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'Undecided' leads in McCollum poll

TALLAHASSEE - With nine months to go before the primary, about two-thirds of Republican voters haven't picked a favorite in the race for U.S. Senate, a poll by GOP candidate Bill McCollum showed.

The survey, conducted this week by McLaughlin & Associates, found McCollum favored by 27 percent of 400 likely Republican voters. No other GOP candidate came close. Sixty-three percent were undecided.

Pinellas County Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and state Sen. Daniel Webster each received 3 percent and lawyer Larry Klayman 1 percent.

McCollum, 59, is a native of Brooksville who served two decades in Congress, representing a suburban Orlando district.

MIAMI - The superintendent of the nation's fourth-largest school district says he will leave the job when his contract expires in June.

Merrett Stierheim, who was hired in October 2001 to help reform the Miami-Dade County school district, surprised School Board members Wednesday with his decision.

"I firmly believe this school district is on the right track, and it is my hope that the search and selection process will produce an outstanding leader to take the district to the next level," he wrote in a memo to the board.

Stierheim, who has also served as the county and city manager, was hired during a period of difficulty for the district. He directed the system through continued revelations of shoddy school construction, wasteful spending and budget woes, creating reforms with narrow support from the nine-member board.

He oversees 338,417 students and 19,120 teachers in Miami-Dade County.

TALLAHASSEE - In a vote postponed from May, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to decide Nov. 19 whether to change the classification of the manatee from endangered to threatened.

In a review requested by the commission, state scientists again reached a conclusion that the sea cow population has rebounded and is no longer in danger of extinction. The less severe classification of threatened means the animal requires special protection.

The manatee would still remain on the federal endangered species list, but a change in the state status would help boaters and the marine construction industry fight restrictions on dock building and slow speed zones.

PENSACOLA - A 13-year-old girl accused of cutting the throat of a friend in a fight over fireworks will be psychologically evaluated to decide whether she is competent to stand trial.

Christine Rogers is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ashley Harvey, 15. Police said that during a July 5 argument, Rogers got a butcher knife from her house, chased Harvey into the street and stabbed her once in the neck.