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A giant 70 foot deep sinkhole that opened up in a Tallahassee mobile home park and destroyed two homes earlier this week is now being filled in.

An engineering company hired by the park owner was contracted to fill the enormous hole.

The two families living in the homes damaged by the sinkhole have been offered lodging by the property owner.

A 77-year-old man who spent 43 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit is seeking relief from the Florida Legislature.

State law allows the wrongly convicted to automatically apply for $50,000 for every year they were incarcerated, but he was previously convicted of a crime and the ‘Clean Hands Provision’ in Florida law prevents him from automatic compensation.

After serving 43 years in prison, five on death row, for a crime he didn’t commit Clifford Williams finally heard the words he’d waited so long to hear.

“I want to apologize on behalf of the State of Florida for your wrongful incarceration,” said Rep Bob Rommel.

A relief bill working through the Legislature would grant Williams $2 million for the time he served.
“It took 43 years for it to hit, but thank God we just kept living, because a lot of people died,” said Williams.

Normally, wrongfully incarcerated individuals would go to the courts for compensation, but because Williams was previously convicted of a crime, the state’s Clean Hands Provision requires he go to the Legislature.

“The very state that wrongfully incarcerated him, which is again in itself I think an injustice,” said Rep. Bobby DuBose.

But Williams may be one of the last people to have to go through this process.

Alongside his relief bill is a proposal that would do away with the clean hands provision altogether.

The legislation would give people like Williams up to two years from the time of their release to petition a court for compensation.

“I don’t think it matters, you paid your debt to society on whatever you did in the past, you spent time in jail for something you didn’t do then I think you’re entitled to compensation,” said Senate sponsor Rob Bradley.

Despite the hardship an obstacles he’s faced, Williams says he believes, “Justice has been served.”

Williams’ relief bill has one more committee stop in the House and two more in the Senate.

The repeal of the clean hands provision has one more committee stop in the House and the Senate version is already teed up for the chamber floor.

State lawmakers are about to crack down on guardians after an Orlando guardian allegedly initiated ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders against her patients’ wishes.

People from across Florida whose loved ones are in a guardianship assert major reforms are necessary.

There are multiple stories of people who were put into guardianships, isolated from their families and had their assets liquidated.

Their family members came to the Capitol to tell their stories.

“There is no due process, so its really open season on families,” said Dr. Teresa Kennedy, whose Aunt Lilly was put in a guardianship.

Dr. Kennedy came from NY to try and free her aunt in Deland.

“A family friend, who said he was a nephew petitioned without any of us knowing, and that started it off,” said Kennedy.

Lynn Sayler came from St. Petersburg.

Her mother was put in a home an hour and a half away.

Her mom died in 2012 and Lynn has been fighting for change ever since.

“We couldn’t get an emergency hearing. We couldn’t get her home for any holidays while other people were coming and leaving the facility,” said Sayler.

Hillary Hogue came from Naples.

“My father, who was doing quite well financially, was left with five dollars in his wallet,” said Hogue. “And I am begging for changes. This is happening. Thousands of people are being held captive.”

All of the families said they would expect what happened to them in another country, but not in America.

And attempts to get a meeting the Governor have been futile, until on Thursday, they hijacked A Seniors Day event at the Capitol.

It got them a meeting with the Secretary of Elder Affairs and now they hope that will turn into meaningful conversations that could eventually protect Florida Seniors.

In addition to requiring a judge to sign off on a do not resuscitate order, lawmakers are also looking to put a timeline for the state to investigate valid complaints within 45 days.

Two Tallahassee homes are in shambles after a massive sinkhole opened up on their property.

Another homeowner near the sinkhole has been ordered by the city to vacate his home.

No one was harmed when the sinkhole opened up.

Anwar El Khouri’s home was been swallowed up by the sinkhole.

He said he first noticed the sinkhole after returning from a local mall with his brother who was visiting from out of town.

“We come back and I saw a little one like this. Look how big now, 55 feet deep. All tore everything down. My roof is gone. I spent a lot of money for the roof,” said Khouri.

Khouri said he’s staying at a local hotel for the time being, which has given his a discount rate while he figures out his next steps.

Neighbors said a small sinkhole opened up in the trailer park about six years ago, but no homes were damaged.

A lucky Floridian is has a golden ticket worth $396.9 million.

The Florida Lottery said a player won Wednesday night’s Powerball Jackpot.

The ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven, in Bonita Springs.

The player will have to come to the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee to collet their prize, but as of Thursday afternoon the winner had not come forward.

Tallahassee District Manager of the Florida Lottery Randall Fox said each winner is a little different.

“It all depends, we see winners here the next day, we see winners wait up until the last minute, but we do want to make sure that they know to secure that ticket, sign their ticket and definitely contact the Florida Lottery,” said Fox.

The winner has 60 days to come forward in order to collect the lump sum prize of $274 million.

They have 180 days if they wish to receive payouts.

There have been 13 Jackpot winners since Powerball launched in 2009.

The Florida Lottery adds it encourages all players to play responsibly and within their means.

First Lady Casey DeSantis dedicated a corner of the library in the Governor’s mansion, calling it the Children’s corner Thursday.

She was joined by 8-year-old Hampton Boney, who wrote a book entitled ‘The 500 Pound Tarpon’.

She said they will soon be extending invitations to the public to come and use the mansion library.

“Just as we open up the peoples’ house to tours to the general public, we also want to open up the mansion for story time. So on the website you’ll be able to go and find and schedule a time where you can come here with your children and be able to do story time at he Governor’s Mansion. So that’s a neat addition. We want to open that up to families and students all across the state,” said DeSantis.

And the 8-year-old author, who admitted he exaggerated the size of the fish he caught, said he will donate a dollar from every book sold to the Mote Marine Lab.

Civics education could soon be coming to a high school near you if it’s not already being taught.

A House committee in the State Capitol voted Wednesday to increase civics teachings for the 2021 school year.

One in three people could not name all three branches of government in a 2018 survey by Annenberg Public Policy Center.

We put the question to teens from the After School All Stars program touring the Capitol.

“Legislator, Senate and….wait its the judicial system and the legislative system,” said Miami student Issabela Martinez.

Seconds later Martinez finally got it right.

“Executive, yea executive,” said Martinez.

Arianna Jireh of Tampa hit all three right away.

“I learned it in my seventh grade, no, my sixth grade civics class,” said Jireh.

A House committee voted unanimously for State Representative Ben Diamond’s bill to increase civics education.

The courses must be nonpartisan and promote civil discourse.

“One of the key goals of this bill is to help young people be able to consider differing points of view, differing perspectives on a problem,” said Diamond.

Not only would kids learn about the country’s history, they would have to have a hands on project.

The Legislation has the full support of the Governor.

“You know, everyone is on their devices all the time. Stand up, look someone in the eye. Make an argument. Take a position. Get engaged in a given take on a one on one basis like that, and I think that’s a good opportunity for students,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

And Diamond thanks his parents, whom he called “consummate volunteers” for his interest in public service.

Civics is already mandated in middle school.

This legislation would mandate it in high school and students could earn public service credit for bright futures scholarship by participating in a civic activity.

The Florida Senate began discussions on Parental Consent legislation Wednesday afternoon.

The bill requires girls under 18 have their parent’s permission before a physician can perform an abortion.

Sponsor Kelli Stargel of Lakeland was herself pregnant at a young age and is still married to the father of the child her mother recommended she abort.

Her hope is to spark conversations between pregnant teens and their parents.

“As a parent and as a child who has gone through a situation. Everybody has a preconceived idea of what the parent is going to say, how they’re going to react, what’s going to happen. And I think we have presented the opportunity to come together, have a conversation, weighing out the pros and cons, what it means to go forward with the pregnancy, what it means to not go forward with a pregnancy. And I think those conversations need to be had within the family. The parent needs to be more active than just notified but be part of the conversation with the power to give consent,” said Stargel.

Thirty nine amendments, proposed primarily by Democrats, were considered.

One amendment would have allowed a judge to waive parental consent for cases of rape and human trafficking victims, but it was struck down.

But Stargel argued parents should know if their children are victims of sex crimes.

“Because if my daughter has been sexually trafficked, and I may be totally oblivious to that, and she goes into the court and says I’ve been human trafficked I don’t want there to be a low standard not to tell me. I as the parent need to know that information as hard as it is to hear,” said Stargel.

No vote is likely until next week.

Unclear is whether and Senate Democrats will support the legislation.

A number of African American Democrats in the House have said they will vote yes when the bill hits the House Floor, which likely won’t be until after it passes the Senate.

More than a hundred people from across the state participated in the first ever Emergency Management Day at the Capitol.

Florida is the first state to hire a mental health coordinator in emergency operations, and a federal grant of seven hundred thousand dollars helped thousands of panhandle residents following hurricane Michael.

First Lady Casey DeSantis also helped organized kiosks in hurricane ravaged counties so residents could seek mental health answers without having to travel.

“Every public school in six counties were provided tele-mental access, tele-mental port access, so that not only the children would have access to counseling sessions, so would the faculty and so would the parents. And what we are finding now is that people learn about these new ways to get this help and this new technology, we’re seeing usage rates in the last month double if not more,” said DeSantis.

The Governor has also asked lawmakers to renew a state twenty five million dollar grant program for hurricane recovery.

A Senate appropriations committee has created the first every categorical program to fund teacher raises.

Previously, lawmakers could appropriate money intended for pay raises, but there was no guarantee it would go to teachers or others.

The new legislation will make sure the money gets to teachers.

“What we’ve done is set a number in the categorical of $500 million. And we’ve stated within the categorical, 80 percent of the funds must go toward minimum teachers salary. And the other 20 percent is flexible within the districts to use for veteran teachers or other instructional personnel. That is not enough by itself to rise all of the districts to the $47,500,” said Sen. Kelli Stargel.

$500 million would raise salaries to $46,500, a thousand less than that sought by the Governor.

It is likely to be one of the hottest debates in the final six weeks of the legislative session.

Florida’s prison system is in crisis and lawmakers are proposing lower sentences for drug users, early release for elderly inmates and allowing judges to deviate from mandatory minimum sentences.

93,823 inmates woke up in a Florida Prison Cell Tuesday morning.

Staffing is short, contraband is up and attacks on officers and other inmates are also up.

“We think there are massive problems inside the Department of Corrections,” said State Senator Jeff Brandes.

Brandes is proposing inmates who learn a trade get their sentence reduced from 85 to 65 percent.

“How do we motivate them to be prepared to leave the prison system with a skill, a job, an education,” said Brandes.

But Florida Sheriff’s are pushing back with a report called Truth in Sentencing.

“You about have to beg your way into state prison,” said Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. “The policies and laws that keep felons off the streets and out of our neighborhoods work. Crime is at a near 50 year low.”

Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson, who directed the study, said the numbers don’t lie.

“And I’m afraid that this idea to just do away blanket with these sentences can have a really unintended consequences,” said Adkinson.

Florida Sheriffs argue that 95 percent of the prison population is made up of repeat offenders, but advocates assert that prisons have become nothing more than warehouses.

But Brandes believes the Sheriffs’ claim supports his case for reform.

“If we know that 95 percent are going to come right back out, shouldn’t we look to fix the existing system so it isn ’t 95 percent? That’s what our legislation does,” said Brandes.

Florida’s 20 State Attorneys also oppose any changes to the state’s sentencing laws that would shorten prison sentences.

This year, the prison system is costing taxpayers just over $2.4 billion.

The lone statewide elected Democrat, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is accusing the Governor of a partisan power grab.

GOP-filed legislation would move the state’s energy office from Fried’s control to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Fried said such legislation would never have happened if the GOP still controlled her office.

“It’s partisan punishment and another power grab. We know that for decades, Republicans have had no problem with this office being where it is as long as it was run by a republican. But now that there is a Democrat in this office, the first woman ever elected to this office, it suddenly needs to be moved,” said Fried.

The legislation was approved by a House committee on a ten to two vote Tuesday morning and included some yes votes from Democrats.

Nearly 200 Advanced Registered Nurses, many with Phd’s, crowded the Capitol’s fourth floor Tuesday.

They’re pushing for fewer restrictions on their scope of practice.

Florida is one of only two states that requires doctors to supervise ARNP’s.

30 other states have given them the right to practice basic medicine with supervision.

Bill sponsor and Emergency Room Physician Rep. Cary Pigman is one of the few doctors backing the change.

“I would say that when you look at what their experience is on paper, what their training is, it’s quite extensive and exhausting. And when you look at studies that compare outcomes between those two categories, Nurse Practioners, CNRA’s and physicians, out outcomes are equivalent. That doesn’t ’t mean that we don’t have more to offer each other, but on the average study, the outcomes are great,” said Pigman.

The measure is a top priority for the House Speaker, but faces tough opposition from the Florida Medical Association in the Senate.

More than a year after Hurricane Michael tore through the Florida Panhandle, nearly 16,000 claims remain outstanding.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer is pushing legislation that would require companies to settle most claims in 90 days or less, but a handful of Michael survivors have said companies only settled after pressure from regulators.

Melanie Hardwick said her company refused to settle because they said her damage was from flood not wind.

“They took my money, and they didn’t uphold their end of the contract. Here we are fourteen months later, and what is even worse is the inconsistencies of the insurance companies. Because I had neighbors to the right, I had neighbors to the left, had neighbors behind me and across the street that were paid up in full for wind damage,” said Hardwick. “How can my home not have wind damage?”

The legislation being proposed still lacks some specifics and the CFO concedes it is not a silver bullet, but a step in the right direction before another storm.

A new report from a Texas think tank has found Florida ranks in the top half of the states in some area’s of foster care such as finding forever families fast and in not shuffling kids from one home to another, but the report also suggests too many kids are being kept in dorms instead of having their own bedroom.

The Right for Kids Ranking judges state foster care programs on seven criteria, ranging from funding to the number of kids in care.

“Many of those data points are quite frankly related to inputs. Things like case loads, funding levels, and foster parent recruitment levels,” said Andrew Brown with Texas Public Policy.

But it also a tale of two foster care systems.

The state is 32nd nationally in finding safe permeant homes.

“There are instances and there are parts of Florida that are struggling,” said Florida DCF Secretary Chad Poppel.

Poppel said part of the state’s problem is that there is no relationship between case loads and funding.

“There’s no lever to pull to say, oh my goodness, the number of children is up thirty percent; you need more money. That’s not how it works today. That’s the way we’d like to make it work,” said Poppel.

Legislation filed by the incoming Senate President would change the funding formula.

It also would extend the timeline from investigating child abuse reports from 24 to 72 hours.

The reports found Florida ranks forty-second nationally when it comes to finding bedrooms over dorm rooms.

Advocates believe it’s because the state has a no eject, no reject policy.

“That means if we do not have enough placements, we still take them anyhow. We have to find them. We have to find places to put children,” said Kurt Kelly with the Florida Coalition for Children.

Not having enough foster placements has led some community based care agencies to drive kids around or house them in office buildings when no beds are available.

DCF has asked for $100 million more over the next four years.

The money would be used to hire more people and upgrade technology.