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Defense attorneys for two people charged in the murder of FSU law professor Dan Markel spent Wednesday in court trying to destroy the credibility of the state’s star witness.

They continue to point out the accomplice, Luis Rivera, who flipped will spend less than seven years behind bars for the murder.

Rivera dodged a possible death sentence by agreeing to cooperate.

Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, the accused triggerman, have been friends for 30 years.

Riveria testified he was paid a total of $37,000 for making two trips to Tallahassee with Garcia.

Defense Attorneys asked why the payment was so high, when he claims he didn’t pull the trigger.

“You didn’t do the job you were hired to do,” said Garcia’s Attorney Saam Zangeneh. “You simply where like a chauffeur correct?

“Yes,” Rivera replied.

But it was Rivera’s gun that fired the fatal shot.

The defense is hoping to shift the blame to Rivera who is a member of the Latin Kings gang, but Rivera denies the gang was involved.

“Why you keep saying Latin Kings. They ain’t got nothing to do with this. You’re wrong man.This got nothing to do with no Latin Kings. This is about me and Garcia. No Latin Kings,” said Rivera.

Defense attorneys questioned changing stories on who was driving when, whether a picture of the law professor was in black and white or color, and how the arrangements to pick up the payoff were made.

We learned Luis Rivera has five children.

A partial explanation perhaps of why he said he couldn’t shoot the law professor in front of his kids.

Defense attorneys for Katherine Magbanua, who is accused of arranging the hit on the professor, asked for the second time that her case be separated from co defendant Sigfredo Garcia.

He’s the father of her children.

It was denied.

College athletes aren’t allowed to be paid, but with more and more money being generated through college sports, attitudes are changing.

“It’s just becoming more and more of a business. I mean you have college coaches making close to ten million dollars a year,” said Dr. Jason Pappas, a Professor of sports management at Florida State University.

On Monday, California became the first state in the nation to require the NCAA to allow college athletes to hire agents and directly profit from endorsement deals.

But some, including Dr. Pappas, are concerned allowing players to profit may harm competition.

“We promote recruiting at such a high level now that it’s only going to perpetuate based on those institutions willing to and able to pay for those endorsements to be able to signify that they’re a Nike school or and Adidas school,” said Pappas.

Nearly identical legislation has now been filed in Florida.

Some big names in Florida athletics like FSU football coach Willie Taggart are behind the idea.

“I think that’s fair, I mean it’s a new time,” said Taggart.

As are players, like FSU running back Cam Akers.

“Me being bias, I’m a college athlete, but yeah I think so,” said Akers. “Why not?”

For or against, the passage of California’s law may have set a in motion an unstoppable chain reaction that Florida may have no choice but to join according to Dr. Pappas.

“You look at it and say, well if California does it, we need to do it in order to be able to stay at the level of high recruiting to be able to bring in the best athletes they possibly can in order to be competitive,” said Pappas.

The legislation still has a long way to go, so far there’s no companion bill filed in the Senate, but that could change before session starts in January.

If passed, the legislation here in Florida wouldn’t take effect until 2023, the same as the law signed in California.

We reached out to the NCAA for comment on this story, but did not receive a reply.

Tuesday brought explosive testimony in the murder trial of two people accused of killing FSU law professor Dan Markel in 2013.

Jeffery Lacasse dated Makel’s ex-wife Wendi Adelson for about nine months.

Taking the stand, Lacasse said five days before the law professor was murdered in his garage Adelson told him something that made his stomach turn.

“She said that Charlie had explored all options to take care of the problem, and that he had looked into having professor Markel killed. It would cost about $15,000. And so I didn’t know what to make of it, my stomach kind of flipped. It was like a chilling statement,” said Lacasse.

The former boyfriend was also asked about a dinner two weeks after the murder.

“These are her words. She said Charlie and I went to what he described as a celebration dinner,” said Lacasse.

After lunch break in the courtroom Luis Riveria, the hitman who flipped in exchange for 19 year sentence, said he was told the hit was ordered because someone wanted their kids.

He described what happened as he and accused triggerman Sigfredo Garcia followed Markel into his driveway.

“Soon as I pulled in Garcia jumped out. He jumped out of the car and went around, not around, but infant of the car. Right behind his car and in front of the car I was driving. Went to the drivers side and shot him… Twice,” said Riveria.

Wendi Adelson testified on Friday that she did try to drive by Markel’s house about an hour after the murder.

A police officer on the scene said he’d been alerted to look for the make and model of her car.

Riveria confirmed he Grarcia and the third charged in the murder, Katherine Magbanua, were paid a $100,000 in cash on the day after the hit.

No one from the Adelson family has been charged with a crime and they deny any involvement.

A Republican State Senator is looking to build support for legislation that would enhance the state’s firearm background check process.

It will be no easy feat, but the Senator believes the idea is gaining traction.

This year, the Senate President tasked a committee to formulate a response to the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings.

Kate Kyle with Moms Demand Action delivered 807 letters from Florida voters to Committee Chairman Tom Lee.

She said the number on ask is universal background checks.

“It is a policy solution we have in our toolbox that we haven’t tried here in Florida and I think it’s the most effective. I don’t think it tramples anyone’s rights,” said Kyle.

Lee seems to be listening.

“This seems like the most common sense thing to do is to see if there’s some holes in the background check system that could be tightened up,” said Lee. “I understand that there was about 9,000 people last year that applied for a background check… that were denied and ostensibly because they had a prior felony. Why aren’t those people being prosecuted?”

He said public response has been positive.

“Former police chiefs and law enforcement people from my area of the state, which is a pretty conservative area saying look, you know, this is not unreasonable,” said Lee.

The NRA, a powerful force in the Florida Legislature, has long held the position that enforcing current laws would be more effective than passing new ones.

Exactly what Lee might propose is unclear at this time.

“We’re just kind of peeling back the layers of the onion and trying to figure out how do we make the place a little safer for Floridians,” said Lee.

Lee said whatever the final product, bipartisan support will be critical.

At least eight unique bills aimed at increasing gun control have been filed for the 2020 session.

Last year, no gun control measures were passed.

Following a volley of Tweets criticizing Governor Ron DeSantis, former Congresswoman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham was asked to step down as co-chair of Rebuild 850.

The nonpartisan group was formed after Hurricane Michael to aid recovery efforts in the panhandle.

Rebuild 850 coordinator and longtime friend of Graham, Ron Sachs made the decision to ask Graham to step down.

“Gwen, who has every right as a citizen to express strong opinions that are political in nature, but as volunteers with Rebuild 850, which is completely nonpolitical and nonpartisan, it’s not appropriate to take personal shots at the Governor or anybody. The Governor has made it a priority to focus on recovery in Northwest Florida and that’s our mission too at Rebuild 850,” said Sachs.

Since stepping down, Graham has been active on Twitter, posting support for the panhandle and Hurricane Michael victims.

If you’d like to donate to Rebuild 850 to help those struggling in the panhandle, visit rebuild850.org.

Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried has announced a new set of rules aimed at increasing the safety of controlled burns in the state.

The state will now factor in the air quality index before authorizing burns.

There are also new regulations specifically targeting the sugarcane industry, creating an 80-acre buffer zone between woodlands and burn sites on dry windy days.

The rules also require the industry to get special approval for nighttime burns and prohibits burns before 11 am on days with fog advisories.

“And in the near future we’ll be announcing additional changes to our agriculture burning process. These changes may include shortening the length of the burning season, potential improvements to the zone model to increase safety for populations, increased compliance checks and training to further enhance public safety and a rule making process to increase fines and penalties for those who choose not to follow these regulations,” said Fried.

Fried also announced improvements to the state’s smoke plume prediction tool, a new software system to provide real-time updates to fire responders and more user friendly fire maps for the public.

Phil and Ruth Markel, along with other family members have been in the court room for two days, just twenty feet from the two people on trial for their sons murder.

In a statement they have asked for privacy, but they have listened to their son’s last words

“He said can you please hold on a second, there is an unfamiliar person in my driveway. I heard a loud sound,” said Stewart Schlazer when he took the stand.

Schlazer was on the phone with Dan Markel when he was murdered.

The Markels also heard testimony from police expert Shawn Yao on the bullet’s trajectory.

“You see that there’s a slight downward declination. It goes downward into the victim,” said Yao.

The autopsy testimony was so gruesome that Ruth Markel left the courtroom.

The Markels have also been exiled from their two grandsons since the murder.

The children’s names have been legally changed from Markel to Adelson.

On Tuesday the Markel’s son’s ex-wife Wendi Adleson took the witness stand.

Adleson was asked if she was aware of a safe filled with cash in her parent’s home.

She said she didn’t.

The questions quickly turned to conversations Wendi Adleson had with her brother Charlie.

Wendi denied that her brother ever mentioned hiring a hitman to kill her husband, but acknowledged Charlie did joke about it being cheaper to buy her a television for a divorce gift than to hire a hitman.

“He did make that joke. He tended to repeat himself and sometimes he would make jokes that weren’t very funny,” said Adleson.

Wendi Adleson’s brother did buy her the TV.

It was being serviced at the time Dan Markel was murdered.

Wendi Adleson received immunity for anything that she said on the stand.

Governor Ron DeSantis is inserting himself in the scandal surrounding President Donald Trump by urging supporters to donate to a ‘Presidential Protection Fund’ to help put an end to Democrats’ impeachment efforts.

The creation of the fund was sent out in an e-mail, in which DeSantis described Democrats’ impeachment efforts as ‘ a disgusting attempt to overturn a legitimate US election.

“For Republicans, Trump is still hugely popular,” said Democratic Starategist Steve Schale.

Schale isn’t surprised by DeSantis’ move.

“You look at his own party, you see that the President has still got a 95 percent approval rating. They feel very comfortable being in that place,” said Schale.

DeSantis wasn’t shy about showing support for Trump during his campaign for Governor, releasing a commercial in which he teaches his children to build a wall and Trump’s ‘Make America great again’ slogan.

Since taking office though, the Governor has largely toned down his pro-Trump rhetoric, even telling us in an interview in June that he didn’t plan to spend much time campaigning for the President’s reelection.

“I should be focusing on my job as Governor of Florida more so than on politics and that’s what I’ve tried to do. Doesn’t mean I won’t help him,” said DeSantis.

Schale suspects the Governor’s intentions might have less to do with helping the President and more to do with helping his own political aspirations.

“He potentially wants to run for President himself one day and so being seen as the guy defending Trump among the types of voters he’ll need in 2024 is a pretty smart move on his part, at least for now,” said Schale.

According to the donation website, the funds given to the Presidential Protection Fund appear to go to the Florida GOP, but it’s not entirely clear how the funds will be spent.

We reached out to the Florida GOP Chairman and the Governor’s Office for comment on this story, but did not receive any response.

An appellate court has upheld the state’s red flag law, which was passed in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

It allows law enforcement to petition a court and prohibit individuals deemed to be a threat from owning firearms for up to a year.

The announcement comes as lawmakers hold discussions investigating mass violence and potential legislation to make the state safer.

Beth DuMond with Moms Demand Action hopes the latest ruling will push lawmakers to expand the current red flag law to also allow family members to petition a court if they believe a loved one shouldn’t own firearms.

“We know that red flag laws work, but we also know that family members are often the ones who best positioned to see that their loved ones are in crisis, which means that they are often the best ones who are positioned to start this process,” said DuMond.

In the ruling, the appellate court deemed the prevalence of recent mass shootings a compelling and urgent interest that justified the state’s red flag law.

One of the first bills passed in the initial committee hearings for the 2020 Legislative Session would as voters to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission.

The CRC is a constitutional body mostly comprised of political appointees that meets every 20 years to propose constitutional amendments.

While it might seem strange legislation that wouldn’t impact the state for nearly two decades has been made such a high priority for lawmakers, Senate sponsor Jeff Brandes believes the conversation needs to happen now.

“Five years from now I don’t think the Legislature would propose this type of thing because it’s too far from the voters’ minds, but I think it’s still fresh today,” said Brandes.

What’s still fresh, is the memory of the CRC bundling seemingly unrelated proposals like indoor vaping and oil drilling into single amendments when it last met in 2018.

The body also came under heavy criticism for seemingly making up rules as it went along.

In some cases it passed proposals off the floor that hadn’t been vetted in committees.

“It was essentially a Jumanji-type process,” said Brandes.

Last year legislation to abolish the CRC passed the Senate, but it was never taken up for a vote on the House Floor.

Some House members like Rep. James Grant still have hesitations about completely doing away with the CRC.

“I think a revision and review of our constitution is a healthy thing,” said Grant.

Grant believes it may be better for the Legislature to limit the CRC’s authority, to only updating existing constitutional language.

“Our constitution should not be a secondary place of statute. Our constitution should not be an unelected group of people offering new language into the constitution,” said Grant.

While Abolishing the CRC is clearly on the fast track in the Senate, so far companion legislation has not been filed in the House.

If abolishing the commission makes it out of the Legislature, voters will have the final say in November of 2020.

Testimony has begun in the trial of two people accused of murdering an FSU law professor.

Opening statements were delivered Thursday.

The cast of characters in this trial are Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua.

Both accused of murdering FSU law professor Dan Markel for a $100,000.

A third defendant, Luis Rivera, has cut a deal and is cooperating.

Then there there is the Adelson’s, Markel’s ex-wife’s family, which has not been charged and denies any involvement.

The one thing thing both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed upon in their opening statements: the family of Dan Markel’s ex-wife are central to the case.

Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman told jurors the reason for the murder was a contentious divorce.

“Donna Adelson despised Dan Markel and was desperate to find a way for Wendi and these two kids to move down to where she was located in South Florida,” said Cappleman.

Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh pointed to the Adelson’s as well, contending it was Rivera, not Garcia, who was hired for the hit.

“He was a drug supplier for Charlie, and Charlie Adelson made the decision to instill and solicit this murder for hire from Luis Rivera,” Zangeneh.

Kathrine Magbanua’s attorney Tara Kawass, said prosecutors were desperate to get Charlie Adelson.

“There are so desperate to get Charlie Adelson their belief is the only way to get to him is you have to get to Katherine, They arrest her to get to Charlie. But they were mistaken. Because Katherine didn’t know,” said Kawass.

Four weeks have been set aside for the trial.

Medical professions testified most of Thursday afternoon.

The told the jury that Dan Markel lived 12 to 14 hours after being shot twice in the head.

One out of five Florida middle and high school girls have thought about taking their own lives within the last year.

That’s just one of a number of findings published in a new report investigating the problems facing young girls in the state.

In just one year 9,000 middle and high school aged girls were arrested in Florida.

The report, which surveyed 27,000 girls suggests the state isn’t addressing the root cause.

“They’re not focusing on what is causing the girl to hurt,” said Dr. Lawanda Ravoira with the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center.

At least one in three experienced some form of bullying, the same number reported depression.

Girls who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or unsure reported some of the highest disparities.

“Their lives are defined daily by bullying, physical abuse, sexual abuse, trauma and a sense of hopelessness,” said Ravoira.

One out of ten reported they’d been raped.

Half had substance abuse problems.

“These experiences are happening right now in the lives of girls in our communities,” said Vanessa Patino Lydia with the Center.

The state of Florida has put a greater emphasis on access to mental health care in schools in recent years, but researchers say that’s only the first step.

Researchers said access to mental health care needs to be improved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

“It’s not enough just to do it in the schools and we shouldn’t wait for the next tragedy in order to get the mental health problem fixed in Florida,” said Roy Miller, President of the Children’s Campaign.

Using the data in the report children’s advocates hope to influence policy decisions likely to be made in the next legislative session, which begins in January.

You can find all of the reports findings at seethegirl.org.

Governor Ron DeSantis pushed for teacher bonuses, not pay raises, in his first budget earlier this year, but he appears to have had a change of heart.

Florida is expecting 24 thousand new students next Fall.

The Department of Education told lawmakers last week it needs new tools to attract more teachers.

“We’re gonna need about eight thousand new teachers over a five year period,” said Deputy Commission of Education Suzanne Pridgeon.

The Governor is now promising to do away with teacher bonuses.

“It was very complicated and I don’t want it to be that complicated,” said DeSantis.

DeSantis is instead seeking a pay raise.

How much is to be determined.

“We are going to do something significant on teacher recruitment and compensation,” said DeSantis.

The Florida Education Association has said for years that bonuses don’t work.

We asked what it thinks would make a raise significant.

“Something in the line of a ten percent increase. We think that’s a good start. We’ve had a couple of decades in dis-investment,” said Martin Powell with FEA.

With the average teachers salary just over $48,000, Florida still ranks 46th nationally.

Powell said even ten percent won’t produce much of a bump.

“We are at the very bottom of per pupil spending. We are down in the basement and we have almost the highest per capita income coming into the state. So we are trying to get us to the middle, and ten percent doesn’t begin to do that. Ten percent gets us up a couple notches,” said Powell.

And because of the existing teacher shortage, what many parents don’t know is that often their child class is being taught by an uncertified long term substitute teacher.

The Governor said he will release his teacher pay raise and recruitment plan in about a month.

The trail of two people accused of murdering an FSU law professor spent its third day selecting a jury Wednesday.

Nearly 200 jurors have been interviewed.

Prospective jurors asked why the two were being tried together, why the death penalty is on the table, and one even told the court he was nervous, which prompted this response from Judge James Hankinson.

“I mean everybody’s nervous. I mean, if you weren’t, that would be a little scary. Truthfully, if you weren’t a little bit nervous. I’m a little bit nervous when I come in here. The attorneys are nervous. It’s kind of the glare, the spotlight here, but we will give you plenty of guidance so you don’t feel like you’re just making it up,” said Hankinson.

Opening arguments are expected Thursday in the trial that is expected to take up to three weeks.