Tomorrow is the deadline to register to vote in next month’s general election. If you’ve moved, changed your last name or want to switch party affiliation, you must tell election officials about it by tomorrow. Otherwise, you may not be able to vote in the November 7th election. Anyone older than 18 who is a United States citizen is eligible to cast a ballot. Collier County elections supervisor Jennifer Edwards says there’s something on the ballot for everyone.

“We have Congressional races and of course we have our United States Senate race and we have our statewide offices for heaven’s sakes, we’re electing our new governor and we do not have an incumbent as everyone knows. So it’s an important election.”

Edwards hopes for a much bigger turnout than last month’s primary when just 17-percent of voters cast ballots. She says her office is getting ready for the start of ‘early voting’ which begins on October 23rd.

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If you want to vote in next month’s general election and haven’t registered yet, tomorrow is the deadline to do so. Election supervisors all across Southwest Florida are expecting thousands of would-be voters to register for the November 7th election. Voter turnout has been low in recent elections and in some counties only half of all eligible voters are registered. Collier County elections supervisor Jennifer Edwards says there are many reasons to vote...

“Folks should register to vote because that is their right. And I know that the 2000 election had a lot of controversy surrounding it. But one of the benefits, I think, from that election is that it demonstrates to the voters how important one vote can be.”

Edwards says if you’ve moved or had a name change, you need to update your registration. Election supervisors are mailing sample ballots out this week. Early voting actually begins on October 23rd.

Republican Congressional Candidate Vern Buchanan’s campaign gets a boost today. Vice President Dick Cheney will be on the stump in Sarasota for the candidate...the guest-of-honor at a thousand-dollar a plate lunch. The chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota County, Bob Waechter, says Cheney’s visit will raise, quote a “big chunk of change” for the candidate. But he says it’s needed. The contest between Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings is shaping up to be a very expensive race – the priciest in Florida.

“The democrats have targeted CD13 – Katherine Harris’s congressional seat as one they would very much like to have. The fact that it was an open seat and a strongly contested Republican primary gives them what they perceive to be an opening. I think they’re wrong, I think we’re going to thump’em.”

Waechter says Jennings is benefiting from Democratic organizations like Move-on.org – and that much of her funding comes from outside the 13th Congressional District. The luncheon featuring Vice President Cheney is at the Sarasota Hyatt. News.

State Senator Burt Saunders says he wants to spend more time talking about the Everglades during next year’s legislative session. The Naples Republican says lawmakers need to focus on restoring the ‘River of Grass’. The Everglades is called the jewel of South Florida. And after years of trying to undo years of draining, navigation canals and development, Saunders says the restoration effort needs to speed up. He wants the state to commit another billion dollars over the next decade to fund its share of the project. Saunders also plans to ask state lawmakers to spend another 360-million dollars to release Everglades water that’s blocked by the Tamiami Trail in Dade County.

“If that portion of the project is not completed for whatever reason, then the restoration of the sheet flow into the Everglades will never be accomplished. And so obviously this is a very critical component of the overall comprehensive Everglades restoration project.”

Senator Saunders says the state will demand the federal government repay the money because that particular improvement has been delayed for more than a decade.

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One of Southwest Florida’s veteran state lawmakers wants to make Everglades restoration a key issue in next year’s legislative session. Republican Senator Burt Saunders of Naples says he intends to ask his colleagues to approve spending a billion dollars over the next decade to clean-up the Everglades. And he also wants 360-million dollars to aid water flow to the South.

“There’s a tremendous amount of progress that’s taken place and the water that’s now available to flow into the Everglades is greatly cleaned compared to what it was a few years ago in terms of the phosphorous content. Unfortunately, that water is not able to enter the Everglades because of the blockage at the Tamiami Trail and this is critical in order to permit that sheet flow back into the Everglades.”

As debate over the future of former Congressman Mark Foley and senior Republican House leaders swirls on, the race for the 16th Congressional District pushes ahead. Democratic candidate Tim Mahoney came to Punta Gorda Wednesday to push for changes in Florida’s insurance market. Ask a Florida homeowner what the biggest pressing issue is these days...and chances are the soaring cost of insurance will likely be the reply. After two devastating hurricane seasons, the insurance industry is reeling. Several dozen insurers have left the state and those that remain have doubled or tripled premiums for less coverage. Congressional candidate Tim Mahoney says the federal government needs to step-in and organize a national insurance plan.

“Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, fires. We need to have a catastrophic insurance capability where we get everybody in this country together and we create a pool so that we can all manage this risk responsibly.”

There’s a rising chorus of Florida officials, insurance executives and regulators calling for national insurance coverage, similar to the federal flood program. But the idea continues to receive little support.

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Democratic Congressional candidate Tim Mahoney came to Punta Gorda Wednesday and used the town as a backdrop to call for changes to Florida’s insurance market. The region was hard hit by Hurricane Charley in 2004. And Mahoney says steep premium increases and insurers dropping customers are hurting residents. Mahoney is advocating for a national catastrophic insurance fund so the risk is spread around.

“We need to make sure that insurance goes back to the purview of the federal government. It got reverted back in 1947 to the states. We have issues with regards to catastrophic insurance claims that go well beyond the capability of any given state.”

The U-S Postal Service is unveiling a set of postage stamps today at the Naples Zoo. It’s the first time a national stamp unveiling will take place in Collier County. The ten commemorative stamps feature plants and animals commonly seen in the Everglades. Post Office Spokesman Mark Saunders says it’s a beautiful piece of artwork – something for collectors to hold onto.

“it’s one sheet of stamps that looks like a portrait – it looks like a typical Florida everglades scene and you’ve these 21 creatures all within a few feet of each other – its kind of a like a Where’s Waldo of the Florida everglades.”

The stamps may also, of course, be peeled off and mailed. The Naples Zoo is offering free admission in honor of the ceremony. And guests at the 11-o-clock dedication include a Florida crocodile. The Southern Florida Wetland Stamp pane is the 8th in the post office’s Nature of America series.
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A new postage stamp goes on sale for the first time tomorrow (today) in Naples. The Southern Florida Wetland commemorative stamps will be unveiled at the Naples Zoo. Postal Service Spokesman Mark Saunders says the sheet of ten stamps is destined for collections.

“It’s a beautiful painted image of the scene around the florida everglades, ten of these animals depicted on the stamp pane are actual peel off stamps you can use for postage but I don’t anyone that buys one will really want to use it as postage, I think they’ll want it as a really neat souvenir or collectible.”

Saunders says collectors buy about 200-million-dollars worth of stamps every year – saving the U-S-P-S that much money in services. Admission to the Naples Zoo is free tomorrow, in honor of the first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony which takes place at 11.

Famous hurricane prognosticator William Gray has downgraded his forecast for the current hurricane season…again. His new report – the second revision since the season began in June – predicts fewer than average storms, with just 6 hurricanes among 11 named tropical systems. There’ve been 5 hurricanes so far this year. Forecasters agree an unexpected El Nino weather pattern is responsible for the slowdown. National Weather Service meteorologist - Daniel Noah – says Gray makes more predictions than anyone else…

“He does the most of them. We don’t release ours until the first week of hurricane season, and then we only update it once. But the people that use Dr. Gray’s forecast are wide and varied and I’m sure there are some of them out there that want them that often.”

Noah says as soon as this season ends, Gray will immediately begin making predictions for 2007. And despite Gray’s reduced hurricane forecast, Noah says there are still two months left in THIS season.

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Noted storm predictor William Gray is calling for a slow finish to this year’s relatively quiet hurricane season. It’s the second time William Gray has reduced his forecast since the season began June 1st. He’s now predicting a total of 6 hurricanes, and 11 named storms. And with only 2 months left in the season – there have already been 5 hurricanes. Ruskin-based National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Noah says the weather pattern called El Nino arrived unexpectedly this year, and that’s the reason for the slowdown.

“El Nino developed very fast – we were in a La Nina, and all the sudden POOF we’re in an El Nino. The winds over Florida aloft are stronger than we were expecting, and the storms as a result are curving into the northern Atlantic.”

Noah says, there’s still a lot scientists don’t understand about how the ocean interacts with the atmosphere. All this year high level winds have ripped apart tropical waves, and pushed storms to the north away from the United States.

Famous hurricane prognosticator William Gray has downgraded his forecast for the current hurricane season…again. His new report – the second revision since the season began in June – predicts fewer than average storms, with just 6 hurricanes among 11 named tropical systems. There’ve been 5 hurricanes so far this year. Forecasters agree an unexpected El Nino weather pattern is responsible for the slowdown. National Weather Service meteorologist - Daniel Noah – says Gray makes more predictions than anyone else…

“He does the most of them. We don’t release ours until the first week of hurricane season, and then we only update it once. But the people that use Dr. Gray’s forecast are wide and varied and I’m sure there are some of them out there that want them that often.”

Noah says as soon as this season ends, Gray will immediately begin making predictions for 2007. And despite Gray’s reduced hurricane forecast, Noah says there are still two months left in THIS season.

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Noted storm predictor William Gray is calling for a slow finish to this year’s relatively quiet hurricane season. It’s the second time William Gray has reduced his forecast since the season began June 1st. He’s now predicting a total of 6 hurricanes, and 11 named storms. And with only 2 months left in the season – there have already been 5 hurricanes. Ruskin-based National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Noah says the weather pattern called El Nino arrived unexpectedly this year, and that’s the reason for the slowdown.

“El Nino developed very fast – we were in a La Nina, and all the sudden POOF we’re in an El Nino. The winds over Florida aloft are stronger than we were expecting, and the storms as a result are curving into the northern Atlantic.”

Noah says, there’s still a lot scientists don’t understand about how the ocean interacts with the atmosphere. All this year high level winds have ripped apart tropical waves, and pushed storms to the north away from the United States.

One woman who fought anorexia for ten years and eventually beat it shared her story with Southwest Floridians last night. Johanna Kandell first battled the eating disorder as a sixth-grader when she was a ballet dancer. Over the years, she hid it from parents and others. Now, Kandel is executive director of the ‘Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness’ ... an organization she founded.

“And it really wasn’t until I was about 21 years old. And one night I was looking in the mirror and I just...I didn’t know who I was anymore. I had to stop dancing because they basically said that if I continued to dance, it would kill me. And it was just a very, very, very hard moment in my life. But I knew that somewhere inside of me, deep down, I had the will to get better. And I wanted to get better.”

Kandel made the comments on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live. She was a featured speaker last night in Fort Myers at the second annual conference on ‘Eating Disorders’.

Congress is set to recess soon so its members can campaign for re-election. It's clear there will be no consensus on legislation to crack down on illegal immigration.

The controversy has touched Philip Kellerman, President of Harvest of Hope Foundation in Gainesville, personally and professionally. His non-profit distributes emergency and educational financial aid to migrant farm workers and their families across the country, regardless of their legal status. Since 1997 it has distributed nearly 460,000 dollars in aid to migrant farm workers and families nationwide. It’s on the web at harvest of hope dot net. He has these thoughts.

Despite more than two-billion-dollars in losses from the 2004-2005 hurricane seasons…a new report finds ‘environmental horticulture’ continues to grow faster than all other agricultural industries in Florida. Plants you’d find at a garden center or nursery are the backbone of environmental horticulture. Add to that landscape design, installation and maintenance and you’ve got an industry that generates more jobs than any other segment of Ag in the Sunshine State…and more economic impact than all but Florida’s lumber industry. According to a new University of Florida survey, the economic impact from the industry grew at nearly 8-percent annually over the past 5 years to around 15-billion-dollars last year.
The study’s co-author, U-F researcher Alan Hodges, says big chain stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s have driven most of that growth.

“More than any other type of outlet they are the ones that have relentlessly driven down prices for plant products and made them much more affordable for the average person.”

Hodges says the trend is a mixed blessing for the industry…more customers, but much tighter competition. And while production costs are up, especially for fuel – he says the environmental horticulture industry in Florida shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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You might think citrus is the Sunshine State’s biggest agricultural industry…but that’s not the case. It’s third - behind lumber and landscaping. And according to a new University of Florida survey, landscaping…or what’s called ‘environmental horticulture’…might someday be number one. Environmental horticulture includes everything from plants sold at nurseries to landscape design and maintenance. Last year it was worth more than 15-billion-dollars to Florida’s economy, and has grown faster than all other segments of agriculture in the state over the past 5 years. U-F agriculture researcher Alan Hodges says it may even represent the future...


“Eventually some of these other types of agriculture that depend on more extensive use of land are going to be diminished because of the competition for land by urban development. I mean there isn’t any part of agriculture that can compete with the kinds of land prices that developers are bidding these days.”

Hodges says environmental horticulture can co-exist with urban areas. The state’s biggest regions for the industry are Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg.