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Florida’s child abuse hotlines saw a sharp drop off in calls while schools were closed due to the pandemic, but mental health calls increased.

Florida’s First Lady and mental health experts from around the state are looking at ways to address the mental health problem, especially in areas with poor access to services.

While schools were closed 20,000 fewer calls came into Florida’s child abuse hotline, but Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis said that’s not because fewer children were suffering.

“Those are 20,000 less lives that are potential victims of child abuse that do not have the opportunity to be able to seek help,” said DeSantis.

And while fewer were able to report abuse, more reported mental health issues.

One crisis center alone reported a 36 percent increase in suicide related calls among 13 to 18 year olds.

“What do kids need? They need predictability, they need stability, they need transparency, and during COVID-19 they’ve had none of that,” said Clara Reynolds, CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.

Since school started, more cases of abuse are being reported.

Calls are up 27 percent.

But access to mental health services for children, especially in rural districts is limited.

“And so if we don’t figure out creative ways of being able to provide that level of service, we know depths of despair will increase,” said Reynolds.

To help expand access, Florida’s First Lady announced $2 million in CARES Act funding will go to bolster telehealth services in 18 rural school districts.

“It really broadens the access and lets folks get that immediate care that they need,” said Melanie Brown-Woofter, President of the Florida Behavioral Health Association.

The Legislature included $100 million for school mental health in this year’s budget.

Mental Health experts we spoke with told us similar or even increased funding may be necessary in the coming year to respond to the longterm impacts of the pandemic.

As of July, the CDC found 40 percent of adults were struggling with mental health or substance abuse.

If you are struggling, please call the suicide hotline at 800-273-8255 or dial 211 to be connected with a local mental health care provider.

Florida-born Barbara Lagoa is one of four or five women President Donald Trump is considering for the US Supreme Court.

She is the first Cuban American woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and she has served as a judge at the appellate level since 2006.

Flags are at half staff at the Florida Supreme Court where one of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s possible successors once served.

In 2006, then-Governor Jeb Bush tapped Barbara Lagoa to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal.

Raquel Rodriguez was Bush’s top lawyer at the time.

“The fact that her parents fled communism and worked for freedom in the United States is something that became a part of her. An indelible part of her character and her belief in Democracy and the rule of law,” said Rodriguez.

Lagoa spent a dozen years on the appeals court before being tapped by Governor Ron Desantis for the state’s highest court in January 2019.

“It is for the legislature and not the courts to make the law,” said Lagoa at the announcement of her appointment.

Nine months later, President Trump nominated Lagoa for an opening on the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

She was confirmed by the US Senate on an 80 to 15 vote.

“She is 1,000 percent up to the task. She is one of those rare individuals that is a talent that you only see on occasion. And her work ethic is beyond anybody’s work ethic,” said Rodriguez.

Based on our research, if nominated, Barbara Lagoa would be the only Florida-born person ever nominated for the nation’s highest court.

Federal Judge G Harold Carswell of Tallahassee was nominated by Richard Nixon for the high court, but Carswell was born in Georgia, not Florida.

He was not confirmed by the Senate.

The President has said he will make his decision on Friday or Saturday, but not before the funeral of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Officials at Florida State University say COVID-19 numbers are starting to improve.

So far the university has identified 1,428 cases since reopening for the fall semester, but in the latest report positivity rates and case numbers appear to be trending downward.

Herds of students walking Florida State University’s campus have been reduced to solitary pedestrians dawning face masks.

FSU Vice President of Student Affairs Amy Hecht told us it’s a sign students are taking the virus seriously.

“There are so many of our students that are abiding by our guidelines, want to be here, want to keep the community safe,” said Hecht.

And Hecht said the numbers suggest the same.

Following a week of more than 400 new cases and a positivity rate of 12.9 percent, the university’s newly released report shows 178 new cases and a positivity rate of 6.7 percent.

“Although we’re not out of the woods, I do think we’re headed in the right direction,” said Hecht.

Among those who tested positive was FSU Head Football Coach Mike Norvell.

“I am not aware of how I came into contact with it,” said Norvell in a Monday press conference.

The university announced it plans to revisit its policies for home football games after attendees were seen crowding together in the stands and not wearing face masks.

The changes are expected to be announced sometime this week.

But Hecht said most of the students who are testing positive appear to be contracting the virus off campus.

“Little to no transmission in our classes or in our facilities, our fitness center,” said Hecht.

In an effort to curb transmission, the university announced students who test positive and break quarantine will face possible suspension.

“So that students understand the severity of violating isolation and knowingly exposing others to COVID,” said Hecht.

The university is asking for students help holding bad actors accountable.

Students can report concerning behavior on the university’s website.

First Lady Casey DeSantis held a mental health round table at the Governors’ mansion Monday afternoon.

She said one Florida hotline reported a 36 percent increase in calls from kids 13 to 18 who reported issues with the pandemic or their mental state, with 138 calls in one week alone.

She also quoted CDC data released in July showing four in ten adults reported mental health concerns.

“A staggering 25 percent of 18 to 24 year olds seriously had considered suicide in the past 30 days, and that was in July. If you extrapolate that number, what does that mean in terms of Florida and that demographic of 18-24 year olds? That’s 400,000 plus children in the state of Florida that could potentially be thinking along those lines,” said DeSantis.

The first lady said reopening school classrooms would help teens and young adults get help and perhaps lower the number of those with unmet mental health needs.

The state’s largest teachers union described Florida schools as being in a state of chaos due to what it characterizes as a poorly planned and forced return to classroom learning.

In a virtual press conference Friday, The Florida Education Association said teachers are retiring, students aren’t showing up and educators are being forced to provide in person and virtual learning simultaneously.

FEA President Andrew Spar argued all of those factors are resulting in schools failing to meeting their obligation to provide a high quality education.

“The state’s educators want to provide our students with the highest quality education they deserve. However, with looming cuts, unsustainable teaching methods and forced increases in retirement, resignations and leaves of absences our students are without certified teachers, which is shortchanging our children and Florida’s future,” said Spar.

The union is asking the state to extend the flexible funding measure included in the Department of Educations reopening order until the end of the school year.

It also is asking the state to share school case data, which so far has only been made available by districts themselves.

Florida’s unemployment rate dropped a whopping four points in August according to the numbers published by the state Friday.

The significant drop is a sign Florida’s economy is starting to rev back up, but us industry groups are cautiously optimistic about the future.

Florida saw 46,000 private sector jobs created in August.

143,000 Floridians returned to work.

The added jobs dropped the unemployment rate to 7.4 percent.

The Department of Economic Opportunity attributed the job gains in large part to students returning to school, which allowed their parents to get back to work.

“Job gains were happening across almost all industries,” said Adrienne Johnston Bureau Chief of Workforce Statistics and Economic Research at DEO.

But the economy isn’t out of the woods yet.

More than 750,000 are still jobless and some of the hardest hit industries like hospitality saw some of the smallest gains.

“Consumer sentiment, that’s actually dipped a little bit,” said Geoff Luebkemann, Vice President of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Luebkemann warned the long term damage from the pandemic is yet to be seen.

“We’re kind of holding our breath, as businesses have done whatever they needed to do to survive this time with little to no revenue,” said Luebkemann.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce shares the same concerns, but is hopeful the job gains will continue in a positive trajectory.

“We’re having more and more treatments for COVID-19 and people are feeling more comfortable going out, but until we get a vaccine and it’s widely distributed, I certainly don’t expect us to get back to 100 percent,” said Dr. Jerry Parrish, Chief Economist with the Florida Chamber Foundation.

And while more Floridians are returning to work, that statistic comes with a caveat.

The numbers don’t reflect how many hours workers are getting or whether Floridians had to take lower paying jobs to make ends meet.

The National unemployment rate also dropped in August by almost two points.

It now sits at 8.4 percent.

It’s the first time the rate reached the single digits since the start of the pandemic.

Democratic candidates in the state are now facing attack ads from their Republican opponents, accusing their campaigns of receiving funds from a pandemic assistance loan meant for small businesses.

The loan was secured by the Florida Democratic Party earlier this year, but the candidates facing the attacks call them misleading and untrue.

You may have received a mailer or even seen a TV spot, accusing a local candidate of receiving funds from a $780,000 PPP loan secured by the Democratic Party in May.

One television spot is targeting Democratic State Senate candidate Loranne Ausley.

“They took those dollars, funneled them to a committee and then gave them to their candidates,” said Evan Power, Chair of the Republican Party of Leon County.

Ausley is one of three candidates targeted.

She called the ads a distraction.

“People are really hurting and they want us to talk about how we’re going to solve those problems,” said Ausley.

A public financial report released in August shows the Democratic Party of Florida paid back the initial loan, with interest.

“All of the candidates that are being brought into this have condemned the party for taking the funds and with everyone we demanded that return the money. The money has been returned,” said Ausley.

All of the targeted candidates deny any of the money reached their campaign accounts, but Republicans argue there’s no way to prove it one way or the other.

“They benefited from taking that million dollars of taxpayer money that was meant to save jobs and distributed it out and took a benefit at the time that they sent it out,” said Power.

According to the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida’s financial reports, the Party received more than $815,000 in CARES Act loans in total.

The payment it made in August still leaves almost $34,000 that has not been paid back, but Mark Herron, an attorney representing the Party told us the outstanding balance is an error.

“I’ve been informed that an amendment has been filed to correct the error and we anticipate it will post later today,” said Herron in an e-mail Thursday afternoon.

In the last three decades, voters have saved themselves billions in property taxes, limited how long politicians can stay in office and improved overall health through constitutional amendments, but a yes on Amendment four on November’s ballot could be the end of citizen amendments.

In 1992, voters approved Save Our Homes.

It caps tax increases at 3 percent on homesteads and saves homeowners about $5 billion every year.

“Voters have taken matters into their own hands when the politicians have decided that it’s an issue they don’t want to take on, or they oppose,” said political strategist John Sowinski.

Voters have also approved approved citizen initiatives that include term limits, stopping workplace smoking, limiting class sizes, drawing legislative districts fairly, conserving water and land, medical marijuana and giving nonviolent felons the right to vote again.

But any future amendments could be be stifled by Amendment four on this November’s ballot.

It requires voters to approve amendments twice, two years apart.

“It’s pure objective is to eliminate the process. To make it totally impractical and implausible for citizen groups to gather signatures to place an issue on the ballot,” said Sowinski.

More than $9 million has already gone into getting Amendment four on the ballot, but who gave it has been a secret, with one political committee giving to another.

“We don’t know a lot about them. And frankly, they need to be transparent as to exactly who they are,” said League of Women Voters of Florida President Patricia Brigham.

On Thursday, Florida TaxWatch recommended a yes vote.

“So having it go before the voters twice is saying, are your sure? And if you are, then we’ll actually amend our organic law,” said Calabro.

Nevada is the only state that requires a do over, but only for citizen initiatives.

Florida’s would apply to all amendments.

The contact information for the group giving and receiving money for Amendment Four lists the same Ft. Lauderdale law firm.

It did not return our call.

The agency responsible for unemployment payments has a new leader this week and he will face big challenges in the coming months.

The unemployment claims keep coming.

More than 95,000 so far in September as of Monday.

The once $4 billion trust fund for making payments has burned through three-fourths of its cash.

Now the agency is in new hands, with Former State Representative Dane Eagle taking the reigns at the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

“The CONNECT system, the reemployment system did not meet the demand of the people. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, however, we need to fix that moving forward. No question about it. That’s what I am here to do. I’m going to surround myself with great people. There are good staff people working on that already,” said Eagle.

More than 2.1 million eligible claims have already been processed, but more than 152,000 remain unpaid.

“That’s our number one priority right now. Is figuring out how do we get them paid, get them moved forward, and move on. That is our number one priority. Getting that backlog done,” said Eagle.

The new director is just three days on the job.

He told us he’s still getting up to speed on replenishing the trust fund.

It’s usually done by assessing payments against companies that had layoffs, but Florida TaxWatch is recommending against that method.

“We don’t want to see the businesses that were most hurt by the pandemic and are going to have the toughest time recovering, having to pay a higher tax,” said Kurt Wenner, Florida TaxWatch Vice President.

As a former state legislator, the new director has already surveyed all of his colleagues, asking them what they were hearing from constituents.

Their response: Fix the system. Get people paid, and from some, increase benefits.

The agency is still being sued by many unemployed who couldn’t collect.

According to state data more than 12,000 Florida children 17 and under have been infected with COVID-19 since schools first began opening their doors.

Groups representing both teachers and parents are demanding more transparency.

The pediatric cases since August 10th represent a 20 percent increase.

Pediatric hospitalizations also jumped almost 20 percent over the same period.

The Dr. Danielle Thomas with the Florida PTA said it’s difficult to draw any hard conclusions from the numbers.

“In some of those cases the district has said that it’s not attributed to students being back at school,” said Thomas.

FEA President Andrew Spar said the problem is that it’s impossible to tell how many are directly related to school reopening.

“We need transparency, we need truth, we need leadership and that’s missing right now,” said Spar.

A new ad from FEA takes aim at the state for not publicizing school case data.

The Department of Health had promised to do so this week, but so far it has not.

“What is the Governor hiding that he will not release this information? And when he releases this information, the question I think we all should be asking is can we trust it,” said Spar.

We identified at least 33 school districts that are publishing local data on their websites.

One additional district was publishing its case data until the state told it to stop.

“Parents have the right to know, people who work in our schools have the right to know and we need this data,” said Spar.

All but nine Florida counties have a pediatric positivity rate above 10 percent.

The Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a maximum 5 percent positivity rate before reopening classrooms.

Since the start of the pandemic, nine Florida K-12 aged children have died from COVID-19.

Happy hour has taken on a whole new meaning for Florida Bar and brewery owners.

Tuesday was the second day they have been allowed to reopen and in an exclusive interview, the state’s top regulator promised a different approach to enforcement this time around.

During the three weeks bars were allowed open in June, the state relied on complaints it received, then sent agents to investigate for violations.

But Halsey Beshears, Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation told us this time, things will be different.

“So we are going to police this thing very hard, differently this time, up front,” said Beshears.

Agents will be on the streets nightly, proactively looking for violations.

“We’ve moved to a four to 12 pm shift. We’re going to be out policing being active on that,” said Beshears.

Those who ignore the 50 percent inside occupancy rule could quickly be out of business.

“You know, some bar owners are gonna open up regardless. They think they’re gonna pack it in. And we’re gonna continue to police those who do not want to operate within the emergency order and we’re going to take their license,” said Beshears.

Brewer Byron Burroughs likes the new approach.

“Because, invariably, you’re going to have bad operators out there that aren’t following the rules, and that’s bad for everybody that has been and is following the rules,” said Burroughs, who owns Proof Brewery in the state’s capital city.

To help limit contact, customers at Burrough’s bar will scan a code attached to every table.

That will get them a menu and help them avoid touching something that someone else may have handled.

The windows of Proof Brewery are also filled with health information, a warning about social distancing, and a waiver telling customers, by entering they assume the risk of getting the virus.

“It’s basically saying, yes, ,we’re going to do everything we can do to protect you, but there is still an element of risk,” said Burroughs.

A total of nine licenses were suspended during the three weeks bars were open in June.

The top regulator wouldn’t speculate if stronger enforcement this time will result in more suspensions.

Beshears also noted that the big test will be how well bars and breweries handle any crowds this weekend, which will be the first weekend bars will have been open in almost three months.

Floridians eligible to receive the extra $300 a week in unemployment through the Lost Wages Assistance program will see their last check this week.

Florida’s low unemployment benefits and short period of eligibility are to blame.

To qualify for the $300 a week Lost Wages Assistance check, states had to pay 25 percent of their total unemployment claims, but Florida has fallen below that threshold.

“It really just comes down to numbers and percentages,” said State Senator Jason Pizzo.

State benefits are rapidly running out for Floridians, which means the state is picking up a smaller and smaller portion of the tab.

“The majority of people started unemployment filings in March, April and May. So all of those people, if they were qualified or eligible for state unemployment assistance in March, April, May, all of those people are left out,” said Pizzo.

The state pays a maximum of $275 a week for up to 12 weeks.

They’re some of the lowest benefits in the country.

“That’s where we are because of our short window. And what compounds the problem is not having an additional source like the $300 on top of only $275, really compounds and exacerbates how bad of a situation we have here,” said Pizzo.

Labor groups like the AFL-CIO hope there’s still a chance the Governor might extend unemployment weeks or raise benefits through executive action.

It’s something he’s so far resisted and said would exceed his authority.

“Governor DeSantis, try to increase benefits, try to increase the weeks that people can be eligible and let’s see who files the lawsuit saying you don’t have the power to do that,” said Florida AFL-CIO Director of Politics and Public Policy Dr. Rich Templin.

To date, the state has paid out more than $3.1 billion from its unemployment trust fund.

Meanwhile, the federal government has paid out more than $13 billion to Floridians since the start of the pandemic.

Some state Republicans are now joining the calls for increased unemployment benefits.

Both the House and Senate budget chairs said last week that they believe the current benefits are too low and hope the incoming Legislature will take up the issue up this fall or next spring.

Governor Ron DeSantis missed a noon request to appoint a justice to the Florida Supreme Court Court.

The court then issued a new order just before three, giving the Governor until 5 PM Monday to make the appointment.

As the clock ticked noon, there had been no official notification from the Governor that he had complied with this state Supreme Court order to name a new justice by a noon deadline.

At 11:38 an email titled the ‘Governor’s Daily Digest’ promised an announcement about the future of the Supreme Court.

The Governor’s lawyers previously told the court there was not enough time to vet the remaining candidates by the noon deadline.

Representative Geraldine Thompson said that was inexcusable.

“Those individuals were vetted back in January and between January and May, he had an opportunity to look at all of them,” said Thompson.

And of missing the deadline, Thompson had this to say, “He is just lawless and doesn’t feel that rules apply to him. He feels he doesn’t have to follow the constitution and its very distressing, very troubling.”

For only the second time since 1975, Florida’s high court is without an African American on the bench.

The Irony is that it was an African American woman who kept another black justice from taking a seat on the court.

“But if you want a person of color, you’ll take an unqualified person of color. And no, I do not subscribe to that philosophy,” said Thompson.

Renatha Francis was scheduled to fill the vacancy later this month, when she hit her 10th anniversary as a member of the Florida Bar, but the court ruled Friday she was ineligible when her name was put on the nominating list.

We asked the Secretary of State’s office if the Governor had filed anything by noon, but nor released it.

We never got an answer.

The Governor has continued to support his candidate for the Court.

He’s scheduled to make an announcement in the State Capitol at 5 PM Monday.

An estimated 775,000 felons who can’t afford to pay fines, fees and restitution tied to their sentence will likely not be able to vote in November.

A federal appeals court ruled the state is allowed to require the payment for voting rights restoration and time is running out if plaintiffs hope to reverse the ruling.

Reversing a lower court decision, the appeals court argued Florida had the right to require felons to complete all terms of their sentence, including fines, fees and restitution in order to vote.

“If a State may decide that those who commit serious crimes are presumptively unfit for the franchise, id., it may also conclude that those who have completed their sentences are the best candidates for reenfranchisement,” wrote US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Justice William Pryor in the ruling.

The ruling all but guarantees felons who have outstanding legal financial obligations will not be able to vote in November.

An appeal to the US Supreme Court would have to be ruled on before the October 5th registration deadline.

“It’s deeply disappointing and quite frankly, appalling. Because what they essentially said is, it’s okay to make people pay to vote,” said Patricia Brigham, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “It’s really a devastating decision for our returning citizens.”

775,000 felons in the state are estimated to be too poor to pay their legal financial obligations.

“This is going to have serious ramifications when we talk about the growing class divide,” said Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney Nancy Abudu, who is representing one of the 17 plaintiffs named in the case.

Abudu believes the ruling will have significant consequences for the November election.

“Whatever the outcome of our election, we’ll know that a significant portion of Florida’s electorate was excluded,” said Abudu.

At the time of the appellate hearing, 85,000 felons had already registered to vote.

Under the ruling, the state can potentially remove any of those voters from the roles, if they have not paid all of their legal financial obligations.

“As far as we can determine, unless those individuals hear anything from the state and as long as they feel confident about their eligibility, they should not face any obstacles,” said Abudu.

Groups involved in the suit told us they’re still determining how to move forward, but hope to make a decision sometime in the next week.

The Governor’s communications director Fred Piccolo provided us this statement regarding the ruling:

“The 11th Circuit decision affirmed what we all – proponents and opponents of Amendment 4 – agreed on during initial oral arguments in front of the Florida Supreme Court. Namely that all terms of a sentence means all terms. There are multiple avenues to restore rights, pay off debts, and seek financial forgiveness from ones victims. Second chances and the rule of law are not mutually exclusive.”

Florida is set to mail 2 million postcards reminding Floridian’s who are not registered to vote, but are eligible to get on the voting rolls.

The League of Women Voters worries the move is too little too late.

The state originally said the postcards would go out in mid-summer, but with the registration deadline rapidly approaching, the League fears the reminders won’t arrive in time.

“And also because the postal service is slow, we hope that they hit the mailboxes by tomorrow, but we encourage Floridians who are not registered who receive these postcards or who don’t receive them if you’re not registered, to register to vote. You don’t have much time left. October the 5th is right around the corner,” said Patricia Brigham, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

You can register to vote online by going to the Florida Division of Election’s website or in person at your local supervisor of elections office.