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During his first 100 days in office, Governor Rick Scott has the lowest approval ratings of any recent Governor. He has angered lawmakers, picked fights with the media, and held meetings with legislative leaders out of the sunshine. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Scott’s 100th day brought protestors to the Capitol.

Since that January day when Rick Scott uttered these words:

“So help me God.”

He has been nothing but controversial. He fired the state pilots and put the state planes up for sale, all without asking legislators. Then he said no to billions for high speed rail

This is how Scott responded when we asked him to grade those first 100 days.

“First off, I enjoy what I’m doing,” Scott said. “I care about people. I ran for governor because I believe in this country and in this state.”

Scott’s relationship with the media has been frosty. He has been slow with public records requests. His schedule is often incomplete, like this entry: “lunch with a legislator.” Monday he left a news conference without answering questions. But his staff got angry when we tried to video a staffer sent to give answers.

“He’s not the governor’s spokesperson,” Burgess said. “We are. The governor speaks for himself.”

Reporter: Alright, then tell us…

“What’s your question?”

Reporter: The question is, what is the state doing…

“I’ll find out and get back to you,” Burgess said.

Organized labor, teachers, and state employees are seething over what they call his attack on the middle class.

“So I ask the governor this: when you said let’s get to work, did you mean let’s get to work on cutting jobs? Let’s get to work on attacking the middle class? Let’s get to work on attacking our teachers?” FAMU student Jamal Rose said.

For his part, Scott says he doesn’t care if he’s popular or not.

And as pollsters point out, the next election is a political lifetime from now.

Governor Rick Scott today met face to face with state employees at an agency where he ordered 170 million dollars in emergency budget cuts. Less than two weeks ago, Scott issued the cuts and as Whitney Ray tells us, since that day the disabled and the people who service them have been asking the governor to change his mind.

Carrying the torch of the Special Olympics, Governor Rick Scott finished a 1.6 mile run and made his way up the steps of state capitol.

He was met there by special needs children and adults. He promised not to forget their struggles. Then, just hours later, he cut funding for the disadvantaged.

“What we are doing is, I believe is, the path to the long term viability of that agency,” said Gov. Scott on March 31st.

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities is 170 million dollars in the hole. To make up the deficit the governor ordered a cut to the money the agency gives service providers by 15 percent.

The cuts were immediately met with pushback from providers like Patricia Potter, who says her agency that serves 49 mentally and physically challenged adults would have to cut programs and staff.

“The cut will take us so low that it’s hard to do overhead and pay for liability insurance and people don’t want to work for minimum wage,” said Potter.

Scott missed a rally last week where Patricia and hundreds more asked for the money to be restored, but Tuesday he faced his decision head-on.

Scott spoke to employees at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. He says he’ll restore the money if the legislature can find it in the budget.

“If they provide us the funding then we will withdraw the executive order and we will be able to go back to the rates we are paying providers,” said Scott.

Now many service providers and the disabled have turned to legislature hoping for a sympathetic ear. The House has money in its budget to restore the cuts. The Senate is moving that direction, as the two chambers meet in conference to try and come up with a unified spending plan.

She has the most popular uterus in the state. Susannah Lindberg Randolph is the wife of State Representative Scott Randolph.

Last month Randolph told legislative leaders he was going to incorporate his wife’s uterus so they would view it as a small business and stop seeking changes to abortion laws. The remark was snarky but it’s rallied pro-choice voters around the state and today they showed up at the state capitol wearing uterus pins and holding stuffed uteri. Susannah Lindberg Randolph says since her husband’s remarks on the House floor, people have begun organizing against abortion changes.

“People reacted viscerally because they are just sick and tired of what’s going on up her and being told by the government what to do with your own body when corporations are getting away with all sorts of things,” said Lindberg Randolph.

Today’s rally was organized to protest 18 anti-abortion bills and to dub April 12th “Birth Control Matters Day.” Neither the Legislature nor the governor are making moves to name the day nor stop the abortion bills.

Governor Rick Scott is trying to sell his family’s 60 million dollar share in the urgent care chain Solantic. Scott co-founded the company in 2001.

Before he became governor he transferred his Solantic ownership to his wife. Since then he’s been pushing policy changes that could benefit Solantic and therefore his wife’s holdings. Scott has contended all along that there is no conflict of interest. Today he told reporters he’s selling the stock.

Critics say Scott’s plans to drug test welfare recipients and state workers would benefit the health care company. Last week Solantic told reporters they wouldn’t contract with the state. The company may be singing a new tune if the Scott stock is sold.

More than a hundred bikers rode their motorcycles onto the courtyard of the state capitol today to ask lawmakers to make Florida’s roads safer. They want stricter penalties for drivers who kill people in car wrecks, and as Whitney Ray tells us, some of them are also calling on lawmakers to ban red-light cameras.

It was all chrome, leather and loud pipes Monday as more than a hundred bikers stormed the state capitol. One by one the names of bikers killed on Florida’s roadways were read aloud.

The Motorcycle group, ABATE Florida wants mandatory jail time for drivers who kill people in car wrecks… But some of them also want red-light cameras repealed. Bikers say they’ve seen more people slamming on their breaks at yellow lights to avoid a ticket since the cameras have been installed.

“I have heard squealing breaks behind me, you know? And you’re looking like when are you going to feel the thump and where am I going to go,” said Biker R.C.

No one wants to be rear ended, but it’s often times more sever on two wheels than on four. It’s a fact Gregg Borden knows all too well.

“A real good friend of ours last year was killed, he was sitting at a red-light waiting for it to change red then a guy ran right over him, killed him dead,” said Gregg.

But Gregg isn’t against red-light cameras. He says it’s a catch 22; Risk red-light runners, or risk being rear-ended because people slam on their breaks to avoid a fine.

“If it’s not used as a cash cow I’m all for it,” said Gregg.

Shari Gold has been riding for a decade. She says the cameras are an invasion of her privacy.

“I think it’s another government big brother looking over our shoulder,” said Shari.

Some state lawmakers share her fear.

“That’s a slipper slop to start down, where do the cameras stop,” said State Representative Jimmy Patronis.

While some studies show red-light cameras cut down on T-bone accidents… other studies claim they more than double the number of rear end collisions.

Libertarian and Tea party groups are planning red-light camera protests 5:30 tomorrow afternoon throughout the state. Some of the bikers from today’s rally will be at those events.

Here is a list of the protests. They’re slated to begin at 5:00 EST
Dale Mabry and Waters Avenue, Tampa
US 19 and Ridge Road, New Port Richey
Old Capitol Museum, Tallahassee
Conroy Rd and Vineland RD, Orlando
SR A1A & SR 520, Brevard, Cocoa Beach
Minton Rd & Palm Bay Rd, Palm Bay
Corner of Pine Ridge Road and US41, Naples
Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Blvd, Spring Hill
A1A and 520 and Eau Gallie and US1, Brevard County

BP is giving 30 million dollars to seven panhandle counties hardest hit by last year’s oil spill.

The money will begin flowing in two weeks. It will be used to attract tourists to panhandle beaches. State Representative Jimmy Patronis says BP will keep an eye on how the money I spent, so it better be spent wisely.

“BP is going to hold us accountable. Those dollars will need to be used and good for marketing efforts to make sure the entire region moves past this terrible stigma that we’ve inherited,” said Patronis.

The money goes to the Northwest Florida Tourism Council. The council represents Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, and Franklin Counties. Today’s announcement brings the total of money given to Florida for advertising to 62 million dollars.

Dogs are rarely seen inside the state capitol, but today… Dolly, a pit-bull and former fighting dog attended a news conference outside the House Chamber in an effort to keep fighting dogs from being euthanized.

Current Florida law calls for dogs seized from fighting rings to be put down. State Senator Norman and Representative Luis Garcia are pushing legislation that would change that. Norman says their bill would require animal control officials to conduct an individual assessment to determine if the dogs are actually dangerous before they’re put down.

“As you can see if dogs are treated right, they’re like man’s best friend, lady’s best friend; they’re just absolutely wonderful creatures,” said Norman.

Dolly is one of 500 dogs seized from the largest fighting bust in U.S. history. Her owner says she’s proof not every victimized dog is a threat.

In education, Florida has gone from 35th in the nation to 5th and many credit strict class size restrictions passed by voters in 2002. Now lawmakers are trying to expand classes. As Whitney Ray tells us, they’re doing it by cutting a list of 8-hundred core courses to just 3-hundred.

High School Junior Jackson Gladwin’s education has benefited from smaller classes.

“When you have too many students in there, you know, it’s over whelming to control the classroom,” said Gladwin.

Because of the class size amendment passed by voters in 2002, Jackson’s core classes can’t exceed 25 students. But that will likely change soon.

Both state houses have passed legislation cutting the number of classes defined as core curriculum from 8-hundred to about 3-hundred.

“The legislature’s responsibility to define which courses were going to be considered core and I think that’s always an evolving process because courses change,” said Rep. Erik Fresen.

There’s still discussion among lawmakers about exactly which classes are considered core curriculum under the new legislation

But journalism, advanced placement classes, and foreign languages are likely to fall off the list.

That concerns Jackson, who says his French class would be much tougher with more students.

“If there are too many students in there, It gets noisy, you know. It’s noisy when there’s 25 kids, but it’s easier to calm down than having 40 kids,” said Gladwin.

For principals, the concerns are even more severe. They say the changes will result in teacher layoffs.

“I won’t know until it all shakes out how it’s going to work, but here I just hired seven or eight teachers last year and now I’m going to have to let them go,” said Hanna.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are guaranteed protection. What may also be off the chopping block are social studies classes because the Senate president teaches the subject to Florida college students.

Legislative leaders asked voters to pass a ballot measure to scale back the class size requirements because they said the issue couldn’t be addressed legislatively. The constitutional amendment failed, and now lawmakers are moving forward with their legislative fix.

Mississippi Governor and Presidential hopeful Haley Barbour met with Florida Governor Rick Scott today. After their meeting they spoke to reporters about the stale-mate in Congress that could force a government shutdown. Both the Republican Governors side the GOP controlled House and say Congress needs to cut spending.

“Washington doesn’t have one and a half trillion dollar deficit because it taxes too little; its cause they spend too much and the minor spending cuts that are being discussed at…done by the House of Representatives are a fraction of what ultimately has to be done,” said Barbour.

“It doesn’t make any sense. We know we have to live with in budgets. Im going through my budget right now and the expectation for all…everybody in this country is that the Federal Government watch how they spend money,” said Scott.

Barbour also addressed Florida’s importance in the 2012 presidential primary election. He says if he runs, he’ll campaign in Florida regardless of whether or not the state moves its primary back from January to March to appease the Republican National Committee.

Florida hospitals are facing a 1.8 billion dollar budget cut in the budgets being contemplated by state lawmakers. Included in the cuts is the elimination of the Medically Needy program. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the cut could hurt as many as two hundred thousand Floridians who depend on the program for their lives.

Mary Ellen Ross had a liver and bone marrow transplant in 1999. She was in the capitol to tell the story of the medically needy.

“I don’t want to die,” Ross said.

Kidney recipient German Vivas is in the same dire straits.

“I will not survive,” Vivas said.

200,000 Floridians depend on the Medically Needy program to survive. The program costs the state 671 million dollars a year. It was completely eliminated in the Senate’s budget.

In German’s case, his 18 hundred dollar a month income doesn’t come close to leaving enough to cover the cost of medications to keep him from rejecting his transplanted kidney. He says health shouldn’t be for just the the wealthy.

“Low income people also donate their organs,” he said. “They need to have a right to receive transplanted organs.”

If the program goes away, there’s only one place for people to get care, the emergency room, and the public is still going to pay.

But after spending hundreds of thousands on each transplant, the state is saying it is too poor to take care of the medical investments it has made. Ross says that doesn’t make sense.

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep us in good health, so we wouldn’t have to use the hospital system?” Ross asked.

There is one ray of hope. It is early in the budget process and the Senate President says the medically needy will survive once lawmakers start negotiating.

Teachers, Police, Firefighters and state employees continue to fight against changes to their pension plan. In Tallahassee today, both the House and Senate moved forward with budget’s calling for different levels of pension contributions, and requiring at least some contribution seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Anger has been building since Rick Scott first announced he wanted a 5% pension contributions from employees who haven’t had a raise in as many years. It has been 36 years since the state took over all funding of the pension fund. Many, like correctional officer Jim Baiardi, see the contributions as a foregone conclusion.

“It seems like the word of the day up here is contributions”, says Baiardi.

Under the House plan, everyone would pay 3% of their salary. The 3% would take more than 700 million in buying power out of public employees hands.

The Senate has a tiered plan:

2 percent for anyone making twenty five thousand or less

4 percent for salaries between 25 and 50 thousand

and 6 percent for anyone making more than 50 k.

Even moderate Republicans like state Senator Paula Dockery of Lakeland balked at the plan during floor debate. “I’m not to be able to support a budget that balances itself on the backs of our state employees”, says Dockery.

The Budget containing the contribution requirements passed 33 to 6.

What happens next is that House and Senate leaders will spend the next three or four weeks negotiation, trying to decide if the pension contribution is as low as two percent or as high as six percent.

Rich Workman has been handling the House plan. For now, he’s not budging on a firm 3%. “Currently, their tiered plan is. I think, is more harmful than the three percent across the board”, says Workman.  And while negotiations continue…public employees plan to keep the pressure on.

Opponents of the pension contribution pointed out the state will spend more than 700 million dollars next year buying right of way for roads. that’s enough to cover the cash the pension contribution will bring in.

An angry crowd of teachers, nurses, and unemployed people stormed the governor’s office today to ask Rick Scott, where are the jobs? Scott was out of town, but as Whitney Ray tells us, the crowd delivered hundreds of pink slips to his secretary and told him the governor’s got to go.

With signs in their hands, a song on their hearts, and pink slips ready to be delivered, an angry mob of five hundred nurses, teachers, and unemployed people took over Governor Rick Scott’s office Thursday.

One-by-one, the working class Floridians handed pink slips to Governor Rick Scott’s staff. Their question for the governor, “where are the jobs?”

The group claims Scott has eliminated 330-thousand jobs, and has yet to create one. Here’s how they came up with the figure.

First they say Scott’s rejection of federal dollars for high speed rail cost the state 113-thousand jobs. Then they say that Scott’s plan to privatize Medicaid, which could deprive the state of billions of federal matching dollars, would eliminate 135-thousand. That brings the total about 250-thousand. The rest, they say, would come from privatizing prisons, cutting education funding, and laying off state workers.

Amos Irvin says if Scott doesn’t change his tune soon, the voters will change it for him.

“His polling numbers are going down so he’d better pay attention to us,” said Amos.

Others says Scott’s policies will make the rich richer and the poor suffer more.

“The corporations will have an easier time in Florida and it will all be on the backs of the workers,” said Pat Butman.

While the workers packed Scott’s office, he was in Port St. Lucie meeting with the unemployed and talking about his plan to create 700-thousand jobs. A spokesman for the governor says Scott respects the rights of the protesters to rally at the capitol, but says their claims are false.

Florida’s 15 public, children’s, and teaching hospitals are being targeted by state lawmakers for millions of dollars in budget cuts.

So is the medically needy program. Hospital CEOs joined transplant survivors at the state capitol today to talk about the ramifications of the cuts. Mary Ellen Ross had a liver transplant. Ross relies on the Medically Needy program to pay for medicine that keeps her body from rejecting the organ. She says if the program is cut, she will die.

“My life will be shut down more quickly if this program is not here as something I can rely on to the day that God wants to take me, not the state of Florida,” said MaryEllen Ross.

Union workers from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami-Dade County fear cuts to the public hospitals are an attempt by the legislature to privatize the facility.

200-thousand Florida public school students take at least one class online.

That number could skyrocket if legislation expanding the program passes this legislative session. The bill would expand the program the private schools and home schools. It would also require every student to take at least one class online before graduation. State Representative Erik Fresen says the changes will give students more learning options.

“We have these tools that are available that a certain child wants to learn in a certain grade at a certain pace and we can offer that in a virtual environment which they are living in every single day outside the classroom anyway. It’s something we should offer to our kids,” said Fresen.

Opponents of virtual schools worry about the quality of the classes and the supervision of the students enrolled in the online courses.

Hundreds of disabled people are calling on Governor Rick Scott to restore money he cut last week from the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. People with mental retardation, cerebral palsy and spina bifida were at the capitol today protesting the emergency cuts. As Whitney Ray tells us, they invited the governor, but he left the capitol before the rally began.

Yliana Eberts pulled her disabled daughter, Carmon, out of a group home after she discovered scrapes and bruises all over her body.

Yliana applied for a Medicaid waiver and now her daughter lives on her own. Medicaid pays for caregivers to watch Carmon, but last week Governor Rick Scott cut funds that pay for her care.

“I don’t have any options because I cannot care for her. That is why she is where she is,” said Yliana.

The 15 percent cut is affecting thousands of Floridians with disabilities.

Wednesday, hundreds rallied at the state capitol to tell Scott to restore the funds. Some of them, like Philip Wojtas, who will lose his rides to therapy because of the cuts, needed help sharing their stories.

Interpreter: Do you want to live in an institution?
Philip: No
Interpreter: No, you don’t want to live in an institution, you would rather live in your apartment, right?”
Philip: Yes

The crowd invited the Governor to the rally to explain his cuts, but he was no where to be found. Scott had a meeting in Palm Beach and left minutes before the rally began, but Tuesday he told reporters spending at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities was out of control.

“That agency has not lived within its budget as far as I can tell it never did and so everybody just kicked the can and never really held them accountable,” said Scott.

Scott says the decisions he makes won’t earn him a lot of friends. This crowd is proof positive the governor’s right. But the governor is making friends with the Tea Party and business groups, and even though a poll released today shows Scott’s approval ratings low, political experts say if he’s able to turn the economy around… voters will change their tune.