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Florida Governor Rick Scott today signed legislation banning texting while driving. Even though the bill restricts makes texting and driving illegal, the new legislation is being called one of the weakest laws in the country.

After five years of trying, Florida is now the 41st state with a texting ban. “I’m excited we’ve finally gotten to the point to where the final signature is going on the texting ban,” said (R) District 74 Representative, Doug Holder.

Lawmakers anticipate the new texting ban will prevent accidents. As a secondary offense, police must see another violation to stop a driver. Drivers Ed Instructor Michael Blain says the law won’t have the same effect as a primary violation. “I think it would have been much better if it was a primary offense, allowing police officers to actually actively look for texting while driving,” said Blain.

Even though it’s new here, four states have similar laws. One of them, Virginia, is changing its texting and driving from a secondary to a primary offense in July.
Lawmakers here in Florida say this new law will still keep people safer than before. “There are eleven teenagers that die every day in United States from texting while driving,” said Representative Holder. “Twenty-five percent of all accidents are now attributed to texting while driving.”

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study shows in the months following a texting and driving ban, the number of accidents go down. But, after a few months, the study shows drivers go back to old habits.

“It’s a good step in the right direction, it’s the first step,” said Blain. “I don’t think its Panacea; I don’t think its going to correct all of the problems.”

Opponents argued the law isn’t needed because it’s already illegal to drive carelessly. Distracted drivers caused more than 4 thousand accidents last year.

The texting law will go into effect starting October 1st.

After a year of low achievement scores in Florida classrooms, the Department of Education announced an upward climb for students.

According to the released results in Writing and third-grade reading and math, student performance increased. Even with stricter expectations.

In the last two years the state has moved from 11th to 6th for overall quality with the education system and Florida 4th graders boasting some of the highest reading scores globally.

Department of Education spokesman Joe Follick says the state will look at the results and see where they need to improve.

“This is good news,” said Dept. of Education spokesman Joe Follick. “We’re going to use these test results the same way parents should. Which is celebrate over gains, see where we need to improve; and work with districts and schools to keep improving.”

More test results will be sent out in the next few weeks.

For the first time in state history, the Great Recession forced Florida to borrow several billion dollars for unemployment payout from the Federal Government.

During the height of the recession Floridians were losing jobs at a staggering rate. The state was forced to pay out billions in unemployment. “No state system was set up to handle or accommodate the depth and breadth of the great recession as it went on,” said Florida Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President, David Hart.

Unemployment hit its peak of 12.1-percent in August 2010. By then, the state had already used all its cash money set aside for people without a job. “Florida had to borrow money during the Great Recession,” said Hart.

In August 2009 Florida started borrowing money from the federal government, more than 3.5-billion, to keep benefits flowing to the growing unemployed.

This is the only time in state history Florida has had to borrow money from the Federal Government for unemployment. More than three years later, the debt has finally been paid off.

When joblessness numbers began increasing, the state hit businesses with a 20-percent hike in their unemployment taxes. The hike kept the state from borrowing even more. “Best way to keep trust fund strong is if people are employed,” said Hart.

Back in 2009, it was anyone’s guess on how long the downturn would last. “We don’t know the length of the recession, we don’t know how many employees will remain in the state after the recession,” said FICPA’s Vicki Meyers in August 2009.

36 states had to borrow money to pay claims. Florida is the 14th to pay its loan off.

A deal between Florida’s largest state property insurance company and a new private insurance company is raising questions.

In a 3-2 vote, the board of state-run Citizens Property Insurance agreed to let newly-formed Heritage Property and Casualty Corporation take over 60-thousand policies; and pay the company 52-million dollars to do it. “The deal has been in the works for several months,” said Citizen’s Insurance Spokesperson, Michael Peltier.

The award comes after the president of Heritage donated more than 100-thousand dollars to Governor Rick Scott’s campaign. Scott is on a trade mission, but, Chief of Staff Adam Holingsworth responded to critics with a statement, saying: “Any assertion that our office influenced the Heritage risk transfer decision by the Citizens Board is [today] is outrageous.”

Citizens echoed the same message. “There’s been no pressure from anyone outside of Citizens,” said Peltier. “Whether that be the legislators or the governors office.”

The Office of Insurance Regulation, signed off on the deal but refused comment.

Matt Horn tried to reach out to Heritage President Richard Widdicombe’s office. He was transferred to several people, but no one was made available to answer any questions.

More than one of Widdicombe’s previous companies have been cited for dozens of violations; more than a quarter million in fines were assessed. But, state-run Citizens Insurance stands behind the boards decision on transferring the policies.

“They may be new to the business, but they’re not new to the industry,” said Peltier. The deal cuts Citizens overall risk by more than 400 million dollars.

The goal was to have the changes made before the beginning of hurricane season June 1.

Hundreds of Millions of dollars in property are sitting in a high security vault in Tallahassee, waiting for owners to claim.

Tangible items like diamond necklaces, historic dollars, silver bars and various valuables were once forgotten. They are now snugged away in a state vault in the state capital. “If it fits in a safe deposit box, we get it,” said Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property Chief, Walter Graham.

Every year the Bureau of Unclaimed Property receives the contents of forgotten safe deposit boxes, utility deposits along with many items. “We have to identify every single item we get, we have to describe it,” said Graham.

After the items are identified, the office tries to find the proper owners. If they succeed, they tell them how to claim their lost treasures.  “Eventually we’ll sell these items because, as you see, we can’t continue to keep these things forever,” said Graham.

But, the auction doesn’t happen for years after an item is discovered. First, banks where the property is found have three years to find the owners. If they can’t be located, the items are sent to the vault.

Even if an item is sold, rightful owners are still entitled to the value of the item. “Our goal is to sale these items for as much as possible to give back to the owner should they come forward,” said vault supervisor, Liz Tatum.

Since the bureau opened in 1961 more than 2-billion dollars worth of property has been returned to the proper owner.

If you think you have unclaimed property you can go to FLTreasureHunt.org; the annual auction will be held in Tampa on June 8^th.

It’s been four days since a winning Powerball Lottery ticket was sold in Zephyrhills. Now people are waiting for that lucky ticket holder to come forward.

Media crews have been holding out for the winner to come forward at the Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. The winner of the 590-point-5 million dollar ticket was sold at a Publix Grocery Store.

It is the largest single ticket in U-S history.

Secretary of the Florida Lottery, Cindy O’Connell says they are excited to see who that winner is, “We all very excited to meet our winner, winners or the entity that will soon, I hope very soon come and claim their winning jackpot prize.”

This is the sixth time there has been a Powerball winner in the state since Floridians were able to play.

Less than a month after state lawmakers passed a ban on texting and driving, the Florida Highway Patrol is gearing up for a deadly summer focusing on distracted drivers.

There are more fatal accidents during the 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day than any other time of the year.

Through commercials the National Transportation Safety Board and AT&T continue to step up “It Can Wait”; a campaign against texting and driving. The people in the commercials talk about how texting while driving dramatically changed their lives.

This past legislative session, lawmakers approved Florida’s first ever ban on texting and driving in the state. “We’re talking about an activity that is equivalent to drinking four beers very quickly,” said Representative Doug Holder.

The texting ban, if signed into law, will take affect October1st. went to the governors desk Tuesday, but even before he signs it, police have begun focusing more on distracted driving.

“It has deadly consequences; we have crashes everyday that are from distracted driving,” said FHP Captain Nancy Rasmussen.

In the most recent Florida statistics, more than 2,200 people died in car crashes; officers are doing everything they can to curve those numbers.

During the summer more officers will be patrolling the roadways to keep an eye out for distracted drivers. “Our numbers increase during this period of time just because we know the motorists are increasing, the more people we have patrolling the roads the better we’ll be,” said Capt. Rasmussen.

If the law passes, drivers caught texting face a thirty dollar fine.

The county with the highest number of fatal accidents was in Miami-Dade County, followed by Hillsborough County.

The winner of the largest Powerball Jackpot in U-S history is right here in the Sunshine State. While everyone anxiously awaits for that person or group to step forward, the Powerball host talks about what the experience was like leading up to the announcement this weekend.

Every Wednesday and Saturday night, millions of Americans around the country watch Powerball host Sam Arlen announce what will hopefully make someone a very happy person. After Saturday night, the excitement moved to a Tampa suburb. A still unknown person purchased a single ticket worth 590-million dollars at a Publix grocery store.

We talked to Sam via video chat. “It never escapes my mine that everyone watching is clinging on to hope,” said Powerball Host Sam Arlen. >

As the excitement looms in Zephyrhills, things have appeared to return to normal in Tallahassee at Florida Lottery Headquarters. That’s where the ticket must be turned in to claim the cash. The winner has up to 60 days to claim the jackpot if they want the lump sum. They have up to 6 months if they want the annual payment.

Eight of every ten possible number combinations were purchased for the drawing. “We had tickets selling at a rate of almost 45,000 per minute or 745 per second,” said Secretary of Florida Lottery, Cindy O’Connell.

Even though the ‘big-winner’ hasn’t stepped forward, there were hundreds of other winners across Florida. “We had over 643 players that actually won prizes, two $1-million tickets were sold in addition,” said O’Connell.

This marks the 6th time the winning Powerball ticket has been sold in the state.

If you do have the winning ticket, the lottery suggests you to do four things. Sign the back of the ticket, put it in a safe deposit box; and get a lawyer and a CPA.

Excitement around the Powerball Jackpot is soaring across Florida as the jackpot is at 600-million dollars, and is expected to rise before Saturday evening’s drawing.

Prior to the current record, the highest jackpot was $587.5 million, which was set in November 2012.

Deputy Secretary of the Florida Lottery, David Bishop says state schools are already winning as more and more people spend money on the Powerball.

“The Florida education is already a winner. The series of draws generated an additional forty-one million dollars for education,” said Deputy Secretary of the Florida Lottery, David Bishop. “That means that’s more money in the classroom, more money for k-12, more money for colleges and universities.”

Florida has traditionally been one of the top selling states for the jackpot.

An improving economic climate nationwide is good news for Florida. That’s because a record number of people are checking out Florida’s attractions. “We try to get here as much as we can,” said tourist Cleveland Wrighty.

Visitors are spending billions of dollars, helping revive the states economy. “There is no secret the Florida tourism industry is experiencing some incredible momentum,” said VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO, Will Seccombe.

Coming off of two record years, the first three months of 2013 have seen an almost 5-percent increase. Last year: 21-point-8 million tourists have already visited the state this year. “That momentum is pretty hard to stop,” said Seccombe.

Travelers we talked with say they have been coming to Florida more frequently. “Once a year, twice a year. Something like that,” said Seguin, Texas resident, Ronald Miller.

Last year just over 91-million people visited the Sunshine State, up 2-point-3 percent. With an increase in tourism, it equals more jobs, because every 85 visitors support one Florida job. “(It’s a) huge impact to jobs,” said Seccombe. “We had an additional 35,000 people employed in the hospitality industry.”

Those jobs all created in the first quarter of this year, marking the 36th month of job growth in the tourism industry. It’s a trend likely to continue as people continue to visit. I like Florida, its where I plan to retire,” said Miller.

The number of international visitors is increasing even faster than domestic tourists with an increase of 11.3-percent increase.

Under a new bill sent to the Governor by state lawmakers, Floridians battling mental illness will be banned from purchasing a gun.

Supporters say it will save lives, while medical professionals say it will wrongfully take away second amendment rights for a large group of Floridians.

A loophole in Florida law has allowed people diagnosed with mental illnesses to continue purchasing firearms, until lawmakers closed the loophole with just one dissenting vote. “If it’s just one and they save one life, it’s a significant bill,” said Representative Barbara Watson (D) Miami.

The bill gained support by Democrats, Republicans and the NRA. “Keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people with mental illness saves lives,” said NRA past President Marion Hammer.

The legislation requires people who voluntarily commit themselves to give up their gun rights. “This only keeps mentally ill people who are determined to be dangerous from being able to buy guns,” she said.

But thousands have called or emailed the governor seeking a veto of the bill. “I hope the governor vetoes it,” said counselor Robert Carton. Health officials worry the legislation will keep people from seeking treatment. “It’s likely to create the opposite effect of what legislators are intending,” he said. “Not everybody with a mental illness is homicidal, not everybody with a mental illness is suicidal.”

90-thousand mentally ill Floridians are already prohibited from buying guns. If the governor signs the bill that number is expected to drastically increase. If signed into law, the mentally ill would be prohibited from buying a gun after July 1st.

Every year thieves target thousands of welfare recipients stealing their identities and depriving them of the benefits in which they desperately need.

Identity Thieves Targeted by State

Florida’s welfare recipients are the latest target of identity thieves, stealing from those who need it most. The state says it needs to stop. “For some reason Florida has the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft in the nation,” said Department of Children and Families Secretary, David Wilkins.

Nine of the top 10 cities in the country for identity theft are right here in the sunshine state. “In 2011 and 2012 the division of public assistance fraud investigated just over 6,600 cases of suspected public assisted fraud,” said Deputy CFO over law enforcement, Jay Etheridge.

A new state program will now make it more difficult for thieves to steal people’s identities and gaining access to state benefits. It’s expected to save the state 60-million dollars a year. “You’re saving months and potentially years of money going out the door,” said Wilkins.

The state is reaching out to local police for help. “I want to put those individuals who choose to commit these crimes; I want to put them on notice. If you commit the fraud we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Tallahassee Chief of Police, Dennis Jones.

92-percent of cases that were investigated over the last two years were charged or disqualified for future state benefits.

Florida orange groves are dealing with the most serious bacteria disease in state history.

Citrus Greening is a disease first spotted seven years ago has affected every nearly 10-percent of the orange production in the state.

 

According to Erin Gillepsie with the Department of Agriculture – the disease causes the orange to drop early, essentially making is useless…which will eventually drive the price up on orange juice at the grocery store. ”The orange crops go up and down every year,” said Department of Agriculture, Erin Gillepsie. “Again, this is the lowest year we’ve had without a hurricane or of freeze. The crops go up and down the prices haven’t changed too much. If we continue to lose the orange crop, of course the price of orange juice will go up.”

The state has received funding to fight this bacteria disease.

Any homeowner in Florida with a mortgage is required to have insurance. If there is a lapse in coverage, the bank or mortgage company will then get lender-placed insurance for the homeowner.

The largest “lender-placed” or “force-placed” insurance companies in Florida met with state officials about a rate change on the cost of coverage.

“It’s a very critical piece of insurance for Florida’s banks,” said Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Kevin McCarty. “During the last several years there’s been a lot of interest in the state and federal level about business practices.”

Florida is not the only state questioning the business, more than 140-thousand Floridians have paid for the coverage.

“This is a normal hearing process we go through,” said Vice-President of Corporate Communications at Assurant, Shawn Kahle.

The companies work closely with mortgage lenders accused of charging up to four-times more for insurance for people who are having financial troubles; and have recently had a lapse in their homeowners insurance.

“As a result we see hundreds of thousands of consumers who are already struggling to pay the bill,” said Executive Director for Economic Justice, Birny Birnhaum. “When they get this really high force-placed insurance put on them and it really breaks their back.”

Opponents say the insurance companies are price gauging consumers, while the companies say they are doing what’s necessary to keep prosperities insured. “When that happens, the lender-placed insurance is put into place until the owner can provide insurance for themselves and show proof they have insurance in place,” said Kahle.

The companies argue that the rate changes may save some people money; however, they were not able to provide numbers for the regulators.

The insurance regulators are not expected to have a decision until the end of May.

What was a buyers market for years is now starting to turn into a sellers market. Florida’s housing industry is seeing some of the highest numbers in more than 6 years.

Homeowner Diane Winzler spent the last five years waiting for the perfect time to sell her old house on Florida’s Gulf Coast. “I was expecting to wait months or maybe even years before it sold,” said Winzler.

The number of people buying houses is increasing and at a rapid pace. “We’re heading in the right direction and people are moving to the state and so they’re buying our houses,” said Governor Rick Scott.

The housing crisis is ending much faster than expected. Receipts from the state doc stamp tax have increased 36-percent from year to year.

A large part of that includes home sales and refinancing current mortgages.

“This is really good for the seller who’s seen a pretty tough market for 4 or 5 years,” said Florida Realtor’s John Sebree.

For Diane it took less than two months from listing her house to closing; and three weeks from closing to buying her new house.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.