Welcome to

Governor Rick Scott’s communications team responded to our story below, and asked we distribute the following statement.

State lawmakers will consider major changes to nursing home regulations in the state following the deaths of 8 residents in Irma’s aftermath. As Mike Vasilinda tells us,  The Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills is also pushing back against charges it negligently let the patients die.

As patients were dying in South Florida, Both the Governor and Bryan Koon, the top emergency manager,  were fielding questions about nursing home safety.

Q:”The nursing homes are running our of fuel, some them may not have generators in    the first place. What’s the progress there?” Koon was asked Tuesday.

“Well, Multiple fronts. trying to get the regular power back up online” responded Koon.

“We’re talking to all of our nursing homes, our ALF’s because you know they trying to make sure they have the power to take care of their citizens” Scott told reporters minutes later.

Now, The center were 8 deaths occurred has released a timeline of calls to state officials asking for help. They  began at 5:34 Monday afternoon. the first call went to the number Governor Rick Scott was publicizing.

“We have a hotline here. It’s 1-800-342-3557. Call us.” Scott said Tuesday.

By 10 Pm Monday the center says five more calls were made for help.

State Senator Anitere Florida chairs the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee

“There is no reason what so ever those individuals should have been in a home that hot for that many days. It’s..there’s no need for it” said Flores, who also said there was a 100 percent chance nursing home changes would be taken up by lawmakers.

Legislation requiring generators at adult living facilities and nursing homes has submitted to bill drafting. The next step will be to file it.

Kristen Knapp of the state’s nursing home association says it tirelessly advocated help for its members before and after the storm.

“And the home in question is not a member?”

“It was not a member of the Florida Health Care Association. That’s correct.”

“And so, you would not be advocating or they would not be calling you?”

“We did not have communication with them.”

After the investigations, there will likely be plenty of blame for everyone.

The Emergency Operations Center Public Information Office tells us it does not specifically track which calls come in at the hotline number, which is where the Rehabilitation Center made its first call Monday afternoon.

The League of Women Voters, Florida, and a coalition of other groups has asked Governor Rick Scott to delay as many as ten elections scheduled for the rest of the money and the first ten days of October. Governor Rick Scott has already denied the Democratic party’s request to delay a special election in Miami. Now Marti Monroe of the League is asking Governor Rick Scott to reconsider the delay.

“We want them to vote. We want them to be informed. we would like to have a Governor who is interested in increasing voter participation. And we look of this leadership rethinking this, and opening the doors to the voters of our state by delaying this election. what’s two weeks?” asks Monroe.

Elections are pending in Miami-Dade, Levy, Marion, and Hillsborough counties.

Florida teachers are suing the state and local school boards over a program that bases teacher bonuses on how well they scored on high school standardized tests.

Statistics show the policy disproportionately benefits young white teachers over black and hispanic teachers.

The Best and Brightest bonus program became law in 2015, it gives bonuses to teachers who scored in the 80th percentile on their ACT or SAT during high school.

The Florida School Boards Association says many school boards opposed the one size fits all remedy to teacher recruitment when it was originally proposed.

“If they were given the same amount of money to use in their district for recruitment and retention, they might use it differently to better meet their needs,” said Andrea Messina, Executive Director of the FSBA.

The Florida Education Association says rewarding teachers for high school test scores disproportionately benefits white teachers, who make up nine out of ten of those who qualified for the bonuses.

“Our historically black colleges and universities, they didn’t have to take an SAT or an ACT so they have no score. So they’re eliminated right off the bat from that,” said President of the FEA, Joanne McCall.

Teachers also say the Best and Brightest program leaves out older teachers, who went to school before standardized tests were as common.

More than half of teachers who received the bonus are under the age of 40, yet the age group makes up only a third of the state’s teachers.

The Union says high school standardized test scores aren’t accurate at determining the effectiveness of a teacher.

Under the DOE’s own standards the demographics of teachers rated highly effective aligns almost identically with the true break down of teachers in the state.

Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna says he wants the Best and Brightest program gone.

“Quite honestly I’ve never been so excited to be sued,” said Hanna.

With the law suit the FEA hopes to have the Best and Brightest program declared illegal, and reward those unfairly excluded from receiving the more than $8,000 bonus.

One in eight Florida teachers are black, the same goes for hispanics yet less than 1% of the recipients of the Best and Brightest program are black. Only 4% are Hispanic.

Evacuees returning from out of state got some good news Thursday.

Flooding from the Santa Fe River has begun to recede ending the possibility of I-75 being shut down.

The receding waters will save those returning from hours of tiring travel.

The Santa Fe River came within several feet of flooding I-75 and forcing its closure.

Heavy rainfall from hurricane Irma caused the Sante Fe River to rise 15 feet in just 36 hours, threatening this small bridge and nearby highways.

A closure would have diverted traffic, adding hours for evacuees trip back home.

“Normally we would hit 441 to go to the back roads, but I understand there’s flooding on that as well so  it’s going to kind of be a challenge to figure out how to get home,” said Karen Booth, an evacuee returning to Port St. Lucie.

“I went to Louisiana and I’m coming back from Louisiana. I stayed over night in Tallahassee,” Eugene Breaux on his way back to St. James City.

The Florida Department of Transportation said Wednesday the river had begun to recede, allowing I-75 to remain open.

“Well that’s good news. I will take all the good news I can get right now. We’ve been traveling forever,” said David Albrecht, traveling back to Vero Beach.

The river didn’t level off in time to save every road, behind me this segment of US 41 is completely underwater. It’s the same story for a segment of US 27.

Many evacuees like Seth Kaufman have been on the road for days. He was exited to hear there wont be further delays getting home.

“I think everyone from South Florida that came up to Georgia is just going to be glad to get home and sleep in there beds, hopefully with electricity,” said Miami evacuee, Seth Kaufman.

The Florida Department of Transportation says it will continue to monitor the Santa Fe River and update motorists on road closures via twitter and on FL511.com.

The Florida DOT is also working closely with WAZE and Google Maps to get rerouteing information out to the public.

Gasoline remains in short supply as returning residents are consuming supplies. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the state has partnered with a Boston company, GasBuddy, that helps motorists find fuel.

Fuel is moving into Florida, but the app GasBuddy shows more than half the stations in major cities are lacking gas.

Executives from the app were touring the State Emergency Center this week. GasBuddy was designed to help motorists find the cheapest fuel….but when storms started hitting, Patrick DeHaan, the company’s Senior Petroleum Analyst, quickly realized it’s users could help pinpoint shortages.

“This information is all being funneled to various levels of government now, to make sure everyone’s got really good information to make decisions on getting these fuel networks back to normal” DeHaan told us at the EOC.

The program lists a station as green if it has gas and power, yellow if fuel is limited, and black if there is no power.

GasBuddy nailed it at this station. It has no gas.

A block away, we also found limited fuel at this Chevron, just as the app said we would.

Where it missed the boat was at this Marathon station. It was listed having limited fuel. We found a dozen people filling up.

PJ Sattar is the owner.

”You look like you have a lot of gas here? we asked.

“At the moment, yeah. To survive the day, I would say” says Sattar.

Q:”This says maybe not. It may not be accurate?”

“It’s not accurate because yesterday it said I had no gas and I did have gas” Sattar told us.

GasBuddy also got it right at this station which was listed as having fuel. It has all you could buy.

We asked GasBuddy’s Patrick DeHaan what lessons were learned.

“Ah, the lessons for us, you now, obviously to maintain services, we’re going to have to beef up our capability.”

Availability and prices posted come from input from the apps users and they’re  accurate only at the time of the post.

The firm first added gas availability to the app during Hurricane Harvey in Texas. It also allows motorists to report price gouging, which it defines as at least 150 percent of the normal price for gas.

Even counties that did not get the brunt of the storm are still dealing problems created by Irma.

Taylor county was spared the worst of hurricane irma’s wrath, even still supplies are running thin.

James Jolley has spent his life in Taylor County. He says it’s been 4 days since he’s been able to find gas.

“This is the first time I came back to town and found gas,” said Taylor County Resident, James Jolley.

Throughout the county, many gas stations are still dry.

The same goes for for supplies at grocery stores.

Steve Spradley, Director of the Taylor County EOC, says evacuees fleeing the storm and then returning have played a big role in depleting resources.

“We’re starting to recover; we do have gasoline today, and we’re just waiting for our grocery store shelves to be stocked so we can try to get back to normal,” said Spradley.

Power is also coming back more slowly in rural counties. Half of Taylor County is still without electricity.

It’s the same story for many rural counties across the state.

Despite delays, The Florida Retail Federation says supplies are on the way.

But, rural counties may have to wait longer than heavily populated areas to see a normal return of supplies.

“Our goal is to get gas to as many people as possible, that includes urban counties, that includes rural counties. Right now you’re talking about an unprecedented demand for fuel in Florida. You had six million people forced to evacuate, which is basically almost a third of the state,” said James Miller with the Florida Retail Federation. “Now those six million people are on their way back in, so you’re talking about having to have gas on I-10, I-75, I-95, hundreds and hundreds of miles, not to mention food and water in these stores.”

Emergency Managers in Taylor County say they understand the cause of the delays, but they want to make sure rural counties are not forgotten as response efforts continue throughout the state.

The threat of I-75 closing means traffic could be diverted through Taylor County and other rural counties, putting further strain on fuel stock and supplies.

Many areas of the state are still without adequate gas, food and water, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, The Governor, Emergency Management Director, and the head of the National Guard all say it is on the way.

Irma’s sheer size has complicated relief efforts, leaving few places out of harms way to stage relief supplies.

We asked Governor Rick Scott  ”Governor, what would you say to those folks who have perhaps lost hope because they haven’t seen food, water, or gas yet, and they were expecting it?”

His response: “I think if you go all around the state, people are working hard to get it to everybody. You know, I tell everybody, we have a hot line here. It’s 1-800-342-3557. Call us. You call us about anything and we’re going to do everything we can to get you all the resources you need.”

This time laps photography shows the frenetic activity of more than 100 people working long shifts to get supplies out into the state. These are the people who will answer the phone at the number the Governor wants you to call.

And planners say if you are not seeing the kind of relief you think you should be seeing in our neighborhood, it’s because somebody else needs it more.

We also asked Emergency Director Bryan Koon:”People are looking for specifics. They are starting to lose hope. what do you say to them?”

Koon responded: “I say all this room, the purpose of all the people in this room is to do everything we can to restore Florida back to normalcy. we’re working on restoring the power. we’re working on getting the fuel back in the ground.”

And with the storm now gone, National Guard Adjutant General Michael Calhoun says relief is on the way.

“I think the main effort we have today is have about 16 aircraft in the air, to sling low pallets down to the points of distribution, so the citizens can have something to eat, some water, some food, until power is restored” says the Commander of the State’s National guard.

And buyer beware. As more businesses re-open, price gouging complaints are surging.

As of 9AM this morning, more than 9000 price gouging complaints have been received by the state, and we have been told the phone has been ringing off the hook again today. We are still waiting for the days totals.

Former Gator Quarterback Tim Tebow has been touring damaged areas of the state. He accompanied the Governor this morning to thank the efforts of those working in the state Emergency Operations Center. We asked what he would say to those losing hope that relief is on the way.

“There are a lot of people who are hurting. A lot of people have fear and doubt about the unknown, and maybe they’ve lost a lot of their possessions. But there people who love them and are praying for them, and are there to support them. And so we want people to know they are not in it alone. and that people genuinely love and care about them, and that’s something that can be life changing” says the former star athlete.

Rick Scott got a laugh from the EOC staff introducing Tebow, saying he was there to answer questions about FSU football. As most know, Tebow played for FSU’s arch rival, the Florida Gators.

If you are looking to grab a meal out in the middle of hurricane recovery, the FL Restaurant and Lodging Association, which works with state emergency managers to plan recovery, says the best thing you can do, is to look where power is back on.

“The first thing to do is find outwore the power is on. Our industry is going to get back in business as soon as its safe for employees to get in. Certainly we have some re-entry issues in certain places. law enforcement makes the call on that, but we’re working very closely with local law enforcement to insure that as soon as its safe, we’re some of the first people in so we can get back open. So, it’s where the power is, where the roads are passable, likely the restaurants will be open” says Geoff Luebkemann, FL Rest. and Lodging VP.

As the remains of hurricane Irma fizzle out millions of Florida’s are taking the roads to return home after evacuating.

Tens of thousands are still in shelters around the state as of this morning.

Traffic and the uncertainty of what scene awaits back at home is on evacuees mind.

Just four days ago traffic headed west on I-10 was at a standstill.

Now, a steady flow of evacuees returning home.

“We had discussed wether or not we were going to leave next time we had a hurricane warning and decided that we still are, simply because this was just lucky,” said SpringHill Evacuee Robert Harris.

We spoke with Alfred Rivera this rest stop. He’s traveling back to Miami. When he left last week he didn’t know what he would find when he returned.

“Gods hand was over our home and in the neighborhood. It did flood in the outer areas, but not in the neighborhood itself where we were at,” said Rivera.

Alfred says he’s coming back to good news.

“Worried about if I was still going to have a roof or a house,” said Rivera.

Traffic and fuel supplies are still big concerns for travelers.

“All these responder vehicles, the roads are filled with those guys and they have to get down here to help out you know, but they’re taking up all the room,” said Gary Gresko, an evacuee returning to Vero Beach.

Governor Rick Scott waived taxes on fuel entering the state to help replenish supplies.

“We’ve got to keep fuel on that road and all the roads so that people can get home. People want to come home,” said Governor Scott.

The FHP has dedicated 20 troopers to escort fuel from major ports in the state.

Many of the evacuees returning now say they know their homes made it through, but many more are still in shelters left with a great uncertainty of what they’ll find when they finally get the okay to return home.

As of Tuesday morning 86,000 Floridians were still in 370 shelters throughout the state.

Many shelters have already begun closing.

Many more will follow, sending more and more evacuees back to their homes to begin rebuilding their lives.

To locate shelters in your area go to Floridadisaster.org/shelters.

The State Capital was spared the worst of Hurricane Irma, but minor damage and extensive power outages persisted throughout the city.

Residents were thankful to wake up to the good news.

About 40,000 residents lost power in the State Capital during the storm. 11,000 had their power back up by Monday morning.

Driving through the city damage appeared minimal. a hundred or more trees have fallen, knocking down power lines and blocking streets.

Barbara Roberts recalled, “I heard a thud and the power went off and then it’s like a transformer went ZZT ZZT ZZT!”

Power outages knocked out street lights across the city as well.

Residents we spoke with say they’re relieved to have been spared major damage.

“Doesn’t look like a lot of destruction in this neighborhood so far. We’ve walked the neighborhood, checked on the neighbors and everything seems to be okay for now,” said resident Chris Tarquinio.

Last year Hurricane Hermine forced the city into a stand still for weeks.

Last year for Hermine, we were out of power for seven days. So I’m hoping it’s not going to be that long this time.

Crews from outside the city are currently assisting local crews getting power back on.

In 2016 Hurricane Hermine cause power outages in 80% of Tallahassee, nearly three times as many as Irma.

As Irma’s landfall becomes imminent, Mike Vasilinda tells us one of the most important things you can do is collect all your important papers and keep them safe and dry.

For most people, their home is their single biggest asset. This is what governor Rick Scott has been saying every day this week.

“Remember, we can rebuild your home, but we can not rebuild your life” say Scott.

After safety, the first thing homeowners evacuating, or staying can do, says insurance expert Fred Karlinski, is too keep important papers safe.

“Insurance papers. Life papers. Passports, marriage certificates, things like that” advises Karlinski.

Next on the list: Document the house. Inside and out.

“Insurance experts say the best thing you can do is document your belongings, then so something with the video. Don’t leave it on your phone.”

Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis suggests emailing the photos or video to yourself.

“Put them in a virtual place. Who knows, you might lose your phone. The phone battery may be dead.  It may get water logged. who knows” says the CFO.

Michael Peltier with Citizens Insurance is advising customers not to sign a contract with anyone without first calling your agent or the company.

“The danger of signing something in haste is you don’t know what you are signing. You may be signing away your rights to handle your own claim, and we don’t think that’s a good idea” says the Citizen’s Spokesman.

CFO Patronis says two hundred thousand insurance adjusters are now on standby.

“They’ll create little villages, we’ll create one to go out there to help the outreach of connecting people together and filing the claims process to get them back to some normalcy” says Patronis.

In the end, everyones advice mirrors the Governor’s. Be safe first, worry about everything else later.

As hurricane Irma approaches more and more Floridians are taking to the interstate to seek refuge out of the storms path.

Exhausted travelers are running into another obstacle, finding hotels with openings.

This endless line of traffic headed west on I-10 is moving ten miles an hour or less, evacuees seeking safety out of the path of Hurricane Irma. Alexander Ortega traveled all night from Homestead.

“There’s going to be no electricity, so we have to take off because of the children, that’s the most important thing,” said Ortega.

But asylum seekers are finding hotels completely booked from Tallahassee as far west as Pensacola, into Alabama and beyond.

“I actually looked online at at least one hundred different places and they were all unavailable. Unavailable, unavailable, unavailable,” said Port St. Lucy evacuee Tabitha Dampier.
“It’s wiped out. All the hotels and motels. They’re all gone, and you see signs on the doors that they’re full,” said Bradenton evacuee Stuart Haw.

Darcy Bessette pulled off I-10 after a 12 hour trip from Bradenton.

“From Tallahassee to New Orleans, it’s booked up,” said Bessette.

With no rooms available, Alexander’s family is stuck setting up camp at this rest area while they search for shelter.

“So that’s why we stopped here, we don’t want to continue, we just- we just don’t know where to go. Whether it could go west, east, or straight up north, until we figure out where we’re going to book the hotel, then we’ll take off,” said Ortega.

Some evacuees say traffic has been so bad, drive times have nearly tripled.

Motorists told us of drive times as long as 12 hours from Orlando to Tallahassee and as long as 24 hours from Miami.

“Traffic was stop and go, stop and go. Bumper to bumper,” said Bessette.

Even those lucky enough to find openings in cities like Tallahassee aren’t completely off the hook, with Irma’s path changing, some may find they’ve evacuated directly into the storms path.

The state of Alabama has put out a list of hotel vacancies in the state to help evacuees. The list can be found at www.alabama.travel.

More than 25 hundred price gouging complaints have been filed with the state since yesterday morning (WED), and as Mike Vasilinda tells us. the phones continue to ring off the hook.

1100 price gouging complaints were filed online overnight thru Thursday morning. Water and gas prices remain at the top of the list. Hannah Cope says water was the most egregious complaint she received.

“Someone was charging over seventy dollars for a pack of water” she told us.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking one gas supplier, Chevron to task.

“We’ve received multiple complaints about Chevron, especially in south Florida. Some of the prices were seven dollars, some were six. Whether they were charging that, I don’t know. Chevron, if you weren’t, reach out and tell me, because I need to know that because you will not be taking advantage of our citizens” says Bondi.

The Attorney General hopes that by singling out one supplier, everyone else will pay attention and keep their prices low.

There are 50 call center employees at the State Capitol. Calls Thursday were averaging a hundred an hour. Call Center Specialist Jack Hagadorn says the calls were non stop.

“we’re here today till eleven, and it’s not slowing down” says the Call Center Specialist.

Operators are working as many as 15 hours a day, but they’re less grumpy than the people on the other end of the phone. Martin Green was happy to be helping.

“Yeah, they feel like they’re being taken advantage of at at time they are most vulnerable. Right now, the whole state is” Green told us.

The Attorney General says those preying on the public are simply stealing with possible life threatening consequences.

“You’re supposed to be helping you fellow human being at a time of crisis, not hurting them.  And I’m going to do everything in my power to destroy them if they are hurting our citizens” says the Attorney General.

we asked: “And what do you find more effective, the fine or the bully pulpit”.

“Both” she responded.

Companies found to have violated the law face fines of up to twenty five thousand dollars a day.

You can file a price gouging report online at myfloridalegal.com, ,or you can call 1-866-9-No-Scam.

Price Gouging Package Script: