Florida News Straight From the Source
Attorney General Pam Bondi today issued the following statement in response to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Perry v. State:
“I am pleased with the Florida Supreme Court’s decision today to allow ongoing capital punishment cases to proceed with proper jury instruction. This decision provides our courts with the clarification needed to proceed with murder cases in which the death penalty is sought.”
To view the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, click here.
Governor Rick Scott has written the below op-ed on the Florida House playing politics with Florida families jobs in advance of the House Appropriations Committee vote tomorrow to abolish Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida. The committee meeting is tomorrow at 1pm at the Florida State Capitol and includes many members who just last year supported Governor Scott’s efforts to increase funding at Enterprise Florida, including: Rep. Brodeur, Rep. Cummings, Rep. Hager, Rep. Metz, Rep. Raschein, and Rep. Stone.
Florida House is Playing Politics with Families’ Jobs
By, Governor Rick Scott
The Florida House of Representatives has decided to push legislation to undo economic development funding in Florida and defund our state’s tourism agency. A House panel voted for this job killing legislation two weeks ago and the House Appropriations Committee will be voting on it tomorrow.
That’s correct, many of your elected members of the Florida House have decided their top priority this year is to eliminate funding for Florida’s economy. They want to eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida.
They say that they don’t want government intrusion in the free market. Of course, there is government financing in the areas of healthcare, transportation, education, housing, and social services. But, they have decided to try to totally eliminate funding for the one area where we can easily show a major return on the investment of your tax dollars – jobs are being created by more companies moving to our state and our tourism industry has recruited a record-breaking number of visitors over the last few years.
Even more absurd, the politicians in the Florida House who already voted for this bill say they don’t necessarily want to abolish these programs but instead want to advance a “conversation” …meaning they voted for something they don’t support. This is hypocrisy at its best and these are the kind of games I came to Tallahassee to change.
I ran for Governor to fight this sort of politics and bring common sense from the business world to our government. The plan has worked, as Florida has added more than 1.26 million new jobs.
Many politicians spend a lifetime in government and they simply don’t have any understanding of how business actually works. These are the facts that confirm the negligence of eliminating our jobs and tourism agencies generating jobs:
The Florida House likes to rely on inaccurate information to push their narrative of “corporate welfare,” by highlighting the failed deal of Digital Domain. Let’s look at the facts: EFI recommended that the state not fund Digital Domain. Ironically, politicians in the Florida Legislature chose to ignore EFI’s recommendation and circumvented EFI’s strict process in 2009 by funding the failed project FROM THE LEGISLATURE.
Both Visit Florida and EFI have made mistakes over the years. In both cases, we have made changes to ensure transparency of taxpayer dollars and brought in new leadership. That is what you do in business; you make changes and get it right. But what you do not do is close up shop.
If the House were to succeed with ending economic development and tourism programs in Florida, the small and rural communities in our state would be hurt the most. Cancelling our statewide program would hurt those areas in Florida that would truly be revitalized by a new job creator in their community.
Just last week I travelled the state and met with business owners who are devastated that there is even talk of abolishing these programs. Many job creators rely on EFI and Visit Florida and said they would not be able to keep their doors open if it weren’t for their help. No job is expendable to the families they employ.
Coming into this job after a lifetime in business, I knew I would have to learn to tolerate some aspects of politics, and I would have to endure lectures from people who do not know the first thing about creating jobs. But, I cannot allow thousands of Floridians to be denied jobs and opportunities in our state just so a few in elected office can get headlines for their campaign for higher office.
Our economy is booming. Our economic development and tourism programs are some of the best in the nation when it comes to getting a positive return on investment. I will continue to set the record straight on the politics the Florida House is playing and fight for the Florida families who expect their government officials to bring them more opportunity, not less.
This is no time to stand still. In business you are either moving forward or you are moving backward. The Florida House is currently planning to take our state backward. I will fight to stop them, and so should you.
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam and the Florida Forest Service today announced the release of “FLBurnTools,” a new mobile app to inform the public about drought, wildfire danger and wildfire activity. Prescribed burn practitioners can also use the app to plan and submit authorization requests. The “FLBurnTools” app is now available in both Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.
“By providing Floridians with better access to the latest wildfire information, we can help protect people, wildlife and property,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam. “Residents can now see real-time conditions in their area and take the appropriate safety precautions.”
The Florida Forest Service’s prescribed fire program is a nationwide leader, treating more than 2.1 million acres last year and providing approximately 88,000 burn authorizations annually. In addition to administering Florida’s prescribed fire program, the Florida Forest Service responds to wildfires during Florida’s year-round wildfire season. Last year, more than 2,100 wildfires burned 53,476 acres in Florida.
The “FLBurnTools” app provides the following tools:
“Wildfire activity is on the rise and wildfire danger is expected to increase greatly in the coming months,” said Jim Karels, Florida State Forester. “Floridians equipped with the ‘FLBurnTools’ app can view the locations of nearby wildfires and see up-to-date drought and wildfire danger information.”
The Florida Forest Service, a division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, manages more than 1 million acres of state forests and provides forest management assistance on more than 17 million acres of private and community forests. The Florida Forest Service is also responsible for protecting homes, forestland and natural resources from the devastating effects of wildfire on more than 26 million acres. Learn more at FloridaForestService.com.
For more information about the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, visit FreshFromFlorida.com.
The Don’t let traffic delays keep you from missing the first pitch of the Atlanta Braves 2017 Grapefruit League home opener, as the team returns to Orlando to face the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, February 25. The Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) Florida 511 Traveler Information System provides real-time traffic information to help drivers avoid congestion and experience fewer delays while driving to the Braves spring training home at Champion Stadium in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Before hitting the road, Braves fans can plan their commute to the ballpark by visiting the interactive roadway map on the user-friendly FL511.com website for traffic incident alerts or to view roadway cameras showing current nearby driving conditions.
At the end of the game, fans can check the free Florida 511 mobile app, available on Google Play or the Apple App Store, to find out if congestion or traffic incidents will delay their planned post-game commute. The app can also be used to select an alternate route.
In addition to the website and mobile app, baseball fans can:
FDOT encourages all drivers to check Florida 511 to travel safely and experience fewer delays. Check Florida 511 before leaving or have a passenger check during your commute to avoid using a phone while driving.
The POWERBALL® jackpot continues to climb to an estimated $403 million for Wednesday night’s draw; the largest in the nation. In addition to the large POWERBALL jackpot prize, players have the opportunity to win lower-tier prizes from $4 to $2 million by matching any of the non-jackpot-winning combinations. The POWERBALL jackpot has rolled 18 times since the December 21, 2016, drawing and those sales have generated more than $31 million in contributions to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF).
“This week marks $31 billion in total Florida Lottery transfers to education,” said Secretary Tom Delacenserie. “Rising sales from this POWERBALL jackpot play a direct role in the Lottery’s ability to fund education for Florida’s students.”
Jackpot prizes are paid in 30 annual installments or as a one-time, lump-sum payment. Jackpot prizes must be claimed within 60 days after the draw to receive the cash option of an estimated $189.3 million. Winners have 180 days from the applicable drawing to claim their prize.
As a reminder, players are encouraged to sign the back of their tickets at the time of purchase and keep them in a safe place. Players should also check their tickets carefully because even if they don’t win the jackpot, they can still win cash prizes of up $2 million.
Purchase your tickets at any of the more than 13,000 authorized Lottery retailers for your chance to become Florida’s newest multi-millionaire. The Florida Lottery would like to remind all players to please play responsibly, as it only takes one ticket to win. As with all Lottery products, players must be 18 years of age or older to purchase POWERBALL tickets.
The next POWERBALL drawing will be held Wednesday, February 22, at 10:59 p.m. ET, tickets must be purchased by 10:00 p.m. ET to be eligible for this drawing. National POWERBALL drawings are broadcast live, in high-definition, from the Florida Lottery’s state of the art draw studio in Tallahassee. Florida Lottery game drawings are broadcast on 17 carrier stations throughout the state.
Five Daytona State College faculty and administrators have earned prestigious awards of excellence from the National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), a consortium of community and technical colleges that promotes excellence in teaching, learning and leadership.
The award winners were announced at the Feb. 16 meeting of DSC’s District Board of Trustees and will be formally recognized in May during NISOD’s International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence to be held in Austin, Texas.
Professors Harold “Trey” Orndorff (Behavioral and Social Science), Nabeel Yousef (Engineering Technology) and Kelly Duffy (Nursing), as well as School of Student Life Skills chair and senior professor Charlene Latimer and Matthew Davids, who doubles as the chair and an instructor in the School of Adult Education, were honored for their commitment and contributions to their students and colleagues.
“Each of these educators has shown extraordinary commitment and dedication to teaching and learning, to the college and especially to our students,” said Amy Locklear, DSC’s provost for academic affairs and institutional effectiveness. “We are fortunate to have them as part of the college community and are grateful for their efforts.”
Davids joined Daytona State in 2007, beginning as a faculty member, and was named department chair last year. He holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Florida State University and a master’s in military history from the American Military University. Since taking over as department chair, he has overseen significant growth and expansion in the adult education program and brought a wealth of new ideas through his leadership, Locklear said.
Duffy joined DSC as an adjunct in the School of Nursing in 2004 and became a full-time faculty member in 2007. She is a DSC alumna, having earned her LPN, ADN and AA degree at the college. She also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing, as well as a doctorate in education from the University of Phoenix. She has 22 years of experience in nursing in a multitude of specialties, and serves on a variety of national and international nursing advisory boards.
Latimer joined DSC as a counselor in 1992 before being named chair of the School of Student Life Skills, where she has overseen a rapid expansion of department. She serves on a variety of college working groups, including the Retention, Student Conduct and Service Learning committees, the Critical Thinking Institute and the college’s Quality Enhancement Implementation team. She earned her MS in Education from Hunter College in New York and a specialist degree in education from the University of Florida.
Orndorff joined DSC in 2011, teaching political science, including courses in the college’s QUANTA Honors program, where he also serves as an advisor. He is considered a pioneer in the development of new tools for online teaching, and a specialist in the use of social media in American political life. He also is an advisor for DSC’s gaming and feminist clubs. Orndorff holds master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Miami University of Ohio.
Yousef joined DSC in 2010. He is a leader in innovative online teaching, with over 10 years of experience teaching online engineering courses. He serves on the board of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering and is the editor of its publication. He also has served as editor in chief of the Journal of Management in Engineering and was recently named to the board of directors of the International Association for Management Technology. Yousef also teaches DSC’s engineering senior design series, which is a capstone course where students create a product and market it. This year, his students won the prestigious Cairns Foundation Innovation Challenge, winning a $10,000 award to start their business at the UCF Business Incubator. He also was a 2014 Fulbright scholarship winner.
The Florida Lottery announces that Deborah Harvey, 65, of Brandon, claimed a $1 million prize in the $5,000,000 GOLD RUSH DOUBLER Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. She chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $745,000.00.
Harvey purchased her winning ticket from Publix, located at 3461 Lithia Pinecrest Road in Valrico. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.
The $20 game, $5,000,000 GOLD RUSH DOUBLER, features six top prizes of $5 million, 30 prizes of $1 million, and more than $752 million in total cash prizes! This $20 game offers more than 16.8 million winning tickets, and overall odds of winning are one-in-2.99.
Scratch-Off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 65 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $734 million for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2015-16.
Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon, II on Monday sent a letter to Governor Rick Scott, calling on him to declare a public health emergency to launch an immediate response to the growing epidemic of opioid abuse in Florida.
“No longer confined to small urban enclaves, heroin and fentanyl have become the scourge of communities throughout Florida, wreaking widespread devastation not only from the ravages of addiction, but the resurgence of deadly diseases associated with drug abuse. There is no family, no race, no ethnicity, no income level this epidemic cannot touch, and no effective state bulwark in place to stop it,” wrote the Miami Gardens Democrat.
The numbers are staggering. According to recent news reports, numbers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show a nearly 80 percent increase in heroin deaths and 77 percent increase in fentanyl deaths in Florida from 2014 to 2015.
Leader Braynon noted that the governor has responded to previous threats to the public’s health through emergency declarations, including the 2011 multi-pronged strike on pill mills, and even the recent Zika infections in South Florida.
In 2011, for example, as oxycontin overdoses were killing as many as seven Floridians a day, the governor’s Surgeon General issued a public health emergency. And, last year, the governor declared a public health emergency after just nine cases of Zika were confirmed.
“This letter is to request that you issue a similar order urgently needed to address the growing threat and rising body count arising from Florida’s opioid-addiction crisis,” he wrote.
Leader Braynon’s call was made on behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and echoes one made earlier this month by Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay.
“Not only are the lives of Floridians at stake, but resources of the public as an increasing number of unpaid charges for emergency hospital care are passed on to insurers and paying customers. To say nothing of the high financial burdens on local governments from the growing demands on first responders and the need for an increasing supply of the anti-overdose drug, naloxone. Or the terrible consequences that begin in the womb and continue well after birth with the tiniest victims of this crisis – the babies born to addicted mothers,” wrote Leader Braynon.
“This emergency will not end without our intervention and resources. I strongly urge you to take this first step and launch the response our state is still lacking.”
Should Governor Scott issue such a declaration, he would join the governors of Massachusetts and Virginia who have declared similar public health emergencies in order to combat the growing opioid addiction crisis.
SC16-547 – Larry Darnell Perry v. State of Florida
SC16-1946 & SC16-2133 – Patrick Albert Evans v. State of Florida & Juan Rosario v. State of Florida
The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) is recognizing the Taylor Senior Citizens Center in Taylor County as February’s Helping Hand for helping raise public awareness about the Lifeline Assistance telephone and broadband discount program, energy and water conservation, and scams affecting seniors.
“The Taylor Senior Citizens Center offers educational programs that support our outreach strategies to assist older persons in need,” said PSC Chairman Julie Brown. “We appreciate the Center including us in community outreach events so we can share utility bill saving strategies with their clients.”
Each month, the PSC highlights a partner agency or organization whose clients are eligible for the Federal Lifeline Program and/or need help reducing energy and water bills. Through these PSC Helping Hand partnerships, the Commission shares vital information to help consumers better manage their resources to meet their monthly bills and avoid falling for utility-related scams.
“We appreciate the PSC honoring us with this award. Our seniors really enjoyed the PSC presentation that will help them save money on their bills and be aware of current consumer scams,” said Joan Hennings, Older Americans Act Assistant/Case Manager. “Our Center provides programs for elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged persons who need assistance to maintain their independence and quality of life. The PSC information is helpful in our ongoing effort to connect older adults to vital community services that can help them stay independent.”
Look for all the PSC Helping Hand outreach partner recognitions on the PSC’s homepage, www.floridapsc.com, under Hot Topics.
About Taylor Senior Citizens Center, Inc.
The Area Agency on Aging has designated Taylor Senior Citizens Center, Inc. as the central service provider in Taylor county to serve as both a supplier of supportive and nutrition services under the Older Americans Act (OAA) and as a lead agency under Community Care for the Elderly (CCE). For more information, call 850-584-4924.
For additional information, visit www.floridapsc.com.
Follow the PSC on Twitter, @floridapsc.
