The Cooler

The mainstream media is brimming with interesting stories this morning. Here are some of them.

A- Herald: It was useless anyway.

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Senate was poised Monday to pass a long-championed ban on texting while driving in what traffic advocates predicted would be a banner year for driver safety, but there is barely a wisp of hope that the legislation will become law.

Although 23 other states have similar statutes on their books, and the bill has wide support, it has been parked in a House committee for more than a month, with no chance of moving forward.

``It's not stalled,'' said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, chairwoman of the House Finance and Tax Council. ``It's dead.''

Bogdanoff said she told lawmakers she would not hear the bill in her committee because it targets careless behavior already prohibited by Florida's traffic laws. Her opposition has created a substantial hurdle for a measure that lawmakers vowed to finally push through the legislative process after years of failed efforts.

B- Herald: Video, yesterday's weather in dramatic fashion.

C- Herald: The only ones sticking around are the militants.

From a studio in Coral Gables, Roberto Rodríguez Tejera, a popular host on Spanish-language radio, is feeling firsthand the fallout of the credit card scandal that has tarnished the image of the Republican Party of Florida.

``Until recently, every time I opened the microphones there was a pragmatic sense that basically anything the Republicans did was good, no matter what it was,'' said Rodríguez Tejera, host of Prohibido callarse (Barred from keeping quiet) on Univisión station WQBA-1140AM. ``But that view has begun to collapse. My audience is seeing the reality less from a party perspective and more about what is happening.''

This sudden change, especially among older Cuban Americans who have been Republicans to the core, may influence who will be the next Floridian to take a seat in the U.S. Senate and in the congressional elections.

``Marco [Rubio] has been the guy who comes on a white horse dressed as a warrior. The level of hope in him among many Hispanics was very high,'' said the radio host. ``But suddenly they're looking at him like any other politician. As more information comes out about the credit cards, more harm is done.''

D- Herald: Morin.

E- Herald: They write letters.

Crist gets it right

Gov. Charlie Crist has been accused of abandoning the Republican Party. However, he is a role model for everyone in elected office. When a politician places party loyalty above the public interest, he has violated a sacred trust to represent the people with no regard to party affiliation or ideology.

Crist has decided to follow a solid, moral path, and he should be elected to the U.S. Senate as an independent. He has proved beyond all question that he will not be a prostitute for any political party or way of thinking.

JEFFREY FICHTELBERG, Miami Beach

F- Sun-Sentinel: Because everyone knows these folks are the most expendable.

Principals at dozens of Broward County public schools have given librarians and teachers of art, music and physical education a choice: Take a pay cut of almost 50 percent, or take your chances waiting for a job to open up at another school.

"I've been teaching for over a decade, and now I'm supposed to be living for under 20 grand a year," said Jason Hammett, a physical education teacher at Plantation Elementary School. "I have a newborn son."

G- Sun-Sentinel: Unimaginable.

Cheryl Arthur, 39, is being held without bail on a murder charge in the death of her daughter Makeda, whose lifeless body she brought into a fire station Saturday, authorities said.

Arthur, who is listed as unemployed, told homicide detectives she had been feeling depressed and overwhelmed Saturday afternoon when she left her Hollywood apartment and took her daughter for a walk, police said. She and the girl lay down together near the Tri-Rail overpass on Sheridan Street, according to police.

"Arthur told me that while there she kept thinking how overwhelmed she was and that she did not want her daughter to turn out like her," a detective wrote in an arrest report. "Arthur stated that at some point she placed one hand on her daughter's throat and strangled her and the other hand she used to cover her mouth and nose to suffocate her."

H- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

I- CBS4: I don't get it.

The unsolved murder of aspiring model Paula Sladewski has received national attention, and now her death may affect you when you head out for a night on the town in Miami.

Officials are in the middle of examining liquor laws regulating bars, clubs, and even convenience stores. Sladewski's sister is now begging City Commissioners to crack down, especially on clubs like Space, where Sladewski was last seen.

In a letter to Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, Kelly Farris wrote, "I am pleading to you and to your panel to put an end to clubs that serve alcohol 24 hours a day. My sister's life is gone. Let's hope and pray that you will stop this before another life is needlessly ended."

[...]

Sarnoff agrees, the city's liquor laws need to be tougher.

"I think in certain areas of the city it's a great idea," he said. "I think when you're around schools and school zones, I don't see how you can continue to drink between five and six am."

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