Jim Tulley wants to take on the city’s strategic plan as one of the first issues he’ll tackle as Titusville’s new mayor.

It’s an issue that will be brought before a new council tonight, with new Titusville City Councilor Martha Jane Long sitting in Tulley’s vacated council member’s seat.
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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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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.

The Russian Soyuz vehicle will be the only option available for NASA to send crew and cargo to the space station until the shuttle’s replacement becomes available for manned missions in 2015. Nelson fears deteriorating U.S.-Russia politics may result in “Russia denying us rides or charging exorbitant amounts for them.”

NASA’s agreement to purchase rides on the Soyuz came about from a waiver Congress granted the agency from the Iran-Syria Non-Proliferation Act. The law prohibits the United States from buying space-related goods and services from Russia while that nation exports nuclear technology to Iran.    NASA’s waiver from the ban expires in 2011. Nelson fears that recent developments between Russia and Georgia may make it hard for lawmakers to extend the exemption.

“It was a tough sell before, but it was doable simply because we didn’t have a choice. We don’t want to deny ourselves access to the space station, the very place we have built and paid,” Nelson said. “It’s going to be a tougher sell now unless there are critical developments during the next 48 to 72 hours.”

Nelson blamed the Bush administration for making the nation so reliant on Russia by failing to devote more money to the space program.

“If I were president I’d be pulling out all the stops to get Russia to understand the consequences of continued bad behavior,” said Nelson, who just returned from a trip to Afghanistan with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other lawmakers.

The Russian incursion had just begun as the delegation was leaving central Asia, Nelson said.    “We actually flew over Georgia coming out of Kazakhstan because the Russians would not give us diplomatic overflight,” Nelson said. –Eun Kyung Kim, Gannett News Service

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.

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.

For State Farm Florida’s 900,000 homeowners policyholders there are thousands of dollars in higher premiums at stake. The three-hour public hearing will be part of the regulators’ review. No decision was made Tuesday.

In addition to higher rates, State Farm is also in the midst of dumping 50,000 wind-damage policies, a process begun in March and previously announced. But executives also revealed that they intend to cancel 15,000 condo policyholders and an additional 5,000 homeowners will have their wind coverage dropped.

State Farm executives said the average 47 percent increase is necessary and actually below what computer models indicated. Company President Jim Thompson said lower income from premiums, the higher cost of reinsurance to protect against huge losses and projections of more frequent hurricanes account for the need to raise rates.

“We believe that the 47.1 percent we requested is needed if we are able to stand behind our promises,” Thompson said.

Gov. Charlie Crist earlier in the morning said he thinks Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty should turn down the rate increase.   

“I think he’ll handle this case appropriately and you know what I mean by that — rejecting it, the increase — and I’m pleased that over the course of the past year and a half, rates have dropped an average of 16 percent,” Crist said.

The cost of reinsurance was the biggest part of State Farm’s premium breakdown, accounting for 43 percent of its breakdown of costs. The company buys backup reinsurance from the state, from its parent company and from other private-sector sources.

Though State Farm Florida officials said the reinsurance it buys from its parent is far cheaper than what it would cost on the open market, regulators pointed out that the cost of additional coverage it has purchased exceeds the savings realized.

State Farm Florida pays more than $500 million a year to its parent company, State Farm Mutual, for coverage against catastrophic losses that would be caused by a once-every-250-years hurricane. If State Farm projections for such a large storm were realized, the company says the parent would have to pay off on about $4.3 billion in coverage claims.    Belinda Miller, deputy commissioner of the Office of Insurance Regulation, said that didn’t wash. In years without hurricanes — as in 2006 and 2007 —   those reinsurance payments are lucrative for the parent company.

“There is a transfer . . . of a half a billion dollars a year,” Miller said. “From the average person’s perspective, they would say State Farm Mutual is doing well.”

“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.

It’s set for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the IBEW union hall in Orlando.   

A problem arose over the weekend when the Democratic State Executive Committee met in Tampa to choose 27 electors, but couldn’t get a quorum. State law requires both parties to submit certified lists of electors to the governor’s office before Sept. 1.   

Party leaders initially called for an Aug. 18 meeting, time and place to be determined. But Democratic National Committeeman Jon Ausman of Tallahassee pointed out that the date didn’t allow 10 days notice, as required by party rules.   

Ausman said that if Sen. Barack Obama carries Florida but his electors are not chosen with strict compliance to every rule and law, the Republicans might go to court and challenge those 27 votes — maybe even affecting the national outcome in a close race. Remember 2000, Ausman said, recalling the 36 days of court fights and recounts over Florida’s then-25 electoral votes.   

So today, the party set the new date. Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said lawyers have assured the leadership that notifying executive committee members by e-mail, fax and phone ought to be legally sufficient.   

“We expect a large turnout at the meeting because the members of the State Executive Committee are understand it is their duty to approve the slate of electors, so when Barack Obama wins Florida, there will be no question about our electors,” said Jotkoff.   

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer marveled at the Democratic disarray. Last spring, the party fought for a couple of months over seating of Florida delegates to the national convention, which was resolved after a long and divisive fight between Obama supporters and backers of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.   

“The continued inability of the Florida Democrats to get their act together simply amazes me,” said Greer.
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Circuit Court Judge George Turner signed an order to put a hold on the lawsuit filed by West Melbourne, saying the two cities have not yet exhausted negotiations.

The order is standard procedure under Florida laws regarding governments suing each other, and sends both sides back to talk, attorneys for both cities said.
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“You’re looking for certainty in an ordinance,” said special counsel Michael Kahn. He further explained that any vagaries “will not pass constitutional muster.”

The city council is trying to create an ordinance restricting the locations of adult entertainment businesses throughout the city. The measure, however, also would allow at least 16 additional adult businesses into the city.
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