Florida PIRG ~ Top Priority: Safe Food, Healthy Kids

July, 2010

We’re working to ensure Congress and the Obama administration puts children’s health above the meat industry...

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Oil Spill Encounters Loop Current

by Tim Ballisty, Jon Erdman
The Weather Channel

...With its proximity to the northern edge of the Loop Current it may be only a matter of weeks or even days before the ocean surface oil is transported toward the Florida Keys and southeast Florida...Unfortunately, three out of the four computer models show that the oil will indeed be caught in the current and swept to the south...

"This can't be passed off as 'it's not going to be a problem,'" said William Hogarth, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science. "This is a very sensitive area. We are concerned with what happens in the Florida Keys."

Per a report from The Associated Press, Hogarth said it's still too early to know what specific amounts of oil will make it to Florida, or what damage it might do to the sensitive Keys or beaches on Florida's Atlantic coast.

He said claims by BP that the oil would be less damaging to the Keys after traveling over hundreds of miles from the spill site were not mollifying.

Damage is already done, with the only remaining question being how much more is to come, said Paul Montagna, from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas...

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Senate Panel Expands Waterfront Property Tax Protections

By MICHAEL PELTIER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:54 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:54 p.m.


TALLAHASSEE | A Senate panel charged with carrying out a state constitutional amendment to protect working waterfronts made last-minute changes Thursday to expand the amendment's scope and protect it from likely legal challenges from local cash-strapped local governments...

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Health News Florida: Sen. Gaetz: FL will resist feds

By Christine Jordan Sexton
1/12/2010
Health News Florida

TALLAHASSEE—Florida’s Republican-controlled state government is gearing up to fight federal health care reform even before the law passes...

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