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Despite an unemployment rate that exceeds the national average, dwindling state revenue, and losing a spot on Senator McCain’s ticket… Governor Charlie Crist remains popular in Florida. A new Quinnipiac poll released today has Crist approval rate at 61 percent. Crist’s popularity in Florida peaked at 73 percent in March of 2007 but has remained steady around 60 percent this year. Assistant Director of the polling institute Peter Brown said Crist is one of the most liked governors in the country.

“Floridians like Charlie Crist a lot. They think he’s done a good job, they think he’s kept his campaign promises. He’s got two years to go before the election, but among sitting governors in the country, he’s in pretty good shape,” said Brown.

One governor more popular in her state than Crist is in Florida is McCain’s running-mate Sarah Palin. Palin’s approval rating among Alaskans is in the 90’s.

The day began with 3478 missing ballots in Palm Beach County. The ballots were cast August 26th and have come up missing as the state ordered a recount in a close judicial race. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, now the state is considering sending monitors to Palm Beach for the November election.

The 3478 missing ballots in Palm Beach county has state elections officials worried about November. The Secretary of State Kurt Browning is considering his options.

We’re not quite sure what direction we’re going to go yet with that” says Browning. “Whether we’re going to send a team in, whether we’re going to send an individual in, how long term”.

The election snafu caused the state canvassing board to certify every August 26th election result but one between two judicial candidates.

The next stop, ironically, a court room.

Since 2000, Palm Beach has gone from punch cards to touch screens and now, for the first countywide election, optical scans.

Governor Charlie Crist was asked “Do you think this will diminish voter confidence in the voting equipment?

He replied: “I hope not, I hope not. It shouldn’t.”

The drama will play out here in Tallahassee…because all election cases must be fought here. At least one of the best election lawyers in the state has already been hired.

The state is confident the votes are not lost but just misplaced and will eventually turn up. But that won’t be enough to settle the judicial race, or to quell fears that Florida could once again be a post child for inept voting.

“We’re trying to continue to dig us out of that 2000 hole that we’ve been put into” says Browning.

And the last thing election officials want is for the state to once again be the legal battleground for the Presidency.

Florida remains under a state of emergency in the face of Hurricane Ike. The state operations center is operating at peak levels with the potential of a category four storm hitting the state next week. Governor Charlie Crist says everyone needs to have a plan.
But shouldn’t panic.

“Ike is the fourth storm we have faced in less than a month; and we are still in the peak of what could become one of our most active tropical storm seasons. As I said yesterday that’s a lot coming at us but we must remain vigilant, focused, and calm”,
Says Crist.

The Governor will meet with 5 mayors in South Florida on Saturday to review their plans, then travel to Orlando to inspect a giant warehouse filled with water and other relief supplies.

Beginning Monday, Florida’s 9 through 12th graders are being asked to participate in a state wide arts contest called Arts Build Florida. The contest ends Nov 7th. Tom Prestopnik taught art in Martin county for more than 20 years. He says art was what kept many of his at risk students in school.

“It’s very important to keep them in the schools.”. Says Prestopnik. “In order for them to become productive members of our economic society. We don’t need them as a burden on society, we need them to be there producing.”

For complete rules go to: http://www.florida-arts.org/artcontest/

Tallahassee resident Dale Doss spent 5 years in the same Vietnamese prison camp where John McCain was held. Doss spent his first two years in solitary, but was in a cell directly behind the GOP Presidential hopeful. They communicated by tapping on cement walls and Doss says his experience gave him an appreciation for how much a man could endure.

“They knew who they had AND he was a marked man, you might say, If they could convert him to …  for him to make tapes against the war say that the war was bad to make this propaganda because that’s what they wanted us to do. That’s why they captured us. So they worked on him hard for that kind of propaganda, if they could do that it would be a real coup for them… and he denied them that, he’s a tough cookie, he was in pain”, says Doss.

Before retiring, Doss spent 17 years working on veterans programs for Leon County.

Jim Krog, a former chief of staff for Gov. Lawton Chiles, and a respected lobbyist, died of a heart attack Thursday. Krog was instrumental in persuading Chiles to seek the Governor’s job after he retired from the US Senate, then helped him win a tough re election fight against Jeb Bush. He also squared off against Charlie Crist when he was a State Senator. Today the Governor told reporters his passing is a tragedy.

“I was very saddened to see Jim’s passing. I had enormous respect for him. I can remember, actually, during my first session as governor having him over at the mansion and seeking his council about how we ought to proceed. He was very generous with his time and was really a fun guy. He had a great attitude, very bright. He will be sorely missed.” said Crist.

Krog was 60 and died of heart failure. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Supreme Court’s decision to kick the tax swap amendment off the ballot leaves nothing for property owners to do but complain. As Mike Vasilinda tells us the next move with be up to state lawmakers.

TRIM notices or truth and millage statements, have been showing up in mailboxes. Telling property owners what to expect when their property tax bills arrive later this year. One thing is for certain, the governor’s oft repeated “we’ve got to drop property taxes like a rock,” is not reality.

In most cases, if property taxes are falling at all, it is more like a pebble.

Charlie Crist was ready to campaign for the tax swap amendment before it was kicked off the ballot for being misleading. At a hurricane briefing, he tried not to react.

“I’m concerned with Hanna and Ike right now,” Crist said. “That’s where I go from here.”

But afterward, reporters persisted: would he call lawmakers into a special session to deal with property taxes?

“We’ll get back to you on that,” he said.

A special session is exactly what the Florida Chamber is calling for.

“Well, we would hope that the governor and the legislature would convene as soon as possible to look at solutions,” Dan Krassner with the Florida Chamber said.

The Florida Education isn’t going that far, but it is suggesting something needs to be done for schools.

“We have to figure out a way that we can fairly tax everyone in the state and also maintain the services we need, like investing in public education,” FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow said.

So far there are lots of ideas about what’s wrong with the state’s tax system, but no concrete ideas for making it better.

Since lawmakers and the Tax and Budget Reform Commission started tinkering with the tax system last year, two of their three proposals have been knocked off the ballot because they were not clear.

Justice Raoul Cantero is leaving the Florida Supreme Court. Appointed by Jeb Bush, he is the first Cuban born justice on the states high court. Cantero is leaving the court to practice law in Miami. Today, the court and Governor paid tribute to the retiring justice.

“You have served with incredible distinction and honor,” Governor Crist said. “And what you have done for the people, along with your wonderful, esteemed colleagues, is extraordinary. Public service is a calling. And you have another calling now, and we all appreciate that.”

Cantero was part of the seven-nothing majority that yesterday took the tax swap and two school voucher amendments off the November ballot. Charlie Crist has already named Appeals Court Judge Charles Canady to replace Cantero. Canady takes over the job next week.

Catching a flight to and from the Capital City is going to be more difficult and time consuming after October 1st. That’s when Delta ends non stop flights from Tallahassee to Tampa, Orlando, and Ft. Lauderdale. Governor Charlie Crist says he has been trying to change the airlines mind, but is also exploring other options.

“I’ve been calling the president of Delta for four days and I was finally able to chat with him yesterday and he was very gracious,” Crist said. “And I said, you know, we really would like to continue to have this service, to support our state, to support our economy. But you know, I think it’s good to have a couple plays, so I called Southwest too. And I’m exchanging phone calls with the president of Southwest airlines to see if we can’t reverse what Delta has decided to do, to maybe move Southwest into our market.”

Delta will still service the Capitol, but only through Atlanta.

Hanna, Ike and Josephine continue to churn in the Atlantic. It is still unclear if any of the storms will make landfall in Florida, but the state emergency operations center says people need a plan and one they have it, to go about business as usual. Since 2006, the state has stockpiled goods in Orlando, and State Emergency Director Craig Fugate says if a storm should hit, the state is in a better position than ever to respond.

“That warehouse in Orlando has the capacity right now, about two hundred truck loads of water. About 10 million dollars worth of meals-ready-to-eat,” Fugate said. “So it gives us a much quicker reaction to these storms. It gives us the ability to start much quicker getting things out the door than we’ve ever had before.”

Ike continues to pose the biggest threat to the state and forecasters say it will be the weekend before they have a better idea of where it will go.

At least two tourists died in rip tides as Fay moved across Florida. Hanna is expected to stay off the east coast of the state, but the Governor is warning tourists and residents alike to heed the lessons learned in Fay.

“Floridians and visitors to our Atlantic and Gulf beaches must stay out of the surf,” Crist said. “The rip currents from these storms are dangerous and even deadly.”

Hanna is expected to be off the east coast later tonight.

The Florida Supreme Court today asked tough questions about whether the ballot title and summary for the tax swap amendment were misleading. A lower court had already ruled the amendments promise to replace lost school funding was misleading because voters aren’t told the promise is good for only one year. As Mike Vasilinda tells us the court agreed.

Amendment 5 eliminates most school property taxes. Its title and summary tells voters it will be replaced with “equivalent state revenues”.

Justice Peggy Quince and others at the Supreme Court asked tough and pointed questions.

“It eliminates for all time correct?
“Correct” said Attorney Mark Herron
“And replaces for one year?” asked Quince.
“It replaces in the year in which the elimination occurs” responded Herron.

Justice Fred Lewis offered that it was time to stop playing games.

“That it not engage in all these catchy phrases and political jargon, if you will, that’s popular of the day, so that the people of Florida will know what they are voting on” says the judge.

Afterwards Heron indicated he had seen the writing on the wall.

“I’ve done this before a lot of times. I’ve gotten beat up a lot of times. Some times you win, some times you lose” says Herron.

This was one of those times. Barry Richard represented a coalition that wanted the amendment off the ballot. He felt good at the conclusion of the arguments.

“It’s a very fundamental principle of democratic society in that people need to know what they are voting for”.

We asked Roberta Burton if she knew what she thought the language meant.
She responded “And that they are going to replace it with other revenue”.
Do you think it means forever?
“Probably as long as it’s going to last”.

And based on at least this one voter’s reading…the court was correct. The amendment was misleading. The court took a little over 4 hours to rule. A speedy ruling was necessary because the state needed to know what to print on the November ballots by Friday.

The Florida Supreme Court also took 2 education related amendments off the November ballot today. Amendment 7 would have ended the state prohibition of public monies being spent at religious institutions. Amendment 9 would have re-instituted vouchers for private schools. Both were found to be misleading because, like the tax swap amendment, the amendments did not give voters a clear picture of what the ultimate impact of the amendments would be. Andy Ford of the Florida Education Association says the court made the right decision.

“This is a voucher issue. This has nothing to do with taxation or budget processes. This is purely vouchers and it is deceptive because it never uses the word”.

Both amendments were offered by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, making it 0 for 3 before the Supreme Court. The teachers union says the court has sent a clear statement that drafters can not mask the clear intent of their proposals.

After a slew of restaurants were discovered substituting other, less expensive white fish for Grouper, the Attorney General’s office began investigating. Today they reached a settlement with food supplier Sysco. The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Sysco West Coast supplied grouper products to 14 of the 17 restaurants under investigation for serving alternate species of fish. Attorney General Spokesperson Sandi Coates says in the settlement, the giant company has promised to start randomly testing grouper samples.

“As part of the settlement, Sysco will be taking different steps to ensure that when they market fish items as grouper, they are taking steps to ensure there is commercial responsibility, and that they are actually sending grouper to the restaurant”  Says Copes.

If the company determines through testing that what it is marketing as Grouper is not Grouper, the company has promised to donate the food to area food banks and soup kitchens. The company will also pay the state $200,000 in investigative costs.

Officials at the State Emergency Operations Center are breathing a sigh of relief tonight, at least temporarily. Tropical Storm Hanna is now forecast to skirt the state but not make direct impact. The Governor calls that good news but with the storm set to follow the coastline this weekend, Charlie Crist says not to forget it is there.

“Go about your lives, do what you normally do, but its very important to stay in tune, stay in touch” Crist says. “Listen to your local weather advisories, and make sure you have a NOAA band weather radio, get extra batteries. In other words, just be smart. Utilize common sense and make sure you keep you eye on the weather. ..because even though Florida is outside this cone of error as it relates to Hanna, they call it a cone of error. That means it can change”.

Ike and Josephine are behind Hanna. Only Ike appears to be a threat to the state.