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Jim Rosica has 1252 articles published.

Before joining Florida Politics, journalist and attorney James Rosica was state government reporter for The Tampa Tribune. He attended journalism school in Washington, D.C., working at dailies and weekly papers in Philadelphia after graduation. Rosica joined the Tallahassee Democrat in 1997, later moving to the courts beat, where he reported on the 2000 presidential recount. In 2005, Rosica left journalism to attend law school in Philadelphia, afterwards working part time for a public-interest law firm. Returning to writing, he covered three legislative sessions in Tallahassee for The Associated Press, before joining the Tribune’s re-opened Tallahassee bureau in 2013. He can be reached at [email protected]

Tuesday in Tally preview: Gwen Graham in town, redistricting back in court

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U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, a likely casualty of congressional redistricting, will be in the state capital this morning to announce “new legislation aimed at helping pregnant mothers and babies,” a news release from her office said. Graham, a Tallahassee Democrat, will take a tour of Capital Area Healthy Start, an organization that prevents infant deaths by helping at-risk mothers. Graham’s bill, the Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act, aims to provide “a much-needed focus on maternity care quality and health outcomes for mothers…

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Gov. Rick Scott: Hospitals may be referred for fraud investigations

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Gov. Rick Scott gave Attorney General Pam Bondi a heads up on Monday that some of the 129 hospitals being audited for Medicaid fraud or waste could be referred to her office for criminal prosecution. Scott is on the warpath against hospitals that participate in the statewide Medicaid Managed Care program, concerned that some are over-billing the system. Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, eats up about a third of the annual state budget. What’s more: The state will lose about $1 billion…

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State, Seminole Tribe nearing blackjack deal

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The state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida are inching closer to a deal that would allow the Tribe to keep blackjack at its casinos. State Sen. Rob Bradley, head of the Senate panel that oversees gambling in Florida, says the dialogue is “heating up.” “We’ve made some great progress in our discussions on coming to some outline of an agreement,” said Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican who chairs the Regulated Industries committee. A Tribe spokesman didn’t respond to a…

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Grocery retailers aim to push “Whiskey and Wheaties” redux in 2016

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A legislative push to commingle whiskey and Wheaties will be back for a third time before Florida lawmakers next year. A coalition of national big-box stores and their allies will meet within the next two weeks to work on this year’s strategy, spokeswoman Christina Johnson said. Wal-Mart, Target and others formed Floridians for Fair Business Practices. They’ve wanted to repeal the Prohibition-era law that requires retailers to sell hard liquor in a store that is separate from groceries and other…

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Arguing Florida lawmakers agree on one thing: silence the Supreme Court

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Lawmakers couldn’t agree on congressional redistricting but they do seem to agree on one thing: Muzzling the Florida Supreme Court. The latest special session ended last week with no new map to apportion Florida’s 27 U.S. House districts. It did result in lots of rhetoric, including from some Democrats, on “judicial overreach” and breaching the separation of powers. A majority of justices declared the current map violated the “Fair Districts” constitutional amendments, passed to combat gerrymandering, or the drawing of…

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John Morgan’s proposed medical marijuana amendment to get ballot competition

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The John Morgan-backed drive to get a proposed constitutional amendment allowing medical pot on the 2016 ballot has competition. Two other ballot initiatives were filed last month, state records show, including one that – surprise – would allow recreational use of pot. The other would reclassify cannabis “as a dietary supplement” and tax its sale at 10 percent, with the proceeds going to augment teacher salaries. It would allow pot possession of up to four ounces. Neither initiative has reported…

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