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While the Democratic National Committee has vowed to seat a Florida delegation, no decision on how to award the delegates has been reached. Yesterday the DNC released a joint statement with Florida’s Democratic Party vowing to work together to seat the delegates. While the national and state parties seem to be working out their differences, the final decision will have to be approved by both Democratic presidential hopeful. State Party Spokesman Mark Bubriski says the Florida Democrats are focused on coming up with a plan to appease both candidates.

“We understand the positions of both campaigns as well, so you know our purpose is to have the voters of Florida recognized in the process and be involved in the national convention so whatever we can do to help bring these two campaigns together on a decision on this we are going to do that,” said Bubriski.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller says having the DNC’s support doesn’t bring Florida any closer to a resolution.

A St. Petersburg man who spent 24 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit is one step closer to being a millionaire tonight. Alan Crotzer went to prison in 1982 and was freed in 2006 after DNA proved he didn’t commit the crime. By a 33 to 5 vote, the Florida Senate sent a 1.25 million dollar claims bill to the governor this afternoon. After the vote, Crotzer hugged his wife and children. He says the only thing that allowed him to get through the ordeal was his mother’s belief that he was innocent. She died before her son was freed.

“It’s about my mother. She always said when God fixes things, he’ll fix it right. And she’s just not here. She’s just not her man,” said Crotzer.

The only thing between Crotzer and the money is the governor’s signature. Righting the wrong was part of the governor’s state of the state address. He is expected to sign the claims bill as soon as it hits his desk.

There were some tense moments on the Florida State University campus at lunch this afternoon. The bomb squad was called out after a maintenance worker walked by a car in a parking garage and saw a briefcase with the word A-Bomb scrawled across it. No explosives were found. Police later determined the briefcase belonged to a student.

“It belonged to a 17 year old student here locally. The brief case just a few minutes ago was found to be empty, nothing inside. Apparently the kid’s name, nickname was A-bomb and that was found on the suitcase,” said FUS Policeman Lt. Jason Trumbower.

The moral of the story, pick your nickname carefully.

Every homeowner in Florida is paying an assessment to cover the losses of the failed Poe Insurance Companies. But now the state says in a law suit that company officials and directors milked the company for more than 100 million dollars as the companies were going belly up. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, if the state is successful, it will mean less for future insurance policies.

Hear it here: State Seek Money From Fallen Insurer

As hurricane after hurricane struck the state in 2004 and 2005, A lawsuit filed by the state says executives at the Poe Insurance Companies were striking as well, milking the company assets for themselves. The suit alleges that for more than a year, officers and directors drained more than a hundred million dollars from the company, money that should have gone to pay claims.

Because the companies went belly up every homeowners policy in the state has A 20 dollar surcharge for every thousand dollars a homeowner pays in premiums the lawsuit seeks to recover more than 144 million.

The assets really belong to the policy holders and those people who have
Claims with the companies. In a statement, the Attorney General’s office said it stands ready to investigate any allegations of criminal activity if the CFO makes a request.

The lawsuit also alleges the POE companies mislead regulators about the company’s financial health as executives were paying themselves huge dividends. Bob Lotane was at the office of Financial Services when the state was trying to close POE down.

“They were not willing to do down. They weren’t willing to let us in the door. And once we did get in, they were not exactly welcoming,” said Lotane.

Florida insurance buyers won’t get a refund if the suit is successful, but the suit may help offset future surcharges that will be added to everyone’s policy because of the Poe Company losses. The suit is expected to take about a year to settle. The next step is for the company to respond in writing.

Florida ranks number two nationally in the number of home foreclosures. Bills designed to help those losing their homes are bottled up at the capitol and as Whitney Ray tells us, several dozen people at risk of losing their homes took their anger to the Tallahassee.

Hear it here: Taskforce Provides Hope To People Drowning In Unpaid Loans

The front steps of the capitol looked like a camp ground Wednesday. Angry Floridians caught in foreclosure set up tents to highlight their losing battle with lenders.

“I got a 35,000 dollar mortgage that mortgage has now ballooned to 115,000 dollars.”

Carrying signs and chanting, the angry group marched around the capitol. Carolyn Patmon got involved a year ago after a lender offered to buy her mortgage with the promise of a lower interest rate.

“They sought me out. I wasn’t going out looking for anybody. You know. And they talk to you smooth as silk,” said Patmon.

Desperate for lending reform, the group marched into the capitol for the last meeting of a task force investigating the state’s mortgage crisis. Three bills aimed at saving homes from foreclosure were filed this year. State Representative Geraldine Thompson filed a bill requiring lenders to give borrowers 90 days to discuss changing their loans, before the lender could foreclose. Thompson said she doubts her bill will be heard.

“The reason we don’t see more of these kinds of bills moving is because we’re talking about people who don’t have the kind of money to hire lobbyist,” said Thompson.

While the foreclosure bills may not make it to the governor, the taskforce recommendations will, giving hope to people who fear they could be living in tents. The Task Force will give its recommendations to the Governor, Senate President and Speaker of the House later this month.

Governor Charlie Crist and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marion played catch at the state capitol today as the two teamed up to fight for coverage of autism on health insurance policies. Marino will serve on a task force set up by the governor. Marion has a 19 year old autistic son. The quarterback said his resources allowed him to get help for his son and others should have the same opportunity.

“I think it’s going to mean is that a lot of people that don’t have opportunities to get services, treatments, and the help they need for their family to succeed in life is going to come true. It’s going to give them opportunities. It’s going to give them opportunities to transition into a regular job later in life. My son is 19 now. He’ll be in a position to have a job…and be very successful in life, and I think it’s because of early intervention. I was able to give him a lot of services that a lot of people need today, and it’s not being paid for by insurance companies,” said Marino.

The task for report is due in March.

Efforts to change the state song, “Old Folks at Home”, are bogging down at the state Capitol. The song makes references to “old darkeys” and is considered offensive to many. Even Governor Charlie Crist refused to play the song at his inauguration. Opposition to the change is coming from Senators whose district contains the Suwannee River. Senator Steve Oelrich said the state shouldn’t give up on the song.

“It would be appropriate, I think, to change whatever offending lyrics people have and keep the song, mainly because of the melody,” said Oelrich.

But others Like Senator Al Lawson say Florida has outlived the lyrics.

“So now we have a song that needs to be changed, and I thing we ought to
fall in line just like we did before and get rid of a song that is very offensive to everybody. It shouldn’t be a big deal,” said Oelrich.

Time is running out in the session. The final four weeks will concentrate mostly on cutting the state budget. Not getting the bill heard would be a victory for those who like the song.

The state House gave tentative approval Wednesday to a bill dampening teen modeling web sites. The sites often recruit young girls and have them pose provocatively. The bill defines what is harmful to minors. Sponsor Ron Schenck of Spring Hill says the legislation will stop people from preying on children.

“It really gets at these teen modeling sites that are based here in Florida. The sites are really almost a cancer on our society. They show girls as young as 13 scantily clad and sometimes topless, and they are able to do this because the parents give consent. So what the bills does is make it illegal, regardless of whether the parents give consent or not. It’s one of these bills that’s going to protect my kids when they grow up and protect everyone’s kids and grandkids in the state of Florida,” said Schenck.

The bill will clear the House at its next meeting. It must still be heard in the Senate.

A bill would ban hanging nooses in people’s yards. Some people see the noose as art. For many the noose is a reminder of the murders of hundreds of African Americans in the early and mid 1900s. State Representative Geraldine Thompson is sponsoring the bill. She says displaying a noose should be a hate crime.

“A noose goes back to the days of lynching in the state of Florida, and these are meant to intimidate and frighten individuals and we want to make sure there’s a criminal offense associated with that kind of behavior,” said Thompson.

The proposed bill would also make it a hate crime to display of the swastika.

Governors from all 50 states say education funding is the key to a healthy economy. Researchers studied state of the state addresses from every state over the last four years. They found governors talked about the link between education and economical growth more than any other subject in their speeches. The report was released by Communities for Quality Education. Spokesperson Damien Filer said the study proves that Florida needs to focus on education for long term economic success.

“Because it’s such a tough budget year in Florida and because there’s already such a significant portion of dollars going to education, but again, the temptation to make cuts there really needs to be guarded against in Florida in order to protect the health of our economy,” said Filer.

Recent budget proposals suggest taking nearly a billion dollars from public education to fill the state’s growing budget deficit.

Healthcare leaders in Florida are taking steps to end childhood obesity. Nemours partnered with the University of South Florida to release a group of studies on child healthcare called the Florida Chartbook. These studies found that a third of Florida’s children between ages 10 and 17 are obese or overweight. Lisa Simpson co-authored the book.

“The Chartbook reveals that while many children are healthy in Florida, far too many do not enjoy the health that they should nor do they have access to the healthcare services that they need,” said Simpson.

Nemours also revealed the results of their Capitol Steps for Kids Pedometer Challenge. Over 20,000 children and their families participated in this statewide challenge and walked over eight million steps combined.

The battle to seat Florida’s Democratic delegates seems to be going somewhere. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean announced today, that Florida’s democratic delegation will be seated at the national convention in August. Dean released a joint statement with Florida’s Democratic Party leader Karen Thurman. State Senator Steve Geller said the agreement doesn’t matter.

“We must work out an agreement on fair terms reflecting the will of Florida’s voters to seat our delegates and again today’s announcement really doesn’t mean anything,” said Geller.

The national and state parties haven’t reached an agreement yet, on how to seat Florida’s delegates. Florida was penalized after lawmakers voted to move up the primary.

The hunt is on at the state Capitol for ways to spare schools and social services deep cuts in a tight budget year, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the cash shortage has some questioning whether the state should continue holding sales tax free holidays.

School supplies and back to school clothing costing less than 50 dollars
could be tax free again during the first week of August, or not. A tight
budget has some suggesting the popular tax break is too expensive.

“This is clearly one of those years we can’t afford it. I mean, we’re doing such grave damage to education this year. We’re doing such grave justice to the civil justice system, the criminal justice system,” said state Senator Steve Geller.

A week without sales tax on school supplies costs the state 40 million
dollars. And local governments another nine million. The sales tax free holiday cleared a House Council. It is almost certain to clear the full House. It has the support of the Speaker.

“It’s one of the few benefits that we pass every year that actually helps the working folks, the ones that are struggling to make ends meet, especially now. To have the ability to buy back to school clothing without having to pay sales tax is of enormous benefit to them,” said Rubio.

Governor Charlie Crist is also giving the tax holiday a green light.

“I know it’s going to turn around soon. The sun always comes up in
Florida,” said Crist.

Despite the support, as the budget crisis deepens lawmakers are asking if buying critical medicine for the sick is more important than saving a few dollars on school clothing. A June tax free week for hurricane supply shopping is also being considered this year. Combined, the two tax free weeks cost the state more than 70 million dollars.

Teens could no longer use cell phones while driving under legislation moving at the capitol. The bill would also make it illegal for any driver to send text messages. As Whitney Ray tells us, lawmakers say the bill is about safety, but others say it doesn’t go far enough to protect drivers.

Today’s drivers are more distracted than ever. Navigation devices, Ipods, and of course cell phones compete with the road for drivers’ attention. Senator Carey Baker wants teens to turn off their phones before they turn on their cars.

“Those who are under 18 who are still quiet frankly learning to drive who have not developed the skills to be a proficient driver and should not be on a cell phone,” said Baker.

A Senate committee unanimously agreed, approving a bill making it illegal for drivers under 18 to use their phones. The bill would also keep drivers of all ages from sending text messages. While the bill would ban text messaging while driving your car, it wouldn’t keep people from dialing their phone. Senator Frederica Wilson said Baker’s bill doesn’t go far enough. Wilson proposed legislation banning all drivers from texting and dialing their phones while on the road. Her bill was voted down.

“People are losing their lives. Their getting maimed,” said Wilson.

Bikers say when drivers are using their cell phones they’re not paying attention.

“These people are on their cell phones and you can watch them, wham. When you’re in rush hour traffic where can you go?” said biker Robert Conroy

Opponents of Bakers bill say it would be hard to prove whether or not a driver was texting or simply dialing a number. If the bill is signed into law, people caught texting while driving would have to pay a 60 dollar fine on top of court cost.

House and Senate education leaders said Tuesday they hope to hold school
funding cuts to less than two percent. The amount is significantly less
than the rest of government, which could see 10 percent cuts. The plan
is to shift money around, and allow each school district flexibility to
shift money from non-critical areas into the classroom. The plan also
hinges on weakening the class size amendment, allowing class sizes to be
counted as a school average rather than actual class sizes. Bill Montford of the School Superintendents Association says the change is the only way to make a bad year better.

“This will be one of the toughest that we’ve had in recent history. What
complicates it even more is the requirement of the class size reduction
amendment. That changes the rules considerable. That makes it much more
difficult. But with the flexibility the legislature is providing us, it
makes it much easier to meet these demands in a much much more
responsive way,” said Montford.

Votes approved the class size amendment in 2002. The plan for measuring
class sizes was developed by lawmakers and can be changed without
another vote of the public.