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Governor Rick Scott put the State emergency Operations center on full alert for potential hurricane Nate. For the first time in more than four decades, the primary agency charged with preparing for and responding to a major emergency is without a permanent director. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the choice of an interim director is drawing some criticism.

Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon left his state job on October first.

Rick Scott named Koon’s chief of staff, 29 Year old Wes Maul, to be interim director. Maul spent there years as Rick Scotts travel aid, and the last 17 months at emergency management.

The lack of experience brought criticism from Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Johanna Cervone, who called the appointee inexperienced and unprepared.

“And appointing a political crony to head, arguably, one of the most important departments in the state is frankly reckless” Cervone told us by phone.

“We’re still in the middle of Hurricane season. we’ve got another month, almost two months left in hurricane season” governor Rick Scott said in Pensacola.

Scott was In Pensacola on Thursday urging people to prepare for Nate. Historical records show Florida has had more than 40 tropical storms and hurricanes hit the state during the months of October and November hit the state since 1900. No area of the state has been immune.

Former Director Bryan Koon called Wes Maul highly qualified, saying he has learned a lot in the year and a half they worked together.

Based on what he saw from Maul during Irma, Scott also says he made the right choice.

“He was instrumental in helping us open almost six hundred shelters. So he is very resourceful and I have complete confidence in him” said Scott.

Nate’s track has shifted west, but that could change..and there are still more than 50 days left in the hurricane season that could test whether Maul was the right choice.

In addition to more than 40 named storms in October and November, at least a dozen more threatened the sunshine state but later changed course.

Dozens of prayer vigils for death row inmate Michael Lambrix are taking place tonight and throughout the day tomorrow before his scheduled 6PM execution. Although Lambrix has maintained his innocence for 34 years, he told Mike Vasilinda and other reporters he won’t repeat the claim, out of respect for the victims families, if it comes time for him to make a final statement at his execution.

Michael Lambrix is a Plant City high school dropout. He had run ins with the law at an early age.

“Just stupid stuff. writing bad checks, and stealing a couple cars” said the convicted killer.

Lambrix was arrested after his girl friend was stopped in Tampa driving the victims car,

“A witness that the jury in my first trial found so un-credible that they couldn’t reach any verdict” he told reporters.

Florida’s Catholic Bishops have sent this letter to Governor Rock Scott, asking him to stop the pending execution. Ingrid DelGado says it cites both constitutional and moral grounds.”

‘Had Mr. Lambrix been sentenced after 2002, his case would be eligible for re sentencing, but also Mr. Lambrix has indicated he was offered a plea deal, which had had he accepted it, he would have already returned to society.”

During an hour long interview, Lambrix repeatedly professed his innocence.

“And in fact, I’ll be the only honorably discharged disabled veteran Governor Scott has ever killed” says Lambrix.

But the death row inmate says he will not repeat his claims of innocence if it comes to making a final statement at his execution.

“Because the last thing I want to do is cause any more pain or suffering to the Bryant family.”

Instead, Lambrix will say the Lords Prayer

“I have no doubt what so ever that I’m going to wake up to a better existence.”

Lambrix’s family, including his mother, step father, sisters and children are all at the prison. All are being counseled about grief in what could be the final hours of Michael Lambrix’s life.
A spokesman for Governor Rick Scott said, “Signing death warrants is one of the governor’s most solemn duties. The governor’s top concern is always with the families of the victims of these horrible crimes.”

A link to a list of prayer vigils can be found Here

Lawyers for a man convicted of two murders more than 30 years ago are expected to ask the US Supreme Court to stop his scheduled execution, arguing his jury was not unanimous in recommending death.  As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the condemned man spent an hour today talking with reporters.

Michael Lambrix has maintained his Innonence for 34 years. Set to die Thursday, he told his story again to a dozen reporters, the first group interview at the prison in more than a decade.

“It won’t be an execution. It’s going to be an act of cold blooded murder. And the State of Florida is going to be deliberately putting to death an innocent person” claims the 567 year old Lambrix.

Lambrix claims he killed the male victim in self defense after he found him strangling the 19 year old woman. He met both earlier that February 1983 night in a bar. He didn’t go to police because he had walked away from a prison work camp.

“ And I really should have told them exactly what happened right up front” Instead Lambrix ran and didn’t tell police anything, invoking his fifth amendment right when caught days later.

No physical evidence ties Lambrix to the murders…the first jury was hung. During the second trial, the state’s top investigator allegedly slept with the states key witness.

“It’s like banging your head on a brick wall. It really is. The thing is, nobody wants to listen” says Lambrix.

What makes his case unusual is that neither vote for death was unanimous. Lambrix’s problem is that his crime was so long ago.

“Myself, and everybody sentenced to death since 1974 that anything less than a unanimous jury verdict were illegally and unconstitutionally sentenced to death”

For 34 years Michael Lambrix has maintained his innocence, even turning down a plea deal. His family has stood with him every minute of it.

For a final meal, Michael Lambrix has asked for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner He says its the same meal his mother promised him if he was ever set free.

A visitors list shows more than thirty people authorized for the final days. It includes Lambrix’s mother and two of his four children.He’s asked them not to bring his seven grandchildren.

A massive investigation into city government contracting in the state Capitol has been underway for since 2015, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, those close to the investigation say the first indictments could come as early as November.

Two subpoenas seeking development records were delivered to City Hall in June. A third subpoena, naming Commissioner Scott Maddox, dropped in early September.

Days later a picture of Maddox, a developer, and undercover FBI agents in Las Vegas surfaced. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is running for Governor, was also photographed with the agents on a boat in New York City.

Commissioner Gil Ziffer who has not been named in any documents, still calls the investigation ”distracting.”

“Clearly there is cloud over us and everybody is aware of it and you can’t help it. I mean, what can you do when somebody asks about it. But we still have a lot of things we need to deal with. we need to deal with the high crime issue” say Ziffer.

”Oh my god, it’s real money” said one commissioner as Political activist Erwin Jackson showed up at a city commission meeting this week.  He was wearing a tee shirt with the letters FBI and he passed out stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Scott Maddox throw a thousand dollar bribe on the floor” said at the meeting. On Friday, he defended the action.

“Some People have to see things. And we’re talking about corruption, and what do you mean by corruption? I put on a visual display about what corruption” Jackson told us.

The city has already turned over ninety thousand documents, and more are on the way.

The story gets more interesting. Former Tallahassee FBI agent Josh Doyle, during an job interview with the Florida Bar, laid out the details of an eeriely similar extensive investigation.

“Which we had an investigative team of about 25 people” Doyle told the Bar interviewers in April.

A Federal grand jury meets November 3rd.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox is the past chairman of the Florida League of Cities. He ran statewide for Attorney General and Agriculture Commissioner. He also made a brief run for Governor.

A group representing more than one hundred nursing homes in the state has filed a challenge to an emergency order to install generators before November 15th. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the homes say they want to comply, but the timeline set by the state is impossible to meet.

Rick Scott issued the emergency order on Sept 16th, three days after patients started dying from heat and other causes at a Hollywood Hills nursing home.

”We need to have generators on site.” Justin Senior, the head of the agency charged with enforcing the order, briefed nursing homes at a Summit last week.

“If folks have the ability to keep their residents comfortable for 96 hours post storm, that alleviates a lot of the concerns around a power outage for the first few days” Senior told us after he addressed the 300 operators in the room.

The 17 page petition filed by LeadingAge, which represents a hundred homes, seeks an administrative hearing. They want to delay the enforcement of the order.

In a statement, CEO Stephen Bahmer says “This is not a lack of willingness to carry out the Governor’s directive.”It is a timing and logistical issue.”

The petition is blunt, calling the timeline “Impossible”.

Generator experts at lat week’s summit said the same. Mike Acree is with RingPower.

“It’s usually a year to a year and a half process” Acree told us.

Existing state law does provide for a waiver to the rule.

Seeking  a waiver is the course the homes represented by The Florida Health Care Association have chosen to pursue according to Kristen Knapp.

We asked “Nursing homes show good faith, and go to the state and say it can’t be done in your time line?”

“Exactly” said Knapp. “We’re still waiting for that clarification from AHCA, but essentially showing how they put the plans into motion.”

Homes who fail to comply with the deadline could be fined up to a thousand dollars a day or, in extreme cases, lose their license to operate and care for patients.

This afternoon, Governor Rick Scotts Deputy Communications Director said in a statement: “The Governor’s rule is solely focused on saving lives. This association should focus solely on keeping seniors safe and not on lawsuits.”