Stray from the Scripps

Read Florida Politics: "Five days before a critical vote on the future of its biotech research project, the county commission still lacks a consensus on how to proceed. The Scripps Research Institute warned Tuesday that it may leave Florida altogether if commissioners won't allow it to break ground immediately, despite unresolved lawsuits that could threaten the county's multimillion-dollar investment."

In the meantime, the lame duck waddles in: 'Bush has agreed to take a personal role in trying to keep a biotech park planned for northern Palm Beach County from leaving as environmentalists' opposition mounts.'"

-Scripps is supposed to create, what, something like 20 permanent jobs (and a biotech startup on every corner, of course)? How about this, instead: Fla. invests its $800 million in schools, the county sells the property for housing (which probably creates just as many if not more construction jobs) and Scripps finds some other sucker to subsidize its capital requirements. This thing makes tax money for a new ballpark in Miami look parsimonious.