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Gov. Bush likes the irony over touch screens

By Times staff
Published November 18, 2006

As controversy swirled this week about thousands of undervotes in a congressional race in Sarasota, Gov. Jeb Bush expressed faith in the state's electronic voting machines. Still, he couldn't resist giving reporters a brief history lesson in how the machines found their way into Florida's largest counties. "The recommendation I embraced was to have optical scanning devices to be the type of machines that were used," Bush said. "But the irony is these electronic machines were embraced by places like Dade, Broward and Palm Beach before they were elsewhere in the state." For those missing the irony: they are all Democratic counties and Democrats are the ones complaining the loudest about touch screen machines lacking a verifiable paper trail. Water supplier declares shortage

It's official: Tampa Bay Water has declared a Level II Water Shortage. No color-coded alerts or anything, but it does mean the region is suffering from low rainfall exacerbated by high demand for lawn irrigation. Level II means the area has averaged more than a 10-inch rainfall deficit the past six months. "Now is the time for municipal water customers to cut back on irrigation," said Dave Bracciano, demand management coordinator for Tampa Bay Water, the regional water supplier.

Marching bands roll in for weekend

Like marching bands? There will be plenty of them around Pinellas this weekend. Boca Ciega High will be the host site for the Class 1A and 3A preliminary rounds in the 2006 Florida Marching Band Tournament from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The University of Miami Hurricane Band will perform an exhibition at 4:26 p.m. at the school, 924 58th St. S in Gulfport. Tropicana Field will host the preliminary round for Class 5A schools, with the championship round for all classes beginning at 4 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony. Tickets are $12 for the preliminary round and $20 for the championship round.

Inmates' health provider is state

Privatization is one of the governor's signature legacies, but the Department of Corrections is taking a step back. The agency will start providing health care services directly for 18,000 inmates in south Florida on Monday for the first time since 2001, when the work was given to a private contractor in a deal hailed as the largest of its kind at the time. Prison Health Services of Tennessee pulled out five months into its 10-year deal.

[Last modified November 18, 2006, 05:48:31]