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Governor Reassigns 27th Case From State Attorney Aramis Ayala

August 18th, 2017 by Jake Stofan

 

Governor Rick Scott has once again reassigned a case from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala citing her opposition to the death penalty as the reason.

The latest case is that of Everett Glenn Miller.

Miller is accused of murdering two Kissimmee police officers during a routine traffic stop Friday night. The case falls under the jurisdiction of State Attorney Aramis Ayala who announced in March she would not seek the death penalty in any case. Ayala believes Florida’s death penalty laws are unconstitutional.

Governor Scott has since removed 27 cases from Ayala’s jurisdiction and handed them over to State Attorney Brad King.

Ayala has sued Governor Scott in the Florida Supreme Court claiming he over stepped his authority by interfering with the will of a publicly elected official.

 

“By taking 24 cases away from State Attorney Aramis Ayala Governor Scott violated the constitution and the law,” Ayala’s lawyer Roy Austin Jr. said in court earlier this month.

The Governor’s attorneys argue the Governor has the authority to transfer cases in the interest of justice.

 

“If petitioner’s policy is allowed to stand we’re going to have a situation where you have law free zones with respect to some statues in some parts of the state,” said Soliciter General Amit Agarwal.

In a statement, Governor Scott justified his decision in the most recent transfer by saying, “In Florida we have zero tolerance for violence and those who attack law enforcement.”

The Florida Police Chiefs Association agrees.

The organization says death needs to be on the table when a cop is killed.

 

“We appreciate the support that they give to law enforcement. We also believe that every option should be on the table when trying to work through the justice system with a cop killer,” said Amy Mercer, the Executive Director of the Association.

There is no time table for the Supreme Court to Release it’s decision.

The Court its normal opinion releases on August 31st.

We reached out to Aramis Ayala’s office for comment on this story, did not receive a response in time.

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Florida Realtors Push For Property Tax Cap

August 17th, 2017 by Jake Stofan

 

Since 2008, annual increases on property taxes for businesses and rental properties have been capped at 10%.

Previously taxes were left to the will of the market meaning property owners were vulnerable to extreme tax spikes.

 

“Well I think it’s just the fear that it could happen I think that’s more than anything. Rents do go up and property taxes do go up,” said James Miller, Communications Director with the Florida Retail Federation.

The cap goes away in 2019.

But support is growing for a proposed constitutional amendment that would make the 10% cap permanent.

The Florida Retail Federation says permanent caps will benefit Florida’s businesses and renters.

 

“It enables the state to remain strong and vibrant and get people their business here and move their business here and that’s really ultimately what you want,” said Miller.

Some organizations like the AFLCIO say the state can’t afford the loss of revenue a permanent cap would create.

Rich Templin, Legislative Director for the organization says Florida is the 49th in support for public services.

With most of the cost picked up by lower income groups.

 

“We have relied over the last decade on bumper sticker type polices which just isn’t sound financial policy.,” said Templin.

Tempin says although the tax cut may sound good on paper, Floridian’s will pay the price if services are cut.

 

“Florida does not generate the revenue that it could easily generate because our revenue policy is a hodgepodge of exemptions, loopholes, caps and what that’s done is it’s essentially starving the programming that Floridians really need,” said Templin.

Supporters of the amendment say the state has nothing to lose, as the caps have already been in place for 8 years.

The cap on residential homeowners is already set 3%.

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DHSMV to Retrain Supervisors on Quota Laws

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
A North Florida highway patrol supervisor told troopers last week to step up their ticket writing from 1.3 tickets an hour to 2 tickets an hour.
Citation quotas are illegal in Florida.
“We will immediately designate that quotas are prohibited by Florida law in our FHP policy,” said Executive Director of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Rhodes appeared before her bosses, the Governor and Cabinet to explain how the department is responding to the controversial memo sent by Major Mark Welch.
“Stupid statement. That’s the only way to describe what that person said,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
To prevent future mishaps the Florida Highway Patrol will be putting their supervisors through online training courses.
“To ensure that they know what the Florida law is and what the quotas means by statute,” said Rhodes.
Florida Highway Patrol Director Gene Spaulding says despite Major Welches memo, FHP troopers never felt they were expected to meet quotas.
“They have never been disciplined they have never been evaluated. There’s been no punitive damages. They’ve never been rewarded strictly for writing citations,” said FHP Director, Colonel Gene Spaulding.
The Florida Highway Patrol is currently reviewing its options for disciplinary action against Major Welch.
For now, Rhodes believes the department has done enough.
“We feel like there’s going to be no other type of mistake that was made like that and that there are no quotas within the highway patrol,” said Rhodes.
Department officials say although quotas are not enforced at FHP they still expect their troops to be productive and actively issue tickets when appropriate.
In addition to the online training course FHP supervisory positions will now include language specifying quotas are not permitted in their job descriptions.

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New Florida CFO Attends First Cabinet Meeting

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
New Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis attended his first Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The meeting began with a prayer written and read by his so,n Johnny Patronis.
At the meeting Patronis introduced his new Chief of Staff, Ryan West.
Patronis says his first meeting was, “fantastic.”
“I was really impressed with the quality of folks that are doing great things in the state of Florida and what can I say. The Governor and Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commissioner Putnam have done a great job showing their stewardship over this state,” said Patronis.
After the meeting when asked if he plans to try and keep his seat as CFO when his term expires next year Patronis answered, it’s a real possibility.

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Governor and Cabinet Vote to Bar State Investments in Venezuela

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
Florida’s $150 billion pension plan doesn’t have any investments in the Venezuela and after action by the Governor and Cabinet today it wont in the future.
The move was an act of protest by the state against the country’s current President, Nicolas Maduro.
“We evaluated a number of opportunities as I said and I thank the trustees for their prudence and thoroughness. We looked at this very carefully. We reconciled essentially the facts, the law and our fiduciary duty and we believe what we did today was prudent and within all of our obligations,” said Ash Williams, Executive Director of the State Board of Administration.
The restrictions have been criticized by Democrats who say they should also apply to companies that invest in Venezuela, like Goldman Sachs.

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Governor and Attorney General Silent on President Trump’s Controversial Comments on Charlottesville Tragedy

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to the events that transpired in Charlottesville Virgina over the weekend, when a group of white nationalists protesting the removal of a confederate monument clashed with counter protesters killing one and injuring 19.
Both leaders condemned the racist agenda of the white nationalists.
However they were silent when it came to responding to criticism of President Trump’s recent statements on the tragedy.
In a series of tweets the President claimed the blame for the tragedy was shared between both the white nationalist groups and those protesting their cause.
“I did not see his last press conference, but I think the first statement he gave was three hours after the incident or a few hours after the incident when they didn’t know all the groups involved and some people are saying he said other sides some people are saying he said many sides,” said Bondi. “All I can tell you is how I feel and I will tell him and I think it’s pretty much what Ivanka Trump tweeted as well. The KKK, White Supremacists, Neo Nazis… I’m missing some. There are so many groups out there filled with hatred and violence and they will not be tolerated. Nor [should] they be tolerated in our state and in our country.”
“If you want to ask president Trump what he said you can ask him, said Governor Scott, “I’m telling you right now that I don’t believe in racism, I don’t believe in bigotry . What happened in Charlottesville was evil. There’s no moral equivalency between the two sides. A young lady was murdered. We lost two law enforcement officers. Every elected official needs to figure out how to bring our country together.”
Both Governor Scott and Attorney General Bondi are two of Trumps earliest supporters.

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FPS Considers Utilities Rate Hikes for Proposed Nuclear Plants

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
Florida Power and Light is asking the Florida Public Service Commission for approval to increase their rates to help pay for two proposed nuclear power plants.
The request has upset a number of groups that say the FPL is taking advantage of a 2006 law that allows it to recover costs for nuclear construction early. The critics say FPL wont commit to a price tag or completion date for the project which has already used up 300 million in tax payer dollars.
“And the question is- why should the commission keep all this additional risk and cost on FPL customers if FPL isn’t willing to show that this is a good deal for the families and the businesses that are going to have to pay the bills,” said George Cavros, an Attorney for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
The Public service commission heard arguments from both sides today and will likely come out with a decision within six to eight weeks.

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State Agencies Get Crash Course in Cyber Defense

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
The Agency for State Technology and the Florida National Guard are teaming up this week to put the cyber security of state agencies to the test.
IT staff from multiple state agencies are undergoing training exercises using real life scenarios of cyber threats. While one team tries to break into a system, the other side tries to defend against it.
“To take systems with vulnerabilities and to have one side of the group exploiting them and the other side trying to mitigate it, eliminate the vulnerabilities and of course get the bad actors out of their system. So it is modeled after real world scenarios and we’re happy to be able to give them practice without it being real,” said Eric Larson, Executive Director of the Agency for State Technology.
The training continues through Wednesday.

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Closing Arguments Made in Segura Trial

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
The question facing jurors Tuesday night in the state capitol was who killed this mother and her three children.
The state says Henry Segura killed all four to avoid paying twenty thousand in back child support. But the defense says she was killed by an international drug cartel because she was skimming profits.
“He wanted to get out from under the burden of that child support,” said Assistant State Attorney Jon Fuchs.
“We know that she fought to her death, yet no scratches, at all, consistent with that kind of fight,  on Mr. Segura,” said Defense Attorney Nathan Prince.
The defense also raised questions about four sets of bloody foot prints at the scene and the fact the defendants DNA was not found, while DNA matching a know drug smuggler was discovered. Henry Segura is facing a death sentence for the murders.

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FSU Research Shows Oxygen Levels in the Ocean Are Declining

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
Governor Rick Scott announced major gains in tourism today.
A record setting 60.7 million visitors came to the sunshine State in the first six months of this year, but FSU researchers say one of the states biggest draws, our ocean and gulf waters, are facing a challenge.
94-million years ago ocean life took a major hit due to a 50,000 year decline in oxygen levels in the water.
At the time it was caused by a spike in volcanic activity which dumped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Now it appears the same thing is happening again only FSU researchers say mankind has taken over the role of producing the carbon dioxide.
“Over the last 50 years we’ve had about a 2% loss of oxygen in our oceans and so if you sort of multiply that by the next 50,000 years,” said Jermey Owens, an assistant Geology Professor at FSU who helped write the study.
50,000 years may sound like a long ways away, but the number isn’t set in stone.
“We’ve never had an increase in CO2 as quickly as we quickly as we have… and so these things could be expanding much more rapidly,” said Owens.
CO2 isn’t the only culprit behind the problem. Fertilizers and nutrients from humans also contribute to declining oxygen levels, the effects of which can be seen in our own state.
“These nutrients that we sort of end up releasing near our coastlines cause red tides. One of the major impacts of these red tides is not just the toxic release of different compounds that they do, but also that theres actually a major draw down on oxygen and we’ve seen this,” said Owens.
For Florida to reduce its contributions to ocean deoxgenation researchers say the state needs to make a greater commitment to renewable energy, reduce pollution from fertilizers and increase efforts to protect the state’s wetlands, which help replenish oxygen levels in the water.
According to the most recent statistics Ocean tourism contributed $8 billion to Florida’s economy.

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From France to Florida’s Capital

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
The American Legion Post in the State Capital is home to a special piece of history with significance for both France and the United States.
Exactly 73 years ago today American troops with General Patton’s army liberated the town of Brou France from the Germans in WWII.
This mile marker was erected to signify the event.
It was donated to the state of Florida in 1949 and sat in the basement of the Senate building until 1988 when it was rediscovered and donated to the American Legion post in Tallahassee.
Every year on August 14th the town of Brou holds a celebration and ceremony commemorating their liberation and in Tallahassee, veterans like John Folson take the time to remember those Americans who gave their lives to make it possible.
“As people walk by and they read it, they gain a little bit of history and insight and when they see the names that are at the foot of this monument, hopefully they do know that there were sacrifices made in their country, for our country. You know, that means a lot,” said Folsom.
Folsom hopes to organize a ceremony for next year’s anniversary. He hopes to include the citizens of Brou by connecting via Skype.

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HECC Seeks to Increase Number of Floridians With Post-Secondary Educations

August 16th, 2017 by Jake Stofan
Two out of three Floridians don’t have a college degree.
A state panel is recommending strategies to raise the number of degree or certificate holders to 55 percent over the next 8 years.
The Higher Education Coordinating Council says to meet their goal of getting more than half of Floridians a degree in higher education the state needs to put more emphasis on two year trade degrees and expand internet access in rural communities.
66% of Floridians don’t have a college degree. To bring that number down, the Chairman of the Higher Education Coordinating Council says the state needs to highlight the value of trade degrees.
“Not everybody needs a college degree, not everybody needs a bachelors degree to achieve their dream. We need all types of folks to make Florida work, whether you’re a welder, an electrician, there’s an amazing type of pride in those types of jobs,” said HECC Chair, Alan Levine.
Board member Al Stimac says encouraging Floridians to pursue trade degrees will also boost Florida’s economy.
“We are actually importing hourly people because we can’t find them in the state of Florida. We have a field now that we can create jobs in Florida, high paying jobs, but we can’t attract industry because we don’t have the skill set,” said Stimac.
HECC also identified poor internet connectivity as a road block to higher education for many Floridans living in rural areas.
“It appears as if the communities that have the lowest level of connectivity also have the lowest levels of educational attainment, whether it’s certificates, or two year degrees, or four year degrees. Having access to online is critical, and not just for education but for the whole economic development of any community,” said board member Dr. Ed Moore.
The Panel wants Legislators to expand internet  infrastructure to get more Floridians online so they can expand their educational opportunities.
There are currently 680,000 Floridians living without broadband access in the state.
As the state makes progress, The Higher Education Coordinating Council is considering pushing for a goal of having six out of ten residents with a degree or certificate.

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