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The youth vote has long been equated to a sleeping giant. Voters under 30 have the numbers to alter an election, but they’re the most likely to stay home on November 2nd. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state’s university system is challenging Florida’s 300-thousand college students to get informed and vote this year.

21-year old Brandon Moton remembers his first trip to the ballot box.

“I really feel like I made a change. I really feel like I took a part in history,” said Moton.

It’s a feeling he hopes to regain this November when he’ll be asked to pick congressmen, cabinet members and what changes, if any, should be made to our state constitution.

Voter participation among college students is traditionally low and many students say they don’t have enough time to keep up with the issues.

“I really don’t want to vote unless I know more about it, because I’m not just going to vote whoever. But if I look into it more yeah, but I guess I have to start paying attention more,” said Alyse Johnson, a FSU Freshman from Tampa.

Others say there is no excuse not to vote.

“I don’t’ think there are many obstacles. I mean it’s pretty easy to vote. Salle Hall, I know that’s where I vote, it’s right on campus,” said Jesse Dyer, a senior for Ft. Lauderdale.

One obstacle keeping some college students away from the ballot box on Election Day is their voter registration information is outdated, but what they may not know is they can update it the same day they vote.

The University Systems Board of Governors is leading an informational campaign to get to its 300-thousands students involved. Florida Student Association President Gallop Franklin is leading the charge to inform students and get them to the polls.

“You can inform people, you can engage them, but if they don’t go to the polls then actually their voices aren’t heard and they are being silenced,” said Franklin.

More young voters is generally good news for Democrats. The youth vote was key in the 2008 election, which put a Democrat in the White House and reasserted Democratic authority in Congress.

The soundness of Florida’s pension fund has been center stage in a TV ad war in the Governor’s race. It will also likely be a bone of contention when the two candidates square off in their first debate later this evening. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the fund is posting healthy returns.

Rick Scott has been saying this about Alex Sink and her management of the state pension fund.

“Sink promised to crack down on financial fraud, but she lost billions of Florida’s pension funds.”

Here are the facts: the fund hit an all-time high of 136.4 billion, right before the market crashed in 2007. Thursday it was at 119 billion or about 17.4 billion less.

Over the same time, it paid out roughly 13 billion to police, firemen, teachers and state retirees.

Ash Williams manages the fund and notes that when the market dived, Florida fared better than most.

“The S&P was down about 40 percent in 2008 and the Florida retirement system trust fund was down less than half that amount,” Williams said.

Williams reports not only to Sink, but to Governor Charlie Crist and the Attorney General as well.

Attorney General Bill McCollum is one of three overseers of the pension fund and even he has called the charges against Sink unfair.

Sink has responded to the Scott ad with this:

“The Investment Management Weekly just reported that Florida’s pension fund earned record-breaking returns.”

Williams wouldn’t speak to the governor’s race, but he did point out the recognitions the fund has won.

“We lost less than the broad market when the big downturn came, and we’ve compounded capital very effectively during the rebound,” Williams said.

Since July the fund has increased 10 billion dollars, or about twice as fast as the rest of the market.

Loranne Ausley, the Democratic candidate for Florida’s Chief Financial officer arrived at the Florida Press Center angry and without an entourage.

The candidate is accusing her Republican counterpart, Senate President Jeff Atwater, of dodging debates that have been scheduled for months.

“Jeff Atwater thinks he can be elected statewide without a debate,” Ausley said. “He thinks he can waltz from the Senate presidency, downstairs and across the hall, straight into the CFO’s office, and I’m not going to let him.”

Ausley says there is still time to debate on October 28th,  on the same network, Univision, that airs tonight’s first gubernatorial debate. Ausley trails Atwater in fundraising, with a million and a half dollars to about three million.

Florida’s public universities are using research grants to change the state’s job market.

10 state universities are splitting 2 million dollars in grant money to advance the health care and technological industries in the state. The awards are part of a 12 million dollars pot of money to be given out before the end of the year to diversify Florida’s job market that relies heavily on agriculture and tourism. The State’s University System’s Board of Governors spokeswoman Kelly Layman says by using state schools to led the way, the technology stays in Florida and Florida students get an inside track on the new developments.

“Research and development among the state universities is compelling. It’s nationally renowned and the new initiative from the Florida Board of Governors is helping to transform the Florida economy,” said Layman.

The end goal of projects like the Research Commercialization Grants, is to put make Florida a world leader in science and math based jobs.

We are learning tonight that the amount of oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the BP oil crisis was grossly underestimated. And the rapid pace at which the Federal and state government claimed the oil was being eaten up by nature, wasn’t true. As Whitney Ray tells us, it’s a sobering “I told you so” from many environmentalists who never drank the BP Kool-aid.

It was a tough summer for Marine Biologist Jack Rudloe who spoke truth to power, while the powerful ignored his cries. The state and federal government claimed 75 percent of the oil from the BP spill was gone by early August.

Rudloe insisted the claim, along with dozens more made by those in charge, was wrong.

“I don’t trust them. And I’ve always respected loved and admired the Coast Guard and felt wonderful about them, but I think this stinks,” said Rudloe.

Now a report from an independent commission confirms what Rudloe knew all along; the Feds have no real evidence to back their claim that the oil is mostly gone. Another misleading statistic highlighted by the commission has to due with the amount of oil we were told was being leaked. The feds really lowballed us.

Initially the government went along with BP’s claims that 1-thousand barrels a day were leaking into the gulf. They later raised it to 5-thousand. It was actually 60-thousand barrels, and there’s proof the feds had reason to believe they were lying. Environmentalists Eric Draper says the misleading figures may have hampered the response.

“They could have gotten out there and cleaned up more of that oil more quickly and prevented some of the damage that took place to our birds and too our economy,” said Draper.

Since BP could be fined by the barrel, there’s motive behind its misleading statistics. As for the feds, just look at what BP spent influencing them; 16 million dollars lobbying Congress, and half a million dollars in campaign contributions.

Environmentalists have been disheartened by the misleading statics. They say it’s given the public the perception that the crisis is over, but many of them believe Florida beaches could see more tar balls wash ashore, with even more damage to marine life miles off the coast.

Ballots for the November 2nd election have already been printed, but the Florida Supreme Court will decide if Amendment 8, which is on those ballots, is misleading and whether votes will count or not. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the court was highly skeptical of arguments trying to deep six the amendment.

Florida classrooms had to meet strict new limits this school year. Amendment 8 is the GOP-led legislature’s attempt to make it easier on schools by counting class size averages at the school level rather than individual classrooms.

Opponents of the amendment told the state’s high court that what voters will see is misleading, because it does not tell them it could reduce the amount of money going to schools.

“They’re being told you can put more kids in a class, they’re going to count them differently, but they’re not being told they’re losing money,” FEA attorney Ron Meyer said.

Justices asked tough questions of both sides.

“Where do we draw the line when we propose a constitutional amendment that takes away some constitutional right,” Justice Fred Lewis said.

Afterwards supporters of the amendment said the idea there would be less money was itself misleading.

“Again, this gives the local school districts the flexibility and it gives the legislature the flexibility on how to spend taxpayers’ money,” David Hart with the Florida Chamber of Commerce said. “It can absolutely still go to education.”

But the teachers opposing the amendment are sticking by their guns, saying 25 years of history prove them right.

“I have no faith that the Florida legislature is going to redirect that money into education,” Florida Education Association President Andy Ford said.”They’re going to use that money for something else. They always have.”

A narrow majority, just 52.4 percent, of Florida voters approved the class size amendment in 2002.

The high court is expected to rule quickly. Thursday is a regular release date for opinions, but the class size decision could come at any time.

People fed up with the new claims process are getting help from the state. The Department of Financial Services is taking claims straight to the head of BP’s 20 billion dollar fund. As Whitney Ray tells us, the mediation is giving new hope to people who say without a check from BP, they won’t make it through the winter.

Christopher Hoalt lost his waiting job at a seafood restaurant this summer after the BP oil spill cut business in half.

“I was down about 50 percent during our prime season, which is Memorial Day to Labor Day. Then I was laid off the day after Labor Day,” said Hoalt.

He filed a claim more than a month ago but is getting the runaround from the claims office.

Wednesday the Department of Financial Services held a workshop in Panama City to help people with their claims and take their stories straight to Ken Feinberg, the man in charge of a 20 billion dollar BP fund.

“There is a complete lack of communication by Fienberg’s office with many of the folks we’ve spoken with,” said Tami Torres with DFS.

But the process is improving. Claims are now being paid faster and proximity to the spill is no longer keeping Florida claims from being paid. That’s good news because there are thousands of Floridians who can’t hold out much longer.

With the tourism season here in the panhandle over, many claimants need the money to make it through to next spring. Charter boat Captain James Pic is waiting on his final check from BP. The spill cut his business by a third but he’s had little trouble getting BP to make good on its promise to pay legitimate claims.

“Every claim that I have filed they have paid me. I have had no issues with them whatsoever,” said Pic.

For those still struggling, the Department of Financial Services is offering a hand and promises to vouch for Floridians. And for help getting your claim processed go to www.myfloridacfo.com/FloridaClaimsHelp.

More than 30 thousand Floridians have submitted a claim against BP, yet about 13 thousand remain unpaid, causing stress, anger and resentment. As the uncertainty drags on, and unemployment high, Mike Vasilinda tells us, a new mental health hot line has just come on line to help victims of the oil spill.

From fishermen to real estate agents, to beach shop employees stressed out over the loss of income, a new hotline is open to help… not with collecting a claim, but reclaiming mental stability.

In this undisclosed location south of Tallahassee, operators handle a bevy of different hot lines.

Everything from helping with utility payments, to pregnancies, to AIDS.

This past weekend, a hotline to help oil spill victims deal with mental distress went online. Carrie Tyree had received a number of Deep Horizon related calls.

“What about my job those kinds of things,” said Tyree.

While the oil is gone. It’s impact is lasting. The oil spill distress hot line will be in place for 15 months, funded by a grant from BP. Director Randy Nicklaus says oil distress calls are just beginning to come in

“We’re treating this as a post disaster distress oil disaster help line, and we’re helping people with all kinds of family issues they might be experiencing, in addition to their economic issues,” said Nicklaus.

The hotline center handled 60 thousand calls last year…and expects that number to increase as the oil spill continues to take its toll. BP has funded ten million dollars for mental health outreach. Florida is receiving one hundred forty thousand dollars to operate the hot line. The number to call is 800-985-5990.

The battle for fewer students per classroom is raging as voters are being asked to soften class size restrictions. Amendment Eight would allow schools to meet class size standards based on the average number of students per class instead of a hard count in every room. As Whitney Ray tells us, the amendment is dividing school administrators.

Principal Rocky Hanna had to change some students’ schedules and shift some teachers around, but he made it to the magic number for high school classrooms.

The strictest phase of class size took effect in August, which means no more than 25 students per high school classroom, 22 in middle school and 18 in third grade and below. Hanna once supported Amendment Eight to loosen the restrictions, but now that he’s two months into the final phase of class size, he says smaller classes are workable.

“It took a lot of planning, but we were able to make it work, and if we were able to make it work then every other school in the state of Florida should be able to accomplish the same thing,” said Hanna.

But statewide the mandate is underfunded by 350 million dollars and some school administrators are considering extreme measures to meet the restrictions.

In some districts plans are being hatched to bus students between school zones to make class size work. Amendment Eight would give schools more flexibility to meet the mandate. Florida TaxWatch says it would also save a billion dollars a year.

“What this allows us to do is to spend that money, not on these facilities, not on bureaucracy, but take that money and pay for good teachers, good principals and good academic instruction,” said Dominic Calabro, CEO of TaxWatch.

But opponents of the amendment say there’s no guarantee the money would go back into the classroom, and the amendment is really about eliminating the legislature’s constitutional obligation to finance smaller classes.

The Florida Education Association will argue in front of the Supreme Court tomorrow in an attempt to get Amendment Eight kicked off the ballot. The FEA says the ballot language is flawed because it talks about classroom flexibility but doesn’t mention the legislature’s obligation to fund smaller classes.

The state university system will be considering a plan by the University of Florida to encourage incoming freshmen not to enroll in the fall, but wait until January. While only a pilot program, if successful, as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the plan could quickly become mandatory and spread to all of the state’s universities.

Freshman Christian Carr entered Florida A&M University in August. He says starting school in the fall has been the norm for his entire life, and he isn’t keen on changing.

“No, I wouldn’t do it,” Carr said. “I like the way the education process works now.”

But the University of Florida, beginning next fall, will encourage freshman like Christian to wait until January.  The school will likely offer incentives for waiting.

“It would only affect, right now, the students at the University of Florida, because the University of Florida is the one that has come forth with the proposal,” Board of Governor’s spokesperson Kelly Layman said.

The goal of the change is to better use buildings. FSU will graduate an average of 2,000 students in December, but enroll only 800 in January.

“There’s no reason why we can’t bring in 2,000, if we can limit them to spring and summer,” FSU Provost Larry Abele said. “Because we don’t have the space in the fall. So it’s a very good idea.”

Right now, the state doesn’t allow students to use their Bright Futures Scholarships during the summer, so if the state goes to a summer schedule, at least one law is going to need to be changed.

And if the UF pilot is successful, the state’s biggest schools will likely follow suit. So we asked Christian if there was no other way to get into the school of his choice except for starting in January. Would he feel differently?

“Well, then that’s a whole different story,” Carr said. “If that’s how you wanted to make your move into the university, I think you should take your chance.”

And UF is banking on many more like Christian thinking the same thing.

One problem still to be worked out in a Sping/Summer plan is where the money will come from to pay the professors. The Board of Governor’s will take up the pilot plan in November.

A new law aimed at fixing Florida’s mortgage fraud crisis could actually lead to more foreclosures. In an attempt to keep con artists and felons from writing home loans in Florida, a new state law is requiring all mortgage councilors to be certified by the state. And as Whitney Ray tell us, it’s putting nonprofit groups in a bind.

10-thousand felons were found writing home loans in Florida, by a 2008 investigation. Some of the felons wrote bad loans, contributing to the housing meltdown. A new state law to keep crooks out of the mortgage business went into effect Friday. The Florida Bankers Association calls it a good start.

“That will certainly help, but the riffraff will always find a way to get under the radar,” said Alex Sanchez, the president of the Florida Bankers Association.

The new law requires loan processors and loan modifiers to be certified by the state as loan originators. Registering with the state subjects lenders to a background check and makes the loans they write easier to track.

But the fix passed by the state legislature is making it harder for nonprofit groups helping people fighting foreclosure. Dozens of HUD Certified Mortgage Councilors are now being told to stop helping their clients. Flora Beal with the Office or Financial Regulation says those who ignore the warning will face stiff penalties.

“It is a felon in the 3rd degree if you are conducting loan modification or services for your clients,” said Beal.

It costs about a thousand bucks to get your certification and takes between three to six months to process. The Office or Financial Regulation says it will consider an exemption for some nonprofit mortgage councilors, but only on a case by case basis.

We contacted the governor’s office to see if there was anything he could do to help the nonprofit groups continue their work, but since the legislature passed the law, it will be up to them to fix it.

Firefighters are fighting cancer instead of fires today in Tallahassee.

Three pink fire trucks pulled into the capitol courtyard this morning to raise money and awareness for women fighting cancer. People who’ve had loved ones battle cancer signed the trucks before they headed to Pensacola. Tallahassee is just one of the stops on the “Pink Heals” road tour. The pink theme makes people think the tour is about breast cancer, but founder Dave Graybill says it’s about all forms of cancer facing women.

“A lady with skin cancer, uterus cancer, ovarian cancer, brain cancer any other types, she feels like she can’t the truck, because she doesn’t have breast cancer. That’s a shame. We are men marching on behalf of women by wearing her color because it’s the universal symbol of love and God put us here to wage war on and protect her,” said Graybill.

All donations stay in the city where they was raised. Money to fund the tour is raised through t-shirt sales. The shirts are sold at www. Pinkfiretrucks.org

Republican Marco Rubio is dominating the race to become Florida’s next US Senator even though polls show 54 percent of voters prefer someone else. The three way race is dividing Democrats making the path to victory appear easy for Rubio. As Whitney Ray tells us, Democrats have to decide between voting for who they like or voting for who can win.

Democrat Dennis MacLaren is bucking his party and voting for an independent candidate. MacLaren, like thousands of Democrats, think Governor Charlie Crist has a better chance of beating Republican Marco Rubio… than party favorite Kendrick Meek. Yet Crist is still trying to appeal moderate voters.

“They have two choices; one to my right and one to my left. And they’ll get it for six years if they pick one of those guys, so it will be fine,” said Crist.

With less than five weeks to go until Election Day, and absentee ballots already being cast the numbers don’t look good for Crist. A Quinnipiac Poll released Thursday says 46 percent of likely voters want Rubio, with just 33 percent supporting Crist…. and less than 20 saying they will vote for Meek. Still, Meek is confident he can pull off the upset.

“I’m not really listening to the voices of those individuals that are saying they are going to throw their support one way of another,” said Meek.

Pollsters say without an immediate and massive move by Democrats to support either Meek or Crist, Rubio will waltz to victory.

“If you are going to assume that the 54 percent of the electorate that is not going to vote for Rubio all voted for one candidate, obviously that candidate could win. The question is, is that a realistic exercise,” said Pollsters Peter Brown.

Only three percent of the voters polled said they hadn’t settled on a candidate. The most telling stat of the poll is that 48 percent of voters are angry with the Federal government. Pollsters say it’s that anger that’s giving Rubio his 46 percent support.

At midnight tonight, people who beat up or kill a homeless person will face a stricter sentence.

Florida leads the nation in violence against homeless people. Now anyone charged with abusing a homeless person will automatically see the charge moved up one level. For example a second degree felony would become a first degree felony. Janis Thibodeau, with the Big Bend Homeless Coalition says Florida is taking big steps to clean up its image.

“Unfortunately Florida has been first in the nation with violence against the homeless, but being the second state in the nation to make this kind of violence a hate crime speaks well and hopefully it will prevent more,” said Thibodeau.

Nationwide in 2009, 43 homeless people were murdered. The US Senate is now considering new federal laws to make such attacks hate crimes.

Education is taking center stage in the race to become Florida’s next Governor. Republican Rick Scott wants to help more students attend private and charter schools, while Democrat Alex Sink wants more money for public schools. As Whitney Ray tells us, Florida’s school voucher program is at the center of the debate.

Second graders at this Tallahassee private school are learning about hurricane preparedness.

Many of them wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Florida’s school voucher program. 11th grader Travis Blanks, a member of the national honor society and football standout, is here on scholarship.

“My mom though that it would be the best fit for me, but financially there would just be no way that I could get in,” said Blanks.

30-thousand Florida students receive vouchers. The scholarships are funded through a corporate tax credit. Republican Candidate for Governor Rick Scott wants to expand the program, but his opponent Democrat Alex Sink doesn’t like the idea.

“I don’t support any further expansion of that program until we are able to assure ourselves that public schools are adequately funded,” said Sink.

Sink wants to increase spending for public schools and Pre-K programs, while Scott wants to lower property taxes that help fund education; although Scott says *overall* funding for education wouldn’t be cut.

We talked about how the candidates differ, but one issue both Scott and Sink agree on is that the state needs a performance pay system for teachers.

A merit pay push during this year’s legislative session outraged thousands of teachers because they were locked out of the process. The candidates are promising open dialogue in any future merit pay discussions.

For more details about each candidates’ education plans we’ve attached links to Scott and Sinks plans.

Sink’s Plan: www.alexsink2010.com/issues?id=0011
Scott’s Plan www.rickscottforflorida.com/home/issues/educating-floridas-workforce/