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When Florida lawmakers return to the Capitol tomorrow, one of the items on the agenda  of House leaders is continued preemption of local government’s ability to regulate things such as vacation rentals or local tree trimming requirements. Scott Dudley, Chief Lobbyist for The Florida League of Cities is lamenting the effort, saying local governments know what’s best for their local communities.

“We have ordinances that say you can’t cut down certain size trees unless you get a permit from the city and have basically, a public input process to it. Cities lose that. They lose their own unique personality and their own look.”

Last year, lawmakers took away local governments authority to regulate new, 5G wireless towers. The Cities are expecting an onslaught of attempts to preempt many local regulations to the state this year.

If the 2018 elections are to be a referendum on President Donald Trump, as many say, Mike Vasilinda tells us the latest entry into the race to be Florida’s next Governor thinks Trump’s support makes him a winner.

Ron DeSantis has represented Florida’s mid east coast in Congress for five years. He announced his gubernatorial bid on FOX news.

“And with the support of the President, I’m in a position where I can exercise the leadership to build on the great work Governor Rick Scott has done to advance economic opportunity, reform education, and drain the swamp in Tallahassee, which needs to be drained, just like Washington” DeSantis told viewers.

Days before Christmas, DeSantis got a ringing endorsement from Donald Trump, who tweeted he would be a great Governor.

“I think it pretty much upsets the whole applecart” says GOP political consultant Mac Stipanovich.

Stipanovich has helped elect GOP governors in Florida before. He believes DeSantis will force more mainstream Republican Adam Putnam to the right.

“DeSantis will be a right…crazy run over a dog in terms of right wing populism. He will pull Adam to his right, as Adam tries to compete for that Trump vote” says DeSantis.

In a statement, Putnam’s campaign criticized DeSantis for making his announcement in a tv studio.

And if the GOP primary does take a hard turn to the right, the likely beneficiary: the Democratic nominee”.

Democrat Gwen Graham quickly called DeSantis “out of touch and too extreme for  Florida.

But the race is still 11 months away. The question is whether support for Trump is enough to drive Democrats to the polls.  Typically Democrat turnout drops y more than a million voters in non presidential elections.

DeSantis and Putnam are the two key contenders for the GOP nomination. House Speaker Richard Corcoran is also expected to enter the race when Florida lawmakers go home in March. Embattled former state senator Jack Latvala remains in the GOP race despite resigning in over sexual harassment charges in December. $ Democrats are serious candidates for their party’s nomination.

Trials for two defendants accused in the murder for hire of an FSU Law Professor were supposed to start this month, but have now peen pushed back until later this year. The crime has been linked the ex wife’s family in court documents, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, arrests are not on the horizon.

Renowned FSU Law professor Dan Markel was gunned down in his driveway in July 2014. Almost two years late, police arrested two Miami men and accused them of murdering Markel for money.

One of the two. Luis Rivera, cut a deal and implicated co defendant Sigfredo Garcia and his girlfriend, Katie Magbanua.

“You are going to cooperate and testify truthfully” asked Judge James Hankinson during the plea hearing. “Do you understand that?”

“Yes Sir” said Rivera.

Magbanua was arrested in October 2016, accused of brokering the hit for Markel’s ex wife’s family. On Wednesday, her trial was set for this October. Her attorney, Tara Kawass says she hasn’t seen her two children since being taken to jail.

“No, she hasn’t seen her kids, and you can image what it must be like to be incarnated for this long” says Kawass.

Prosecutor georgia Cappleman had hoped that after Rivera confessed and with Magbanua facing life without her two children, she would flip, and testify to prosecutors theory the hit money came from ex wife family.

“is it still your hope that she perhaps becomes ante witness?”

“That would be lovely, but I have little hope of that” Cappleman said after the hearing.

“Really”?

“un hun”

Asked is more arrests are likely, prosecutors said no comment.

An attorney for the family of the slain professor says in a statement

“With this latest delay, the Markels remain in agony.  Dan, their only son, was stolen from them more than three years ago.  …Throughout this horror, the Markels remain hopeful that they will one day see their grandsons again and that justice will be achieved.

The state wants to try both the hitman and his girlfriend together. It plans to appeal today’s action setting separate dates.

The new year could hold tougher enforcement for anti texting laws in Florida. Legislative leaders are now supporting making texting while driving a primary offense, which as Mike Vasilinda tells us, means police won’t need another reason to pull you over.

Looking at a phone instead of the road has become all too common says Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran.

“We have fifty thousand accidents in Florida, over 200 deaths. The quantity of volume of this that’s going on on the roads, you can’t drive down the road and not see it” say Corcoran.

Corcoran now has two teens who are driving. Even he admits that he has to fight the urge to look at a buzzing phone when he’s alone in the car.

“92 percent of all drivers have admitted to engaging in some sort of texting, emailing behavior while in an automobile. We’ve got to curb that behavior to keep our roads safe”  says the Speaker.

It is Corcoran’s support, along with the support of incoming Speaker Jose Oliva whose change of heart has made the difference..

Florida is one of only seven states that don’t allow police to pull someone over for just  texting alone.

Gwendolyn Reese lost her niece two years ago this month.

“My niece was a Senior at Florida State University.”

She believes that tougher, primary enforcement,  might have saved her nieces life.

“I can say with all my heart, that if we had tougher laws, it would have probably decreased the probability of her dying the way that she did” says Reese.

Concerns remain about privacy. Under the proposal police would need a warrant to look at your phone, but black lawmakers worry primary enforcement will open the door to racial profiling…a concern they raised when seatbelt use, not texting was the issue.

The fine for a first offense under the proposal would remain at thirty dollars, but texting in a school zone or a second offense would count as moving violations and earn points on your license.

Landlords could soon be required to provide residents with proof they have conducted background checks on people working in apartment complexes. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, failure to provide notices would give people the right to cancel their lease.

Part time student Mary Beasley has been renting her apartment for almost a year. At times she isn’t comfortable with the maintenance staff.

“And it scares me. A lot of the times when I come home, I’m getting stares from these men who are working all around. I’ve never even seen them before. I know nothing about them” Mary told us.

Under proposed legislation know as the Tenant Notification Act,  renters like Mary would have to be told, in writing, whether or not the landlord has run background checks on anyone with access to the premises. State Senator Greg Steube is the sponsor.

“If there are people working in these large complexes, and they’re not background checks on whether they are sex offenders or not, and they have access to people’s homes, to me that’s a problem” says Steube.

Landlord Erwin Jackson, who rents more than 250 apartments, already runs background checks, but bristles at the idea of being forced to run them or notify tenants.

“And see no reason I should take that information nd provide it to my tenants. I think there is a privacy there” says Jackson.

If this idea becomes law and you’ve already singed a lease and then find out there’s no background check, you’ll be entitled to cancel that lease and get your full deposit back.

Mary likes that just fine.

“I think that it’s after moving in that you start, you know, seeing everything, maybe all the bad people around.”

Some details of the proposal are still being worked out, including how many units are in a complex before background check notice would apply.

The level one background checks called for I the legislation cost $24 per person.