Bush asks bullet train authority to dissolve
By Times staff, wires
Published December 9, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Now that Gov. Jeb Bush has succeeded in getting voters to repeal the high-speed rail project they approved in 2000, he is asking the panel overseeing the train venture to close up shop.
Bush made the request in a letter faxed Wednesday to C.C. "Doc" Dockery, the Lakeland businessman who got the high-speed train measure on the ballot four years ago.
Dockery is also a member of the Florida High Speed Rail Authority that lawmakers created in 2001 to oversee the train project.
"Passage of constitutional amendment 6 on Nov. 2 removed the mandate for developing and operating a high-speed rail system," Bush wrote. "Therefore, I ask the authority to conclude its work and execute agreements to transfer remaining activities to the Department of Transportation."
Not so fast, Dockery said.
Passage of the repeal measure last month doesn't impact the state law that created the authority, Dockery wrote back. "In my humble opinion, it would be a violation of Florida law for us to attempt to comply with your request."
The authority was scheduled to meet today.
Since the project's initial approval in 2000, no construction had begun but a route and contractor were selected. The system's first leg - Orlando to Tampa - was forecast to cost $2.3-billion.
Error reduces paychecks of some state workers
TALLAHASSEE - For thousands of Florida's lowest-paid state government workers, holiday shopping will have to wait another week because of a glitch in a payroll system by a private contractor.
On Friday, 6,700 of the state's 10,000 part-time or seasonal workers will get paychecks with too much tax withheld, leaving them less take-home pay. In the Tampa Bay region, 466 state employees are affected.
State officials said the employees will be reimbursed by Dec. 20.
People First, a computerized personnel system run by Convergys of Cincinnati, has been plagued with problems as it takes over the state payroll, from accidentally doubling some employees' pay to wrongly informing workers their health insurance was dropped.
A spokesman for the Department of Management Services, which oversees the contract, blamed human error for the latest problem; a Convergys employee typed in the wrong tax code.
"Clearly we'll be asking them to do some refresher training," said DMS spokeswoman Jennifer Fennell.
Killer of five in family gets life prison sentence
WEST PALM BEACH - A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering five members of a family that took him into their home and was sentenced to life in prison.
Michael Roman pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder for the 2002 killings of Ismael Gomez, 52; his common-law wife, Carmen Valentin, 42; and her children, Juan Carlos Valentin, 17, Elizabeth Valentin, 22, and Damaris Valentin, 19, who was eight months pregnant.
Roman said little at a brief court hearing and offered no explanation for the crime.
He originally said he killed the family because he thought at least one family member molested his young daughter. Police questioned his story and said no one filed a complaint about such abuse with law enforcement or the state Department of Children and Families.