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Winston Hearing Ends

December 3rd, 2014 by flanews

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s university hearing stemming from a 2 year old sexual assault incident – which he was never charged for – neded more than one day to get sorted out. As Matt Galka tells us, witnesses were in and out of the hearing all day.

Jameis Winston and his advisers arrived shortly before 9 a.m. on Wednesday for the second day of the Heisman winning quarterbacks conduct code hearing.

“This thing is over now…we just may need more time,” said Winston’s attorney David Cornwell.

Cornwell said that the accuser’s adviser, John Clune, had violated confidentiality orders when he met with the media following Tuesday’s session.  Clune didn’t comment when he and his client arrived.

Several witnesses were called including a state attorney’s office investigator who interviewed the accuser last year.

Jason Newlin investigated the sexual battery allegations in December of 2013 and submitted his report to State Attorney Willie Meggs.  He showed up with his case file – but admitted no one in his office was familiar with student conduct code hearings.

“I have no idea what questions are going to be asked, I really don’t. When we talked to Mr. Meggs, that was part of the discussion,” said Newlin.

Other witnesses included a Florida State police officer who responded to the accuser’s apartment in 2012.  Winston’s teammates Chris Casher and Ronald Darby also were summoned on day one.

The hearing wrapped up around 4:30 p.m. Both sides seemed confident when they exited.  Cornwell insisted there was nothing said in the two day hearing that would cause Winston to be guilty.  Clune said they wanted to see Winston expelled.

No matter what the hearing finds, the ultimate decision will be in the hands of Florida State University President John Thrasher. He can accept or reject any decision that is made.

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December 3rd, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

An 81 year old Sarasota woman finished a 400 mile walk from her home to the state Capitol today. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, she is part of a growing movement that believes money is the root of all evil when it comes to politics.

Rhana Bazzini began her walk began 52 days and 430 miles ago.

“I can’t believe I’ve actually done this, and I’m actually walking up to the Capitol. There is a very surreal element to it” the activist told us as she approached the State Capitol.

She arrived with a hundred or so supporters., Along the way, Rhana Bazzini met with lawmakers and picked up a following. Her goal: Get the money out of politics. “People from the tea party to the Occupy Movement support the idea of getting money out of politics.  They don’t always agree on how to do it” she says.

This is a national movement.

David Cobb is a Move to Amend Founder. He told the crowd “The have perverted our constitutional right to self governance.” The remark brought a loud cheer.

Move to Amend wants a 28th amendment to the US constitution. It would prohibit corporate political contributions.

“We now call it corruption reforms” says Lawrence Lissig, a Harvard Professor. He did a a poll that shows 96 percent hate the money in politics, but 91 percent believe nothing can be done.  “They’re already convinced. They already believe the government is corrupted, and all we have to do is show them there is a way to fix it.”

Rhana Bazzini acknowledges it’s an uphill battle. “Yea, of course it’s going to be hard. It probably won’t happen in my lifetime. I’m 81. They tell me I’m going to live to a hundred. That would be very nice. Maybe if I live to a hundred, it will come to pass.”

The next stop for this movement…New Hampshire in January where they hope to get on the radar of Presidential candidates.

The movement began with a dozen people in a living room. It now has more than three hundred thousand members across the country.Supers: Tallahassee

Ideas for fixing the problem range from giving tax credits to small political donors to passing out 50 dollar vouchers to be given to your candidate of choice.

 

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Jameis Winston Faces Conduct Code Hearing

December 2nd, 2014 by flanews

The future of Florida State’s Heisman Winning Quarterback Jameis Winston could be in jeopardy. Matt Galka has been following Winston’s conduct code hearing, and tells us both sides had strong words before it began.

Jameis Winston arrived at his twice delayed student code of conduct hearing just before noon on Tuesday.  The quarterback was accused of sexual assault stemming from an incident two years ago. He was never charged.  Winston’s adviser had strong words for the accuser before the hearing.

“We intend to end this process today. Unfortunately, in these types of cases, the only way to confront a lie, is with the truth,” said attorney David Cornwell.

The accuser and her adviser, Baine Kerr, arrived shortly after Winston and declined to comment on camera.  But Kerr sent out a statement beforehand. Part of it read “Neither Jameis Winston nor his lawyer can stop what is coming.”

The hearing was held in an off campus engineering building. They’re typically held in the Dean of Students office. Not much about the high profile case has been typical.  Tim Jansen, who represented Winston while he was being investigated last year and has been involved in multiple conduct code hearings, says having a Supreme Court Justice decide the case is unusual.

“Normally you have a faculty panel, anytime there’s a sexual battery charge it’s already predetermined that the conduct code hearing will be a faculty panel. That’s comprised of three faculty members and two students,” said Jansen.

The hearing will continue until at least Wednesday. When day one ended, John Clune, one of the accuser’s advisers, said his side felt good.

“For our client it’s a very empowering day, a very important day, you have the Heisman trophy on trial for rape today, so I think that seeing where things have come over the past 10 months was kind of an emotional moment for her, as well as having to recount some of the things that happened to her was difficult but empowering at the same time,” said Clune.

Winston will most likely play in FloridaState’s ACC Championship game this Saturday against Georgia Tech, but a potential punishment could effect his status if Florida State were to make it to the College Football Playoffs in January.

 

 

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Stand Your Ground…Again

December 2nd, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

A family on its way to Disney World for a News Years Eve vacation three years ago is tangled up in a complicated Stand Your Ground case in which no one was hurt. Now, the Florida Supreme Court must decide if someone who showed a weapon to protect themselves must stand trial for aggravated assault.

Christmas 2011. An Indiana family is on its’s way to Disney World. A car almost runs them off the road. They honk their horn. A frantic 911 call from Jared Breatherick  follows. “And he stopped in the middle of the road and will not move his vehicle, and he’s got a gun.”

The driver of the second car, Derek Dunning returns to his car, and makes his own 911 call. “He has a gun pointed to me at the back of my car. I’m in the middle of the road. He said if I moved, he would shoot.”

Dunning is a twice convicted felon. He is not arrested.  Instead, police charge Jared Breatherick,. the son of the Indiana driver with aggravated assault. He asserts stand your ground.The trial court refused to recognize a stand your ground claim and said let it go to a jury. An appeals court agreed and now this court must decide.

Lawyer Eric Friday, who represents Breatherick wants the Supreme Court to say this was indeed a stand your ground case. “The Legislature says a person who uses force in one of the three self defense statutes is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action. They didn’t say can apply for immunity. They didn’t say maybe immunity, they didn’t say seek immunity” Friday told the justices.”

Assistant Attorney General Kristan Davenport says let a jury decide. “Just because he lost when he had the burden of proof in front of a judge doesn’t mean he’s going to lose in front of a jury.”

And no matter which way the Supreme Court rules, it’s bound to affect dozens of stand your ground cases

Defense attorneys say judges are reluctant to allow stand your ground claims without a jury weighing in on the subject. The Breatherick family says that decision has put their family through three years of uncertainty.

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Bar Dues Battle

December 2nd, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

A former Supreme Court Justice and 500 more lawyers are asking the Florida Supreme Court to raise Florida Bar dues by a hundred dollars a year. The money would be used to fund legal aid for the poor, which has fallen from 44 million to just 6 million since the recession. The decrease is due to falling interest earnings on money held for clients. Former Justice Raoul Cantera said afterward without court intervention, more people will be living on the streets.

“We’ll have further cuts in funding for legal services. There will be fewer lawyers to represent people who can’t afford a lawyer who deserve social security benefits, that deserve staying in their houses and apartments, who deserve veterans benefits but aren’t getting them, creating more homelessness. And then they’re going to be a charge on the public” says the former Justice.

The fee hike is being opposed by the Florida Bar. Attorney Barry Richard says taking care of the poor shouldn’t be up to just lawyers who donated thousands of hours and millions of dollars already. Richard says society must answer a fundamental question.

“Whether as a society were going to start saying we’re going to have little segments of society that are responsible to take care of the needy. Farmers take care of food for the needy, Doctors provide free medical care, or whether we’re going to step up pas a society and do what we should do, which is every citizens who can afford it provides the money through taxation” says Richard.

The state’s high court was sympathetic and urged both sides to compromise. Last week, the Chief Justice created a Commission to study legal access for all. A ruling from the court is expected early next year.

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Telehealth Push

December 1st, 2014 by flanews

A trip to the doctor’s office could be as easy as a walk to your computer if legislators take up digital medicine.  As Matt Galka tells us, the push for “telehealth” is on.

Crowded emergency rooms would be a thing of the past if some powerful Florida policy groups get their wish. A telehealth push is happening ahead of 2015’s legislative session.  Florida TaxWatch says the digital medicine can save lives and dollars.

“If we reduce ER wait times by just a fraction, we’re talking billions,” said Robert Weissert with TaxWatch.

The group says besides the bottom line, the technology could be paying off in human capital as well.

“If someone avoids the emergency department, it’s not just that we didn’t pay money for the emergency care, it’s that they didn’t have to go to the emergency department. Which means they have a better quality of living, which means they’re healthier and they’re being more productive,” said Weissert.

The Florida Chamber is also on board.  They say telemedicine can help in the battle between a growing number of patients and shrinking number of doctors.

“In Florida by 2030 we’re going to have 6 million more people in the state. We have an aging physician workforce as well as a growing gap of healthcare professionals, and we think that telemedicine can help bridge that gap,” said David Christian, the Chamber’s V.P. of Governmental Affairs.

Supporters say that a face to face video conference between a doctor and a patient would be great. But one road block has always been who would be giving out the advice.

A number of issues will need to be ironed out to put a law into place.  The Florida Medical Association maintains anyone practicing telemedicine should be licensed in Florida. Telehealth bills were proposed in this past year’s legislative session but both died in the final days after the House and Senate couldn’t agree on the issue.

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Cyber Monday Taxes Still Due

December 1st, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

Today is Cyber Monday, the Black Friday of internet shopping.  Deals abound to get you to part with your hard earned cash, but if you purchased something on line, you may be breaking the law if you don’t voluntarily pay the tax.

On line shoppers are being inundated with deals. Half off here, 40 percent there. All total, more than 2 and a half billion dollars is expected to be spent on line for Cyber Monday.

The impact is even being felt at Joe’s Bike shop in the shadow of the state capitol

Owner Joe  Mezzina says a customer brought a bike in for some additional equipment.

“Just now, somebody came in and brought a bike to us. He bought it on line, which is 80 to 90 dollars that did not come to me” says Mezzina.

Most Big Box retailers collect taxes on internet purchases because they have stores in the state. But the bike dealer who took business from Joe doesn’t collect the sales tax, and Rob Weissert from Florida taxwatch says the state is losing big time.  “It can cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but more importantly, it can cost the state jobs and investment.”

When you purchase something on the internet instead of a store like this one, You’re supposed to fill this form out and remit the tax. But few people do. Fewer than 5 thousand forms were filed last year. Most people don’t even know the tax is due. We talked with Dannielle Rivet and  Cassie Murray eating a picnic lunch. They both shop online regularly..

“Q:”Have you ever filled out one of these?”

“No, no”

“That’s called a DR15MO. And under state law you are required to pay sales tax. Did you know that?”

“No, no”

Earlier this year Amazon began collecting sales taxes on Florida purchases. That’s because it opened two distribution centers in the state. The tax collected for the first year is expected to hit close to a hundred million dollars.

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Gun Sales Soar

December 1st, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

Black Friday is typically one of the busiest days of the year for gun sales in Florida, and this year was no different.

The state conducted 8,310 background checks on gun purchasers on Black Friday. The total is the third highest on record. Friday was eclipsed by two days back to back in December 2012 following the Sandy Hook tragedy.

During the month of November, Florida conducted more than 72,000 background check for gun purchasers.

 

 

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