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Other Florida news and opinion of note:
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| Bill Nelson asks Florida TV stations not to air U.S. Chamber ad |
| Lawmakers begin debate on RESTORE Act |
| Spill still causing damage in gulf 2 years later |
| Laptop with command codes stolen |
| Justice Department Seeks Trial on Florida Elections |
| Pythons linked to Florida Everglades mammal decline |
Senate panel quizzes IRS on tax-return identity theft |
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Senate Staff |
By Erika Bolstad
The Miami Herald
The IRS and federal investigators say they've redoubled their efforts to combat tax fraud from identity theft, a crime they call "epidemic" in Florida that's spreading nationwide.
The Internal Revenue Service identified and prevented the issuance of more than $14 billion in fraudulent refunds last year, said Steven Miller, the agency's deputy commissioner for services and enforcement.
So far this year, it has flagged 2 million returns for review, Miller told Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Nelson had asked federal officials to testify Tuesday at a Senate hearing that looked at what sort of progress they have made in blocking fake returns, prosecuting offenders and helping tax fraud victims.
The agency also has issued 250,000 special identification numbers to taxpayers who have had their identities stolen, Miller said, to help them file their returns without delay.
Read more here.
Watch a broadcast report here.
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Senate passes measure to restore Gulf communities still hurting from BP spill |
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate passed legislation aimed at making sure no one can take money from victims of BP's oil spill and spend it elsewhere.
The Senate approved the measure - sponsored by U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Richard Shelby - by a bipartisan and lopsided 76-22 vote. The amendment was part of a broader transportation bill the Senate currently is debating. The broader bill is expected to pass the Senate by next Tuesday. The House is still working on its transportation bill, but the language of Nelson's amendment has a dozen bipartisan supporters in that chamber.
Read more here.
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Dade high-school valedictorian gets stay of deportation |
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| Daniela Pelaez (left), Miami high-school valedictorian, meets with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in his office in the wake of news that her deportation has been deferred two years. Photo: Senate Staff, March 2012. |
Daniela Pelaez, the North Miami Senior High School valedictorian who was facing deportation, learned Tuesday she will be able to stay in the country for two more years.
Read more here. |
Investigation finds mismanagement and more in Air Marshal Service |
"This behavior went well over the line," said Sen. Nelson. "This is unprofessional, this is unacceptable and it should have been corrected two years ago when I first reported it to the Inspector General."
Read more and watch the ABC reports here. |
| And, click here to watch the CBS report. |
Democratic senators hold Tampa hearing on state's voting law |
Nelson, right, listens to testimony on Florida's new election law during a U.S. Senate field hearing in Tampa. Left is U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. January, 2012. (Photo: Tampa Tribune)
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By Mike Salinero, The Tampa Tribune
January 28, 2012
TAMPA - Two Democratic U.S. senators on Friday accused Florida's Republican-led Legislature of plotting to deny citizens their most basic and inalienable right: the right to vote.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin rendered that verdict after listening to two hours of testimony at Tampa's George E. Edgecomb Courthouse. Durbin came to town as chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights to investigate whether the state law denies voters their constitutional rights.
The courtroom was packed to its capacity of 168, with more than 200 people watching on television in an adjoining room. Many wore stickers on their shirts that said, "One Voice, One Vote."
Read more. |
Threatened by giant snakes, U.S. will ban import of 4 species
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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson joins Al Mercado with the National Park Service, left, Ron Bergeron with the Florida Wildlife Commission, second from right, Ken Salazar, right, and a Burmese python for the announcement. January, 2012. (Photo: Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel) ____________________________________ |
| Article by Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
January 17, 2012
Federal officials on Tuesday announced a ban on the import and interstate transport of Burmese pythons and three other nonnative species of snakes, calling them a threat to the environment, especially in Florida.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the announcement in that state, where an estimated 150,000 pythons are believed to inhabit the Everglades. Last year, a 16-foot python killed in the Everglades was found to have a 76-pound deer in its stomach. In 2005, a 13-foot python was found dead in the Everglades after it burst itself trying to digest a 6-foot alligator.
The announcement was welcomed by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who has pushed for a congressional ban on a number of nonnative species of snakes. In 2009, he placed the skin of a 17-foot python on the table at a Capitol Hill hearing held shortly after an 8 1/2-foot-long pet Burmese python broke out of a terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old Florida girl in her bedroom.
Read more. |
Senate Staff |
Most powerful rocket in history gets approval |
Watch a launch simulation |
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new chapter in human space exploration has been opened as NASA and legislative backers have unveiled the agency's plans for a new monster rocket capable of carrying a spacecraft and astronauts out of low-Earth orbit and to a landing on Mars. |
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The U.S. hasn't had the ability to do what this new rocket will do - go far beyond low-Earth orbit and lift gigantic payloads - since 1972 and the end of the Apollo Moon program. In terms of lifting power the new rocket will dwarf the shuttle.
NASA officials, including Administrator Charlie Bolden, were joined for the formal announcement by two of the lawmakers widely credited with being the architects of the country's deep-space exploration |
| Photo: National Journal |
plan, U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). The cost of getting the heavy-lift rocket and capsule ready to fly within no more than five years will be around $18 billion, or well under figures recently cited by critics of a NASA-led deep space exploration effort. The estimated five-year price tag for the giant rocket is $10 billion, $6 billion for the capsule and $2 billion for the launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said. "What have here now are the realistic costs," said Nelson.
Read more |
Fixing the tax code could reduce deficit by trillions |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called for tax reform to be part of an urgent effort to put the U.S. economy back on track.
"Tax reform is a major part of any fiscal reform. It will contribute to a restoration of American competitiveness and the vibrant economy that goes with it," he told a Senate panel (chaired by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson - D-FL).
Read more. |
Read advanced copy of testimony by Dr. Alan Greenspan, Dr. John Taylor, Dr. Martin Feldstein, John Engler and Edward Kleinbard.
See Nelson's opening statement and release.
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