Florida Courier - May 17, 2013

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MAY 17 - MAY 23, 2013

VOLUME 21 NO. 20

GRILLED

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The Departments of Treasury, Justice and State provide unwanted distractions for Barack Obama’s second-term agenda.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

Four months into his second term, President Barack Obama finds himself under siege from members of both parties and the news media for a series of crises that have stalled his policy priorities and threaten to engulf the second half of his presidency. The Justice Department secretly seized the telephone records of journalists as part of an unprecedented crackdown on leaks. The Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups that were seeking tax-exempt status. And the administration is fighting accusations of a cover-up after a number of conflicting reports surfaced

about what happened before and after an attack last Sept. 11 on a diplomatic facility in Libya that left four Americans dead. Here’s what happened this week as of the Florida Courier’s press time late Wednesday night:

IRS chief dumped Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sought and accepted interim IRS Commissioner Steven Miller’s resignation after Obama said Wednesday that he was “angry” at IRS officials who inappro-

priately targeted conservative groups for scrutiny. Miller, a career IRS employee, became the agency’s acting commissioner in November 2012. Miller’s resignation follows an inspector general’s report released Monday that found that incompetence and ineffective management at IRS, particularly in a poorly managed unit of the tax collecting agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, led to employees applying extra scrutiny to conservative and Tea Party advocacy groups whose tax exemption appli-

Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT

On Wednesday, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder attended the 32nd Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service in Washington, D.C. honoring law enforcement who were killed in the line of duty in the previous year. cations, in some cases, have been delayed for more than three years. The report also found there was no evidence of outside pressure on officials to target conservative groups. Calling the conduct of the agency “inexcusable,” Obama said he would “do

everything in my power to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.” Obama said he thought the problems at the IRS were “fixable,” and said IRS would implement the inspector general’s recommendations and place safeguards in place to prevent

CLASS OF 2013

At last, it’s graduation time!

reoccurrences. Obama said he would work with Congress as it kicks off investigation of the IRS, but said that investigations should happen “in a way that doesn’t smack of politics or partisan agendas.” See OBAMA, Page A2

Decisions, decisions Education bills await governor BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The biggest battles on the education front in the 2013 legislative sessions have already been fought and largely decided. Educators will get $480 million in pay raises, though not precisely how Gov. Rick Scott had asked. The Senate killed a bill allowing parents more of a say in the future of failing schools. But there were several more highprofile bills Gov. Rick that moved Scott through the process. Many of those still wait for decisions from Scott on whether to sign or veto them, and some people have taken to lobbying the governor by email on what he should do. COURTESY OF DAYTONA STATE COLLEGE

A jubilant Jerred Mason was among thousands of graduates receiving degrees Monday from Daytona State College. The Daytona Beach college made national news this week because one of its 4,200 spring graduates included 91-year-old Irene Lewis, who, like Mason, received a bachelor’s degree.

High school degrees Another one of the initiatives that lawmakers say is the most wide-ranging has already been put inSee SCOTT, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS METRO | B1

How DNA influences breast cancer risk

FLORIDA | a3

College president’s pay wide-ranging, report shows FINEST | B5

Meet Abby

ALSO INSIDE

Miami-Dade early voters opposed stadium funding THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The Miami Dolphins were down 14 percentage points at the polls when time ran out on their bid to pick up needed legislative support for the referendum on using hotel bed-tax dollars for upgrades at Sun Life Stadium. Of the 60,678 ballots cast toward the May 14 referendum in Miami-Dade County – both early and via mail – 34,780, or 57 percent, were opposed to the Dolphins’ request, while 25,898, or 43 percent, were in favor, according to numbers from the Miami-Dade Elections Department. Eric Jotkoff, a spokesman for the team’s stadium improve-

COURTESY OF THE MIAMI DOLPHINS

This is what Sun Life Stadium in Miami-Gardens would look life if the renovation project is ever completed. ment campaign, expressed of where we projected.” confidence voters would have “These incomplete numapproved the measure as the bers are irrelevant,” Jotkoff incomplete results were “ahead tweeted Tuesday night. “If the

2012 election ended at a similar point, Mitt Romney would have likely won Florida.” The special election was halted after the legislative session ended May 3 without the state House taking up measures that would have supported a requested increase in the bed tax and the use of bed tax dollars for the proposed $350 million in stadium improvements. The election cost the Dolphins at least $9.3 million, as the team agreed to a non-refundable $4.8 million to cover the cost of the election and the team’s political action committee, Friends of Miami First, spent $4.49 million between April 1 and May 10.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: LUCIUS GANTT: LOOKING FOR MR. OR MS. GOODBAR | A4


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