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Florida received three F’s for its efforts to stop smoking in a report card released today by the American Lung Association. The report claims the state’s 34 cent cigarette tax doesn’t provide enough financial incentive for people to stop smoking. As Whitney Ray tells us, the association is joining the growing ranks who say the state needs to increase the cigarette tax.

Hear it Here: Florida Gets an ‘F’ for Low Cigarette Tax

One in five Floridians smokes cigarettes and according to the American Lung Association the state doesn’t spend enough money to help those people quit.

“Florida is fortunate that we have 60 million dollars that is constitutionally mandated to spend on these types of programs; it’s still not enough,” said Brenda Olsen with the American Lung Association.

The Association released a report card giving Florida low marks in its efforts to prevent smoking. The state received an ‘F’ for its 34 cent cigarette tax.

Efforts to increase the tax by a dollar are gaining support as the budget continues to fall. Even Governor Charlie Crist is changing his tune from a definite No to “not as yet.”

Tacking on an extra buck to the cigarette tax could generate 750-million dollars a year. Smoker Rita Chadwell hates the idea.

“To think that the government is going to step in and say, okay let’s pay another extra dollar, we might as well get the revenue where we can. Just because we’re in a recession doesn’t mean you have to stick it to everybody there is,” said Rita.

While the tax may not be popular among smokers, studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the price of a pack teen smoking drops seven percent and four percent fewer adults pick up the habit.

The state didn’t receive all F’s. The American Lung Association gave the state a ‘B’ for its bans on smoking near schools, restaurants and other public places.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer and Attorney General are getting closer to making decisions about running for US Senate in 2010.

Tuesday Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek announced his candidacy for the seat currently held by Republican Mel Martinez. CFO Alex Sink said her announcement will come soon.

“I can’t stand the tension myself. So yes, I’ll be making my decision very soon,” said Sink.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, said people are encouraging him to run.

“I am taking a very serious look at it. I’m talking to people about it who have encouraged me to run and we’re going to take our time and do it the right way. Not forever, but I can’t give you a timetable,” said McCollum.

Former Governor Jeb Bush was considered to be the front running for the seat. Bush took his name out of the hat last week.

Governor Charlie Crist says lawmakers need to reach a gaming agreement with the Seminole Indian tribe as soon as possible.

Crist wants lawmakers to reach a deal so the state can use 140 million dollars sitting in limbo. The tribe paid the money as part of a compact to allow them to play Vegas-style slots and blackjack in their casinos. The compact was later ruled invalid. Crist said if the legislature doesn’t act soon the money will be lost.

“My concern is that if we don’t seize the opportunity to have a compact with the tribe, the federal government will go ahead and do it anyway and we’ll lose the money, and that doesn’t sound like a very good plan to me,” said Crist.

Crist hopes lawmakers can reach an agreement with the tribe in March during the regular legislative session.

Florida’s schools are looking for a “few good men,” and women. The Department of Education is advertising its “Troops to Teachers” program on 40 billboards throughout the state. The program helps military veterans transition from the battlefield to the classroom. Thomas Smith, a Master Chief Petty Officer of the US Navy, said teaching will give him the chance to continue his service.

“Service to my country means a lot and what I’m trying to do is give back a little bit more to a country that has done so much for me and how better to do that than in the classroom,” said Smith.

The program offers $5,000 dollar stipends to soldiers trying to get their teaching certificates. It also offers cash incentives for soldiers who take jobs in schools with low income students.

Florida lawmakers are poised to cut nearly half a billion dollars from state schools. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Florida teachers and others are crying foul.

Hear it Here: Education Cuts Coming

The state’s biggest school district will lose 47 million. The smallest, about 150 thousand. Most are losing millions. The cuts represent a loss of a hundred forty dollars per student.

The Presidents of both Florida’s teachers union and the national union met briefly with the governor. And had taxes on their lips on the way in.”

“When you’re talking about revenue, you can’t cut your way out of this budget crisis that we’re in,” Florida Education Association president Andy Ford said.

Earlier in the day, Charlie Crist went from a definite no on increased cigarette taxes to
“not as yet.”

After the meeting with the union presidents, the Governor says he’s still hoping to avoid a tax hike.

“What we want to do is see what comes out of Washington and that may make it so it isn’t necessary to do those kinds of things,” Crist said.

Nation teacher’s union president Randi Weingarten says while federal money may make a difference, Florida needs a stable tax base.

“We can’t have cuts on the backs of kids. The economic downturn was not their fault,” Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said.

The governor is now sending a strong suggestion that he’ll veto an 11 million dollar cut to the National Merit teacher program.

Meanwhile, Florida teachers have started running a tv spot, depicting a politician asking kids what they’ve done for him lately.

Florida lawmakers will approve the cuts Wednesday.

Since 2007, Florida schools have trimmed over 8 hundred million from their budgets.

Compare the 2007-08 Budget and current cuts here. See pages 8 and 10 of this pdf psffepssa2009

On Wednesday, state Lawmakers will be voting to cut a half a billion dollars in education spending. The cuts will leave schools with 140 dollars less per student. As Whitney Ray tells us, many schools will have to reduce or eliminate elective classes, like art and music, to make ends meet.

Hear it Here: Schools Prepare For Budget Cuts

Math and economics are the new hot topics in Florida’s public schools. Principals are even getting out their calculators after the latest budget news.

Lawmakers agreed to cut education spending by $140 dollars per student. A final vote will be taken Friday. The principal at Leon High School with 2,000 students doesn’t like the equation.

“Times our student population, that’s a little over a quarter of million dollars and the average teacher’s salary is a little over $50,000 so that’s about five teachers,” said Principal Rocky Hanna.

Administrators say everything, including teaching positions, will be on the table to avoid bankruptcy. The Florida School Board Association says electives will be the first to go.

“Art and music are in jeopardy if someone doesn’t come up with some dollars to help us out,” said Wayne Blanton, with the Florida School Board Association.

Some help could come from the governor, who has to sign off on the budget deal.

“The reductions I recommended were less than what we are looking at, and I’m going to look close at them. Thank goodness because of the Florida Constitution, I have the opportunity to tweak some of these things,” said Governor Charlie Crist.

But educators say tweaking the current budget isn’t enough. They’re asking legislators to pass new taxes in March to generate more education dollars. Lawmakers will take another look at raising the cigarette tax in March. Another idea floating around Tallahassee: temporarily adding a dime to the state gas tax to fund schools.

The state is saying no to State Farm Insurance. The company asked for a whopping 47.1 percent average rate hike on homeowners insurance. The hike was denied in August and the company appealed.  Late this afternoon, the state invoked an administrative hearing judges formally denying the rate hike. In December, State Farm said it plans to shed about 170,000 Florida policy holders by 2010. Currently, 845 thousand homeowner are covered by State Farm.

Governor Charlie Crist met with the CEO’s of all 24 of Florida’s Workforce boards this morning. New unemployment numbers for Florida are due out on Friday, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the people who handle unemployment claims are already seeing the number of unemployed inching up.

Hear it Here: Governor Gets Earful from Workforce Boards

Florida’s unemployment was at 7.3 percent in November and expected to rise slightly when new numbers are released Friday. In anticipation of things getting worse, Governor Charlie Crist wanted to hear from the state’s 24 unemployment offices about what’s going on.

“It’s tough, these times that we’re in right now,” Crist said. “And it’s difficult, but we’ve been through worse before.”

The picture wasn’t pretty.

“The numbers that we’ve seen have increased dramatically,” Bruce Ferguson with Jacksonville Workforce said.

“For the month of December, our system saw 6.3 million in the ring of job seekers,” Kim Moore, Tallahassee Workforce CEO said.

“We don’t have the capacity to handle all the citizens coming in,” Rick Beasly, a Miami Workforce Administrator, said.

Job centers across Florida are jammed and as work becomes available, employers are reporting record numbers of applicants.

“What we’ve heard a lot from businesses, is we have three openings for a ten dollar job and I get over 500 resumes,” Lisa Rice with Brevard County Workforce said.

In Palm Beach, the number of people with advanced degrees out of work is increasing.

“It’s a whole different landscape to see highly educated people on food stamps,” Kathryn Schmidt with Palm Beach Workforce Alliance said.

Because of the crowds, both job seekers and employers are encouraged to use the state’s website, EmployFlorida.com.

At 7.3 percent last month, unemployment in Florida has been averaging a half point higher than the national average. On Friday, the U.S. jobless rate for December went to 7.2 percent.

The Workforce administrators also asked the Governor for more flexibility to use training funds to actually train job seekers on the job. And they are applauding an 8.5 million dollar gardening program to provide loans to small companies.

Governor Charlie Crist says he will look closely at budget cuts being made by lawmakers. The legislature ignored the Governor’s request to use 140 million from Indian gaming to offset school cuts. Lawmakers also hit trust funds, such as the Lawton Chiles Endowment harder than Crist would have liked. He wasn’t advocating a cigarette tax hike, but others were. It was dismissed without debate, so we asked if lawmakers were putting smokers ahead of students.

“I don’t know that they did. Education is one of the most important things that we fund around here,” Crist said. “The reductions I recommended were less than what we’re looking at. I’m going to look closely at that. Thank goodness, because of the Florida constitution, I have the opportunity to tweak some of these things. So we’ll take a close look at that.”

Some lawmakers say it is too late in the budget year to get any money from an increased cigarette tax, but if a dollar a pack levy were to have taken effect in April, it could have raised as much as 250 million dollars, or about half of the cuts being felt by public schools.

State lawmakers have reached an agreement on how to fill the state’s 2.4 billion dollar budget shortfall. The package includes a billion dollars in spending cuts on education, health care and social services. Traffic fines will go up to help fund courts and prisons. As Whitney Ray tells us, Democrats say new taxes should have been part of the package.

Hear it Here: Lawmakers Reach Budget Agreement

Schools are taking the biggest blow from the budget ax. Lawmakers are agreeing to cut a half billion dollars in education spending. Health care will also suffer. Republican lawmakers are applauding their efforts to balance the budget without raising taxes.

“A lot of folk though we were going to have to raise taxes or find other revenues, but we lived within the means of the resources that the people of Florida has sent us. We didn’t raise taxes. We cut existing expenditures and I think everybody can be proud of that,” said Republican Representative David Rivera.

But Democrats disagree. They wanted taxes on the table, including a cigarette tax, to save schools and health care from the budget ax

“A lot of programs that are important or vital to our communities will be eliminated or will go unfunded, and now we will have to go back and find ways to fund those in the regular session,” said Democratic Representative Alan Williams.

While taxes won’t increase, traffic fines will. Running a red light will soon cost drivers $208 dollars. Speeding violations are also going up. The increased fines will help fund the state’s courts and prisons.

Other state programs will be saved by trust fund dollars. To get through the year lawmaker will borrow $700 million dollars from the Lawton Chiles trust fund. Lawmakers will review the budget this week and take a final vote on Friday. From there the budget goes to the Governor for final approval.

Lawmakers are turning to speeders and bad drivers to save Florida’s courts and prisons from the budget ax. Today state senators voted to raise the cost of a traffic ticket. As Whitney Ray tells us, some drivers say if the new prices stick, they wouldn’t be able to afford them.

Hear it Here: Lawmakers Look to Drivers to Balance the Budget

There’s now more incentive to stay on the right side of the law. Speeders beware, state Lawmakers are voting to raise traffic fines. Senator Victor Crist said raising ticket prices will make Florida’s roads safer.

“There has been a growing epidemic of those running red lights, those driving at excessive levels over the speed limit. With less law enforcement on the street it only makes sense to get tougher on those who would break the law,” said Crist.

The price of running a red light will soon go up ten bucks, to $208 dollars. Speeding will also be more expensive: 20 miles per hour over the limit will cost $258 dollars. The legislation takes away a judges right to waive fines.”

Martell Correa said the higher fines could change some people’s driving habits

“That’ll probably get them to probably slow down or probably think about what they’re doing on the road,” said Correa.

Teresa Lawrence said she can’t afford the higher prices.

“If I couldn’t pay it, then they going to send out a warrant, because you can’t go to court you can’t pay the ticket, so it’s going to create more problems,” said Lawrence.

An easy answer for drivers worried about the higher ticket cost, obey the law.

The Gator Nation was in full force at the state capitol Friday as lawmakers wore their blue and orange to celebrate The University of Florida’s third national football championship.

Gator scarves, ties, and even license plates could be seen around the capitol as former Florida Alumni showed their school spirit. Lake County Republican and retired dentist Alan Hays painted his teeth orange and blue and gave his fellow lawmakers a pep talk.

“It was grand. It’s great to be a member of the Gator Nation today, but there’s something serious, there mister speaker, we can learn from the Gators last night. The only way they were able to win that victory and be the national championship today was through team work, that’s the kind of team work we need in the Florida Legislature to be winners for the people of Florida,” said Hays.

Governor Charlie Crist is celebrating the Gator win by cashing in on a bet with Oklahoma’s Governor. Crist bet Florida Oranges against Oklahoma Steaks.

State lawmakers will work over the weekend to reach an agreement on how fill the 2.3 billion dollar budget deficit.

Both chambers will pass their budget balancing packages before the day is out. The plans include a billion dollars in education, health care, and social service spending cuts. House and Senate Democrats opposed the cuts and asked leadership for a chance to look at new revenue sources. Senator Larcenia Bullard said the state should close tax loopholes like those on dry-cleaning and bottled water, before they cut more school spending.

“We continue to allow for millions of dollars in tax breaks and tax cuts but, we can’t find the money that’s needed to fund education,” said Bullard.

Agreement is expected on Monday. Once the budget is printed, lawmakers will have three days to review the plan. Then they’ll take a final vote Friday and send the budget on to the governor.

On Monday, a female correctional officer was sexually assaulted at a North Florida prison. The assault comes as state lawmakers are considering laying off several hundred officers. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, officers are concerned fewer officers will make prisons unsafe.

Hear it Here: Corrections Facing Cuts, Facing Problems

Florida Prisons topped one hundred thousand inmates for the first time in December. And while the number of inmates is increasing, the number of correctional officers is on the decline.

The rape of a female officer in Baker County has other officers concerned.

“Since the last round of cuts, we’ve had to critical incidents in the prisons where a female officer was killed and one was sexually assaulted,” Jim Baiardi with the Florida Police Benevolent Association said. “The staff’s backs are up against the wall.”

Baiardi has been working the Capitol hallways, trying to stave off more cuts.

The lobbying has been partially successful. Legislation moving through the Capitol isn’t as bad as first thought.

“To keep our prison gates shut, we are proposing only a two percent overall reduction in the Department of Corrections, rather than the four percent original directive,” Senator Victor Crist said.

Still, some officers will be fired.

Who gets fired from where is still up in the air. But of the 500 positions being eliminated, at least half are filled with real people.

But with more inmates and even fewer officers, Baiardi wonders what will keep his officers motived.

“It’s a dangerous job, let’s face it,” Baiardi said. “But these budget cuts are making it more dangerous. Everyday we’re walking around with more people that couldn’t behave in public.”

Negotiations will take place over the weekend, so the number of correctional officers being fired could go up, or down.

The Department of Corrections says there were 854 assaults by inmates on officers last year. While some caused major harm, many were minor in nature. The Department also disputes that cuts are responsible for the rape on Monday, saying, “The responsibility for the assault on an officer at Baker Correctional Institution (BCI) should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the inmate who committed this despicable act, not on budget cuts. BCI was appropriately staffed at the time of this incident, as are all our prison facilities.

State lawmakers are in the process of suspending the states land buying program.

Know as Florida Forever, the program costs about 20 million this year to bond land purchases. Representative Will Wetherford said if he has to choose between new lands or protecting people, he is choosing people.

“I think everybody in the legislature is a fan of Florida Forever,” Wetherford said. “It’s a tremendously successful program, however, in times where we are cutting education or impossible cuts to medicaid, we have to take our priorities and put them in order. And while I think environmental lands are important, we think we can delay it for a year and not hurt the program itself”.

Lawmakers says not buying more land will have another beneficial effect besides saving money. It will also keep more land on local tax rolls.