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More than 650 people in the state have tested positive for the Zika virus – transmitted both locally and abroad.  As Matt Galka tells us, a stalemate in Washington D.C. over funding has Florida’s Governor frustrated.

New moms Racquel Pogge and Kyla Heap say they don’t think about the Zika virus much now, but it was a different story just a few months ago.

“It was concerning being pregnant, hearing about all the things, the birth defects that can happen,” said Heap.

But the friends, who had their children 10 and six weeks ago, say that the Government shouldn’t stop caring about Zika – which poses the most risk to pregnant women.

“It can end a life, it’s life effecting, so it’s just as important as everything else we are funding,” said Pogge.

But a stalemate in Congress has led to no bill being produced that would provide money to help fight the virus. Pinellas County Congressman David Jolly brought a jar of mosquitoes to the house floor to try and make a point this week.

“This is the reason for the urgency, this is the reason for the fear,” he said.

And with Zika cases not going away, the Governor is saying just give me some funding.

Governor Rick Scott was scheduled to make his case in Washington DC this week but hurricane Hermine changed his plans.

“What I care about is getting the funding, my view of the world is that this is such a significant health risk, that I don’t know why they can’t come together. Why don’t they just think about…these are pregnant women with developing babies, why don’t we focus on them?” he said.

One of the sticking points – whether or not the more than one billion dollar plan provides funding for Planned Parenthood – with even some conservatives suggesting that they should drop that fight so they can pass a bill.

A judge in the state Capitol has moved up the murder-for-hire trial for one of two men accused in the slaying of an FSU law professor. The judge also agreed to try the two men separately. Prosecutors had sought to use two juries but present the evidence just once. Luis Rivera, who is currently serving time in a Federal prison on unrelated charges will now stand trial beginning October 24th, three weeks before his co-defendant. Defense Attorney Charles Collins said making a jury wait weeks after selection was not in his clients best interests.

“In a case of this magnitude, people are obviously looking to point the finger at someone. I believe that by separating them, it will give us the best opportunity to present the case that we plan to and put my client in the best position possible” said Collins.

Volumes of evidence have yet to be turned over to the defense. Rivera’s lawyer has yet to decide if his client will take the stand.

See the video here: img_7343

One of the arguments the City of Tallahassee has been making over bringing in more linemen to help with recovery is that they aren’t trained on the  city system. In Wakulla County, Talquin was captured cell phone video of a lineman in knee deep water cutting a tree off a downed line. Talquin General Manager Tracy Bensley says without proper training this cut could have been disastrous.

“He cut in a way he knew it would spring up like that. He knows where to stand to cut the tree so that when it sprung up it sprung up away from him, and he was kept safe. That’s why we make sure we have trained people to do things like that before we send them out to do it.”

But all of the big four Investor owned utilities say their line crews are fully trained in how to restore power, including tree cutting.

One of two men accused in the murder for hire plot of an FSU law professor was in court today for a status conference, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, new discovery given to his attorneys contains some wire taps of the ex wife’s family.

Accused murder suspect Sigfredo Garcia walked into the court with his head slightly bowed. The hearing was an apparent oversight with nothing to discuss.

“I don’t think there is anything to take up today” said the Judge, who says attorneys should have called his office before coming from Miami.

Co-defendant Luis Rivera last week asked to be tried separately. Afterwards, Garcia’s attorney, Saam Zangene said he had no opinion on Rivera’s move, but:

“We are still conducting our defense investigation. The court did give us some time to prepare, but its a day by day evaluation.”

Defense attorneys say they were given new discovery information that has not yet been made public, but they did say that it includes wiretap information.

In early June, Police investigators filed a document indicating they were worried some of the ex-wife’s family had the means and had been overheard talking about fleeing the country.

I’m assuming I am suspect? No you are not a suspect”

In a previously released five hour interview on the day of the murder ex-wife Wendi Adelson is heard telling police she would be surprised if her family was involved.

“They would never, they would never do that.I don’t know who would be angry enough” Police: “That’s what I have to find out.”

“To do something like this” Adelson told investigators.

The State Attorney’s office expects to take about three weeks redacting the latest information before any of it is released to the public.

A bail hearing for Sigfredo Garcia is set for October 7th, with trial still set for November14th, although as you heard attorneys say to Mike, 8the case is still developing.

Almost ten thousand people remained without power in Tallahassee when the day started Wednesday. As Matt Galka tells us, part of the problem is the debris that utility crews are dealing with, so the Governor joined the Department of Transportation to pitch in.

Tree limbs, branches, and brush littered Angie Woodberry-Footman’s yard in Tallahassee – all caused by Hurricane Hermine. But the nuisance debris didn’t stop the department of education employee from keeping things in perspective.

“I have life, I thank God for life. It could have been a lot worse, when I think about it, I have to think about the people in Lousiana that have  agreat amount of damage and floods and lost everything. At least I still have a roof over my head,” she said.

But the fallen foliage is still a problem, and there are still piles all over the city. That’s why Governor Rick Scott rolled up his sleeves Wednesday.  The Governor – openly critical of Tallahassee’s response to the storm – joined other state employees and volunteers to help with debris removal.

“We have three groups and we are basically just cleaning up,” he said.

But even though he wanted a faster response – he wasn’t ready to commit to chopping down the city’s well known trees or investing in burying power lines.

“I think we always have to look at what we can do better, we also have to live within our means,” he said.

Among the volunteers was Mara Gambineri with the Department of Health. She had plenty of struggles during the storm.

“We were sleeping in our bedroom and woke up to a deafening boom, and there was a 70 ft pine in my bedroom,” she said.

The Governor expects a full report on the response to the storm after everyone has power and the mess is cleaned up to see what could have been done better.

No lights and No air conditioning. That’s still the situation for thousands in Tallahassee five days after Hermine hit.  But as Matt Galka tells us, there are still people willing to be kind and lend a helping hand.

The utility crews were one street over, but Julie konikoff still didn’t have power more than 100 hours after Hermine hit Tallahassee.

“This is a social experiment that needs to end,” she said.

She doesn’t like to focus on the negative, but she’s frustrated. Her family, though, has a generator…and they decided to share the wealth.

“We’ve made some new friends, everyone’s just been hanging out and telling each other gossip about how the city doesn’t have their act together,” she said.

And while people are hot – both because of lack of AC and over the city’s response to the outage – there are still strangers helping out.

The family at this house put out chargers for anyone to power up their machines because half of the neighborhood was still dark.

And at Florida State watering hole Madison Social – students without any juice were welcomed all weekend to hang out.

“On Friday morning there were a lot of young folks, students driving around, they didn’t have power in their dorms, their apartments, about an hour before we opened they asked ‘do you have food, do you have water?’ Yea, absolutely, come on in,” said General Manager Zach Bartlett.

And on Tuesday city officials said they reached a saturation point with the amount of crews that can work on the grid. So while more than ten thousand people wait to get their lights turned back on…the kindness of strangers goes a long way.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum acknowledged that the city’s response wasn’t perfect at an emergency city commission meeting Tuesday morning. City officials say they’ve restored power to 90 percent of the homes effected by the outage.

Slow recovery from Hurricane Hermine has affected some state services today. but as Mike Vasilinda tells us few state services in our area are likely to be impacted.

Governor Rick Scott visited with Talquin Electric Co-Op  line crews working working in rural Wakulla county Tuesday.

Tracy Bensley, the General Manager for Talquin told the Governor they started planning for the storm more than a day in advance.

“Wednesday evening we started planning very seriously for it. then Thursday we made contacts and arrangements to have resources come in” says Bensley.

Talquin is close to having 100% of the power restored. Contrast that to the state capitol 25 miles north where at least 13 thousand woke up still without power.

“And then they have a plan as to who they are going to call” Scott told us, singling the company out for being prepared.

Q:”And that begs the question, do you think Tallahassee was ill prepared?”

A”I don’t know, all I really care is that I want people to have their power back” said Scott.

Multiple state buildings are without power, including the Department of Environmental Protection and Children and Families. Workers were told to bring flashlights to retrieve laptops and other essential items. Scott is unhappy.
“All the issues people rely on the state,I want make sure those services are provided.”

Q:”But they are doing without today?”

A:”They are moving to different buildings.”

On Labor day evening, the Governor and Tallahassee’s mayor had some tense words over the speed of the recovery.

Sot: Rick Scott

Governor

“You look at the rest of the state, this is not happening. And you can always say it hit here harder, but you look at some of these small counties, they got hit pretty darn hard” Scott told the Mayor, who responded:

“We will cooperate in a manner in which we are respectful of the roles each of us have to play.”

Schools will resume on Wednesday,a s will Classes at FSU and FAMU.

Scott is meeting with local officials again today at 5PM. It will be the fifth day in a row for the meetings.

The pace of electric service returning has increased after Governor Rick Scott chided local officials on Saturday to be aggressive. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Scott pulled together the four major utility companies and local elected officials, and will do the same thing later today.

Roads are still blocked in the state Capitol, debris will litter yards for days, but the one upside to the storm recovery says Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo is that crime has not increased.
DeLeo
“Overall, the crime aspects are very minimal, Most fit is dealing with traffic issues” DeLeo told the Governor.

Sot: Mike Wood
Leon County Sheriff

It’s a good sign” echoed Leon County Sheriff Mike Wood.

On Saturday, Scott put some of the blame for the slow return of power on city officials.

“I expect every city and county official to aggressively fix that problem” said Scott.

Then Saturday night, Scott called a roundtable of elected officials.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum called the idea he or others would impede power restoration ludicrous.

“We want to have people up and moving, so it’s a crazy idea to think any of us would work to impede that” Gillum told the group.

Tallahassee electric manager Ron McGarrah told the Governor that crews from other companies didn’t result in a net gain of manpower because of differences in distribution systems, but also said those without power would have it soon.

“We’re hoping by Monday evening.”

Governor Scott said the idea of the working session was to get everyone on the same page.

“And so the whole goal of this is to make sure everyone has the same information. If there is opportunities for people to help each other, that they do it.When you put a group like this together that’s the whole goal” Scott told us afterwards.

But for those still without power, the return can’t come soon enough.

The Governor met with Pasco County officials this afternoon and has another meeting with the elected representatives of North Florida again this evening.

State emergency managers says they still don’t have a handle on the total damage left by Hermine. Assessments will begin in earnest next week, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the focus this weekend is on opening roads and restoring power.

More than a hundred thousand Floridians began the day without power, the bulk of them, more than 78 thousand in the state Capitol.

Nayda Pophal was making the best of it. “Turning on the light switch and nothing comes on, but we’re okay. We have water” she told us as a tractor cleared a downed tree in the street in front of her house.

Governor Rick Scott found estimates of a week to get the lights back on unacceptable.

“I expect every city and county official to aggressively fix that problem. we have got to get people their power back”  chided the Governor.

Scott has called on Florida Power and Light and Gulf power to help the City of Tallahassee repairing downed lines. Grey skies and temperatures in the upper 70’s kept residents  like Sharon Woodbery from broiling.

“You go to bed shortly after the sun goes down. Kinda like a farmer” she told us as she raked debris in her front yard.

Many roads are still blocked and a small percentage of intersections remain without traffic control. The DOT is working on providing generators for those stop lights still out. The Governor says that  in addition to getting the power back up and running, everyone must join the increased fight against Zika.

“Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitos. This is something, just think about it. we all have to take part in this. this is really to protect all the pregnant women and their developing babies” pleaded Scott.

Damage assessment is on going. Emergency managers expect the process to ramp up next week. The emergency operations center remains fully staffed, and for many this weekend, Labor Day will live up to its name.

People living in Florida’s capital city are assessing the damage today after Hermine walloped Tallahassee overnight.  Matt Galka was with the Governor as he toured some of the hardest hit neighborhoods.

Linda Williams watched as good Samaritans helped clear a downed tree and light poll that ripped out of her yard.

“I think we have some pretty good neighbors,” she said.

These scenes played out all over Tallahassee as the city recovered following a devastating blow from Hurricane Hermine.

Governor Rick Scott toured some of the hardest hit neighborhoodsFriday to get a feel for the damage first hand

“I talked to an individual where a tree fell on her house, it fell on her and her husband. They got up, but they said if there dog was in the same place he would have passed away, but he was making noise so they moved him,” he said.

More than half the city woke up without power Friday.  Utility crews estimate it could be days before power is fully restored.

And while Hermine left many in the dark…the kindness of strangers provided a bright spot for some storm weary tallahasseeans

“They are wonderful!” said Williams.

“And I’m hoping by them doing this, we’ll get our power back on quicker!”

Hurricane Hermine rolled into Florida’s Big Bend Thursday night.  Matt Galka was on the coast as the storm approached.

St. Mark’s sits about 40 minutes south of Tallahassee.  It was one of the first targets in Hermine’s sights.  But as the storm rolled in, locals didn’t panic. Max Stuart and his crew actually had a hurricane party by the shore.

“You never really know, you don’t know if it’s going to hit to the west of the peninsula from Apalachicola or it wants to come up east,” said Stuart.

But John Hargan, who lives right near the water. Prepped his boat just in case.

“If we’ve got to go and the waters get too deep, no electricity, whatever the situation may be, yea we are ready to rock,” he said.

St. Mark’s started to flood a little after 6 p.m.

As Tropical Storm Hermine slowly barrels into Florida, the Governor traveled the state today to preach preparation. Matt Galka tells us what emergency officials are saying, and shows us how some folks in the panhandle are preparing.

Troy Segree made sure to grab plenty of sandbags for the Condo Complex he maintains.

“When it rains, it floods,” he said.

But the longtime Franklin County resident wouldn’t exactly say he’s worried.

“Been here all my life, never left for one *laughs.* Florida weather, gotta get used to it sometimes,” said Segree.

Down the street – sandbags turned into grocery bags as people prepared for bad weather. Some of the problems expected with this system – storm surge, tornadoes, and flash flooding.

“There’s a possibility this thing could turn into a Cat 1 hurricane,” said Florida Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon.

Governor Rick Scott started Wednesday off at the state’s emergency operations center. He made stops in 3 other areas expected to be in the storm’s path throughout the day.

“We’re gonna see some water. Don’t drive into it. We’re going to see downed power lines, be careful. Drive around them. If you see something, let the utilities know. The utilities are ready to do everything they can,” said Gov. Scott.

If the storm reaches hurricane strength – it would be the first one to hit Florida in more than a decade.

The Governor has already declared a state of emergency in more than 40 Florida counties and put 8000 National Guard troops on standby.

The state Division of Elections says that 1.7 million had voted early or by mail in ballot before the first polls opened this morning. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, despite several minor incidents, voting across the state was without major incidents.

Turnout was described as steady but not overwhelming across the state. It took Joanna Snyder about seven minutes to cast her ballot at this Tallahassee precinct.

“How’d it go in there?” we asked.

“Pretty well, I studied the ballot beforehand.”

The Secretary of State reported precincts in Flagler and Lee Counties were late opening

but were quickly up and running.

State officials say one precinct in Miami Beach had to be moved because of mosquito spraying over concert about Zika.

A precinct slated to open at the Botanical Gardens on Miami Beach had to be moved at the last minute, says Secretary of State Ken Detzner because the gardens were being sprayed to combat Zika concerns.

“The Supervisor of Elections has a notice there, and an employee at the location redirecting any voters that turn out to the city hall, which is one block away.”

The FBI has been warning some states to be alert for hackers seeking access to voting systems. Detzner says Florida was not one of the states being warned.

“we have put in place all the safeguards we fell are necessary for a safe and secure election.”

For the Curry Family, it was four month old Dawson’s first election,  making voting a family affair. Mother Molly says a child changed her thinking about voting.

“Well, I feel like I’m generally voting for her, I mean, she’s the future. So all the decisions we make now will impact her.”

Contribution Link reported that 294 million was given to state legislative races even though a full third of the legislature was elected without opposition.

As of yesterday afternoon, almost one point two million mail in ballots that had been requested were still outstanding. The ballots must be in elections officials hands by the time the polls close at 7, unless they are coming from overseas, in which case they must be postmarked by midnight and arrive within ten days.

The Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court has ordered a review of security at all 67 county courthouses and annexes in the state. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the trigger for the review was the Pulse nightclub shootings.

When Chief Justice Jorge Labarga learned the Orlando mass shooter cased the club before opening fire, his first thought was keeping someone from doing the same thing at a court house.

“You know, all one has to do is come in and check out the courthouse and see where the weaknesses are and then come in and do what they are going to do. That’s what happened in Orlando” says the Chief Justice.

Many judges now have guns at the bench, Most Courthouses are secure, but not so 29 years ago in Port St. Joe when a hateful divorce case turned into murder.

Al Harrison was the Gulf County Sheriff in 1987.

“and two shots were fired over here” he explained to reporters at the time.

Clyde Melvin chased down a wounded judge, shot through a barricaded door and killed the judge after killing two other people.

Security in courthouses is the responsibility of each and every county.

Earlier this month, Liberty County administrators got an earful from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The sheriff was appealing his budget after County commissioners axed money for a second bailiff at the rural courthouse.

“I don’t know how one Bailiff, if you practiced one day a month, could protect one criminal trial, one civil trial, one heated trial with domestic violence” asked Bondi at the August 2nd Cabinet meeting.

The Sheriff got the money for a second baliff. The Chief Justice says its better to be safe than sorry.

“And in today’s climate, anything can happen. And I want to make sure we evaluate each courthouse in this state” says Labarga.

Part of the review will focus on a statewide reporting system for security incidents in courthouses.

Eight judges and two lawyers will conduct the study. County funding practices will also be part of the review.

A judge’s ruling last week that said schools weren’t following the law by not allowing some students to enter the fourth grade over a reading test could be just the tip of the iceberg for changes to Florida’s testing system. Our Matt Galka got reaction from testing opt out advocates.

The department of education and some school districts were reprimanded by a Leon County judge last week.  Judge Karen Gievers sided with parents and students who said the children shouldn’t have been held back in the third grade for not answering questions on a state mandated reading test.  The students had no prior reading deficiencies. Opt out supporter Beth Overholt called it a win.

“We feel like Judge Gievers ruled in our favor, we feel like this is a big win for us, we’re thrilled,” she said.

And opt out advocates say the ruling could add fuel to the fire of the movement.

“The opt out movement isn’t against testing, ok? We want the test to be used to inform instruction, not to penalize and punish, and that’s what we have in Florida. The Tests penalize and punish our kids,” said Overholt.

Bob Schaeffer with the group FairTest says that students being held back harms kids in the long run.

“This policy that’s been in effect in Florida is based on faith or ideology or politics, not on educational evidence or, most importantly, it’s not based on what’s best for our children,” he said.

And while the ruling from last week only applies to third grade tests, Schaeffer says he wouldn’t be surprised if more change was coming.

“The victory in court, presuming that it holds up on appeal, could be the first step towards a total overhaul of Florida’s testing system,” he said.