Welcome to

Puerto Rican Floridians were at the capitol today celebrating Puerto Rico Day.

The annual event is marked by music, dancing and art displays. Maria Ortiz of Apoyo Network is Puerto Rican. She says the rich culture of the US Territory adds more flavor to Florida’s diverse makeup. The festivities were held all day in different rooms in the state capitol where the group presented lawmakers of Puerto Rican decent and the governor with awards today.

Red-light cameras are issuing more than a million dollars a month in fines.

A legislative study shows in the first eight months after lawmakers approved the devices on state roads more than eight million dollars in fines were levied against drivers. Representative Brad Drake has had enough. He didn’t vote for the cameras last year and this year he’s cosponsoring legislation to repeal the devices.

“Everybody says this is going to save live, but what they’re not telling you is you have to give up some liberty and freedom. We could pass any kind of legislation that would save lives,” said Drake.

Drake also has legislation that would create time standards for yellow lights. Yellow lights shorter than two seconds have been reported in some areas around the state. Drake says uniform yellow lights will make the roads safer and cut down on the number of red light violations.

As the anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill approaches so does a deadline for the state to enter into a joint federal suit against BP. Alabama and Louisiana have already filed suit but our state leaders are holding out. As Whitney Ray tells us, Florida could be entitled to billions but may miss at least one opportunity to sue BP for the money.

The work continues at the state food lab where Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam visited with chemists and lab technicians Wednesday.

The lab has been testing Florida seafood for traces of oil and chemical dispersants ever since BP spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last year.

The lab’s equipment is so sensitive that if that 18 wheeler was parked and running outside the lab… Chemicals from its exhaust would show up in test samples.

As for the dispersants, traces have been found in some of the samples but Putnam says they’re insignificant.

“It’s one, one thousandth of the level of concern published by the Food and Drug Administration,” said Putnam.

The lab is receiving 10 million dollars from BP for testing and another 10 million to tell the country gulf seafood is safe. 30 million was awarded to Florida tourism councils Monday to attract visitors still leery of panhandle beaches. BP hopes the gift will convince the state not to sue the oil giant for billions. So far it has.

“I want to make sure that litigation is the last resort not the first resort,” said Governor Rick Scott.

The state has until April 20th to join Louisiana and Alabama in a federal suit against the oil giant. Florida could still sue BP even if it doesn’t enter into this current suit. For now the state continues to work on a claim and is expected to receive millions of dollars from fines to be levied against the oil giant.

One reason state leaders aren’t ready to sue is because they haven’t even tallied all the damage from the spill and filed a claim. Once a claim is filed, Florida will have 90 days to sue the oil giant.

Attorney General, Pam Bondi and Governor Rick Scott honored some of Florida’s heroes at the state Capitol today. Five law enforcement officers and four victim advocates were acknowledged for their selfless efforts and dedication to helping victims and their families. Before handing out the awards, Bondi read the courageous stories of each recipient. After the awards were given each recipient met Governor Rick Scott. Scott says the pleasure is all his.

“But the positive is, there’s a lot of great people in this state that show up and take care of these victims, there’s a lot of great people that show up and make sure the individuals that do these crimes are prosecuted and sent to prison,” said Scott.

Nominations for the awards given today came statewide, including from public and private organizations.

A crowd of immigrants and their supporters crowed the hallway to a Senate committee room today hoping to change minds about immigration reform. The group of more than a hundred prayed before the committee started asking for God’s help in the fight against immigration reform legislation. The bill would pave the way for local law enforcement officers to act as immigration agents. Naturalized citizen Erika Escamilla fears she would be racially profiled if the bill passes.

“It’s only going to get worse and with these kinds of laws it’s going to be very very difficult with our skin color to even like go out on the street,” said Escamilla.

The immigration legislation will be heard tomorrow in House and Senate Committees.

During his first 100 days in office, Governor Rick Scott has the lowest approval ratings of any recent Governor. He has angered lawmakers, picked fights with the media, and held meetings with legislative leaders out of the sunshine. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Scott’s 100th day brought protestors to the Capitol.

Since that January day when Rick Scott uttered these words:

“So help me God.”

He has been nothing but controversial. He fired the state pilots and put the state planes up for sale, all without asking legislators. Then he said no to billions for high speed rail

This is how Scott responded when we asked him to grade those first 100 days.

“First off, I enjoy what I’m doing,” Scott said. “I care about people. I ran for governor because I believe in this country and in this state.”

Scott’s relationship with the media has been frosty. He has been slow with public records requests. His schedule is often incomplete, like this entry: “lunch with a legislator.” Monday he left a news conference without answering questions. But his staff got angry when we tried to video a staffer sent to give answers.

“He’s not the governor’s spokesperson,” Burgess said. “We are. The governor speaks for himself.”

Reporter: Alright, then tell us…

“What’s your question?”

Reporter: The question is, what is the state doing…

“I’ll find out and get back to you,” Burgess said.

Organized labor, teachers, and state employees are seething over what they call his attack on the middle class.

“So I ask the governor this: when you said let’s get to work, did you mean let’s get to work on cutting jobs? Let’s get to work on attacking the middle class? Let’s get to work on attacking our teachers?” FAMU student Jamal Rose said.

For his part, Scott says he doesn’t care if he’s popular or not.

And as pollsters point out, the next election is a political lifetime from now.

Governor Rick Scott today met face to face with state employees at an agency where he ordered 170 million dollars in emergency budget cuts. Less than two weeks ago, Scott issued the cuts and as Whitney Ray tells us, since that day the disabled and the people who service them have been asking the governor to change his mind.

Carrying the torch of the Special Olympics, Governor Rick Scott finished a 1.6 mile run and made his way up the steps of state capitol.

He was met there by special needs children and adults. He promised not to forget their struggles. Then, just hours later, he cut funding for the disadvantaged.

“What we are doing is, I believe is, the path to the long term viability of that agency,” said Gov. Scott on March 31st.

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities is 170 million dollars in the hole. To make up the deficit the governor ordered a cut to the money the agency gives service providers by 15 percent.

The cuts were immediately met with pushback from providers like Patricia Potter, who says her agency that serves 49 mentally and physically challenged adults would have to cut programs and staff.

“The cut will take us so low that it’s hard to do overhead and pay for liability insurance and people don’t want to work for minimum wage,” said Potter.

Scott missed a rally last week where Patricia and hundreds more asked for the money to be restored, but Tuesday he faced his decision head-on.

Scott spoke to employees at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. He says he’ll restore the money if the legislature can find it in the budget.

“If they provide us the funding then we will withdraw the executive order and we will be able to go back to the rates we are paying providers,” said Scott.

Now many service providers and the disabled have turned to legislature hoping for a sympathetic ear. The House has money in its budget to restore the cuts. The Senate is moving that direction, as the two chambers meet in conference to try and come up with a unified spending plan.

She has the most popular uterus in the state. Susannah Lindberg Randolph is the wife of State Representative Scott Randolph.

Last month Randolph told legislative leaders he was going to incorporate his wife’s uterus so they would view it as a small business and stop seeking changes to abortion laws. The remark was snarky but it’s rallied pro-choice voters around the state and today they showed up at the state capitol wearing uterus pins and holding stuffed uteri. Susannah Lindberg Randolph says since her husband’s remarks on the House floor, people have begun organizing against abortion changes.

“People reacted viscerally because they are just sick and tired of what’s going on up her and being told by the government what to do with your own body when corporations are getting away with all sorts of things,” said Lindberg Randolph.

Today’s rally was organized to protest 18 anti-abortion bills and to dub April 12th “Birth Control Matters Day.” Neither the Legislature nor the governor are making moves to name the day nor stop the abortion bills.

Governor Rick Scott is trying to sell his family’s 60 million dollar share in the urgent care chain Solantic. Scott co-founded the company in 2001.

Before he became governor he transferred his Solantic ownership to his wife. Since then he’s been pushing policy changes that could benefit Solantic and therefore his wife’s holdings. Scott has contended all along that there is no conflict of interest. Today he told reporters he’s selling the stock.

Critics say Scott’s plans to drug test welfare recipients and state workers would benefit the health care company. Last week Solantic told reporters they wouldn’t contract with the state. The company may be singing a new tune if the Scott stock is sold.

More than a hundred bikers rode their motorcycles onto the courtyard of the state capitol today to ask lawmakers to make Florida’s roads safer. They want stricter penalties for drivers who kill people in car wrecks, and as Whitney Ray tells us, some of them are also calling on lawmakers to ban red-light cameras.

It was all chrome, leather and loud pipes Monday as more than a hundred bikers stormed the state capitol. One by one the names of bikers killed on Florida’s roadways were read aloud.

The Motorcycle group, ABATE Florida wants mandatory jail time for drivers who kill people in car wrecks… But some of them also want red-light cameras repealed. Bikers say they’ve seen more people slamming on their breaks at yellow lights to avoid a ticket since the cameras have been installed.

“I have heard squealing breaks behind me, you know? And you’re looking like when are you going to feel the thump and where am I going to go,” said Biker R.C.

No one wants to be rear ended, but it’s often times more sever on two wheels than on four. It’s a fact Gregg Borden knows all too well.

“A real good friend of ours last year was killed, he was sitting at a red-light waiting for it to change red then a guy ran right over him, killed him dead,” said Gregg.

But Gregg isn’t against red-light cameras. He says it’s a catch 22; Risk red-light runners, or risk being rear-ended because people slam on their breaks to avoid a fine.

“If it’s not used as a cash cow I’m all for it,” said Gregg.

Shari Gold has been riding for a decade. She says the cameras are an invasion of her privacy.

“I think it’s another government big brother looking over our shoulder,” said Shari.

Some state lawmakers share her fear.

“That’s a slipper slop to start down, where do the cameras stop,” said State Representative Jimmy Patronis.

While some studies show red-light cameras cut down on T-bone accidents… other studies claim they more than double the number of rear end collisions.

Libertarian and Tea party groups are planning red-light camera protests 5:30 tomorrow afternoon throughout the state. Some of the bikers from today’s rally will be at those events.

Here is a list of the protests. They’re slated to begin at 5:00 EST
Dale Mabry and Waters Avenue, Tampa
US 19 and Ridge Road, New Port Richey
Old Capitol Museum, Tallahassee
Conroy Rd and Vineland RD, Orlando
SR A1A & SR 520, Brevard, Cocoa Beach
Minton Rd & Palm Bay Rd, Palm Bay
Corner of Pine Ridge Road and US41, Naples
Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Blvd, Spring Hill
A1A and 520 and Eau Gallie and US1, Brevard County

BP is giving 30 million dollars to seven panhandle counties hardest hit by last year’s oil spill.

The money will begin flowing in two weeks. It will be used to attract tourists to panhandle beaches. State Representative Jimmy Patronis says BP will keep an eye on how the money I spent, so it better be spent wisely.

“BP is going to hold us accountable. Those dollars will need to be used and good for marketing efforts to make sure the entire region moves past this terrible stigma that we’ve inherited,” said Patronis.

The money goes to the Northwest Florida Tourism Council. The council represents Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, and Franklin Counties. Today’s announcement brings the total of money given to Florida for advertising to 62 million dollars.

Dogs are rarely seen inside the state capitol, but today… Dolly, a pit-bull and former fighting dog attended a news conference outside the House Chamber in an effort to keep fighting dogs from being euthanized.

Current Florida law calls for dogs seized from fighting rings to be put down. State Senator Norman and Representative Luis Garcia are pushing legislation that would change that. Norman says their bill would require animal control officials to conduct an individual assessment to determine if the dogs are actually dangerous before they’re put down.

“As you can see if dogs are treated right, they’re like man’s best friend, lady’s best friend; they’re just absolutely wonderful creatures,” said Norman.

Dolly is one of 500 dogs seized from the largest fighting bust in U.S. history. Her owner says she’s proof not every victimized dog is a threat.

In education, Florida has gone from 35th in the nation to 5th and many credit strict class size restrictions passed by voters in 2002. Now lawmakers are trying to expand classes. As Whitney Ray tells us, they’re doing it by cutting a list of 8-hundred core courses to just 3-hundred.

High School Junior Jackson Gladwin’s education has benefited from smaller classes.

“When you have too many students in there, you know, it’s over whelming to control the classroom,” said Gladwin.

Because of the class size amendment passed by voters in 2002, Jackson’s core classes can’t exceed 25 students. But that will likely change soon.

Both state houses have passed legislation cutting the number of classes defined as core curriculum from 8-hundred to about 3-hundred.

“The legislature’s responsibility to define which courses were going to be considered core and I think that’s always an evolving process because courses change,” said Rep. Erik Fresen.

There’s still discussion among lawmakers about exactly which classes are considered core curriculum under the new legislation

But journalism, advanced placement classes, and foreign languages are likely to fall off the list.

That concerns Jackson, who says his French class would be much tougher with more students.

“If there are too many students in there, It gets noisy, you know. It’s noisy when there’s 25 kids, but it’s easier to calm down than having 40 kids,” said Gladwin.

For principals, the concerns are even more severe. They say the changes will result in teacher layoffs.

“I won’t know until it all shakes out how it’s going to work, but here I just hired seven or eight teachers last year and now I’m going to have to let them go,” said Hanna.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are guaranteed protection. What may also be off the chopping block are social studies classes because the Senate president teaches the subject to Florida college students.

Legislative leaders asked voters to pass a ballot measure to scale back the class size requirements because they said the issue couldn’t be addressed legislatively. The constitutional amendment failed, and now lawmakers are moving forward with their legislative fix.

Mississippi Governor and Presidential hopeful Haley Barbour met with Florida Governor Rick Scott today. After their meeting they spoke to reporters about the stale-mate in Congress that could force a government shutdown. Both the Republican Governors side the GOP controlled House and say Congress needs to cut spending.

“Washington doesn’t have one and a half trillion dollar deficit because it taxes too little; its cause they spend too much and the minor spending cuts that are being discussed at…done by the House of Representatives are a fraction of what ultimately has to be done,” said Barbour.

“It doesn’t make any sense. We know we have to live with in budgets. Im going through my budget right now and the expectation for all…everybody in this country is that the Federal Government watch how they spend money,” said Scott.

Barbour also addressed Florida’s importance in the 2012 presidential primary election. He says if he runs, he’ll campaign in Florida regardless of whether or not the state moves its primary back from January to March to appease the Republican National Committee.

Florida hospitals are facing a 1.8 billion dollar budget cut in the budgets being contemplated by state lawmakers. Included in the cuts is the elimination of the Medically Needy program. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the cut could hurt as many as two hundred thousand Floridians who depend on the program for their lives.

Mary Ellen Ross had a liver and bone marrow transplant in 1999. She was in the capitol to tell the story of the medically needy.

“I don’t want to die,” Ross said.

Kidney recipient German Vivas is in the same dire straits.

“I will not survive,” Vivas said.

200,000 Floridians depend on the Medically Needy program to survive. The program costs the state 671 million dollars a year. It was completely eliminated in the Senate’s budget.

In German’s case, his 18 hundred dollar a month income doesn’t come close to leaving enough to cover the cost of medications to keep him from rejecting his transplanted kidney. He says health shouldn’t be for just the the wealthy.

“Low income people also donate their organs,” he said. “They need to have a right to receive transplanted organs.”

If the program goes away, there’s only one place for people to get care, the emergency room, and the public is still going to pay.

But after spending hundreds of thousands on each transplant, the state is saying it is too poor to take care of the medical investments it has made. Ross says that doesn’t make sense.

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep us in good health, so we wouldn’t have to use the hospital system?” Ross asked.

There is one ray of hope. It is early in the budget process and the Senate President says the medically needy will survive once lawmakers start negotiating.