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At eleven o’clock this morning the state had 17 million dollars to give to Floridians who bought energy efficient appliances.

By three o’clock today only five million dollars was left. The rebates are being offered as part of the federal stimulus package. Executive Director of the Governor’s Energy Office Rob Vaters says the rebate website has been hammered with people trying to file for a rebate.

“There has phenomenal interest in this program. We had prepared for an extremely high volume of hits on the internet. People have shown up as we expected. At one point the administrator was receiving 300-thousand hits per second,” said Vaters.

People who purchase an energy efficient water heater, refrigerator, washer, dishwasher, air-conditioner, or freezer can qualify for a twenty percent rebate. That is, if they purchase the appliances before the state runs out of money.

Teachers are rejoicing, while legislative leaders decry the governor’s veto of Senate Bill Six. Crist says the legislation needs more work, but as Whitney Ray tells us, another teacher tenure, merit pay bill isn’t likely to surface before the end of session.

It was the four letter word teachers were dying to hear.

“I veto Senate Bill 6,” Crist announced at noon Thursday.

And once the announcement was made Democrats, teachers and parents praised the governor.

“He listened. I felt he listened and I think a lot of our people felt he listened, because they were not turned away and they didn’t get form letters back.” heard our concerns,” said Latha Krishnaiyer, the president of the Florida PTA.

The bill to eliminate teacher tenure and base pay on student test scores was rushed through the legislative process.

“We were told no changes,” said Rep. Ed Homan.

Teachers testified for eight hours at a House Committee… but their concerns were ignored. So they reached out to the governor. Calling, emailing, and writing more than 60-thousand letters.

Democrats say the governor gave the teachers the hearing they didn’t get in the House. Representative Alan Williams forwarded letters from teachers in his district to the governor’s office.

“He calls himself the people’s governor and today I think he showed that,” said Williams.

The bill’s Sponsor John Thrasher says the message the governor was getting from teachers unions was flawed.

“They put out a lot of misinformation about the bill and I think that’s probably what got a lot of people angry about the bill,” said Thrasher.

Session ends April 30th, not enough time to revisit the issue, but legislative leaders say the battle isn’t over. And most of the opposition against Senate Bill Six say that’s okay, they just want to be brought to the table the next time tenure and merit pay is discussed.

The latest poll numbers show Marco Rubio with a huge lead over Governor Charlie Crist in the US Senate Race.

Quinnipiac released a poll today showing Crist trailing by 23 points… but if he runs as an independent… he wins by two. Peter Brown, a pollster from Quinnipiac University says Crist could lose some credibility if he drops out of the primary… but it could pay off.

“If he changed his mind it would ruin his credibility in some people’s minds, but even the stark members in the Republican primary, you might think he has a better chance at being a US Senator if he changes his mind,” said Brown.

Crist ‘s veto on Senate Bill Six would also play out better in a three way race than it would in a Republican Primary…. because about two third’s of the teacher Crist appeased with today’s veto couldn’t vote in the August Primary because they’re not registered Republicans.

Florida teachers are breathing easier tonight. After a massive email, letter and phone campaign from teachers, parents and students, Governor Charlie Crist has vetoed legislation that would have instituted a merit pay plan while abolishing tenure. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the Governor found fault with not only the legislation but the process that was used.

Governor Charlie Crist made his decision Wednesday night but waited until noon Thursday to announce it. He was quick and to the point.

“I vetoed Senate Bill 6 because this bill is contrary to my firmly held principle to act in the best interest of the people of Florida,” Crist said.

And then he reiterated what he had been saying all week. There is no provision for measuring teachers of special needs children.

“There must be more consideration given to their individual needs,” he said.

He also worried about what the teachers’ union has called the “Tallahassee Takeover.”

“There are considerable directives given to local boards and a requirement for state sign-off before the plans can even be approved,” Crist said.

He discounted promises of fixing the bad points later.

“Such assertions are not enough for me to sign this legislation today,” Crist said.

He also disliked the way lawmakers refused to listen to parents or teachers.

“Quite frankly it reminds me of what happened with the health care bill in Washington, where members of my party criticized the Democrats for sort of jamming something down their throat,” Crist said.

Finally, when asked, he reiterated his decision was not political.

“It has everything to do with the children of Florida,” Crist said. “I know in my heart it’s the right thing to do, Michael. This thing was rushed through.”

The veto effectively ends the battle for this year.

The Governor also said he will create a task force which will include parents, teachers, lawmakers and others to reapply for Race to the Top Money from the Federal government. Florida’s application was denied in part because teachers had not been allowed to weigh in with their ideas.

Florida teachers have had a long history of being angry over pay, education policy and school funding. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, current protests over a merit pay bill on the Governor’s desk are similar to battles teachers have one in the past.

As many as half of Florida’s teachers walked off the job in February  1968. Seventeen days later, new legislation, still on the books today, equalizing  funding for Florida schools sent them back to work.

Merit pay has been tried before and has never lasted because there’s never been enough money to fund schools, let alone merit pay.

Teachers’ anger came to a boil in 1982 over the merit pay issue. A thousand angry teachers filled the Capitol courtyard and booed then-Governor Bob Graham who was pushing the idea.

In  these pre-email days, teachers collected hundreds of letters.

Merit pay became law but it lasted just two years. Lawmakers ran out of money. Today, business leaders are citing the ’82 merit pay experiment as another reason for the governor to sign the legislation this year.

“We lost that opportunity nearly a quarter of a century ago,” Dominic Calabro with Florida Taxwatch. “We do not want to lose that opportunity today.”

But like years past, there’s no money for merit pay and that’s weighing on the governor.

“And that is part of the deliberation that I’m going through, in making a determination on the bill and whether or not we can afford it,” Crist said.

The deadline for a decision is Friday, but it could come sooner.

The main funding issue come from a provision in SB 6 that requires schools to hold back five percent of school budgets to develop tests, when schools are already facing state funding cuts.

Teachers, students, and parents have been staking out the capitol all day trying to get a face-to-face meeting with the governor to ask him to nix Senate Bill Six. Crist has until Friday, but could act sooner. As Whitney Ray tells us, he’s hinting at a veto.

The Senate Bill Six circus continued Wednesday… At a news conference with the governor, the sponsor of the legislation rushed out the door as we tried to ask a question.

Soon after, a parent stood up to question the speed at which Senate Bill Six soared through the legislature.

“How long did it take for SB 6 to pass,” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I think it was weeks though,“ said Crist.

Minutes later Crist hinted at a veto.

“You said that the tenure aspects were part of your concerns, why is that,” asked a WFSU reporter.

“Well, I’ll explain it in much greater detail soon,” said Crist.

The governor’s office has been packed all day with teachers, parents and even bus drivers asking for a veto.

Annie Pearl Curtis has been driving a school bus for 20 years. She worries that a provision in six requiring schools to hold back five percent of their budgets to develop tests will come out of her paycheck.

“Let me talk to him, aren’t we paying him?” asked Curtis.

The bus drivers didn’t get a meeting; two hours later teachers and student from Miami tried their luck. They brought hundreds of letters from teachers.

“It takes away experience. Advance degrees mean nothing,” said Eugenio Perez, a 9th grade teacher from Miami.

Crist has taken to calling some teachers on their cell phones to get their views on the bill. He says he’s willing to listen to everyone, but time is running out to make a decision.

Many of the teachers roaming the halls of the capitol today are registered Republicans. They wanted to remind Crist that they plan to vote in the US Senate primary in August.

Adoption agencies in Florida can no longer ask prospective parents if they own a gun. Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill today that removes gun and ammunition questions from the adoption process and says gun ownership cannot be a factor in placing a child. Former NRA president Marion Hammer applauded the governor for signing the legislation.

“He’s always been there for gun owners and I’m very happy that you’re signing this bill as well as the other one,” said Hammer.

One concern the law addressed is that some adoption agencies were making their own registries of gun owners, which is illegal. The new law will prevent that from happening. Last week Crist signed legislation barring further raids on the conceal carry weapons trust fund.

There’s already a mother-son pair in Florida’s legislature, and now a father-son duo will join them. Republican Matt Gaetz was elected by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 to represent Northwest Florida in the House. Matt’s father, Senator Don Gaetz, has served in the Senate since 2006. Senator Gaetz says he’s glad there will soon be another Gaetz in the Capitol, joking that it will take some of the heat off of him.

“Now in Tallahassee when people say ‘What in the world has Gaetz done now?’ there’s a 50-50 chance they won’t be talking about me,” said Senator Gaetz.

Representative Matt Gaetz says he will focus on healthcare for his first few weeks in office. He wants to work toward overhauling Medicaid and supports a bill that challenges national health care reform. He’s taking ousted House Speaker Ray Sansom’s Seat. Sansom resigned after being indicted for funneling state dollars to build an airplane hanger for a political contributor.

The full court press is on in the halls of the state capitol to convince the Governor to either sign or veto controversial legislation abolishing teacher tenure and creating merit pay. Governor Charlie Crist is at the center of the efforts by both sides, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, he appears to be leaning toward a veto.

Pockets of teachers from across the state walked Capitol hallways, delivering petitions asking the Governor to veto Senate Bill Six. Crist met with them briefly.

“You have no incentive to go on to get advanced degrees, a master’s or a doctorate, because that won’t be measured as part of your performance,” teacher Lynn Janasiewicz said. “So it just really demoralizes us as teachers.”

Feeling the pressure, the state’s largest business groups called on the governor to stand with them and sign Senate Bill Six.

“We know there has been some vocal opposition to the legislation,” Marshall Criser III, with the Council of 100, said. “We want to get the governor to know that education leaders, teachers, and business leaders also support him and this bill.”

With poster-sized emails from teachers at her side, a senior advisor to former Governor Jeb Bush says most teachers are misinformed.

“Commissioner Smith, I believe, one of his teacher liaisons put out information to all the teachers in the state, to clarify what’s in the bill,” Patricia Levesque, with the Foundation for Florida’s Future, said. “And she’s gotten very positive responses because they weren’t getting accurate information.”

Two top education officials advertised as attending the business press conference didn’t show.

The Governor continues to say he hasn’t made up his mind, but continues to say he has concerns.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been lobbied this hard,” Crist said.

The governor also acknowledged that former Governor Jeb Bush left a voice mail, asking him to sign the legislation.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act on the legislation

Hundreds of children are walking the halls of the state capitol this week, asking lawmakers to fund kids programs.  They’re being accompanied by parents and children’s advocates of course.  Cuts to programs that help kids with mental health problems and prevent child abuse are on the chopping block.  State Senator Nan Rich says the cut could add more kids to the state’s foster care rolls.

“There’s been an attempt to eliminate the healthy families program,” Rich said. “This program has a proven track record of preventing child abuse and keeping families together when it is possible to do so safely. Eliminating it would not only see more kids end up in foster care, but it could also endanger children and possibly subject them to abuse and neglect. We have to make sure that that program remains in our budget.”

The House could use money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe to save the programs.

Almost a year after a Florida foster child hanged himself after taking psychotropic drugs state lawmakers are passing legislation to stop overmedication. An investigation found 3-thousand kids in state care were being prescribed mind-altering drugs. As Whitney Ray tells us, some of them were as young as two years old.

On April 16th, 2009, seven year old Gabriel Myers hung himself in the bathroom of his foster home. Gabriel had been sexually abused and lived with four different foster families in less than a year’s time.

At the time of his death, Gabriel was on a slew of mind-altering medication. Experts believe the drugs clouded his judgment. Gabriel’s death spawned an investigation finding 13 percent of Florida’s foster kids were taking mind-altering drugs, compared to just four percent of their peers.

Mez Pierre was placed on two psychotropic drugs when he entered the foster care system at five years old.

“When you are taken away from your family, you are upset and you are sad. Those are regular emotions. If you weren’t then you would have to question that, but the doctors said I had emotional problems and anger problems,” said Mez.

Mez was on the drugs for 13 years. They influenced his judgment and gave him diabetes. Mez testified before a Senate Committee Tuesday asking lawmakers to pass legislation, requiring more oversight and counseling of kids taking mind-altering medication.

“What this bill does is says, “We’re not going to do that anymore. We are going to take a real hard look and we are going to be very, very thoughtful before we give you medication,” said bill sponsor Ronda Storms.

In Florida kids as young as two years old have been given psychotropic drugs. Others were taking experimental drugs not yet approved by the FDA. The legislation would ban experimental drugs from being prescribed to foster kids, and all mind-alerting medication for kids younger than 11.

The legislation has one more stop in the Senate, but hasn’t been heard yet by the other chamber. Efforts to get the House onboard with the bill are in overdrive, with just two and a half weeks left in the legislative session.

Lawmakers are debating a bill that would lessen the penalties for teens who send or receive nude picture of themselves or another minor. The act is called sexting and right now if a minor is caught doing it they can be charged with a felony and be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of their lives. State Senator Dave Aronberg is sponsoring the legislation. The bill eliminates criminal charges for a minor who receives a nude picture from a peer.

“The child pornographer is also the victim. It’s a different situation and so the person who innocently receives a picture like this on her cell phone, if that person is also under 18, they should not be arrested as a felon and should not be registered as a sex offender for the rest of their life,” said Aronberg.

A 2008 survey found that one in five teens has sent a nude picture of themselves through email or text message. Aronberg’s bill makes the offense a misdemeanor carrying a small fine and community service.

Hundreds of children are walking the halls of the state capitol this week, asking lawmakers to fund kids programs. They’re being accompanied by parents and children’s advocates of course. Cuts to programs that help kids with mental health problems and prevent child abuse are on the chopping block. State Senator Nan Rich says the cut could add more kids to the state’s foster care rolls.

“There’s been an attempt to eliminate the healthy families program. This program has a proven track record of preventing child abuse and keeping families together when it is possible to do so safely. Eliminating it would not only see more kids end up in foster care, but it could also endanger children and possibly subject them to abuse and neglect. We have to make sure that that program remains in our budget, said Rich. “

The House could use money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe to save the programs.

Olympic Skater and Central Florida native Caydee Denney is making the rounds in Florida this week. The 16 year old was born in Ocala and represented the US in the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver. She is a World Skating Champion and recently returned from a competition in Italy. Today Caydee met with Governor Charlie Crist and discussed her most recent competition. Crist gave Caydee some words of encouragement.

“It was an honor to get to meet Governor Crist and when I was in there it was to see how much support and how hard work really does pay off like he said, so that was really cool,” said Caydee.

Caydee will sign autographs tomorrow at the Ocala Square at noon. Next week she is being honored by the president in Washington D.C. Caydee is the first Floridian to skate in the Winter Olympics. Her younger sister is also a skater. The two of them hope to skate together in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Governor Charlie Crist has five days left to take action on Senate Bill six, and the veto cries are getting louder. Around the state teachers are protesting the controversial legislation to end tenure and base pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, teachers seeking a veto are jamming phone lines, while legislative leaders are offering to work with the governor to clean it up.

Efforts to reach the governor have been hectic since Senate Bill Six arrived on his desk Friday morning. Phone lines are jammed and this automatic message is bouncing back to people trying to email.

As of two o’clock Monday more than 14-thousand phone calls and 47-thousand emails hit the governor’s office, most of them calling for a veto.

Some lawmakers are making their own veto calls. Representative Julio Robaina, one of only a handful of Republicans who voted against the legislation, says the bill needs more work.

“If they had a chance to vote on it again, they would vote against it. They realized that they rushed through a piece of public policy, that although well intentioned wasn’t well thought out,” said Robaina.

Representative Will Weatherford, a key supporter, says the legislature is willing to make concessions if the governor will play ball.

“If the governor has issues with the bill what we would like is for him to tells us what they are and maybe we can address them,” said Weatherford.

While Representative Dean Cannon wants to hold Crist to an earlier promise.

“I still optimistic he’ll sign it,” said Cannon.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act, but with the Governor Trailing in his US Senate race a veto would be a bold move that could pay off at the polls.

Teachers are capitalizing on that message. Florida has 175-thousand of them. About one in three is a registered Republican.

We mentioned the 14-thousand phone calls, but there are probably a lot more. The governor’s office is receiving a lot of calls from people simply saying “veto the bill.” The governor’s office isn’t asking callers to leave their name and to indicate what bill they are referring to.