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Phil and Ruth Markel, along with other family members have been in the court room for two days, just twenty feet from the two people on trial for their sons murder.

In a statement they have asked for privacy, but they have listened to their son’s last words

“He said can you please hold on a second, there is an unfamiliar person in my driveway. I heard a loud sound,” said Stewart Schlazer when he took the stand.

Schlazer was on the phone with Dan Markel when he was murdered.

The Markels also heard testimony from police expert Shawn Yao on the bullet’s trajectory.

“You see that there’s a slight downward declination. It goes downward into the victim,” said Yao.

The autopsy testimony was so gruesome that Ruth Markel left the courtroom.

The Markels have also been exiled from their two grandsons since the murder.

The children’s names have been legally changed from Markel to Adelson.

On Tuesday the Markel’s son’s ex-wife Wendi Adleson took the witness stand.

Adleson was asked if she was aware of a safe filled with cash in her parent’s home.

She said she didn’t.

The questions quickly turned to conversations Wendi Adleson had with her brother Charlie.

Wendi denied that her brother ever mentioned hiring a hitman to kill her husband, but acknowledged Charlie did joke about it being cheaper to buy her a television for a divorce gift than to hire a hitman.

“He did make that joke. He tended to repeat himself and sometimes he would make jokes that weren’t very funny,” said Adleson.

Wendi Adleson’s brother did buy her the TV.

It was being serviced at the time Dan Markel was murdered.

Wendi Adleson received immunity for anything that she said on the stand.

Governor Ron DeSantis is inserting himself in the scandal surrounding President Donald Trump by urging supporters to donate to a ‘Presidential Protection Fund’ to help put an end to Democrats’ impeachment efforts.

The creation of the fund was sent out in an e-mail, in which DeSantis described Democrats’ impeachment efforts as ‘ a disgusting attempt to overturn a legitimate US election.

“For Republicans, Trump is still hugely popular,” said Democratic Starategist Steve Schale.

Schale isn’t surprised by DeSantis’ move.

“You look at his own party, you see that the President has still got a 95 percent approval rating. They feel very comfortable being in that place,” said Schale.

DeSantis wasn’t shy about showing support for Trump during his campaign for Governor, releasing a commercial in which he teaches his children to build a wall and Trump’s ‘Make America great again’ slogan.

Since taking office though, the Governor has largely toned down his pro-Trump rhetoric, even telling us in an interview in June that he didn’t plan to spend much time campaigning for the President’s reelection.

“I should be focusing on my job as Governor of Florida more so than on politics and that’s what I’ve tried to do. Doesn’t mean I won’t help him,” said DeSantis.

Schale suspects the Governor’s intentions might have less to do with helping the President and more to do with helping his own political aspirations.

“He potentially wants to run for President himself one day and so being seen as the guy defending Trump among the types of voters he’ll need in 2024 is a pretty smart move on his part, at least for now,” said Schale.

According to the donation website, the funds given to the Presidential Protection Fund appear to go to the Florida GOP, but it’s not entirely clear how the funds will be spent.

We reached out to the Florida GOP Chairman and the Governor’s Office for comment on this story, but did not receive any response.

An appellate court has upheld the state’s red flag law, which was passed in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

It allows law enforcement to petition a court and prohibit individuals deemed to be a threat from owning firearms for up to a year.

The announcement comes as lawmakers hold discussions investigating mass violence and potential legislation to make the state safer.

Beth DuMond with Moms Demand Action hopes the latest ruling will push lawmakers to expand the current red flag law to also allow family members to petition a court if they believe a loved one shouldn’t own firearms.

“We know that red flag laws work, but we also know that family members are often the ones who best positioned to see that their loved ones are in crisis, which means that they are often the best ones who are positioned to start this process,” said DuMond.

In the ruling, the appellate court deemed the prevalence of recent mass shootings a compelling and urgent interest that justified the state’s red flag law.

One of the first bills passed in the initial committee hearings for the 2020 Legislative Session would as voters to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission.

The CRC is a constitutional body mostly comprised of political appointees that meets every 20 years to propose constitutional amendments.

While it might seem strange legislation that wouldn’t impact the state for nearly two decades has been made such a high priority for lawmakers, Senate sponsor Jeff Brandes believes the conversation needs to happen now.

“Five years from now I don’t think the Legislature would propose this type of thing because it’s too far from the voters’ minds, but I think it’s still fresh today,” said Brandes.

What’s still fresh, is the memory of the CRC bundling seemingly unrelated proposals like indoor vaping and oil drilling into single amendments when it last met in 2018.

The body also came under heavy criticism for seemingly making up rules as it went along.

In some cases it passed proposals off the floor that hadn’t been vetted in committees.

“It was essentially a Jumanji-type process,” said Brandes.

Last year legislation to abolish the CRC passed the Senate, but it was never taken up for a vote on the House Floor.

Some House members like Rep. James Grant still have hesitations about completely doing away with the CRC.

“I think a revision and review of our constitution is a healthy thing,” said Grant.

Grant believes it may be better for the Legislature to limit the CRC’s authority, to only updating existing constitutional language.

“Our constitution should not be a secondary place of statute. Our constitution should not be an unelected group of people offering new language into the constitution,” said Grant.

While Abolishing the CRC is clearly on the fast track in the Senate, so far companion legislation has not been filed in the House.

If abolishing the commission makes it out of the Legislature, voters will have the final say in November of 2020.

Testimony has begun in the trial of two people accused of murdering an FSU law professor.

Opening statements were delivered Thursday.

The cast of characters in this trial are Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua.

Both accused of murdering FSU law professor Dan Markel for a $100,000.

A third defendant, Luis Rivera, has cut a deal and is cooperating.

Then there there is the Adelson’s, Markel’s ex-wife’s family, which has not been charged and denies any involvement.

The one thing thing both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed upon in their opening statements: the family of Dan Markel’s ex-wife are central to the case.

Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman told jurors the reason for the murder was a contentious divorce.

“Donna Adelson despised Dan Markel and was desperate to find a way for Wendi and these two kids to move down to where she was located in South Florida,” said Cappleman.

Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh pointed to the Adelson’s as well, contending it was Rivera, not Garcia, who was hired for the hit.

“He was a drug supplier for Charlie, and Charlie Adelson made the decision to instill and solicit this murder for hire from Luis Rivera,” Zangeneh.

Kathrine Magbanua’s attorney Tara Kawass, said prosecutors were desperate to get Charlie Adelson.

“There are so desperate to get Charlie Adelson their belief is the only way to get to him is you have to get to Katherine, They arrest her to get to Charlie. But they were mistaken. Because Katherine didn’t know,” said Kawass.

Four weeks have been set aside for the trial.

Medical professions testified most of Thursday afternoon.

The told the jury that Dan Markel lived 12 to 14 hours after being shot twice in the head.

One out of five Florida middle and high school girls have thought about taking their own lives within the last year.

That’s just one of a number of findings published in a new report investigating the problems facing young girls in the state.

In just one year 9,000 middle and high school aged girls were arrested in Florida.

The report, which surveyed 27,000 girls suggests the state isn’t addressing the root cause.

“They’re not focusing on what is causing the girl to hurt,” said Dr. Lawanda Ravoira with the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center.

At least one in three experienced some form of bullying, the same number reported depression.

Girls who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or unsure reported some of the highest disparities.

“Their lives are defined daily by bullying, physical abuse, sexual abuse, trauma and a sense of hopelessness,” said Ravoira.

One out of ten reported they’d been raped.

Half had substance abuse problems.

“These experiences are happening right now in the lives of girls in our communities,” said Vanessa Patino Lydia with the Center.

The state of Florida has put a greater emphasis on access to mental health care in schools in recent years, but researchers say that’s only the first step.

Researchers said access to mental health care needs to be improved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

“It’s not enough just to do it in the schools and we shouldn’t wait for the next tragedy in order to get the mental health problem fixed in Florida,” said Roy Miller, President of the Children’s Campaign.

Using the data in the report children’s advocates hope to influence policy decisions likely to be made in the next legislative session, which begins in January.

You can find all of the reports findings at seethegirl.org.

Governor Ron DeSantis pushed for teacher bonuses, not pay raises, in his first budget earlier this year, but he appears to have had a change of heart.

Florida is expecting 24 thousand new students next Fall.

The Department of Education told lawmakers last week it needs new tools to attract more teachers.

“We’re gonna need about eight thousand new teachers over a five year period,” said Deputy Commission of Education Suzanne Pridgeon.

The Governor is now promising to do away with teacher bonuses.

“It was very complicated and I don’t want it to be that complicated,” said DeSantis.

DeSantis is instead seeking a pay raise.

How much is to be determined.

“We are going to do something significant on teacher recruitment and compensation,” said DeSantis.

The Florida Education Association has said for years that bonuses don’t work.

We asked what it thinks would make a raise significant.

“Something in the line of a ten percent increase. We think that’s a good start. We’ve had a couple of decades in dis-investment,” said Martin Powell with FEA.

With the average teachers salary just over $48,000, Florida still ranks 46th nationally.

Powell said even ten percent won’t produce much of a bump.

“We are at the very bottom of per pupil spending. We are down in the basement and we have almost the highest per capita income coming into the state. So we are trying to get us to the middle, and ten percent doesn’t begin to do that. Ten percent gets us up a couple notches,” said Powell.

And because of the existing teacher shortage, what many parents don’t know is that often their child class is being taught by an uncertified long term substitute teacher.

The Governor said he will release his teacher pay raise and recruitment plan in about a month.

The trail of two people accused of murdering an FSU law professor spent its third day selecting a jury Wednesday.

Nearly 200 jurors have been interviewed.

Prospective jurors asked why the two were being tried together, why the death penalty is on the table, and one even told the court he was nervous, which prompted this response from Judge James Hankinson.

“I mean everybody’s nervous. I mean, if you weren’t, that would be a little scary. Truthfully, if you weren’t a little bit nervous. I’m a little bit nervous when I come in here. The attorneys are nervous. It’s kind of the glare, the spotlight here, but we will give you plenty of guidance so you don’t feel like you’re just making it up,” said Hankinson.

Opening arguments are expected Thursday in the trial that is expected to take up to three weeks.

The committee created to oversee the creation of two memorials for the Dozier School of Boys, a reform school with a hundred year history of reported child abuse, met Tuesday to begin selecting artists.

55 remains were found at the Dozier School for Boys in an excavation in 2013.

40 are former students that many survivors suspect died from abuse.

Committee members suggested any memorial should educate the public about the history of the school.

“Eduction to remind people that school existed for 111 years,” said Dozier survivor and Dozier Memorial and Monument Review Committee member Capt. Bryant Middleton.

The group narrowed down a list of 67 candidates to fewer than five.

One memorial will be built on the grounds of the State Capitol.

The other is to be constructed on the Dozier campus in Mariana.

The total cost of the project is expected to be around half a million dollars according to officials with the Department of Management Services.

But as the new monuments are considered a living piece of Dozier history known as the White House, where beatings at the school were alleged to have taken place, is falling into ruin.

“It is a memorial for a lot of us boys that was taken there and beat,” said Dozier survivor Charlie Fudge.

Photos taken of the White House on Monday show that the grass is overgrown and apparent structural damage to the roof.

“The doors, you can’t lock them,” said Dozier survivor James ‘Harley’ DeNyke.

In 2018 the 1,400 acre school property was handed over to Jackson County at no charge, but on the condition that the county would maintain and memorialize the White House and a grave site known as Boot Hill.

“All they have to do is take care of a little building and a little cemetery and that’s not too much to ask,” said Dozier survivor Roy Conerly.

Dozier survivors tell us the county and the state are feuding over who should foot the bill for the repairs.

“Who’s got jurisdiction? Who’s going to own up,” said NeNyke.

The final picks for the memorials are expected to be made in December, but it may take another legislative session to hammer out the details of the White House repairs.

VisitFlorida, the state’s public private tourism marketing arm, is about to be at the center of one of the biggest fights in the 2020 legislative session.

Lawmakers have had the agency in their sights for at least three years after some questionable spending, but there’s a new wrinkle this year.

VisitFlordia spent millions spent on a cooking show and a fishing show.

Then another million on a ‘Sexy Beaches’ video featuring hip hop star Pitbull.

The agency originally angered lawmakers by refusing to tell them how much they spent on those promotions.

A showdown between the House and Senate this past spring threatened to close the agency forever.

Then the Governor personally asked for a one year reprieve.

The House Speaker gave in.

“So that he would have the opportunity to make an assessment of his own of how unnecessary it is,” said House Speaker Jose Oliva in April.

Now looking forward to the 2020 session, the Governor will be asking to keep the agency alive.

“It’s interesting, and the Speaker and I are very philosophically aligned and I mean, I was not necessarily sold on it coming in, but as they rate these things, that’s one of the few economic development things that gets rated as being positive,” said DeSantis.

State Senator Tom Lee believes the Senate will continue to fight for the tourism promoting agency.

“I think it’s pretty important to the Senate,” said LEe.

As a compromise to keep Visit Florida alive for one more year, lawmakers agreed to kill the agency June 13th.

This week, two bills were filed to extend Visit Florida’s life until October 2028.

“But I suspect that’s all gonna get caught up in the horse trading that takes place late in the session,” said Lee.

But that means the House has to actually pass something it only grudgingly agreed to in the 2019 session.

In budget hearings last week, state lawmakers were asked to set aside $50 million for VisitFlorida.

It’s the same amount the agency got this year, but the Governor told us Monday that the number was still in flux.

A controversial memo prepared by political operatives for Governor Ron DeSantis appeared to suggest a pay-to-play scheme, in which the Governor would spend time with big time donors.

On Monday, the Governor said he never saw the memo, which suggested that for a mere $25,000 you could be one of a foursome with the Governor on the golf course.

“So I had never seen those memos before. That was the first time I’d seen them. So they had no affect on me or anything that I’ve done. And at the end of the day my job is to pursue the state’s best interest. If people want to support that, great, but at the end of the day that’s the calculation that I make,” said DeSantis.

Political operative Susie Wiles, who helped both DeSantis and the President win Florida is reportedly the author of the memo.

She has since been relieved of her duties in both the Trump and DeSantis camps.

The Florida Online Voter Registration System is back online after it was temporarily disabled for maintenance Sunday.

Democrats believe it was strategic move to disable the site just two days before National Voter Registration Day.

Floridians trying to register to vote online Sunday were met with a message stating that the system was temporarily down for maintenance and apologizing for any inconvenience.

But Juan Peñalosa Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party was suspicious.

“The fact that the site went down just as we were ramping up our efforts for National Voter Registration Day,” said Peñalosa.

Democrats issued a statement accusing the Governor of intentionally timing the shutdown to stop people from registering.

“We know that the site goes down conspicuously at times when community organizations like the Florida Democratic Party are beginning to ramp up efforts to register,” said Peñalosa.

The site was back up and running within a few hours.

Democrats were quick to take credit.

“The fact that the site was online so quickly after we pointed it out is a win for us,” said Peñalosa.

But Sarah Revell with the Department of State said in a statement, “The maintenance windows are scheduled for 48 hours but they typically are completed in less time. Yesterday’s maintenance window was expected to be completed by 2 p.m. so the site coming back online had nothing to do with the Florida Democratic Party.”

Revell also said the maintenance was intended to make sure the site is ready for National Voter Registration Day Tuesday.

“The routine maintenance helps increase security for the site and will also help to ensure the site is able to handle the anticipated increase in traffic on National Voter Registration Day,” said Revell.

But Democrats don’t buy the state’s story.

“To bring the site down for maintenance could have happened last week. It could have happened two weeks before,” said Peñalosa. “We have publicized this day and this lead up for voter registration for over a month now.”

Florida Democrats say they’ve committed more than $3 million to its voter registration efforts.

They hope to register more than 200,000 before the 2020 General Election.

Democrats are calling on the Governor and Secretary of State to commit to only four hours of downtime for the voter registration site a year.

You can register online by visiting RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov.

Five years after an FSU Law Professor was murdered in his garage in what police believe was a murder for hire, jury selection for two defendants began Monday.

Prosecutors said a custody battle was at the center of the murder.

In July 2014, FSU Law Professor Dan Markel pulled into his garage.

He was shot twice at point blank range.

The case went cold, until police identified the getaway car from surveillance video.

Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera were charged with the murder for hire.

Rivera, already in prison, cut a deal implicating the mother of Garcia’s children.

Police believe Katie Magbanua arranged the hit.

She once worked for and dated Markel’s ex-wive’s brother Charlie.

In a dramatic sting operation video an undercover police officer is seen handing a note to Charlie’s mother, Donna Adelson.

The note has a phone number, Rivera’s picture and the number five thousand.

What followed was a series of conversations that prosecutors believe traces the conspiracy from Markel’s former mother-in-law to the hitman.

“When information about the death of Dan Markel is handed to one co-conspirator, it travels down the line in a certain fashion,” said prosecutor Georgia Cappleman.

750 people have been summoned for jury duty.

They were brought in, in groups of 50.

In the first batch called, three out of four said a four week trial would be a hardship.

“It’s okay if a juror has heard of the case as long as they have not formed a definite opinion about the guilt of the defendant,” said Cappleman.

No members of the Adelson Family have been charged.

Markel’s ex-wife Wendy is expected to testify.

She took the fifth amendment several times during a deposition.

The state is seeking the death penalty against the alleged hit man but not the woman who is accused of arranging the hit.

There’s new energy around an effort to raise the age to purchase nicotine products like cigarettes and vapes to 21 in the state of Florida.

The final details haven’t been worked out, but the issue has the ear of the Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor.

During the 2019 session, the Tobacco 21 Act, which would raise the age to purchase nicotine products from 18 to 21 passed the Senate and two House committees.

Statistics show one out of five teens vape and at least eight deaths are believed to be linked to vaping related illnesses.

“So there is momentum especially now the headlines are showing that it’s killing our youth as well,” said Representative Jackie Toledo.

Toledo, the House Sponsor of the Tobacco 21 Act, now has the ear of the state’s attorney General Ashley Moody and Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez.

She’s hoping to get them on board with Tobacco 21.

“We’re all on the same page that something needs to happen. What that solution ultimately is, is what we’re all discussing,” said Toledo.

Health advocates with the American Cancer Society tell us they’re also planning to meet with Nunez and Moody.

They’re also working on hammering out the details of the Tobacco 21 Act with sponsors.

Moody and Nunez have both been attending meetings on the teen vaping crisis.

When we spoke with Nunez Tuesday, she hadn’t committed to the idea of raising the age.

“But again, the process is just beginning. It will work its way through,” said Nunez.

Moody told us her main concern is with flavored vape products.

“As a mother of a nine year old you can imagine that grape, bubble gum would be attractive to kids,” said Moody.

The Tobacco 21 Act ran into several issues during the 2019 session, with the Tobacco and Vaping industries working to water down the legislation.

This year’s bill doesn’t include many issues that were responsible for tanking the 2019 effort such as exemptions for cigars and military personnel.

The 2019 version also would have preempted local governments from regulating tobacco advertising.

But the industry is sure to fight hard in 2020 as well.