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A controversial measure that blocks local governments from requiring employers to offer paid sick time has been signed into law by Governor Rick Scott.

Feeling sick? Beginning July first you may no longer be eligible for sick time. A new state law takes away local government ordinances requiring employers to offer paid sick time. “This law will take away their right to make those decisions for themselves at the local level,” said spokesman for the Florida Coalition for Local Control, Damien Filer.

The Florida Coalition for Local Control fought the bill in the legislative process. The group argues the new law wrongfully separates the poor and women from everyone else. “It’s disappointing; the Governor clearly sided with big corporation over the interest of many Floridians,” said Filer.

Those in support of the law say it creates consistency for employers across the state. “It creates consistency, predictability and conformity of regulation through-out the state. Anytime a business is looking to settle or move to Florida they have to see what regulations will cost them,” said Florida Retail Federations General Counsel, Samantha Padgett.

“Before the bill was signed into law, two neighboring counties may have had different sick-time laws. Now, when you cross into a new county, the laws will be the same,” Matt Horn reported.

“It really does encourage development and it really does protect our economic growth in the state of Florida and encourage the economic growth,” said Padgett.

“Those are great talking points, but there is no truth…and what we see consistently is when earned sick times are in place that it increases the economic stability of those places,” said Filer.

Opponents say they will work closely with the state to make sure employees, not just employers, are protected under this new law.

A recent public poll shows 8 in 10 Floridians support employers providing sick time benefits.

Governor Rick Scott is executing inmates at a higher rate than any Governor of Florida since the death penalty was resumed in 1979. After taking office two and a half years ago, 8 death sentences have been carried out. New legislation to speed up the process even more is drawing both cheers and jeers.

The average stay on death row before an execution is 13 years. The goal of legislation called the Timely Justice Act is to cut the waiting time to ten years. It’s critics call it shameful justice. “We’re not sure why there is such a hurry, certainly at a time when Florida is also the leading state in the number of exonerations”, says Sheila Meehan, Citizens Against the Death Penalty.

The legislation requires reports from the Supreme Court on the status of cases, sets up a provision for a death warrant to be signed if the Governor isn’t carrying out his duties, and it requires the Governor to act quickly after conducting clemency. “It’s potentially dangerous for people who are in their appeals process, the governor’s office says that it will not speed up appeals, that people will be allowed their full range of court hearings”, says Sheila Hopkins from FL Catholic Conference.

The legislation also reinstates an office of state lawyers to represent death row inmates on appeal. “The Capital Regional Council are expert in this type of process, and so generally you get better representation”, said Raoul Cantero, Former Supreme Court Justice.

Governor Rick Scott is averaging more executions per year than any of these governors in recent Florida history, and why that is so surprising is because Scott has told people that he didn’t realize that signing warrants is part of the job description when he signed up.

Double murder Marshall Gore is set to die June 24, if carried out, he will be Rick Scott’s 9th execution.

When the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, it created a void in space travel. This year forty million of your tax dollars will be spent trying to fill that void. Today, state lawmakers toured Space Florida facilities at Cape Canaveral and say your money is being well spent.

At the height of the shuttle program’s, 15 thousand people were working at Kennedy Space Center, but with the end of the shuttle, thousands of jobs went overseas or were lost all together.

Now with the help of state incentives, private companies are picking up the slack. Boeing has taken over this giant shuttle facility. It’s incentive, your tax dollars paid for the buildings renovation. In exchange  and for the first time ever, Boeing will build space vehicles like this one in Florida. “The program is multi-billion dollars over several years, but from the job perspective at full operational capability, possibly 550 jobs.”, Chuck Hardison, Boeing.

Commercial space flight is still in its infancy. Lawmakers toured existing launch sites and private rocket makers like Space X and a Lockheed facility where cameras were banned. Space Florida’s job is to find deals that work, close them, and put people back to work. “I think it’s going to start small, just as it always does. The railroads or air travel initially began as a government driven and government funded effort. “, Mark Bontrager, Space Florida VP.

Representative Matt Hudson, R-Naples says, “You look at Space X, you look at dynamic program that is and they’re going to have 12 launches a year here. ”

High School science teacher turned lawmaker Mark Danish, says the incentives are a chance for Florida and space to once again be synonymous. “We’ve put a lot of things have gone overseas, time to bring it back here.”, Rep. Mark Danish, D-Tampa.

Lighter, smaller, cheaper were the watchwords of those pitching the private space deals. But in this case, even the sky isn’t the limit.

Online retail giant Amazon is announcing a deal to create thousands of new jobs here in Florida. As the announcement of jobs will also mean Florida consumers will pay more money to use the site.

At the end of your finger tips is an online retailer where you can buy nearly anything you’ll ever need. Now the online giant Amazon will open a 1-million-square-foot warehouse here near Tampa.

“This is good news for retail in the state of Florida,” said Florida Retail Federation John Fleming. “It means another major retailer is chosen to locate in our state, its growth in retail industry and a sign Florida’s a good place to do business.”

Amazon expects to hire 3,000 Floridians by 2016. The deal comes less than a month after Governor Rick Scott turned down the internet giant’s first offer. ”My job is to make sure I do the right thing for taxpayers in our state and based on the opportunity I had at the time, it didn’t make sense,” said Gov. Rick Scott.

After further talks with the company, the Governor and Amazon came to a deal. The Governor’s office refused an on-camera interview, but released a statement saying: “Amazon’s commitment to create more than 3-thousand new jobs in Florida is further proof that we’ve turned our economy around.”

The move to Florida will come at a price. When Amazon opens a warehouse in Florida, they will be required to charge Florida consumers a 6-percent sales tax.

“It’s not a tax increase; it’s the same sales tax that you pay everyday at every store you go to in your community,” said Fleming.

The collection will begin when the company opens its doors in Florida, which is expected next year.

Amazon hasn’t made any announcements about the expansion, but they expect to create more than 300-million dollars in investments in Florida.

A rally was held at the Capitol for a North Florida officer arrested for official misconduct earlier this month.

Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch was arrested after FDLE agents say he told jailers to free a man arrested on gun charges and then destroyed paperwork with the case.

Finch says he was upholding the oath he took when he went into office by protecting the second amendment.

”I’ve had people from all over this country call me on the phone, text me, email me, facebook message me,” said Finch. “It does my heart good to know there are so many people who support the constitution and the second amendment.”

Governor Scott’s office released a statement saying: “Any time an elected, local, public official is charged with a felony, the Governor suspends the official until the case is concluded. This safeguard is in place to ensure Floridians are best served in their communities.”

May numbers show Florida is first the nation in foreclosures. Last week the Governor signed a bill making it quicker for banks to foreclose. Homeowners advocates say the bill will negatively affect homeowners dealing with hardships.

A fast-track foreclosure law will shorten the length a homeowner has to fight a bank. Governor Scott signed the Republican-driven bill and it is now the law in Florida.

“It’s going to help make sure we have a timely foreclosure process,” said Governor Scott. “So our families make sure they can keep their homes.”

Scott says the bill will help put abandoned homes back on the market. The Florida Bankers Association says it will help rejuvenate the economy.

“Our members do not want to foreclose. But, when we have to get to that point, we need to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Florida Bankers Association, Anthony DiMarco.

Homeowner advocates say the bill is unconstitutional, making it difficult for a person to save their home if they have difficulties paying their mortgage.

“In the long run, it’s going to limit homeowners rights when they try to defend a foreclosure on their home,” said Edward Grunewald with the North Florida Center for Equal Justice, Inc.

But Bankers counter that homeowners have plenty of time before banks start foreclosing.

“We don’t start a foreclosure until 4, 5, 6 months after you’ve missed your first payment. So, we’ve tried to work with the borrower so they’ve had the opportunity for several months,” said DiMarco.

Florida courts have dealt with extreme numbers of foreclosures due to the housing bust. Earlier this year there was a little less than 400-thousand cases in the system.

Advocates say with a shorter time frame, banks may file inaccurate papers against a homeowner

“If the homeowner doesn’t have the time to get adequate defense or legal help then the bank will never have to prove they are the proper party to be suing in foreclosure,” said Grunewald.

Governor Rick Scott has also signed a bill which allows landlords to evict tenants more quickly after accepting a partial rent payment.

Opponents of the death penalty met at the Florida Capitol to remember the latest person to die by lethal injection.

William Van Poyck was pronounced dead Wednesday evening, making the third person executed this year. The Citizens Against Death Penalty met to remember him. The group says they meet every time after someone is executed, saying killing another person is wrong.

“We as citizens in the state of Florida and taxpayers in the state of Florida are participating in the killing of a human being,” said Sheila Meehan. “Something of course we all say is wrong.”

Van Poyck was executed for the murder of a guard at a 1987 prison van ambush.

Doctor Charlotte Maguire, the founder of two medical schools in Florida, was honored by Governor Scott Thursday.

Dr. Maguire practiced medicine for 50 years and helped in the creation of medical schools at the University of Florida and The Florida State University.

Thursday she was presented the prestigious “Great Floridian” award. She says it wasn’t possible without hard work.

“I started off as a little girl with a parent who told me, you can do anything you set your mind to. But you have to work,” she said.

She was the only woman in her medical class when she graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1944.

Governor Scott leaves Friday for another trade mission, this time it’s at an air show in Paris.

This is the second year he has attended the air show, and he says its all in hopes of bringing more jobs back to the Sunshine State.

The Governor has time set aside for meetings in Paris with non-aviation related French investors.

“Last year we had a good trip, we brought … more jobs, 230 jobs there,” said Governor Scott. “You just keep building these relationships to get more jobs for Florida.”

Scott has started working with Enterprise Florida for a mission trip to Japan later this month.

Former Governor Charlie Crist is speaking to Democrats in Governor Rick Scott’s home town of Naples on Saturday. Later that night, the former GOP Governor will attend a Democratic fundraiser and gala on the East coast. The Republican Party of Florida has begun taking daily shots at the former Republican turned Democrat Governor.

Welcome to the Crist-ory channel. Each day, the Republican party of Florida releases something that former governor Charlie Crist said on that day. “This man Bob Graham was a giant”, says Charlie Crist.

The missives are proof the GOP is taking Crist’s potential run for his old job, this time as a Democrat, seriously. “We just feel like Floridians ought to know who Charlie Crist is. There is a history there and there is a record there”, said Lenny Curry, Chairman RPOF.

The man Crist would face, Governor Rick Scott who never utters the former governor’s name. When a reported questioned Governor Scott, “What do you think of Republican party’s daily missive about Charlie Crist?” Governor Scott’s reply was “I think you’d have to ask the Republican party.”

But Scott regularly points out differences in the economy from when Crist was Governor. “Two years ago we met facing crippling debt, record high unemployment, and a downward spiral of job losses” says Governor Scott.

Unclear is whether the GOP wants Crist to run or not. “The record is actually a record of failure” said Curry.

Democratic strategists say the constant reminders will only help Crist among Democrats. “He’s got questions that he needs to answer from when he was a republican governor but that should come from democrats, the republican party attacking Charlie Crist only strengthens him in the democratic party” said former Democratic Party Executive Director Screven Watson. No one has ever been governor and then left then run again let alone be successful at it from another party. The republicans are spending thousands of dollars to make sure Charlie Crist doesn’t make that history.