SUNDAY FLORIDA EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

We begin this morning in South Florida, where the Miami Herald makes note that as gas prices continue upward, energy conservation includes reining in those gas guzzlin' SUVs. BTW: The Lakeland Ledger top-of-the-fold headline Saturday was noting how gas prices in Polk County flew upward an average of 24 cents in one week.

Up I-95 in Fort Lauderdale, the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial board advises those considering retirement may want to consider ways to stay employed as part of your planning, as Social Security reform has become such a political football.

The Palm Beach Post opinion this morning criticizes a plan which the Palm Beach County Commission will vote on Monday on the guise of "protecting rural character" in proposed development areas of the west county which, in fact, would have the opposite effect such as sharply increasing the area's urban density.

Meanwhile, along the Gulf Coast, the Naples Daily News was short and sweet in it's salute of the news that a toll booth operator in Lee County had been arrested and charged with stealing.

Up in Melbourne, Florida Today notes that as NASA's woes over the space shuttle programme continue, the agency is almost out of chances to reestablish credibility with the public and Congress.

The Orlando Sentinel's editorial looks to Lake County today, opining that with the departure of Groveland City Manager Jason Yarborough and his aggresive pro-growth agenda, it's time the municipality gets a new manager more concerned about it's residents.

Locally, the Lakeland Ledger is in a "told you so" mood today, noting that Polk County officials kept quiet about a moratorium on new building permits in areas of North Lakeland and on issuing certificates of occupancy in five subdivisions because the five-year-old Northwest Waste Water Treatment Plant is near capacity. And the same issues could cause a similar situation in the Bartow area sooner rather than later.

In the St. Petersburg Times, it's editorial looks as the irony of how the InterAmerican Press Association --- an organization which has defended the rights of journalists across Latin America --- has recently sent a support team to the USA concerned about the situation with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, jailed for contempt for failing to reveal her sources in the naming of Valerie Plame.

Meanwhile, the Sarasota Herald Tribune is concerned about the threats to marine life along the Florida Gulf Coast, of which the current red tide problem is but only one.

The Gainesville Sun calls Florida's lax rules on lobbyists the state's "shame", and legislators will, apparantly, have to be shamed into taking lobbying reform seriously during it's next session.

Nearby, the Ocala Star-Banner is hoping that Marion County commissioners will follow through on their promise to be tough on developers as they enter three days of hearings for major changes to it's comprehensive land-use plan.

Looking at North Florida, Jacksonville's Florida Times Union editorial is disturbed by the recent United States Supreme Court decision allowing government to use it's eminent domain powers to take private property for private development, but it's pleased that the decision has launched efforts by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to make the decision moot.

The Pensacola News Journal opinion is that the federal Enviromental Protection Agency has apparantly forgotten it's mission in deciding on the cheapest alternative for cleaning a Superfund site near Pensacola, calling the programme now "bankrupt --- both fiscally and morally".

And the Tallahassee Democrat would like to see a return to the strong Chancellor of the state's university system that has been weakened significantally in recent years.