Welcome to

For the second straight year Florida has set a record for the number of foster kids being adopted. Last year the state found homes for 3,775 foster kids. As Whitney Ray tells us, civil rights advocates say allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt would help the state shatter the current adoption record.

Fundra Hart is a mother of two: 13 year old Torii is her biological daughter, and two years ago she adopted William.

“It’s been really good. He just blended right in,” said Hart.

Fundra is just one of thousands of parents helping to ease the pain on the state’s troubled foster care system.

Ten thousand foster kids have been adopted since 2006. This year the state set a record, finding homes for 3,776 kids. While the state is celebrating the new record, civil rights advocates say the bar could be much higher. In Florida gay couples can be foster parents, but they can’t adopt.

“If you can be a good loving, caring foster parent then you should be able to make that a permanent relationship and many want to and that’s the thing I think the governor needs to look at. It’s sort of the elephant in the room context,” said ACLU Spokesman Larry Spalding.

Wednesday Governor Charlie Crist dodged questions about the law.

“I’m serious about adoption and I think the record we celebrated today proves it,” said Crist.

Despite the ban last year a Florida judge ruled in favor of a gay man who went to court to adopt his two foster children. The decision is being appealed by the state. On August 25th the 3rd District Court of Appeals will hear the state’s challenge.

The University System’s Board of Governors spent 75,000 state dollars searching for a new chancellor.

Meanwhile, the man the board ended up hiring was right under their noses. Last week the board named Frank Brogan as their next chancellor. Brogan was on the search committee before a consultant named him as a candidate. Board of Governors spokesman Bill Edmonds said Brogan took immediate action once he decided he became interested in being the new chancellor.

“As soon as he knew he was involved in the search he resigned and then later applied, but at the start he was an unknown, no one had any idea. But even if we did, we wanted to have a nationwide search. We wanted to have what we ended up with, 13 good candidates, four strong finalists. You really want to do that, you don’t want to just go and find somebody you know and hire them. It turns out in this competitive process he turned out to be the winner and that’s to his good credit. That’s not any deficit of the search process,” said Edmonds.

Brogan served as lieutenant governor during Jeb Bush’s administration. He’s currently the president of Florida Atlantic University.

School boards across the state will consider raising property taxes to fund education.

State lawmakers voted for a budget that left schools shorthanded. To make up the funding shortage, the legislature permitted school boards to levy a small millage increase. Florida Education Association Spokesman Mark Pudlow said the legislature has passed the buck.

“This continues a strategy the legislature has had for sometime, and that is to shift more burden to local school districts. So property taxes go up and the legislature says ‘it’s not our fault,’ but it is,” said Pudlow.

Governor Charlie Crist was asked about the proposed property tax increases.

“’Is the state passing the buck on the property tax issue?’ ‘No we are trying to reduce property taxes and I think that is exactly what the people want and I would encourage local governments to do the same thing. Honor the will of the people,” said Crist.

Lawmakers gave school boards the authority to raise property taxes by about 25 dollars on every 100-thousand dollars of a home’s value.

While the state is searching for pythons in the wild, nothing is being done to keep the predators out of urban areas. Anyone can get certified and buy a Burmese python to keep as a pet. As Whitney Ray tells us, county governments want more control over where dangerous animals are housed.

If one of these lived next door would you want to know? In Florida it’s legal to own a wide array of exotic animal, but there is a push to keep better tabs on deadly pets. Calvin Sancho said if his neighbor owned a snake he’d like know, in order to protect his six year-old son.

“Sometimes he’s playing in the backyard and that’s an area a neighbors pet can easily slip into,” said Sancho.

The Florida Association of Counties is asking the Fish and Wildlife Commission to give local governments more of a say-so in the permitting process. Counties also want the authority to zone areas for dangerous pets.

The association said they’re just trying to get the conversation started.

“You have areas that are where I think those types of animals would be more safely zoned for, versus a high density condominium or something like that. The fact is that those are the things we need to start looking at and working together to solve,” said Cragin Mosteller, a spokesperson with the Florida Association of Counties.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission declined our request for an on-camera interview but a spokesperson said on the phone they’re taking the counties’ suggestions under consideration.

Jane Gordon has her own plan to keep her kids safe.

“It’s less important to know if they have a dangerous animal. It’s more important to actually know your neighbors,” said Gordon.

And for now that maybe the only way to know what kind of pets are living next door. The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida has a posted a list of reports of exotic pets that have escaped their cages in Florida. To view the list go to http://animalrightsflorida.org/incidentlist.html

More than 20 species of freshwater turtles are now safe from hunters.

This week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s ban on turtle hunting took affect. The ban will stop the mass export of Florida turtles to Asian countries. The demand for Florida turtles was growing so much that wildlife experts began to worry about the stability of the state’s turtle population. Pat Benhke, a spokeswoman with the Commission, said they had to put a stop to turtle hunters before things got out of hand.

“We like to keep common species common and we don’t want them to go on our imperial species list at all. We want to keep them just as abundant as they are. We are very blessed in Florida to have a very diverse and abundant population of freshwater turtles and we want to keep it that way,” said Behnke.

Turtle farmers are exempt from the ban. The farmers will be able to catch a limited number of turtles for breeding purposes.

An appeals court is siding with the state in its denial of State Farm’s rate hike request.

The Insurer asked the Office of Insurance Regulation for a 47 percent rate hike. OIR denied the increase in January, but State Farm took the case to court. Today the First District Court of Appeal rejected the rate hike. OIR Spokesman Ed Domansky said State Farm simply couldn’t prove they needed to raise rates 47 percent.

“It’s important that whether it is State Farm or any other company that when a rate filling is made that it is incumbent on the company to support that rate filing and that’s the simple answer and State Farm simply failed to provide adequate support for the rate it was requesting,” said Domansky.

State Farm is still tied up in a battle with OIR over its exit plan. An October hearing with the Division of Administrative Hearings has been scheduled to resolve the issue.

Some Florida businesses are getting free summer help. 43 million federal stimulus dollars are being spent in Florida to create summer jobs for students. As Whitney Ray tells us, many traditional summer jobs are being filled by unemployed adults making it harder for high school and college students to find work.

Twenty year old Brittany Chandler began her summer searching the want ads. Brittany soon found out she was competing against the odds.

“There is like 400 people applying for one job. You are just going to be one in a million looking for that one job,” said Brittany.

After weeks of a fruitless job hunt Brittany discovered a program helping students find work. Florida received 43 million stimulus dollars to create summer jobs for 20,000 teens and young adults.

“This program gives Florida’s young workers excellent skills and experience in the work place great contacts and an excellent way to earn some money in the summer,” said Robby Cunningham, spokesman for the state Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Only one out of every three teens has a summer job; the lowest teen employment rate since 1948. Studies show when teens aren’t working or busy during the summer they’re more likely to get into trouble.

Brittany doesn’t have time to cause trouble. She’s doing clerical work for a radio station and has impressed her boss so much that “Once I do have an opening or a budget, I would like to interview Brittany for a permanent position with us,” said Dot Ealy, the stations general sales manager.

But for now Brittany’s being paid with stimulus dollars and filling a position the radio station can no long afford. For more information about the summer job program visit http://flarecovery.com/news/articles/teen-and-young-adult-summer-jobs-placement-services-and-job-training-available

Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp is running for the state’s top crime fighting position.

Kottkamp wants to replace Bill McCollum as Florida’s Attorney General. McCollum is stepping down to run for Governor in 2010. Kottkamp said his campaign won’t get in the way of his duty as Lieutenant Governor.

“Serving as Attorney General would certainly be a culmination of a lot of the experiences I’ve had in my life, something I feel very passionate about, but first and foremost I’m going to focus on being Lieutenant Governor,” said Kottkamp.

Kottkamp wouldn’t answer questions about his decision, telling reporters he would answer questions Wednesday when he makes a formal announcement. Kottkamp faces an ethics complaint for using the state plane for personal travel.

Forty years ago Monday Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.

The famous Apollo 11 space mission was launched out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. Monday Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp toured the Challenger Learning Center, a Tallahassee space museum and planetarium to celebrate the moon landing. Kottkamp says the state needs to stay at the forefront of space exploration.

“Right here, 40 years ago, Apollo 11 launched and we are going to make sure that next generation of space whether it be exploration through NASA or commercial space, as much as possible of it takes place right here in the sunshine state,” said Kottkamp.

Kottkamp is the chairman of the Space Florida Board of Directors.

A new $7.50 shoreline fishing license went on sale Wednesday. Beginning August first, anyone fishing from shore must have one of the licenses. Only 73 people bought one the day they went on sale, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, thousands more will need one.

As many as 338 thousand anglers are expected to need a shore line license for the first time, beginning August 1st. At Rivers Bait and Tackle, Johnny Rivers is already hearing the grumbling.

“A lot of people can go fishing that couldn’t go fishing if they had to have a boat or had to hire a boat. So I think it’s going to hurt the fishing industry,” Rivers said.

The first ever license to fish from shore costs $7.50. People on food stamps or other cash assistance are exempt.  The state expects to raise just under a million dollars.

“The shoreline license fee sales will go directly to research and management of marine resources and law enforcement,” Henry Cabbage with the Fish and Wildlife Commission said.

Terry Arnold doesn’t own a boat and says he will keep taking his kids and grandkids fishing.

“I mean, if I have to pay to keep the beaches clean, keep things up, keep the wildlife and game commission people patrolling, yeah that would be fine,” Arnold said.

People over 65 or under 16 are exempt from buying all fishing licenses.

The state is suggesting that people buy a full salt water fishing license, for $17.50, which entitles them to fish from a boat as well as from shore.

Florida’s unemployment rate is now 10.6 percent well above the national average. Twenty-thousand Floridians lost their jobs last month bringing the rate up three tenths of a percent. But there is hope on the horizon. As Whitney Ray tells us, economists are reporting a slight increase in state revenue collections and home sales.

The signs of unemployment are everywhere. Boarded up windows and overgrown weeds signal shattered dreams and jobs lost. One Tallahassee Starbucks opened up less than a year ago with hopes of long lines, but the crowds never came and before the business could celebrate its one year anniversary it closed up shop.

970-thousand Floridians are out of work, bringing Florida’s unemployment rate to 10.6 percent. But it’s not all bad news. There are still 120-thousand job openings in the state.

“These opening show job churning in the labor market, even though industries are in decline there are needs for replacements,” said Rebecca Rust.

Home sales and state sales tax collections are slightly up over previous estimates.

“It’s a sign of stability. That things are starting to behave like we think they would, the outside things that were causing unexpected movements are staring to stop and not be factors,” said state economist Amy Baker.

Debbie lost her job as a hotel clerk three months ago. Next week she’s starting her new job at a Laundromat. It’s not exactly what she was looking for but…

“I’m grateful to have a job. I’m happy to have a job, so I’m okay,” said Debbie.

And while Debbie will keep her eyes open for new opportunities, most agree, any job in this economy is a good one. To take a look at the job openings visit the state job bank at https://www.employflorida.com

A judge has ordered the state attorney in the Ray Sansom case to produce more details about the charges leveled against the former house speaker.

Sansom was indicted for a plan to spend six million state dollars on an airplane hanger for a political contributor. A judge decided the defense needs more information about the charges to prepare its case. The judge ordered State Attorney Willie Meggs to identify the person who wrote the six million dollars into the state budget.

“I don’t know who typed the document. That’s of no consequence anyway. The one who is responsible for the document being typed is the one to be dealt with,” said Meggs.

Meggs has until next Friday to meet the judge’s request. The Sansom trial is scheduled to begin September 29th.

From AWI: Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June 2009 is 10.6 percent. This represents 970,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,192,000. The unemployment rate is 0.3 percentage point higher than the revised May rate of 10.3 percent and is up 4.6 percentage points from the June 2008 rate. The state’s current unemployment rate is 1.1 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent. The last time the unemployment rate was higher than June 2009 was October 1975 when it was 11.0 percent.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hand picking specialists to catch Burmese pythons found on state land south of Okeechobee. The python problem became political July 1st, after a pet snake killed a toddler in Sumter County. As Whitney Ray tells us, Governor Charlie Crist has ordered Burmese pythons found in the wild to be killed, but pet pythons are safe for now.

Snake specialists will begin combing state land Friday morning; their mission: find and destroy all Burmese pythons. The snake population soared after Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida in 1992, allowing many pet pythons to escape their cages.

“The problem is they are not native to Florida and they do not have a nature predator here,” said Pat Behnke, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has formed a 10 member python posse to pulverize the predators.

“Our experts here at the FWC are aware of their skills and their handling and they are very professional so we know there is no safety risk with them,” said Behnke.

Even though the state is killing Burmese pythons, there’s a catch 22. In Florida it’s still legal to own one as a pet.

Carol Hoover sells turtles, tarantulas, and some snakes at her pet store. She stopped selling Burmese pythons because of careless owners.

“Most of them were college students and when they moved in four years they did not expect to take them with them,” said Carol Hoover, the owner of Carol’s Critters.

There’s now a 100 dollar annual licensing fee to own a Burmese python in Florida and new cage requirements are also in place, but a complete ban could be on the horizon. The Humane Society of the United States is condemning the python hunt. The group says efforts should focus on banning the import and sale of Burmese pythons.

A new mobile tracking device will soon allow the state to keep better tabs on foster care caseworkers.

The tracking devices were shown to the governor today, during his tour of the Department of Children and Families. The technology will alert supervisors if a caseworker skips a scheduled meeting with a foster kid. DCF is catching heat this week after 70 caseworkers were caught lying about visits. Governor Charlie Crist said despite the hiccup, DCF has come a long way from its tainted past.

“To be leading the nation in our accuracy rate and the services we do is extraordinary, especially when you consider, as the secretary just briefed me, that three or so years ago we were clearly not in that category,” said Crist.

The devices will be rolled out in September and given to caseworkers in the Miami-Dade area first.