MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida newspaper is calling out state legislators and local officials for their actions related to the Indian River Lagoon.
Florida Today (http://bit.ly/24dkSnt ) used its entire front page to assign grades to elected officials. Eight of the 12 politicians listed, including Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, were given F grades. Both Gardiner and Crisafulli have Brevard County in their districts and Crisafulli is a resident of Merritt Island.
The lagoon has been the site of a massive fish kill this spring that has been blamed on a brown algae bloom.
The newspaper ranked officials on how they voted on various measures that could have helped the health of the lagoon. Executive Editor Bob Gabordi called the scorecard a "clarion call" to take efforts to clean up the lagoon.
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