Welcome to

Since 2007, 150 million dollars has been cut from programs that serve Floridians suffering from developmental disabilities.

Today advocates for the developmentally disabled were at the state capitol asking for a little of the money back. Renee Valletutti is the chair of the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council and has a son with special needs.

“There is just not enough funding in the system to serve even those individuals currently receiving services, let alone those on the wait list. I don’t know that my son will ever see services,” said Valletutti

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities is receiving 810 million dollars this budget year. Advocates are asking lawmakers to boost the budget to 856 million.

University students and their parents could see tuition go up by as much as 15 percent this year if some lawmakers have their way, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Governor Rick Scott has other ideas.

Recent college tuition increases have boosted Florida’s tuition ranking from 48 to 45thlowest in the nation. The state is still 26 hundred dollars a year cheaper than the national average. But that isn’t stopping these college students from saying enough is enough.

“Our main issues are tuition hikes and the cuts,” Alex Castro with the Florida Student Association said.

Despite the student protests, the House budget committee is moving forward with a 15 percent hike; 8 percent statewide and then allowing colleges to levy another seven percent. The Senate has yet to set its budget goals, but it is also heading toward higher tuition.

“We have got to do something to help keep that quality up, and that means raising tuition some,” Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Ormond Beach), Chairman of the Committee on Higher Education, said.

The tuition hikes moving in the legislature put the House and Senate dead opposite of the Governor’s thinking.

“I want the cost of living in the state to be lower than other states, I don’t want it to be higher than other states,” Scott said.

With the House wanting an 8 percent hike, and the Governor saying zero, the Senate is hoping it comes out somewhere in between.

In the end, lawmakers can pass whatever they want, but it is the Governor who will have the final say on whether tuition goes up or not.

Lobbyists and politicians in Tallahassee are full tonight, after eating the world’s largest skillet of paella.

The giant paella is a capitol tradition accompanying Miami-Dade Days. Governor Rick Scott put on an apron and picked up a serving spoon but he didn’t eat it… maybe because he has trouble pronouncing paella.

“My wife rolls her Ls way better than I do. But it looked pretty good. I didn’t have any, but it looked pretty good,” said Scott.

There are 3-thousand servings in the giant paella and about a bazillion carbs.