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Following a meeting with U-S Senator Marco Rubio, who has called elections supervisors “overconfident”, Florida election officials say they have security in place to prevent foreign actors from tampering with this years election. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, they are asking the federal Government to share what it knows. 

In 2016, suspected Russians hackers got into into a Tallahassee company. It provides support to the majority of the states Elections Supervisors. At least five suspicious emails were intercepted before they were opened in county supervisors offices.

Mark Early was one of the Supervisors meeting with US Senator Marco Rubio 

“We don’t think we want a repeat of 2016 where there was information out there that could have been helpful to us, but we can’t get our hands on that data to make good decisions on how to handle any threats we may not know about, so we are doing our best” says the 32 year veteran elections official.

Supervisor told Rubio they were prepared

Q:”Are supervisors overconfident?” We asked Ron Labasky, who represents the Florida State Association of Elections Supervisors.

“Absolutely not” he responded. We are confident we are doing everything absolutely possible to insure we are secure.”

The dilemma for Elections Supervisors they don’t know what they don’t know and the Federal Government isn’t sharing what they know.

In a statement Rubio said he would push federal officials to share more about Russian sponsored attacks in 2016.”

On a second front, the state has applied from 19 million in Federal funds for increased security. It initially said it would not request the money for this election. Supervisor Early says it could go for backup servers and more.

“Better training…and some things I don’t want to get into.”

The main message from Supervisors: Voting machines are not on line so nobody can mess with your vote…but what no one is promising is that someone won’t play havoc with on line voter databases.

Once the state receives the nineteen million in Federal dollars, a special committee of the legislature will have to approve spending it, and then supervisors will have to submit detailed plans on how they will use it.

A top financial regulator for the state of Florida is under fire tonight for allegedly not taking strong enough action against an employee accused of sexual harassment. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, a report of the incident was leaked to reporters as the State’s Chief Financial Officer is pushing to fire the states banking regulator.

On May 3rd, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis wrote the States top financial regulator Drew Breakspear, telling him he he no longer has confidence in his ability to lead. Now a leaked report raises questions of the handling of a sex harassment allegation in his office.

According to the report, Last June after a night of drinking following a training conference in south Florida, a woman employee complained a co worker grabber her breast.

The male co worker denied intentionally touching the woman, saying he was drunk, and lost his balance trying to pick up a beer bottle that fell on the floor.

The Agency eventually decided the sexual harassment claim could not be proven. The male employee was counseled. 

The man in question still works at the agency, that building right there. The woman has quit and left the state.

Early Wednesday CFO Patronis texted following our request for an interview, saying he would see if he could find the time in his schedule. He didn’t. Drew Breakspear declined to be interviewed.

His fate will be decided when the Governor and Cabinet meet on June 13th.

The initial recommendation in the case was to ban Financial Services employees from drinking while traveling on state business. The agency decided the recommendation was unenforceable and likely not legal. 

Smoking medical marijuana remains on hold in Florida following a ruling late Friday that declared the state ban on smoking medical pot unconstitutional. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the smoking case was immediately appealed.

Circuit Judge Karen Geivers says the Florida Legislature. had no authority to prohibit the smoking of medical marijuana because it is allowed in the state Constitution.

The only thing the state Constitution says about smoking medical marijuana is that it can’t be done in public.

Lawyer Jon Mills argued that means it can be smoked in private.  

“We submit that that is enough to declare the statute unconstitutional” Mills told the court.

The judge dismissed health concerns raised by a state expert.

Karen Brodeen is the Sr. Asst. Attorney General who pushed the state’s case.

“In fact the FDA  has not approved any medicine to be delivered through a smoking form” she told the Court.

Instead, the judge also gave great weight two two patients. HIV patient Lisa Dodson

And ALS survivor Cathy Jordan.  They testified smoking was far more effective than vaping or using oils.

“It was about 50% less effective and you had to ingest quite a bit more” testified Dobson.

“It just makes my life a lot more, um, bearable” said Jordan.

Two hours after the ruling, the state appealed, effective staying the order until the court rules.

But Attorney John Morgan is calling on the Governor to drop the appeal. At the trial, Morgan dismissed the states heath concerns.

“She is a terminally ill ALS patient  (Jordan). The last thing she is worried about is the effect of smoke on her lungs.”

And unless the appeal is dropped, Smoking medical marijuana remains off limits until an appeals court makes a decision.

On Friday, the State Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Tampa strip club owner Joe Redner in his case to juice marijuana to prevent a reoccurrence of lung cancer. The same judge gave Redner the okay. His case is also pending before the First District Court of Appeal.

Teachers from at least four states, from Arizona to West Virginia, went on strike this spring. 50 years ago, in 1968, Florida teachers were the first to walk out, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, it’s not likely to ever happen again.

In 1966, Claude Kirk became the state’s first Republican Governor since reconstruction. He was elected on a promise to make Florida schools the best in the nation.

“Governor Kirk proposed to cut one hundred fifty million dollars from the state budget for public education” read an announcer in a 1968 report.

The proposed cuts came as growth was skyrocketing, crowing schools.

“There were classes in the hall room” recalls one former teacher.

Florida Education Assn. President JoAnn McCall says in the spring of 1968 at least 30 thousand teacher walked out.

“Teachers in mass, thirty thousand signed their resignation letters and said, I quit. I’m not working here anymore. I’m out” says the FEA president.

The strike lasted three weeks. 

“The teaching profession will never be the same again” said the strikes eader, claiming victory.

In 1974, lawmakers gave teachers collective bargaining rights, a state pension, an a prohibition against any future strikes. 

“But the biggest kicker for everybody is that their retirement would be revoked” says McCall.

Schools this coming year will see an average increase of just forty seven cents per student come fall,

This past week, an effort by a small number of lawmakers to get the entire legislature back in town to deal with school funding failed.

So instead of striking, like other states, teachers here are suing and taking their case to voters.

“Forty-seven cents is not enough to maintain or do anything in your schools” says McCall.

And candidates who promise and don’t deliver, like Kirk in 1968, might remember he was a one term Governor.

The teachers are also in court, challenging school funding levels, legislation giving charters more tax dollars, and when a new education bill takes effect in July, they promise another suit to stop giveaways to for profit schools. 

Every major crime index fell in Florida last year, with the exception of one: forcible rape. As Mike Vasilinda tells us victims advocates are applauding the increasing number of reports.

Victims advocate Meg Baldwin says rape is the most underreported crime in Florida and the nation.

“If you take the reported number and multiply it by five, with the understanding that there is a twenty percent reporting rate, then you are probably reaching the right number for what the real incidence of sexual assault is.”

The most pressing reason victims don’t report is the fear of not being believed.

“And you said she was raped? Yeah.”

This interview was recorded during a rape investigation conducted by FSU Police.

“She was afraid to like call the police because she didn’t want anyone to be mad at her” said a friend of the victim.

Because rape is so under reported, when reports go up, as they have the last five years in a row in Florida, advocates know they are doing their job.

“When we see it go down, we’re concerned whether we are doing the right kind of outreach to encourage victims to come forward for help. When we see it go up, that can be an indication that the community is doing a good job” says Baldwin.

Adding confidence for victims is that FDLE is caught up on a backlog of eight-six hundred rape kits, and is now testing rape kits as they come in.

Fewer than 2 thousand old rape  kits remain to be tested. FDLE reports it is testing 99.9 percent of new kits within the 4 months allowed by law and many much quicker. 

9-1-1 operators are also receiving better training and police are being taught to be more sensitive.

Seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty four (7934) rapes were reported in Florida in 2017. Using the guideline that only one in five was reported, just under forty thousand people were raped last year.

Accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was adopted at birth. New studies suggest adoptees face a higher risk of mental illness and suicide, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, efforts at the state Capitol to help adopted children find their birth parents, which could reduce some anxiety, have gone nowhere. 

For the second year in a row, state lawmakers failed to give a full hearing to legislation that would allow adoptees access to their original birth certificates. Sponsor Richard Stark was adopted.

“Statistics are higher for mental illness and, um, things like suicide among people who are adoptees” says Stark.

“I searched for thirty years” says adoptee Dr.Mark Pamer.

Not knowing their birth parents leaves many adopted children feeling lonely, restless and with a sense of not belonging.

“You have all these questions but you have no answers, and it nags at you, It nags at you” Pamer told us.

Adopted as a child, Pamer has made researching the impact of adoption his lifelong past time.

“In my own case, there was always a drive to know who I was from at a biological level..” 

Pamer didn’t speak specifically about accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz. Cruz was adopted at birth.  

“You see an over representation of adoptees in the mental health systems, which all occur when the person finds out they were adopted, because at some psychological level, the rug is pulled out from under you as to who yo are in a biologic level.” 

Many adopted kids don’t want to find their birth parents, but those that do say it does provide closure.”

Lee Peterson’s son found her 49 years after he was adopted.

“We’re developing a relationship. We’re had a lot of building blocks, We’ve had a lot of up and downs” says the birth mother.

Sponsor Stark plans to reintroduce the birth certificate legislation this fall.

Stark is one of two Florida lawmakers adopted at birth. He is term limited out of the state House after this November. The other, Orlando Rep. Jason Brodeur, is running for the State Senate.