Brevard Art Museum head steps down

From Florida Today
By Pam Harbaugh

After 13 months as president and CEO of the Brevard Art Museum, Karl Hollander resigned Monday. He handed his letter of resignation to Sue Hopkins, chairwoman of the museum’s board of trustees.
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Nelson fears for space program

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said he fears Russia’s aggressive action against Georgia may have some serious consequences on the American space program.

If Russia fails to hold back military action in the former Soviet republic, it could hurt U.S. chances of accessing the International Space Station once NASA retires the space shuttles in 2010, the Democrat from Orlando said Tuesday.
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Tax-swap ballot challenge in court today

A hearing is scheduled in Leon County circuit court today on a business group’s suit to knock the “tax swap” constitutional amendment off of the November ballot.

Plaintiffs in the case claim that the ballot language for Amendment 5 is ambiguous, not telling voters its full effect. The amendment would abolish the “local required effort” portion of county property taxes for school support, requiring future Legislatures to come up with between $9 billion and $11 billion in replacement revenues. Judge John Cooper will hear the case.

Attorney Barry Richard, representing a coalition of nearly 30 business groups, said in a legal memo that the ballot language refers to a limit on annual assessments of real estate. But he said that is “at best, ambiguous” and would mislead voters about the far-reaching impact of the amendment.

Assistant attorney general Lou Hubener and two outside attorneys will argue in defense of the proposal, which was put on the ballot by the Tax and Budget Reform Commission.

Cocoa to increase water fees by 15%

Florida Today
COCOA — The city council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to increase water rates to its 80,000 customers starting Oct. 1. Mayor Michael Blake cast the dissenting vote.
[Read more at Florida Today]

Regulators grill State Farm officials over 47 percent hike request

State regulators Tuesday aggressively grilled State Farm officials asking them to justify their request for a 47 percent increase to homeowners insurance rates.

Four Office of Insurance Regulation officials squared off in a Capitol hearing room at tables a dozen feet from four State Farm executives — put under oath to tell the truth — and argued about reasonable profits, discounts for protecting against wind damage, expected hurricane losses, state law and complex computer models.
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Early primary voting fires up

Early voting got off to a smooth start today, with thousands of Floridians casting ballots for Florida’s primaries.

“This really takes the pressure off for Election Day,” said Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson. “Early voting is so new, the archival information is just not large enough to make an extrapolation about what it means for voter turnout, but it’s extremely popular.”

Johnson said the process was moving smoothly at 13 early voting locations across Hillsborough.   

In Brevard County, assistant Elections Supervisor Duwayne Lundgren said there was one minor problem when a key to a ballot-scanning machine was missing, but the delay was only about three minutes. He said things were running smoothly at five locations in the county.

A spot-check of elections offices across the state also showed heavy demand for mailed ballots this year. Voter interest is usually higher in presidential years, and voter registration figures released Sunday night showed a gain of 415,000 voters statewide over the past seven months.   

Some candidates used the occasion to grab a little free publicity, by showing up with their families and crowds of supporters to vote on the first day of pre-primary balloting. Campaign strategists also like the method because it allows party volunteers to vote early and be free on Election Day to work for their candidates.

Operating hours and days vary from county to county, but early voting is generally available at county courthouses and satellite locations during normal business hours and for eight hours next weekend. Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho said weekend operations can be either Saturday or Sunday, or four hours on each day, depending on a county’s staffing demands.   

Early voting ends on Sunday, Aug. 24, so elections offices can use the Monday before the primary date to distribute machinery and get ready for the big day.