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A coalition of clean water advocates banded together at the Capitol today demanding the state pay attention to water resources, but the advocates could be waiting at least another year for any action.

Dozens of citizens from across the state flooded the steps of Tallahassee’s Old Capitol.

The group is demanding the state legislature address Florida’s water quality and supply troubles

“It is absolutely unacceptable to have thousands of fish, hundreds of seabirds, hundreds of dolphins and hundreds of manatees dying from water pollution. This is a government problem,” said environmental lawyer David Guest.

Environmentalists stood with lawmakers to sign the Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration.  The campaign outlines what they say is every citizen’s right to clean drinking water, fishing water, and springs.

“We can make sure that future generations have what’s necessary to be able to feed our families, have the clean water we want, and still invite tourists to our beaches each and every year,” said Rep. Heather Dawes Fitzenhagen (R – Fort Myers)

Even though some lawmakers are supporting clean water legislation, they’re not sure it will make a splash this year.

While supporters point to algae ridden springs and green rivers around the state, House speaker Will Weatherford has already said water policy most likely won’t be making waves this year.

“I think there are a lot of issues on Speaker Weatherford’s plate for him to close out. He understands that Speaker Designate Crisifulli has been a leader on this,” said Rep. Alan Williams (D – Tallahassee).

Change isn’t expected until House Speaker in waiting Steve Crisafulli takes over for the 2015 session.

The former Vice Chairman of the Citizens Task Force that studied the state’s Stand Your Ground law is calling on Governor Rick Scott to repeal the law. The state never followed through on a study of how the law was being used.

In the wake of the Trayvon Martin death, Governor Rick Scott appointed a Citizens Task Force to study Stand Your Ground. Like many task force reports, this one went nowhere.

“Enough is enough,” says the task force’s Vice Chairman Rev. RB Holmes. With no action on the nine recommendations, Holmes says it’s time to abolish stand your ground. “The moral thing to do, is to fix this law, amend this law, or simply repeal this law,” says Holmes.

Trayvon Martin’s family attorney, Ben Crump, says the law discriminates against people of color. “We have to communicate that all life matters, all life is precious,” says Crump.

While the call is to repeal Stand Your Ground, lawmakers are much likely to lean towards repairing it. One bill would put limits on Neighborhood Watch volunteers. Another would allow people to fire a warning shot and not be guilty of a crime

Rep. Neil Combee (R-Lakeland) says it would allow somebody to say they have a gun and show it, rather than to shoot somebody and then claim Stand Your Ground.

Lawmakers were reluctant to do anything with the task force report or guns last year because the George Zimmerman trial was playing out. This year could be different, but a call from a retreat from Stand Your Ground is likely to fall on deaf legislative ears.

Differing versions of changes to Stand Your Ground are moving through the House and Senate Committees.

Many of us have probably had to think twice about certain things we post on social media. A new bill could protect employee’s privacy from a snooping superior.

When things go up on the internet, they rarely come down.  It’s a concern for one lawmaker who wants to make sure what people post on their personal social media pages can’t be looked at by a potential boss and keep them from getting or keeping a job.

“There have been a lot of documented incidents, especially in other states, of abuse. Employers denying jobs to people who wouldn’t allow them access to their own social media,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens.

Clemens is pushing a bill that would help employees or potential employees keep their personal social media personal. His bill would make it illegal for an employer to demand passwords and usernames to social media accounts.

“It makes good sense to me. There’s good reasons for an employer or a prospective employer to do background checks and things of that nature, but we need to draw the line when it comes to privacy of your social media accounts,” he said.

The bill would still allow employers to search for a potential employee, it just wouldn’t give them access to the entire account.

Justin Hancock is a social media expert. He says the potential law could eliminate a lot of gray areas.

“Employers shouldn’t be asking for passwords in the first place. At the end of the day they are your posts. Personally, if I was interviewing and I was asked, that would raise a red flag for me,” said Hancock.

Regardless of whether or not an employer would have access, it’s a smart idea to monitor what info you put out to the world

“People are out there watching, we should be smart about what we put up,” said Clemens.

If the idea becomes law, employees whose privacy was violated would be entitled to 500 dollars or more.

Florida State University will begin searching for a new president later this week. Eric Barron, who has had the job since 2010, accepted the top job at Penn State today. Barron was recommended by a secret selection process, and some Florida lawmakers want more secrecy in hiring University Presidents in Florida.

Trustees at Florida State first heard President Eric Barron had applied for and was being recommended for the top job at Penn State from reporters on Friday.

By Mid Day Monday it was a done deal. Barron was in Pennsylvania to say yes. “I am much more than pleased to accept,” Barron told Penn State’s Board.

Here in Florida, state law requires such searches to be open to the public. FSU Trustee Mark Hillis says the lack of secrecy has kept some of the best talent from applying in Florida.  “People won’t put their name in the hat to accept the position because they are concerned about losing their job, or it affecting their job” says Hillis

But public records advocate Barbara Peterson questions the need for secrecy. “This bill kind of presumes that all of the University Presidents and deans that have been hired in the last forty years weren’t the best and the brightest we could get” says the First Amendment Foundation’s President.

Trustees did say if they’d known Eric Barron was thinking about leaving, ,they would have made a counter offer.  While state law requires openness, some searches are already circumventing the process. The search committee at FAMU met with chosen applicants before they applied.  “By applying, you certainly suggest you might want to be elsewhere. And I find boards tend to help you do that” says FAMU Search Committee Chairman Karl White.

State Representative Dave Kerner says his legislation actually requires records on finalists be open 21 days before a selection is made. The FAMU finalists were know for just a week before the decision was made.

Penn State has a budget four times larger than FSU’s and has just more than twice the students. Barron’s base salary will be twice his FSU pay.

A Florida Senate bill that could allow for Las Vegas style casinos in South Florida won’t be rolled out for at least another week and half. This upcoming session, gaming expansion could be a fight this session between gamblers and Mickey Mouse.

Anti-gambling groups are trying to stack the deck against gaming expansion in Florida. Orlando based ‘No Casinos’ is touting numbers showing Florida is the 23^rd biggest state for gambling, not 4^th as supporters have often said.

Regardless of the number, Vice President Brewster Bevis of pro-gaming Associated Industries of Florida says that building casinos would bring in millions for the economy.

“Imagine a convention bringing in 33,000 people. Those people will spend money in Florida, they’ll spend money in Miami,” said Bevis.

The top-dog in Florida tourism, Disney, is also adamantly opposed to resort casinos in South Florida. Mickey and friends feel like it would hurt the state’s family friendly image.

Conservative members of the legislature have killed gaming bills in the past, but chamber leaders could be ready to take a chance.

Senate President Don Gaetz has voted against almost every gaming expansion policy. But House Speaker Will Weatherford said he would be open to new casinos if a gaming commission was put in place and voters made a referendum happen. Gaetz is standing by his House counterpart if they can come up with regulations.

“The question is, are we going to have a gaming policy that is comprehensive and fair and balanced. And so Speaker Weatherford and I need to make sure we lay the predicate for that,” said Sen. Gaetz.

Florida’s Senate Committee on gaming is expected to have a bill on expansion on February 24^th.

There have been 21 parasailing accidents in which six people have died since 2001. Lawmakers are saying enough is enough when it comes to deadly parasailing accidents.

It’s not easy for Crystal White to talk about her parasailing accident 7 years ago in Pompano Beach.  Her sister Amber was killed, and Crystal was severely injured.

“I just remember screaming and yelling down for the operator of the boat to help me and my sister,” said White.

The same goes for Alexis Fairchild, who suffered an accident last July in Panama City.

“I don’t remember hearing anything, I just remember feeling it in my body and just knowing that it snapped, and I remember screaming,” she said.

Fairchild was parasailing with a friend when their line broke away from the boat, causing the two to slam into a building. She’s now helping to push a bill that would require parasailing companies to have minimum insurance policies, shut down during bad weather, and maintain certain equipment

Supporters for the bill say that parasailing operators are backing the regulations, but it’s not the big companies they’re worried about.

“What we’re looking at is some of the smaller operators who want to take one more ride before the storm comes in,” said bill sponsor Sen. Maria Sachs.

Legislation has failed to reach the floor in past years, but Sachs feels it will get therein 2014

“We’re tired of these types of injuries that could have been prevented,” she said.

The bill would prohibit parasailing if the wind was blowing at more than 20 miles per hour or if a lightning storm was with seven miles of the area. The victims told a Senate committee that if the regulations had already been in place, their accidents wouldn’t have happened.

An average about 50 teachers a year lose their licenses in Florida due to sexual misconduct with a student. A group of high school students is pushing legislation that would stiffen the penalties against offenders.

Speaking to the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, student after student from Tampa’s Armwood High School pitched the “Stop Harassing Underage Teens Act.”  The bill would tighten the screws on authority figures, in this case teachers, that prey on students from Kindergarten to the 12^th grade.

Teacher Tony Pirotta was recognized by the committee. The students came up with the legislation in his class.  If passed, educators convicted of felonies would have their punishments pushed to the next level. A first degree felony could become a life sentence.

“We don’t want to have those predators among us and being classified as teachers, either,” said Pirotta.

The only objection came from Representative Charles Van Zant who questioned why teachers were the only authority figures being targeted in the bill.

“We have a shortage now of good teachers, and so this will…cause people to go to some other profession and say ‘I wanted to be a teacher but man these laws are too strict,'” said Rep. Van Zant.

Bill sponsor Representative Jake Raburn said the law would only target the bad apples

“By no means should this make teachers…should this give them any heartburn unless they’re planning on having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a child,” he said.

In the last three years alone, more than 150 Florida teachers have lost their teaching licenses after being accused of sexual misconduct with a student.  The bill also enforces the tougher penalties on other staff members of schools if they’re found guilty. Representative Van Zant argued it should apply to authority figures outside of the school.

Helping teacher’s identify the signs of mental illness in their students has become a priority for some lawmakers.

“The genesis of this bill was actually the Sandy Hook massacre,” said Rep. Lori Berman.

Under Berman’s plan, mental health first aid training for school teachers and staff would be available from the Department of Children and Families. She hopes it makes spotting problem signs routine.

“I think it’s important for us to invest the dollars and try to address mental health and substance abuse problems when they’re in their incipient stages,” said Berman.

It would cost about $60,000 to train 30 teachers and other public servants in the program. Last years mental health bill died without finding sponsorship in the senate. This year, the bill has already made it through committees in both chambers.

The Florida Education Association says that they’d be open to the training, but they want to wait and see a final draft of the bill first.

“Absolutely, we would be interested in that, but, again, I say that with caution. Any bill that comes out, the concepts are great, it’s about the devils and the details and the implementation,” said Vice President Joanne McCall.

DCF’s Assistant secretary of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Nevin Smith says that the training could prevent a tragedy.

“If we can get early recognition then we can intervene in appropriate ways in order to redirect that activity so we don’t have a major problem,” said Smith.

Also on the mental health front, another bill would fund mental health councilors for every school in the state.

Efforts to open school playgrounds to kids for after hours play have been thwarted in recent years because schools fear being sued, but supporters have a strong new ally.

School playgrounds like this one make for great fun during the day, but often times kids find themselves fenced and locked after hours.

Jacksonville Jaguar Cornerback Alan Ball wants to change that

He spend the day walking the hallways of the State Capitol hallways trying to open the playgrounds and give kids a place to go. “They don’t understand why they can’t go to that playground…to them it’s what’s the alternative. And to a lot of kids, the alternative  is…lets go home and play video games, or lets go text each other on the iPhone, or lets go play on our tablet,” says Ball.

Ball is volunteering his time as part of the NFL’s Play 60 Program. Legislation to open the playgrounds has passed the House for two years in a row…but never gotten a hearing in the Senate.

What has derailed the legislation in the past is school districts fear of being sued…sued for anything and everything.

Under the legislation, schools won’t be forced to open the playgrounds, but if they do, the possibility of being sued will be reduced unless they commit gross negligence.

David Francis says the American Heart Association has made the playground legislation a top priority.  “We have publicly funded taxpayer playgrounds in these high schools and public schools, and they are in these neighborhoods that are not being utilized…and we’re paying for them and they should be open to the public” says Francis/

And Cornerback Ball hopes opening school playgrounds and  and his status as a role model will inspire kids to drop their gaming devices and play actual games for a change.

If the legislation passes, school facilities could be open to the public as early as this fall.

Dozens of military veterans turned college students gathered at the state Capitol today. They are asking lawmakers to make college more affordable by allow any veteran with an honorable discharge to pay in state tuition rates. Andrew Sloan says vets can go anywhere with their benefits and Sloan says Florida is at a disadvantage.

“Florida is a state that has a lot to offer to vets, ah, It has wonderful job opportunities and great schools, and there is no reason we should put up a barrier to vets who want to come and receive their education and employment here” argues Sloan.

Out of state tuition rates are generally three to four times in state rates.

Florida Voters will decide the fate of medical marijuana in November, but some lawmakers want to get ahead of the curve.

Bradenton Residnets Robert and Cathy Jordan say Cathy wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for medical marijuana.

“Oh man, it’s keeping her alive,” said Robert Jordan.

His wife, Cathy, has been battling Lou Gherig’s disease and lobbying for the use of medical marijuana in the sunshine state. She’s able to use medicinal pot because she qualifies under a Florida medical necessity law. “Treat this as legitimate medicine, this is saving lives right now,” said Robert.

Rep Joe Saunders is sponsoring the Cathy Jordan Medical Canibus act.

“This is our best shot at a compassionate bill, that gets patients medical care and medicine that they need right now while at the same time keeping the public safe,” said Saunders.

Another bill filed last week allows for the use of a form of medical marijuana to help people with certain seizures, but it’s not supposed to be able to get a patient high.

Representative Matt Gaetz is sponsoring a bill that would allow a low THC strain called Charlottes Web to be used as medicine.

“The constitutional amendment will put a marijuana dispensary in every neighborhood and every strip mall, I think we can really get the medicine to the people who truly need it with a more limited approach,” said Gaetz.

Recent polls show a majority of Floridians supporting medical marijuana, but not everyone is on board.

“Marijuana –  you can have dependency with that. Does it kill people? Not unless you’re high, and possibly DUI drugged and kill somebody or kill yourself. The question comes about whether or not you want to introduce another intoxicant into society that is legal,” said Claude Shipley, a former strategic planner for the Florida office of drug control.

Cathy Jordan has outlived a doctors diagnosis predicting her demise by more than 15 years. Saunder’s HB 859 would allow the Department of Health and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to oversee distribution and cultivation of medical marijuana in the state.

74 Cities and five counties operate red light cameras in Florida and A new study by a state government watch dog is giving the cameras a mixed review and it’s energizing critics who want the law repealed.

Red alight camera revenue is up from 37 million in two years ago… To a whopping 118 million last year.

Sen. Jeff Brandes wants to repeal the 2010 law that allows red light cameras. “We’ve tolerated this back door tax increase for too long. It is time we bring some common sense to the traffic policies of the state of Florida” says the St. Petersburg Senator.

A study by the legislature’s office of policy analysis and accountability found fatal crashes down by 49 percent at red light camera intersections…but the number of rear end crashes is up.

The report also found that revenue from red light intersections like this one goes to general revenue…not traffic safety. Casey Cook from the Florida League of Cities says the numbers prove the cameras are saving lives. “Fewer people are running red lights, and the fact of the matter is 49 percent fewer people died this year as a result of red light running” says Cook.

But opponents argue the data is sketchy. They appear poised to recommend bug changes if they can’t engineer a full repeal.

“We should require that traffic studies be done for each and every intersection with a red light camera. Second, we need to require that traffic safety counter measures be implemented before installing red light cameras” says Brandes, the Senate sponsor of the repeal.

A legislative committee will hear from the authors of this report later this week. The cameras cost cities and counties between 42 and 47 hundred a month for each camera. 15 cities generated more than a million dollars in revenue from the cameras last year.

A weak US jobs report isn’t exactly music to the ears of thousands of Floridians still having trouble with the State’s CONNECT unemployment website. The $63 million dollar project is improving, but still is not perfect.

Friday means paychecks for a lot of people in the state, but there are still thousands of job seeking Floridians scratching their heads over their benefits thanks to Florida’s CONNECT website.

The unemployment system has had a rough ride since its launch in October.  A federal investigation found that people eligible for benefits were being flagged in the system. The state’s Department of Economic Opportunity declined an interview on the website’s status.  The department has been fining contractor since December to the tune of 15 thousand dollars a day. That’s added up to $480,000 through February 7th.

There are improvements, however. A month ago the department was answering about a third of the calls coming in, now its up to eight out of 10.

“Oh it’s a very big concern, you bet your boots it is. I mean this is affecting people’s lives, and we want to get it right as quickly as we can and we’re putting as much pressure on Deloitte as we can to get things corrected,” said Sen. Alan Hays.

The state is hiring 250 employees by the end of February to handle claims, and another 80 to work in the call center. Governor Rick Scott says they’re doing the best they can.

“They’re working very diligently, they’re going to get that done. They care about making sure that every Floridian has a right to get their unemployment benefits,” said Scott.

While the Connect system still struggles to make sure all Floridian’s receive their checks, the D.E.O. maintains that it is operating above the level of the system it replaced. A department spokeswoman says that there are about 20,000 people flagged in the system, down from 60,000 about a month ago.

The Department of Economic Opportunity will continue to fine Deloitte $15,000 a day until they are satisfied with the website’s performance.

Florida’s Department of Health says the number of under age children using e-cigarettes doubled in Florida from 2011 to 2012. Lawmakers want to make the sales of the fake cigarettes to minors go up in smoke.

Jim Hampton’s store in Tallahassee is one of thousands of outlets in the state that sell electronic cigarettes.

“Business is good,” says Hampton, the store owner of ‘Just Vapin’.’

Hampton proudly sells the device that he says has helped dozens of customers quit tobacco by still allowing them to inhale nicotine.

With just a few clicks, the e-cigarette can dispense flavored nicotine vapors. It’s something Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto wants to make sure isn’t sold to minors, just like a traditional cigarette.

“Well the trend is that youth are using them in larger numbers and, as a mom, I want to do all I can to protect kids from getting addicted to nicotine at such a young age,” said Benacquisto.

There has yet to be federal regulation on the e-cigs because they don’t contain tobacco. Minors can purchase the cartridges and flavored nicotine juices as they please. Hampton decided not to sell to minors at his store, but he  believes they’re better for kids than real tobacco.

“If my child was under 18 and smoked cigarettes, I would certainly purchase them for him,” he said.

While Hampton supports the bill and regulating the marketplace, his main worry is opening the door to banning e-cigs in public. Benacquisto didn’t go so far as to rule it out.

“If another Senator wants to file another bill at another time, that’s their prerogative, but my desire and the desire of this bill is to keep them from being purchased by minors,” she said.

The bill has passed its first three committees unanimously. The next stop is Senate Appropriations.

If passed, the bill would make selling to minors a second degree misdemeanor, and would be bumped up to a first degree misdemeanor if there are multiple violations in the same year.

The 1989 disappearance of University of Florida student Tiffany Sessions appears close to being solved. Detectives working cold cases in Gainesville have identified a deceased inmate, Paul Rawls, as the likely suspect.

Each year, Tiffany’s mother Hillary places a rose next to her daughter’s picture at the annual Missing Children’s ceremony at the State Capitol.

This year Hillary told us the biggest problem was not knowing what really happened to her daughter.

“The most important thing is resolving the issue on what happened.  “As I wrote in my book she could have been take by an alien, by a stranger or a criminal” says Hillary.

Police have been searching a field near Sessions’ house. It’s the same field where another Rawls victim was found more than 20 years ago.