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Had he not received a stay of execution, Manuel Valle would have been killed today.

Valle won a stay of execution while the courts debate whether or not the state’s new lethal injection drug is effective enough to give Valle a humane death. The drug came under suspicion after it was used to kill a Georgia inmate and witnesses said he looked like he was in pain. It’s been used since then with no reports of trouble. Attorney General Pam Bondi has a team of lawyers working on the case in Miami.

“Our lawyers are down there, they are working diligently on it and we feel confident that that execution will take place, it should take place. This man murdered a police officer,” said Bondi.

Valle was sentenced to die for the murder of a Coral Gable’s police officer 33 years ago. If the courts rule the drug meets legal standards, Valle will be executed September 1st.

Florida’s Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty says Citizen’s sinkhole insurance is probably too low. Citizens is asking the Office of Insurance Regulation for a 400 percent sinkhole rate hike.

400 percent is an average; the hike would be over 2000 percent in some counties. McCarty says he hasn’t received the rate hike request yet, but since Citizens rates were capped for five years, a hike of some sort is probably warranted.

“Citizens was subject to a rate cap so I think it’s important to note that there is a pent up rate need of some kind,” said McCarty.

If the rate is approved the commissioner has the authority to phase in the increase over a three year period.

Beginning today, jobless Floridians applying for unemployment benefits must do it online. The new requirement is filling up taxpayer funded career centers with computer labs. But as Whitney Ray tells us, people with internet access can apply for benefits from home without being put on hold.

Laptop in hand, Diego Salinas searches for a wireless internet signal to check the status of his unemployment claim.

Starting Monday, all jobless Floridians trying to claim unemployment benefits must apply online instead of over the phone.

“I think it’s a legit thing. I think what the State of Florida is doing is good for everybody,” said Deigo.

Applying online takes about half an hour. Go to Floridajobs.org, click on the UC services box in the bottom right hand corner. Click on Unemployment Benefits Claim, check a box claiming you are who you say you are, create a pin number and from there enter your employment history.

Be sure to have your social security number, driver’s license and a list of your former employers on hand. Also new Monday, people receiving benefits have to prove they contacted at least five employers. Diego says if you’re really job hunting, providing proof isn’t hard.

“It’s pretty fast because I do all my searches through email, so I just had to provide the email, date of contact and method so that’s pretty much it,” said Diego.

Diego has an internet connection at home so he can file anytime, but for the thousands of other jobseekers without computers, they’ll have to use the labs at the one stop career centers throughout the state. Moving the unemployment claims process online is expected to save the state more than four million dollars.

Governor Rick Scott and the capital press corps shared donuts and coffee for more than an hour this morning. Scott hosted an open house for reporters at his office for the first time since he became governor. Scott talked about everything from growing up poor to buying his first business. A donut shop.

“Once we got out of the donut business we didn’t have donuts for five years, because what we did in the donut business is we gave everybody all the free donuts they wanted, who worked there, because after the second day you won’t want eat them, because you can’t take all that sugar in your body,” said Scott.

Reporters were allowed to ask questions for about an hour, a far cry from the first six months of his administration when reporters found it more difficult to get access to the governor. Political strategists say Scott is changing his communications strategy in an effort to better communicate his message with the public.

Governor Rick Scott told reporters over donuts this morning Washington’s debt deal doesn’t cut spending enough. The deal promises to cut 1.2 trillion dollars over the next decade. Tomorrow is the deadline to reach a deal to keep the US from defaulting on its payments. Scott says he’s glad the country will avoid default, but more needs to be done.

“If we don’t learn how to control our spending at the federal level, there is a day of reckoning at some point,” said Scott.

Scott supports a balanced budget amendment to the US constitution that would require the federal government to balance its budget with its income, not credit, much like states have to.

Social Security and Medicare recipients are begging Congress to reach a deal on the debt ceiling without cutting entitlements. They fear a federal government default could stop the checks from flowing. But Governor Rick Scott says: no deal, no problem. As Whitney Ray tells us, Scott says a federal government default won’t hurt the state government.

Saturday is the 46th anniversary of Medicare and next month Social Security will be one year older. To celebrate, a group of seniors gathered outside of Florida Congressman Steve Southerland’s office with a birthday cake and a message.

“Cut the cake, not Medicare and Social Security,” said Barbara DeVane, the Secretary of the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans.

Southerland is just one of dozens of tea party Republicans calling on deep cuts to spending before they’ll agree to raise the country’s debt ceiling. These seniors fear the cuts will leave them with not enough money to survive.

“Medicare is what our retirement leads to. Ultimately we’re going to have to have Medicare to supplement those policies that were given to us,” said Dale Landry, with the Florida Conference of the NAACP.

If a deal isn’t reached by next Tuesday Congress wouldn’t have near enough money to meet all its financial obligations… and a federal government shutdown could ensue.

And as the protest continues outside of Congressman Southerland’s office, across the city in the state Capitol Governor Rick Scott is preparing for… well, nothing.

24 billion of Florida’s 70 billion dollar budget comes from Washington, yet Scott says there will be no immediate impact if Tuesday passes without a debt deal.

“This is a spending problem and there’s a day reckoning so I hope they’ll figure out how to reduce their spending, but I’m confident in our state that we’re going to do well,” said Scott.

But who may suffer the most are federal government employees, college professors who receive federal research grants, and city programs fully funded with federal money. If a deal isn’t reached the Federal government would only have enough money to pay the interest on its debt, Social Security, Unemployment, Medicaid and Medicare.

It’s back to the drawing board for a committee charged with presenting a list of veterans to Governor Rick Scott and the state cabinet to pick a nominee for the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. The nominating committee’s first list included Scott and a group of Florida Confederate soldiers.

The NAACP is outraged because some of the confederates were known racists and one was even jailed for aggression against black Floridians. NAACP Spokesman Dale Landry calls the list of nominees insulting.

“We have one of them that was locked up in Tallahassee for what he did to people in Quincy. African Americans slaves in Quincy so to that extent I got a problem,” said Landry.

Scott didn’t know he or the confederates were on the list of nominees. The nominees were going to be voted on by the state cabinet when it reconvenes next Tuesday. The vote has been postponed until a new list can be created.

The Los Angeles City Council voted last night to get rid of the city’s red-light cameras. Similar efforts are underway in Davie Florida. Yet other Florida cities are adding more cameras over the objections ticketed drivers. As Whitney Ray tells us, the debate surrounding the devices is likely to spill over into Florida’s next legislative session where distain for the devices is growing.

It was a close vote this past May where in the waning days of the legislative session House lawmakers narrowly passed a repeal of red-light cameras.

Cheers and embraces among Cuban-American lawmakers from both parties, for who the cameras evoked big brother memories from their communist homeland.

The bill went to the Senate where Rene Garcia tried to sell the repeal to his fellow GOP lawmakers, but the legislation was dead on arrival.

“I’m still fighting it,” said Garcia.

Session ended in May but the debate rages on. Hundreds of drivers have challenged their tickets in courts; claiming cities have shortened yellow lights to ticket more drivers and people where ticketed unjustly for turning right on red.

Collin Moore received a ticket in the mail last week, but claims he wasn’t driving.

“He drove through and tried to make the yellow and it snapped a ticket,” said Moore.

James Daniels says he and his cousin were in the intersection on yellow, but they still received a 158 dollar fine.

“I don’t have money like this in this time that we are living in, in the recession,” said Daniels.

Still others, like Lanta Gallon, say the cameras make the roads safer.

“Stop at yellow lights. Don’t try to make it,” said Gallon.

In LA the city council voted to remove the devices. They couldn’t convince more than 65-thousand drivers who received red-light tickets to pay the fines and the city had no authority to punish them if they didn’t. At least one city, Davie, Florida, is considering repeal.

A repeal bill has yet to be filed in Tallahassee for next session, but there is plenty of time and growing support among lawmakers. The battle pits less government Republicans against the more established GOP in Tallahassee that voted for the cameras two years ago.

The judge in the Casey Anthony case says the state doesn’t offer enough protection for jurors.

Judge Blevins Perry is asking state lawmakers to pass a law to exempt the names of jurors in high profile cases from public records. First Amendment Foundation Director Jim Rhea (RAY) says the path Perry is starting down is a dangerous one.

“If you don’t know who the jurors are, you don’t know their names and you can’t figure out who they are, then you don’t know the basis on which they make their decisions, what sort of biases they’ve had or what sort of life experiences they’ve had,” said Rhea.

Perry is keeping the names of the jurors quiet until October. He says they’ve been threatened by some who blame them for the not guilty verdict.

The execution of a convicted cop killer is being delayed until a hearing is conducted on the state’s new lethal injection drug. The drug was used last month in a Georgia execution and witnesses say the man being killed may have suffered too much. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state Supreme Court has ordered a hearing on the drug by August 5th, but it could be held as early as tomorrow.

A drug produced to help kill Manuel Valle, may temporarily save his life. Valle was sentenced to die August 2nd, for the 1978 shooting death of a Florida police officer.

But Monday the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay of execution, over concerns the new drug, pentobarbital, isn’t working.

The drug is the first of three given in an execution. It’s supposed to sedate the condemned but in a Georgia execution last month witnesses say it didn’t’ work.

Roy Blankenship was executed June 23rd. Witnesses say he was jerking his head and moving more than expected in a lethal injection. But that’s not enough to convince the Florida Department of Corrections that the drug doesn’t work.

“Following this drug, there will be a consciousness check just like there has been done before. We are confident in our procedure,” said DOC Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

Florida’s Attorney General has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the stay of execution. Governor Rick Scott says he wants to make sure the law is followed, but his thoughts are on the suffering of the victim, not Valle.

“I want to make sure we comply with all the laws and do the right thing, but what I think about all the time is the family,” said Scott.

A hearing has been ordered for to review the drug. If it’s deemed humane enough, Valle will be executed September 1st. The state is using a new drug, because the Italian company that sold Florida the old one didn’t like what it was being used for. Now the Danish company making the new drug announced it too will stop selling to states that plan to use them in executions. So the search for a effective, yet humane drug for future executions begins again.

The state is helping people save on their home insurance.

This week the Office of Insurance Regulation launched a website that compares insurance rates. An old site offering similar bargain shopping opportunities was taken down when former Governor Charlie Crist left office. OIR spokeswoman Brittany Perez says the site has everything you need to find the best price.

“We believe that this tool provides a forum where consumer can compare the different estimates for rates and they can get the contact information all on one page so they can make the best choice for their coverage,” said Perez.

To compare home insurance rates go to www.floir.com/choices. The site has a Florida map with a county by county break down so consumers can search their area for the lowest rate.

Ex-felons who have their civil rights restored are less likely to go back to prison than those that don’t.

A study by the Florida Parole Commission shows that one in ten former felons reoffends after getting their civil rights restored. The recidivism rate of all released convicts in Florida is three out of 10. Human Rights Activist Mark Schlakman says the report provides new information for the clemency board to consider for its rights restoration policy.

“With this new information that the parole commission report provides there is at least a cause to take another look,” said Schlakman.

Four years ago former Governor Charlie Crist ordered an almost automatic restoration of civil rights for nonviolent offenders. This March Governor Rick Scott and the state clemency board reversed Crist’s order. Now ex-felons have to wait five years before they are eligible to have their rights restored.

Some Citizens Property Insurance customers may soon be dealing with a two-thousand percent increase in their sinkhole coverage. To put that in perspective… if your sinkhole policy costs 150 dollars a year right now… a two-thousand percent increase… would raise it to 3-thouand dollars. And that doesn’t include the rest of your policy. As Whitney Ray tells us, industry experts say the increase is needed because Citizens rates were kept artificially low for the past five years.

This is not the average sinkhole claim. This is a small crack in a foundation or wall. Sinkhole claims have skyrocketed in the last eight years. Citizens paid out 270 million in claims last year and only collected 30 million.

“In insurance your goal is to collect the premium you need to cover those loses and expenses for the term of the rate and in sinkhole that is not occurring,” said Citizens spokeswoman, Christine Ashburn.

Wednesday the Citizens Property Insurance Board will vote on a four hundred percent increase, but that’s just a statewide average. In five counties it would go up 2-thousand percent.

Pinellas is one of those counties facing a two-thousand percent increase. But the average sinkhole policy there cost just three dollars. Multiply three by two-thousand percent and the rate would increase 60 dollars.

In Hillsborough the increase is much higher. The average rate is 156 dollars. The new rate would be 36-hundred dollars a year.

Bob Lotane with the Florida Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors says the proposed increases are so high because Citizens rates have been suppressed for too long.

“It’s been 10 percent for a few years now, and meanwhile we’ve had an explosion of sinkhole claims,” said Lotane.

But State Senator Mike Fasano blames this 48 page bill. It lifts regulations and the 10 percent cap on sinkhole rate increase for Citizens.

“Senate Bill 408 was the beginning of stopping anyone from ever having sinkhole coverage in the state of Florida which would be an economic disaster,” said Fasano.

If the board approves the new rates, they would be given to the Office of Insurance Regulation for final approval. Citizens is the only company writing sinkhole coverage in many parts of the state. The coverage is optional, although most banks require the insurance for barrowers living in high risk areas. So for them it’s pay for the coverage or lose your mortgage.

The Florida Supreme Court has ordered a stay of execution for a convicted cop killer.

Manuel Valle was originally scheduled to die August 2nd for the murder of a Coral Gables Police officer 33 years ago, but because the state is using a new drug, the justices voted four to three for a review before the execution is carried out. Michele Taylor with the Florida Catholic Conference supports the decision but sees a contradiction in the ruling.

“Given the uncertainty of the new drug, the state does show a concern for human dignity, however there is a little bit of a disconnect because the death penalty in any form undermines human dignity and the respect for human life,” said Taylor.

Florida adopted a new drug after the European manufacture of the old one stopped selling in the US. Florida has yet to use the new drug, but last month it was given to a condemned Georgia man and witnesses of the execution say the man showed signs of pain.

One week from today more will be required from the 470-thousand Floridians receiving unemployment benefits. Changes to the state’s unemployment system are being slowly implemented in an effort to cut business taxes and as Whitney Ray tells us, help pay back the 2.5 billion dollars the state is borrowing to pay the jobless.

Susan Sumrall lost her job a month ago. She’s applied for unemployment benefits.

“I’m right in my waiting week,” said Sumrall.

If approved, because of a new state law, she’ll have to prove she tried to find work at five different businesses each week. She’ll also have to take a skills assessment test that will be used to help her know where she might be needed.

“I’ve done nursing work in the military,” said Sumrall.

The changes are part of a new law aimed at reducing the cost of unemployment on businesses and the state. The first change went into effect in June, making it easier for a business to challenge an unemployment claim.

The next change took effect July 1st; it requires jobseekers to have their payments deposited directly into their bank account or receive a benefits debit card no more checks.

Also no more phone calls, at least not to file a claim. Starting next week, claims will have to be filed online. These changes are expected to save the state more than four million dollars.

“We’ve updated all of our online information, our hot topics, our FAQs. We’ve actually reached out to every affected claimant, sent them a letter,” said Robby Cunningham, a spokesman with AWI.

The last round of changes goes into effect at the first of next year. That’s when the state will scale back the number of weeks a person can receive unemployment pay. Right now it’s 26 weeks. The max number of weeks starting in January will be 23.

The total savings to Florida businesses is estimated at 100 million dollars. Lawmakers says the savings will help struggling businesses survive the economic down turn and hire out of work Floridians.