ORLANDO - Dressed in matching blazers, ties and boutonnieres, Mike Palmateer and Clinton McCracken approached a deputy clerk's window at the Orange County Courthouse Friday and submitted a marriage application.
Michelle Gervy handed them a copy of a Florida statute and gently told them, "Unfortunately, we're unable to process or accept the application because of Florida statute." Florida law defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Seven other same-sex couples, including two Unitarian Universalist ministers, followed their lead, and also were rejected.
Although the couples knew they legally couldn't get married in Florida, they said it was important to pressure public officials to start recognizing same-sex marriages.
The issue has spread across the nation. Courts, legislatures and elected officials are wrestling with what some say is a civil rights issue and others call an attack on the institution of marriage.
Several of the couples, including Palmateer and McCracken, later participated in a union ceremony sponsored by the First Unitarian Church of Orlando in front of about 100 people in a public park.
State Medicaid official leaving for private job
TALLAHASSEE - For the second time in as many months, a key Medicaid official is leaving at a time when Gov. Jeb Bush has said redesigning the health care program for the poor is a top priority.
Bob Sharpe, who has run Medicaid for four years as a deputy secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, announced Friday he is leaving May 14 to return to the private sector. He follows agency secretary Rhonda Medows, who left in January.
Sharpe will become president and CEO of the Florida Council for Behavioral Healthcare Inc., a nonprofit association of community-based mental health and substance abuse treatment organizations. He also will serve as president of the association's parent organization, the Florida Council for Community Mental Health.
Sharpe could not be reached for comment Friday. A Bush spokesman said his resignation was unexpected.
Medicaid is a $13-billion state and federal health care program for the poor, which Bush has said is growing beyond the state's ability to support it. He wants to change Medicaid from an entitlement program to one whose financial obligations would be easier for the state to control.
Death penalty formally sought in girl's slaying
SARASOTA - Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against the unemployed auto mechanic indicted in the kidnapping and slaying of an 11-year-old girl, according to court documents made public Friday.
A notice of intent to seek the death penalty was filed Thursday against Joseph P. Smith. Smith, 37, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the Feb. 1 kidnapping, sexual assault and strangulation of Carlie Brucia, whose abduction was filmed by a car wash security camera and seen on television news worldwide.
Smith has pleaded not guilty.
State bans plants from California nurseries
TALLAHASSEE - Florida has banned the importation and sale of all California nursery plants, fearing a fungal disease that can kill popular plants.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson closed the borders to California plants after at least one nursery in the Western state found the microbe that causes sudden oak death disease on its plants.
The disease can wipe out plants including oaks, maple, azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias.
Florida nurseries and consumers who recently purchased stock from Monrovia Nurseries in California should contact the department's toll-free help line, 1-888-397-1517.
