SUNDAY FLORIDA EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

My hometown Lakeland Ledger takes advantage of the Memorial Day weekend to hand out it's occasional "Gigs and Garlands".

In Jacksonville, the Florida Times-Union says that we must allow nuclear plants to maintain it's 20 percent share of America's energy supply

The Miami Herald opines that the USA Patriot Act should be reviewed, with many provisions being discarded or improved to stop the assault on civil liberties.

In the Panhandle, the Pensacola News Journal laments Escambia County's dependence on service jobs, which plays a major role in it's being ranked as the poorest among Florida's 16 largest counties (and 17th poorest among the nation's largest).

Today's editorial in the Orlando Sentinel says that as we prepare for another hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency needs to clean up it's act.

The St. Petersburg Times focuses on an important enviromental issue on it's opinion page, slamming state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for allowing at least 84,000 acres of wetlands --- an area about the size of St. Petersburg --- to be destroyed over the past 15 years.

The Palm Beach Post urges state legislators to approve payment of a Palm Beach County jury award of $35 million dollars to Marissa Amora in a three year old negligence lawsuit against the state Department of Children and Families.

As high school and college commencements continue, the Tampa Tribune encourages graduates --- and, I'm sure, the citizenry in general --- to be engaged citizens and know what's going on in your community. I actually like one quote included in the editorial, made by Beatles producer Sir George Martin when he told a recent graduating class:

``The reassuring thing I have learned from working with geniuses is that no one is perfect; no one is so good that he does not need help.''

Today's Sarasota Herald-Tribune makes note of President Bush's double standard on the issue of stem cells, allowing them to be discarded/destroyed but not their use for research that could be beneficial in saving lives.

And the Gainesville Sun makes note of two attempts in Congress this week to weaken the moratorium on drilling for oil and natrual gas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. One was ruled out of order while the other failed.

On Florida's East Coast, Florida Today notes that the hurricane season begins Wednesday, exposing the impact of weak insurance reform.

Once again, the Fort Myers News-Press urges the Lee County School Board to act now to get support for an increased sales tax to raise revenues for building and other expenses resulting from expected rising enrollment.