AP boosts staff for Fla. legislative session

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) —   TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — James Rosica, a veteran Florida journalist who covered the 2000 presidential recount, has been hired by the AP to help cover the 2013 legislative session.

  The temporary assignment was announced Monday by South Region Editor Lisa Marie Pane and Florida News Editor Terry Spencer.

  Rosica, 45, was also assigned to cover the Florida Legislature for the AP in 2011 and 2012. During his previous stints with AP, he covered the passage of a measure that allows random drug testing of state employees, the corruption trial of former Speaker Ray Sansom and changes in election law, among other issues.

  Rosica is a former Tallahassee Democrat reporter who helped cover the 2000 presidential recount. He also won an award for a series of stories examining trial delays in the prosecution of felons.

  He left the Democrat in 2005 and earned a law degree from Drexel University. He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Rosica also worked for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, where he handled communications, wrote grants and provided website content for the nonprofit organization that provides free legal services for people with HIV/AIDS.

  Rosica also has a degree in English from Rutgers University, where he graduated in 1990, and earned a master's degree in journalism from American University in 1993.