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By a vote of 31 to 8 state Senators approved legislation to allow prayer at school events. The bill soared through the legislative process with bipartisan support, but as Whitney Ray tells us, the members who opposed the bill say if it becomes law court challenges will follow.

Lawmakers prayed Wednesday, before taking up bills on the Senate Floor.

On the agenda; school prayer. State Senator Gary Siplin has legislation to allow students to organize prayer at school events like football games and graduation.

“On their own volition, voluntarily, without any type of input from any type of adults, issue or say inspirational message,” said Siplin.

The bill forbids parents or teachers from participating in or even suggesting a prayer. The bill is receiving bipartisan support.

But there are a few senators who oppose the bill. They say it violates the constitutional separation between church and state. State Senator Arthenia Joyner says if the bill becomes law, court challenges will follow.

“It’s unconstitutional. It allows students from elementary to 12th grade to come up with an inspirational message,” said Joyner.

Students already pray in school individually, supporters say before every test. But organized pray at school assemblies forces nonbelievers to listen and opponents say that violates their rights. The focus now shifts to the House were the bill has been stuck in an education subcommittee since October.

The families and survivors of Sunday’s deadly crash on Intestate 75 are now suffering another tragedy, a financial one.

A fund has been set up for people who want to give to the victims to help them bury their family members and pay medical bills. Governor Rick Scott took a moment today to plug the fund.

“One family lost every member of the family, but a 15 year old daughter so your heart goes out to everybody involved,” said Scott.

To donate visit www.floridasfoundation.org and click the give button. A ten dollar donation can also be made by texting FLFund to 20222. Sundays wreck was caused by a mixture of fog and smoke. So far 11 people have lost their lives.

Since 2007, 150 million dollars has been cut from programs that serve Floridians suffering from developmental disabilities.

Today advocates for the developmentally disabled were at the state capitol asking for a little of the money back. Renee Valletutti is the chair of the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council and has a son with special needs.

“There is just not enough funding in the system to serve even those individuals currently receiving services, let alone those on the wait list. I don’t know that my son will ever see services,” said Valletutti

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities is receiving 810 million dollars this budget year. Advocates are asking lawmakers to boost the budget to 856 million.

University students and their parents could see tuition go up by as much as 15 percent this year if some lawmakers have their way, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Governor Rick Scott has other ideas.

Recent college tuition increases have boosted Florida’s tuition ranking from 48 to 45thlowest in the nation. The state is still 26 hundred dollars a year cheaper than the national average. But that isn’t stopping these college students from saying enough is enough.

“Our main issues are tuition hikes and the cuts,” Alex Castro with the Florida Student Association said.

Despite the student protests, the House budget committee is moving forward with a 15 percent hike; 8 percent statewide and then allowing colleges to levy another seven percent. The Senate has yet to set its budget goals, but it is also heading toward higher tuition.

“We have got to do something to help keep that quality up, and that means raising tuition some,” Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Ormond Beach), Chairman of the Committee on Higher Education, said.

The tuition hikes moving in the legislature put the House and Senate dead opposite of the Governor’s thinking.

“I want the cost of living in the state to be lower than other states, I don’t want it to be higher than other states,” Scott said.

With the House wanting an 8 percent hike, and the Governor saying zero, the Senate is hoping it comes out somewhere in between.

In the end, lawmakers can pass whatever they want, but it is the Governor who will have the final say on whether tuition goes up or not.

Lobbyists and politicians in Tallahassee are full tonight, after eating the world’s largest skillet of paella.

The giant paella is a capitol tradition accompanying Miami-Dade Days. Governor Rick Scott put on an apron and picked up a serving spoon but he didn’t eat it… maybe because he has trouble pronouncing paella.

“My wife rolls her Ls way better than I do. But it looked pretty good. I didn’t have any, but it looked pretty good,” said Scott.

There are 3-thousand servings in the giant paella and about a bazillion carbs.

There are just a couple of hours left until the polls close, and all eyes are on Florida. GOP candidates for president dumped more than 20 million dollars here over just the past 10 days. As Whitney Ray tells us, Mitt Romney spent the most and secured dozens of endorsements from high profile Florida leaders… but no one could win over Governor Rick Scott.

Governor Rick Scott teased the media Tuesday morning, inviting reporters to watch him vote, then refusing to say who he picked.

“It’s a secret ballot, fortunately. He had less than 10 letters in the last name,” said Scott.

Scott stood on the sidelines through the entire Florida primary, but members of the state cabinet jumped in the early. All three endorsed Mitt Romney.

“Romney has an extraordinary business background that I think best positions him to lead us out of this economic crisis,” said Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

“I firmly believe he is the candidate who can beat Barack Obama,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Romney and the secret political action committee that supports him dumped 16 million dollars in Florida, turning a deficient in the polls into a huge lead. Newt Gingrich spent four million after winning South Carolina.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul spent little money here. Before voting began Tuesday morning, polls show them in a virtual tie for third place, with about 11 percent a piece.

College students are rallying behind Paul. They say the party wants Romney, but they won’t get him without a fight.

“That’s what the establishment wants us to believe, that we only have two choices, and really they are trying to push Romney, so I don’t think that is the case, but I think that is what they want us to believe,” said Kayla Westbrook, the president of FSU College Republicans.

While Florida is often a kingmaker in national politics and it’s a winner take all primary, all four candidates are expected to keep campaigning regardless of who wins Tuesday’s vote. Romney is expected to get a boost from absentee ballots that were cast before Gingrich surged in South Carolina. 392-thousand registered Republicans voted absentee. In total more than 650-thousand voted early.

For the second year in a row, key state lawmakers are on a path to turn 29 state prison facilities over to private contractors. The plan is being criticized because data on potential cost savings is incomplete.

29 prisons in 18 counties across south Florida could be up for bid to a private contractor by summer. As many as four thousand corrections officers could be out of a job, which brought unionized officers like Penny Reeder to Tallahassee in protest.

“To turn us over to the for profit privatization corporations means our communities definitely will not be safe. I beg and plead,” says Reeder, who lives in the prison community of Starke.

The privatization is supposed to save the state at least seven percent, but the only credible study done in the state by Florida State University in 2003 was inconclusive.

Last year, key lawmakers stuffed the prison privatization legislation into the state budget .there was not up or down vote, and a judge told them they couldn’t do that.

Five Private prison companies have given almost a million dollars this election cycle, …the majority to Republicans in control. The legislation was developed in a committee headed by the former Chairman of the Republican Party. Critic Mike Fasano says even after last years court case, the legislation is moving too fast.

“Without having full debate, without having but very little testimony from the public, should concern anyone when you find out where the donations are coming from,”
argues Fasano.

One vote count had the measure failing. That prompted reports of Governor Rick Scott urging Senators to get on board.

“if we do prison privatization, its going to save the state money and we’ll do it the right way, says Scott, who is a fan of private prisons.

If the plan passes, the 4 thousand corrections officers who could be out of a job could move to prisons in other parts of the state…bumping officers with less seniority.

Hundreds if not thousands of brightly colored handprints are handing three stories tall at the state capitol as part of the annual Kids Week. Characters roam the courtyard outside and kids along with their parents have been turned into lobbyists, trying to convince lawmakers to do more. Children’s Campaign activist Roy Miller says Florida kids are ranked 36th nationally in overall health.

“Well, there isn’t just one thing, but we need to make sure that kids are born healthy because if they don’t start down the path of health at childbirth, it’s an uphill climb. We need to protect them from abuse. We need to make sure they can read,  and are ready for school. And when they go down the wrong path, we need to put them on the right path.

The 2011 Kids Count survey says the number of children living in poverty is now twenty-one percent, up two percentage points in a decade.

More than six hundred thousand Republicans have already cast early or absentee ballots and the GOP is hoping to exceed the 1.9 million Republican voters who cast a ballot in the 2008 Presidential Preference Primary. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, this is also the first election since some changes were made to the law.

Enthusiasm is high for the Republican Presidential Primary. Nat sot of horn.

Kayla Westbrook, who is President of the Young Republicans at FSU, says enthusiasm is high on campus for all the candidates.

“I’m going to be graduating at the end of the year and I’m really concerned about whether I can get a job or just, you know, my future, really,” Westbrook said.

More than six hundred thousand Republicans have already cast early or absentee ballots. The GOP says that no matter how you measure it, making the primary the fourth in the nation was a big success.

“Florida is everything we thought it would be based on the earlier primary date,” Brian Hughes with the Republican Party of Florida said. “Number 4 in the order, the first contest to be all Republicans, a closed contests, huge numbers of turnout, maybe 2 million or more people before this is all said and done”

This will be the first test of changes made to the voting law last year, and under those changes, college students and anyone else who has moved may not be able to cast a regular ballot.

The change will likely result in more voters being required to cast provisional ballots.

“They would then have verification from the former county, the old county, that they had not already cast a ballot,” Secretary of State Kurt Browning said.

Even if Republican voters set a primary turnout record, Tuesday should be a tame day compared to four years ago. That’s when Democrats also had a heated primary and Independents were out in force voting on a property tax reduction.

In 2008, just over one point nine million Republicans voted in the Presidential Primary, handing John McCain a come-from-behind victory.

Legislation to close loopholes in a 2011 law to ban synthetic drugs passed its first committee stop this afternoon. Last year lawmakers crafted legislation to ban bath salts and other synthetic drugs, but as Whitney Ray tells us, drug manufactures have slightly altered the chemicals in their products and now lawmakers are back to ban them.

An emergency ban and desperate pleas from law enforcement officers motivated Representative Jimmy Patronis to pass legislation banning synthetic drugs last year.

“Legislatively we are doing what we can to make sure these chemical combinations don’t kill our youth,” said Patronis.

Not long after the ban went in to effect, new drugs began showing up in gas stations and tobacco shops. One of those products, Jazz, a synthetic marijuana compound may have contributed to the death of a Florida teen earlier this month.

By slightly altering the chemicals in their products, drug manufacturers have been able to skirt state law, and legally sell synthetic drugs similar to marijuana and PCP here in Florida. Jenn Meale, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Pam Bondi, says their office has been working with lawmakers and police on a new ban.

“Attorney General Bondi, legislators and law enforcement will continue to monitor how efficient these laws are and anytime a drug manufacturer alters a component and circumvents state law, we are going to be on top of them,” said Meale.

Rep. Clay Ingram is sponsoring the bill. It simply adds new chemicals to the list of passed last year.

“We tried to find all the possible combinations we think they could come up with chemically and specifically ban those substances,” said Ingram.

Lawmakers hope the legislation will eliminate the current group of synthetic drugs. But they know the ban won’t stop the manufactures from finding new chemicals to put in the products to get them back in stores.

Florida may soon tell local governments that they can no longer place restrictions on beekeepers. Local ordinances have cropped up as the number of beekeepers has tripled, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, industry experts say local ordinances are actually putting local residents at risk of dangerous bee stings.

A growing number of urban beekeepers has resulted in bans or restrictions in at least nine Florida counties. The bans come as the number of beekeepers has tripled in Florida.

“This bill is intended to prevent over-regulation,” Sen. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla) said.

Now state lawmakers are being told the bans are doing more harm than good.

“If you start banning bees in these urban, residential areas what’s going to happen is you’re creating an environmental void,” Nancy Gentry with the Florida Beekeepers Association said.

Testimony before a Legislative committee was blunt: local ordinances are based on bad information.

“I had a number of complaints about bees in areas and upon investigation, usually found it had nothing to do with bees but had something to do with neighbors not wanting to be neighbors,” Leonard Cutts, former state bee regulator, said.

These are docile European honey bees. Without them, the door gets opened to more aggressive, dangerous African killer bees to move in.

Bee Keepers like Tom Nolan say the African bees will be a much bigger nuisance without the kinder, gentler European bee to keep them from spreading.

“If we don’t have European bees in our areas to provide competition for food sources, for forage, we leave the Africans unchecked,” Nolan said.

Nearly 3 thousand bee keepers are licensed in Florida. The Florida League of Cities opposes the abolition of local ordinances, but bills in the House and Senate are poised to pass this year.

Only three percent of kids aging out of Florida’s foster care system receive a college degree. The state pays their tuition and offers a stipend for living expenses until they turn 23. Advocates say it’s helping, but as Whitney Ray tells us, the stipend is under attack as state lawmakers try to balance the budget with two billion fewer dollars.

Derrick Riggins was first placed in foster care at two. He was beaten, sexually abused and shipped from home to home.

“I went back to my mother and then eventually around the age of 12, 13 I was placed in foster care,” said Derrick.

When he turned 18, Derrick fled, enrolled at FAMU and paid his bills with student loans. It was a struggle to make ends meet. Derrick didn’t know the state offers free tuition and a monthly stipend for living expenses to kids who aged out of the foster care system. When he found out, it made all the difference.

He graduated at 23, enrolled in grad school at FSU and received a master’s degree.

“Without that I wouldn’t be standing here today, an intern in Washington DC, working on the Senate Finance Committee, getting ready for law school. These dollars truly help,” said Derrick.

The independent living program that helped Derrick is being targeted for budget cuts. State revenues are down two billion dollars. Lowering the age limit on the stipend from 23 to 21 could save 11 million dollars.

“(for) The ones that are really succeeding it will be a disincentive and it will stop them from being able to finish,” said Christina Spudeas.

Spudeas, the Executive Director of Florida’s Children First, says the cut would pull the rug out from under students, just as they’re getting to their feet.

“That’s when they are really becoming really stable and that’s the time when they need that support just to finish that college degree,” said Supdeas.

Next Monday Children’s Week begins at the state capitol. Advocates will take their message to lawmakers hoping to save the program in a tough budget year.

Another reason advocates argue former foster kids need more time to graduate from college is because, they switch schools so many times that their academic records sometimes get lost. In many cases they don’t finish high school until they are 19 or 20.

In addition to picking a Presidential candidate next Tuesday, voters in two rural counties will vote on whether to allow slot machines at dog and horse racing tracks. Gadsden is a liberal Democratic County, While Washington is a conservative Republican stronghold. The outcome Tuesday could impact the casino debate at the state legislature.

Chattahoochee Florida is reeling. When 300 jobs were lost at the state mental institution last year, The IGA across the street closed. Empty buildings litter downtown. Another 77 jobs are slated to leave when the state closes this prison work camp.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to legalize slot machines at a newly opened barrel racing track. The promise; 15 hundred new jobs.

Voter Laura Smith is pragmatic. “If this going to bring jobs to Gadsden County I’m not against it.”

In this heavily Democratic county, interest is running high. So far more than 1300 people in this small county have voted early and another 800 have returned absentee ballots.

Realtor Dick D’Alemberte early voted on Wednesday. He voted yes. We asked why. “For the economy.  We are really hurting for Gadsden County,” says D’Alemberte.

In the last two weeks, churches here have mounted a church by church campaign against slots. Howard Adams works for all the Baptist churches in the county and says “A lot of our signs says don’t gamble with our children’s future and we feel that very strongly.”

An estimated seven to eight thousand voters are expected to vote.

And how the vote goes here and in nearby Washington County could help determine how lawmakers vote on expanded gambling.

Should the slot machine referendums pass in either Washington or Gadsden County, a legal challenge is a certainty, because the Attorney General has issued an opinion which says the state has no authority to issue slot machine permits without new legislative authority.

Children of illegal immigrants born in Florida are asking lawmakers to lower their college tuition. They’re paying out-of-state tuition, even though they’re US citizens. As Whitney Ray tells us, legislation to give the students in-state tuition has been filed, but isn’t going anywhere.

18 year old Renato Lherisson doesn’t want to be here at the state capitol. He’d rather be in school, but he can’t afford it.

“I was born in Florida. I went to high school in Florida. I want to go to college in Florida. I want to work in Florida. (slight sob) I’m sorry,” said Renato.

Renato is a US citizen born in Miami. He moved to Haiti after his father died and moved back after the 2010 earthquake. But since Renato’s is the son of illegal immigrants, if he wants to go to a state school, he’ll have to pay out-of-state tuition and right now. He can’t afford it. So he’s sitting this year out.

“I applied like everybody else expecting that I would be paying instate fees and then they told me I would have to pay three times the amount,” said Renato.

State legislation to allow Renato and other US citizens with illegal immigrant parents to pay instate tuition has been filed, but isn’t being heard.

“It is unfair, it isn’t right and this legislature should take action,” said Rep. Hazelle Rogers.

The chairman of the House Education Committee says he’s willing to give it shot, if a subcommittee vets it first.

“If it comes through the process, then in all probability we would,” said Chairman Bill Proctor.

Another, more controversial piece of legislation, would give instate tuition rates to anyone who spent three years in a Florida public school and graduated. Another obstacle facing Renato and other US citizens with illegal immigrant parents is student loans. The loans won’t cover out-of-state tuition.

A bill to allow schools to raise money by turning their buses into billboards is headed to the house floor. Selling ad space on buses could raise between 60 and 100 million dollars for education annually. The bill’s sponsor, Irv Slosberg, says the money is badly needed because the state is facing a two billion dollar budget shortfall.

“We can get three thousand to five thousand dollars a bus and we’re not wrapping the buses, it’s only two feet by six feet size, federal standards,” said Slosberg.

Representative Luis Garcia voted against the bill. He says the state shouldn’t be exposing students to advertising during school hours.

If approved by both chambers and signed by the governor, then local school boards would have the final say on selling ad space. Alcohol and tobacco companies would be prohibited from buying bus space.