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Medicaid eats up 20 billion state dollars every year. That’s about a third of the state’s total budget. As Whitney Ray tells us, lawmakers are looking for ways to lower the cost without drastically cutting services.

Four disabled Medicaid recipients greeted lawmakers, lobbyist and health care administrators with a sign Wednesday as they made their way to talk about Medicaid reform. Inside a caseworker assisted Patrick Wells as he told state senators how Medicaid helps him out of a group home and living on his own.

Caregiver: Do you need help to live there?
Patrick: Yes
Caregiver; Does somebody come in everyday and help you?
Patrick: James.

Lawmakers want to move Medicaid recipients into private managed care providers like HMOs to help cut the 20 billion dollar cost to the state. Aaron Nangle runs a company helping disabled people find caregivers. He says the move would leave his customers without vital services.

“Are they really going to put through the care, the effort? Are they going to advocate for the individuals with disabilities,” asks Nangle.

Besides privatizing parts of the entitlement program, lawmakers also want to cut down on rampant Medicaid fraud, and protect doctors from malpractice lawsuits.

Federally funded health clinics, like Bond Community Health Center in Tallahassee, already enjoy protection from lawsuits. Dr. Temple Robinson, the center’s medical director, says eliminating the threat of being sued lets doctors practice more freely.

“That was the physicians, the providers here do not pay malpractice premiums out of pocket,” said Robinson.

Whatever decisions are made by lawmakers will be met with criticism, but if the cost aren’t lowered, economist say over the next decade the state will go broke trying to pay them. Medicaid reform died in the legislative process last year, but with a newly elected Republican supermajority legislative leaders are more confident they’ll be able to make changes.

First there was the irresponsible lending that got us into the housing mess.

Then it was discovered that lenders were robo-signing foreclosure documents without individually evaluating mortgages. Now judges have been caught locking the public out of foreclosure hearings. Well not any more. The First Amendment Foundation got wind of the closed door hearings and asked the Florida Supreme Court to take action. Jim Rhea, Director of the foundation, says the judges were breaking the law.

“The public has a right of access in Florida and public proceedings are open. Everyone has the right to be there. It provides oversight so they’re sure the court is following the proper procedures,” said Rhea.

Today Chief Justice Charles Canady ordered all Florida judges to let the public in.

An outbreak of cholera in Haiti has killed 11-hundred people there… and now tonight, we are learning of a case in Florida.

The state Department of Health confirmed a Collier County woman returning from Haiti has the disease. Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. People with the infection can sometimes have no complications or have extreme diarrhea and vomiting. In extreme cases cholera can cause death by dehydration. Tom Torok, a spokesman with the Department of Health, says people who visit Haiti need to be on the lookout for symptoms.

“Our advice for people returning from Haiti; if they develop a diarrheal illness they need to talk to their physician,” said Torok.

The department is also reporting 60 cases of Dengue fever. This disease is carried by mosquitoes. Florida hasn’t seen a case of Dengue in 60 years, but this summer it was reported in Key West. Now there’s a case in Miami.

54 new members of the Florida Legislature were sworn into office today in Tallahassee, giving the GOP the largest majority it has ever had. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, buoyed by unexpected victories and a growing anger among voters, the GOP led legislature is taking a turn to the right.

Republicans wore red roses; Democrats blue. There were five fewer blue roses this year as 54 new members were sworn in. Republican Dennis Baxley is one of the House’s most conservative members and he says they have heard voter anger.

“Clearly there has been established by this election, a clarification of principles that we are going to live within our means,” Baxley said.

The election of Mike Haridopolos to the Senate Presidency marks a clear turn to the right.

“We face a two-and-a-half billion dollar shortfall. We have two options: Raise taxes or spend less. We will spend less,” Haridopolos, said.

Republicans have been in control here since 1996, but this is the first time that they have a super majority.

Jobs will continue to be a top focus, but other conservative ideas are coming back. Merit pay for teachers, medicaid reform that includes more immunity for doctors. Democrats like Scott Randolph are powerless to stop the shift right.

“So let’s get this right. The Republicans are wanting to socialize the risk of medicaid by giving doctors sovereign immunity,” Randolph said.

Lawmakers flexed their new found muscle by over turning some of Charlie Crist’s vetoes. They also are allowing the use of Federal Stimulus money to pay solar and other promised rebates to more than 13 thousand families that have been waiting for a year or longer.

The fight for holiday jobs is underway and the good news is there are more part-time jobs this year than last. Some Florida retailers are hiring as many as 40 percent more part-time workers this year. As Whitney Ray tells us, jobs are up because sales are expected to rise four percent.

Cheryl Page plans to spend more this holiday season.

“Sales are up and I’m ready to shop,” said Page.

So does Helen.

“Probably because the grandkids are all older,” said Helen.

After back-to-back years of slouching sales, Florida retailers are expecting a four percent climb this holiday shopping season. And more sales means stores will need more employees. The Florida Retail Federation expects seasonal hiring to increase 40 percent.

The news is good for Florida’s sagging economy and 11.9 percent unemployment rate.

It’s also good for Cheryl who is helping her son look for a job.

“He’s got children he needs to buy items for, for the holidays,” said Cheryl.

Seasonal workers have a better shot this year of turning a holiday job into full time employment. JC Penney Store Manager Ken Dehart says they’ll keep the best.

“If someone is outstanding they have a great chance of staying aboard,” said Ken.

And with 1.1 million Floridians unemployed, finding qualified help won’t be hard.

The Environmental Protection Agency is forcing Floridians to follow new standards to make our water cleaner.

Business owners and farmers have 15 months to make changes to their sewage treatment systems to lower the level of toxins or they’ll face penalties. The new regulations are similar to regulations proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 2009, but Frank Jackalone with the Sierra Club says the business lobby is too strong in Tallahassee to get the regulations approved on the state level.

“Thankfully the EPA has stepped in to rescue Florida from the power gang of polluters who for decades have used campaign contributions and intimidation to stop state government in Tallahassee from taking this action on its own,” said Jackalone.

Opponents of the new standards said the plan to make water cleaner would raise Florida sewage bills by a thousand dollars a year. Environmentalists say that figure was inflated to scare Floridians.

The state legislature is poised to postpone a new law requiring septic tank owners to get their tanks inspected every five years. The law is expected to improve the water quality in Florida, but tank owners say the inspections are too expensive. Dave Cullen, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club, says they don’t plan to fight the postponement.

“We are not taking a position in opposition to pushing it back for six months, but we will oppose repeal. We will work with the legislature to try and arrive at a reasonable implementation schedule and set parameters,” said Cullen.

The new law was supposed to go into effect January 1st. Tomorrow in special session, the state legislature is expected to push the start date to July. It costs about six hundred dollars for a septic tank inspection.

Florida’s 11 public universities are being tapped to help diversify the state’s economy.

Today, the University System’s Board of Governors announced the winners of 12 million dollars in grants to advance research in science and technology. The money is being divided among all 11 public universities with many schools sharing awards. Board of Governor Chancellor Frank Brogan says the research being conducted will eventually attract high-tech jobs to Florida.

“Take great ideas in the making and turn them into a commercialized opportunity, that’s with the hope and belief in mind to create job opportunities and spark business and industry in the state of Florida,” said Brogan.

Florida has long relied on agriculture and tourism to keep the state afloat, but the recession has the state hard, and sales tax collections have plummeted.

Florida Lawmakers will elect new leaders in a one day session on Tuesday and tackle as many as eight or nine veto overrides, all bills passed overwhelmingly last session but vetoed by Governor Charlie Crist. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Governor elect Rick Scott is already making his presence felt in the state capitol.

New members are moving in, retiring legislators moving out. Furniture is stacked in the capitol hallways awaiting office assignments.

Incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolus took the symbolic step of taking the doors of his office off the hinges, suggesting a new openness. A similar stunt in 1971 propelled then Secretary of State Dick Stone to the US Senate.

‘If I believe a budget item should be there, I want it out there in the public eye, for people to make an up or down decision on it,” Haridopolos said. “I feel confident that if we articulate our position well, we’ll win the vote.”

State lawmakers were poised to take control of a state agency away from the governor. Now they say they’re willing to give the new governor the benefit of the doubt.

Lawmakers upset with the agency that constructed a new 49 million dollar appellate courthouse planned on moving control of the Department of Management Services out of the Governor’s office, but are now reconsidering.

“When the governor-elect expressed some concerns about our potential veto override, we’re giving him every consideration,” Haridopolos said.

Weary Democrats come back with fewer numbers in the House and Senate, promising to work to get along.

“At least in the beginning, we want to work with them,” House Minority Leader designate Ron Saunders said. “We want to show some cooperation because there are some things we may agree on.”

In a new family friendly era, lawmakers are promising to elect new officers and deal with vetoes, and still be out of town by Tuesday’s 6 p.m newscast.

An unusual lecture on cheating by University of Central Florida Management Professor Richard Quinn has gone viral. Quinn found that a third of his 615 student management class cheated on their midterms. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, cheating on campus is an increasing problem.

Here is the lecture UCF professor Richard Quinn hoped he would never have to give.

“Classmates have been bragging to them that they had advance copies of the exam and that they aced the exam because they had all of the answers ahead of time,” Quinn said.

A grade analysis of the midterm test showed too many good grades. Then a student dropped off a copy of a test bank, questions prepared by the text book authors intended for professors.

“When you get in your labs this week look at the person on your left side and look on your right side, statistically one of them cheated on the exam,” Quinn said.

At Florida State last year, just 187 students were penalized for cheating, most of it was plagiarism. But students we talked to say cheating is common even if not as widespread as the UCF case.

“I have seen a whole calculator stuff paper in the calculator and you cheat off your test that way,” student Ryan Aldophe said.

The cheating makes some students angry.

“It’s kind of ridiculous,” student Caitlin Gambell said. “I pay for my education and you pay for yours so do the work.”

For many students a B is the equivalent of the new F and they just simply refuse to accept anything but perfect.

Professor Wayne Hochwarter says sometimes students forget to take his name off the email list.

“I will get an email that will say, hey, I got the study guide done and it’s for sale right in front of the union for fifteen dollars,” Hochwarter said.

Disciplinary numbers for the entire University system were not immediately available.

All midterm results were thrown out in the UCF class and students were told to confess their mistake or face expulsion or suspension.

It’s one of the best known battlefield images of all times. Five Marines and a Navy corpsman planting the American on a mountain top in Iwo Jima during World War II. Capitol Correspondent Whitney Ray caught up with the senior survivor of the Iwo Jima battle who remembers the day the stars and stripes were raised on the small Japanese Island.

General Lawrence Snowden is the highest ranking survivor of the battle of Iwo Jima. An oil painting of the famous flag raising on the small Japanese island hangs in his living room. When the original picture first circulated in newspapers in 1945, the story was simple; US soldiers conquered the island. Marines stood and cheered. General Snowden remembers it differently.

“We were fighting like tigers against the well defended position of the Japanese and any man who stood up to cheer went down as a dead Marine,” said Snowden.

Snowden is 89. He’s a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. His life might have taken a different path, but as a senior at the University of Virginia, America was attacked.

“After the Pearl Harbor incident there wasn’t any question that I was going to go to war,” said Snowden.

Snowden says the country was more supportive back then. 16 million US citizens served. Women who stayed home built bombers and tanks. Families bought war bonds. Of the 16 million that fought, only two million remain.

And WWII Veterans are dying off at a rate of nearly 900 every day.”

Snowden’s not afraid of death. He’s stared it in the face most of his life. He says he gets news monthly of the passing of a vet he knew or fought with.

“No matter what you plan to do today and no matter what you plan to do tomorrow, you have the choice to do that. And why do you have that choice? You have it because veterans did what they did when they served I the armed forces,” said Snowden.

And as people celebrate Veteran’s Day, Snowden says don’t forget the troops fighting in two current US wars. He’s says they’re just as patriotic as WWII vets. Snowden is from Virginia but has lived in Tallahassee for the past 22 years. He still travels the country to talk about WWII, Iwo Jima, and the War on Terror.

On this Veterans Day many are remembering the loss of one of Florida’s greatest veterans. Retired Navy Admiral LeRoy Collins was killing in July while riding his bike in Tampa. Collins was the son of former governor LeRoy Collins. He also served as the secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs. His lifelong friend, United States Marine Corps General Bob Milligan, took over his post as secretary.

“He was an entrepreneur. He was into everything, anything he could come up with that might help veterans he would try to purse it and see if he could do something with it,” said Milligan.

On August 4th Collins was laid to rest beside his mother and father behind the governor’s mansion on a plot of land donated to the state by his family.

Charlie Crist, Alex Sink and a host of other candidates gave up safe seats to pursue higher office at a time of extreme voter anger. Now, many party activists are second guessing their decisions. “I believe I can best serve the people of Florida, if they’re willing to allow me, as their next United States Senator” said Crist at the time.

Crist became the first governor to fore-go a second term. against the advice of Longtime advisor George Lemieux. “I wished he would stayed as Governor and I wish he would have stayed in the Republican Party’ Lemieux said on the television program Facing Florida. “and I gave that advice to him, and he chose to follow his heart on that, and you can’t begrudge the decision’s he’s made.”

Had Crist heeded that advice, he might have appointed Marco Rubio to the Senate setting up a one on one face off against Kendrick Meek that might have given Democrats a fighting chance. It also would have avoided a total turnover in state leadership.

Instead, Alex Sink, just three  years into the CFO’s job jumped into the open governor’s race. So did Attorney General Bill McCollum. No one had yet heard of Rick Scott.

Then 7 others jumped into  Sink and McCollum’s empty seats. Opening up 2 State Senate Seats, one of which turned GOP and increased the party’s grip on the legislature.

Crist this week was upbeat about his trouncing and seem to have no second thoughts.

“But you know, it was time to move on, and I’m happy having made that decision. And now I am moving on” said Crist.

For Florida Democrats, Crist’s decision was a disaster. With no bench the party fielded weak candidates in four of the 5 statewide races. Now, democratic party insiders are calling for new leadership.

Christ says he has not thought about running for another political office, but most observers think he will seek a congressional seat in 2012

As American prepares to honor those who served our country, stunning statistics about retired soldiers still haunt our nation. One in every five homeless people is a veteran. More than 11-hundred US soldier committed suicide since 2005. As Whitney Ray tells us, as the country prepares to honor these vets, a new program is promising hope to those who answered the call of duty.

FSU ROTC Junior Lee Schafer is honoring US troops killed in Vietnam. Lee and dozens of other students are walking the walls of this Vietnam War Memorial for 24 hours in remembrance.

“Everyone who calls themselves an American citizen should remember those who have sacrificed their lives,” said Schafer.

But many have been forgotten and more than a billion dollars worth of benefits for Florida veterans goes unclaimed every year. A program launched four months ago is helping vets find the services they are entitled to. Florida Vets Connects gives veterans the option to find out more about benefits, by checking a box on their drivers licenses renewal form. CFO Alex Sink helped launch the program, with no added cost to taxpayers.

“They’ve lost contact. They’ve continued on with their regular lives and they don’t know about everything they may qualify for,” said Sink. .

So far 50-thousand veterans have taken advantage of the program. The soldiers are emailed information about health care benefits, education, home loans and tax breaks. The help comes as researchers try to find out why the suicide rate among veterans is higher then the general public.
The Department of Defense is giving Florida State University 17 million dollars to find out why. The goal isn’t just to pinpoint the cause, but to also find a prevention.

From now until 11:00 tomorrow morning Florida State University ROTC students will march in honor of US Troops who fought in Vietnam.

The vigil began today at 11:00. Two students every hour will pick up their ceremonial rifles and march along the walls of the Tallahassee Vietnam Memorial. The memorial holds the names of Florida soldiers who died in combat or went missing in action. FSU Junior Lee Schafer says every year for the past 20 years the vigil has moved people.

“We always at the closing ceremonies every year, we have a lot of people who come out and watch the final ceremony. It’s a powerful showing,” said Schafer.

Nearly 2-thousand Florida soldiers were killed in Vietnam.