Nelson ‘fighting’ for rail money as NPR, other media misinform on study

Gov. Rick Scott turned down $2.4 billion taxpayer (or borrowed from foreign countries) dollars the US Dept. of Transportation offered Florida. The money would’ve helped to create a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. Supporters also want future lines between Orlando and Miami and maybe one day Orlando and Jacksonville.

The Florida Times-Union ran a story on Saturday suggesting US senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) might go after the money despite Scott’s concerns. The header to the story in the print edition was “Nelson fighting to get back rail money.” The header to the online story read “Florida loses high-speed rail money, but Tampa and Orlando might get it back.”

My problem: the newspaper and National Public Radio misinform the readers about a study touted by supporters as proof the rail line would be profitable.

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‘Lonely’ status for candidate Crist stems from governing politics, not people

Updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 11:56AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

By Kay B. Day

Gov. Charlie Crist (I-Fla.) did an interview by phone with The Hill, saying, “When you’re not affiliated with a party, it can be very lonely, particularly initially.”

But if truth were to rear its lovely head, the loneliness might be better attributed to the governor’s various reversals on policy as well as his decision to hang onto campaign funds solicited as a Republican candidate.

Crist said the GOP has been “drifting so far to the right.”  He didn’t feel “comfortable” anymore.

The discomfort was predictable, though not for reasons Crist cited in the interview.

As recently as December, 2009, Gov. Charlie Crist defended former RPOF chairman Jim Greer during an interview with the editorial board of the S. Florida newspaper The Sun-Sentinel.

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State grant gone wrong pales in comparison to Obama’s federal earmarks

The State of Illinois is investigating the use of a $100,000 grant awarded in 2001 by Sen. Barack Obama who was serving in the Illinois legislature at the time.The Chicago Sun-Times said, “A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.” The garden didn’t happen. The paper also says $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association. That grant pales in comparison to federal earmarks requests by Obama.

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