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Segregated schools, parks, and hospitals don’t seem possible today, but the people who lived through it and helped change it remember the struggle. Matt Galka tells us about some of those people who made a difference, and were honored at the Capitol.

Go to your local park and you might take for granted the playground, the nature, the trails. How about the people? All shapes and sizes, every creed…and color.

Florida immortalized one of the men responsible for helping to desegregate parks around the state Wednesday. But it wasn’t just parks; Earl Johnson helped desegregate schools and water fountains. His son summed up what the honor meant for his family…and how his dad, based out of Jacksonville, changed the state for the better.

“He filed 36 of the 37 school desegregation cases, and so it’s an honor…and of course it was all done pro-bono, there was no money in it, but there was, what I would say, great riches in the work,” said Earl Johnson, Jr.

And for another nominee – the fight for equality started on the baseball diamond.

Rutledge Pearson dedicated his life to civil rights after he wasn’t allowed to play professional baseball in Jacksonville when city officials decided to close the park rather than integrate.

“Young people today, they don’t understand that, and that’s why it’s important that we teach our young people about the history, without your history you don’t have a future,” said his son, Rutledge Pearson, Jr.

Along with Jesse McCrary junior – Florida’s first black Secretary of State – the three will forever be remembered as men who helped shape the state.

This is the fifth class to go into the state’s Civil Rights hall of fame which is housed on the plaza level of the state Capitol.

Florida’s Governor is doubling down on his support for likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and wants others to follow suit.

Governor Rick Scott (R-Florida) said that the Republican party needs to come together behind Trump. The statement comes after a number of prominent Conservatives have withheld their support for the candidate.

“My goal in regard to the presidential race is for the Republican party to unify. It’s a clear choice, we’ve got a business person, Donald Trump, who knows how to build jobs. On the other side we have a career politician who’s never created a job in her life,” he said.

Scott has repeatedly also denied the prospect of being a potential Trump running mate.

With Florida’s Department of Health announcing two new cases of the Zika virus in Florida on Monday, Florida officials are continuing to call for help from Washington, D.C. As Matt Galka tells us, Florida’s Governor heads there tomorrow to try and make the case for why the state needs resources now.

The buzz around the Governor’s office…the growing threat of Zika to Florida – the virus linked to a variety of health problems.

Governor Rick Scott (R-Florida) hopes to swat away the problem before it gets any bigger.

“The federal government needs to come together, work together, and provide the funding for the things that are necessary to our states,” he said after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

The Governor travels to Washington, D.C. Wednesday and Thursday this week. He hopes to convince Congress that they need to help prepare Florida for a potential health crisis. There are now 107 travel related cases in state.

His visit comes at a time when two Florida Senators push a $1.9 billion dollar emergency funding plan to fight the spread of Zika.  Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) said there’s even potential for a genetically modified mosquito to be released.

“This is altering a gene in the genetic makeup of the egypti mosquito to turn off that mosquitoes ability to reproduce,” he said.

There have been nearly 500 cases of Zika reported in the US so far…all travel related.

Supporters of vouchers for 78 thousand private school children and the state’s teacher union squared off in a state appeals court today. The teachers want the vouchers declared unconstitutional, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, they first have to convince the appeals court they were harmed when the money went to private instead of public schools.

“Enough is enough” chanted two thousand Florida teachers when they came came to the Capitol in January, upset about working conditions and the  lack of funding. Four days later, ten thousand kids receiving vouchers for private schools took the day off to protest a lawsuit the teachers had filed challenging the voucher program.

“The first case today is JoAnn MacCall vs. Governor Rick Scott.”

The two sides squared off in an appeals court Monday. A lower court found the teachers were not harmed by the scholarship program and could not sue. Now they are appealing to get their day in court.

“Mike, if we really believed that there are schools that aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing, then it is the state’s responsibility to get in there and shore up those schools for every student. Not give some an out” says FEA President JoAnn McCall.

The scholarships are funded by donations from private corporations, who then get a dollar for dollar tax credit for every dollar they give.

Supporters of the voucher program, like RB Holmes, say a ruling against it could be catastrophic for kids.

“If we do not win this lawsuit, then eighty thousand boys and girls will be literally evicted from their schools” says Holmes.

Tampa mom Cheryl Joseph originally sent her three kids to a public elementary school.

Sot: Cheryl Joseph

Mother of 3 voucher students

“When it came to the middle school, it was a C school. I didn’t want my kids going to a C school” says Joseph.

The voucher program provides each student with just over 56 hundred dollars a year for tuition.

The state is losing about 450 million this year in tax revenue going to voucher students. It is expected to grow to as much as 550 million next year.

Gambling regulations in the state, and whether or not casinos and gaming expansion should happen, are yearly battles in the legislature. But as Matt Galka tells us, there’s a push to make sure voters are the ultimate decision makers when it comes to whether or not Florida rolls the dice on more games of chance.

Around and around it goes.  The question: should Florida expand gambling…including adding Las Vegas style casinos. The answer – not an easy one.

Legislation has failed for the past four years that overhauls state gambling laws.  Now a group wants to put the decision into voters hands.

We called John Sowinski – the man in charge of the Voter Control of Gambling in Florida ballot initiative.

“We think it’s what voters in Florida, whether they support more gambling or not, really want is to have the voters put in charge of this question,” he said.

Sowinski also heads up the anti-gaming group No Casinos.

“Look at the last five years, the amount of time and energy and intellectual capital and political capital that have been spent on the issue of casino gambling in the state. It’s ridiculous, and it’s because there’s a very well healed industry that persists, and will continue to want more and more and more,” he said.

But a case brought on by this racetrack in rural Gadsden County about 30 minutes away from Florida’s Capitol could change everything for the state’s gambling laws.

A referendum passed in 2012 that would have allowed slot machines at the rural racetrack. The issue is whether or not the county needs legislative approval for the slots.  The state Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case next month.

The Attorney General has asked the state Supreme Court to review the ballot initiative’s validity – it’s a routine move when a measure gets enough signatures. The group still needs around 600 thousand signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot. The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the Gadsden County case on June 7^th.

As Florida’s Supreme Court weighs whether the 390 inmates on death row should all be re-sentenced to life after the state’s death penalty scheme was ruled unconstitutional, Mike Vasilinda tells us a former Florida Chief Justice who is arguing on the side of giving the inmates life,  is saying “I told you so”.

Harry Lee Anstead was the Chief Justice of Florida’s Supreme Court from 2002 to 2004. 18 months after after the U-S Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s death penalty in what is know as the Ring case, Anstead argued that Ring applied to Florida. Other justices disagreed. More than a decade later, he was proven right when the high court threw out Florida’s sentencing scheme, citing the Ring decision.

“This decision about Florida’s statute being unconstitutional should have been made many years ago” Anstead told us.

Because the other justices ignored Anstead’s dissent so long ago, he’s now going two other former Florida Supreme Court justices in arguing that all 390 inmates on death row should now get life sentences.

“This hopefully is setting things right in a large way, not a small way, in a large way” says the retired jurist.

Anstead remains troubled that since his dissent, now proven right, several dozen inmates have been put to death. Gainesville Killer Danny Rolling was among them.

“A number of prisoners on death row have been put to death in Florida. And arguably, they’ve been put to death under an unconstitutional death penalty scheme” says Anstead.

Ironically Lloyd Duest who was the the inmate in the case in which Anstead first cited his Ring objections, has died… not by lethal injection, but by natural causes.

Lloyd Duest died in 2011, 8 years after Justice Anstead thought his sentence should have been reduced to live in prison. While the three justices say all death row inmates should be re-sentenced to life in prison, the Attorney General told the could that everyone on death row should stay there.

As the race for the White House looks more and more everyday like Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton, Florida still wields heavy influence on how the rest of the campaign could turn out. Matt Galka tells us about the roll the sunshine state has yet to play.

Florida’s 29 electoral votes are always enticing to candidates vying for the White House. And as likely nominees Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton fire up their campaigns heading into Summer…a number of Florida names are being tossed around as potential future Vice Presidents.

Senator Bill Nelson’s name has come up as a possible choice for Clinton. But when we asked him about a potential Clinton/Nelson ticket, he was non committal.

“Well, I’m not going to comment on that, it’s too premature,” said Sen. Nelson.

Still, he thinks Florida will be blue in November

“When Americans look at choosing a president, they realize that they’re viewing more than just an executive, they’re viewing a leader of the free world and they’re electing a person to be Commander in Chief. And Hilary will win Florida over Donald Trump in November,” he said.

Florida Governor Rick Scott’s name has come up multiple times as a potential pick for Donald Trump, but his camp is saying no.

His former chief of staff tried to quell the rumors this week.

“I think the Governor’s made it clear that he has the job he wants, he has a lot more work to do and he’s not leaving it,” said Melissa Stone.

And Scott himself told national media that he doesn’t have interest in the post. But if not Florida’s Governor, how about the Attorney General? Pam Bondi’s name was floated out there by one of her political consultants Thursday night. Bondi was one of the earliest Florida politicians to endorse Trump.

Nearly 400 prisoners on Death Row anxiously await to see if their death sentences will stand. As Matt Galka tells us, the case that forced Florida’s death penalty system to be ruled unconstitutional was back before the state’s high court Thursday.

Timothy Lee Hurst was recommended death 7-5 by a jury for the 1998 murder of his manager at Popeye’s in Pensacola.

His case caused the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Florida’s death penalty sentencing scheme – which only called for jury recommendations and gave final authority to a judge.

Hurst’s attorneys were back in front of state Supreme Court justices Thursday saying his death sentence needed to be converted to life imprisonment.

“In the event the death penalty in a capital felony is held to be unconstitutional by this court or the U.S. Supreme Court, the court shall sentence such person to life imprisonment. Very clear,” said David Davis, Hurst’s attorney.

Attorney’s for the state argued that the death penalty itself was never declared unconstitutional – only the sentencing scheme.

“It doesn’t say the death penalty statute, it doesn’t say “Florida’s death penalty statute” it simply says the death penalty,” said Assistant Attorney General Carine Mitz.

The Florida legislature since voted to require a simple majority of a minimum 10 jurors recommending death in order to carry out capital punishment. Justices weren’t sure that would fix the situation.

“The worst thing would be, if we don’t agree with the defendant, would be to start down the path of a new statue that has unconstitutional infirmities,” said Justice Barbara Pariente.

The case could have far reaching impact on 390 death row inmates, but Hurst’s lawyer made clear to the court he was only making a case for his client.

Attorney General Pam Bondi maintains that only inmates who have not yet had their direct appeals heard by the court are eligible for life without parole.

A coalition of former state Supreme Court justices and lawyers have urged the Florida Supreme Court to convert all sentences to life imprisonment in the wake of the federal ruling.

If you birthday is this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you might want to check to see if it expires this weekend. Renewals will not be available online because the state is moving the computers, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, you could be ticketed if you are stopped.

This Tallahassee office complex was moving truck central Wednesday. 1500 state employees are being moved out after environmental problems were discovered, including ten pounds of bat dropping in the ceiling tile over one desk.

Employees here were told not to speak to the media. A security guard approach us and asked:

“Okay, do you have permission from management to film?”

“I don’t know that I need it.”

At the close of business Friday, the data center housing computers used to renew drivers licenses, handicapped placards and much more is shutting down. The departments web site’s red banner tells motorists to be prepared. Beth Frady says renewals will be unavailable statewide over the weekend.

“It’s going to impact our customers, potentially, statewide. and so its very important that they prepare, they don’t wait till the last minute, and that they go ahead and renew their credentials, their registration, anything that might expire before May 10th” says Frady.

The web site also carries two warning that driving without a valid license or parking without a proper placard could get you a ticket

“Our services, to be clear, are the ones online that will be down, so there’ll be less convenience there” Frady emphasized.

While the Department says the move is a big deal, they say they will be up and running and open for business Monday morning.

The state says staff will be working all weekend to keep the computer move on track, But this may be the first time bat droppings have ever shut down an entire states ability to renew a drivers license.

More than 200 state employees are suing the owner of the complex over health issues, and the state and property owner are suing each other. State lawmakers put a provision in the budget that it could not pay rent at the complex after June 30th.

A fight between auto-insurer State Farm and hospital UF Health Jacksonville (formerly Shands Jacksonville) could effect the wallets of patients around Florida. As Matt Galka tells us, State Farm wants to know if they’re paying too much to the healthcare provider – and the case went in front of the state’s Supreme Court Wednesday morning.

Are hospitals being truthful about their billing after car accidents? Insurance giant State Farm wants to know. The auto insurance company is battling UF Health Jacksonville – formerly Shands – over documents showing how much the hospital charges for services.  Auto-insurance companies pay hospitals under Florida’s Personal Injury Protection or PIP laws after accidents.

“Unreasonable charges would prematurely deplete the benefits of the insured,” said attorney Alan Nisberg.

The company argues that paying too much hurts the customer’s benefits – and too little could lead to rising premiums.

“If they pay a PIP claim that they think ‘ehhh, I don’t think this is a reasonable amount’ how are they then, procedurely,’ appropriately entitled to discover how that amount is reasonable?” asked Justice Ricky Polston.

“If they really question the reasonableness of this bill, which they didn’t we think by paying a year earlier, if they question in then they can either not pay it or pay the portion they think is appropriate,” said UF Health Jacksonville attorney John Tucker.

The case comes after the Governor started waging war with hospitals over price transparency.

We asked both sides to comment after the oral arguments concluded. State Farm attorney Alan Nisberg said he wasn’t authorized – while UF Health Jacksonville attorney John Tucker said it’s now up to the justices.A circuit judge has already ruled in favor of State Farm, with the first district court of appeals siding with UF Health Jacksonville

Some legal heavyweights are urging the state’s Supreme Court to convert death row inmates sentences to life sentences.

A group that includes former Supreme Court justices and American Bar Association presidents filed a legal brief Tuesday ahead of a Supreme Court case later this week that could determine the fate of those sitting on Florida’s death row.  The state’s death penalty was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court earlier this year and lawmakers scrambled to change the death penalty sentencing laws.

“They wrote a very plain speaking law that said if the US Supreme Court ever declares the Florida Death Penalty scheme unconstitutional, then the trial judges of the state will be obligated to call all of those death row people before them in court and immediately re-sentence them to life in prison,” said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead.

The Florida Supreme Court will hear from attorneys of Timothy Lee Hurst. His case caused the US Supreme Court to rule against Florida’s death penalty sentencing scheme.

If you voted for a ban on fracking, expanding Medicaid, or against school choice – you probably didn’t get a high mark from one of the most politically influential advocacy groups in Florida. As Matt Galka tells us, their conservative friendly report card does show a riff with the Governor’s policies.

Florida lawmakers take thousands of votes every legislative session. From committees up to the final one.

And while plenty of advocacy groups throughout the state make report cards – one of the most conservative ones is keeping score.

“We endeavored to create a dynamic scorecard for the free market policies we tried to tackle this year that we thought were the most meaningful policies, reforms for Floridians,” said AFP Florida Director Chris Hudson.

The Americans For Prosperity – a Koch brothers funded advocacy group – released their 2016 scorecard Tuesday.  36 Republican lawmakers got an A+

But the group doesn’t see eye to eye with every policy championed by a conservative.  AFP strongly opposed Governor Rick Scott’s push for 250 million dollars worth of job incentive money.

The priority ultimately failed.  They gave Republican Senator Jack Latvala a ‘C’ – the lowest Republican Senator grade – for pushing the issue in his chamber.

“We communicate our policy positions clearly, and frankly, at a level that every activists understands and can take, arm themselves with, and then can say hey, elected official, next year can you take a better look at this corporate welfare spending piece,” said Hudson.

A majority of Florida Democrats received a D or an F grade because AFP says they took votes against economic freedom.

The group also showed where lawmakers scored in past years – with many Republican Senators receiving lower marks last year for supporting Medicaid expansion.

A Donald Trump victory today in Indiana could all but seal Trump’s nomination, and as Trump gets closer to the nomination, Trump himself, as Mike Vasilinda tells us, has suggested Florida Governor Rick Scott could be in the running to be his Vice Presidential running mate.

Over the weekend, Trump fueled speculation Scott was being considered as a potential  Vice Presidential running mat. Trump praised Scott in a New York Times interview. And a Washington Post story listed Scott as one of the top 5 choices Trump Should consider,  Scott confidante Melissa Stone says it isn’t going to happen.

“I think the Governor  has made it clear. He has the job he wants. He has a lot more work to do and he’s not leaving it” says Stone.

“But what about the old adage, if the nominee asks, it’s hard to say no?”

”Well” responded Stone, “the Governor is a big supporter of Mr. Trump’s. He’s clearly the right man to run the economy around. He would love to give him advice  just like he’s done in Florida to turn the economy around. How to do that with a national economy, but he has the job he wants and he’s staying here.”

The Group, Americans for Prosperity tangled with Rick Scott over corporate subsidies this past seen and won, killing one of the Governor’s top priorities. that battle aside, State Director Chris Hudson says Scott would be good at the VP job,

“We think the Governor has done a pretty dynamic job of creating a pro jobs climate here in Florida” says Hudson.

As Bob Graham was finishing his term as Governor, the worst kept secret here in the Capitol was that Graham wanted a seat in the US Senate.  But all that Graham would ever say is that the best resume for the job you want , is doing a good job with the job you’ve got.

A call to the Florida Democratic Party was not returned. A spokesman has been quoted as saying “We could not be so lucky.” They probably aren’t.

Under Florida law, Scott could run for Vice President and if he loses could remain Governor. If Scott were to run and win, LT. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera would take over…unless he wins his US Senate bid, in which case, the Governorship would go to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The state’s Department of Corrections is under fire for choosing not to renew the contract of a South Florida prisoner re-entry facility that teaches inmates valuable lessons on rehabilitation and helps keep them from going back to prison.  – and a Bradenton facility could be next. As Matt Galka tells us, lawmakers are now putting heat on the Department of Corrections and even saying they’ve been mislead.

The Fight to keep the Broward Bridge prisoner re-entry facility open in South Florida escalated Monday.

The contract for the The Bridges of America transitional program for prisoners expires May 16^th. Senator Greg Evers says the programs are supported by the Governor and a valuable tool to cut into recidivism.

“This past session, I was afraid for this program and actually put language into the budget that would have protected this program,” said Sen. Evers (R-Pensacola).

But then he made a scathing accusation against the state’s Department of Corrections.

“I was told there was no need, that they weren’t going to close this program.  So I got off the tractor today, put on a suit and come to Tallahassee, because I was lied to,” he said.

The Department plans to turn the Broward facility into office space. A spokesman responded to Evers’ claim by saying the conversations between the Senator and DOC concerned where funding for the programs would come from.

Former prisoners who have gone through the programs say they’re not sure where they’d be without them.

Polk County’s Dianna Love spent two years in a Bradenton re-entry facility which could also be on the chopping block this summer.  She says the program helped her re-enter society after spending a decade behind bars.

“If you’re in that program because you want to make a change and a difference in your life, you don’t want to go back out and do the same things or be the same that you were before,” she said.

Senator Evers says he anticipates the Governor will be getting involved in the situation in the near future.

The Bradenton Bridge program’s contract expires in July. Supporters of the women’s facility will hold a rally tomorrow (Tuesday) to plead with DOC to reconsider.

LEXINGTON,, KY- Hemp and Cannabis Research was illegal until 2014 when Congress allowed it in the Farm Bill. A little noticed provision of the new medical marijuana law in Florida allows state universities to conduct research. That’s a first for Florida, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, not for other states like Kentucky, which is leaps and bounds ahead of Florida when it comes to this emerging industry.

Later this month Farmers in Kentucky will put their hemp third crop into the ground. Ryan Quarles, the state’s agriculture commissioner, the youngest statewide elected official in America, sees a bright future.

“We know it will grow well in our state. we have a long history in our state, but we want to see what sort of products and processors we can attract here and approach industrial hemp as an economic development iniatitive” says Quarles.

Florida is hoping to get into the action. The next to last line of the medical marijuana bill this year allows Florida colleges and universities with agricultural programs to research Hemp and Cannabis. Florida A&M is ready to jump on the bandwagon says Tim Moore, the schools Vice President for Research.

“What we’re going to do is do research on it to make our industry more competitive, make our industry more effective and more ecological sound. Those are the traits we’ll bring to the table” says Moore.

Just outside Lexington, This Hemp research Campus has taken over this old tobacco facility,

“It crushes the seed and the oil comes out here” explains owner Andy Graves.

And politicians, farmers and researchers here believe that the future of hemp is so bright, that it will eventually be the biggest cash crop here in Kentucky.

“These are completely full of processed hemp material” Graves said as we walked through a

another warehouse stacked floor to ceiling with plastic containers of crushed hemp, grown on just a hundred acres and ready to be processed into hemp oil or CBD…better know as Charlotte’s web.

“it’s better than or equal to in soybean production or corn production in terms of net dollars per acre” Graves says.

Kentucky is one of more than two dozen states who are activity researching hemp, which means Florida has some catching up to do. Kentucky is expected to have four thousand acres of hemp growing this year, and While Florida is slow to embrace this emerging industry, the advantage it has over other states is climate. Here, farmers could sow as many as three crops a year, while others are limited to one or two.