Free Republic

Last week's attacks have prompted every state to review its security, and nowhere is that exercise more important than in Florida. Not only did many of the suspected hijackers live and get flight training in Florida, but the majority were able to obtain state drivers' licenses and identification that enabled them to nestle within the fabric of society. Alarm bells should have gone off but never did. We can no longer afford these kind of security lapses, and Florida needs to do its part. Training foreign pilots is not the problem; nor is allowing foreign nationals the freedom to assimilate...

TALLAHASSEE — One thing Florida knows is hurricanes. Florida emergency planners criticized and even rebuked their counterparts -- or what passes for emergency planners -- in those states for their handling of Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Jeb Bush, the head of Florida AHCA and the head of Florida wildlife (which is responsible for all search and rescue) all said they made offers of aid to Mississippi and Louisiana the day before Katrina hit but were rebuffed. After the storm, they said they've had to not only help provide people to those states but also have had to develop search and rescue...

Governor's fleet now includes gas-friendly hybrid SUV TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- Governor Jeb Bush, who's urged Floridians to conserve gasoline and participate in other energy-saving measures following Hurricane Katrina, seems to be doing his part in that effort. Bush was being driven on Friday in a Ford Escape Hybrid, a considerably smaller SUV than the Ford Expedition he'd previously been shuttled around in. The hybrid was secured from the state's Department of Environmental Protection fleet, and combines electric and gas power. The hybrid vehicle can get about 36 miles per gallon in highway usage, or about double what the larger...

TALLAHASSEE - As the parents of two murdered girls looked on, Gov. Jeb Bush signed the Jessica Lunsford Act into law today to provide longer and harsher sentences for sex offenders, including the death sentence for some and lifetime electronic satellite monitoring for others on probation. The act was passed by the Legislature at the time the grisly details of 9-year-old Jessica's death were made public, and about the same time that 13-year-old Sarah Lunde was killed. Both girls lived in the greater Tampa Bay area and were killed by sex offenders in unrelated cases. ''Their daughters did not deserve...

Behind the scenes, Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Mel Martinez enlisted conservatives' help to create a formidable lobbying force to keep Terri Schiavo alive. BY FRANK DAVIES, ERIKA BOLSTAD AND MARC CAPUTO ebolstad@herald.com Less than 24 hours before Terri Schiavo had her feeding tube removed, Gov. Jeb Bush knew the effort to keep her alive was slipping away. So the brother of the president -- and a prime mover of the 2003 legislation that prolonged Schiavo's life -- called Florida's newest U.S. senator, Mel Martinez, with an urgent plea. ''I'm not sure we can get it done here in Florida,''...

Gov. Bush Says He's Really, Really Not Running For President   POSTED: 11:10 am EST November 9, 2004  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Read his lips. Gov. Jeb Bush really, really isn't interested in succeeding his brother in the White House or running for the U.S. Senate in 2006.  He's not kidding. So stop asking. At least until 2008.   Bush reiterated Tuesday that he's not going to run for the Senate when Florida has a seat up in '06, has no designs on the 2008 presidential race and he's getting tired of the question.     So the natural follow-up...

Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday moved to block any quick action on the constitutional challenge to Terri's Law, a bid that could keep Terri Schiavo alive for at least as long as it takes to appeal a procedural issue. Bush received an automatic stay of Michael Schiavo's lawsuit against him and Attorney General Charlie Crist by filing a notice of appeal on a decision by Circuit Judge Douglas Baird. Now, before any constitutional challenge to Terri's Law can be decided, both sides will have to make their cases before the 2nd District Court of Appeal on whether the lawsuit was...

Anti-abortion extremist: 'I expect a great reward in heaven' 08:55 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 3, 2003 Associated Press STARKE, Fla. - Paul Hill, a former minister who gunned down an abortion doctor, said he feels no remorse and suggested the state will be making him a martyr when he becomes the first person executed in the United States for anti-abortion violence. Barring an unlikely last-minute stay, the 49-year-old former Presbyterian minister will be put to death by lethal injection Wednesday evening for the 1994 murders in Pensacola of Dr. John Britton and his escort, retired Air Force Lt. Col....

Spokeswoman for Gov.Jeb Bush discounted charges aired Sunday by the president of the Cuban National Assembly that the Florida governor is conspiring to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Bush campaign hammers McBride for lack of specifics, Associated Press, October 3, 2002, by Brendan Farrington TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Ask Bill McBride about what he would do for Florida's schools if elected governor and he'll talk about lowering class sizes, raising teachers' salaries and changing the way statewide tests are used to assess schools. But when he's been asked about a number of other issues -the environment, law enforcement and growth management - he's often attacked Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's record without providing details about what he would do differently. The Bush campaign is hammering away at that point,...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: TODD HARRIS SEPTEMBER 27, 2002 850-224-4532 Bill McBride: 60 Minutes of Debate, 60 Seconds of Specifics Jacksonville – Corporate lawyer Bill McBride tonight spent 60 minutes debating, but offered only about 60 seconds worth of specifics. In fact, as he had for the past year, McBride tonight offered plenty of slick rhetoric, but was woefully short of the details of how to actually pay for all he has promised. In fact, a simple look at McBride’s web page reveals that the average length of his economic “plan,” his environmental “plan” and his health care “plan,” is...