Welcome to

A line has been drawn in the sand and opponents of offshore oil drilling are shocked about who is on the other side.

Earlier this week President Barack Obama announced his support of increased drilling off Florida’s coast. The news shocked about a dozen anti-drilling protesters who decided to gather outside the state capitol today. Judson Parker organized the event.

“President Obama, during his campaign, made a promise to the state of Florida that as long as he was president, he would not support oil companies coming and drilling off the coast of Florida. This is a big re-nig on Obama’s part and the environmental community is very upset about it.”

There’s currently no state legislation to allow drilling in state waters, which are between three and ten miles off the coast. But last year a drilling bill was snuck in late during the session. The group expected 75 people for the protest; about a dozen showed up.

State employee retirements are being used as a bargaining chip between House and Senate budget negotiators in Tallahassee. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, hundreds of thousands of retirees could lose as much as one hundred and fifty dollars a month.

Roy McCloud spent more than 30 years working for the state. He receives five dollars for each year, or 150 dollars a month as a subsidy to pay for health insurance.

Without the cash, Roy worries how some retirees will get by.

“It’s just a ridiculous way, I think, after a person works for the state of Florida all their life and tries to retire on state retirement, which is difficult for thousands of people,” McCloud said.

On Thursday, some Republican House members bucked their leadership and voted with Democrats to save the subsidy.

Victory was short lived. Arms were twisted, a new vote was taken.

Roy isn’t surprised.

“It’s a typical government issue, the way they always work,” McCloud said.

To some retirees, it may mean the difference between buying a new car or giving gifts to their grandkids. But to others, they may have to choose between paying their electric bill or eating.

Democrats call the move a promise broken. Republicans says the cuts are a necessary evil to balance the budget, all the while conceding the subsidies may be restored.

“People have to remember that session is a nine-week process. We’re in the fifth inning of a nine-inning game,” Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) said. “We have a lot of ball to be played, so to speak.”

But in the meantime, several hundred thousand retired state workers are being left in limbo, not knowing how much they’ll have to make ends meet come July first.

House Democrats are asking the State Senate to fight to keep the health insurance subsidy cut out of the final budget.

A spokesman for Governor Charlie Crist will not confirm whether the Governor has received a letter from a domestic-based extremist group demanding he resign within 3 days. At least 30 Governor are said to have received the letter. A spokesman for Governor Crist says “ We are aware of the threat and we will work to continue to insure the safety of the Governor and First Family.” The states official policy is that neither the Governor, his office or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will comment on specific security matters.

If you gave to the Republican Party of Florida last year, your contribution may have been used to fatten the pockets of the former chairman. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating Former RPOF Chairman Jim Greer for reportedly pumping party money into a consultant business he owned. As Whitney Ray tells us, Republican lawmakers are trying to distance themselves from the controversy.

On the day former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer announced his plans to resign, a paper shredding truck was parked outside party headquarters.

Three months later Greer finds himself the target of a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, which could lead to embezzlement charges. Republican lawmakers are calling the news disheartening.

“Certainly a little bit disturbed by some of the articles I’ve read and some of the comments I’ve seen,” said Representative Will Weatherford.

But party leaders aren’t talking claiming they don’t want to jeopardize the investigation.

The IRS isn’t saying whether or not it’s reviewing the party’s finances. Calls for a federal investigation began last year once news broke of GOP lawmakers using party issued credit cards on everything from fancy dinners to overseas trips.

The Florida Democrats continue to push the issue.

“Not only did they break IRS laws, that say the money at the political party has to be used to further the cause of the party, but they also clearly were in violation of Florida’s racketeering statutes,” said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Dems Spokesman.

Greer is fighting back, planning to file suit against the party claiming it violated a severance agreement in which the party agreed to praise its former leader and affirm that all of his financial dealings were on the up and up. The Republican Party claims the severance agreement was never finalized.

It’s April Fools Day at the capitol, but there were very few laughs from House lawmakers charged with balancing the state budget.

The House passed its spending plan relying on stimulus dollars, a tuition hike, and trust fund raids to make up for three billion dollars in lost revenue. Representative David Rivera says the House tried to fund the necessities.

“We made sure particularly education and health care, programs that really protect everyday people’s lives, we’ve protected that to the greatest extent possible, and we hope that going forward, as we deliberate with out senate colleagues, we will be able to continue to protect those important areas,” said Rivera.

The budget passed on a party line vote. House Democrat Ron Saunders hopes the Senate heard his party’s objections.

“Some of these bad things are not in the Senate bill, that’s why some Democrats in the Senate voted for the Senate bill because some of these bad things are not in the Senate side, so we are trying to point out some of these bad things that we did not get a lot of input on and hopefully the Senate will listen and in conference they’ll eliminate the cut of the healthy start coalition, they’ll eliminate the raid on the retirement benefits,” said Saunders.

Legislation to cut retirement benefits to save the state 200 million dollars was originally defeated when 15 Republicans stood with the House Democrats to vote down the measure. The House then took a short break, reconvened and used legislative rules to jam the bill through. If the Senate agrees to the cut, thousands of retired state workers will have to rework their retirement plans.