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Florida’s 67 Sheriffs used Missing Children’s Day to declare war on online predators. In the past eleven months, seven stings have resulted in 177 arrests. Association Vice President, Sheriff Susan Benton of Highlands County, says online predators are perpetrating a crime that often goes unnoticed by parents until is too late.

“When we capture an internet predator, we save a child,” Benton said. “We save a child and we save a parent from the anguish and suffering that they would normally be a part of for this.”

In addition to conducting arrest operations, Sheriffs, through school resource officers, have conducted training for more than two hundred thousand students.

For the third time in two weeks, Governor Rick Scott is raising questions about hundreds of Special Taxing Districts in Florida. The Districts levy taxes for water, soil conservation, fire protection and dozens of other needs. Scott says he was surprised to learn the districts raise 15 billion dollars a year.

“What we’ve got to do is make sure the citizens know how they’re being taxed, what it’s being used for, is it being used well,” Scott said. “I think people are ok, as long as the money is being spent in a wise manner.”

Scott has also named a task force to look at the taxing authority of Hospital districts, with an eye on privatizing public hospitals.

Changes in state law will allow most insurers to drop sinkhole coverage of charge separately for the coverage. The new legislation also makes it harder for homeowners to collect on a claim, and they must use any proceeds for repairs. Citizens, the state’s insurer of last resort initially considered premium increases of two thousand percent. Earlier today the staff recommended a fifty percent cap on increases. Scott says charging the correct premium is a delicate balancing act

“We did make changes this year,” Scott said. “So it shouldn’t be historical information. So that’s what I’m hoping they’ll do because, look we have to have a financially sound insurance program, we want insurance companies to come into our state. But we want to be fair to our citizens also.”

Sinkhole claims have far exceeded the premiums that insurance companies have been collecting over the last decade.

Twelve thousand Floridians have been waiting more than two years for a solar rebate promised by the state. Thousands of others may have been disqualified on a technicality. When the rebates finally begin flowing in a few weeks, they will be far smaller than originally promised.

Bob Lauther installed solar on three commercial buildings in June 2009….He was promised a rebate and he is still waiting. Lauther took the step because the rebates made it affordable and to as he put it “You know, I do want to do something for the environment.”

Lauther is one of 12 thousand Floridians have submitted solar rebate applications.  Lawmakers put 22 million into rebates almost a year ago . Then this spring they moved the program from one agency to another. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam now has jurisdiction. earlier this week he described how difficult the transition has been>

“First and foremost, we are focused on getting are arms around what we inherited. And what we inherited is a big mess,” says Putnam.

The program has been a bureaucratic nightmare. No one will get everything they were promised. The state is denying some applications based on some things not in the original application, and that’s going to lead those being disqualified into court.

Floridians for Energy Independence calls the delay a bait and switch Spokesman Al Simpler, himself a solar contractor says the lack of incentives is costing Florida jobs as contractors move to other nearby states. “and their business is growing. They are finding new applications for solar. they are bringing in new businesses,” says Simpler.

Homeowners were originally promised rebates of up to twenty thousand, and  businesses, one hundred thousand dollars All will be lucky to get just pennies on the dollar.

The first checks for solar rebates in more than three years should begin flowing in two or three weeks. Once the money is gone, Florida will officially be out of the solar rebate business.

It may be a Hail Mary play. The state is turning to football to help save the economy. As Whitney Ray tells us, Visit Florida is enlisting the state’s top college football coaches to recruit visitors to boost tourism.

If the job market was a football game, then the state is down by more than a few, with its back against the goal line. The great recession is threatening another sack, but Florida is drawing up a trick play.

Visit Florida, the state’s tourism agency, has enlisted coaches from Florida’s top college football schools to save the economy by recruiting visitors.

Right now three Florida schools are ranked in the top 25. The tourism agency hopes to capitalize on their success.

“It’s really bringing together the diversity of the Florida vacation product with the passion of college football,” said Visit Florida CEO Chris Thompson.

College football is big business in Florida. Every year fans spend billions of dollars on game apparel, food and hotels. Out-of state fans give the state the biggest boost.

Every 85 visitors to the state creates one Florida jobs. FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium holds 85-thousand fans, so in theory, if every one of these seat was filled with an out of state fan, a thousand jobs would be created every home game. But good luck getting these Seminole fans to give up their seats.

“I don’t think so. No, we’ve had them too long,” said Daniel Fulton.

But they are open to inviting their friends and Visit Florida has teamed with Southwest Airlines to help with travel expenses. They’re offering a 25 dollar flight discount and promotions specific to each college football town.

And Visit Florida is keeping score. The promotion ends December 5th. The team that has sent the most invites wins, and a fan who helped invited visitors to the winning teams games will win an 11 day tour of the state’s top college football towns. To send invites or view the Score board. UF is ahead right now go to www.visitflorida.com/share/

He worked for Florida’s largest billboard company. His job, he says, poisoning trees that block signs. Robert Barnhart was let go last month. Yesterday he filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Federal Court. Whitney Ray brings us an exclusive interview with the former Lamar employee from our Tallahassee bureau.

This tree on Capital Circle near Tom Brown Park in Tallahassee is dying because Robert Barnhart poisoned it. According to a complaint he filed in federal court a supervisor at his job with Lamar Advertising, told him to poison trees blocking billboards.

“Right above that branch is where we drilled the hole,” said Barnhart.

Barnhart says he climbed the tree, drilled a hole above this branch and poured in poison.

“It’s definitely dying. It’s a result of the chemical. And the reason why it was poisoned is because it’s in the way of the billboard,” said Barnhart.

This elm should look the tree right next to it, green and full of life, but all of the leaves have fallen off and pieces of bark are all along the ground and pretty soon the city will come chop it down.

Barnhart filed a lawsuit against Lamar in Federal Court Wednesday. The suit claims, Barnhart was given a machete, told to hack at the root system, then pour poison on the cut.

“I was drove around the day before and showed the locations to poison and told, come in an unmarked truck, don’t wear a Lamar logo, wear dust mask and kitchen gloves and poison the trees,” said Barnhart.

Killing large trees without a permit is a felony. In this written complain Barnhart told the company he want nothing to do with killing trees. The lawsuit claims he was let go after filing the complaint. His Attorney Steve Andrews says Lamar was trying to quiet Barnhart.

“No one wants a whistleblower working for them in a big corporation,” said Andrews.

Barnhart was given immunity by the state attorney. He’s suing Lamar for his old job back plus damages. Lamar says the claims are false and calls Barnhart a disgruntled worker.

Lamar Advertising didn’t have anyone in Tallahassee today to speak oncamera about the lawsuit, but we were able to reach Barnhart’s former boss Danny Funderburgh on the phone. Funderburgh says he never received a complaint from Barnhart and he’s still actually on the payroll. As for their policy regarding trees that block signs, Funderburgh said “we do not have a policy to kill trees or remove any trees. Lamar Advertising follows city and state regulations.”

Three of the nations seventy-two “Fusion” centers are located in Florida. The Centers were created in the aftermath of 9-11 to correct failures in the sharing of intelligence and  other information. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, more information is available to analysts than ever before.

On September 11, 2001, then-Governor Jeb Bush and other elected state officials were at a regular Cabinet meeting at an irregular location, an obscure state building several miles north of the Capitol.  News of the attacks was first relayed by a reporter. That information flow is not likely to happen again.

In the 10 years since the attacks, Florida has built an elaborate intelligence center to gather and share information.

“There are a lot of secured databases,” Kristi Gordon with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. “The analysts would then go through all of those. We have a check list of things we would do.”

With a few keystrokes, elaborate profiles can be assembled. What happens next is one of the biggest changes in ten years: numerous state and federal agencies share this “Fusion” center to exchange intelligence.

This is an office for the FBI, and right next to it, Homeland Security. Across the hall, the only place in the building where secure information can be exchanged.

Because far more information is being collected today than ever before, it has raised concerns for privacy advocates. Florida’s Homeland Security Advisor Mark Perez says the information is protected.

“If it isn’t valid information or isn’t information that is pertinent to furthering our investigative or intelligence needs, we discard that information immediately,” Florida Homeland Security advisor Mark Perez said.

What officials say hasn’t changed in the last decade is the need for average citizens to be aware of their surroundings and to be willing to report suspicious activity.

The intelligence center receives over 5,000 calls a month.

The economic downturn and record high gold prices have people looking for lost treasure. A popular place to search; the Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property. More than billion dollars of antiques, jewelry and cash are waiting to be claimed, but as Whitney Ray tells us, that figure doesn’t account for the recent gold spike.

Gold, silver, jewels, furs, antiques and much more sit in this secure vault, unclaimed. The state is trying to find the owners. CFO Jeff Atwater says many people don’t even know its there.

“Maybe it was a deposit they made for their last apartment or utility, final pay check. Maybe it was a family member they did not know had an unclaimed property in a safety deposit box,” said Atwater.

The bank holds the items for three years… Then the state keeps them two more. If no one has claimed the items. They’re auction off. The money goes to education.

The state has a website to help you find property you may not even know about. Just go to fltreasurehunt.org. Click on the search unclaimed property button. And type in your name. If you find a match follow the next six steps to verify you’re the rightful owner.

We found cash for Whitney Ray but it’s a different Whitney. The item is an unclaimed pay check. The website has seen a spike in recent months as the price of gold and silver has soared to record highs…

“We didn’t really adjust the reserve prices too much to reflect the increase in gold prices so because of that very reason we could go even higher,” said Walter Graham head of the Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property.

And plenty of gold has yet to be claimed. This one once gold coin is being sent to auction next week. The opening bid set for 650 dollars. Its market value is more than 18-hundred.

The auction is set to begin at 10AM Saturday September 17th in Ponte Vedra Beach. 34-thousand items will be auctioned off. For more information on the auction or to see if you have unclaimed property visit www.fltreasurehunt.org.

A plan to load down Florida drivers licenses with everything from insurance information to voter IDs is raising concerns among drivers. Bundling the information could save the state millions, but as Whitney Ray tells us, drivers fear having all their information on one card could make them vulnerable to ID thieves.

Dontrell Davis just renewed his drivers license.

“Thankfully its good until 2019 now,” said Davis.

His license holds his name, address, and birthday but soon it could contain much more. The Florida DMV is working on a plan to add your insurance information, voter ID and in some cases welfare status to you drivers license. Garth Betts says that would shrink his wallet.

“It don’t think it’s a bad idea really, because it’s pretty convenient to just have to whip out one thing instead of having to search through everything,” said Betts.

One of the advantages is if you ever need any of this information you only have to reach for this card, and while drivers like cutting down on the clutter, they have some other concerns.

Mainly Identity theft.

“I don’t like the whole ideal of having one central card to access my entire life. I think that’s the same thing you find with ID theft right now. People have too much access,” said Davis.

“Certain stuff is supposed to be kept in your home for confidentiality reasons,” said Driver Emerald Patterson.

Nothing is set in stone. A DMV task force will begin reviewing it options Wednesday. Questions about privacy will be a major focal point.

“We’ll actually have a subcommittee that will look at privacy concerns and questions just like that,” said DMV Spokeswoman Courtney Heidelberg.

The task force will spend a year reviewing the cost savings measure, exactly how much money it would save is still unclear.

Voter Concerns

Preliminary reports suggest including voter IDs. If that happens and the new IDs are required to vote, it could be viewed as a poll tax. Secretary of State Kurt Browning supports bundling some information to save the state money, but says putting voter info on the card would have to be done with great care or not at all.

“We are willing to work with the department of highway safety to see what can be done. We want to work with them through this process,” said Browning.

Right now drivers licenses are just one of nine different forms of IDs accepted at the polls.

Federal Investigators say the Florida Department of Elder Affairs is violating the Older Americans Act. And they’re giving the department 30 days to come up with a plan to fix their problems. As Whitney Ray tells us, those problems began when the state forced the state’s nursing home watchdog to resign.

It all began with a seemingly simple question. “Who owns the nursing homes?”

But someone didn’t want Brian Lee, the state’s former Long Term Care Ombudsman to know the answer. That was in January, by February, Lee was unemployed. Forced out, he says, for doing his job.

“February 7th, I got a phone call from my boss, I was out on sick leave, asking that I submit my resignation or I would be fired,” said Lee.

Lee’s job was to uncover corruption and neglect in Florida’s nursing homes, overseeing volunteers who listen to resident’s complaints and report their findings.

But once Lee, a 13 year veteran, began asking who owned the nursing homes he was in charge of investigating, he lost favor with his bosses. The governor’s office told the department it was time for him to go.

Now federal investigators are chastising the state. They issued a reporting claiming the state violated the Older Americans Act. Although Lee’s termination was a part of the report, the violation comes from keeping things from the media and interfering with volunteers who serve as advocates for nursing home residents.

“There should be no interference while the Ombudsman is being a watchdog and the report shows there was unlawful interference with the program,”

Lee sees the report as a small victory for patients. He’s has also filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the state.

A spokesperson for the Department of Elder Affairs called the report vague and said it lacks specific citations. They’re asking for the Federal Administration on Aging to clarify its report.

Labor Day has been celebrated since 1882, but this year saw efforts to change dues collections and increased pension contributions. Organizers expect more of the same in the coming year, and As Mike Vasilinda tells us, they are preparing to do battle.

Dozens of Labor Day celebrations will be held around the state on Monday.

Honoring working men and women has been an American tradition for more than a century, but this year inside the state capitol, organized labor was in a bitter fight for survival.

“I’m not ashamed of being a Republican, but I am concerned and disappointed in the direction of the Republican party,” Orange Park professional firefighter Scotty Taylor said in March.

GOP lawmakers tried to curtail dues collections and pensions. Firefighters say there’s still plenty to celebrate this Labor Day, but the attacks hurt.

“The feeling that everything is going to be fixed by taking away from us is demoralizing,” professional firefighter Ruben Rodriguez said.

The fight against organized labor is taking place in several states, which lead to the creation of this web site.

“With so many extremely conservative, far-reaching, anti-labor governors in office today,  it’s difficult to decide who in fact is the worst governor ever.” (Sound from website video).

Organizers say the fight isn’t over

Governor Rick Scott is expected to go back to lawmakers next spring, asking for more big changes in the pension plan. Cities and counties are also expected to seek more changes.

Florida’s teachers union has added new members since tenure was abolished, and the AFL-CIO says there is new vitality.

“People are really fired up,” Rich Templin with the Florida AFL-CIO said. “They really now are seeing the naked politics that are taking place at the Florida legislature.”

Organized labor says they are under attack because they are the only ones speaking out against an agenda that favors businesses and the rich. The GOP counters that it is all about what tax payers can afford.

Dozens of Labor Day celebrations will be held around the state on Monday.

Just 10 days before the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, The Department of Homeland Security is launching a new controversial initiative in Florida. It’s called “If You See Something Say Something,” and as Whitney Ray tells us, it encourages Floridians to report people they think are suspicious.

In a 10 minute video on the Department of Homeland Security’s website a host of mainly white male actors break into secure areas, place suspicious packages and run reconnaissance on public transportation.

The video is part of a Homeland Security Initiative new to Florida to encourage people to report activities they deem suspicious.

Law enforcement officers say the state is safer than it was before 9/11, there are no specific threats and people are already calling police to report suspicious activity. They don’t want citizens to let their guard down.

“We have no specific threats. This is an enhancement of what we have now,” said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

A hotline number has been set up. 1-855-FLA-SAFE. The phone is answered at the Florida Fusion Center which is a hub that gathers intelligence from local, state, and federal agencies on people the government thinks could be planning a terrorist attack.

Homeland Security credits citizen reports for stopping a Time Square bombing last year and a gunman targeting a military base in Texas. Governor Rick Scott says if the program saves one life it’s worth it.

“Law enforcement is there to take care of us,” said Scott.

Since 9/11 the US has killed Osama Bin Laden, ran terrorists out of Afghanistan and given the TSA a lot of leeway at airports, it’s unclear how effective these efforts are, but the country hasn’t been attacked again. Homeland Security is asking people to focus on activities, not people’s ethnicity, religion or political views. If someone is reported strictly because of their religion or ethnicity, investigators say they’ll ignore the report.

Here’s the ACLU’s statement on the new initiative:

“These ‘turn in your neighbor’ programs produce unreliable information and are little more than a government sponsored invitation to view everyone as a potential criminal and act on racial and ethnic stereotypes,” said Howard Simon, the Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.

No one in Florida is keeping track of how many internet cafes are operating, and the lack of a statewide policy has some counties closing them down, others suing them, and still others registering the simulated gambling storefronts. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the businesses have sprung up by the hundreds, if not thousands.

Internet cafes thrive in a gray area of Florida law, registering as sweepstakes. This one is just seven blocks from the state capitol. At noon, a half dozen people inside pushed buttons turning computer screens into what looked like a slot machine.

No statewide policy governs the cafes. One central Florida county tried to close them, but It quickly got caught in a federal law suit.

Leon County took a different approach.

“It requires all of the existing places in town to receive a permit as a simulated gambling facility,” said Herb Thiele, Leon County Attorney.

On Wednesday, deputies in the capital city visited the owners of four cafes that failed to meet a deadline to register.

Inside this convenience store, they found the operator had gotten rid of the machines. Other cafes are on notice they have to close.

“We’ll go back and visit in the future just to make sure that they’re not up and operating,” said detective Brandon Cotcliffe.

Banning the internet cafes is one of the top priorities of the Florida’s Sheriffs in the upcoming legislative session.

For the second year in a row, State Representative Scott Plakon has filed legislation to ban the cafes.

“The legislature, we’re supposed to solve problems. And having 500 store front casino’s in our state, right next to the dry cleaner, is a problem that needs to be solved,” said Plakon.

Most counties are pushing lawmakers for those answers sooner rather than later.

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Pharmacists around the state are scrambling to get their systems in place to report customers who buy powerful painkillers to the Department of Health. The long awaited prescription drug monitoring database goes live at midnight tonight. As Whitney Ray tells us, soon people who lie to doctors to score massive amounts painkillers will be tracked.

Pharmacist Marsha Jackson can usually spot a person lying to get painkillers.

“And those that we have questions about we don’t fill their prescriptions. We try to notify the doctor to see if it’s legit,” said Marsha.

And soon doctors will have another tool to know who is abusing the system. Starting Thursday pharmacists will begin reporting people who buy painkillers to the Department of Health. Becky Poston is supervising of the prescription drug monitoring database.

“Every seven days from the time the prescription was actually dispensed, the pharmacy or the dispensing practitioner would upload that information into our database,” said Poston.

Starting in mid-October doctors will be able to access the database to see how many times one of their patients has been prescribed pain meds.

But the database is just one more step in an aggressive effort to get powerful painkillers off the streets. Pill mills have been raided. Doctors arrested.

In total nearly a thousand people at pain clinics across the state have been arrested. It’s all in hopes of saving lives. Last year 56-hundred died after taking painkillers.

That’s more than seven a day. The database is expected to keep even more of the drugs off the streets, but updating the system is means extra work for pharmacists.

“It’s just more for us to do outside of us taking care of our patients,” said Marsha.

Even though it’s more work, Marsha sees the need and hopes it helps Florida shed its title of Pill Mill Capital of the Country. To protect patient’s privacy doctors can only check on their patients. Doctors who abuse the system face felony charges.