The Cooler

Here are some of the stories that caught my attention this morning. Enjoy.

A- Herald: Somehow they found the money.

With talk of pinpointing blame and seeking restitution, Miami-Dade County Commissioners on Tuesday said the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts will get up to $5 million for water damage repairs.

That money will also cover the bill for a forensic engineer to investigate the cause of the broken storm pipe that failed during a May thunderstorm — and alert the county if someone owes them money due to faulty materials or work.

B- Herald: Fabiola Santiago takes a look at Florida voters.

Despite detailed reports about Scott’s outright lies about the effects of the president’s healthcare reform and that the U.S. Supreme Court largely upheld its constitutionality, 52 percent of Florida voters oppose the Affordable Care Act because they think it will make the healthcare system worse.

These are the same voters who give Scott low approval ratings and elected him knowing that he was the chief executive of a hospital chain accused of perpetrating a billion-dollar Medicare fraud and of violating other federal laws mostly while he was in charge.

Pollster Brad Coker of the nonpartisan Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the poll, says Floridians are “a little weird” but not unique. Their partisan opinions on complex issues are a sign of the times.

“People are discussing politics on their home computers with other people,” Coker says. “They’re socially isolated and spend more time watching television and on social media.”

When I cite detailed newspaper coverage that makes a difference on issues — the PolitiFact Florida check on Scott’s claims about the Affordable Act or the study in the Tampa Bay Times on how the Stand Your Ground law is being used by drug dealers and others to get away with murder — Coker tells me: “That’s inside baseball.”

C- Herald: The #1 hospital in South Florida.

South Miami Hospital, a suburban community facility, was ranked the No. 1 hospital in South Florida in a survey released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report — a study that generally favors large academic medical centers.

D- Herald: They write letters.

No defense

If the “Stand Your Ground” law allows people who believe they are in grave danger to use deadly force to defend themselves, then the same right applies to Trayvon Martin, who told his girlfriend that a “crazy and creepy” guy was watching him and finally, a asked a fearful “Why are you following me?” to that crazy, creepy guy.

Anyone who, with a loaded gun, follows a perfect stranger down a deserted street, stands on no ground, but is invading the ground of another. “Self defense” cannot be applied to such acts of aggression.

Steve Kronen, Miami

E- Palm Beach Post: Now he's pissing off the hospitals.

WASHINGTON — Advocates for hospitals and the poor are ramping up lobbying in an effort to persuade state legislators to block Gov. Rick Scott’s refusal to expand health insurance for the poor, under the Affordable Care Act.

[...]

“On its face, it would improve the quality of life for over a million people,” said Karen Woodall, executive director of the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic policy. “That means you’d have higher productivity levels, you’d have less people using emergency rooms because they would have access to regular health care.”

[...]

Hospital associations around the country had already signed off on cuts to reimbursement rates under the health care law, assuming that the new paying customers they would gain, partly through the Medicaid expansion, would more than cover their losses.

”If we’re going to walk away from that coverage, we’ll simply see those dollars we contributed through cuts in hospital payments go to covering people in other states,” said Bruce Rueben, president of the Florida Hospital Association. “It’s a bad deal for people in Florida if it plays out that way.”

F- NBC Miami: Say what?

The Miami Dolphins have not played in a Super Bowl since the 1984 season, but the team is still by far the most valuable franchise in South Florida, according to Forbes.

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