Bob Wesley, public defender for Orange and Osceola counties, asked Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead to give all drug court participants the same privacy being sought by Noelle Bush, Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter.

"I would not like a client to say, 'Why does that person get to have her treatment in private and I have to go through a public proceeding?' " Wesley said. This week, Noelle Bush's attorney asked a judge, in an unprecedented request, to close her drug court proceedings.

Attorneys for the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel argued that drug courts are like other criminal courts and should not be closed.

Bush, 25, was arrested in January for allegedly buying an antianxiety drug with a fraudulent prescription in Tallahassee. She chose to seek treatment through a diversionary drug court proceeding rather than face a criminal trial.

President to visit state, raise funds for brother

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- President Bush will travel to Florida next week for a fundraiser for his brother in a visit underscoring the importance the White House places on Gov. Jeb Bush's re-election campaign.

President Bush plans to participate in a round-table discussion on education in New Smyrna Beach Thursday before attending a fundraising reception for the Bush for Governor campaign. The governor is facing Tampa attorney Bill McBride in the Nov. 5 election.

It will be the 11th time President Bush has visited Florida since taking office.

Dyer says Crist ducking questions on travel costs

TALLAHASSEE -- The Democratic attorney general candidate said his Republican opponent must answer allegations that he destroyed records and stonewalled an investigation into whether he misused state aircraft for campaign purposes.

Buddy Dyer's challenge followed a report Friday in the Palm Beach Post that Charlie Crist refused last month to tell investigators when and where he held campaign fundraisers last year. Crist is the current education secretary.

"We need to talk about the issues facing the next attorney general, not Charlie and his constant ethics problems," Dyer said in a statement.

"If Buddy had taken the time to read the file, he'd have realized it was dismissed, in total," Crist told the Associated Press. "Appropriate authorities have dealt with these frivolous allegations and I don't think it's becoming of an attorney general candidate to question the procedures that have been put into place. To politicize it now is beneath him."

The Commission on Ethics investigated allegations that Crist used state planes and state-paid airline tickets to get to cities in which he had both state and campaign business.

Florida law says the state must be reimbursed a prorated amount for such dual-purpose trips. Campaign records do not show that Crist did so.

Democrats sue governor over records requests

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Democratic Party sued Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday, saying the governor's office hasn't responded to several public records requests.

The suit was filed in Leon County with just over three weeks remaining before Bush faces Democrat Bill McBride, a Tampa attorney, in his re-election bid.

Democrats are asking to see several Bush schedules and travel records, including passenger manifests; his communication in August with school superintendents; and the latest information on the state's economic situation. They have also sought information on an August meeting with Republican fundraiser Zachariah P. Zachariah. "The governor's office intends to comply with the law," Bush press secretary Elizabeth Hirst said. "In fact, we have already responded to half a dozen public records requests in recent months from the Democratic Party."

Evidence of citrus canker found in Sarasota County

SARASOTA -- State workers have cut down two ruby red grapefruit trees and several orange trees believed to be infected with Sarasota County's first cases of citrus canker since 1994.

The first sign of the disease was found Monday in Englewood, where a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection found lesions on the leaves of a grapefruit tree. State inspectors returned to the area Thursday and found the same symptoms on several orange trees.

The trees all grew in the Alameda Isles neighborhood, where there are no commercial groves.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk