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By Saturday 106-thousand Floridians will run out of unemployment benefits. Congress let the extended and emergency benefit programs expire. If a deal isn’t reached on Capitol Hill an additional 41-thousand Floridians will exhaust their benefits weekly. As Whitney Ray tells us, food banks are already preparing to lend a hand.

A the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend, Executive Director Cheryl Phoenix is preparing for another wave of hungry Floridians this holiday season.
The food bank has tripled its warehouse space, to keep up with the demands of high unemployment. The news is getting worse.

Congress let extended unemployment programs expire. That means by Saturday 106-thousand Floridians will stop receiving unemployment checks. An extra 41-thousand will lose benefits each following week. The loss means less cash for essentials, so Cheryl is preparing for the increased demand.

“People may have been scrapping buy on unemployment and now they may not have that safety net,” said Cheryl.

The Agency for Workforce Innovation is watching Washington for any changes.

“As of this moment, this is where the process is, but we are monitoring that congressional discussion very closely,” said AWI Spokesman Robby Cunningham.

Alan Stonecipher with the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy says without an extension an extra 230-thousand Floridians will be left with no income by year’s end; which will hurt businesses.

“It’s going to make it very difficult for those families to pay their rent, to buy food, to buy gasoline, and then it hurts the local economy,” Said Stonecipher.

But people will still need to eat. They’ll be turning to the food banks this holiday season, the only question is; will there be enough? You can help to donate food or to volunteer visit the 2nd Harvest of the Big Bend at www.fightinghunger.org.

Florida law Enforcement is on heightened alert, looking for drivers who have been drinking. Florida Highway Patrol is teaming up with local law enforcement agencies to crack down on drunk and drugged driving this holiday season. Last year impaired drivers were involved in more than 21-thousand wrecks that lead to 15-thousand injuries, including more than a thousand deaths. Director of the Office of Drug Control, Bruce Grant says drug use among drivers is more common than many suspect.

“According to the 2007 National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers, they said that one in eight nighttime, weekend drivers tested positive for illicit drugs. That number rises to one out of every six when you include not only illicit drugs but pharmaceuticals,” said Grant.

Today marks the beginning of the National Drunk and Drugged Driving Month. There will be increased patrols and check points starting December 16th.

The Governor has a new Florida grown Christmas Tree. The 10 foot Caroline Sapphire was given to the Governor by the Florida Christmas Tree Association and Franco and Sigrid (C-Grid) Camacho. The Camachos own one of 25 tree farms in the state. They also donated trees to the Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Agriculture. Crist thanked the Camachos for their green thumbs.

“I want to thank you all so much; number one for your great farming ability. And It is a beautiful, beautiful tree and on behalf of all Florida we thank you for your wiliness to place it in the governor’s office for this wonderful holiday season,” said Crist.

After Christmas, the trees will be ground up and turned into mulch.

The Federal Government is banning drilling off Florida’s coast for the next seven years. Today the White House announced no new oil leases would be written in federal waters surround Florida’s coast until 2017. The extended ban is partly the result of the BP oil spill which pumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast. Governor Charlie Crist is praising efforts from the White House to prevent another spill.

“I was very pleased to get that report. I think the administration needs to be credited again for trying to protect Florida’s beaches. As I mentioned earlier today, just last night I was in Palm Beach County at a tourist development council reception and that back drop is only appropriate because continuing to protect our beaches, to be clean and green as we go forward as a state and a nation, that’s only good for Florida because we depend on tourism and agriculture and the cleaner we can be the better,” said Crist.

Audubon of Florida says the ban gives the government time to uncover the true impact of BP spill before making permanent decisions about drilling.

“We won’t know what the effect have been from the Deep Water Horizon Spill for years to come so it makes sense to assess that before we even consider messing with a moratorium in the Eastern Gulf,” said Audubon Spokeswoman Julie Wraithmell.

The ban is in federal waters. A ban in state waters which run 10 miles off the coast is still in effect. State lawmakers were once poised to open it up to drilling rigs, now say it’s off limits