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State leaders are joining members of the Tallahassee Urban League to fight drug use and violent crime among teens.

Representatives from the Attorney General’s Office, the Florida Office of Drug Control, and the Tallahassee Police Department joined the Urban league in support of “Drugs Destroy Dreams” week. Emery Gainey, the AG’s Director of Law Enforcement Relations says families, charities, and churches need to pitch in to fix the problem.

“This isn’t just a law enforcement issue. This is an entire community issue. We talk about it all the time. In order to be effective its going to take the entire community coming together, every single one of our partners to examine the problem, to work together,” said Gainey.

Gainey credited the Attorney General’s gang reduction taskforce for helping reduce drug use and violence. Last month the taskforce released a report claiming 50-thousand gangsters are living in the state.

Florida teachers are up in arms over legislation buried deep within a sixty-one page bill that references child abuse. The legislation makes drastic changes in the way teachers  are rewarded or punished. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, future employment and salary increases would be based on how well students do on tests.

Shari Gewanter has been teaching elementary school for fourteen years. She’s angry because some lawmakers want to put her job on the line every year, based on how her students performed on year-end exams.

“My kids know how to think. My kids know how to problem-solve,” Gewanter said. “My kids know how to work together. You can’t measure that in a test score.”

Shari was one of seven teachers the union brought to the Capitol to protest legislation, which they say will discourage quality teaching.

“Its provisions would allow principals to fire teachers at will,” Andy Ford, with the FEA, said.

The Florida Education Association says politicians want to praise improvements in school rankings, but slap the teachers who are on the front lines. Thomas Lentz teaches high school English in Polk County.

“They can give us fewer students so that we can give them the individual attention they need,” Lentz said. “And they can pay us for our experience, our skills.”

The question might be why now and why all of a sudden. The answer might be, it’s an election year and there’s no money for schools.

The legislation is a priority of the Senate President, who is running for statewide office. Sponsor John Thrasher says the legislation is required if the state is to get 700 million in federal race-to-the-top cash.

“This bill simply says tenure is no longer appropriate,” Thrasher said. “We’re going to measure teachers and we’re going to keep teachers on the basis of their performance.”

Both sides agree on one thing: Bad teachers shouldn’t be in the classroom.

The legislation has its first hearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday

At a time when California is releasing thousands of small time drug offenders from prison, Florida could consider reducing its penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana and cocaine. As Whitney Ray tells us, lessening the penalties could save the state millions and help fill a three billion dollar budget gap.

Courtney Scout admits she smokes marijuana about once a week.

“It’s a plant, it grows from the earth. It’s not a chemical someone concocts in a room. It’s a plant and I don’t think it should be criminalized,” said Scout.

She thinks Florida’s drug laws are too harsh. A person caught with 20 grams of marijuana in Florida can go to prison for five years. In California 28 grams or less will just get you a misdemeanor.

In New York offenders caught with less than 25 grams are given a civil citation.

Florida TaxWatch says the state could save 10 million dollars a year if it stopped sending low-level offenders to state prisons. Even Florida’s Attorney General admits changing the law could help fill the state’s three billion dollars budget gap.

“If you got simple possession of a small quantity, I think there are innovative ways to deal with simple possession that don’t always require going to prison,” said McCollum.

Victor Crist, the chairman of the Senate’s Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee says it’s an idea worth discussing. Crist wants to reexamine all sentencing guidelines, not just those involving marijuana.

“We’ll be addressing that again this year and asking that the sentencing guidelines commission reconvene, look at our laws in the state and determine what is still appropriate and whether or not changes need to be made,” said Crist.

But lessening the penalties to save taxpayer money would take bold action from lawmakers, who don’t want to look soft on crime during an election year. Prolonged use of marijuana can cause cancer, respiratory problems, and memory loss.

Sleepy drivers in Florida cause 100-thousand accidents every year according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

DOT claims driving after being awake for 18 hours is the same as driving drunk. Legislation to educate law enforcement officers and the public about the dangers of drowsy driving has been filed in Tallahassee. Representative Alan Williams is sponsoring the bill, named the Ronshay Dugans Act, after an 8-year old Tallahassee girl who was killed by a sleepy driver.

“Because of that, she’s not with us today. We need to protect future ‘Ronshay Dugans’ from folks that are driving like this. It’s my hope that her passing is not in vain,” said Williams.

The bill will dedicate the first week of September as “Drowsy Driving Prevention Week”. DOT says some signs of drowsiness are difficulty focusing, heavy eyelids and drifting from your lane.

The former Secretary of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services died Thursday of unknown causes.

Greg Coler served from 1987 to 1991. The department was later dismantled, with many of its duties being taken over by the Department of Children and Families. Coler was credited with improving the way social programs were administered in Florida through the use of computers. Coler was 65.

Legislation paving the way for a freeze on the class size amendment is heading to the Senate Floor. If approved by 3/5th’s of the legislature, voters would have a chance to reverse the last phase of the class size requirements. As Whitney Ray tells us, even if the legislation gets the votes this spring, the final phase of the class size requirements will still go into effect.

2.5 million people approved the class size amendment in 2002. Thursday a Senate committee voted to over loosen those restrictions.

State Senator Don Gaetz is sponsoring legislation to freeze the class size amendment at its current level… where the constitutional requirements are based on a school wide average.

“We need to give parents and educators some hope that next year we are not going to be facing many of the difficulties they’ve indicated they’d be facing,” said Gaetz.

The legislation is a response to fears that requiring each class to meet limits individually will force districts to build more schools and hire more teachers. A common scenario is the third grade class with 18 students.

“They argument is you have a 19th kid so you must build a whole nother classroom. That’s not true,” said State Senator Dan Gelber.

The flexibility of the current constitutional amendment will be challenged in the Fall, because even if both chambers pass the measure, it wouldn’t stop the last phase of the class size amendment from taking effect in August.”

The issue would still have to go before the voters in November.

“There will probably be some violations of this in August,” said Wayne Blanton, president of the Florida School Boards Association.

And those problems could be the best campaign tool supporters of a freeze will have to influence voters.

A government watchdog group is asking state lawmakers to make some bold choices to balance the budget and reduce government waste. Florida TaxWatch released 88 cost savings recommendations that would save the state 3.5 billion dollars. The ideas range from turning off computers, to lightening the penalties on people caught with a small amount of marijuana or cocaine. TaxWatch Chairman David Smith says the recommendations could be implemented this year.

“Here’s an example that’s simple; 200 million in savings by just increasing the number of state term contracts. Another 125 million by reducing what’s exempted by competitive bidding,” said Smith.

Other recommendations include four day work weeks for some state employees and requiring people on the state’s payroll to cough up more cash for their health insurance and retirement plans.

Student body presidents from 10 Florida universities are calling on lawmakers to improve the quality of higher education in Florida. The students rallied on the steps of the historic capitol today, later meeting with the governor and legislative leaders. State Senator Steve Olrich says improving our colleges and universities will boost Florida’s economy.

“We need to move to a new economy and a new future. One where we move from more from a service based economy to a high tech economy. No Place no state, no country is going to do this without a vibrant university system,” said Oelrich.

The student told lawmakers they don’t mind paying higher tuition, they just don’t want to see any more cuts in the classroom.

Legislation passed last year to stop prescription drug abuse didn’t go far enough. now state lawmakers want more regulation over the doctors and clinics doling out pain pill prescriptions. A bill to require more training for doctors and harsher penalties for clinics that don’t report missing prescription pads is being pushed by lawmakers. Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp says the pill mill problem has gotten out of control.

“We have heard many stories of waiting rooms with 75 people with armed guards at the front door in a cash only business. They are carrying out 2 and 300-thousand dollars a day in cash in trash bags and you know that kind of activity breeds more criminal activity,” said Kottkamp.

There are an estimated 5-thousand pain clinics in Florida. State officials believe they are partially responsible for the estimated six deaths linked to prescription drug overdoses every day in the state.

Access to recordings of 911 phone calls is being challenged by state lawmakers. Legislation to ban the public from hearing the calls has been filed. As Whitney Ray tells us, the debate began shortly after the 911 recording of a neighbor’s report of the Tiger Wood’s car crash was released.

Just days after Tiger Woods wrecked his SUV a concerned neighbor’s phone call to 911 was released to the media.

Some members of the Florida legislature say emergency calls should be kept private to protect victims.

“To relive that over and over again either through print or watching it on TV, or whatever reason is very traumatic and I feel like the victims need the protection of that,” said Representative Robert Schenck.

Opponents of the ban say the access is necessary.

“It’s a difficult balance between the freedom of the press and the freedom of privacy for someone who calls 911, but overall I think in America we need to make that balance towards the freedom of the press,” said Representative Scott Randolph.

The recordings of a murdered South Florida woman whose calls were ignored have raised alarms about a lack of training for some dispatchers. Had the calls been private its questionable misconduct would have come to light.

The legislation would still allow the public to have access to some of the information. They can buy a transcript of the conversion two months after it occurred.

The First Amendment Foundation’s Barbara Peterson says that’s not good enough.

“If we have to wait 60 days in order to get it, that is a tremendous amount of time and can really cause a lot of harm I think in the intervening two months,” said Peterson.

Less than 2 percent of all 911 calls are requested by the public. A House Committee delayed a vote on the legislation this morning… a sign that opponents of the measure may be gaining ground.

A House Committee in Tallahassee has given the green light for up to 75 million dollars in credits to moviemakers who come to Florida.

The money would only be spent after a production has been filmed. A recent study by the University of West Florida has shown that for every dollar the state spends, it gets a dollar forty-four back in tax revenue. Sponsor Steven Precourt of Orlando says the state doesn’t have to spend the dollar until it’s already received the dollar forty-four in tax revenue.

“There are production facilities out there vacant right now that can be utilized immediately. We’ve got file, television and commercial businesses that are going to other states, that these people can be working here, living in their own homes I might add, seeing their children. We have students at top tier universities, FSU, and UCF and Full Sail that could be working in our state instead of moving to other places to work,” said Precourt.

Currently, only one TV show is filmed completely in Florida…USA Network’s Burn Notice.

The closing of the space shuttle program has scientists, engineers and astronauts knocking on Governor Charlie Crist’s door for help. It was Space Day at the state capitol today.

NASA administrators used the opportunity to meet with Crist to discuss funding issues, after cuts in federal funding were handed down.

“I think the space program is so critical to Florida and America. We’re recommended in our budget over 32 million dollars to help the space program. We have over 7-thousand high tech, some of the best and the brightest people in our country that work on the space program. We are committed to doing every thing we can to help them,” said Crist.

In his State of the State address last night, Crist called the decision to end the space program a bad one.

Governor Charlie Crist is betting on an Indian gaming compact this year, hoping the third time will be the charm to pass the compact. The original gaming deal with the tribe was nixed by the State Supreme Court. Last year’s deal wasn’t ratified by the legislature. Crist says despite the difficulties facing the gaming expansion, he’s more confident than ever.

“I’m pretty confident. There has been movement like we have never seen before as it relates to the Seminole compact to help education for our children. The House and the Senate are really warming up to it. I remain hopeful that they’ll do the right thing,” said Crist.

If the legislature agrees on a deal, the state would receive 430 million dollars for next year’s budget. Holding the deal back are Florida casinos that would be put at a disadvantage by giving the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to certain games.

Legislation to commemorate the civil rights movement in Florida has been filed in Tallahassee. Protestors staged a sit-in in the capital city in 1960, with several protestors being arrested. The building where the sit-in happened is empty today. The legislation would allocate state funds to turn the building into a Civil Rights Museum. Senator Frederica Wilson grew up during the Civil Rights movement and says Floridians who fought and died for equal rights deserve to be honored.

“I experienced the water hoses being let out on people who tried to integrate. I experienced the Klu Klux Klan and a man in my community was lynched. And I experienced all of these atrocities in the state of Florida. And no one has ever called attention to this,” said Wilson.

Lawmakers also want to create a Civil Rights “Hall of Fame” in the Capitol building to honor individuals who made significant contributions to equality

At one popular fast food chain, the “Market Fresh” BLT sandwich racks up nearly 900 calories – but a beef and cheddar melt tallies just 430. That’s why some lawmakers want to require restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus. They say even informed consumers have trouble finding healthy choices. Representative Ed Homan, who is sponsoring the calorie-count bill, says posting calories on menus would help Floridians make better food choices.

“If you’re wondering why we’re doing this you just need to look around. Our nation is getting heavier, if you haven’t noticed. Much heavier. In 1980, 20 percent of the population was overweight, ten percent obese. Thirty years later, fast forward to today, 60 percent of our people, the adults are overweight. Thirty percent are obese. In the children, 30 percent are overweight and half of those are obese,” said Homan.

Some states already mandate calorie counts on restaurant menus. That means national chains already have the information they need to post the counts in Florida.