Scott wrote a letter to the state university system chancellor asking for a report on the incident and saying he is "deeply disappointed" and it raises questions about "the lessons being taught in our classrooms."

From the Sun-Sentinel:

Instructor Deandre Poole's March 4 exercise in the Intercultural Communications class on the FAU Davie campus created a nationwide stir, with blogs and social media sites abuzz with complaints from critics who called it an affront to Christianity.

"This exercise will not be used again," an FAU statement said. "…We sincerely apologize for any offense this caused. Florida Atlantic University respects all religions and welcomes people of all faiths, backgrounds and beliefs."

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At the federal level, much of what Republicans are doing is not working beyond the core constituencies that make up the Party. On the state level, however, it is a different story. Republicans hold governorships in 30 states with 315 electoral votes, the most governors either party has had in 12 years, and four short of the all-time GOP high of 34 governors who served in the 1920s.

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Jennifer Carroll's resignation was announced Wednesday, one day after she gave her resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott. His chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, says her resignation was spurred by an investigation into the Allied Veterans of the World, which was once represented by Carroll.

Officials from that nonprofit Internet cafe company were recently arrested on racketeering charges. The owner was arrested Tuesday in connection to allegations that he made $290 million after supplying illegal gambling software in Florida and claiming the games' proceeds would benefit a veterans group. Authorities also interviewed Carroll.

Carroll's ties to the company were questioned when she was in the Legislature when she proposed a bill that would benefit Internet cafes.

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That's what my inbox has been telling me ever since my story two weeks ago about the inevitable invasion of MOOCs (massive open online courses) into higher education, "The Internet Will Not Ruin College." The negativity wasn't unanimous, but it was definitely illuminating.

Information is not the same as knowledge! Online education might work for remedial algebra or the basics of computer programming, conceded several professors, but when the goal is to teach students to think and write critically about history or literature, the benefits of teaching thousands of students simultaneously via their iPads becomes much hazier. University administrators pushing MOOCs, they argued, are more interested in cutting costs or finding new sources of revenue than in delivering the best education possible. Most students who do register for MOOCs never finish them, they warned, and the available data suggests the kinds of students who need the most educational assistance tend to be the ones who benefit the least from online classes.

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Scott, a former healthcare executive, started an advocacy group to fight the health law before being elected governor, and has continued fighting the law ever since. He joined with other Republican governors to oppose the ACA's Medicaid expansion, arguing that it would be too expensive for their states, and took his legal challenge all the way to the Supreme Court.

But this afternoon, the federal government granted Florida's request for a conditional waiver to experiment with privatizing Medicaid in the state, and Scott quickly backed down on opposition to the expansion. He hastily called a press conference to formally announce the new policy this evening.

"I cannot in good conscious deny access to Floridians who need healthcare," he told reporters. However, he warned that his plan will only go ahead if the federal government funds 100 percent of the Medicaid expansion for the first three years, which will act as a probationary trial period. After that, the expansion will need to be reauthorized.

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The announcement Friday night fanned speculation that Crist would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Crist sent out a tweet that said, "Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!"

The tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at the White House. President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump.

"I've had friends for years tell me, 'You know Charlie, you're a Democrat and you don't know it,'" Crist told the newspaper Friday night.

He cited the Republican Party's shift to the right on a range of issues, including immigration, education and the environment.

Messages left for Crist by The Associated Press weren't immediately returned Friday night.

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From the New York Times:

One day after President Obama was re-elected, Florida, where he held a slim lead, was still too close to call — stuck in postelection mode once again as several counties tallied absentee ballots. Luckily, unlike the 2000 presidential contest, when the country’s attention hung on hanging chads, this year’s election made Florida’s choice an afterthought.

“After this election, Florida is worse than a laughingstock,” Billy Corben, a Miami documentary filmmaker and avid election night Twitter user, said with a smile. “We’re now an irrelevant laughingstock.”

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Ohio isn’t the only battleground where Democrats see their voting rights being curtailed. The Florida Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit Sunday to extend early voting hours in the quintessential swing state, the New York Times reports.

The lawsuit followed a stream of complaints from voters who sometimes waited nearly seven hours to vote or who did not vote at all because they could not wait for hours to do so.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, local election supervisors in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties, where queues sometimes snaked out the door and around buildings, said they would allow voters to request and cast absentee ballots on Sunday. Voters in three other Florida counties also will be able to pick up and drop off absentee ballots. State election law permits election offices to receive absentee ballots through Tuesday so long as they are cast in person.

But later on Sunday, Miami-Dade’s county election supervisor closed down the line for absentee ballots at its Doral office after two hours because too many people showed up.

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The incorrect number was also posted on the Florida Department of Health website.

From the Broward Palm Beach New-Times:

"The screw-up was first noticed by an alert reader who notified public radio WUSF, who then called the governor's office. The Florida Department of Health quickly corrected the mistake and posted the right number.

But for a while there, anyone who wanted to get pertinent information about the meningitis outbreak got an automated message that said 'Hello, boys; thank you for calling me on my anniversary' and then directed them to a menu of naughty options."

Scott is in good company: During his own term as governor, Charlie Crist's office accidentally posted a number that directed parents to "hot, horny girls" instead of the Florida KidCare hotline. Tim Pawlenty has also made the same mistake.

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He's very proud, and even fundraising off his accomplishment. From the AP:

"'You see, unlike President Obama’s allies, I don’t view the world through a partisan lens,' says a letter mailed by the party and signed by Scott. 'I’m appalled that so many Democrats have stepped up to defend the right of non-citizens to cast ballots in Florida.'

The letter tells donors if they agree with Scott’s voter purge, to send a check to the Republican Party of Florida. It suggests amounts ranging from $25 to '$1,000 or more.'"

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Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, when asked what the 500,000 people in his state who would thus be deprived of insurance are supposed to do, simply said that those at that income level have “got a little bit more money in their pocket than those who are at 100 percent of the federal poverty level.” A great comfort if they get cancer. (Gingrey actually misstates the preexisting rules in Georgia, where working parents are eligible only if their incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the poverty level, or about $9,500 for a family of three, while adults without dependent children are not eligible at any income level.)

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This comes on the heels of Sen. Marco Rubio essentially endorsing President Obama's decision to halt deportations of young people brought to the U.S. by their parents illegally. Rubio continues to insist that it "feels weird" to deport young people who have grown up here and who consider themselves Americans, sounding like an Obama surrogate as he chides both parties for "politicizing" immigration.

Only two weeks before that, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush rebuked Romney on both taxes and immigration, telling reporters that neither Ronald Reagan nor his father could be nominated by today's Republican Party because of their record of bipartisan compromise and raising taxes. Bush also warned Romney to change his tone on immigration, saying, “Don’t just talk about Hispanics and say immediately we must have controlled borders. It’s kind of insulting when you think about it. Change the tone would be the first thing. Second, on immigration, I think we need to have a broader approach."

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Some people (communists) have noted that the timing of this big voter roll purge is a bit suspect and that it's also weird that the vast majority of people on the list are Hispanics who are registered Democrats or independents. But as hero-senator Marco Rubio said recently of voter ID laws, "What's the big deal?" Hundreds of the 1,638 people flagged as ineligible in Miami-Dade County have already offered proof of citizenship, so the system works. Let's assume the 1,200 people who haven't responded to the letter are all definitely not qualified.

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