.
The 2017 winners are Patrice Haupt, Paxon School for Advanced Studies; Alicia Henderson, Assumption Catholic School; Larry Knight, Stanton College Preparatory School; and James Miller, La Villa Middle School of the Arts. Together these teachers have well over 80 years of teaching experience.
The surprise visits were yesterday and today as follows:
Wednesday, April 26:
- 8:20 AM La Villa Middle School, 501 N Davis St.
- 11:20 AM Stanton College Prep, 1149 W 13th St.
- 12:45 PM Assumption Catholic School, 2431 Atlantic Blvd.
Thursday, April 27:
- 9:25 AM Paxon School for Advanced Studies, 3239 Norman E Thagard Blvd.
Patrice Haupt teaches language arts at Paxon. She’s known for her commitment to meet the varying academic and personal needs of her students plus supporting and mentoring fellow teachers. She holds her students to high expectations in her class, while honoring every single one of their identities and stories. Haupt is a sister, mother, friend, cheerleader, partner and an inspiration to all she meets. She’s described as vibrant, vocal and unequivocally in love with teaching and her students.
Alicia Henderson is a literature and English teacher at Assumption, where she also coaches the cross-country team. She does everything imaginable to engage her students in literature—taking students on reading-related field trips, such as a visit to a tearoom after reading “Anne of Green Gables” and an adventure at the Okefenokee Swamp complete with archery after diving into “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Henderson has an astonishing library and has the unique gift to match students with books that will draw them in. Her classroom invites students to read and discuss at tables and comfy chairs with pillow and rugs, all lit with soft light.
Larry Knight teaches Language Arts at Stanton and is the advisor to the award-winning Stanton newspaper, the Devil’s Advocate. Knight uses roundtable paedeia discussions after required reading assignments, which begins with a student voicing an assertion about the work and is followed by a discussion based upon analytical and creative thought. All this takes place with 14 and 15 year olds encouraged by Knight to pursue individual thinking and intellectual exploration—a true gift for freshmen entering the robust and challenging world of Stanton. His door is always open to new teachers learning from a master teacher, and he’s widely admired for many years of outstanding advising, teaching and mentoring the staff of the school paper.
James Miller teaches U.S. history at LaVilla. He’s an infectious storyteller whose classes are filled with rich images, maps, battle scenes, clips from movies, colorful descriptions and interdisciplinary projects designed to wake up students’ minds. Miller has woven his enthusiasm for gardening into his history lessons, with stories of families fleeing Mussolini with fig-tree cuttings from Italy in hand. He generously provided students with fig-tree cuttings from his own garden to plant their own trees. He also attends the performances of students and has been known to ask for an autograph or two afterwards.
UNF, a nationally ranked university located on an environmentally beautiful campus, offers students who are dedicated to enriching the lives of others the opportunity to build their own futures through a well-rounded education.
RoadWatch Advisory for Charlotte and Sarasota Counties
RoadWatch Advisory
I-75 Kings Highway Ramp Closures
Charlotte and Sarasota Counties, Florida
CHARLOTTE/SARASOTA COUNTIES
I-75 from south of Harborview Road (mile marker 167) to Sumter Boulevard (mile marker 182): Construction project: This project widens the road from four to six lanes and adds a 12-foot travel lane and 10-foot shoulder to the inside of existing northbound and southbound I-75.
- Motorists should expect lane closures on I-75 during nighttime/overnight hours from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through the duration of the construction.
- Motorists should also expect periodic travel lane shifts through the duration of construction.
- Motorists should expect the outside northbound lane on the bridge over the Peace River closed through the duration of the project.
- Kings Highway on-ramp to I-75 northbound will be closed during nighttime/overnight from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Sunday, April 30, Monday, May 1, and Tuesday, May 2.
- Kings Highway on-ramp to I-75 southbound will be closed during nighttime/overnight from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, May 3 and Thursday, May 4.
Variable message signs will be in place to alert drivers that work is underway. Drivers should use caution while traveling in this area. Estimated completion is end of 2017. The contractor is Astaldi Construction Corporation.
