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The summer oyster season is starting early this year, in an effort to beat the growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Florida Department of Agriculture gave in to the calls from oysterman to open the summer beds. The department’s spokesman Terry McElroy says from now until the end of the month oystermen will have their work cut out for them.

“As it stands now, the winter harvesting area, which is the main harvesting area for the bulk of the year, which typically closes May 31, will close May 31, so for an 11 day window both the winter and summer harvesting areas are open,” said McElroy.

The summer oyster season lasts through August, but many fear the federal fishing ban will be extended to oyster beds before the season ends. Currently 19 percent of the gulf is closed to fishermen.

670 people who died in car crashes in Florida last year weren’t wearing a safety belt.

Law enforcement agencies across the state are ramping up efforts to curb the number of deaths on Florida road, though the Click-it-or-Ticket campaign. The campaign begins Monday and last through June 6th. Florida Highway Patrol Captain Mark Welch says not bucking up is a dangerous decision.

“We have a cooperative effort with a single goal in mind; to save lives. Wearing your safety belt is easy and it costs you nothing. Not wearing your safety belt can cost you a ticket, but even more it can cost you your life,” said Welch.

Last year the state legislature passed a law allowing police officers to pull over drivers who aren’t buckled up, since then 350-thousand seatbelt tickets have been handed out to drivers who aren’t buckled up.

Hay, hair and everything in-between is being offered up as a way to help clean up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. 92-Hundred people have called BP offering up solutions, and as Whitney Ray tells us, some of those ideas are being tested.

More than 200 miles of protective boom are creating a barrier between the oil slick and the coastline… but the boom at best will only keep 15 percent of the oil at bay.

Setting fire to the slick, and skimming the surface have eliminated some of the mess, but it continues to gush out quicker than anyone can clean it up.

By the thousands people are donating hair to help soak up the oil. Even pets are pitching in. This is Huckleberry. He’s getting his hair cut. It will be boxed and shipped to Louisiana.

But that’s where the line ends for now. BP has yet to use the hair, human or otherwise. But that won’t stop Veterinarian Melanie Donofro from sending it anyway.

“We all need to be involved whether they are using it or not, we need to make sure that we talk to our government and make them do what they need to do to stop this because more can be done,” said Donofro.

Panhandle Resident Otis Goodson is asking BP to give hay a chance. He demonstrates its effectiveness in a YouTube video.

BP is reviewing Goodson’s idea. So far 92-hunded calls from people with suggestions have flowed into BP’s Helpline… 25-hundered have followed up filling out this online form. DEP Secretary Mike Sole says some aren’t workable

“People are suggesting to send divers down to the bottom and take action at the well head sight. I have to remind them, well its real cold down there and the pressure would probable cause a problem,” said Sole.

But some of the plans might work, and if they’re successful in removing at least a little bit of the oil… then fish, turtles, and birds would be thankful. To submit your ideas visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com, click on the suggestions button and fill out the form

Your pets are being asked to do their part to clean up the millions of gallons of oil in the gulf.

Los Robles Animal Hospital is collecting dog and cat clippings, bagging them up and sending them to Destin. The hair will be used to create oil absorbent boom. But you don’t have to get your dog groomed to help. Veterinarian Dr. Melanie Donofro has a few tips for folks who want to pitch in by brushing their dog or cat’s hair.

“You just want to go ahead and bath before you brush so the hair is as oil free as possible, so it will absorb more and I wouldn’t sit and brush my dog for hours at a time, they are going to need a break, it will make them soar if you haven’t been doing it,” said Donofro.

You can drop off you pets clean hair at Los Robles Animal Hospital located at 1314 Thomasville Road. Monday through Friday 7:30 – 5:30, or set up an appointment to get your dog groomed to donate more.

Protesters at the state capitol today say schools across the state are breaking the law by not teaching African American history.

In 1994 a state law was passed requiring schools to teach African American History from its origins in African through the present. Black leaders from Tallahassee, the NAACP and the state legislature are calling on the governor, the attorney general, and the Department of Education to expand the curriculum. Representative Alan Williams says Attorney General Bill McCollum needs do more to enforce the law.

“I’m hopeful that Attorney General McCollum will focus his efforts on this issue, more importantly that focusing on health care reform and trying to sue our government and waiting more of our taxpayers dollars, and put them where they really need to be, invested in our children,” said Williams

A complaint was filed with the Attorney General’s office last year. McCollum sent it on to the Department of Education where it is under review.

Governor Charlie Crist promised to make his mind up about a special session to ban offshore oil drilling last week.

But there’s been a hang up in the House. House Speaker Larry Cretul accused the governor of playing politics with his position for even considering a special session on oil drilling. The Senate is onboard, but Crist is waiting until there’s an agreement with the House before he calls lawmakers back to Tallahassee. Representative Alan Williams says the legislature needs to act quickly before election season kicks into high gear.

“We can obviously take a few weeks to look at this before everyone gets involved and engulfed in this election season and running for their reelection or other offices. We can focus on this now. That’s why we were sent here. We were sent her to make the tough decisions. We were sent here to focus on issue that are critical to our economy and right now we see what is going on with our economy,” said Williams

Crist was originally looking to call a special session for next week, but lawmakers threw him a curve ball; the budget. Crist has until next Friday to veto items in the budget he doesn’t like. If he had called a special session for next week, lawmakers would have had an opportunity to override those vetoes.

Twenty percent of the entire Gulf of Mexico is closed to fisherman, both charter and commercial. The extended federal fishing ban is forcing many to hang up their reels and, as Whitney Ray tells us, turn to BP for a paycheck.

Ricky Banks is unloading oysters he harvested early wed morning. He’s paid 170 dollars for his harvest but doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be able to turn to the oyster rich Apalachicola Bay for a paycheck.

“I fear it, but I also pray too and I know God can do anything,” said Ricky.

The massive oil leak near Louisiana has shut down fishing in about a fifth of the Gulf, forcing some charter and commercial boat captains out of work. BP is hiring some of the fisherman to help keep the oil off the coast. Ricky says if Apalachicola is hit, he wants to help.

“BP should step up to the plate and pay me what I’m making everyday,” said Ricky.

Hundreds of fisherman have signed contracts with BP to use their boats to help deploy protective boom . On average the pay is higher than what they would make fishing.

BP has set up a claims office in Apalachicola, at this abandoned high school, in order to work more closely with fishermen.

Shrimper Elmer Clark is still holding out hope that he won’t have to walk through those doors, but says a one-time check or a job deploying boom isn’t enough if he loses his career.

“The boat note still goes, the house note still goes, payments for bills and whatever still goes regardless if this boat goes or not, you still have to pay those bills,” said Elmer.

While many fishermen appreciate BPS efforts to keep them working lawsuits are still moving forward against the oil giant. BP has already begun to pay claims and is giving the state 50 million dollars to protect the coast and attract tourists, but Florida’s attorney general could still sue if the damage to the state’s fishing and tourism industry continues to grow.

There’s an estimated 375-thousand Floridians living with some form of hepatitis… and many don’t know they are infected.

The Florida Department of Health is raising awareness of the different types of hepatitis spreading through the state. Hepatitis C is the most deadly and is spread through the exchange of bodily fluid. Louis Pierno, lost his brother to hepatitis. He was a firefighter and contracted the virus helping a victim.

“Get tested. Be aware of your body. Firemen get tested a lot as they should. You know it’s something you can’t see. Being aware of this disease is very important, for every one not just firefighters,” said Pierno.

Seven firefighters in Florida have died from hepatitis. Today marks World Hepatitis Day.

About two dozen tar balls from the Florida Keys are being examined tonight to determine if they came from the oil leak in the Gulf. If they are, it’s proof that 28 days after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig, Florida is finally feeling the effects. As Whitney Ray tells us, there’s an increased sense of urgency among researchers to study life along the coast before the oil destroys it.

Nasty clumps of tar are washing up in the Florida Keys but it is too early to tell if it’s from the leak in the Gulf. Last year alone, Florida had 600 reports of tar balls on beaches. Governor Charlie Crist isn’t jumping the gun.

“There’s no telling where they may have come from and that’s why you let scientist do the research they do and we’ll find out,” said Crist.

While the world waits to see where the tar originated, researchers and students at FSU are rushing to study Florida’s Gulf Coast before it’s impacted by the oil.

These students are working from FSU’s Marine Lab in St. Teresa, loading up test tubes and SCUBA gear to collect water, sea grass and fish samples, knowing that even if the oil stays off the coast, underneath the surface damage will be done.

“Right now is when our larval fish are coming into our sea grass beds and if they are coming in though a big oil patch, not a lot of them are going to make it through, so we could see losses in the state of Florida in our fisheries even though the oil never even make it into shore,” said grad student Jimmy Nelson.

The research began as a study on the impact of development and was quickly ramped up when oil began gushing into the gulf.

“One of the biggest problems is when all these coastal systems decline; nobody knows what was there before,” said Chris Koenig, Ph.D. FSU professor and lead researcher on the project.

There’s not enough time to collect samples of all marine life in the gulf coast, but what is recorded will be important information if oil washes in and damages the ecosystem. The tar balls have been taken out of the keys and flown to New Haven, Connecticut, where they will be tested to determine where they might have come from.

There are new statewide regulations on intersection cameras in place to catch red light runners.

Governor Charlie Crist held a bill signing ceremony today to spread the word about the new red light legislation. Many Florida cities already use the cameras, but the new law will allow the cameras to be placed on state roads and highways and establishes uniform fees and enforcement regulations. Governor Charlie Crist says the new law will make Florida’s roads safer.

“The concern I have obviously is health, safety and welfare and making sure we have a safe Florida as possible for all of our residents is my motivation for signing it,” said Crist.

The new law will cap fines at 158 dollars with 70 of those dollars going to the state. It’s estimated that the cameras will generate 100 million state dollars by 2013.

More than one hundred thousand Floridians who are running out of unemployment benefits will receive and extra 20 weeks of help. Governor Charlie Crist signed legislation extending the enrollment window for the latest federal extension of unemployment pay. The new law allows the state to pull down an extra 128 million federal stimulus dollars for jobseekers. Robby Cunningham, a spokesman with the Agency for Workforce Innovation, says the extension will help the most down and out jobseekers.

“This is for people who either have exhausted all their benefits or soon will. It will be paid through June 5th, so there is an element of retroactive payments for those who still have benefits available to them through this program, or who perhaps were on the program prior to it ending earlier in the year,” said Cunningham.

AWI will begin taking Extended Benefits applications on Wednesday through its website, www.floridajobs.org.

A tricky piece of legislation is headed to the governor’s desk and it sets the newly independent US Senate candidate between a rock and a hard place. Lawmakers approved legislation requiring women in their first trimester of pregnancy to get an ultrasound before they have an abortion. If Crist signs the bill he’ll upset pro-choice women; if he vetoes it, he’ll lose some votes from the right. Crist says he’s leaning toward a veto.

“It does strike me as a bit intrusive and I just want to continue to listen to the people of Florida and continue to get their input. It’s important to me to hear from them and that’s what I’m doing,” said Crist.

Thousand of people from both sides of the issue have called and emailed the governor’s office, even though he hasn’t received the bill yet.

To help keep the oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico off the shore, BP is using a mixture of chemicals known as dispersant. The chemicals break apart the oil, sending it falling to the seafloor instead of floating on the surface. As Whitney Ray tells us, fishermen, environmentalists and marine biologists fear the dispersant may be killing more sea life than the oil, but BP’s CEO says they’ll keep using the chemicals.

300-thousand gallons of chemical dispersant have been pumped near the oil leak in the gulf. The chemical concoction has kept much of the oil from floating to the surface. But Jack Rudloe, a marine biologist and author several books on sea life says BP needs to stop using he chemicals immediately.

“I would rather be dealing with large clumps of oil that can be physically removed than little teensy droplets,” said Rudloe.

The dispersant works like dish soap; breaking apart grease so it can be easily washed away. But much like soap, it’s harmful to fish and animals.”

This soap is going down the drain and into the sewer where it will eventually be purified. Not so with the dispersant; it’s floating to the bottom of the seafloor.

“What we are talking about is throwing soap into the sea, any which way we want to do it. We’ve been saying for years don’t pollute, don’t put detergents out there, don’t wash your dog in the salt water in the sea, because it’s not a good for the environment,” said Rudloe.

The CEO of BP, Tony Hayward met with Governor Charlie Crist Monday. Hayward says BP has no plans to stop using the chemicals at this time. But they are monitoring them.

“There are the best scientists from EPA, from NOAA and BP, ensuring that the application of the dispersant is doing the right thing, not the wrong thing,” said Hayward.

The dispersant is banned in state waters, but that’s only the first ten miles from the coast. And the tide could bring what’s already been used to the shore

Hotels in Florida, particularly in the Panhandle have seen advance books drop by as much as 80 percent because of the threat of oil on the beaches. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the state is responding by letting potential visitors see for themselves.

Images of destruction like this dominated national news after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

And while the damage was limited to South Florida, phones across the state stopped ringing.

A national ad campaign assured everyone the state was open for business.

Now the threat of oil on the beaches has turned the phones off again. This time the state is responding with live beach cams, blogging with insiders, and web advertising.

“If they’re in Chicago, New York, Baton Rouge, Boston, or Berlin, they have much more confidence in a live picture taken by a real person or a live webcam,” Will Seccombe, with Visit Florida said.

190 thousand visitors have gone to the Visit Florida web site since the beginning of the month.

Right now the state has about 2 million dollars for this marketing blitz. But the governor has asked BP for almost 35 million more.

Concepts for national TV are being finalized and the spots could be up by the end of next week. And while 35 million seems like a lot…Visit Florida says think again.

We’ve got 49 other states that are spending 800 million dollars a year, trying to lure those same visitors to their destinations.

And Visit Florida says that for every 85 tourists who don’t come, the state will lose one job.

Visit Florida launched a Facebook page called ‘Share a Little Sunshine. They’re hoping people in Florida will share the page with their friends to encourage them to Visit.

It’s nesting season for sea turtles and apart from the usual obstacles of tourists and trash threatening their hatchlings; there’s a new danger… the oil slick. Volunteers want to protect the sea turtle nests from the impending oil slick, but as Whitney Ray tells us, they may do more harm than good.

Let the early bird keep the worm, Bill Wargo is looking for turtles.

Before sunrise and all morning long Wargo is patrolling this beach looking for sea turtle nests. Friday he spotted a hazard; toys and chairs left by tourist that can snag turtles if washed into the Gulf.

“This asks them to do what I just said. Have them remove the stuff,” said Wargo as he tied an informational pamphlet to one of the chairs.

Today it’s debris, tomorrow it could be oil. Some pollution from the massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico could wash up on this panhandle beach. Wargo is preparing for the worst.

“We are going to have special containers in case we have live sea turtles and bags in case we have dead ones,” said Wargo.

But efforts are underway to save the turtles.

The fear here is that volunteers who want to help pick up debris and wash oil off animals may do more harm than good.

Sea Turtle nests are marked with flags and stakes but if the stakes are removed or nests are not found, volunteers could step on them. It’s not just turtles, reports of endangered bird eggs being trampled or lumped in with beach debris have already circulating.

“We’ve had volunteers who have inadvertently trampled some of these nests which frankly we can’t afford to lose any more of these bird that we could lose as a result of this spill,” said Julie Wraithmell with Audubon of Florida.

Environmentalists want volunteers to receive more training before they attempt to clean up the debris, so they do more good than harm. Audubon of Florida is asking volunteers to visit its website to learn how to help with out harming sea turtles, sand dunes, or birds. The site is audubonoffloridanews.org