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It’s a fight that will remain ongoing in Florida.  The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear lower court appeals will most likely legalize same sex marriage in 30 states, but Florida will have to wait.

“It can happen in Florida, I think that we have an opportunity here where Attorney General’s around the country have said it is inevitable and it’s time to give up the fight,” said Equality Florida member Jim VanRiper.

A federal judge overturned the state’s ban on same sex marriage in August – but put a stay on the ruling.  After the high court’s decision, Florida’s ACLU is asking the North Florida judge to end his delay.

“The Supreme Court has spoken on this issue and essentially said we are fine with marriages proceeding, and that’s a great sign for folks everywhere including in Florida. I think it’s a sign that a lot of judges around the country will take a hard look at it,” said ACLU Attorney Daniel Tilley.

Thousands of same sex couples in the state have been waiting for the word that it will be ok to go to the clerk’s office and get a marriage license. State clerks of court say they don’t have a plan yet about what they’ll do if the licenses are granted.

“Florida court clerks and comptrollers are always looking at the information that’s available, always looking at court decisions just like you are, and making the best decisions for the people of Florida,” said Florida Court Clerks President Joe Smith.

Supporters say a huge road block has been Attorney General Pam Bondi.  She has challenged many rulings around the state overturning the ban, and says she defends the Florida constitutions definition of traditional marriage.  Her office said they were reviewing the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision.

The statewide decision on the reversal of Florida’s gay marriage ban has gone to an appeals court in Atlanta. That process may not be completed until summer of 2015.

A video of a grandmother being tased by Tallahassee Police last week has gone viral, and the video is now being cited as an example of why all police officers should wear body cameras.

We know what happened. Police used a taser on 61 year old Viola Young as she walked away.

But we only know because Chon Richard, the man behind the cell phone video decided what was going on was important to document. “I feel that that’s not the type of treatment you’re supposed to give people that are not supposed ot be doing anything. You’re supposed to be here protecting little kids.”

While the camera doesn’t lie….we also don’t know what was said moments before when Officer Terry Mahan reached out and grabbed Grandmother Viola Youngs wrist. He writes in the probable cause affidavit that he told her she was under arrest.

If the officer was wearing a portable mobile camera on his shoulder, or perhaps on a headband, we’d know exactly what was said to the woman who got tased and what she said in response.

Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri says the only way to know for sure is to make police wear body cameras. It’s the video that helps us know what happened, helps us get to transparency, helps us get ot justice” says Crump.

Chon Richard says from what he’s seen in his neighborhood, the cameras would definitely be a good investment.

It shows that, yea, cameras should be involved because that’s the real truth. They’re officers, they’re human, they can lie, too. Or make mistakes” says Richard.

Only a handful of agencies in Florida use the cameras which can cost up to 500 dollars a piece.

There’s less than a month to go before the general election, which means the race for Governor is in the final stretch. As Matt Galka tells us, the challenger is turning up the heat by unearthing the skeletons in the Governor’s closet.

John Schilling helped blow the lid off of the billion dollar fraud going on at Columbia/HCA hospital in the late 90’s and early 2000’s while working as an FBI informant.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Scott was the leader of a criminal enterprise.  The fraud at Rick Scott’s company hurt seniors, and it hurt taxpayers, it hurt everyone. It was stealing from the American taxpayer,” said Schilling.

Florida Governor Rick Scott was running the show at hospital chain.  Democrats recruited Schilling to renew the claims against Scott they have tried to dog him with since before winning the election in 2010.

Schilling, a registered Republican, is featured in “the Fraud Files,” a new Democrat attack website aimed at the Governor in the final stretch before the election.

The claims are nothing new, but the Democrats are trying to tie it in with how Rick Scott runs Florida.

“It’s important who your leader is, if they have integrity. I don’t believe that he has the integrity to lead our government,” said Schilling.

The Governor’s office slammed Charlie Crist and his campaign for contacting Schilling.  They called it a desperate attack, and called Charlie Crist a desperate man.

A non partisan group made up of supporters and opponents of medical marijuana have released a list of 19 recommendations for lawmakers it Amendment 2 passes. The recommendations include everything from who can be a caregiver to training doctors.

Florida voters will decide if the state will become the 24th to allow the medical use of marijuana. Opposition is heating up.

“The caregiver provision gives legal protection to marijuana dealers” says the No On 2 TV spot. No on 2 is spending 1 point severn million dollars to question the amendments wording.

“So what looks like a safeguard is really a loophole” concludes the ad.

Susan Kelsey, the attorney for No On 2 says “there is no age limit and coupled with that, Amendment two has a very broad confidentiality provision. The identity and all records of patients who are using medical pot have to be kept confidential.”

But a blue ribbon commission has come out with 19 recommendations for lawmakers if the amendment passes. Among them…make sure parents accompany minors to doctor appointments and the caregivers not be felons.

The Blue ribbon commission that came up with these recommendation say there are no loopholes in Amendment 2…they say these are designed to put the meat on the bones of the amendment, if you will.

Jon Mills of Florida for Care says concepts and rights belong int he constitution. Details are for implementing laws. “These details are the implementation of that. So, yeah, you have details like what kind of qualifications a caregiver might have. And they would certainly have background screenings” says Mills.

Other recommendations include creating sworn enforcement officers within the Department of Health,  and prescribing how and where medical marijuana may be grown. All things supporters say don’t belong in the constitution.

No on 2 debuted a second commercial today, questioning the medical value of marijuana, but a recent study from states with medical marijuana laws found fewer people are dying from prescription overdoes.

Florida A and M officially installed their 11^th president today.  As Matt Galka tells us, the challenge of getting over a string of recent problems that have marred the school has been accepted.

Elmira Mangum was all smiles at her installation ceremony.  The school’s first female president waited until the university’s 127^th birthday to make things official.

“There are many open doors that we must go through, and there are many doors that we need to shut.  But most of all we must keep the doors open that lead to a better life, and a brighter future for our students,” said Dr. Mangum.

Mangum will try to right the ship for a university still suffering from the hazing death of Drum Major Robert Champion and dealing with steep enrollment drop offs in the last three years.

Alumni and State Senator Arthenia Joyner says Mangum provides hope.

“We view what happened as some stumbling blocks, but FAMU has not fallen from the mantle,” said Sen. Joyner (D-Tampa).

The inauguration concludes a week of events for the president who’s actually been on the job since April.

Mangum took the job just as State Senator, and next Florida State University President, John Thrasher was looking to split the two school’s joint engineering programs. She’s not settling for a great divide.

“I still need affordable and accessible education in all programs, so I still need engineering, yes I do,” said Dr. Mangum.

Former president James Ammons, who resigned amid the hazing scandal, says FAMU is in good hands.

“This is a perfect match for the needs of Florida A&M University at this time and her skill set,” said Dr. Ammons.

The university had been without a permanent president for nearly two years before Mangum took over.  She is the fourth different president for the school since 2001.

Mangum says the next step is getting alumni to reinvest in their alma mater.

A preliminary report from Florida’s Department of Children and Families says they could not have prevented the tragic murders in Bell, Florida.  As Matt Galka tells us, DCF admits mistakes, but they haven’t been answering questions.

Don Spirit went on a rampage that left his six grandchildren and his daughter dead before he killed himself. Florida’s Department of Children and Families released a report Wednesday saying nothing could have predicted what happened, even though Spirit had a record marred with red flags.

We have reached out to DCF every day this week about the investigation. Through emais and through phone calls, but no one has gotten back to us.

The report admits that the department missed chronic issues with the family.  Meg Baldwin runs the Refuge House, a domestic violence help center.  She says it’s important to learn from the missteps.

“I hope hatever red flags we saw here or whatever different steps we might take in the future to prevent such a homicide, that we will do so,” said Baldwin.

The department did announce reforms ranging from retraining to additional reviews.  But Roy Miller with the Florida Children’s Campaign says it’s too little too late from the state agency.

“Case by case shouldn’t matter, we need more systemic reform. In the major urban areas, six of them, sheriff’s do the investigations, we ought to be going down that path,” said Miller.

The interim secretary for DCF announced he’ll be touring the all of the department’s regional facilities in the state starting next week. More than 250 new positions were added to the department this past legislative session.  37 of them will be used for an independent review system of open cases.

Outrage over a grandmother being hit with a police taser is building in the state Capitol. Prosecutors said today they want answers quickly.

The use of a taser against grandmother Viola Young appears to be contrary to the Tallahassee Police Departments Use of Force guidelines which were changed when a new chief took over in December. They call for officers to de-escalate encounters with citizens or suspects.

Young’s daughter Laguana says her mother is still shaken. “She’s not good. She’s been up and down, still. I can’t speak to whether she got hurt. You’ll have to ask her lawyer about her.”

Attorney Ben Crump has represented Martin Lee Anderson’s family, Trayvon Martins Family, and Michael Browns Family in Ferguson. He is not involved in this case, but says the video says it all. Q:”Excessive force?” “Absolutely excessive force. She posed no threat as she was walking away.”

During the incident, the person who shot the cell phone video it is heard to say this about police “And they wonder why they are hated.”

Young’s neighbor LaFonda Cook says the comment is sad but true. “We were raised to be Officer Friendly. And now a days we have to tach out kids to go in the opposite direction because of incidents like this. If you’ll do this to an elderly woman, what will you do on our children.”

There is a fear that outrage in this community is building. For that reason, State Attorney Willie Meggs wants a speedy investigation. “It needs to be done and done rapidly, though” says Meggs.

Both the grandmother and the police officer, whose been placed on leave,  have hired attorneys.

State officials want to make sure Floridians aren’t loosening their belts and packing on the pounds this fall. As Matt Galka tells us, the department of Health will ramp up their healthiest weight efforts this fall, and numbers show we are on the right track.

Jennifer Santa Cruz is trying to make exercise part of her daily routine.

“Bring up the cardio, trying to get fit,” she said as she went for her daily walk outside.

That’s exactly what the Department of Health wants to hear. They are reminding people about their Healthiest Weight Florida initiative this fall.  Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong says only 36% of Floridians are at a healthy weight.

“What concerns me even more is that on that trend, by 2030, six out of 10 babies born could be obese or overweight before graudating high school. That’s not the future anybody wants for our state,” said Dr. Armstrong.

But there’s hope.  Since the program started last year, Florida has made strides in the right direction.

:We are bending the weight curve in Florida. Currently, the obesity rate in Florida is nearly 2 percentage points less than the United States. We are the healthiest weight state in the south,” said the Surgeon General.

Experts say the solution to the problem is an easy one. Something as simple as a five minute walk per day can help.

Dietitian Katie Snyder sees patients every day about weight loss. She replaced her chair with an exercise ball to show clients how easy it was to burn a few more calories.

“Even if you put your shoes on and you walk down to the driveway to get your mail, that’s something.” she said.

Since the program started, Florida has moved into the top 15 for healthiest weight states in the country. If you want to see how you’re area is doing, you can go online to www.floridacharts.com and click on “Healthiest Weight.”

A Tallahassee police officer is on administrative leave after being videotaped using his taser on a 62 year old grandmother who appears to be walking away from the officer. The woman approached police inquiring about her daughter, one of three people being arrested.

Officers are seen telling 62 year old Viola Young..who is off camera to stay back. Then, Officer Terry Mahan approaches her,  grabs her hand, and as she breaks free, he pulls out his taser. A loud snap is heard on the video.

No one at this house where the cell phone video was taken would talk with us.”I don’t want to go on camera” said witness William Gibson,  but Gibson did agree to talk with us, as long as we didn’t put his face on camera. “and what did you think as you saw it?” we asked.  “Ah, my lord. They done tased this old lady for no reason.”

Officers were in the area because of suspected drug activity.The incident began when they stopped three people for walking down the middle of the street…on a street with no sidewalks. The daughter of the woman hit with the taser was one of the three. She was charged with resisting arrest thus violating her parole.

Once the video was given to police, TPD Spokesman David Northway says the officer was put on administrative lead. “We are providing you with this information, along with the video, so that we can be transparent” says Northway.

A year ago, another TPD video made national news. Christina West was charged with DUI, and was then thrown to the ground. She sued in Federal court and recently settled for 475 Thousand dollars. Her attorney Fred Conrad says the video was important. “Yeah, I wonder if we didn’t have the video if we’d probably still be litigating” says Conrad.

The taser victim in this case was charged with resisting arrest without violence, taken to the hospital and released. She has since hired an attorney.

Following the brutal takedown in 2013, then Police Chief Dennis Jones resigned. The current chief, Michael DeLeo took over on December 30th, 2013.

Community activists are calling on the State’s Attorney to file charges against the officer rather than take the case to a grand jury. They argue a grand jury has never indicted a police officer for unreasonable use of force.

Energy companies have been able to do just about whatever they want with ratepayer money in Florida, but as Matt Galka tells us, legislators are starting to cry foul, and it could make a difference in your wallet.

Florida’s Public Service Commission and the utility companies they oversee are coming under fire from both sides of the aisle. Clearwater Republican State Senator Jack Latvala pointed at the state’s second largest utility, Duke Energy, as a reason why he had to introduce legislation that tightens the screws on utility companies.

“It begins to put a framework that the utility has to live within when dealing with their customers,” said Sen. Latvala.

Duke has collected billions of dollars from customers for nuclear plants that were never built. Their latest meter reading gaffe resulted in overcharging and a near one million dollar refund for consumers. The Public Service Commission will discuss refunding customer’s nuclear cost recovery fees on Thursday.

Duke collected $54 million dollars for nuclear equipment that was never used. Democratic State Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda was one of the first to call for a repeal of the fees.

“Everyone’s been pretty quiet about this but I think the people have actually let their voice be heard. There’s now this rush to do something to reform the PSC, get the utility bills under control and get the utility companies under control,” said Rep. Rehwinkel Vasilinda (D-Tallahassee).

Consumer counsel Charles Rehwinkel is asking for the PSC to order Duke to refund the equipment money to customers.

“No money was spent, the law doesn’t allow for customers to pay an advanced recovery for phantom costs,” said Rehwinkel.

Utility companies pump millions of dollars into campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans that have a hand in selecting Public Service Commission members.  Part of the legislation proposed Tuesday would put a regulation on lobbyists working with people connected to the PSC.

The letters are in the mail and checks soon will be to more than 40 thousand Florida families that will see lower Prepaid college costs. The lower fees are a direct result of a new law.

Nate Friedel of Tampa is one of 110 thousand students attending a Florida college on a pre paid scholarship. “I know for my family it would be a lot more difficult. It’s nice not having to worry about the finances for college…as much.”

Now letters announcing a drop in costs are going out to 22 thousand families who purchased a PrePaid plan in the last six years. This five year old plan is seeing  monthly costs drop from 189 dollars to just 108.

18 thousand families who paid in full will see refunds ranging from three dollars to as much as 28 thousand. Lower payments kick in with this months payment. But for those getting a refund, they’ll have to wait until late October or early November.

PrePaid spokesperson Shannon Colavecchio says the drop is a direct result of legislation limiting future tuition hikes. “It allowed us to say, okay, those projections we had made about college cost are actually going to go down, so we can lower the price of the plan.”

The lower tuition was championed by Rick Scott, who said during his State of the State in March “We have to make it more affordable”.

He crowed about it when it passed on May 2nd. “Lower tuition for every Florida Family”

And The Republican Party has made the drop a central theme of Scott’s reelection with a TV spot slamming Charlie Crist and promoting the Governor.  “Now Governor Rick Scott is making college more affordable” chimes the ad.

So, it is no surprise Scott also included a letter to plan participants letting them know he signed the legislation making tuition more affordable,

Overall 200 million is being refunded and another 700 million won’t be collected under the lower prices. People who purchase a plan when enrollment opens on October 15th, and before the end of the year will have the 50 dollar application fee waived.

For more than two months, GOP inspired protestors have been showing up at Charlie Crist events. The shadowing of a candidate isn’t new, but the level of intensity is unprecedented in Florida politics.

It began in July…The Republican Party of Florida sent a handful of sign waving protestors to a Charlie Crist event in the State Capitol.

Tre Fenske was at first a little unsure of why he was there. When we asked, he turned to the person next to him, who offered “To protest Charlie. To protest Charlie.”

So, when Crist arrived at the event, we asked… “Ah, no. I don’t get greeted by that very often. How are you?” Crist asked demonstrators.

But the not so often has turned into almost every day.

When Charlie Crist launched a school but tour, protestors greeted him at every stop along with a surrogate. This day it was State Rep. Matt Gaetz doing the shadowing. He was asked about his role in the increasing negativity of the campaign. “Well, this is politics and we don’t pitch underhand. Certainly Charlie Crist knows that.”

Both sides admit to using video trackers. Last week, the protestors showed up at a Crist fundraiser, at the home of Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant.

Gil Ziffer was one of the attendees. “And then there was someone shooting video of me, and there were people arranged, clearly shooting video of our license plates. And it was something I hadn’t experienced before.”

Q: “What did you think at the time?”

“I wasn’t bothered by it, but clearly there was an intent to intimidate. In other words, you’re hear and people are going to find out you are here.”

The Republican Party of Florida declined to address trackers directly. But it did  provide a statement criticizing Crist and Democrats.

And those who have shown up to offer analysis of Crist events includes State Senator John Thrasher, recently named the next President of FSU, the GOP party chairwoman, and even Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera.

RPOF Statement: “Allison Tant is only distracting from the disgusting domestic violence attack made by the head of her party against Rick Scott. We’re still waiting for Charlie Crist to denounce the outrageous statement made by the chair of the DNC.” –Susan Hepworth, RPOF Communications Director

Hundreds of bills are proposed each year in Florida, but just a few become laws. As Matt Galka tells us, a group of high school students passed legislation in 2014 on their very first try, and it’s a stern crackdown on predator teachers that goes into effect this week.

It started off in committees and went all the way to the floor of both Florida’s House and Senate.

The Stop Harassing Underage Teens Act became a law thanks to some students from Tampa’s Armwood High School.  The group was fed up with some of the punishments handed down, so they came up with a law to clamp down on authority figures committing the acts.

“We would really like to see this law be implemented into situations where if a teacher is having inappropriate relations with a student, to see that this law is hit hard and they are truly convicted properly like they should be,” said Simone Girard after the bill passed.

About 50 teachers a year lose their licenses in Florida because of sexual misconduct with students.

“I think it’s very important that we send a strong message to that small, very small percentage of our teachers, who may either be thinking about doing something inappropriate with a student, to recognize that this isn’t going to be a minimal crime, it’s going to be an enhanced crime,” said the bill’s Senate sponsor Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland).

Notorious Florida teacher Debra Lafave got three years house arrest after having sex with a 14 year old student 10 years ago.  The law may not stop crimes like that, but it will increase jail time and fine amounts.

No More Student Debt, that’s the rallying cry from students around the country. As Matt Galka tells us, a new campaign here in Florida is looking for a solution to the problem.

Students are fed up with the sky high loan amounts and interest rates they’re shackled with upon graduating.

The National Education Association launched the “Degrees not Debt” campaign on Florida A & M’s Campus.  Chelsey Herrig helps coordinate the program around the country.

“33 million people are in debt right now. The Government will make about 1 trillion dollars off the debt,” said Herrig.

The average student will be about 30 grand in the hole upon graduation.  Daisia Harmon says she’ll be one of them.

“It’s a concern for me, it’s my future, not my parents, and I’m in graduate school so it’s becoming more of a reality,” said Harmon, a FAMU grad student.

Professor Elizabeth Davenport says her students need more options – both going into and leaving college.

“We want to see ways of eliminating debt, maybe changing the percentage of interest rates, pushing for more grants because you know in Florida we’re eliminating them,” said Davenport.

A bill being pushed by Democrats allowing for student loan refinancing has stalled in Washington.

Cuts to Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship program have not helped the debt problem.  It’s estimated that in three years, just over 83,000 students will be eligible for the program, down from 127,000 students this year.

Florida was ranked the worst state in the nation for corruption in 2012. Lawmaker responded by requiring state and local officials to undergo ethics training. A statewide session was held in Orlando on This week.

From prosecutors to sherifs, tax collectors and even the Tampa Port Authority, more than 150 constitutional officers and their staff are getting a day and a half of ethics training.

Jeff Hendry, Executive Director of the Florida Institute of Government, which sponsored the training told participants “It is going to be no shortage of information”

On top of the list is living up to the promise of open government and making records public. Both can be tricky subjects. One of the biggest problems for elected officials is new technology, they think they can communicate on private email accounts or via text messages, without breaking the law, but that’s not the case.

Pat Gleason from the Office of the Attorney General explained that “There’s no special standard for these particular communications, they’re subject to disclosure just like paper records.”

One objective here is to keep public officials from making stupid mistakes. Virlindia Doss says the majority of cases she sees at the Ethics Commission are because of a lack of information.“Some cases are willful, but there are a lot of cases where people just didn’t understand what it was they were supposed to do, so this is a good remedy for that problem” says Doss.

The training was mandated by lawmakers after Florida was ranked by Indiana University as the most corrupt state in the nation. It has since fallen to tenth. Dan Krassner of Integrity  Florida says the ethics training sets a tone from the top, but  there is still much to be done. “We need more open budgets and spending so the public can follow their money.”

Four hours of annual training on open records and he sunshine law are now required for Constitutional officers and their top staff. Municipal officials get the same requirement next year.

The Ethics Commission investigates about two hundred cases a year. More investigations would be likely, but the Commission must wait for a complaint and can not initiate its own investigations.