By Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Senior Legal Analyst updated 8:36 AM EDT, Wed March 21, 2012 Editor's note: Jeffrey Toobin is a senior legal analyst for CNN and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, where he covers legal affairs. (CNN) -- Trayvon Martin went out to buy some Skittles -- and was shot dead before he made it home. The case is horrifying, maddening, grotesque. And -- perhaps worst of all -- there may be nothing Florida law enforcement can do about it. As the world now knows, the 17-year-old Martin walked to a store in Orlando to buy some snacks on the night of February 26. George Zimmerman, a volunteer Neighborhood Watch captain, thought the boy looked suspicious and called 911. The 911 operator told Zimmerman to keep his distance -- police would be sent -- but there was a confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin was killed with a single shot to the chest. … [Read more...]
2 lawsuits filed against Florida Medicaid
Courtesy of UPI.com TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 15 (UPI) -- Florida Medicaid faces two lawsuits brought by families who object to the state confining disabled children in nursing homes rather than paying for home care. The first lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, alleges Florida Medicaid illegally warehouses roughly 250 sick and disabled children in nursing homes, as opposed to providing coverage so the children can receive care at home with their families, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Wednesday. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/03/15/2-lawsuits-filed-against-Florida-Medicaid/UPI-43591331828728/#ixzz1pHu8itym … [Read more...]
Lawsuit claims state traps sick, disabled kids in nursing homes
By Bob LaMendola, Sun Sentinel Florida needlessly and illegally warehouses about 250 severely sick and disabled children in nursing homes rather than pay to help them live at home or in the community, families said in a lawsuit this week. The denial of home nursing care and other services has left the children living for months or years in institutions, even when doctors have cleared them to go home with their families, says the suit, filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-kids-in-nursing-homes-20120314,0,38039.story … [Read more...]
Lawmakers give governor more power over jobs agencies
By Jim Stratton, Orlando Sentinel Florida lawmakers have approved a plan that would give Gov. Rick Scott more control over the state's regional jobs boards, allowing Scott and future governors to remove agency board members or top executives for poor performance. The legislation, which awaits the governor's signature, follows a series of Orlando Sentinel articles last year detailing questionable spending and management decisions at the regional boards, particularlyWorkforce Central Florida. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-12/business/os-workforce-law-florida-20120312_1_promotional-water-bottles-labor-development-agency-board-members … [Read more...]
Bill banning application of religious law dies in Florida Senate
By MARCY OSTER (JTA) -- Legislation that would ban the application of religious or foreign law in marriage, divorce or custody cases stalled in Florida's state Senate. The Senate failed to bring the measure to a vote by March 9, the end of the current legislative session. It could be brought up in future sessions. Jewish and Muslim groups opposed the bill, which had passed the Florida House of Representatives on March 1 by a vote of 92-24. Rep. Elaine Schwartz, one of two Jewish Democratic lawmakers in the House who opposed the bill, expressed concern that the law also could negate divorces that were arbitrated by a Jewish beit din, or rabbinical court, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Read more: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/03/11/3092077/bill-banning-application-of-religious-law-dies-in-florida-senate … [Read more...]
