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New unemployment numbers show 7 percent of the state’s workforce is out of a job. The numbers are up by four tenths of a percent over October and are up 2 point 7 percent over October a year ago. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Construction jobs continue top lead job losses.

Hear it Here: Unemployment Hits Seven Percent

Florida’s unemployment offices are doing a booming business. 655,000 people are now out of work in Florida. Construction accounts for 4 of every 10 jobs lost. 12,000 people lost jobs in the financial industry. Statewide 156 thousand fewer people are working than October a year ago.

At seven percent, Florida’s unemployment rate is a full half a percent higher than the national average. Economist Rebecca Rust doesn’t expect big improvements any time soon. “We expect some improvements in the job market in the second half of 2009″. Says Rust. “In 2010 and 2011, we should get back to normal growth levels”. She added.

There are bright spots. Education and health care are showing modest job gains. The state website, EmployFlorida dot com lists 200 thousand job openings across the state. We found Arthur Johnson looking for work as a painter. I’ve been painting for 15 years” Johnson told us. “I applied for one yesterday and the interview went through. But they had another guy there who had more experience, so they said if he don’t come through, they would contact me”.

One embarrassed job seeker didn’t want her name or picture used, but told us finding a job was elusive. “ It’s put me in a bad position. A homeless position. A position where I can’t take care of myself nor my child”. She says.

Miami and Tampa showed the biggest job losses, while 6 panhandle counties posted unemployment rates at or below 5 percent. The lowest unemployment rate belongs to Walton County in the Panhandle, where the rate is 4.5 percent. The highest rate is in Hendry County where 13 percent of the population is out of work. Slowness in seasonal agricultural work is being blamed for the high rate.

october-unemployment

New unemployment numbers are due out tomorrow and right now Florida’s unemployment rate is well above the national average at 6.6 percent. The state has already paid a billion dollars in unemployment benefits and as Whitney Ray tells us, the unemployed are worried about the state’s ability to continue to pay claims.

Hear it Here: State Boosts Healthy Unemployment Fund

Clayton Watts was laid off from his construction job last month. He’s waiting on an unemployment check he says the state promised to send a week ago.

“They’re going to turn my electricity off. My rent is due. I’m out of gas. It’s hard to find any work. It’s tough,” said Clayton.

Clayton’s not alone. Florida’s unemployment rate is well above the national average. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation has paid about a million unemployment claims since January. The agency’s director Monesia Brown said her office has been working overtime to keep up with the need.

“We’ve seen almost a 150 percent increase in claims this over last year at the same time. We’ve paid out over a billion dollars in benefits this year,” said Brown.

Despite the huge payout, Brown said the state’s unemployment insurance fund is still healthy with more 1.6 billion dollars available. The state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is financed though an unemployment tax on businesses.

Florida’s 11 public universities could raise tuition as much as 15 percent a year under a new plan being back by Governor Charlie Crist.

The state’s five largest universities (Florida State University, University of Florida , University of South Florida, Florida International University and the University of Central Florida), can already raise rates without legislative approval. In the past, Crist has been vocal about his opposition to tuition hikes and even vetoed a five percent increase just two years ago. Crist said Florida’s university presidents persuaded him to change his mind.

“Things evolve. Originally I opposed a bill that would have done that, and changed my mind and signed it, and it was after having good consultation with the people who stand with me today and the realization that you produce good jobs by having great education and great education needs to be available to Florida’s young people,” said Crist.

Right now Florida’s universities have some of the lowest tuition costs in the nation.

Legislation in Tallahassee has been filed to raise the price of a pack of smokes. Florida’s tax on cigarettes is one of the lowest in the nation at about 34 cents a pack.

The tax hasn’t been raised in more than a decade. State Representative Jim Waldman is sponsoring a one dollar per pack cigarette tax increase and says the money raised by the increase would go to state healthcare programs.

“I think you need to have a source of revenue that can pay for health care cost and this can do it, and that’s why we are calling it a user fee because this is to go to cost of healthcare for those individuals who are suffering,” said Waldman.

Increasing the cigarette tax a dollar could raise as much as a billion dollars.

Several Florida advocacy groups have joined forces to ask lawmakers to spare health care programs.

With the state facing another billion dollar budget shortfall, The Florida’s People, Florida’s Promise Initiative wants lawmakers to close tax loopholes, like those on dry cleaning and bottled water, before cutting programs. Bob Sharpe with the Council of Community Mental Health said cutting services now will cause more expensive problems down the road.

“You don’t void an expense when you don’t invest in certain community preventive programs for the individuals. You’ll still have expenses, and you’ll end up spending more for the wrong kind of care and get poorer outcomes,” said Sharpe.

Besides closing tax loopholes supporters of the initiative want the state to collect taxes on internet sales.

Today’s the day to put down those smokes for good.  Ten years ago, the rest of the nation followed Florida’s lead in settling with Big Tobacco. Today, the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund may be the saviour of a faltering state budget.

Legislation is also being pushed to increase the cigarette tax by a dollar a pack. Check out this chart of where Florida ranks nationally.

Budget cuts are forcing some public defenders to turn down cases. Others are overworked and at the breaking point. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state’s court system says it can’t endure more budget cuts.

Hear it Here: Public Defenders Buried in Cases

Public Defender Nancy Daniels is trying to do more with less. Budget cuts and a hiring freeze have caused her office’s caseload to skyrocket.

“The national standards say that a misdemeanor lawyer should handle no more than 400 cases a year. Ours are well over 800 at the current rate. For felonies it’s suppose to be 250 cases a year, again our lawyers are way over 500, 600,” said Daniels.

And it could get worse. The state’s courts system is holding back four percent of its budget in anticipation of more cuts. And public defenders may need money now more than ever. Statistics show, when the economy tanks, the crime rate increases.

ACLU Spokesman Larry Spalding said more cuts will pressure the state to settle cases out of court.

“In many cases prosecutors are going to have to make better deals for defendants than they would really like to do so,” said Spalding.

But Daniels sees the system working in reverse, and fears her clients will pay the price.

“At what point can you no longer provide adequate representation for people who need it,” asked Ray. ‘I feel like if we’re not there now, we’re extremely close,’” said Daniels.

In September, A judge ruled in favor of the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office saying the office could turn down people facing lesser charges. The decision in the Miami-Dade case has been appealed.

Florida’s governor is known for his positive attitude and a recent poll may prove his optimism is contagious.

Despite skyrocketing unemployment and deep state budget cuts, Floridians told Quinnipiac pollsters they’re satisfied with the direction the state is going. Nationwide only one of every five people polled said they were happy with the direction of their own state. Quinnipiac Spokesman Peter Brown said Floridians tend to look at the brightside.

“Floridians are by nature an optimistic people. We asked voters in other states a variety of views on how they asses how things are going and Floridians just seem a little more optimistic,” said Brown.

One sign Floridians may be following Governor Charlie Crist lead; his latest approval numbers are almost 70 percent.

Florida’s high school graduation rate is at an all time high. 75 percent of Florida seniors received a high school diploma or GED last year.

The rate is up three percent from a year ago. Since the1998-99 school year the rate has increased more than 15 percent. Florida Department of Education spokesman Tom Butler said despite the improvement, more work is needed.

“We certainly have more work to do. 75.4 percent is a great improvement compared to 1998-99, but there’s a long way to go and we need to keep pushing closer to the 100 percent mark as we possible can,” said Butler.

Nationwide the graduation rate is around 70 percent. Still, some say the way Florida calculates its rate gives the state an unfair advantage when compared to the national statistics.

More than 30 scientists are calling on the Governor to ban the harvesting of fresh water turtles in Florida. Evidence is sketchy, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the scientists fear over harvesting to feed a growing demand in Asia will strip the state of one of its natural resources.

Hear it Here: Turtle Harvesting

They are on logs and rocks along every river and lake in Florida. They come in dozens of varieties. What they have in common is that the Chinese and others want them for soup and as an aphrodisiac. In a strongly worded letter to Governor Charlie Crist, 32 scientists are asking the governor to ban commercial harvesting of fresh water turtles.

“People in the public don’t want to see our turtles being hunted in the wild and shipped to Asian markets,” Dr. Matthew Aresco said. “It’s just not something that the public is going to stand for.”

Last month, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission imposed a limit of 5 turtles per person per day and a maximum 20 turtles for commercial fishermen. The scientists want a one turtle per person per day limit.

The problem is a lack of information

“No one really knows how many turtles there are, how many people are harvesting them, or how many turtles are being taken.”

The Fish and Wildlife Commission is in the process of gathering more information. Spokesperson Pat Behnke says the commission is must be cautious.

“There’s no threat that we can see at this point,” Behnke said. “We’ve slowed it down, restricted it while we take this opportunity to look at it. We’re moving as fast as we can.”

While the Commission studies, the scientists say the turtle population is being depleted. They say at the current rate, they say Florida’s stock could be decimated in ten to 20 years.

State lawmakers were sworn into office this morning and already a line has been drawn in the sand over how to balance the budget. Democratic lawmakers say cutting more funds from education and eliminating state jobs are not options, but as Whitney Ray tells us, across the aisle lawmakers say nothing is off the table.

Hear it Here: Lawmakers Square Off Over Budget

The Florida House and Senate swore in members, named new leadership, and addressed the problems facing the state.

“Members we have our work cut out for us,” Speaker of the House Ray Sansom told members Tuesday morning.

The problem is about to get worse. By the end of the week state economists are expected to announce another billion dollar budget shortfall. Florida’s Chief Financial Officer has been calling for a special session, saying lawmakers need to handle this year’s budget problems as soon as possible.

If lawmakers are called back to Tallahassee to balance the budget, Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson says he’ll fight to keep education off the chopping block. Republican Lawmakers say nothing is off the table.

“I don’t want to say that anything is immune from cuts at this point, I think it’s too early to say that. We values education and will protect it as much as we can,” said Republican House Representative Will Weatherford.

And how much education will be protected will be left up the Republican led legislature, which has had more of an appetite for cutting the budget than raising taxes. The governor is still waiting for state economists to release their official budget predictions this Friday, before he makes up his minds on a special session.

Florida’s youngest voters plan to make sure lawmakers make good on their campaign promises. Hundreds of thousands of Florida voters under 30 cast ballots in this year’s presidential election. Some of them belong to a group called Power Vote. The group wants lawmakers to create more green jobs and push clean energy legislation. Florida Power Vote organizer Bessie Schwarz said lawmakers are ready to listen to their youngest supporters.

“The youth are in such a uniquely important position right now. They know we have influence on them. They finally know the youth are finally not a joke. Now we have the hard part, keeping them accountable,” said Schwarz.

Power Vote organizers say they have hundreds of thousands of members nationwide. The group plans to send 10,000 members to Washington D.C. in February to rally for more clean energy legislation.

For the first time in 12 years, Florida turned blue and voted for Barack Obama. Voters here also replaced 2 Republican Congressmen with Democrats. Still, as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Florida’s Republican Governor remains exceptionally popular.

Hear it Here: Crist Remains Popular

Charlie Crist promised property taxes would “Drop like a rock”. It was more like a pebble. He tackled high property insurance rates and got mixed reviews. Yet his popularity remains extremely high. A poll by Quinnipac University found if Crist were up for re-election today, he would win. 68 percent approve of the job he is doing.

“His numbers for a sitting Governor are very impressive,” Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said. “Especially for a sitting Governor in very tough economic times.”

Even here in Tallahassee, which is solidly Democratic, Crist enjoys a 70 percent approval rating.

Crist dodged reporters and spent the day hob-nobbing with state lawmakers as they organized after the election. Former Republican House Speaker Alan Bense believes the Governor’s popularity comes from reaching across the aisle.

“He’s thoughtful, he’s energetic, and he’s optimistic for Florida,” Bense said. “And I think people are looking for a leader like that today.”

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson almost endorsed Crist in 2006.

“The people really trust him at this point and depending on how we come out of these economic conditions here, will determine whether his popularity will continue to soar at a high level,” Lawson said.

Even with the accolades, re-election is still two years away, and the economy isn’t cooperating. But for now, Charlie Crist is more than twice as popular as George Bush.

The state pension fund lost a third of its value over the past year. As Whitney Ray tells us, people who depend on the state for their retirement are worried about their financial future.

Around this time last year The State Board of Administration’s assets totaled 187 billion dollars. Today, they’re down about 30 percent, a value loss of 62 billion.

“We’ve preformed comparable to some of the other pension funds throughout the United State’s, and much better than some of the indices that are commonly reported on,” said SBA Spokesman Dennis MacKee.

The SBA manages 34 public investment funds and is responsible for paying retirement for state employees.

The state pension fund took the biggest blow. In the last year the fund lost 38 billion dollars. The news concerns retired state employees like Joyce Raichelson who depends on the pension fund for part of her income.

“You want to be comfortable; you don’t want to have to worry. There should be a time in your life when you eventually don’t have to worry,” said Joyce.

The always optimistic Governor Charlie Crist said the funds will rebound.

“We’re looking for the economy to turn around and inevitably it will and I think the comfort people can take is the fact that sooner or later that’s going to happen, but those kind of funds all around the country are where they are, and Florida’s a lot better off than most,” said Crist.

The state pension fund is still worth more than a hundred billion dollars. If it ever went belly up taxpayers would be on the hook to pay state benefits. An SBA spokesman says the board’s investments are conservative and diverse enough to weather the Wall Street storm.

Florida’s role in the historic presidential election is now official. Members of the State Elections Canvassing Board certified the election results this morning in Tallahassee. Voting in Florida was mostly without incident when compared to the infamous 2000 Presidential Election. Secretary of State Kurt Browning said a new voting standard has been set.

“We don’t look at 2000 anymore as the benchmark. 2008’s going to be the benchmark. I jokingly tell staff, I’m not going to answer anymore of your questions if it has the word 2000 in it,” said Browning.

Governor Charlie Crist praised Browning for a job well done.

“When compared to prior elections in Florida, this one was a piece of cake. I’m very, very pleased with Secretary Browning’s leadership and the supervisors around the state, to have new machines, finally to have paper trails throughout the state for the first time in a long time and to have the election to go as smoothly as it did, I couldn’t be happier,” said Crist.

About 75 percent of all registered voters cast ballots in this election.