FLORIDA SUNDAY EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

While the Lakeland Ledger reprints almost word-for-word the editorial that ran last Sunday in the Gainesville Sun (without giving proper credit, so I have to wonder if the Sun copied it from another source with giving credit as well) lamenting the secrecy of the current administration in Washington, they have an excellent guest editorial by Barbara Stampfl, Library Committee Chair of the Polk County League of Women Voters supporting a Municipal Services Taxing Unit to support the county's library system.

The thirst for water in South Florida which has been a major factor in the current Everglades crisis and ideas to divert water from North Florida are of concern to the editorial board at the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The Orlando Sentinel is running the first of three editorials on improving Orange County schools, saying the school board there is foolish not to consider the ideas of a blue ribbon panel on education.

In Jacksonville, the Florida Times Union asks local officials to strive for balance between new development and maintaining historical considerations, using the example of the soon-to-be-closed downtown library as it's example.

Florida Today is asking that a study on public boat access to the Indian River Lagoon not overlook enviromental considerations.

Enviromental issues also are the focus of today's editorial in the Miami Herald, which agrees that beach renourishment is a fact of life in Florida, providing a boon to tourism as well as a buffer against storms.

The Fort Myers News-Press agrees with Circuit Judge James Seals, who is in charge of the 20th District Court's Dependency Court and is working to change the tradition of secrecy in the system.

The Gainesville Sun editorial deals with Florida's soon-to-begin Pre-K programme, noting the fact that only about half of the 150,000 four year olds expected have been signed up.

Collier County's Enviromental Advisory Council is still needed, according to the Naples News. The volunteer panel has come under fire for seemingly dragging it's feet on reviewing a major development plan by one of the area's biggest builders.

There is much we can do to protect ourselves from the growing threat of identity theft, which is the subject of today's editorial in the Ocala Star-Banner.

Predatory contractors and their slave labourer practices in farming camps across Florida are the concern in the St. Petersburg Times, which calls for state and local authorities to be more vigiliant in protecting low-paid labourers, many of whom are homeless or mentally ill.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board's ratings for video games is called into question by the Palm Beach Post in the wake of a recall of the popular game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by many stores after the ratings panel changed it's rating from "Mature" (for players 17 and older) to Adults Only.

The Tampa Tribune supports a move to increase property taxes in Temple Terrace by one mil to finance a major downtown redevelopment project.

The International Olympic Committee's decision to scrap women's softball and men's baseball after the 2008 Bejing games is lamented today by the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Up in the Panhandle, the Pensacola News Journal believes the state education bureaucracy should not slam the door on local school districts cost effective ideas for meeting mandates, but work with them to meet students' needs.

And the Tallahassee Democrat calls for more regional collaboration .