The Associated Press, via The Miami Herald TALLAHASSEE -- A bill that would prevent criminal charges against anyone who calls 911 to report a drug overdose has been unanimously approved by the Florida House. The bill (HB 91) is called the "911 Good Samaritan Act" and next goes to the Senate. A staff analysis explains that users often do drugs together. The measure would encourage people to call 911 for help if they knew someone else with them was overdosing and could be sure they themselves wouldn't get arrested on drug charges. … [Read more...]
Lies about Citizens Justify Policyholder Abuse
April 26, 2011
By MATT REED, Florida Today MELBOURNE -- You've probably heard that Citizens Property Insurance Co., with 32,000 policyholders in Brevard County, teeters on the brink of financial collapse. That an average storm season would trigger assessments on all Floridians to replenish the insurer of last resort. That making Citizens' rules and rates less cruel to homeowners has caused them to flock to the "taxpayer-funded" company over private insurers. But none of that is true. It is a lie perpetuated lately by insurance lobbyists and incurious lawmakers to justify a pair of questionable "reform" bills moving through the state House and Senate. The bills would nearly double Citizens' prices over the next three years and include other costly traps for Space Coast policyholders. The bills would suck millions of dollars a year out of the Space Coast economy, enough to cost hundreds of … [Read more...]
Clement breaks with King & Spalding over Marriage Act
April 26, 2011
By REUTERS LEGAL NEW YORK -- The law firm King & Spalding broke with one of its partners, Paul Clement, on Monday over Clement's work defending an anti-gay-marriage law. Clement said he was resigning from his firm, King & Spalding, shortly after it said it had moved to withdraw as counsel in the matter. Clement said he was not resigning because of any strongly held views over the statute, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. "Instead, I resign out of the firmly-held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters." King & Spalding had come under fire after Clement, who was Solicitor General under President George W. Bush, accepted the case. The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, said on April 18 the firm "should be ashamed of … [Read more...]
Rick Scott Evades Question about killing Citizens Insurance
April 26, 2011
By MIKE BENDER, Bradenton Herald TALLAHASSEE -- Asked to explain his secret push to kill Citizens Property Insurance within four years, Gov. Rick Scott today balked. "I put out a plan in the campaign, which is my plan with regard to Citizens," Scott said. "It's moving it back to making it the insurer of last resort." Scott ended the media gaggle when a reporter clarified that the question was not about his campaign plan, but about internal discussions in his office. "Ok, see you guys," Scott said. Brian Burgess, Scott's spokesman, later disputed a newspaper report that the current Citizens bill started out as a plan from the governor's office to completely phase out Citizens. Burgess said Scott never supported that plan. "What matters at the end of the day is the governor's position," Brian Burgess said. "The governor has not changed his position that Citizens should … [Read more...]
Apple Hit with Class Action Over Location Tracking
April 26, 2011
By JESSE EMSPAK, International Business Journal Apple is facing a class action suit over the location data that two security researchers recently publicized. The two named plaintiffs are Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito. They filed their suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, Fla. Ajjampur lives in Florida, Devito in New York State. Apple has come under some fire recently after two security researchers at O'Reilly Radar, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, found an unencrypted file that contains location data on iPhones running the latest versions of iOS. After an initial splash of attention, others in the field noted that the location data wasn't that exact and seems to track users' general areas, rather than exact locations. The lawsuit says that because the location data -- whatever its quality -- is being gathered without consent … [Read more...]
