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In addition to being Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, today is also the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.

Governor Charlie Crist spent the morning with Black leaders for a Civil Rights Roundtable at the Governor’s Mansion. Crist also appointed NAACP State President Adora Obi Nweze as a special advisor on civil rights. Nweze says it is the first time any sitting NAACP officer has received such an appointment.

“First of all, you’re the first governor, in this United States, to appoint a president of the NAACP state conference to minority outreach. The first one,” Nweze said. “ That speaks, not only to his heart, but to what he believes is a mission and goal for this state, and that is to include everybody under the tent.”

Crist also met with the House Black Caucus and is holding a Black History Month celebration at the Governor’s mansion tonight.

Governor Charlie Crist is about to appoint his fourth pick to the Florida Supreme Court and he is getting a full court press from all sides of the political spectrum.

From the right, the Governor is being pushed to appoint a conservative white male, Judge Jim Perry from Brevard County. From the left, he is being asked to pick an African American or a woman. Crist says neither side will influence him.

“Well, you know, any appointment to the Florida Supreme Court I weigh very heavily, and look for the very best,” Crist said. “In these interviews what I always look for, whether it’s a Florida Supreme Court Appointment or a Circuit court appointment, is somebody who is intelligent, compassionate, humble, and earnest. And that same test will apply for this next appointment to the Florida Supreme Court.”

Crist will make an appointment before March.

Schools days could get longer next year, but there would be fewer of them under a plan being considered in Tallahassee. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, school districts are asking for the flexibility to go to a four-day week.

As schools look for ways to make ends meet, they want authority to make school days longer, while going from five to four days a week. The idea is being pushed by the Superintendents Association, which knows it will upset parents who will need another day of childcare.

“Those parents will be quite upset,” Bill Montford, with the Florida Association of School Superintendents, said. “But, most parents in Florida who have children in schools are upset already because of the decisions we’ve already had to make and the other decisions, much tougher decisions that are coming in the very near future.”

A four-day school week would save fuel for buses, electricity, and support staff salaries. But Florida’s Education commissioner is not happy.

 “We have made our position clear to districts that we’re not supportive of advocating for a four day week for school” Commissioner of Education Eric Smith said.

The bill’s sponsor says the intent is flexibility. The savings it generates could offset the need for higher property taxes to keep schools running.

“For me, it is an attempt to save programs for students by allowing them that flexibility,” Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Daytona Beach) said.

While a four-day school week would be highly unusual, there is nothing usual about the budget problems school face trying to stay open.

Not every school district is likely to adopt the four-day week if it is approved.

Governor Charlie Crist called his agency heads together for a briefing on the stimulus package. Florida budget writers are on pins and needles waiting for congress to act on the package. Florida stands to gain somewhere between 10 point 1 billion and 13.3 billion. The differences are currently being negotiated. The governor is hoping the package will help avoid tax increases.

“It’s an exciting time and to get this kind of help that we hope actually comes to fruition from our friends at the federal level is enormously appreciated,” Crist said.

Because Florida schools are now being funded below the 2006 level, the state may not qualify for 3 billion in the stimulus package. So far efforts to amend the package to make sure Florida gets the money have been unsuccessful.

Backstage at the town hall meeting in Ft. Myers yesterday, Governor Charlie Crist spoke to President Obama about supporting a national Catastrophic fund to cover hurricane risks. Crist says the response was favorable.

“I took the occasion, as we met privately, to advocate for it,” Crist said. “And he campaigned for it favorably during the course of his campaign. And fortuitously, Rep. Ron Klein was there as well, so we brought him into the conversation, as well as some other members of Congress to advocate on Florida’s behalf in that regard for insurance purposes. So that worked out pretty well.”

Obama championed a national cat fund during his campaign.

National news reports are calling Florida “The Ponzi State” suggesting lending practices in the Sunshine State were the beginning of the nation’s problems. State regulators were lax and allowed convicted felons to become mortgage brokers, bilking banks out of millions. Today at the state Capitol, legislation was filed to give Florida’s Attorney General more authority to prosecute fraud in the lending industry. Attorney General Bill McCollum says right now there is little he can do.       

“This gives us enough and we believe that we will be able to go after folks and prosecute them in the future, that we never could have before. And we’ll be able to use the office’s civil side, with Scott Palmer and Trish Connors, to really dig into this and go after cases aggressively when we see them,” McCollum said.

The Office of Financial Regulation currently has authority to charge brokers with wrongdoing, but the agency has few staff to carry out the job.

State lawmakers grilled Visit Florida executives today over money the tourism office spent on jobs outside of the state that could have been spent creating jobs here. Visit Florida receives 35 million state tax dollars. As Whitney Ray tells us, lawmakers say much of that money is wasted on salaries, bonuses and travel.

Hear it Here; Visit Florida

Visit Florida executives were called on the carpet by lawmakers after spending 600-thousand dollars hiring a Kansas City call center to promote tourism.

“Taxpayer funded agencies are shipping jobs to Kansas City. That represents a fatal flaw in your judgment,” Senator Ronda Storms said.

To add insult to injury, one senator called the Kansas City Company several times, four out of the five operators he talked to couldn’t tell him where our state capitol is located.

Visit Florida has a 99 million dollar budget; 35 million comes from taxpayers. About a million is used to pay executives. Only 1 in 5 dollars goes to advertising.

“If any dollars go to Visit Florida there not going to be used for bonuses and they’re not going to be used for travel purpose,” said Senator Mike Fasano.

Visit Florida’s President Bud Nocera, who makes 220,000 before bonuses, says he’s not worried about losing his job.

“I’m concerned more about our budget,” said Nocera.

Governor Charlie Crist passed the buck to lawmakers.

“One of their most important roles is to exercise that kind of oversight. I realize that as a former member of the state senate so any concerns they have we would like to entertain and help out with,” said Crist.

Just last month Crist saved Visit Florida from a 5 million dollar spending cut. Crist says he expects Visit Florida will see less money in next year’s budget.

House Democrats met with the Seminole tribe today to discuss the gaming compact.

The tribe wants lawmakers to renew the compact the State Supreme Court ruled invalid in July because it lacked legislative approval. Now other casino owners want in on the action. They say it’s not fair for the Seminoles to have blackjack if they don’t. Seminole Tribe spokesman Max Osceola said the compact isn’t about putting their competitors out of business.
“We’re not here to destroy the pari-mutuels. They’ve been in business since the beginning of Florida. We’re in the business too. So we are both in the same business. So we’re not here to hurt them,” said Osceola.

Christian Ulvert, spokesman for the pari-mutuels, wouldn’t says if the business has been down since the Seminoles got blackjack almost a year ago.

“We are in a downturn economy. I think all our members right now are taking an impact,” said Ulvert. “Obviously it’s a new game, a new product that is not allowed to the pari-mutuels right now and we want to make sure lawmakers understand that.”

The state could receive 288 million dollars if it enters into a new agreement with the tribe. Pari-mutuels said if the new contract keeps the playing field off balance, they’ll lose money, layoff employees, and ultimately the state will lose millions.

Florida’s Attorney General is ordering 16 Flash Foods gas stations to pay 42-thousand dollars to customers who were ripped off at the pump from September 12th through the 20th. As Whitney Ray tells us, oil companies who supply gas to the stations could be next in line to cough up cash for price gouging.

Hear it Here: State Investigates Gas Wholesalers

In September, as Hurricane Ike Ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, Floridians rushed to the pump to fill up their tanks, some angry customer paid more than 5 dollars a gallon.

More than 15,000 calls poured into two state price gouging hotlines. The Attorney General’s office has settled with three gas retailers. The latest Flash Foods, will have to pay back customers 42,000 dollars… but the investigation doesn’t stop there.

Attorney General Bill McCollum is working to reach a settlement with TransMontaigne, for raising the cost of its fuel 1.50 dollars a gallon.

“We are cautiously optimist we can reach a reasonable settlement with them, but if we can’t we will be in litigation,” said McCollum.

The State’s Consumers Services Department has already met with TransMontaigne once.

“They are supposable going to met with them a second time to provide us some answers and then we’ll reach a conclusion on where we go with the case,” said Department Spokesman Terry McElroy.

TransMontaigne isn’t the only wholesaler being investigated. The state is investigating 20 other companies, but not releasing the names of wholesales until they have more evidence.

Flash Foods customers looking to be reimbursed for their charges can contact call the Attorney General’s fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226 or visit the AG’s website http://www.myfloridalegal.com. To qualify customers need a proof of purchase.

Mental health and drug addiction advocacy groups are lobbying lawmakers to save treatment services from spending cuts.

The groups are at the state capitol today and tomorrow for the annual Behavioral Health Days. Florida is 48th in the nation in per capita spending on mental health service and 35th in substance abuse treatment. Florida Council for Community Mental Health President Bob Sharpe said if the state doesn’t fund treatment programs, it will pay higher cost to lockup people who can’t afford help.

“When they make a decision not to fund mental health services, it’s not that they are making a decision not to fund something. What they have chosen instead is to fund prisons, jails, hospitals and other deep end services,” said Sharpe.

The groups say if lawmakers cut their budgets in March, 24,000 people with mental illness and substance abuse problems will lose essential care.

The man convicted of killing a 15-year-old Tampa girl 25 years ago is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening. Florida averages just over 2 executions a year at a cost estimated to be 50 million dollars. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the expense has some questioning whether the death penalty is still cost effective.

Hear it Here: The Cost of Executions

Wayne Tompkins has spent 25 years fighting his death sentence. Now on his 3rd death warrant, the convicted killer has been in court at least 2 dozen times, including three trips to the US Supreme Court. The Florida Catholic Conference says the death penalty is costing Florida 50 million dollars a year, mostly in legal and court costs.

“They have found that, again, it’s below 50 percent, those who support it once they’ve realized that life in prison without the possibility of parole is a possibility,” Shelia Hopkins with the Florida Catholic Conference said.

Last week the Florida Supreme Court heard nine cases. Eight of them involved the death penalty.

The state Supreme Court is estimated to spend 60 percent of its 10 million dollar budget on death cases and add to that the lawyers on both sides, all of which is paid for by taxpayers. As lobbyists walk the Capitol hallways looking for money, one suggests the 50 million would pay for 830 teachers.

“That translates, if you want to get down without the support personnel, probably to something in the neighborhood of about 30 to 32 elementary students and 5 honors students each,” Palm Beach schools lobbyist Vern Crawford said.

But the death penalty is an emotional issue. Senator Victor Crist calls the idea of ending the ultimate penalty “ridiculous”.

“The death penalty is not about the price tag, it’s about paying the ultimate price for the ultimate crime that is committed,” Crist said.

Florida has 391 people on Death Row.

The cost of housing an inmate is 72 dollars a day…or about 1.3 million for 50 years.

Read the Tompkins Procedural History here:tompkins-history

Florida’s Blind participated in the second annual “Vision Caucus” held in the State House Chamber Tuesday. 

Seventy-seven house members have joined the caucus, which is designed to shed light on problems facing the visually impaired.  Speakers called for better transportation and for the blind to be looked at with respect.  Representative Kurt Kelly of Ocala says making the sight impaired productive is good for everyone.

“They’re citizens. They are absolutely citizens,” Kelly said. “They certainly have an impairment, but the reality is they can be an absolute viable, they can be a productive member of our society. Quite frankly, it makes a lot of sense when we take a person who may be on state assistance and move them into becoming independent and move them into becoming a productive member. They become a taxpayer, they become one who provides services.”

More than three percent of Floridians are legally blind, and one in twenty is visually impaired.

Florida’s hotels and restaurants are fighting legislation that would raise the bed tax from four to five cents and use the money to help Floridians buy homes.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association isn’t against the increase, it just wants the money to be used to promote tourism. Right now the counties use the money they collect to attract visitors. The association’s president Carol Dover says if the state doesn’t pump the money into tourism, the budget deficit will widen.

“If we don’t get the tourist in the state, think about how many sales tax dollars we’re losing on top of the bed tax revenue. What about sales tax and all the other sales tax collections that we’re missing,” said Dover.

An estimated 85 million people visit Florida every year, although tourism has been on the decline over the past 12 months.

Insurance newcomer Security First jumped the gun last week when it announced it would rewrite State Farm policies in every zip code in Florida. The insurer had to work out details with the state about how it would insure homes threatened by sinkholes. As Whitney Ray tells us, the insurer is weighting the risk and is willing to play ball, for a price.

Hear it Here: Sinkholes Won’t Sink Insurer’s Plans

Fire, water, and wind are just a few of the elements homeowners have to consider when buying insurance. If those elements don’t provide enough fear, the ground your home sits on could pose an even bigger risk.

Florida has more sinkholes than any other state in the nation. They can pop out of nowhere, and sometimes it’s hard to tell just how deep and wide the chasm will get.

Security First knew about sinkhole problems in Central and South Florida when it announced plans last week to pick up 50-thousand policies State Farm is poised to drop.

“We think we are a better neighbor. We live here. We know how to manage the risk,” said Security First President Locke Burt.

Security First said it would rewrite State Farm policies in every part of the state, then quickly froze out areas in six counties where sinkholes were common. On Friday, the company reached an agreement with the state to do business in those areas.

“Customers would have to add sinkhole coverage, and in order to do that now, Security First is requiring they now also have an inspection of their property,” said OIR Spokesman Ed Domansky.

The inspections cost 150 dollars. Security First has volunteered to pay half. Then, the decision about whether to add sinkhole coverage will be left up to the customer.

There are dozens of insurance companies chomping at the bit to pick up the 1.2 million policies State Farm wants to drop. Still, the State Farm move isn’t official and the company plans to give customers two years to shop around before it drops policies.

Shoppers are being targeted to help fund schools.

Legislation to temporarily raise the sales tax one percent for three years was filed last week in Tallahassee. The suggested increase comes as districts across the state consider shutting down schools and laying off teachers to meet budget demands. Florida Education Association Spokesman Mark Pudlow said raising the sales tax a penny would stop the budget bleeding that began two years ago.

“It would stop all the cuts that we’ve had over the last two years. It would restore them. It wouldn’t move us forward. That would be something that would still be a goal for us in the future but at least the children that are in school now wouldn’t have to suffer from loss of schools, bigger classrooms, loss of electives and those kinds of things,” said Pudlow.

Lawmakers will review the measure when they convene for regular session in March. The increase is expected to raise 3.5 billion dollars for education in it’s first year alone.