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Two hundred volunteers, breast cancer survivors and family members of those who lost the struggle with the disease are raising awareness about early detection.

Today in Tallahassee, the American Cancer Society called the activists to the steps of the State Capitol. They’re asking for more funding for the state’s Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, also known as the Mary Brogan Act—In honor of Brogan who died of the disease. Her husband, Chancellor of the University System’s Board of Governors Frank Brogan, says her bravery facing breast cancer should inspire everyone touched by the disease.

“I watched this amazing woman travel the state of Florida often times on behalf of the American Cancer Society doing what she did best; teaching, teaching women about early protection,” said Brogan.

At this time the program only serves eight percent of at-need women in the state, leaving 119,000 women unable to receive early protection screening. Florida currently ranks third in both the number of cancer cases and deaths each year.

Members of Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus are calling on Governor Rick Scott to appoint a minority to a cabinet level position.

So far all of Scott’s appointments have been white. The issue was brought up yesterday when Scott invited the lawmakers to the Governor’s Mansion for lunch. During the lunch Scott insinuated that all the lawmakers came from meager means. Black Caucus Leader Gary Siplin calls the governor’s remarks insensitive.

“Some members like me take offense to that because quite frankly all black folks are not poor, all black folks have not lived in public housing as I have so that’s an rightly unjustifiable so but he has a right to express his opinion just as I have a right to express my opinion,” said Siplin.

The caucus wants to work with the Scott to appoint a black agency head. They’ve set up a website to help with the search.

By a vote of eight to one today, a Senate committee has approved legislation ending teacher tenure and creating performance or merit pay. But many questions remain over how the measure will be implemented.

Last year lawmakers were lambasted because they left teachers out of the merit pay discussions.  Today’s meeting began at 8:00 EST and lasted two hours, a time when most public school teachers are at work. Rewarding teachers who do a good job or getting rid of those who don’t, is a top legislative priority. Legislation creating merit pay and ending tenure cleared a key committee by an 8 to 1 vote.  Afterwards, the bills sponsor and the lone no vote talked it over. “Its kind of a racist thing; black kids or the poor kids can’t do well,”said Sen. Stephen Wise of Jacksonville.

Lakeland’s Paula Dockery is concerned the bill doesn’t take into consideration the conditions at a students home. “The fact that they list socio-economic status is something can not be considered. I think we should work on that,” she said.

One of the biggest problems is that there is just no cash for merit pay. Left unanswered are questions about where the money will come from to pay for new tests and the money to pay teachers more. Even the bills sponsor says finding the cash isn’t his job.

“It would really go into effect in 2014. By then I think that the appropriations committee will have to deal with it. I’m not going to be here in 2014, said Sen. Wise. But the Florida Education Association says the money can only come from one place. Andy Ford, FEA President says, “We could be looking at the end of art, music, physical education. We could be looking at cuts in athletics. Anything that does not fall in line with the accountability system could be on the cutting block.”

The legislation is on a fast track to be one of the first bills passed by lawmakers when their session begins in March.

Complaints over BP’s Claims process are reaching a fever pitch and state lawmakers in Florida have had enough. As Whitney Ray tells us, they’ve invited the BP Claims Czar to Tallahassee to find out why Florida businesses aren’t getting paid.

Fed up because Floridians aren’t getting paid for the economic mess the BP oil spill created Representative Doug Broxson headed to Ohio.

That’s where BP hired eight hundred operators to handle Florida claims. Broxson says that’s just one of the problems with the way the oil giant is handling claims.

“It’s a beautiful plan that’s been put together by a masterful group of people to frustrate the claimants,” said Broxson.

Broxson will join state lawmakers Friday as they try to find out why the BP claims process is broken and how Claims Czar Ken Feinberg plans to fix it.

State lawmakers want to know why identical claims are often treated differently.

Carol Dover, President of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association says some of her members are happy with the process, but others are furious.

“Many of them haven’t survived. I mean you can turn around its about every week, we find another either restaurant or hotel that’s closing or letting staff go,” said Dover.

Feinberg has control of a 20 billion dollar fund to pay people hurt financially by the spill. Half a million people have filed claims… almost one in two have been denied. Governor Rick Scott is among those who want answers.

“We have to come up with a process where people feel comfortable that… they know how to do it, where the money is coming from because there are variety of places where monies coming from and that we can tract how he is doing,” said Scott.
The Governor and State Lawmakers want refrain from finger pointing when Finberg visits Tallahassee Friday, but with Floridians losing their jobs because of BP’s not making good on its promise… it’s likely to get heated.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association has set up a hotline for people seeking legal advice over mishandled claims. The advice if free to the association’s members. The website is www.weitzlux.com/florida-restaurant-oil-spill-lawyers_1962249.html

Governor Rick Scott isn’t shying away from his plans to gut the Department of Community Affairs. Today Scott toured the department that oversees development in Florida. Scott’s budget calls a 600 million dollar cut to DCA’s nearly 750 million dollar budget. It also calls for layoffs. Scott answered question from state workers about his plan to eliminate 86-hundred positions statewide. Afterward he told reporters why changes were needed to the department that regulates growth. Scott says revamping the Department will attract more business to the state.

A group of about a dozen cancer survivors, researchers and doctors from Tampa crossed the finish line at the state capitol today. The group biked to Tallahassee to raise awareness for cancer research and remind lawmakers of the work that’s being done at the Moffitt Cancer Centers. Moffitt CEO Bill Dalton says it’s important for the state to keep funding the Research Center.

Florida has the second highest number of cancer patients in the nation, but Moffitt is the only National Cancer Institute in the state.

Insurance companies and attorneys are about to do battle in Tallahassee over sink hole coverage for homeowners. Legislation is pending that would make it more difficult to claim sink hole damage, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, much of what is covered today would not be covered under the pending revisions.

This is not your typical sinkhole claim in Florida. This is: a cracked drive way or a cracked wall. Insurance companies have been waging a five-year battle to restrict claims, some of them fraudulent. Spokesman Sam Miller says those bad claims are costing every homeowner through higher rates.

“Everybody in Florida is paying a $120 sinkhole tax,” Miller said.

The number of claims have tripled since 2006. The industry blames lawyers for filing frivolous claims that are hard to disprove. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance says the industry needs more protection.

“We’re trying to responsibly address that expansive magnitude of false claims, or claims where people are taking checks and paying their mortgages off or buying cars,” Sen. Garrett Richter (R-Naples) said.

This Pasco County couple testified at a Senate hearing last week after their insurance company refused to pay their claim.  The pending legislation would require them to pay half the costs of sink hole testing if their insurer found no evidence of a sinkhole.

One of the most controversial provisions of the new legislation would say that insurance companies don’t even have to offer you sinkhole insurance.

Senator Mike Fasano has more sink hole claims in his Pasco County district than any other area of the state.

“Federal Home Loan Mortgage Cooperation, Fannie Mae, they have said ‘we want people to have full sinkhole coverage, otherwise we’re not going to offer a mortgage,” Fasano said.

The legislation comes back before a Senate Committee in two weeks.

Some lawmakers fear that if insurance companies stop writing sinkhole coverage, state run Citizen’s will be forced to pick up the extra policies.

Florida’s infant mortality rate is at an all time low. A study released today shows just under seven out of every thousand Florida babies die before their first birthday. As Whitney Ray tells us, the achievement is shedding light on a program that helps women deliver healthy babies at a time when shrinking state funds have everyone fighting for funding.

20 year old Tominique Hadley is all smiles, grateful her three week old baby is in good health.

When Tominique found out she was pregnant she turned to her mom, but her mom was fighting a losing battle with cancer. And Tominique found herself without a support system. That’s when she found Florida Healthy Start.

“I was not eating well. I was not sleeping well. I was definitely not going down the right path. I found out about the program and they got me on the right track,” said Tominique.

Healthy Start offers pregnant women prenatal care, diet advice, drug and alcohol counseling and other services proven to improve the chances of a healthy delivery.

The program was created by the legislature twenty years ago.

“Since Healthy Start’s inception, Florida’s infant mortality rate has dropped significantly,” said Judi Vitucci, Director of the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions.

The state hit an all time low with statistics released Monday showing just 6.9 out of every thousand babies in Florida dying before they reach one. But with the state budget in shambles, changes to the program are in the works.

Last year, child advocates fought back budget cuts that would have left the program without any state dollars. This year there’s a proposed management change that has advocates concerned.

Right now they’re taking their case to lawmakers.

“A cut unfortunately of any size would probably hit us at a time when we’re least capable of handling it,” said Dixie Morgese, With Healthy Start in Flagler County.

Healthy Start receives just four million dollars from the state. Advocates say it saves taxpayers in the long run, by ensuring more Floridians begin life in good health.

Governor Rick Scott’s budget proposal holds Healthy Start harmless in funding, but moves the administrate authority over the program from the Department of Health to the Department of Management Services.

Governor Rick Scott has attended two media events where new jobs were announced, but expansion plans for the two companies creating the jobs were in the works long before Scott became governor. While both companies praised Scott’s commitment to lowering business taxes, as Whitney Ray tells us, the governor’s jobs agenda has yet to leave the runway.

From the wing of a Boeing 737 Governor Rick Scott, was flying high over the prospect of 4-thousand new Florida jobs.

“I want to be the “Jobs Governor” and get this state back to work,” Scott said from a news conference in Destin on January 17th.

Scott wants to create 700-thousand jobs in seven years. It’s not clear if he’ll use the 4-thousand jobs that could be created by Vision Airlines in his final tally. The company’s expansion plans were in the works before Scott took office.

Another company with prior Florida plans announced 244 jobs Thursday. Scott made the announcement.

“Do about one a day and about seven hundred days and a thousand jobs a day and I’d make my goal,” said Scott.

Bing, a science based company, offered Scott some credit for influencing their final decision.

“The tipping point in our decision to move to Florida is the governor’s pledge to try and eliminate the corporate income tax, it’s huge,” said

Scott took the credit, but won’t elaborate on how involved he was in Bing’s move.

“Calling companies every day talking to people about coming here, but it’s nice when things like Vision and Bing happen,” said Scott.

While it’s unclear how many jobs Scott’s created, its crystal clear how many he’s eliminated. Friday he let go fourteen administrators from the Department of Corrections. Eleven were let go when he put the state air fleet on the auction block and four were fired when Scott closed the Office of Drug control.

Scott has been on the job less than two months so it will likely be a long time before jobs created in Florida can be directly tied to his actions. Economists also predict a million jobs will be created over the next seven years as the economy recovers. Scott has promised his job creation will be on top of the million.

Scott has been on the job less than two months so it will likely be a long time before jobs created in Florida can be directly tied to his actions. Economists also predict a million jobs will be created over the next seven years as the economy recovers. Scott has promised his job creation will be on top of the million.

If Governor Rick Scott has his way no Florida State Parks will be closed to save money. Scott toured the Department of Environmental Protection today. Scott’s budget proposal calls for the 150 million dollar spending reduction for DEP. Scott says that can be done without closing state parks.

“We have beautiful parks. As you know we’ve gotten two gold metals for our parks. We have I think its 20 million plus visitors so no we have great parks so we need to make sure we preserve them and take care of them,” said Scott.

Now the onus is on the legislature. Members will spend the next three months crafting next year’s state spending plan.

Drastic changes to Florida’s unemployment compensation program are in the works at the state capitol. Legislation would make it harder for the unemployed to make a claim, shorten the number of weeks the state would award benefits, and as Whitney Ray tells us, require people receiving checks to volunteer for four hours a week.

A group of fed-up unemployed Floridians stormed the state capitol Thursday. Deanna Wade traveled from South Florida to tell lawmakers to leave jobseekers alone.

“If you don’t have that skill, you can’t have a job,” said Wade.

The group was stirred to action by proposed changes that would shorten the number of weeks the state would pay benefits from 26 to 20, make it harder for laid off workers to qualify and require volunteer service in exchange for weekly checks.

“Just shortening the weeks or things like that when there are no real jobs on the other end of that pipeline would really put people in jeopardy,” said Badili Jones with Florida New Majority.

The changes are being billed as a jobs creator, because they would lower business taxes.

The unemployment reform legislation comes as Governor Rick Scott lays off 15 people from the Department of Corrections and calls for another 86-hundred state jobs to be eliminated.

But Scott says handing out pink slips to state workers will help create private sector jobs.

To prove his point, Scott announced 244 new science jobs being created in Tallahassee.

“A lot of things like this are going to happen across the state,” said Scott.
At the center of the debate is a bill that comes due this fall. Florida has borrowed two billion dollars to pay unemployment claims. Unless the legislature takes action, business taxes will go up to pay the money back.

The unemployment reform legislation passed through a house committee this afternoon, on a seven to four vote.

The federal government may offer a helping hand to Florida’s unemployed, but Governor Rick Scott plans to slap it away. President Obama is planning to allow Florida to keep half a billion dollars of the two billion the state has borrowed to pay the unemployed. The catch is that Florida would have to raise its business tax in 2014. Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos says the interest on the money already borrowed is concerning, but he wants to take a look at the long term picture before he sets a senate agenda on the proposal.

“Interest payments cripple families and interest payments can cripple the state if we are not careful and we want to find a long term solution,” said Haridopolos.

The president’s plan for the unemployed will be released next week as part of his 2012 spending plan.

If one legislative leader has his way Florida will be the gatekeeper on the road to the White House in 2012. Senate President Mike Haridopolos is inviting presidential candidates to visit Tallahassee during the next three months. There’s only an unofficial field of possible candidates to challenge President Obama at this point and most of them are at the CPAC conference today, but apparently Haridopolos knows who’s in and who’s out because he’s already talked to them.

“You will see a number of these presidential candidates, they’ve reached out to me, I’ve reached out to them. I think it will be beneficial to Florida to find out some of their ideas because we face a multitude of problems in the state and if a person is seeking the presidency I think they should come to Florida and let us know what they think,” said Haridopolos.

Haridopolos says there’s an open invitation to President Barack Obama, but the Senate leader doesn’t think the president will bite.

The battle to ban offshore oil drilling in Florida waters in raging on two fronts. A petition drive and legislation to create a constitutional ban on drilling were both announced today at the state capitol. As Whitney Ray tells us, some familiar faces are heading up the efforts.

Sand and sea oats laid way for former Governor Charlie Crist and CFO Alex Sink’s return to the state capitol. The two are joining forces to write an oil drilling ban into the state constitution.

“It’s important to not only protect the beach, but also an important industry called tourism,” said Crist.

Crist’s attempt at an oil ban in a July special session, drew a defiant gavel and go from lawmakers.

Now Crist and Sink are taking their case straight to the people; co-sponsoring a petition drive to put a ban on the 2012 ballot. The group is using the BP oil spill as its main argument for a constitutional ban.

The spill threatened the state’s 65 billion dollar tourism industry for five months last summer. It led legislative leaders to promise not to pass drilling, but if a case is made in the future that drilling is safe Governor Rick Scott may be onboard.

“Focus on everything, from all the alternative fuels, all those things, to the extent that they make sense, and also look at offshore drilling when we know we can do it safely,” said Scott.

But Scott’s former foe, Alex Sink, says drilling will never be safe enough for Florida.

“There’s always human error. We can’t afford any kind of human error within 10 miles of our beaches,” said Sink.

Crist was the first to sign the petition, and now the enormous task is underway to gather the nearly 700-thousand signatures needed to put the ban before voters. Democratic lawmakers are also trying to get a ban on the 2012 ballot. Legislation has been filed to allow voters to decide, but it’s not expected to make it out of committee.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is releasing its legislative agenda and the focus is no surprise. Job creation is the main theme of the business group’s goals. The Chamber wants to create jobs by lowering taxes on businesses, making it harder to sue and improving the state’s education system. Chamber President Mark Wilson says if the legislature follows their recommendations thousand of jobs will be created.

“We believe that we can create 135,000 new net jobs this year in Florida. We believe that we can grow our population again by about 138,000 new residents by the end of this year. And when you add that up we believe that we can create 40 billion dollars of new economic activity this year,” said Wilson.

The Chamber also praised Governor Rick Scott’s freeze on state regulations and his new budget.

The National Transportation Safety Board is taking aim at Florida in an attempt to pass more roadway restrictions. Florida is just one of three states that don’t require car booster seats for children four to seven. There’s also no law banning texting while driving. NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman says the lack of laws endangers children.

“We know that the solutions are simple: booster-seats, not being distracted while you’re driving, addressing teen-driver issues, drunk driving, motorcycle helmets. These are all very well-known and very understood issues that can save lives,” said Hersman.

Bills to ban texting while driving and requiring booster seats for children under seven have been filed in Tallahassee. They have NTSB support, but growing distaste from government interference among state lawmakers may kill the bills.